A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: Part Three

by Holly Jackson
Pippa, a seventeen-year-old student, turns her town upside down when she starts investigating a murder case that everyone believed was solved five years ago.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part One, Part Two, Part Three
30 words 28 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. conjecture
    a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
    This project is no longer the hopeful conjecture it started as.
  2. outlier
    a person or thing that does not conform to a norm
    Jason Bell may seem like the outlier in this matter, BUT if he did kill Andie and had her phone, she probably had each of their numbers saved on it.
  3. proclivity
    a natural inclination
    “Although Miss Speller did say you have a proclivity for being the class clown.”
  4. venue
    the scene of any event or action
    Type: Have Your Say Meeting
    Date: Thursday, October 24, 2019
    Time: 12:00–1:00 p.m.
    Venue: Town Hall, Fairview
  5. invincible
    incapable of being overcome or subdued
    There wasn’t time to waste hating herself, asking why she hadn’t listened to the threats. Why she’d been stupid enough to think herself invincible.
  6. congeal
    solidify, thicken, or come together
    She moved fast, before the fear could congeal and paralyze her.
  7. laden
    filled with a great quantity
    Cara and Lauren came over at the end of the day, Cara laden with home-baked cookies.
  8. ream
    a large quantity of written matter
    They looked down together at the reams of paper on the carpet.
  9. fray
    wear away by rubbing
    Lines of red fraying string covered the board now, webbing and crisscrossing each other.
  10. penance
    voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for something
    "What if he...I don’t know, goes to the place where he buried Andie? Visiting her grave as some kind of penance?”
  11. concede
    admit or acknowledge, often reluctantly
    “Yeah, OK,” she conceded.
  12. colander
    bowl-shaped strainer used to wash or drain foods
    “Don’t think I don’t know my own daughter,” she said, washing mushrooms in the colander.
  13. inextricable
    incapable of being disentangled or untied
    “OK,” she said quietly, remembering then that Mr. Ward was an inextricable part of her application, too; he’d written one of her college recommendation letters.
  14. admonish
    scold or reprimand; take to task
    Through it she could hardly hear as Ant complained that tickets for the Ferris wheel had gone up to ten dollars or as Lauren admonished him, reminding him it was for charity.
  15. disinterested
    unaffected by concern for one's own welfare
    “Does your dad still go there?” Pip asked, making her voice flat and disinterested.
  16. stanch
    stop the flow of a liquid
    Mr. Ward nodded, staunching his eyes with the heels of his hands.
  17. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    She was so skinny and disheveled.
  18. undulate
    move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
    She told him how his brother had died, as they stood under shivering trees, lights undulating all around them.
  19. atonement
    the act of making amends for sin or wrongdoing
    Did he need to believe Andie hadn’t died as some kind of atonement for what he did to Sal?
  20. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    She looked gaunt and gray, her eyes glowing inside sunken shadows.
  21. furtive
    marked by quiet and caution and secrecy
    They sat in the living room, silently watching reruns of quiz shows, exchanging furtive looks over Josh’s head, the air bloated with a sad what-now tension.
  22. plait
    a hairdo formed by braiding or twisting the hair
    He gestured like a game-show host, and his mom smiled at Pip, her black hair in two loose plaits.
  23. vindicate
    clear of accusation, blame, or doubt with supporting proof
    “I’m sorry, we weren’t quite sure what you’re supposed to get for someone who’s helped vindicate your dead son.”
  24. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    But with half a second and a fleeting glance, Andie had found a way to suck her in again.
  25. subtle
    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    The differences weren’t only in form, it was in their tone. In the printed notes, Mr. Ward had called her “Pippa,” and the threats were subtle, implied.
  26. exonerated
    freed from any question of guilt
    There were just too many suspects still. And now that Elliot’s secrets were out and Sal was to be exonerated, would the killer be looking for revenge?
  27. imperceptible
    impossible or difficult to sense
    Becca’s nod was almost imperceptible.
  28. relegate
    assign to a lower position
    I am not the ‘prodigy student’ who found the truth for Andie Bell, keeping Sal Singh and his brother, Ravi, relegated to small sidenotes.
  29. negligent
    characterized by undue lack of attention or concern
    Becca Bell will face trial later this year for the charge of criminally negligent homicide, illegal disposal of a dead body, and tampering with evidence.
  30. cheeky
    offensively bold
    Sal was cheeky. And he had the most ridiculous laugh; you couldn’t help but join in.
Created on Wed Mar 09 09:35:25 EST 2022 (updated Fri Mar 18 10:51:29 EDT 2022)

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.