12th Grade Spelling Words With Definition

Grade 12: With Definition - 6

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 Grade 12: With Definition - 6
mirespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. cause to sink or become stuck in; hinder, entrap, or entangle
He was obliged to walk upon bog tufts and watch his feet to keep from the oily mire.
The Red Badge of Courage By Stephen Crane
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 7
And immediately after the shot it splashed heavily with its white breast on the wet mire.
Anna Karenina(V2) By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 6: Chapter 12
He was exhausted, and felt it a great effort to drag his staggering legs out of the mire, and for a minute he hesitated.
Anna Karenina(V2) By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 6: Chapter 10
misconceptionspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. mistaken thought, idea, or notion; erroneous conception; false opinion
So I take advantage of this short halt, while Gatsby, so to speak, caught his breath, to clear this set of misconceptions away.
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 6
Not a grain of anger with them was in his heart; he knew them, far below their surface weaknesses and misconceptions, as no one but their fellow-labourer could.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: CHAPTER IV
'We wished Mr. Copperfield to be accompanied by some confidential friend today,' with an inclination of her head towards Traddles, who bowed, 'in order that there might be no doubt or misconception on this subject.'
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 41. DORA'S AUNTS
momentumspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. product of a body's mass and its velocity; impelling force or strength; impetus
It was too late, however, for we were rapidly gathering momentum, and an instant later had shot clear of the station.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In XII. The Adventure of The Final Problem
morbidspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. caused by disease; pathological or diseased; unhealthy or unwholesome
She felt a morbid desire to ascertain the point.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Context  Highlight   In XV. HESTER AND PEARL
One of his darkest miseries in the unhealthy morbid past days had been his hatred of being a sickly weak-backed boy whose father was afraid to look at him.
The Secret Garden By Frances Hodgson Burnett
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXIII
Shut in and morbid as his life had been, Colin had more imagination than she had and at least he had spent a good deal of time looking at wonderful books and pictures.
The Secret Garden By Frances Hodgson Burnett
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XX
mutationspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. change; alteration, either in form or qualities.
mysticalspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding
The mystical Om-Om-Om of the dynamos in the electric-light plant behind the mill was louder in the darkness.
Main Street By Sinclair Lewis
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXIX
Human or animal, the mystical brow is as that great golden seal affixed by the German Emperors to their decrees.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 79. The Prairie.
All these circumstances, so natural and so trivial, were gravely listened to as proofs, or, at least, as affording strong suspicions that Rebecca had unlawful correspondence with mystical powers.
Ivanhoe By Walter Scott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXVII
narcoticspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. addictive drug, such as opium, that reduces pain, alters mood and behavior; inducing sleep
The drought which Reuben administered was of a sedative and narcotic quality, and secured the patient sound and undisturbed slumbers.
Ivanhoe By Walter Scott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXVIII
Yet his presence, his manners, the warmth of his glances, and above all the touch of his lips upon her hand had acted like a narcotic upon her.
The Awakening By Kate Chopin
Context  Highlight   In XXV
Monte Cristo for some time kept his eyes fixed on the young girl, who gradually fell asleep, yielding to the effects of the narcotic the count had given her.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 101. Locusta.
narratespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. to give an account or tell the story of
In the event of your acceding to my request it is probable that I shall have to narrate them to you.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In XI. The Adventure of The Naval Treaty
But, before I proceed to narrate it, and before I pass on to all the changes it involved, I must give one chapter to Estella.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter XXXVII
It made a great impression on me, and I remembered it a long time afterwards; as I shall have occasion to narrate when the time comes.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 16. I AM A NEW BOY IN MORE SENSES THAN ONE
necessitatespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. make necessary or indispensable; render unavoidable
It looked as if the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate very prompt and energetic measures on my part.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In I. A Scandal in Bohemia
But what plays the mischief with this masterly code is the admirable brevity of it, which necessitates a vast volume of commentaries to expound it.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish.
