Oliver Twist Vocabulary

Find the vocabulary words and their meanings with our chapter-by-chapter list of vocabulary words from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Words and definitions are listed on the page below and available as part of the Oliver Twist Unit Study download.

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Chapters 1 through 5

Chapter 1

• Prudent - wise
• Refrain - avoid or prevent
• Inestimable - cannot estimate the value
• Indubitably - cannot be doubted
• Pauper - poor person
• Unwonted - not usual
• Articulate - spoke
• Buffet - pushed around

Chapter 2

• Appropriated - used, took
• Stipend - amount of money given
• Parochial - related to church organization
• Remonstrance - protest, formal complaint
• Luxuriant - rich
• Diminutive - small amount
• Beadle - minor church official with non-religious responsibilities
• Choleric - easily angered
• Emanated - came from, source
• Mollify - soften, appease, calm down
• Feint - pretense
• Oakum - fibers untwisted from old ropes that were used to make caulking for ships
• Surly - sour
• Sage - wise
• Voarcious - very hungry
• Implied - understood indirectly
• temerity - foolishness

Chapter 3

• Ablutions - cleansing ritual
• Auspicious - promising
• Cogitate - think
• Sanguine - cheerful
• Imprecation - curse
• Peruse - read or look at carefully
• Mirth - joy
• Converse - talk
• Audible - able to be heard
• Extraneous - extra, not of core importance
• Imputation - accusation, considered the cause of
• Pompous - display of importance, has a connotation of overdone or inflated belief in one’s importance
• Palpitate - wild, fast, or irregular beat
• Intimate - indicate See Word Study in the Unit Study
• Stupefy - to stun, or put out of one’s senses with shock

Chapter 4

• Undertaker - made coffins and buried people after death
• Gaunt - very thin
• Jocosity - joking manner
• Cordial - friendly
• Dignitary - important, dignified person
• Erect - standing straight and tall
• Tremulous - trembling from fear
• Malignity - malignant, mean manner
• Agony - extreme pain
• Vixen - female fox
• Deferential - show respect, or defer all decisions to another
• Slattern - shabby, unkept, immoral
• Coarse - rough
• Auguries - predictions, from the word augury (divination)
• Meek - very quiet

Chapter 5

• Dismal - gloomy, sad
• Impetous - cause, driving force
• Dexterity - physical ability, flexibility
• Mute - someone who can’t talk
• Acquiescence - agreement
• Atrocity - very bad act
• Tenant - a person who rents property
• Denote - indicates, shows
• Squalid - severe poverty
• Abode - dwelling

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Chapters 6 - 10

Chapter 6

• Sanguine - cheerful
• Inconsolable - too upset to be comforted or consoled
• Irrepressible - incapable of being repressed or controlled
• Facetious - not serious
• Roused - to stir up
• Pommelled - to strike

Chapter 7

• Presentiment - instinctive feeling something is going to happen
• Audacious - bold, daring
• Benign - kindly, without harm
• Juncture - point of time
• Ire - anger
• Sombre - gloomy, dull
• Sepulchral - related to tombs or burial
• Protege - a person under the care of another
• Vast - large
• Dissipated - wasted in pursuit of pleasure
• Incorrigible - bad, uncorrectable

Chapter 8

• Intimation - suggestion, telling
• Ere - before
• Feasible - something that is “do-able”
• Dismal - gloomy
• Survey - watch

Chapter 9

• Corporeal - related to the physical body
• Irresolute - uncertain
• Capital Punishment - execution by law, usually for murder
• Miser - wealthy person who lives in poverty and pretends to be poor
• Spirits - alcoholic beverage
• Convivial - merry, friendly

Chapter 10

• Languish - become weak
• Expatiate - give a length explanation
• Meagre - small amount
• Assent - agreement
• Sally - move forward
• Propensity - tendency or habit

Chapters 11-15

Chapter 11

• Notorious - widely known, usual has the connotation of a bad reputation
• Metropolitan - city
• Dispensary - a location that dispenses or gives out something
• Tenanted - lived in by people who do not own, often renters who pay rent (but not in this connotation of people in jail)
• Trivial - small detail, unimportant
• Rueful - sad
• Meditative - thinking

Chapter 12

• Pallid - pale
• Tranquil - peaceful, calm
• Actuate - cause an action to occur
• Laudable - praise worthy, noble
• Saveloy - sausage

Chapter 13

• Avaricious - greedy
• Assent - Agree
• Curl papers - used to curl hair before curlers or hair driers
• Hawking - selling on the street, usually by calling out in a loud voice
• Domicile - home
• Ken - (archaic) old house with connotation of a den of thieves

Chapter 14

• Cribbage: A card game played with a distinct wooden board and pegs
• Irascible - easily angered

Chapter 15

• Mutual - something in common or beneficial to two parties

Chapters 16 - 20

Chapter 16

• Terminated - ended
• Dismal - gloomy
• Irrepressible - can’t hold back
• Ebullition - overflow
• Mirth - joy
• Facetious - not serious
• Pacification - act of pacifying or calming
• Goad - encourage or drive
• Ineffectual - not effective

