1. encumbered POS: ADJ. DEF: held back; hindered; weighed down by something heavy S: “Nobody ever felt encumbered by his presence.”(Wies el, 1)

2. edict POS: N DEF: official statement; law S: “My father ran to right and left, exhausted comforting friends, running to the Jewish Council to see if the edict had not been revoked in the meantime.” (Wiesel, 7)

3. expound POS: V DEF: explain or interpret; clarify S : There were twenty people gathered in our back yard. My father was telling them anecdotes and expounding his own views on the situation. (Wiesel, 7)

4. firmament POS: N DEF: the sky, or heavens S:“We were only waiting for the door to open – to see the opening of the firmament itself.” (Wiesel, 7)

5. premonition POS: N DEF: anticipation of an event, usually negative, even without actual warning S: “I’ve got a premonition of evil,” said my mother.” (Wiesel, 7)

6. phylacteries POS: N DEF: small boxes containing scripture; worn by some Jewish men for daily prayer S: “I was in the midst of my prayers when suddenly there were shouts in the street. I tore myself from my phylacteries and ran to the window.” (Wiesel, 9)

7. truncheon POS: N DEF: a police officer’s stick S: “The Hungarian police struck out with truncheons and rifle butts, to right and left, without reason........” (Wiesel, 9)

8. compatriots POS: N DEF: fellow countrymen S: “Behind their windows, behind their shutters, our compatriots looked out at us as we passed.” (Wiesel, 12)

9. pillage POS: V DEF: to rob with open violence S: “Yet our friends of yesterday were probably waiting behind their shutters for the moment when they could pillage our houses.” (Wiesel, 13)

10. hermetically POS: ADV. DEF: sealed in a completely airtight way S: “The world was a cattle wagon hermetically sealed.” (Wiesel, 15)

11. pestilential POS: ADJ DEF: filled with disease; contagious S: “The heat, the thirst, the pestilential stench, the suffocating lack of air...” (Wiesel, 17)

12. bestial POS: ADJ. DEF: like a beast or animal S: “So many crazed men, so many cries, so much bestial brutality.” (Wiesel, 23)

13. leprous POS: ADJ DEF: showing signs of leprosy, which is an infectious disease that affects body tissue S: “He looked us over as if we were a pack of leprous dogs hanging onto our lives.” (Wiesel, 25)

14. reverie POS: N DEF: A state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thought; a daydream S: “Dazed by the sunshine and by my reverie, I felt someone tugging at my sleeve.” (Wiesel, 26)

15. wizened POS: ADJ DEF: dry, shrunken, wrinkled S: “The man looking for us was a bespectacled little fellow with a wrinkle, wizened face.” (Wiesel, 28)

16. blandishments POS: N DEF: something used to coax; flattering statements S: “They were all laughing and joking and shouting blandishments at one another for a good part of the way.”(Wiesel, 30)

17. cynical POS: ADJ DEF: distrusting the motives of others S: “They were nearly all Jews: Juliek, a bespectacled Pole with a cynical smile on his pale face…..” (Wiesel, 32)

18. queue POS: N DEF: waiting line S: “There were about twenty prisoners waiting in a queue in front of the door.” (Wiesel, 34)

19. reprieve POS: N DEF: a cancellation or postponement of a punishment S: “He was probably glad to see that I had come back of my own accord, as I had promised. He gave me another reprieve.” (Wiesel, 34)

20. manacle POS: V DEF: to handcuff S: “His manacled hands did not tremble.” (Wiesel, 40)

21. simultaneous POS: ADV DEF: performing an action at the same time S: “Ten thousand caps were simultaneously removed.” (Wiesel, 40)

22. livid POS: ADJ DEF: discolored from a bruise S: “He was lividly pale, almost calm, biting his lips.” (Wiesel, 42)

23. afflicted POS: ADJ DEF: affected with something painful or distressing S: “What are You, my God,” I thought angrily, “compared to this afflicted crowd, proclaiming to You their faith, their anger, their revolt?” (Wiesel, 44)

24. notorious POS: ADJ DEF: widely and unfavorably known S: “There were three SS officers standing round the notorious Dr. Mengele, who had received us at Birkenau.” (Wiesel, 47)

25. emaciated POS: ADJ DEF: marked by abnormal thinness caused by starvation or disease S: “A poor emaciated, dried- up Jew questioned him avidly in a trembling voice.” (Wiesel, 48)

26. crucible POS: N DEF: container for cooking at high heat S: “The essential thing was to be as far away as possible from the block, from the crucible of death, from the center of hell.” (Wiesel, 49)

27. derision POS: N DEF: contemptuous ridicule or mockery S: “We were given winter clothes – slightly thicker striped shirts. The veterans found in this a new source of derision.” (Wiesel, 51)

28. indeterminate POS: ADJ DEF: vague, not fixed in advance S: “A trail of indeterminate light showed on the horizon.” (Wiesel, 58)

29. bereave POS: V DEF: deprived of a loved one through a profound absence; due to a loved ones death S: “He sat up and looked round him, bewildered, stupified – a bereaved stare.” (Wiesel,60)

30. semblance POS: N DEF: outward appearance, but with a sense of falsity S: “Our march had lost all semblance of discipline.”(Wiese l, 61)

31. vigilance POS: N DEF: state of extreme watchfulness S: “Was it not dangerous to allow your vigilance to fail, even for a moment, when at any minute death could pounce upon you?” (Wiesel, 63)

32. embarkation POS: N DEF: beginning of a journey S: “Our embarkation completed, the convoy set out.” (Wiesel, 65)

33. apathy POS: N DEF: lack of feeling or emotion S: “I woke up from my apathy just at the moment when two men came up to my father.” (Wiesel, 66)

34. inert POS: ADJ DEF: lacking the ability or strength to move S: “His body remained inert.” (Wiesel, 67)

35. contagion POS: N DEF: an influence that spreads rapidly Contaminant S: “The contagion spread to other carriages.” (Wiesel, 69)

36. beseech POS: V DEF: ask someone urgently and fervently to do something S: “A plaintive, beseeching voice caught me in the spine…..” (Wiesel, 71)

37. invalid POS: N DEF: a person made weak by illness or injury S: “Struck down with dysentery, my father lay in his bunk, five other invalids with him.” (Wiesel, 72)

38. rivet POS: V DEF: to hold attention tightly, as if physically attached S: “I was riveted to my father’s deathbed..” (Wiesel, 73)

39. upheaval POS: N DEF: a violent or sudden change or disruption to something S: “As it was late and there was great upheaval – innumerable Jews had passed themselves off as non-Jews…...” (Wiesel,76)

40. liberation POS: N DEF: freeing someone or something from another’s control S: “Three days after the liberation of Buchenwald I became very ill with food poisoning.”(Wiese l, 77)