That disadvantage is not diminished, when that pressure necessitates the drawing of stipendiary emoluments, before those emoluments are strictly due and payable.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 39. WICKFIELD AND HEEP
nefariousspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. very wicked; infamous by being extremely wicked
negotiatespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. discuss the terms of an arrangement
Morrel now tried to negotiate bills at ninety days only, and none of the banks would give him credit.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 30. The Fifth of September.
In order to negotiate with him they have to get an interpreter, and they pitch upon this Mr. Melas, having used some other one before.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In X. The Adventure of The Greek Interpreter
Even this arrangement was not effected without considerable negotiation, for Mme.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: Chapter 10
neuralspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. of or relating to neurons; relating to a nerve or the nervous system
nucleusspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. central or essential part around which other parts are gathered or grouped; core
That would make three of us for a nucleus.
Main Street By Sinclair Lewis
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXVIII
Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE
It was the last asset in their fortunes, the nucleus around which their life was to be rebuilt.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: Chapter 3
obituaryspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. death notice; list of dead
obliquespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. having slanting or sloping direction, course, or position; inclined
A small window shot an oblique square of whiter light upon the cluttered floor.
The Red Badge of Courage By Stephen Crane
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 1
The oblique band of sunlight which followed her through the door became the young wife well.
Return of the Native By Thomas Hardy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 3: 6 Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete
I recognized by the oblique feet that it was some extinct creature after the fashion of the Megatherium.
The Time Machine By H. G. Wells
Context  Highlight   In VIII
oblivionspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. condition or quality of being completely forgotten; official overlooking of offenses; amnesty
There had been a period of repose, and he had sunk into oblivion.
Anna Karenina(V3) By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 7: Chapter 15
Tom appeared from his oblivion as we were sitting down to supper together.
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 6
She must shut them out for a few hours; she must take a brief bath of oblivion.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: Chapter 13
obnoxiousspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. causing disapproval or protest; very annoying or objectionable; offensive
We swept on, and I felt that I was highly obnoxious to Camilla.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter XI
Victor thought there would be more logic in thus disposing of old people with an established claim for making themselves universally obnoxious.
The Awakening By Kate Chopin
Context  Highlight   In XV
He was a Turkish merchant and had inhabited Paris for many years, when, for some reason which I could not learn, he became obnoxious to the government.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 14
obscenespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. offensive to accepted standards of decency or modesty; repulsive; disgusting
They became sodden, stupid, ugly or obscene.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XLIX
Ravished by dead words become obscene, and dead ideas become obsessions.
Lady Chatterley's Lover By D H Lawrence
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 8
Before they got her story she had five more minutes of obscene wallowing.
Main Street By Sinclair Lewis
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXII
obtusespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. lacking in insight or discernment; stupid
When he arrives he will be met by the obtuse but resolute Lestrade, and I have no doubt that we shall have all our details filled in.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In II. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
She liked their elegance, their lightness, their lack of emphasis: even the self-assurance which at times was so like obtuseness now seemed the natural sign of social ascendency.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: Chapter 4
"I have been very obtuse, Watson," said he.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In IV. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SOLITARY CYCLIST
opaquespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. impenetrable by light; not transparent; not reflecting light; having no luster
Kennicott was as opaque as ever.
Main Street By Sinclair Lewis
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXIII
The water was opaque over the mud.
Between the Acts (1941) By Virginia Woolf
Context  Highlight   In Unit 12
Her body was going meaningless, going dull and opaque, so much insignificant substance.
Lady Chatterley's Lover By D H Lawrence
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 7
opticsspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. the branch of physics that studies the physical properties of ligh; optical properties
At the time I will confess that I thought chiefly of the Philosophical Transactions and my own seventeen papers upon physical optics.
The Time Machine By H. G. Wells
Context  Highlight   In VIII
Yet those same bleared optics had a strange, penetrating power, when it was their owner's purpose to read the human soul.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Context  Highlight   In II. THE MARKET-PLACE
opulentspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. rich and superior in quality
He waved his whip in the direction of the Bellomont acres, which lay outspread before them in opulent undulations.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: Chapter 7
Yet, in spite of this, nowhere in all America will you find more patrician-like houses; parks and gardens more opulent, than in New Bedford.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 6. The Street.
