A Tale of Two Cities

1. epoch (noun):

an era or period of time, usually defined by a particular development or quality

“[I]t was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity” (Chapter 1, Page 5)

2. despoiled (past tense verb):

robbed, stripped of valuables (especially luxurious or attractive ones)

“[T]he Lord Mayor of London [...] was made to stand and deliver on Turnham Green, by one highwayman, who despoiled the illustrious creature in sight of all his retinue” (Chapter 1, Page 7)

3. tremulous (noun):

shaky and/or fearful

“With drooping heads and tremulous tails, [the horses] mashed their way through the thick mud, floundering and stumbling between whiles as if they were falling to pieces at the larger joints.” (Chapter 2, Page 8)

4. expeditiously (adverb):

quickly and efficiently

“With those words the passenger opened the coach door and got in; not at all assisted by his fellow-passengers, who had expeditiously secreted their watches and purses in their boots” (Chapter 2, Page 12)

5. admonish (verb):

warn, urge, or scold

 “Dig—dig—dig—until an impatient movement from one of the two passengers would admonish him to pull up the window” (Chapter 3, Page 18)

6. consignment (noun):

the act of placing, handing over, or assigning something to a person or place

 “[I]f he had an enemy in some compatriot who could exercise a privilege that I in my own time have known the boldest people afraid to speak of in a whisper, across the water, there; for instance, the privilege of filling up blank forms for the consignment of any one to the oblivion of a prison for any length of time.” (Chapter 4, Pages 26-27)

7. brawny (adjective):

muscular and strong

“A wild-looking woman [...] soon settled the question of his detachment from the poor young lady, by laying a brawny hand upon his chest, and sending him flying back against the nearest wall.” (Chapter 4, Page 29)

8. implacable (adjective):

relentless, unable to be satisfied or appeased

“Good-humoured-looking on the whole, but implacable-looking, too; evidently a man of a strong resolution and a set purpose” (Chapter 5, Page 35)

9. haggard (adjective):

drained or sickly in appearance, usually with the implication of prolonged suffering

“Some minutes of silent work had passed, and the haggard eyes had looked up again” (Chapter 6, Page 42)

10. garret (noun):

a small attic

“She had moved from the wall of the garret, very near to the bench on which he sat.” (Chapter 6, Page 46)

11. obstinacy (noun):

stubbornness

 “After bursting open a door of idiotic obstinacy with a weak rattle in its throat, you fell into Tellson’s down two steps” (Chapter 1, Page 55)

12. deprecated (past tense verb):

disparaged or expressed disapproval of

“Mister Crunch [...] took this very ill, and, turning to his mother, strongly deprecated any praying away of his personal board.” (Chapter 1, Page 58)

13. mercenary (adjective):

concerned only with making money, motivated by greed

“[The Old Bailey] was famous [...] for extensive transactions in blood-money, another fragment of ancestral wisdom, systematically leading to the most frightful mercenary crimes that could be committed under Heaven.” (Chapter 2, Page 63)

14. heresy (noun):

belief contrary to religious orthodoxy or, figuratively, widely-cherished opinion

“[T]he Judge looked up from his notes to glare at that tremendous heresy about George Washington.” (Chapter 3, Page 75)

15. slovenly (verb):

messy, untidy, or dirty in appearance

“Allowing for my learned friend’s appearance being careless and slovenly, if not debauched, they were sufficiently like each other to surprise, not only the witness, but everybody present” (Chapter 3, Page 77)

16. laconic (adjective):

using very few words to make one’s point

“A slight frown and a laconic ‘Yes’, were the answer.” (Chapter 4, Page 88)

17. propensities (plural noun):

tendencies towards something

“The learned profession of the Law was certainly not behind any other learned profession in its Bacchanalian propensities” (Chapter 5, Page 90)

18. languishing (verb):

wasting away or stagnating, often due to neglect

“As a consequence, country airs circulated in Soho with vigorous freedom, instead of languishing into the parish like stray paupers without a settlement” (Chapter 6, Page 96)

19. compunction (noun):

moral unease or qualms

“[H]er brother Solomon was a heartless scoundrel who had stripped her of everything she possessed, as a stake to speculate with, and had abandoned her in her poverty forevermore, with no touch of compunction.” (Chapter 6, Page 100)

20. fruitless (adjective):

useless or futile with regards to producing a desired goal

“There was no record or legend of any prisoner with those initials, and many fruitless guesses were made what the name could have been.” (Chapter 6, Page 105)

