The House of Hades: Chapters 1–16

by Rick Riordan
In the fourth book of the Heroes of Olympus series, the Doors of Death must be found and closed. Rick Riordan uses these words to describe the demigods' adventures in the Underworld.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–16, Chapters 17–32, Chapters 33–48, Chapters 49–62, Chapters 63–78

Here are links to our lists for The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan: The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades, The Blood of Olympus

And here are links to our lists for the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan: The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. melancholy
    a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed
    Like Hazel, Nico di Angelo was a demigod from another era. He radiated a kind of old energy—a melancholy that came from knowing he didn’t belong in the modern world.
  2. obstacle
    something that stands in the way and must be surmounted
    She couldn’t believe her only role in this quest would be what Nico had warned her of—removing the obstacle waiting for them in the House of Hades.
  3. eerie
    inspiring a feeling of fear; strange and frightening
    Hecate fixed her torches in them, then walked a slow circle around Hazel, regarding her as if they were partners in some eerie dance.
  4. torment
    make suffer emotionally or mentally
    During her first lifetime in New Orleans, Hazel had been tormented by the kids at St. Agnes School because of her mother. They called Marie Levesque a witch. The nuns muttered that Hazel’s mother was trading with the Devil.
  5. suffering
    feelings of mental or physical pain
    She’d been wishing for the chance to be a normal girl. She didn’t want any more pain or suffering for herself and her friends. They’d already been through so much.
  6. formidable
    extremely impressive in strength or excellence
    When you reach the House of Hades, you will meet a formidable enemy. She cannot be overcome by strength or sword. You alone can defeat her, and you will require magic.
  7. crossroads
    a crisis situation when a critical decision must be made
    “Hazel, you met Hecate at a crossroads. That’s . . . that’s something many demigods don’t survive. And the ones who do survive are never the same. Are you sure you’re—”
  8. terminal
    causing or ending in or approaching death
    If they reached the bottom at terminal velocity... well, she knew enough science to know it would be terminal.
  9. permeate
    spread or diffuse through
    The air became intolerably hot, permeated with a smell like rotten eggs.
  10. fiery
    like or suggestive of a flame
    The landscape—at least what she could see of it—was rocky black plains, punctuated by jagged mountains and fiery chasms.
  11. stench
    a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant
    The stench of sulfur made it hard to concentrate, but she focused on the ground directly below them and saw a ribbon of glittering black liquid—a river.
  12. lamentation
    the passionate activity of expressing grief
    “Percy!” she shrieked. “The river is messing with your mind. It’s the Cocytus—the River of Lamentation. It’s made of pure misery!”
  13. hypothermia
    subnormal body temperature
    “We should keep moving or we’ll get hypothermia,” Annabeth said.
  14. crevasse
    a deep fissure
    At the bottom stretched a nightmarish version of the Grand Canyon: a river of fire cutting a path through a jagged obsidian crevasse, the glowing red current casting horrible shadows across the cliff faces.
  15. exposure
    vulnerability to the elements
    Blisters had started to form on their arms from exposure to the Tartarus air. The whole environment was about as healthy as a nuclear blast zone.
  16. flame
    combustion of materials producing heat and light and smoke
    Drinking from the Phlegethon was like gulping down a ghost chili smoothie. Her sinuses filled with liquid flame. Her mouth felt like it was being deep-fried. Her eyes shed boiling tears, and every pore on her face popped.
  17. excruciating
    extremely painful
    The river wasn’t about making you feel good, Annabeth guessed. It just kept you going so you could experience more excruciating pain.
  18. devour
    eat greedily
    The empousa's favorite tactic was to make a guy fall in love with her, then drink his blood and devour his flesh.
  19. horror
    something that inspires dislike; something frightful
    Annabeth didn’t want to think about it, but sadly, this squad of flesh-eating horror-show women might be the closest thing to good luck they were going to get in Tartarus.
