The Girl on the Train: List 1

by Paula Hawkins
Despite losing her job, Rachel continues riding the commuter train every day—and becomes increasingly involved in the lives of the people she observes through the train window.

This list covers Rachel: July 5, 2013 – Megan: February 8, 2013 in the 2015 edition published by the Penguin Group.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 574 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. perspective
    a way of regarding situations or topics
    My head leaning against the carriage window, I watch these houses roll past me like a tracking shot in a film. I see them as others do not; even their owners probably don’t see them from this perspective.
  2. glimpse
    a brief or incomplete view
    If there’s no train going in the opposite direction, and if we’re travelling slowly enough, I can sometimes catch a glimpse of them out on their terrace.
  3. forlorn
    marked by or showing hopelessness
    The pile of clothes from last week is still there, and it looks dustier and more forlorn than it did a few days ago.
  4. wretched
    very unhappy; full of misery
    I lived at number twenty-three Blenheim Road for five years, blissfully happy and utterly wretched.
  5. acute
    extremely sharp or intense
    I can’t see Jason and Jess this morning, and my sense of disappointment is acute.
  6. anguish
    extreme distress of body or mind
    I’m going to feel terrible all day, it’s going to come in waves—stronger then weaker then stronger again—that twist in the pit of my stomach, the anguish of shame, the heat coming to my face, my eyes squeezed tight as though I could make it all disappear.
  7. stagger
    walk as if unable to control one's movements
    It’s not like going back to work after a three-hour lunch and staggering through the office, everyone looking, Martin Miles taking me to one side, I think you should probably go home, Rachel.
  8. sobriety
    the state of being unaffected or not intoxicated by alcohol
    But sobriety on the evening train is a challenge, particularly now, in this heat.
  9. shrill
    having or emitting a high-pitched and sharp tone or tones
    I could still hear her, though, it was nasty, it went right through me, her voice really shrill and desperate.
  10. flinch
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    She flinches every time a train passes, jumps when the phone rings.
  11. substantial
    having a firm basis in reality and therefore important
    We don’t talk about anything substantial, it’s just the introductory session, the getting-to-know-you stuff; he asks me what the trouble is and I tell him about the panic attacks, the insomnia, the fact that I lie awake at night too frightened to fall asleep.
  12. patent
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    I’m afraid of bumping into the Watsons, because it’s always awkward when I see them; it’s patently obvious that I don’t have a new job, that I lied because I didn’t want to carry on working for them.
  13. amends
    something done or paid to make up for a wrong
    But I was actually doing a good thing, I was trying to make amends for being a bit miserable and difficult, I was planning a special fourth-anniversary getaway, a trip to remind us how we used to be.
  14. suspicious
    openly distrustful and unwilling to confide
    I didn’t want to be one of those awful suspicious wives who go through their husband’s pockets.
  15. blithely
    in a joyous, carefree, or unconcerned manner
    I have never understood how people can blithely disregard the damage they do by following their hearts.
  16. obsess
    be preoccupied with something
    I was obsessing this morning about Jess and Jason, about what she’d done and how he would feel, about the confrontation they would have when he found out and when his world, like mine, was ripped apart.
  17. palpable
    able to be felt by tactile examination
    His pity was almost palpable.
  18. encroachment
    entry to another's property without right or permission
    I tried to picture him, working at his laptop in our sunny kitchen, but the image was spoilt by encroachments from his new life.
  19. admonish
    counsel in terms of someone's behavior
    I braced myself for the agony of hearing his voice—the voice that used to speak to me with laughter and light and now is used only to admonish or console or pity—but it wasn’t him.
  20. inconvenient
    not well timed
    She has taken everything and now she calls me to tell me that my distress is inconvenient for her?
  21. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    The more I want to be oblivious, the less I can be.
  22. sneer
    smile contemptuously
    Is he smiling at me, or is he sneering? I can't tell.
  23. void
    an empty area or space
    I remember being on the train, but after that there is a gulf of blackness, a void.
  24. exacerbate
    make worse
    I’m frightened, but I’m not sure what I’m afraid of, which just exacerbates the fear.
  25. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    I raise my limbs, gently, gingerly, to inspect them.
  26. sinister
    wicked, evil, or dishonorable
    This is not necessarily sinister, I have had them before, usually from when I’ve fallen and someone has helped me up.
  27. innocuous
    not causing disapproval
    The crack on my head feels bad, but it could be from something as innocuous as getting into a car.
  28. elusive
    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    I try desperately to make sense of an elusive fragment of memory.
  29. sordid
    morally degraded
    I lied, made stuff up, told him all the sordid things he wanted to hear.
  30. intoxicating
    extremely exciting
    He won’t say no to me. I was thinking about it on the way home, and that’s the thing I like most about it, having power over someone. That’s the intoxicating thing.
  31. decline
    a gradual decrease
    I wonder where it started, my decline; I wonder at what point I could have halted it.
  32. solvent
    capable of meeting financial obligations
    I was happy, solvent, successful.
  33. entice
    provoke someone to do something through persuasion
    I can’t hear it on the tracks, enticing me, tempting me to journey elsewhere.
  34. betrayal
    an act of deliberate disloyalty
    When you think about all the other stuff I’ve done, the other betrayals, this should be peanuts, but it isn’t.
  35. vague
    not precisely limited, determined, or distinguished
    I have to keep things vague, jumble up all the men, the lovers and the exes, but I tell myself that’s OK, because it doesn’t matter who they are.
  36. sorrow
    an emotion of great sadness associated with loss
    One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.
  37. intrigue
    a clandestine love affair
    I think she might be lonely, that her life could do with a bit of intrigue.
  38. restraint
    discipline in personal and social activities
    It was exquisite, that push and pull, desire and restraint.
  39. temptation
    the desire to do something that you know you should avoid
    I’ve been walking around and playing things back in my head—he said, she said, temptation, release; if only I could settle on something, choose to stick, not twist.
  40. subtly
    in a manner difficult to detect or grasp
    There’s nothing out of place, but the house feels different, as though things have been touched, subtly shifted out of place, and as I walk around I feel as though there’s someone else here, always just out of my line of sight.
Created on Wed Mar 02 11:59:51 EST 2016 (updated Wed Sep 26 09:29:41 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.