The Chocolate War: Chapters 1–12

by Robert Cormier
When Jerry refuses to sell chocolates for his school's annual fundraiser, his defiance is seen as a challenge to the school's powerful secret society.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–12, Chapters 13–24, Chapters 25–39
40 words 1307 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. sinew
    a band of tissue connecting a muscle to its bony attachment
    I’ve got guts, Jerry murmured, getting up by degrees, careful not to displace any of his bones or sinews.
  2. lassitude
    a feeling of lack of interest or energy
    He was unwilling to abandon this lovely lassitude but he had to, of course.
  3. leprosy
    communicable disease characterized by wasting of body parts
    The bleachers also needed attention—they sagged, peeling paint like leprosy on the benches.
  4. perusal
    the act of examining or reading carefully
    Finally, tired of smuggling it into the bathroom for swift perusals, and weary of his deceit, and haunted by the fear that his mother would find the magazine, Jerry had sneaked it out of the house and dropped it into a catchbasin.
  5. squander
    spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    He listened to it splash dismally below, bidding a wistful farewell to the squandered buck and a quarter.
  6. stench
    a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant
    A hiss and the stench of exhaust announced the arrival of the bus.
  7. confrontation
    a hostile disagreement face-to-face
    He looked up at the advertising placards above the windows, wanting to turn his thoughts away from the confrontation.
  8. crevice
    a long narrow opening
    This wasn’t the calm and deadly Leon who could hold a class in the palm of his hand. This was someone riddled with cracks and crevices.
  9. quota
    a prescribed number
    That means everybody’s got to sell fifty boxes. Usually, the guys have a quota of twenty-five boxes each to sell and the price is a dollar.
  10. ingratiate
    gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts
    On the surface, he was one of those pale, ingratiating kind of men who tiptoed through life on small, quick feet.
  11. condone
    excuse, overlook, or make allowances for
    How could a school condone an organization like The Vigils?
  12. lethal
    of an instrument of certain death
    Archie could feel the coldness—more than cold, an icy hate coming across the desk like a deadly ray from some bleak and lethal planet.
  13. unbearable
    incapable of being put up with
    Archie waited a beat—in strict command of the room, the silence almost unbearable—and said, “Everything in Brother Eugene’s room is held together by screws.
  14. irrevocable
    incapable of being retracted
    “Thursday,” Archie said, a command in his voice, no nonsense, final, irrevocable.
  15. reprieve
    a relief from harm or discomfort
    The Goober nodded, accepting the assignment like a sentence of doom, the way all the others did, knowing there was no way out, no reprieve, no appeal.
  16. inscrutable
    difficult or impossible to understand
    “Ready,” Archie said, keeping his face expressionless, inscrutable as usual, even though he felt a bead of perspiration trace a cold path from his armpit to his rib.
  17. tremor
    an involuntary vibration, as if from illness or fear
    A tremor ran along his arm as he extended his hand toward the box.
  18. debris
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    He’d use the tip to push around a book on a desk or to flick a kid’s necktie, scratching gently down some guy’s back, poking the pointer as if he were a rubbish collector picking his way through the debris of the classroom.
  19. calisthenics
    light exercises designed to promote general fitness
    After days of calisthenics, the coach had said that probably he’d let them use the ball this afternoon.
  20. introverted
    shy, reserved, or inward looking
    Bailey: one of the weak kids, high honor student, but shy, introverted, always reading, his eyes red-rimmed behind the glasses.
  21. welt
    a raised mark on the skin
    Under Leon’s steady gaze, Bailey had stopped stroking his cheek, even though a pink welt had appeared, like an evil stain spreading on his flesh.
  22. caricature
    a representation of a person exaggerated for comic effect
    Because Bailey did somehow look like a genius or at least a caricature of the mad scientists in old movies.
  23. sacrilegious
    grossly irreverent toward what is considered holy
    “I know you wouldn’t consider anything so sacrilegious.”
  24. siphon
    move a liquid from one container into another by a tube
    The amusement was there because it was obvious what Emile Janza was doing—he was siphoning gas from a car, watching it flow into a glass jug.
  25. spasm
    a painful and involuntary muscular contraction
    When he ran, he even loved the pain, the hurt of the running, the burning in his lungs and the spasms that sometimes gripped his calves.
  26. ravage
    cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
    He was angry at the way the disease had ravaged her.
  27. lurk
    lie in wait or behave in a sneaky and secretive manner
    His father sold the house and they moved to a garden apartment where no memories lurked around corners.
  28. superimpose
    place on top of
    Through some nightmarish miracle, he was able to superimpose the image of his mother’s face on his father’s—and for a moment the echo of all her sweetness was there and he had to go through all the horror of visualizing her in the coffin again.
  29. tousle
    disarrange or rumple; dishevel
    She was a gray-haired woman who constantly embarrassed Jerry because she insisted on tousling his hair and murmuring, “Child, child . . .” like he was a third grader or something.
  30. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    That pathetic holdup try by a scared young kid brandishing a toy pistol?
  31. humdrum
    tediously repetitious or lacking in variety
    Was life that dull, that boring and humdrum for people?
  32. gnarled
    old and twisted and covered in lines
    Jerry had been hanging around the store one afternoon when an old man entered, bent and gnarled with age.
  33. hoopla
    blatant or sensational promotion
    Following prayers and a lot of other religious hoopla, he started talking about all that school spirit crap.
  34. skepticism
    doubt about the truth of something
    Archie had been surprised at the ripple of doubt and skepticism from the members of The Vigils.
  35. bedlam
    a state of extreme confusion and disorder
    “My God,” Brother Eugene cried as he entered the classroom and beheld the bedlam.
  36. lopsided
    having one side lower or smaller or lighter than the other
    At his touch, the desk swayed drunkenly, shifted gears into a lopsided position and—miracle of miracles—remained upright at that strange tipsy angle.
  37. shambles
    a condition of great disorder
    A sweetness gathered in his breast as he saw the room being turned into a shambles, a sweet moment of triumph that compensated for all the other lousy things, his terrible marks, the black box.
  38. havoc
    violent and needless disturbance
    He found it hard to suppress a howl of delight as he surveyed the havoc—I made this happen—and saw Brother Eugene’s trembling chin and horror-stricken expression.
  39. tumultuous
    characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination
    He watched Leon storming away, pushing his way through the tumultuous corridor, disappearing into the swarming stream of boys.
  40. consecutive
    one after the other
    But this was the seventh consecutive play and the damage of being tackled play after play was taking its toll.
Created on Wed Nov 19 17:49:18 EST 2014 (updated Tue Sep 04 16:41:03 EDT 2018)

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.