The Knife of Never Letting Go: Parts IV–V

by Patrick Ness
Growing up in the extraterrestrial settlement of Prentisstown, Todd has always been taught that the virus that allows the men of his town to hear each other's thoughts is the same disease that killed the colony's girls and women. When Todd makes a discovery that endangers his safety, he flees his town and encounters a strange girl, Viola. Together they attempt to discover the truth about Prentisstown — while fighting for their lives.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Parts I–II, Part III, Parts IV-V, Part VI

Here is a link to our lists for A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.
40 words 124 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. grim
    harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
    The men marching don’t look none too happy, I spose. Grim and cold and scary in a different way from Mr. Hammar, like they’re lacking all feeling.
  2. canter
    a smooth three-beat gait
    Mayor Prentiss, not even holding a gun, just one hand on his horse’s reins, the other at his side, riding into town like he’s out for an evening canter.
  3. rout
    an overwhelming defeat
    He’s watching the rout of Farbranch as if it was a vid and not a very interesting one at that, letting everyone else do the work but so obviously in charge no one would even think of asking him to break a sweat.
  4. spiteful
    showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt
    I’m tired and it’s late and we’re running again and she’s right, ain’t she? There’s nothing but spitefulness that’ll argue she’s wrong.
  5. groggy
    stunned or confused and slow to react
    I’m on my feet before I’m fully awake, quieting Viola and a groggy Manchee barking his complaints.
  6. subsistence
    minimal resources for survival
    “Going by a regular schedule of settlement, subsistence farming should be years over by now. And there’s obviously trade, so why is there still this much struggle?”
  7. seethe
    be in an agitated emotional state
    “That’s seven months from now,” I seethe at her. “You’ll have plenty of time to see how the other half live.”
  8. legion
    a vast multitude
    It’s weird, Noise, but almost wordless, cresting the hill in front of us and rolling down, single-minded but talking in legions, like a thousand voices singing the same thing.
  9. vein
    a layer of ore between layers of rock
    We reach the top of the hill and another plain unrolls below us, the river tumbling down to meet it and then running thru it like a vein of silver thru a rock and all over the plain, walking their way from one side of the river to the other, are creachers.
  10. unravel
    disentangle
    “Hiya, Wilf,” Viola says and her voice ain’t her own, ain’t her own at all, there’s a whole new voice coming outta her mouth, stretching and shortening itself, twisting and unraveling and the more she talks the more different she sounds.
  11. muzzle
    forward projecting part of the head of certain animals
    I hop off the cart and sweep him up in my arms, putting one hand round his muzzle and using the other to get back on the cart.
  12. tentative
    hesitant or lacking confidence; unsettled in mind or opinion
    “Can you do my voice?” I ask, kinda tentative.
  13. snare
    a trap for birds or small mammals; often has a slip noose
    “Not if yer a good hunter. Rabbits are easy with snares. Fish with lines. You can catch squirrels with yer knife but there ain’t much meat.”
  14. leer
    look suggestively or obliquely
    “You know what my father always says, Todd Hewitt?” he leers up at me.
  15. wield
    handle effectively
    “He says a knife is only as good as the one who wields it.”
  16. skewed
    having an oblique or slanting direction or position
    No words come out clear, just pictures, skewed up strange and with all the wrong colors, but pictures of me and Viola standing in front of him, looking shocked.
  17. keen
    express grief verbally
    I step toward him and he tries to crawl away but I grab him by his long white ankle and drag him off the rocks back onto the ground and he’s making this horrible keening sound and I ready my knife.
  18. indistinct
    not clearly defined or easy to perceive or understand
    My own Noise is so filled with junk and horror that it’s hard to hear clearly and the rain is still falling, heavy as ever, and I take a stupid moment to wonder if we’ll ever get dry again and then I hear it, murmuring and indistinct in the trees, impossible to pin down but definitely out there.
  19. stifle
    smother or suppress
    I stifle another cough and a horror feeling spreads out from my gut into the rest of me.
  20. ebb
    fall away or decline
    I cough a little in my throat, trying not to move any muscle at all, failing at it and surviving the pain till it ebbs as far as it’s gonna and then I work on making my mouth move without killing me.