Of two brothers, very similar in temperament and character, one had settled on a flourishing farm in Vermont, and the other became an opulent planter in Louisiana.
Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XV
oratoryspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. place of orisons, or prayer; chapel or small room set apart for private devotions
In fact, Sam considered oratory as his vocation, and never let slip an opportunity of magnifying his office.
Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VIII
Having made this well-turned speech, Villefort looked carefully around to mark the effect of his oratory, much as he would have done had he been addressing the bench in open court.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 6. The Deputy Procureur du Roi.
ordinancespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. decree; authoritative command or order
accordance with the laws, ordinances, and regulations of the.
The Jungle By Upton Sinclair
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 9
"There is no law, nor reverence for authority, no regard for human ordinances or opinions, right or wrong, mixed up with that child's composition," remarked he, as much to himself as to his companion.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Context  Highlight   In X. THE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT
organicspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. simple and healthful and close to nature
There was no organic connexion with the thought and expression that had gone before.
Lady Chatterley's Lover By D H Lawrence
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 2
But it took some getting at, the core of the physical jungle, the last and deepest recess of organic shame.
Lady Chatterley's Lover By D H Lawrence
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 16
I went up to my London rooms, where I spent seven weeks working out a few experiments in organic chemistry.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In V. The Adventure of The "Gloria Scott"
organismspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. living being; system considered analogous in structure or function to a living body
Even an organism is bourgeois: so the ideal must be mechanical.
Lady Chatterley's Lover By D H Lawrence
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 4
They did it as a standing horse paws with his foot, or as a man enjoys killing animals in sport: because ancient and departed necessities had impressed it on the organism.
The Time Machine By H. G. Wells
Context  Highlight   In VII
Inherited tendencies had combined with early training to make her the highly specialized product she was: an organism as helpless out of its narrow range as the sea-anemone torn from the rock.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: Chapter 11
overturespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. an opening or aperture; recess; introductory section or part, as of a poem
He resolved, therefore, to let things take their course without making any direct overture to the count.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 35. La Mazzolata.
There was an ominous, clanging overture to the charge when the shafts of the bayonets rattled upon the rifle barrels.
The Red Badge of Courage By Stephen Crane
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 23
Tom watched the little lady a great deal, before he ventured on any overtures towards acquaintanceship.
Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XIV
pacifyspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. ease anger or agitation of; make calm or quiet; end war or violence
To pacify Mary, and perhaps screen her own embarrassment, Anne did move quietly to the window.
Persuasion By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 22
Meantime, Teta Elzbieta would go and beg, over in the Hyde Park district, and the children would bring home enough to pacify Aniele, and keep them all alive.
The Jungle By Upton Sinclair
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 20
Sir Henry had to assure him that it was not so and pacify him by giving him a considerable part of his old wardrobe, the London outfit having now all arrived.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 8. First Report of Dr. Watson
panoramaspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. complete view in every direction.
or whom he could hold entranced before a ledge of granite thrusting up through the fern while he unrolled the huge panorama of the ice age, and the long dim stretches of succeeding time.
Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In I
parryspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing
Such was the address of each in parrying and striking, that the spectators broke forth into a unanimous and involuntary shout, expressive of their delight and admiration.
Ivanhoe By Walter Scott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XII
"Then give me water," cried Danglars, endeavoring to parry the blow.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 116. The Pardon.
parsespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. analyze syntactically by assigning a constituent structure to a sentence
The earnest virgins were, she fancied, as likely to do harm as to do good by their faith in the value of parsing Caesar.
Main Street By Sinclair Lewis
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER I
passivespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. lacking in energy or will; peacefully resistant in response to injustice
She really was both innocent and corrupt, but a sweet and passive woman.
Anna Karenina(V1) By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 3: Chapter 18
And Levin had been struck by the passive, weary incredulity with which the children heard what their mother said to them.
