A Monster Calls: "Punishment"–"The Truth"

by Patrick Ness
As Conor struggles to deal with his mother's terminal illness, he encounters a monster who demands that Conor tell him a truthful story.

This list covers Punishment–The Truth.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4

Here is a link to our lists for The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.
15 words 570 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. hysterical
    marked by excessive or uncontrollable emotion
    “They were a little hysterical, Conor,” Miss Kwan said behind him, “and I don’t blame them. I explained what’s been going on, though. That he had been regularly bullying you and that your circumstances were...special.”
  2. circumstances
    one's overall condition in life
    “They were a little hysterical, Conor,” Miss Kwan said behind him, “and I don’t blame them. I explained what’s been going on, though. That he had been regularly bullying you and that your circumstances were...special.”
  3. prospective
    of or concerned with or related to the future
    “Doesn’t look good to prospective universities these days, apparently, accusations of bullying.”
  4. accusation
    an assertion that someone is guilty of a fault or offense
    “Doesn’t look good to prospective universities these days, apparently, accusations of bullying.”
  5. pummel
    strike, usually with the fist
    Never invisible again, the monster kept saying as he pummeled Harry. Never invisible again.
  6. dictate
    determine, order, or control how something is done
    “School rules dictate immediate expulsion,” she said.
  7. expulsion
    the act of forcing out someone or something
    “School rules dictate immediate expulsion,” she said.
  8. vicinity
    a surrounding or nearby region
    “Hey,” he heard, whispered in his general vicinity.
  9. insistent
    demanding attention
    "Hey,” he heard again, this time more insistent.
  10. vulnerable
    capable of being wounded or hurt
    Conor felt an almost irresistible urge to find something to cover it, protect it, before anyone saw how vulnerable it was.
  11. abruptly
    quickly and without warning
    The monster set him down abruptly, almost dropping him to the earth, and Conor stumbled forward.
  12. impenetrable
    permitting little if any light to pass through
    He recognized the cold ground under his hands, recognized the clearing he was in, bordered on three sides by a dark and impenetrable forest, recognized the fourth side, a cliff, flying off into even further blackness.
  13. abyss
    a bottomless gulf or pit
    When she fell, screaming, out of his grasp, into the abyss, taken by the nightmare, lost forever, this was where he usually sat up in his bed, covered in sweat, his heart beating so fast he thought he might die.
  14. tendril
    something long, light, slender, and often curling
    He called out in terror when he saw that the tendrils of the nightmare had wrapped themselves around his legs. They tripped him to the ground and started wrapping themselves around his arms, too.
  15. contradict
    be in opposition to
    The answer is that it does not matter what you think, the monster said, because your mind will contradict itself a hundred times each day.
Created on Tue Jan 15 09:15:34 EST 2019 (updated Fri Jul 18 11:50:02 EDT 2025)

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.