The Kite Runner: Chapters 1–4

by Khaled Hosseini
Set in Afghanistan during a time of political and social upheaval, this novel traces the decades-long friendship of two boys from different social classes.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–7, Chapters 8–12, Chapters 13–19, Chapters 20–25
15 words 11332 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. affluent
    having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value
    Everyone agreed that my father, my Baba, had built the most beautiful house in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, a new and affluent neighborhood in the northern part of Kabul.
  2. extravagant
    recklessly wasteful
    The curved wall led into the dining room, at the center of which was a mahogany table that could easily sit thirty guests—and, given my father’s taste for extravagant parties, it did just that almost every week.
  3. sallow
    unhealthy looking
    But polio had left Ali with a twisted, atrophied right leg that was sallow skin over bone with little in between except a paper-thin layer of muscle.
  4. garrulous
    full of trivial conversation
    As confided to a neighbor’s servant by the garrulous midwife, who had then in turn told anyone who would listen, Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali’s arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter.
  5. furtive
    secret and sly
    They would leave with the bag tucked out of sight, sometimes drawing furtive, disapproving glances from those who knew about the store’s reputation for such transactions.
  6. liability
    something that holds you back
    He signed me up for soccer teams to stir the same passion in me. But I was pathetic, a blundering liability to my own team, always in the way of an opportune pass or unwittingly blocking an open lane.
  7. melee
    a noisy riotous fight
    His body was tossed and hurled in the stampede like a rag doll, finally rolling to a stop when the melee moved on.
  8. contrite
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    The police brought the somewhat contrite young men and the dead couple’s five-year-old orphan boy before my grandfather, who was a highly regarded judge and a man of impeccable reputation.
  9. impeccable
    without error or flaw
    The police brought the somewhat contrite young men and the dead couple’s five-year-old orphan boy before my grandfather, who was a highly regarded judge and a man of impeccable reputation.
  10. vehemently
    in a forceful manner
    Their father argued, but not too vehemently, and in the end, everyone agreed that the punishment had been perhaps harsh but fair.
  11. illiteracy
    an inability to read
    But despite his illiteracy, or maybe because of it, Hassan was drawn to the mystery of words, seduced by a secret world forbidden to him.
  12. amends
    something done or paid to make up for a wrong
    So I’d try to make up for it by giving him one of my old shirts or a broken toy. I would tell myself that was amends enough for a harmless prank.
  13. nemesis
    a personal foe or rival that cannot be easily defeated
    Rostam mortally wounds his valiant nemesis, Sohrab, in battle, only to discover that Sohrab is his long-lost son.
  14. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    I pretended I was reading from the book, flipping pages regularly, but I had abandoned the text altogether, taken over the story, and made up my own. Hassan, of course, was oblivious to this.
  15. feigned
    not genuine
    Baba nodded and gave a thin smile that conveyed little more than feigned interest.
Created on Tue May 14 13:10:36 EDT 2013 (updated Fri Aug 08 11:11:25 EDT 2025)

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.