Anna Karenina(V3) By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 8: Chapter 13
He sat still and passive, his head resting against the back of the wooden rocking-chair, his hands relaxed upon the arms.
My Antonia By Willa Cather
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1. The Shimerdas: XII
patronspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. a person who gives financial or other support to people or activity; regular customer
I have found out who my patron is.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter XLIV
His being my lawyer, and his being the lawyer of your patron is a coincidence.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter XLIV
He is not my private friend and public patron, as Steerforth was, but I hold him in a reverential respect.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 18. A RETROSPECT
pensivespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. deeply, often dreamily thoughtful; engaged in serious thought or reflection; contemplative
Ned, getting sentimental, warbled a serenade with the pensive refrain.
Little Women By Louisa May Alcott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER TWELVE
He felt as if suddenly shaken out of a pensive dream and found it impossible to go to sleep again.
Little Women By Louisa May Alcott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The Countess Lidia Ivanovna was a tall, stout woman, with an unhealthily sallow face and splendid, pensive black eyes.
Anna Karenina(V1) By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 1: Chapter 32
permeatespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. spread or flow throughout; pervade
He was not temporarily overlaid with the colour; it permeated him.
Return of the Native By Thomas Hardy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: 2 Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble
He was permeated with its scenes, with its substance, and with its odours.
Return of the Native By Thomas Hardy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 3: 2 The New Course Causes Disappointment
Morrel, overpowered, turned around in the arm-chair; a delicious torpor permeated every vein.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 117. The Fifth of October.
personagespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. form, appearance, or belongings of a person; external appearance, stature, figure, air
He appeared a taciturn, and perhaps a proud personage; but he was very kind to me.
Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXII
To Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner he was scarcely a less interesting personage than to herself.
Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 44
It was a seaman, quite a little personage, so little as if he were a midshipman; but a midshipman it was not.
Andersen's Fairy Tales By Hans Christian Andersen
Context  Highlight   In THE DREAM OF LITTLE TUK
perspectivespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. appearance of things; view, outlook, or vista
An open door afforded a perspective view of the Aged in bed.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter XLV
As I could obtain a perspective view of Mr. Omer inside, smoking his pipe by the parlour door, I entered, and asked him how he was.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 30. A LOSS
The Aged must have been stirring with the lark, for, glancing into the perspective of his bedroom, I observed that his bed was empty.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter LV
pertinentspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. having precise or logical relevance; pertaining or relating
Mrs. Charpentier blushed at my pertinent question.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In PART I: CHAPTER VI. TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO
Nor did the scout fail to throw in a pertinent inquiry, whenever a fitting occasion presented.
The Last of the Mohicans By James Fenimore Cooper
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 22
The pertinence of the question checked Selden's fugitive impulse before the train had started.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: Chapter 1
pervasivespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. pervading; spread throughout every part
Its tone was indeed solemn and pervasive.
Return of the Native By Thomas Hardy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: 9 Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy
Now, by a subtle pervasion of the new spirit, he had somehow been pushed out.
Lady Chatterley's Lover By D H Lawrence
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 11
pessimisticspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. expecting the worst possible outcome
Of this he was very proud, and it made him more disposed than ever to laugh at the pessimists.
The Jungle By Upton Sinclair
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 2
I've gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things.
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 1
phenomenalspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. exceedingly or unbelievably great
He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In XII. The Adventure of The Final Problem
The Afro-American citizens of Kentucky, whose intellectual and financial improvement has been phenomenal, have never had a separate car law until now.
Southern Horrors By Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Context  Highlight   In VII
pictorialspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. evoking lifelike images within the mind; pertaining to or consisting of pictures
It may be that the primal source of all those pictorial delusions will be found among the oldest Hindoo, Egyptian, and Grecian sculptures.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 55. Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales.
pigmentspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. substance used as coloring; dry coloring matter
They were the only parts of his face that showed any life or expression, the pigment upon it was so thick.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 3: CHAPTER VI
Since the introduction of railways Wessex farmers have managed to do without these Mephistophelian visitants, and the bright pigment so largely used by shepherds in preparing sheep for the fair is obtained by other routes.
