The Miserable Mill — Vocabulary
Lemony Snicket
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Foreman Flacutono threw his pots on the floor, walked over to the tiny green boxes, and grabbed one.†p.40.2alternate pages116 more

The children could tell, from Phil's statement about everything and everybody having a good side, that he was an optimist.†p.26.7alternate pages8 more

The dismayed orphans looked at their reflections, and their dismayed reflections looked back at them.†p.47.6alternate pages5 more

"'Assiduous' and 'diligent' both mean the same thing," said Klaus, who knew lots of impressive words from all the books he had read.†p.17.9alternate pages2 more

Try as they might, they just couldn't believe it was a coincidence that the town in which they were to live had a building that looked just like the tattoo of Count Olaf.†p.14.8alternate pages3 more

For instance, a book that began with the sentence "Once upon a time there was a family of cunning little chipmunks who lived in a hollow tree" would probably contain a story full of talking animals who get into all sorts of mischief.†p.1.4alternate pages1 more

Sunny said, wondering what in the world "endeavor" meant.†p.143.5alternate pages1 more

You, Count Olaf, are under arrest for various murders and attempted murders, various frauds and...p.187.6alternate pages1 more

And I know because I have written down all the details in order to convey to you, the reader, just how miserable their experience was.†p.20.3alternate pages

Nevertheless, when she found a sentence that appeared to be useful, she gave Sunny a waking nudge and read the sentence out loud.†p.150.2alternate pages

Grateful that she could skip that daunting first paragraph—the word "daunting" here means "full of incredibly difficult words"—she flipped through Advanced Ocular Science until she reached "Hypnosis and Mind Control."†p.146.8alternate pages

After so many narrow escapes from Count Olaf's treachery, this seemed to be the moment of his—or in this case, her—terrible triumph.†p.164.9alternate pages1 more

And I simply cannot describe the grotesque and unnerving sight—the words "grotesque" and "unnerving" here mean "twisted, tangled, stained, and gory"—of poor Phil's leg.†p.97.2alternate pages

Just knowing that they could read made the Baudelaire orphans feel as if their wretched lives could be a little brighter.†p.58.8alternate pages1 more

The Baudelaire orphans were alive, and it seemed that maybe they had an inordinate amount of luck after all.†p.194.9alternate pages8 more

Within days of the orphans' arrival at a new place, Count Olaf and his nefarious assistants—the word "nefarious" here means "Baudelaire-hating"—are usually on the scene, sneaking around and committing dastardly deeds.†p.109.6alternate pages

Violet knew, of course, that her parents had never guessed, when they told her this, that the sort of trouble her siblings would get into would be so ostentatiously—a word which here means "really, really"— horrendous, but still she felt as if she had let her parents down.†p.93.8alternate pages

Klaus's glasses were hanging askew, a phrase which here means "tilted to one side from leaning over logs the entire morning."†p.46.2alternate pages

The first sentence was "This tome will endeavor to scrutinize, in quasi-inclusive breadth, the epistemology of ophthalmologically contrived appraisals of ocular systems and the subsequent and requisite exertions imperative for expugnation of injurious states," and as Violet read it out loud to her sister, both children felt the dread that comes when you begin a very boring and difficult book.†p.143.1alternate pages

The cage part of the string machine was split open like an egg, and the string had become completely entwined and entangled.†p.97.1alternate pages