The War I Finally Won: Chapters 35–49

by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
In this sequel to The War That Saved My Life, Ada continues to weather World War II in a crowded house in the English countryside.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–10, Chapters 11–21, Chapters 22–34, Chapters 35–49, Chapters 50–63
30 words 35 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. straddle
    sit or stand astride of
    He straddled one of the motorcycles.
  2. impulse
    an instinctive motive
    My first impulse was to gallop away, but I knew it was no use.
  3. prompt
    urge, encourage, or motivate someone to act
    “Ada?” prompted Lady Thorton.
  4. explicitly
    in a clearly expressed manner
    “You’ve allowed a young German woman to come onto my property, against my explicitly stated orders, despite the fact that the house is being used by a government agency during a war against Germany?”
  5. downcast
    filled with melancholy and despondency
    We sat toward the back, Susan wearing all black on my one side, Ruth silent and downcast on the other.
  6. irrelevant
    having no bearing on or connection with the subject at issue
    “I don’t think you should have done it when you knew you didn’t have Lady Thorton’s permission. Butter may be your pony, but he lives on the Thortons’ property. However, it all seems terribly irrelevant now.”
  7. preposterous
    inviting ridicule
    “We all loved Jonathan.”
    “I didn’t,” I said. “Of course I didn’t.” That was preposterous. I barely knew him.
  8. stoke
    (of a fire) stir up or tend
    In the living room Susan had stoked the fire high.
  9. tedious
    so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    Potato picking was tedious, dirty, exhausting, and cold.
  10. scrabble
    grope, scratch, or feel searchingly
    The rest of us followed on foot, scrabbling through the heavy, wet dirt to unearth the potatoes.
  11. profound
    coming from deep within one
    “Mum,” Jamie said, with profound satisfaction.
  12. waver
    move hesitatingly, as if about to give way
    He wavered and sank to the ground.
  13. halter
    rope or canvas headgear for a horse, with a rope for leading
    Ruth knelt to buckle Oban’s halter around his head.
  14. colic
    acute abdominal pain, especially in infants
    “Colic, this means he has a stomachache. In a horse it’s very serious. Horses die from colic.”
  15. repent
    turn away from sin or do penitence
    “Perhaps your mother’s soul will suffer for a while. Perhaps she will repent. Then she can be with God forever.”
  16. bay
    of a moderate reddish-brown color
    She told me about her own horse back in Germany. “He looks like this one,” she said, stroking Oban’s face. “What is the English word for this coloring?”
    “Bay,” I said.
  17. livery
    the care of horses for pay
    The horses were at a livery stable, with their board paid for the month.
  18. incompetent
    showing lack of skill or aptitude
    “I am not incompetent! I do not need to be treated with kid gloves! Extend to me the honesty and forthrightness you extend to everyone else, and for God’s sake, the next time something goes wrong, get me out of bed!”
  19. forthright
    characterized by directness in manner or speech
    “I am not incompetent! I do not need to be treated with kid gloves! Extend to me the honesty and forthrightness you extend to everyone else, and for God’s sake, the next time something goes wrong, get me out of bed!”
  20. algorithm
    a precise rule specifying how to solve some problem
    She and Susan discussed maths using words I’d never heard of. Algorithm. Interpolation. Optimization.
  21. optimize
    modify to achieve maximum efficiency in time or cost
    She and Susan discussed maths using words I’d never heard of. Algorithm. Interpolation. Optimization.
  22. governess
    a woman who cares for and instructs a child in a household
    Lady Thorton said, “You of all people should know better—when it’s you who’s been teaching me how to cook. And here’s Susan with her Oxford degree, and me half taught by an undereducated governess. My own ignorance shames me.”
  23. ferret
    search and discover through persistent investigation
    We’d always wanted to know what war work Lord Thorton did. He couldn’t say, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t try to ferret it out of him.
  24. grudging
    unwilling or reluctant
    Lady Thorton had been a grudging host to Ruth, but she was gracious now.
  25. gentry
    the most powerful members of a society
    I assumed the girl on Jon’s horse was another of the local gentry, but when we got back to the airfield Jon said no. He claimed she was from the East End of London, the bad part, evacuated at the start of the war.
  26. invincible
    incapable of being overcome or subdued
    It made a fellow feel better, somehow, to know that there were still green fields and bold children laughing in them, even in the middle of this war. Jon said he was going to name his plane Invincible Ada.
  27. supple
    capable of moving or bending freely
    Inside the box was a leather halter, cleaned and oiled soft and supple.
  28. sardonic
    disdainfully or ironically humorous
    “I can do anything I want with him?”
    “Yes,” Lady Thorton said, a touch sardonically. “I see where you’re going with this. Oban is yours. You can let anyone ride him that you want.”
  29. suppress
    control and refrain from showing
    She ran back upstairs, choking on half- suppressed tears.
  30. reprimand
    censure severely or angrily
    “I hardly think,” she said, “that I deserve to be reprimanded by someone like you.”
Created on Thu Nov 05 12:16:42 EST 2020 (updated Tue Nov 17 08:39:07 EST 2020)

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