Return of the Native By Thomas Hardy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: 9 Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy
Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP
pilgrimagespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. a journey to a sacred place
They saw more rooms and made more discoveries than Mary had made on her first pilgrimage.
The Secret Garden By Frances Hodgson Burnett
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXV
I would have made a pilgrimage to the highest peak of the Andes, could I when there have precipitated him to their base.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 9
The spirits that guarded me had provided these moments, or rather hours, of happiness that I might retain strength to fulfil my pilgrimage.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 24
pinnaclespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. peak; tall pointed formation, such as mountain peak
I will hang thee out to feed the ravens, from the very pinnacle of thine own castle.
Ivanhoe By Walter Scott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XL
The moon was low upon the right, and the jagged pinnacle of a granite tor stood up against the lower curve of its silver disc.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By A. Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 9. The Light upon the Moor [Second Report of Dr. ...
He felt himself on a pinnacle that made him giddy, and far away down below were all those nice excellent Karenins, Oblonskys, and all the world.
Anna Karenina(V2) By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 4: Chapter 9
piteousspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. deserving or inciting pity; causing feelings of sympathy
Immediately they heard a loud, piteous cry.
Grimms' Fairy Tales By The Brothers Grimm
Context  Highlight   In SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED
Those pictures of glory were piteous things.
The Red Badge of Courage By Stephen Crane
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 11
It was most piteous, that last expiring spout.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 81. The Pequod Meets The Virgin.
plebeianspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. crude or coarse; unrefined or coarse in nature or manner; common or vulgar
Villefort, as we have seen, belonged to the aristocratic party at Marseilles, Morrel to the plebeian; the first was a royalist, the other suspected of Bonapartism.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 7. The Examination.
I smiled as I unfolded it, and devised how I would tease you about your aristocratic tastes, and your efforts to masque your plebeian bride in the attributes of a peeress.
Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXV
He was dressed in a common gray blouse and velvet cap, but his carefully arranged hair, beard and mustache, all of the richest and glossiest black, ill accorded with his plebeian attire.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 51. Pyramus and Thisbe.
pliablespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. flexible; yielding; easily bent or shaped
Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is less easy to break than a stiff one.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: Chapter 3
They all loved her but they thought her the sweetest, most pliable of young women, deferential to her elders and without any opinions of her own.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XLIX
But Scarlett intended to marry--and marry Ashley--and she was willing to appear demure, pliable and scatterbrained, if those were the qualities that attracted men.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER III
populatespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. inhabit or live in; be an inhabitant of; fill with inhabitants
To make matters worse, a vague distrust of those in high places had begun to creep over the civilian population.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XVI
The wives and families of the Yankee garrison, filled with curiosity about the South after four years of war, came to swell the population.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXVII
I followed, when I could, the courses of the rivers; but the daemon generally avoided these, as it was here that the population of the country chiefly collected.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 24
portalspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. a grand and imposing entrance; a short vein that carries blood into the liver
A sudden thought came into my head as I stooped towards the portal.
The Time Machine By H. G. Wells
Context  Highlight   In X
Suddenly little Gerda stepped through the great portal into the palace.
Andersen's Fairy Tales By Hans Christian Andersen
Context  Highlight   In THE SNOW QUEEN
The trees about the portal of the chapel moved soughingly in a soft wind.
The Red Badge of Courage By Stephen Crane
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 7
portlyspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. inoffensive expression of fat; stout
He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET
Mr. Bumble emerged at early morning from the workhouse-gate, and walked with portly carriage and commanding steps, up the High Street.
Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XVII
In the length he attains, and in his baleen, the Fin-back resembles the right whale, but is of a less portly girth, and a lighter colour, approaching to olive.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 32. Cetology.
preceptspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. rule or principle prescribing particular action or conduct; authorized direction or order
How much of the practice I have just reduced to precept, I owe to Agnes, I will not repeat here.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 42. MISCHIEF
The applicability or non-applicability of the Christian precept to his own case was too difficult a question to be discussed lightly, and this question had long ago been answered by Alexey Alexandrovitch in the negative.
