From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: Chapters 7-8

by E.L. Konigsburg
When Claudia Kincaid and her brother run away from home, they find themselves caught up in a mystery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Learn these words from E. L. Konigsburg's award-winning novel.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: To My Lawyer-Chapter 2, Chapters 3-4, Chapters 5-6, Chapters 7-8, Chapters 9-10
40 words 332 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. consult
    have a conference in order to talk something over
    When they left the museum on Monday morning, Claudia walked to the bus stop without even consulting Jamie.
  2. conference
    a discussion among participants who have an agreed topic
    He held a whispered conference with Claudia.
  3. urge
    push for something
    “Go ahead. Rent it,” she urged.
  4. scowl
    frown with displeasure
    Jamie scowled at Claudia.
  5. remark
    a statement that expresses a personal opinion
    The postman hardly looked puzzled. People working at the Grand Central Post Office grow used to strange remarks. They hear so many. They never stop hearing them; they simply stop sending the messages to their brains.
  6. shuffle
    walk by dragging one's feet
    As they approached the Egyptian wing, they heard the shuffling of feet and a sound they recognized as the folding of chairs and the gathering up of rubber mats.
  7. anxious
    eagerly desirous
    They weren’t anxious to hear the talk about mummies again; they never watched repeats on television, either.
  8. vacuum
    an empty area or space
    Claudia and Jamie were relaxed and waiting—wrapped up in the vacuum of time created by those warm stone walls.
  9. clamp
    impose or inflict forcefully
    She clamped her hand over his mouth as fast as she could.
  10. solemnly
    in a serious and dignified manner
    She looked at him solemnly and nodded yes.
  11. muzzle
    prevent from speaking out
    Why had Claudia muzzled him?
  12. suspect
    imagine to be the case or true or probable
    “If you do that, it’ll show that you have half a mind. Exactly half. Only half. Something I’ve suspected for a long time. You can’t even see that this is perfect.”
  13. effort
    use of physical or mental energy; hard work
    The product of their efforts this time looked only slightly grayer than it had the time before.
  14. considerable
    large in number, amount, extent, or degree
    Claudia’s sweater was considerably shrunken.
  15. resist
    withstand the force of something
    They knew that it was too early to get an answer to their letter, but they couldn’t resist starting down to Grand Central Post Office to take a look anyway.
  16. stroll
    walk leisurely and with no apparent aim
    They strolled along the streets and found themselves near the United Nations building.
  17. challenge
    issue a call to engage in a contest or fight
    Claudia challenged him to walk in and find out.
  18. abrasion
    an area where the skin is torn or worn off
    The boiler on the furnace broke. No heat. They had to dismiss school. You should have heard the explosion! All the windows rattled. We thought it was an earthquake. Fourteen kids got cuts and abrasions, and their parents are suing the school to pay for their medical expenses.
  19. topaz
    a mineral in crystals of various colors used as a gemstone
    Claudia looked at her guide’s skin and thought of smoky topaz: November, her mother’s birthstone.
  20. ordinary
    lacking special distinction, rank, or status
    When she was grown, she could stay the way she was and move to some place like India where no one dressed as she did, or she could dress like someone else—the Indian guide even—and still live in an ordinary place like Greenwich.
  21. heroine
    a woman who is impressive or shows extreme courage
    Claudia was prepared to be the discoverer of great truths, Greenwich’s own heroine of the statue—and only twelve years old.
  22. sincerely
    without pretense
    Dear Friends of the Museum:
    We sincerely thank you for your interest in trying to help us solve the mystery of the statue.
  23. attribute
    credit to
    We have long known of the clue you mention; in fact, that clue remains our strongest one in attributing this work to the master, Michelangelo Buonarroti.
  24. quarry
    extract from or as if from an excavation
    Other evidence, however, is necessary, for it is known that Michelangelo did not carve all the marble blocks which were quarried for him and which bore his mark.
  25. counterfeit
    make a copy of with the intent to deceive
    We cannot ignore the possibility that the work may have been done by someone else, or that someone counterfeited the mark into the stone much later.
  26. evidence
    means by which an alleged matter is established or disproved
    Our hope, of course, is to find evidence to support the first of these three possibilities.
  27. consensus
    agreement in the judgment reached by a group as a whole
    The problem of Angel has now become a matter for consensus.
  28. technique
    a practical method or art applied to some particular task
    Four Americans, two Englishmen, and one German, all of whom are experts on the techniques of Michelangelo have thus far examined the statue.
  29. opinion
    a personal belief or judgment
    After all of these experts have examined the statue, we will write a summary of their opinions which we will release to the press.
  30. disclose
    make known to the public information previously kept secret
    We greatly appreciate your interest and would enjoy your disclosing further clues to us if you find them.
  31. polite
    showing regard for others in manners, speech, behavior, etc.
    Claudia would have felt better if the letter had not been so polite.
  32. sarcastic
    expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds
    A nasty letter or a sarcastic one can make you righteously angry, but what can you do about a polite letter of rejection?
  33. rejection
    the act of turning something down
    A nasty letter or a sarcastic one can make you righteously angry, but what can you do about a polite letter of rejection?
  34. fidget
    move restlessly
    He sat there and fidgeted and counted the number of benches.
  35. calculate
    make a mathematical computation
    She still cried; he counted the number of people on the benches. She was still at it; he calculated the number of people per bench.
  36. accomplish
    achieve with effort
    She paused for a minute and repeated, “With nothing. We’ve accomplished nothing.”
    “We accomplished having fun,” Jamie suggested.
  37. plead
    appeal or request earnestly
    "C’mon,” he pleaded, “we’ll enjoy telling them about how we lived in the museum."
  38. lecture
    censure severely or angrily
    Jamie realized that she was not following, returned to her, and lectured, “You’re never satisfied, Claude. If you get all A’s, you wonder where are the pluses. You start out just running away, and you end up wanting to know everything."
  39. hunch
    an impression that something might be the case
    Can’t you see how badly I need to find out about Angel? I just have a hunch she’ll see us and that she knows.
  40. hail
    call for
    Without consulting Jamie she hailed a cab.
Created on Thu Sep 14 18:21:25 EDT 2017 (updated Thu Sep 21 09:49:39 EDT 2017)

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.