The Girl on the Train: List 3

by Paula Hawkins
Despite losing her job, Rachel continues riding the commuter train every day—and becomes increasingly involved in the lives of the people she observes through the train window.

This list covers Rachel: July 21, 2013 – Megan: June 13, 2013 in the 2015 edition published by the Penguin Group.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 37 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. deja vu
    the experience of thinking a new situation already occurred
    It was in the living room that the deja vu hit me, so strong it was almost frightening.
  2. incredulity
    doubt about the truth of something
    The look of incredulity on his face was unmistakable.
  3. regret
    feel sorry for; be contrite about
    “Yes, I ... I know where she lives,” I said, and I regretted the words the moment they came out of my mouth.
  4. complicate
    make less simple
    I shouldn’t have said that, shouldn’t have complicated the lie.
  5. rationale
    an explanation of the fundamental reasons
    My whole rationale for approaching him had been that the police hadn’t taken my story seriously.
  6. anxiety
    a vague unpleasant emotion in anticipation of a misfortune
    “She was having anxiety attacks,” he said at last.
  7. specific
    stated explicitly or in detail
    As I’m saying this I realize how odd it sounds, but I can’t be specific, and so I try to save myself.
  8. significant
    fairly large
    There is no CCTV at Witney, and she wasn’t picked up on the CCTV at Corly, although the reports said that this didn’t prove she wasn’t there, because there are “significant blind spots” at that station.
  9. contrast
    be different; display differences when compared
    To be honest with you, I was having a really hard time in my marriage, so I think it was a kind of compare-and-contrast thing.
  10. befuddled
    confused and vague, especially of thinking
    I feel quite befuddled. I slept soundly but dreamily and this morning I am struggling to wake up properly.
  11. confirm
    establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts
    Police were not able to confirm whether the man arrested is Megan Hipwell’s husband, Scott Hipwell, who was questioned under caution on Friday.
  12. fragile
    easily broken or damaged or destroyed
    I think about those huge hands and about how, if he could crush me, he could destroy her—tiny, fragile Megan.
  13. persuade
    cause somebody to adopt a certain position or belief
    I could try to persuade myself that he’s just trying to do the right thing, morally and professionally.
  14. justifiable
    capable of being shown to be reasonable
    I didn’t have a justifiable reason for being there.
  15. hallucinate
    have illusions; perceive what is not actually there
    For a moment I think I’m hallucinating, because she walks out.
  16. grimace
    a contorted facial expression
    She gives us the strangest smile, a grimace almost, and I can’t help myself, I lunge forward and grab Evie out of her buggy, startling her in the process.
  17. elation
    a feeling of joy and pride
    There’s a rush of elation, tempered with something else: a nameless dread. I know we’re close to finding the truth. I just can’t help feeling that the truth is going to be terrible.
  18. deceptive
    deliberately designed to mislead
    He looks too soft, too beautiful to be a killer, but appearances can be deceptive—they say Ted Bundy looked like Cary Grant.
  19. implication
    a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
    Commentators mused on the likely implications of the fact that neither Megan’s phone nor her bank cards had been used for more than a week.
  20. behest
    an authoritative command or request
    I imagine he’s calling at her behest, in any case.
  21. insufficient
    of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement
    Abdic, who was Mrs. Hipwell’s therapist, was detained yesterday, but was released this morning because police say there is insufficient evidence to charge him.
  22. conviction
    a final judgment of guilty in a criminal case
    I check my little black book, but I haven’t written anything down since midday yesterday: notes about Kamal—age, ethnicity, conviction for domestic violence.
  23. faith
    complete confidence in a person or plan, etc.
    I can’t tell whether he doesn’t really believe she’s coming home because all the faith he once possessed has been ripped away by the events of the past few days, or because he really knows that she’s never coming home.
  24. unreliable
    not worthy of trust
    And the witness who suggested that there was something going on was unreliable, she said. An alcoholic. Possibly mentally unstable.
  25. feign
    make believe with the intent to deceive
    I am still feigning illness, although I’m pretty sure I’m fooling no one.
  26. agony
    intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
    There can be no greater agony, nothing can be more painful than the not knowing, which will never end.
  27. cringe
    draw back, as with fear, pain, or embarrassment
    “You said that I shouted at Anna,” I say, cringing at the thought of it. “What did I say to her?”
  28. flimsy
    lacking substance or significance
    There was a comment piece in the Sunday Times about police incompetence that referred briefly to the case, an unnamed source at the Crown Prosecution Service citing it as “one of a number of cases in which the police have made a hasty arrest on the basis of flimsy or flawed evidence.”
  29. trepidation
    a feeling of alarm or dread
    Every time I hear the clacking of high heels, I am seized with trepidation.
  30. transference
    when emotions are passed on from one person to another
    Perhaps it was one of those—what do they call it?—transference things. That’s the word they use, isn’t it? When a patient develops feelings—or thinks they develop feelings— for a therapist.
  31. solace
    the comfort felt when consoled in times of disappointment
    I was extremely difficult to live with, and Tom sought solace elsewhere.
  32. dense
    permitting little if any light to pass through
    I sit up, eyes wide, and see something moving in the corner of the room, a dense centre of blackness that keeps growing, and I almost cry out—and then I’m properly awake and there’s nothing there, but I am sitting up in bed and my cheeks are wet with tears.
  33. expose
    make visible or apparent
    I can see her now, her ruined face in the mud, pale arms exposed, reaching up, rising up as though she were clawing her way out of the grave.
  34. established
    shown to be valid beyond a reasonable doubt
    They say the cause of death has yet to be established.
  35. glean
    gather, as of natural products
    I empty out my handbag, looking through my notes scribbled on bits of paper, all the scraps of information I’ve gleaned, the memories shifting like shadows, and I wonder, Why am I doing this?
  36. unrelenting
    not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty
    At night when I lie awake I can hear it, quiet but unrelenting, undeniable: a whisper in my head, Slip away.
  37. tedious
    so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    I can’t get comfortable, because every way I turn I run into dead ends: the closed gallery, the houses on this road, the stifling attentions of the tedious Pilates women, the track at the end of the garden with its trains, always taking someone else to somewhere else, reminding me over and over and over, a dozen times a day, that I’m staying put.
  38. preamble
    a preliminary introduction, as to a statute or constitution
    “I have to tell you ...” I start, and then I stop because I can’t just plunge straight into it, I need a preamble.
  39. endure
    continue to exist
    “I understand, although I’m not sure that sounds like a very real kind of happiness,” he says. “Not the sort of happiness that can endure, that can sustain you.”
  40. acknowledge
    declare to be true or admit the existence or reality of
    We didn’t really even acknowledge what was happening, we just carried on.
Created on Wed Mar 02 12:33:04 EST 2016 (updated Wed Sep 26 09:30:51 EDT 2018)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.