The Shape of Lost Things: Chapters 4–6

by Sarah Everett
Twelve-year-old Skye's older brother, Finn, returns home after spending four years on the run with their father, but Finn is so different that Skye isn't even sure he's the real Finn.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–6, Chapters 7–13, Chapters 14–18
15 words 11 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. category
    a collection of things sharing a common attribute
    Thinking of Finn is like opening up a box of memories and looking through them. Sorting them, putting them in different categories. Good Finn memories. Times Finn Was Spectacular memories.
  2. physics
    the science of matter and energy and their interactions
    She loves physics so much that she keeps it close to her, wherever she is.
  3. scraggly
    lacking neatness or order
    He would scratch his hair, his scraggly beard. He would mutter to himself.
  4. equation
    a mathematical statement that two expressions are the same
    He’d played me that song last weekend, he knew time was passing, but all he cared about was his stupid equations.
  5. accomplish
    achieve with effort
    Instead of listing the groceries we need, though, it is a list of tasks that she and I are going to accomplish before Mom and Finn get home.
  6. lecture
    a long speech that scolds or reprimands
    Mom’s best friend, more than anyone else, is really bothered by the fact that I don’t like to do things. Soon, she will give me a lecture on how she liked to do everything when she was a kid.
  7. collage
    a paste-up of pieces to form an artistic image
    “It’s a collage of...well, the four of us.”
  8. murky
    cloudy, dirty, and difficult to see through
    His face is blank, but his eyes look murky somehow. Tired and noticing and thinking and taking it all in, but he says nothing.
  9. renowned
    widely known and esteemed
  10. kidnap
    take someone away against their will, often for ransom
    Four years ago, renowned local physicist and mom-of-two Cherish Capshaw lived every parent’s nightmare when her then ten-year-old son was kidnapped or coerced to leave home with his father.
  11. coerce
    cause to do through pressure or necessity
    Four years ago, renowned local physicist and mom-of-two Cherish Capshaw lived every parent’s nightmare when her then ten-year-old son was kidnapped or coerced to leave home with his father.
  12. mutually
    in a shared manner
    Capshaw and fellow physicist Keith Nickson had been married twelve years when they mutually decided to part ways.
  13. eccentric
    conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual
    Nickson had always been eccentric, a lover of different cultures and accents, but Finn claims his father’s once sharp mind deteriorated slowly before the kidnapping and then more rapidly after.
  14. deteriorate
    grow worse
    Nickson had always been eccentric, a lover of different cultures and accents, but Finn claims his father’s once sharp mind deteriorated slowly before the kidnapping and then more rapidly after.
  15. gibberish
    unintelligible talking
    “Stopped making sense how?” Capshaw asks, and it’s clear that these are questions she desperately wants answers to herself.
    Finn shrugs. “He’d talk in gibberish. Random words, different languages.”
Created on Tue Jul 21 21:12:53 EDT 2026 (updated Mon Aug 17 12:57:08 EDT 2026)

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.