We Were Liars: Part Five

by E. Lockhart
Something terrible happened on the private island where Cadence and her family spend their summers — but Cadence can't remember what it was. When she returns to the island, Cadence begins to uncover the truth.


Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five

Here is a link to our lists for Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart.
30 words 118 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. conflagration
    a very intense and uncontrolled fire
    The conflagration prevented her from entering the building when she realized there were people and animals trapped inside.
  2. sustain
    undergo, as of injuries and illnesses
    She sustained burns to the hands and feet in her rescue attempts.
  3. sedate
    cause to be calm or quiet
    She had to be heavily sedated for many days following the accident.
  4. decimate
    kill in large numbers
    Many of the surrounding trees were decimated.
  5. persist
    refuse to stop
    She persisted in believing she had injured her head while swimming.
  6. guilt
    remorse caused by feeling responsible for some offense
    Doctors presumed her crippling migraine headaches were caused by unacknowledged grief and guilt.
  7. penance
    voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for something
    Cadence displayed a disquieting desire to rid herself of all unnecessary possessions, even things of sentimental value, almost as if doing penance for past crimes.
  8. kindling
    material for starting a fire
    Johnny and Mirren went to the top two floors of Clairmont carrying cans of gas and bags of old newspapers for kindling.
  9. douse
    cover with liquid; pour liquid onto
    I doused part of the hall and then the craft room, feeling a wave of sorrow for the ruin of Gran’s beautiful cotton prints and colorful yarns.
  10. prejudice
    disadvantage by bias
    I wanted so much for us: a life free of constriction and prejudice.
  11. fracture
    break into pieces
    My face is frozen and fractured in a witch’s snarl of grief.
  12. impotent
    lacking power or ability
    We’d have dozed off in front of the television set, angry and impotent, perhaps, but without setting fire to anything.
  13. vain
    having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
    I cry for the vain, thoughtless complaints I’ve made all summer.
  14. inflict
    impose something unpleasant
    I shudder at my delusions of charity, at my shame masquerading as virtue, at lies I’ve told myself, punishments I’ve inflicted on myself, and punishments I’ve inflicted on my mother.
  15. grief
    intense sorrow caused by loss of a loved one
    I cry with horror that all the family has been burdened by me, and even more with being the cause of so much grief.
  16. idyll
    a charming, peaceful, or idealized episode or situation
    We did not, after all, save the idyll.
  17. deterioration
    a symptom of reduced quality or strength
    We have lost the innocence of it, of those days before we knew the extent of the aunts’ rage, before Gran’s death and Granddad’s deterioration.
  18. empathy
    understanding and entering into another's feelings
    The aunties hug one another not because they are freed of the weight of Clairmont house and all it symbolized, but out of tragedy and empathy.
  19. grandiose
    impressive because of unnecessary largeness or magnificence
    It is my fault, my fault, my fault—and yet they love me anyway. Despite the poor dogs, despite my stupidity and grandiosity, despite our crime.
  20. suspect
    believe to be guilty
    I love you in spite of what I suspect you have done.
  21. substantial
    having a firm basis in reality and therefore important
    He feels warm and substantial, though he looks pale, washed out, bags under his eyes.
  22. responsibility
    the trait of being answerable to someone for something
    “I mean, we all did it, we all went crazy, we have to take responsibility. You shouldn’t carry the weight of it,” he says.
  23. avoidable
    capable of being warded off
    These daughters grew to be women, and the women had children, beautiful children, so many, many children, only something bad happened, something stupid, criminal, terrible, something avoidable, something that never should have happened, and yet something that could, eventually, be forgiven.
  24. despair
    a state in which all hope is lost or absent
    And the three princesses, the mothers, they crumbled in rage and despair.
  25. obsess
    be preoccupied with something
    They drank and shopped, starved and scrubbed and obsessed.
  26. rage
    feel intense anger
    The fathers raged, too, though they were far away; and the king, he descended into a delicate madness from which his old self only sometimes emerged.
  27. compulsion
    an irrational need to perform trivial or repetitive actions
    They were racked with guilt for being alive, racked with pain in their heads and fear of ghosts, racked with nightmares and strange compulsions, punishments for being alive when the others were dead.
  28. fascination
    the capacity to attract intense interest
    In fact, the mark of tragedy became, with time, a mark of glamour. A mark of mystery, and a source of fascination for those who viewed the family from afar.
  29. attributable
    indicating the source or cause of something
    Its horrors are not attributable to one single person.
  30. tragedy
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    Tragedy is ugly and tangled, stupid and confusing.
    That is what the children know.
    And they know that the stories about their family are both true and untrue. There are endless variations. And people will continue to tell them.
Created on Wed Mar 09 14:21:13 EST 2016 (updated Wed Dec 12 11:59:51 EST 2018)

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