  20. sorcery
    the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces
    Whatever it did, it apparently operated on pure sorcery... and Leo didn’t appreciate that. He wanted it to make sense, like a machine.
  21. consume
    destroy completely
    My son will not allow any fires tonight, Gaea said from the depths of the warehouse. He is the void that consumes all magic, the cold that consumes all fire, the silence that consumes all speech.
  22. depth
    the most extreme and remote part
    His eyes were sad and kind of empty, as if he’d stared into the depths of Tartarus—which he had.
  23. commune
    share or interact intimately with
    Nico sat forward. “I communed with the dead last night.”
  24. pilgrim
    someone who journeys to a sacred place as an act of devotion
    A lot of cultures have seasonal traditions to honor the dead, but the House of Hades was open year-round. Pilgrims could actually speak to the ghosts. In Greek, the place was called the Necromanteion, the Oracle of Death.
  25. grim
    filled with melancholy and despondency
    “Now we just have to reach the House of Hades, battle our way through Gaea’s forces—”
    “Plus a bunch of ghosts,” Nico added grimly. “The spirits in that temple may not be friendly.”
  26. demon
    an evil supernatural being
    Coach Hedge and Piper were struggling against their duct tape bonds while one of the demon monkey dwarfs danced around the deck, picking up whatever wasn’t tied down and sticking it in his bag.
  27. crisis
    an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty
    Jason had a talent for staying levelheaded in a crisis, and he’d gotten Leo out of plenty of bad scrapes.
  28. terrify
    frighten greatly
    Leo’s friends were counting on him to beat a terrifying giant. And now he didn’t even have his tool belt or his Archimedes sphere.
  29. maniacal
    wildly disordered
    The red-furred dwarf lifted his espresso. Judging from his dilated eyes and his maniacal grin, he didn’t need any more caffeine.
  30. harsh
    disagreeable to the senses
    They trudged along, following the river as it cut through the harsh landscape.
  31. disgorge
    cause or allow to flow or run out or over
    The ground was pocked with blisters. Every once in a while, a bubble would swell and burst, disgorging a monster like a larva from an egg.
  32. cataract
    a large waterfall; violent rush of water over a precipice
    The Phlegethon flowed in the same direction until about halfway across the plain, where it met another river of black water—maybe the Cocytus? The two floods combined in a steaming, boiling cataract and flowed on as one toward the black fog.
  33. precipice
    a very steep cliff
    About halfway down the precipice, Annabeth said, “Stop, okay? Just a quick break.”
  34. membrane
    a sheet of tissue that lines or connects organs or cells
    Under Percy’s hand, the soil felt alarmingly warm and smooth. He tried to grab a handful, then realized that under a thin layer of dirt and debris, the ground was a single vast membrane ... like skin.
  35. spire
    a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
    The ridges above them now looked less like steps and more like rows of massive teeth. The spires of rock looked like broken ribs. And if the ground was skin . . .
  36. gnash
    grind together
    The other vampires gnashed their teeth in a frenzy of excitement. Percy had been in the middle of a school of sharks when the water was full of blood. That wasn’t nearly as scary as empousai ready to feed.
  37. eliminate
    end, take out, or do away with
    She’d gotten Kelli to eliminate one of her own. Now there was nothing left but to fight.
  38. void
    the state of nonexistence
    “For two years I churned in the void,” Kelli said. “Do you know how completely annoying it is to be vaporized, Annabeth Chase? Slowly re-forming, fully conscious, in searing pain for months and years as your body regrows, then finally breaking the crust of this hellish place and clawing your way back to daylight?
  39. torture
    subject to intense feelings of suffering
    Upstairs in Hades’s palace, nobody calls for Bob unless there is a mess. Bob, sweep up these bones. Bob, mop up these tortured souls. Bob, a zombie exploded in the dining room.
  40. stark
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    Percy scanned the horizon. He saw no approaching monsters—nothing but the stark gray wasteland.
Created on Tue Apr 25 14:06:55 EDT 2017 (updated Wed Sep 12 15:22:41 EDT 2018)

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