Chapter 17

• Portly - large, fat
• Tenacity - strength to hold on
• Wan - weak or pale
• Caustic - bitter, burning
• Portentous - important
• Solemnity - seriousness, formality
• Treble - triple, three times
• Feign - pretend

Chapter 18

• Avocation - job,or hobby in addition to a regular job
• Conceal - hide
• Nonce - for a particular occasion or use
• Assent - agreement
• Sundry - various, different
• Amiability - friendliness
• Hue - color

Chapter 19

• Offal - inedible parts of butchered animal
• Intracacies - complex parts
• Plate - silver platters and pieces
• Ruminate - chew the cud slowly (animals) has the connotation of thinking and carefully for humans
• Acquiesce - agree
• Scrutinize - examine carefully

Chapter 20

• Surly - sour, unfriendly
• Besought - participle of beseech, beg, plead
• Avert - avoid
• Approbation - approval
• Affirmative - agreement, opposite of negative

Chapters 21 - 25

Chapter 21

• Bestow - give
• Alight - descend, dismount

Chapter 22

• “Shew a glim” - (dialect) Show a glimmer, or light
• Mug - face

Chapter 23

• Inexplicable - unexplainable
• Ascertain - find out, make certain

Chapter 24 & 25

• No words

Chapters 26 - 30

Chapter 26

• Sallow - sickly yellowish color
• Denizen - resident, inhabitant
• “Hoptalmy” - (dialect) from opthalmic - disease of the eye
• Profligacy - shamelessness
• Hither - side towards
• Thither - side opposite
• Jovial - cheerful
• Joviality - state of being jovial
• Colloquy - dialogue
• Wainscot - wood lining of inside walls
• Amiable - friendly

Chapter 27

• Gallant - brave, noble
• Elucidative - give explanation
• Evasive - hiding information
• Acerbity - harshness
• Avidity - greed

Chapter 28

• Imprecation - curse
• Languid - slow, weak
• Solicitude - state of being solicitous or anxious for another

Chapter 29

• Scrupulous - careful about morals or detailed matters
• Condolence - sympathy
• Avowal - acknowledgment

Chapter 30

• Loquacious - overly talkative
• Indispensable - unable to do without
• Stipulation - condition of an agreement
• Expatiate - to lengthen a description, often with big words
• Indolent - lazy

Chapters 31 - 35

Chapter 31

• Exonerate - prove not guilty
• Impetuous - rash, careless

Chapter 32

• Ague - fever
• Ardent - with strong feeling
• Impetus - force
• Fortnight - two weeks
• Felicity - happiness

Chapter 33

• Expedition - usually meaning is a trip or excursion. Also the noun form of the verb “expedite” - to hasten or make speed. This usage means a quick and effective act.

Chapter 34

• Feign: fake, pretend
• Demeanor - appearance created by your behavior
• Prepossessing - very favorable, impressive
• Blight - wither, destroy
• Salutations - greetings
• Multifarious - numerous types or parts
• Console - comfort
• Gravity - seriousness
• Haughty - arrogant
• Droll - funny
• Assiduity - perseverance (from the adjective assiduous or continuous)

Chapter 35

• Contemptible - despicable, disgraceful
• Prodigious - large
• Vain - without results
• Desist - stop
• Unwonted - uncommon, unusual

Chapters 36 - 40

Chapter 36

• Perceptible - can be perceived or understood
• Nobs - wealthy, influential people
• Fortnight - two weeks

Chapter 37

• Prerogative - right
• Ineffable - not able to express with words
• Contempt - extreme dislike or hate
• Manual - physical
• Dexterity - physical agility
• Rapturous - extreme joy
• Irrepressible - cannot repress or hold back
• Askance - from the side (a connotation of mistrust; opposite of direct)
• Sovereigns - a one pound coin minted in the 1800s in England
• Murrain - plague or disease
• Facetious - not serious
• Lucrative - very profitable
• Agitation - state of being agitated or disturbed

Chapter 38

• Fain - willing
• Aperture - opening or hole
• Paltry - very small amount
• Invincible - undefeatable, unconquerable
• Repugnance - state of being repugnant or offensive, distasteful

Chapter 39

• Cadaverous - like a corpse (from cadaver which is dead body)
• Ineffectual - ineffective
• Sanguine - cheerful
• Laudanum - an old pain killer made from opium
• Prolific - large amount

Chapter 40

• Infamous - having a bad reputation
• Disclosure - the act of disclosing or telling
• Infatuation - romantic relationship without true or lasting love

Get More

All words for Chapters 1 through 53 are included as part of our Oliver Twist Unit Study. Written in three columns, they provide great bookmarkers for students who can check the meaning of unfamiliar words as they read.

Buy The Oliver Twist Unit Study

The unit study includes all the vocabulary words for 53 chapters, reading comprehension questions, analysis of the plot, suggested activites, and MUCH MORE.

Student Guide AND Teacher's Answer Key Included
$2.99 Download - 108 pages

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