21. affably (adverb):

good-humoredly, with friendliness

“Bestowing a word of promise here and a smile there, a whisper on one happy slave and a wave of the hand on another, Monseigneur affably passed through his rooms” (Chapter 7, Page 112)

22. cowed (adjective):

intimidated, frightened into silence or submission

“So cowed was their condition, and so hard their experience of what such a man could do to them, within the law and beyond it, that not a voice, or a hand, or even an eye, was raised.” (Chapter 7, Page 117)

23. obsequiousness (noun):

excessive, fawning submissiveness or eagerness to please

“Monsieur Gabelle was the Postmaster, and some other taxing functionary, united; he had come out with great obsequiousness to assist at this examination” (Chapter 8, Page 120)

24. precipitated (past tense verb):

threw (something) abruptly, moved quickly or hastily

“Monseigneur, he precipitated himself over the hill-side, head first, as a person plunges  into the river” (Chapter 8, Page 121)

25. redress (verb):

make amends for or set right

“And [death] has left me [...] seeking to execute the last request of my dear mother’s lips, and obey the last look of my dear mother’s eyes, which implored me to have mercy and to redress” (Chapter 9, Page 129)

26. incorrigible (adjective):

incapable of being improved or corrected

“You don’t get on with your account of your matrimonial intentions [...] I wish you would keep to that. As to me—will you never understand that I am incorrigible?” (Chapter 11, Page 144)

27. complacent (adjective):

self-satisfied, often to the point of overconfidence

“Sydney Carton looked at his punch and looked at his complacent friend” (Chapter 11, Page 145)

28. magnanimous (adjective):

generous, especially to someone less fortunate

“Mr Stryver having made up his mind to that magnanimous bestowal of good fortune on the doctor’s daughter, resolved to make her happiness known to her before he left town for the Long Vacation.” (Chapter 12, Page 147)

29. transitory (adjective):

temporary, fleeting

“Many a night he vaguely and unhappily wandered there, when wine had brought no transitory gladness to him” (Chapter 13, Page 155)

30. supplication (noun):

a humble request, or the act of praying for or requesting something humbly

“My last supplication of all, is this [...] Try to hold me in your mind, at some quiet times, as ardent and sincere in this one thing.” (Chapter 13, Pages 158-159)

31. belligerent (adjective):

aggressive, combative, or warlike

“At last, after several hours, when sundry summer-houses had been pulled down, and some area railings had been torn up, to arm the more belligerent spirits, a rumour got about that the Guards were coming.” (Chapter 14, Page 164)

32. feint (noun):

a show of doing something that’s intended to deceive

“Young Jerry, who had only made a feint of undressing when he went to bed, was not long after his father.” (Chapter 14, Page 167)

33. ubiquitous (adjective):

present everywhere, universal

“[H]e cried Long live the King, Long live the Queen, Long live everybody and everything! as if he had never heard of ubiquitous Jacques in his time.” (Chapter 15, Page 180)

34. assiduously (adverb):

with great care and persistence, thoroughly and industriously

“Next noontide saw the admirable woman in her usual place in the wine-shop, knitting away assiduously.” (Chapter 16, Page 186)

35. genteel (adjective):

refined and well mannered, usually with the implication of belonging to the upper classes

“Mr Barsad paid for what he had drunk, and took his leave: taking occasion to say, in a genteel manner, before he departed, that he looked forward to the pleasure of seeing Monsieur and Madame Defarge again.” (Chapter 16, Page 191)

36. interpose (verb):

place or come between

“Can you tell me, this last time, that you feel quite, quite sure no new affections of mine, and no new duties of mine, will ever interpose between us?” (Chapter 17, Page 195)

37. felicity (noun):

happiness, joy

“He only seemed to contrast his present cheerfulness and felicity with the dire endurance that was over.” (Chapter 17, Page 196)

38. conferring (verb):

handing over to, bestowing an honor or duty on

“How lightly I valued the obligation I was conferring on my friend Mr. Charles!” (Chapter 18, Page 199)

39. sagacity (noun):

wisdom, discernment, or shrewdness

“The sagacity of the man of business perceived an advantage here, and determined to hold it.” (Chapter 18, Page 204)

40. plodding (adjective):

in reference to a person, hardworking and persevering but not quick or imaginative

“I ask for information, as a plodding man of business who only deals with such material objects as guineas, shillings, and bank-notes" (Chapter 19, Page 212)

