Impossible Creatures: List 3

by Katherine Rundell
Two kids — Mal and Christopher — unite to save the magical islands of the Archipelago, full of mythical creatures. On the way, each learns who they are and their destiny in life.

This list covers vocabulary from "Repair"—"Four Riddles."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
15 words 96 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. eccentric
    a person with an unusual or odd personality
    Christopher was named after his Scottish great-great-grandfather: an old eccentric who was said to have spent all his time outside, atop a hill. A man who must, he realized with a jolt, have been a guardian of the waybetween.
  2. prophetic
    foretelling events as if by supernatural intervention
    “Is Mal your whole name then? Or is it short for, I don’t know…Mallory? Malinda?”
    She laughed. “No! Is Mallory a name? It’s short for Malum. My great-aunt used to say it was prophetic. Because it means ‘mischief.’
  3. daunting
    discouraging through fear
    Her look was daunting; wry and flinty and knowing. It was unreadable: not an easy face to be in company with.
  4. bedraggled
    limp, untidy, and soiled
    The map was safely stowed in his pocket, wet and bedraggled but still readable.
  5. pirouette
    a rapid spin of the body
    As they watched, two more great boars came clumping down to the seashore, each ridden by a child of about ten. One stood up on the twrch tryth’s back and did a pirouette, her hair whipping around her head.
  6. voluble
    marked by a ready flow of speech
    She was in a voluble, exclamatory mood. “We’ll see it together!”
  7. marauder
    someone who attacks in search of loot
    “You can rowboat in. I shall guard the ship. If marauders come, I shall eats them.”
  8. impassive
    having or revealing little emotion or sensibility
    “Mal will ride on my back,” said Nighthand. He turned to the wall with a face impassive as granite.
  9. contemplate
    consider as a possibility
    He climbed with the confidence and speed of what he was: a person who has never once in his life contemplated the idea of falling.
  10. leonine
    of or characteristic of or resembling a lion
    What Christopher might have said in reply will never be known, because there was a noise among the small, wind-stunted trees on the clifftop, and out onto the rocky stretch of ground came a creature that silenced him completely. It was vast. Its body was leonine, deep yellow, with paws as large as Christopher’s torso.
  11. staccato
    marked by or composed of disconnected parts or sounds
    “We ask riddles for two reasons.” The sphinx’s voice was strangely staccato, as if human language were not the tongue it was used to, but its English was perfect.
  12. inundate
    overwhelm or fill quickly beyond capacity
    “We would be swamped by visitors — inundated with seekers after trivial knowledge that they could have found for themselves. The risk of death” — and its long tongue came out and licked the top of its nose — “whittles down the numbers.”
  13. bifurcated
    divided into or made up of two parts
    She ran her hand along a diagram gouged into the stone: a planet, bifurcated.
  14. scrutiny
    a prolonged intense look
    She looked them over. The scrutiny was like being bitten: it made Christopher feel something had got into his skin.
  15. dissent
    the act of protesting
    There was a murmur of dissent from the sphinxes behind her, and she flicked her tail in a quick whip of frustration, and they quietened.
Created on Thu May 29 21:47:45 EDT 2025 (updated Tue Sep 30 20:09:26 EDT 2025)

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