The Alchemist: Pages 46–111

by Paolo Coelho
Santiago is a young Andalusian shepherd whose desire for a different life leads him on a journey of self-discovery.

This list covers pages 45-111 in the 2004 edition published by HarperOne.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3
15 words 7991 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    But we two have to live with our mistakes.”
    That’s true enough, the boy thought, ruefully.
  2. devout
    deeply religious
    He was a devout man, and, even with all his impatience, he wanted to live his life in accordance with Muslim law.
  3. incessantly
    without interruption
    For nearly a year, he had been working incessantly, thinking only of putting aside enough money so that he could return to Spain with pride.
  4. divination
    the art or gift of prophecy by supernatural means
    These stones were the only form of divination permitted by God.
  5. capricious
    changeable
    The desert is a capricious lady, and sometimes she drives men crazy.
  6. nostalgia
    a longing for something past
    “They’re not my sheep anymore,” he said to himself, without nostalgia.
  7. immersion
    sinking until covered completely with water
    The boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it’s all written there.
  8. manifestation
    an appearance in bodily form
    But there was one idea that seemed to repeat itself throughout all the books: all things are the manifestation of one thing only.
  9. exultant
    joyful and proud especially because of triumph or success
    But the Englishman was exultant. They were on the right track.
  10. poised
    marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action
    When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke—the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart.
  11. evoke
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world.
  12. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    As it did so, a sudden, fleeting image came to the boy: an army, with its swords at the ready, riding into the oasis.
  13. suffuse
    become overspread as with a fluid, a color, or light
    The atmosphere was suffused with the sweet scent of smoke.
  14. habituate
    familiarize psychologically or physically
    “I can see things that eyes habituated to the desert might not see.”
  15. imperceptibly
    in a manner that is difficult to discern
    Suddenly, the elder at the center smiled almost imperceptibly, and the boy felt better.
Created on Sat Aug 08 20:21:03 EDT 2015 (updated Wed Jul 02 16:32:08 EDT 2025)

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