Life of Pi: Chapters 16–36

by Yann Martel
When a violent storm sinks the ship carrying his family from India to North America, Pi is trapped alone in a lifeboat with an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra, and a man-eating tiger named Richard Parker.

Here are links to our lists for the Booker Prize-winning novel: Chapters 1–15, Chapters 16–36, Chapters 37–53, Chapters 54–77, Chapters 78–100
15 words 1982 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. reverent
    showing great respect for god
    My hands naturally come together in reverent worship.
  2. manifest
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    Brahman saguna is Brahman made manifest to our limited senses, Brahman expressed not only in gods but in humans, animals, trees, in a handful of earth, for everything has a trace of the divine in it.
  3. nominally
    in name only
    Despite attending a nominally Christian school, I had not yet been inside a church — and I wasn’t about to dare the deed now.
  4. vestibule
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    One priest was working in his office, his back turned to the bay windows, while the other was seated on a bench at a round table in the large vestibule that evidently functioned as a room for receiving visitors.
  5. adversity
    a stroke of ill fortune; a calamitous event
    That a god should put up with adversity, I could understand. The gods of Hinduism face their fair share of thieves, bullies, kidnappers and usurpers. What is the Ramayana but the account of one long, bad day for Rama?
  6. tantamount
    being essentially equal to something
    It was wrong of this Christian God to let His avatar die. That is tantamount to letting a part of Himself die.
  7. bemused
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements
    Yes, it was all forcefully brought to the attention of my bemused parents. You see, they didn’t know. They didn’t know that I was a practising Hindu, Christian and Muslim.
  8. secular
    not concerned with or devoted to religion
    Father saw himself as part of the New India — rich, modern and as secular as ice cream. He didn’t have a religious bone in his body.
  9. overarching
    including, affecting, or dominating everything
    He was a businessman, pronounced busynessman in his case, a hardworking, earthbound professional, more concerned with inbreeding among the lions than any overarching moral or existential scheme.
  10. askance
    with suspicion or disapproval
    The priest looked askance at both of them. “Piscine,” he nearly whispered, “there is salvation only in Jesus.”
  11. apoplectic
    marked by extreme anger
    Three apoplectic faces turned to him.
  12. chagrin
    a feeling of annoyance or distress due to disappointment or failure
    A zoo is a cultural institution. Like a public library, like a museum, it is at the service of popular education and science. And by this token, not much of a money-making venture, for the Greater Good and the Greater Profit are not compatible aims, much to Father’s chagrin.
  13. precarious
    not secure; beset with difficulties
    The life of a zoo, like the life of its inhabitants in the wild, is precarious. It is neither big enough a business to be above the law nor small enough to survive on its margins.
  14. plausible
    apparently reasonable, valid, or truthful
    There's a man next to the minister, with horn-rimmed glasses and hair very cleanly combed. He looks like a plausible Mr. Patel, face rounder than his son’s.
  15. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    I can see her in my mind, but it's fleeting. As soon as I try to have a good look at her, she fades.
Created on Thu Nov 08 22:39:37 EST 2012 (updated Fri Sep 12 12:15:56 EDT 2025)

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