The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Chapters 6-12

by Mark Twain
Good-hearted but mischievous, Tom Sawyer can't keep himself out of trouble as he grows up in a small town on the Mississippi River. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1-5, Chapters 6-12, Chapters 13-21, Chapters 22-30, Chapters 31-36

Here are links to our lists for other works by Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, A Story Without an End, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. homage
    respectful deference
    He gathered quite a following of lads interested in the exhibition; and one that had cut his finger and had been a centre of fascination and homage up to this time, now found himself suddenly without an adherent, and shorn of his glory.
  2. pariah
    a person who is rejected from society or home
    Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn...
  3. foolhardy
    marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences
    The pupils wondered if this foolhardy boy had lost his mind.
  4. animosity
    a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility
    She thrust it away again, but with less animosity.
  5. manifest
    reveal its presence or make an appearance
    For a time the girl refused to notice; but her human curiosity presently began to manifest itself by hardly perceptible signs.
  6. upbraid
    express criticism towards
    So she sat down to cry again and upbraid herself; and by this time the scholars began to gather again, and she had to hide her griefs and still her broken heart and take up the cross of a long, dreary, aching afternoon, with none among the strangers about her to exchange sorrows with.
  7. zephyr
    a slight wind
    There was not even a zephyr stirring; the dead noonday heat had even stilled the songs of the birds; nature lay in a trance that was broken by no sound but the occasional far-off hammering of a wood-pecker, and this seemed to render the pervading silence and sense of loneliness the more profound.
  8. cogitate
    consider carefully and deeply
    Then he tossed the marble away pettishly, and stood cogitating.
  9. infallible
    incapable of failure or error
    The truth was, that a superstition of his had failed, here, which he and all his comrades had always looked upon as infallible.
  10. futility
    uselessness as a consequence of having no practical result
    He well knew the futility of trying to contend against witches, so he gave up discouraged.
  11. ensconce
    fix firmly
    They found the sharp new heap they were seeking, and ensconced themselves within the protection of three great elms that grew in a bunch within a few feet of the grave.
  12. lugubrious
    excessively mournful
    Presently a dog set up a long, lugubrious howl just outside — within ten feet of them.
  13. ostentatiously
    in a manner intended to attract notice and impress others
    The crowd fell apart, now, and the Sheriff came through, ostentatiously leading Potter by the arm.
  14. inveterate
    habitual
    She was an inveterate experimenter in these things.
  15. accost
    approach and speak to someone aggressively or insistently
    When Jeff arrived, Tom accosted him; and “led up” warily to opportunities for remark about Becky, but the giddy lad never could see the bait.
Created on Wed Feb 06 15:25:46 EST 2013 (updated Tue Aug 05 10:46:59 EDT 2025)

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