A Christmas Carol: Chapters 1–2

by Charles Dickens
On Christmas Eve, cruel penny-pincher Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three spirits who show him visions of his past, present, and future. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–2, Chapter 3, Chapters 4–5

Here are links to our lists for other works by Charles Dickens: David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Hard Times, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. emphatically
    without question and beyond doubt
    You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
  2. covetous
    showing extreme greed for material wealth
    But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge: a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!
  3. intimation
    a slight suggestion or vague understanding
    It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
  4. homage
    respectful deference
    But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humor to the last.
  5. destitute
    poor enough to need help from others
    "At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time."
  6. inexplicable
    incapable of being explained or accounted for
    It was with great astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread, that as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing.
  7. incredulous
    not disposed or willing to believe; unbelieving
    Though he looked the phantom through and through, and saw it standing before him; though he felt the chilling influence of its death-cold eyes; and marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about its head and chin, which wrapper he had not observed before; he was still incredulous, and fought against his senses.
  8. waggish
    witty or joking
    Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart, by any means waggish then.
  9. specter
    a ghostly appearing figure
    The truth is, that he tried to be smart, as a means of distracting his own attention, and keeping down his terror; for the spectre's voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones.
  10. infernal
    characteristic of an uncontrolled and intense fire
    There was something very awful, too, in the spectre's being provided with an infernal atmosphere of its own.
  11. incoherent
    without logical or meaningful connection
    Not so much in obedience, as in surprise and fear: for on the raising of the hand, he became sensible of confused noises in the air; incoherent sounds of lamentation and regret; wailings inexpressibly sorrowful and self-accusatory.
  12. conducive
    tending to bring about; being partly responsible for
    Scrooge expressed himself much obliged, but could not help thinking that a night of unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that end.
  13. condescension
    showing arrogance by patronizing those considered inferior
    'Bring down Master Scrooge's box, there!' and in the hall appeared the schoolmaster himself, who glared on Master Scrooge with a ferocious condescension, and threw him into a dreadful state of mind by shaking hands with him.
  14. tumult
    a state of commotion and noise and confusion
    Although they had but that moment left the school behind them, they were now in the busy thoroughfares of a city, where shadowy passengers passed and repassed; where shadowy carts and coaches battle for the way, and all the strife and tumult of a real city were.
  15. avarice
    reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth
    His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of later years; but it had begun to wear the signs of care and avarice.
Created on Mon Dec 09 20:25:25 EST 2013 (updated Thu Jul 17 17:22:46 EDT 2025)

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