  21. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    I loop Viola’s bag as gingerly as I can over one shoulder.
  22. gristly
    difficult to chew
    Manchee jumps out with a waxy squirrel drooping in his mouth, bigger and browner than the ones from the swamp. He drops it on the ground in front of me, a gristly, bloody plop, and I ain’t so hungry no more.
  23. register
    be aware of
    I come down to the bottom of a low hill and scare my way thru a whole herd of what look like deer but their horns are all different than the deer I know from Prentisstown and anyway they’re off flying thru the trees away from me and a barking Manchee before I hardly register they’re even there.
  24. fusty
    stale and unclean smelling
    I can hear my own Noise spreading out into the world, hot and fusty, like the sweat that keeps pouring down my sides, and I try to keep it quiet and gray and flat, like Tam did, Tam who controlled his Noise better than any man in Prentisstown—
  25. thicket
    a dense growth of bushes
    ...I don’t stop falling till I come to a thicket of brambles at the bottom of the hill and ram into ’em with a thump.
  26. bramble
    any of various rough thorny shrubs or vines
    “Todd! Todd! Todd!” I hear Manchee, running down after me, but all I can do is try and withstand the pain again and the tired again and the gunk in my lungs and the hunger gnawing in my belly and bramble scratches all over me and I think I’d be crying if I had any energy left at all.
  27. straggle
    go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way
    As we go round a bend, I can hear not only the rush of the river to my right again, like an old friend, an old foe, I can also see a line of carts stretching on up ahead of us on the road at least as far as the next bend, carts packed with belongings just like Wilf’s and all kindsa people straggled along the tops, holding on to anything that won’t knock ’em off.
  28. poultice
    a medical dressing spread on a cloth and applied to the skin
    “What is this?” I say, pressing the rag with my fingers and wincing from the smell.
    “Poultice,” Jane says. “For fevers and ague.”
  29. impart
    transmit, as knowledge or a skill
    It’s how Aaron looks when he’s pinning you down, how he looks when he’s imparting a sermon with his fists, when he’s preaching you into a hole you might never come out of.
  30. grudgingly
    in a reluctant manner
    “Sorry,” she says, a little grudgingly.
  31. caravan
    a procession traveling together in single file
    Already the word is bouncing up and down the caravan in a way that’s become too familiar, not just the word, but what pins it to me, what everyone knows or thinks they know about me, already faces turning round to look deeper at the last cart in the caravan, oxen and horses drawing to a stop as people turn more fully to examine us.
  32. vouch
    give personal assurance; guarantee
    “He’s from Farbranch. Got nightmares of cursed town army killin what he loves. I vouch for him.”
  33. decrepit
    worn and broken down by hard use
    I look round and there’s a few decrepit docks on the river, just down from the bridge, a lonely old boat knocking against one in the current and a few more half-sunk boats piled halfway up the riverbank along from what may have been a mill before it became a pile of burned wood.
  34. loll
    hang loosely or laxly
    His face is back to how it was when the crocs tore it open, peeled half away, his tongue lolling out the side of the gash in his cheek.
  35. dank
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    “Go ahead, Todd,” Aaron says and I swear I smell the dankness of him. “Cross over from innocence to sin. If you can.”
  36. waver
    move or sway to and fro
    I grip the knife hard and I make a snarling sound and the world wavers.
  37. reel
    walk as if unable to control one's movements
    I reel back from what’s waiting for me.
  38. vise
    a holding device attached to a workbench
    The cold of the water feels like a vise but I hold it there, hearing the bubbling of the water rushing by and the wordless barks of a worried Manchee hopping around my feet.
  39. kindling
    material for starting a fire
    I protect it from the wind with my hand and blow on it to make it catch. I use some dried moss as kindling and when the first little flame shoots out it’s as near as I’ve come to joy since I don’t know when.
  40. ratchet
    move by degrees in one direction only
    My heart ratchets up and I cough without even noticing and I say, “Please, please, please,” under my breath and I paddle the board furiously and get the boat closer and closer...
Created on Sun Nov 18 12:15:31 EST 2018 (updated Thu Apr 25 09:48:44 EDT 2019)

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.