Wilder Girls: Chapters 17–26

by Rory Power
When the Tox begins to infect students at the Raxter School for Girls, Hetty attempts to discover the truth about the mysterious illness — and the disappearance of her best friend.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–9, Chapters 10–16, Chapters 17–26
25 words 26 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. fitful
    intermittently stopping and starting
    I’d laid awake all night alone in our room, and when I did manage any sleep, it was fitful with nightmares of Mr. Harker, of him turning into Reese.
  2. resolutely
    showing firm determination or purpose
    I keep my gaze resolutely ahead, ignore the pang in my chest.
  3. warily
    in a manner marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    I eye the pistol warily.
  4. abreast
    alongside each other, facing in the same direction
    We walk three abreast behind Welch, and I look down over the side of the pier, into the ocean.
  5. emblazon
    decorate with heraldic arms
    It looks like a miniaturized oxygen tank, the kind you see people wheeling around in hospitals, but the valve is sealed shut with bright red tape, the same symbol from the lid emblazoned in a repeating pattern.
  6. scud
    run or move very quickly or hastily
    Welch scrubs at the tears scudding down her cheeks.
  7. divot
    a piece of turf dug out of a lawn or fairway
    She turns around, stumbling a little on a divot in the road.
  8. chignon
    a roll of hair worn at the nape of the neck
    Her hair’s coming out of the chignon she always wears, and she’s as close to running as I’ve ever seen her.
  9. pallor
    an unnatural lack of color in the skin
    She’s taken off her sling, but from the pallor of her skin I can tell she’s still in pain.
  10. whorl
    a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles
    It’s sweet and sharp, and I breathe it in, look out to a clear sky and whorls of stars.
  11. naive
    marked by or showing unaffected simplicity
    She can’t be that naive.
  12. shrapnel
    shell containing lead pellets that explodes in flight
    The couch, the desk, they split, scatter like shrapnel, and the doors rip off their hinges, come crashing down and bury girls underneath.
  13. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    The door isn’t locked, but as I try to push it open, it hits up against something inside and stops. “Excuse me,” someone says inside, sounding indignant.
  14. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    “I’m not sure what constitutes your side, Hetty, but she was adamant that we not subject the whole student body to testing, that it would lead to unnecessary suffering.”
  15. dinghy
    a small boat of shallow draft
    “My dad’s boat,” she says. “More like a dinghy, I guess. It’s hidden along the shore somewhere.”
  16. ramshackle
    in poor or broken-down condition
    Eventually, the ramshackle shape of the Harker house is visible ahead.
  17. shambles
    a condition of great disorder
    “Get away from him!” she yells. Lifts the pistol and fires between the foxes, no aim to speak of, stance in shambles.
  18. porous
    allowing passage in and out
    Raxter’s edge is shifting here, almost porous.
  19. dingy
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
    Tucked in between two tall spears of stone, there’s a path cleared out, and I can just make out a stretch of shore, the waves stranding nests of seaweed on the sand. And laid out on the beach, barnacles and moss growing over the hull, a dingy white boat.
  20. pristine
    immaculately clean and unused
    The bandages Julia gave me are barely enough to cover half the tears in my hand, and when Reese flips open the kit, I let out a relieved sigh at the sight of a pristine ace bandage.
  21. gunwale
    a plank or ridge at the top of the side of a boat
    I climb in and sit quickly, facing the shore, gripping hard at the gunwale.
  22. fumigation
    the application of gas or smoke to kill pests or disinfect
    I’ve seen things like that for fumigation, for keeping buildings isolated.
  23. spangle
    decorate with shiny adornments
    The snow stops and the day grows warm, the ocean throwing shimmer across my sight, the hull of the boat spangled with watertight.
  24. deployment
    the distribution of forces in preparation for battle or work
    “He comes home from deployment and he goes away again.”
  25. dappled
    having spots or patches of color
    We were supposed to meet him in the park when we were done, but he was late, so we stretched out in the dappled shade under a low sprawling oak.
Created on Fri Mar 27 16:40:27 EDT 2020 (updated Mon Mar 30 14:15:19 EDT 2020)

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.