41. dissolute (adjective):

morally lax or corrupted, especially in terms of indulging physical appetites

“At any rate you know me as a dissolute dog, who has never done any good, and never will.” (Chapter 20, Page 215)

42. exuding (verb):

in reference to a person, strongly displaying or radiating a quality or emotion

“These three young gentlemen, Mr Stryver, exuding patronage of the most offensive quality from every pore, had walked before him like three sheep to the quiet corner in Soho” (Chapter 21, Page 220)

43. tumult:

chaotic uproar or confusion

“Everywhere was tumult, exultation, deafening and maniacal bewilderment, astounding noise, yet furious dumb-show.” (Chapter 21, Page 225)

44. squalid:

filthy due to poverty or neglect

“[T]here were several knots of loungers, squalid and miserable, but now with a manifest sense of power enthroned on their distress” (Chapter 23, Page 231)

45. conflagration:

a large and destructive fire

“In the roaring and raging of the conflagration, a red-hot wind, driving straight from the infernal regions, seemed to be blowing the edifice away.” (Chapter 23, Page 241)

46. capricious (adjective):

prone to change mood or purpose on a whim

“[The towns] stopped [travelers] and laid them in hold, as their capricious judgment or fancy deemed best for the dawning Republic, One and Indivisible, of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death.” (Chapter 1, Page 255)

47. ligatures (plural noun):

ties or bonds

“Some of the hacked swords were tied to the wrists of those who carried them, with stripes of linen and fragments of dress: ligatures various in kind, but all deep of the one colour.” (Chapter 2, Page 272)

48. doleful (adjective):

sorrowful, grief-stricken

“A disturbed and doleful mind he brought to bear upon [his work], and slowly and heavily the day lagged on with him.” (Chapter 3, Page 275)

49. solicitude (noun):

attentive care and concern

“With an inconsistency as monstrous as anything in this awful nightmare, they had helped the healer, and tended the wounded man with the gentlest solicitude” (Chapter 4, Page 281)

50. exalted (adjective):

ennobled or esteemed, lifted high in character, status, or respect

“Now that this was changed, and he knew himself to be invested through that old trial with forces to which they both looked for Charles’s ultimate safety and deliverance, he became so far exalted by the change, that he took the lead and direction” (Chapter 4, Page 282)

51. rend (verb):

tear (apart)

“[H]e knew very well, that the same people, carried by another current, would have rushed at him with the same intensity, to rend him to pieces and strew him over the streets.” (Chapter 6, Page 296)

52. frugal (adjective):

economical, prone to use money sparingly

“Their housekeeping was of a very frugal kind” (Chapter 7, Page 298)

53. furtive (adjective):

secretive or surreptitious in a way intended to avoid attracting attention

“‘Don’t call me Solomon. Do you want to be the death of me’ asked the man, in a furtive, frightened way.” (Chapter 8, Page 307)

54. congenial (adjective):

pleasingly like-minded or compatible in personality, interests, etc.

“The strong tide, so swift, so deep, and certain, was like a congenial friend, in the morning stillness.” (Chapter 9, Page 327)

55. expounded (past tense verb):

explained in full and detailed form

“Defarge was produced, when the court was quiet enough to admit of his being heard, and rapidly expounded the story of the imprisonment” (Chapter 9, Page 329)

56. imperious (adjective):

haughty and arrogant in dealing with others

“The manner of both was imperious, and they both moved, as these words were spoken, so as to place me between themselves and the carriage door.” (Chapter 10, Page 332)

57. vassal (noun):

historically, a tenant whose residence on their land depended on loyalty and service to a lord

“I took my younger sister [...] to a place beyond the reach of this man, and where, at least, she will never be his vassal.” (Chapter 10, Page 338)

58. presentiment (noun):

a feeling about the course of the future, a foreboding or suspicion

“I have a presentiment that if no other innocent atonement is made for this, it will one day be required of him.” (Chapter 10, Page 343)

59. antipathy (noun):

deep-seated or instinctive dislike

“We know now, the natural antipathy you strove against, and conquered for her dear sake.” (Chapter 11, Page 347)

60. inveteracy (noun):

stubbornness, determination, or fixedness in a tendency or course of action

“She and her father would unquestionably be guilty of this crime, and this woman (the inveteracy of whose pursuit cannot be described) would wait to add that strength to her case, and make herself doubly sure.” (Chapter 12, Page 358)