Hollow City: Chapters 1–4

by Ransom Riggs
In this sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Jacob Portman and his friends travel to London in a race to find a cure for Miss Peregrine, who has been transformed into a bird.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–7, Chapters 8–10, Chapters 11–13

Here is a link to our lists for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
40 words 450 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. inexhaustible
    incapable of being entirely consumed or used up
    Bronwyn, seemingly inexhaustible, rowed one of the boats all by herself.
  2. maelstrom
    a powerful circular current of water
    When we’d resumed an even keel, we squinted into the maelstrom and screamed our friends’ names.
  3. navigate
    direct and plot the path and position of a conveyance
    Everything else was gone, including both our maps—the small one Emma had used to navigate us across the channel and the massive leather-bound loop atlas that had been Millard’s prized possession, the Map of Days.
  4. optimistic
    hopeful that the best will happen in the future
    It occurred to me that, in our rush to escape the island, I had only ever heard the children talk about reaching the mainland, but we’d never discussed what to do once we got there—as if the idea of actually surviving the journey in those tiny boats was so far-fetched, so comically optimistic, that planning for it was a waste of time.
  5. authority
    an expert whose views are taken as definitive
    Millard might’ve been the authority when it came to maps and books, but Enoch was an expert in all things military.
  6. adrenaline
    hormone secreted by the adrenal gland in response to stress
    We broke into an adrenaline-fueled sprint, flying those boats into the cave like they were on rails, while Miss Peregrine hopped lamely alongside us, her broken wing dragging in the sand.
  7. scramble
    move hurriedly
    Millard yelped, and then he stripped off the overcoat he’d been wearing and scrambled back outside to cover the drag marks our boats had made; from the sky they’d look like arrows pointing right to our hiding place.
  8. venture
    proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
    If anyone but Millard had ventured out, they’d have been seen for sure.
  9. remarkable
    unusual or striking
    Millard had been grazed by a bullet during our melee at the lighthouse the previous night, and though his recovery so far was remarkable, it was far from complete.
  10. conviction
    an unshakable belief in something without need for proof
    She said it with such conviction that I got a chill.
  11. brash
    offensively bold
    I’d never met anyone with Emma’s brash confidence.
  12. exude
    make apparent by one's mood or behavior
    Everything about her exuded it: the way she carried herself, with shoulders thrown back; the hard set of her teeth when she made up her mind about something; the way she ended every sentence with a declarative period, never a question mark.
  13. develop
    create by training and teaching
    “Regardless, your talent can be developed,” said Millard.
  14. capable
    having ability
    We don’t know what he’s capable of—he probably wouldn’t know the difference between a hollow at fifty meters and gas pains!
  15. seasoned
    rendered competent through trial and experience
    How could the others, so sure and seasoned in their abilities, put so much faith in mine—in something I was only beginning to understand and had known I was capable of for only a few days?
  16. destiny
    a course of events that will inevitably happen in the future
    “It’s your destiny,” said Horace, and the way he said it made me think he knew something I didn’t.
  17. interpreter
    someone who mediates between speakers of different languages
    Jacob, inspector of shadows, miraculous interpreter of squirmy gut feelings, seer and slayer of real and actual monsters—and all that might stand between life and death for our merry band of peculiars.
  18. confidence
    belief in yourself and your abilities
    I had good moments and bad, terrified thoughts and confident ones—though my terror-to-confidence ratio was pretty dismal at present, like three-to-one, and in the terrified moments it felt like I was being pushed into a role I hadn’t asked for; volunteered for front-line duty in a war, the full scope of which none of us yet knew.
  19. endurance
    the power to withstand hardship or stress
    We were reaching the limit of our endurance.
  20. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    Fiona made a shelter for us by coaxing a ring of trees to bend their lower branches together, petting their bark and whispering to their trunks until the branches meshed to form a watertight roof of leaves just high enough for us to sit beneath.
  21. evade
    escape, either physically or mentally
    Still, a few mercies prevailed: overnight the rain had let up, the day was warming by degrees, and we seemed to have evaded the wights and their dogs, at least for the time being; either they’d stopped barking or were too far away to be heard.
  22. option
    one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen
    “Let’s eat and discuss our options.”
  23. coincidence
    an accidental event that seems to have been arranged
    “I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” Emma said. “Miss Peregrine opened the book herself, remember? She must’ve chosen that story on purpose.”
  24. embedded
    inserted as an integral part of a surrounding whole
    “It means there’s secret knowledge embedded in the Tales.”
  25. annotate
    add explanatory notes to or supply with critical comments
    “Oh, I can’t wait to analyze and annotate them,” said Millard, rubbing his hands together.
  26. churning
    (of a liquid) agitated vigorously; in a state of turbulence
    And yet the more I studied the feeling churning in my gut, the more convinced I became that it wasn’t the drop itself that bothered me, but something beyond it.
  27. coalesce
    fuse or cause to come together
    The line, like a compass needle, pointed diagonally at that faltering spot a hundred yards below and to the left on the mountainside, the waves and shimmers of which began to gather and coalesce into solid black mass, a humanoid thing made from tentacles and shadow, clinging to the rocks.
  28. beacon
    a radio station that broadcasts a directional signal
    It was as if, upon seeing the hollow, I’d planted a sort of homing beacon in it with my eyes.
  29. impressive
    producing a strong effect
    “I can be a weapon,” said Emma, and she clapped her hands and drew them apart again, an impressive fireball roaring to life between them.
  30. provoke
    annoy continually or chronically
    “They can be fierce when provoked!”
  31. debilitating
    impairing strength and vitality
    If not for the adrenaline flooding my system, the pain would’ve been totally debilitating.
  32. mantra
    a commonly repeated word or phrase
    You were born for this, I thought to myself. You were built to kill monsters like this. I repeated it under my breath like a mantra.
  33. instinct
    inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to stimuli
    I decided to trust my instinct.
  34. anticipate
    make a prediction about; tell in advance
    Once I’d seen a hollow I could track it, and if I focused on it in just the right way, I could anticipate its next move, in some felt-more-than-known, gut-instinctual way.
  35. stance
    standing posture
    Bronwyn set Claire down and assumed a fighting stance, while Emma held out her hands to make a flame—but she was too stunned, apparently, to summon more than a sputter of smoke.
  36. maintain
    keep in a certain state, position, or activity
    She had maintained her strength in the face of all this for so long that we had come to take it for granted, but she wasn’t bulletproof.
  37. wage
    carry on (wars, battles, or campaigns)
    She’d been waging a battle against tears, but now, in a sudden break, she lost it.
  38. tribulation
    an annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event
    Of course, provided we survived whatever tribulations we were about to face, I could always go and find my parents in a few decades, once they were born—but what would be the point?
  39. dire
    fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
    If I’d known Miss Peregrine’s condition was so dire, I swear to you, I never would’ve asked you to stay.
  40. intervene
    get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action
    “It’s not about destiny,” I said, “but I do think there’s balance in the world, and sometimes forces we don’t understand intervene to tip the scales the right way. Miss Peregrine saved my grandfather—and now I’m here to help save her."
Created on Wed Jun 29 16:11:03 EDT 2016 (updated Mon Sep 24 13:17:24 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.