Anna Karenina(V2) By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 4: Chapter 17
I am simply applying to ordinary life a few of those precepts of observation and deduction which I advocated in that article.
A Study In Scarlet By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In PART I: CHAPTER IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL
precinctspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. district or division of city; place or enclosure by definite limits
Trainloads of negroes had been rushed from town to town, voting at every precinct along the way.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XLVII
There was a young olive growing within the precincts of the house, in full vigour, and about as thick as a bearing-post.
The Odyssey By Homer
Context  Highlight   In BOOK XXIII
Standing, for the most part, on the hallowed precincts of the quarter-deck, they were careful not to speak or rustle their feet.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 43. Hark!
pregnantspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. expecting a baby; carrying within the body or being about to produce new life
No lady ever showed herself when she was pregnant.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXVIII
She looked worse than any pregnant woman she had ever seen.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XX
Scarlett had wept with despair at the knowledge that she was pregnant and wished that she were dead.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VII
preludespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. introduction; forerunner; preliminary or preface
The audience felt that a startling revelation was to follow this ominous prelude.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 110. The Indictment.
Little did I think that this would be the prelude to the most crushing misfortune of my life.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In V. THE ADVENTURE OF THE PRIORY SCHOOL
I had already been out many hours and felt the torment of a burning thirst, a prelude to my other sufferings.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 20
preoccupyspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance
He was sober and quiet and preoccupied.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER LVIII
Firstly, my mind was too preoccupied to be able to take in the subject clearly.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter LV
Ellen was thin and preoccupied now and on her feet from morning until long after the plantation was asleep.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XII
prestigespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. impression produced by achievements or reputation; recognized distinction or importance
Not even at the present day has the original prestige of the Sperm Whale, as fearfully distinguished from all other species of the leviathan, died out of the minds of the whalemen as a body.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 41. Moby Dick.
Ethan was aware that, in regard to the important question of surgical intervention, the female opinion of the neighbourhood was divided, some glorying in the prestige conferred by operations while others shunned them as indelicate.
Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In VII
Even the blockade had added to Atlanta's prestige.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XVI
professspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
v. state freely; practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be knowledgeable about; confess one's faith in, or allegiance to
Well; all sorts of humbugs profess morality.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: CHAPTER X
But, in return, your sister must allow me to feel no more than I profess.
Sense and Sensibility By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 18
Confiding in you at all, on the faith of the interest you profess for him, I will not do so by halves.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: CHAPTER VII
proficientspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. skilled; expert; having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude
If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient.
Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 31
You are aware that I have some proficiency in the good old British sport of boxing.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In IV. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SOLITARY CYCLIST
My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency that of the masters.
Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 4
progressionspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. sequence; act of moving forward toward a goal
He did not sleep the whole night, and his fury, growing in a sort of vast, arithmetical progression, reached its highest limits in the morning.
Anna Karenina(V2) By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 4: Chapter 4
First, when used as a fin for progression; Second, when used as a mace in battle; Third, in sweeping; Fourth, in lobtailing; Fifth, in peaking flukes.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 86. The Tail.
Wildeve forgot the loss of the money at the sight of his lost love, whose preciousness in his eyes was increasing in geometrical progression with each new incident that reminded him of their hopeless division.
Return of the Native By Thomas Hardy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 3: 8 A New Force Disturbs the Current
prophylacticspeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
a. defending or protecting from disease or infection
prosespeak speak spelling word quiz spelling 
n. essay; ordinary speech or writing; commonplace expression or quality
But let me observe that all histories are against you--all stories, prose and verse.
Persuasion By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 23
Yet, though quarter-staff play be out of date, what we can in prose we will do for these bold champions.
Ivanhoe By Walter Scott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XI
I counted up to high numbers, to make sure of myself, and repeated passages that I knew in prose and verse.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter LIII