A Doll's House: Act I

by Henrik Ibsen
Nora Helmer appears to be a happy wife and mother—but when someone from her past threatens to reveal a devastating secret, Nora must reevaluate the assumptions she made about her marriage. Read the full text here.

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. spendthrift
    someone who spends money freely or wastefully
    Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?
  2. extravagant
    recklessly wasteful
    But now tell me, you extravagant little person, what would you like for yourself?
  3. plucky
    showing courage
    And so now you have come into the town, and have taken this long journey in winter — that was plucky of you.
  4. incredulously
    in a disbelieving manner
    Nora [looking incredulously at her]. But, Christine, is that possible?
  5. barrister
    a British lawyer who speaks in the higher courts of law
    A barrister's profession is such an uncertain thing, especially if he won't undertake unsavoury cases; and naturally Torvald has never been willing to do that, and I quite agree with him.
  6. precarious
    not secure; beset with difficulties
    But his business was a precarious one; and, when he died, it all went to pieces and there was nothing left.
  7. broach
    bring up a topic for discussion
    Just leave it to me; I will broach the subject very cleverly — I will think of something that will please him very much.
  8. procure
    get by special effort
    It was I who procured the money.
  9. contemptuously
    without respect; in a disdainful manner
    Nora [contemptuously]: In the Lottery? There would have been no credit in that.
  10. imprudent
    not sensible, responsible, or wise
    Haven't you been a little bit imprudent?
  11. caprice
    a sudden desire
    He said I was thoughtless, and that it was his duty as my husband not to indulge me in my whims and caprices — as I believe he called them.
  12. lucrative
    producing a sizeable profit
    I don't know whether you find also in your part of the world that there are certain people who go zealously snuffing about to smell out moral corruption, and, as soon as they have found some, put the person concerned into some lucrative position where they can keep their eye on him.
  13. unassailable
    immune to attack; incapable of being tampered with
    I don't suppose he is any more unassailable than other husbands.
  14. indiscretion
    a petty misdeed
    I daresay you know, like everybody else, that once, many years ago, I was guilty of an indiscretion.
  15. dissimulation
    the act of deceiving
    This Krogstad, now, has been persistently poisoning his own children with lies and dissimulation; that is why I say he has lost all moral character.
Created on Mon Jun 10 11:27:12 EDT 2013 (updated Thu Jul 17 18:55:16 EDT 2025)

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