Ophie's Ghosts: Prologue–Chapter 2

by Justina Ireland
Following the death of her father, twelve-year-old Ophelia discovers that she can talk to ghosts and that not all ghosts are as nice as they seem.

This list covers the Prologue–Chapter 2.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 167 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. petulant
    easily irritated or annoyed
    She knew she shouldn’t act so petulant, but she wanted to go back to sleep, not run around in the middle of the night looking for noisy floorboards.
  2. unfurl
    unroll, unfold, or spread out
    Now that she was fully awake, cold dread unfurled in her chest, making it hard to breathe.
  3. amiss
    not functioning properly
    There was something amiss; Ophie knew it, but the dread in her chest shifted to bone-numbing fear, and she couldn’t stop to think about what was happening.
  4. quaver
    a tremulous sound
    There was a quaver to Mama’s voice that Ophie had never heard before, and she laid a calming hand on her mother’s arm.
  5. sinuous
    curved or curving in and out
    The snap and crackle of fire slowly grew louder than the voices of the men, a roar of consumption, followed by thick smoke that twined sinuously through the treetops, illuminated by the headlights from the cars and the flickering of flame.
  6. acrid
    strong and sharp, as a taste or smell
    Where Ophie and her mother huddled, the air was still clear and sweet, even as the acrid scent of burning wood began to taint it.
  7. tithe
    pay a tenth of one's income, especially to the church
    Mama didn’t like the pastor all that much—both he and his wife were originally from Atlanta, and Mama said they asked for too much in tithing and did too little shepherding.
  8. bleak
    offering little or no hope
    A creeping gloom unfurled in her chest, the same kind of bleak feeling she got when she’d broken a rule and knew her mama was fixing to be cross with her.
  9. uppity
    arrogant or self-important
    Colored folks who’d broken some unspoken rule, gotten uppity and acted above their station, and paid the price for such an error with their lives.
  10. wistful
    showing pensive sadness
    His hands were in his pockets, and he looked sad and wistful, and maybe a bit faded, like something had leeched most of the color from him.
  11. heady
    extremely exciting as if by alcohol or a narcotic
    They met the girl’s eyes as she stared out the window at them, they felt her gaze like sunshine on a spring day, warm and comforting, and for a moment they were seen. They existed once again. It was a heady feeling, and every specter wanted more.
  12. specter
    a ghostly appearing figure
    They met the girl’s eyes as she stared out the window at them, they felt her gaze like sunshine on a spring day, warm and comforting, and for a moment they were seen. They existed once again. It was a heady feeling, and every specter wanted more.
  13. penchant
    a strong liking or preference
    Once, the city had a number of spiritualists, real and pretend, but the capital had lost its penchant for séances and the paranormal.
  14. constituent
    a citizen who is represented in a government by officials
    Now, the people were more concerned with lawmakers lining their pockets at the expense of their constituents.
  15. entail
    impose, involve, or imply as a necessary result
    While she did, Mrs. Harrison kept up a constant stream of chatter, giving Ophie endless reminders about what the day would entail.
  16. loath
    unwilling to do something contrary to your custom
    Ever since they’d left Georgia, Mrs. Harrison had been wound up tight as a top, and Ophie was loath to set her spinning.
  17. privy
    a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
    “Get dressed and meet me downstairs once you’ve used the privy,” Mama said, picking up a hand mirror and double-checking her own hair, which was as neat and tight as Ophie’s.
  18. strife
    bitter conflict; heated or violent dissension
    Aunt Rose and the rest of the house were all asleep, and it would do nothing but cause strife to wake them.
  19. insufferable
    extremely unpleasant or annoying
    While the older woman had been happy to see them, the rest of the family—Aunt Helen and the insufferable cousins—had been less excited to have their lives complicated by two more mouths to feed.
  20. precarious
    affording no ease or reassurance
    So Ophie, ever conscious of the precarious state of their lives since Daddy had died, held her breath as she moved through the quiet house to the kitchen, where a cold biscuit and a glass of water waited for her.
  21. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    Mostly everyone was colored, and the few white folks who were gathered in amongst the group seemed oblivious to the differences of their skin.
  22. painstaking
    characterized by extreme care and great effort
    Mama pulled Ophie toward her so she could triple-check the handiwork of the braids she’d painstakingly laid into Ophie’s crinkly, curly hair.
  23. musing
    a calm, lengthy, intent consideration
    A dinging bell dragged Ophie from her musings and back to the icy day.
  24. trundle
    move along on or as if on wheels or a wheeled vehicle
    The trolley trundled toward them, only half full since most of the factory men caught an earlier car.
  25. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    Ophie stood back, letting all the other folks, especially the white-looking ones, get on before she clambered aboard.
  26. baleful
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    She had more than enough to occupy her thoughts at the moment.
    Such as the young female ghost sitting next to Miss Alice, casting the old woman baleful looks.
  27. apparition
    a ghostly appearing figure
    Some days she wondered if maybe her brain was sick and she was just imagining the people no one else could see, the ones who floated through buildings and light posts like they weren’t even there. But here she was, nearly three months later, and the apparitions hadn’t gone anywhere.
  28. piteous
    deserving or inciting a feeling of sympathy and sorrow
    Some of them were sad, sobbing piteously.
  29. calico
    coarse cloth with a bright print
    The colored girl wore a dress made of calico, old-fashioned and ugly.
  30. impulsive
    characterized by undue haste and lack of thought
    “Oh, young girls are just like that! You can’t change a leopard’s spots,” Miss Alice said, even though Ophie wasn’t impulsive.
  31. domestic
    a servant paid to perform tasks around the household
    She stepped around the group of women who had also gotten off at the stop, most of them domestics as well, and while they all set off up the hill, Mama held Ophie back, fussing over her one last time.
  32. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    She’d never seen a house like that before, and the way it loomed made her feel small and insignificant. It seemed more like Doom Manor than Daffodil Manor, since there wasn’t a flower in sight, just imposing gables and a wrought iron fence.
  33. sconce
    a decorative wall bracket for holding candles or lights
    The soft yellow glow cast by the wall sconces seemed impossibly luxurious.
  34. liniment
    a topical liquid that relieves muscle stiffness and pain
    It smelled of mint and liniment and unwashed body with another odor that Ophie couldn’t quite place but wasn’t at all good.
  35. wispy
    thin and weak
    She wore a nightcap, and wispy bits of white hair escaped around the edges.
  36. sallow
    unhealthy looking
    Her pale face was sallow and deeply lined, her blue eyes watery and narrowed.
  37. tousle
    disarrange or rumple; dishevel
    A dashingly good-looking man with dark tousled curls stepped into the room, his hat in his hand.
  38. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
    “And yet you fired the Polish woman I hired before her first day was over,” he said, his chiding tone playful and indulgent.
  39. repugnant
    offensive to the mind
    “Her English was repugnant,” Mrs. Caruthers sniffed before taking a large bite of oatmeal.
  40. dour
    showing a brooding ill humor
    Richard grinned. As dour as his mother was, he was anything but.
Created on Sun Jan 09 10:15:11 EST 2022 (updated Thu Jan 13 10:33:57 EST 2022)

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