Vocabulary ladder
Anna Karenina
Part ONE, 5
3,147 words. Everyday vocabulary (band A) covers 60% of the text; the hard 7% is 92 entries — all of them below.
A 60.3% (469 types) B 5.5% (137 types) C 3.6% (88 entries) D 1.4% (33 entries) E 0.6% (18 entries) N 5.5% (41 entries)
Band B — common reading vocabulary
A sample of 24 of 137 — you will meet these often; they are explained only at the fullest help level.
- honorable
- inferior
- endure
- crept
- elbows
- secondly
- gossip
- overwhelmed
- fond ×2
- midst
- thirteen
- champagne ×3
- glanced
- absorbed
- sixty
- sleeve
- consequently ×2
- consisted
- remembering
- virtue
- absurd
- elegant
- sigh
- lightly
Band C — recognition checklist
All 88 upper-intermediate words in this chapter. Tick the ones you know; the rest are explained at the fullest help level.
- sheepskin
- plaything
- unquestionable
- coldly
- trifling
- unearned
- disagreeable
- decorum
- exertion
- shyness
- hotly
- boardroom
- pretense
- thirdly
- freshness
- outburst
- sportsman
- councilman
- agreeable
- stiffness
- grandeur
- frown
- restrain
- shrug
- luncheon
- prematurely
- quarrel
- earthly
- scarcely
- angrily
- embroidered
- indifference
- ponder
- soften
- haste
- intruder
- sparkle
- familiarity
- berth
- brightly
- excellency
- shortcoming
- subordinate
- diminish
- plight
- disposition
- dine
- radiant
- bribe
- despise
- irritated
- liberalism
- doorway
- overlook
- acquaintance
- mocking
- aha
- blush
- lucrative
- improper
- staircase
- slender
- superiority
- curly
- tailor
- intimacy
- query
- fetch
- distributor
- manly
- idle
- respectful
- childish
- greet
- amusement
- jealousy
- nod
- skate
- stud
- eyebrow
- queer
- comparative
- delightful
- embarrassment
- interval
- objection
- simplicity
- distraction
Band D — advanced (33 entries)
- brother-in-law
- a sister's husband or wife's brother
- cattle-breeder
- one who raises cattle
- fellow-officials
- others holding the same sort of office
- half-brother
- a brother by one parent only
- one-third
- one part out of three
- panic-stricken
- seized by panic
- shirt-cuff
- the cuff of a shirt
- sister-in-law
- a husband's or wife's sister
- inquiringly
- with a questioning look
- wardships
- the care of a child by a guardian
- doorkeeper ×3
- one who keeps the door
- surmount
- to be set on top of
- quarrelsome
- given to quarrelling
- uneasily
- with unease
- personages
- a person of importance
- shyly
- with shyness
- disreputable ×2
- of bad reputation
- needful
- needed
- perceptible ×2
- just able to be seen
- petticoats
- a woman's underskirt
- merrily
- with merry cheer
- councilor ×2
- a member of a council
- habitually
- by settled habit
- deference ×2
- respectful yielding
- chum · chums ×4
- chummed: made friends
- vigor
- strong energy
- complacency
- smug satisfaction
- dissipated
- wasted in idle pleasure
- gymnast
- a trained athlete
- tact ×2
- fine sense of what fits the moment
- irritable
- quick to anger
- mischievous
- full of playful mischief
- indulgence
- a special allowance; the church's pardon
Band E — rare & archaic (18 entries)
- adjutant-generals
- high officers on a commander's staff
- broad-shouldered
- with wide shoulders
- filbert-shaped
- shaped like a hazelnut
- good-humored ×2
- cheerful and easygoing
- good-humoredly
- cheerfully and easygoing
- good-naturedly
- in a kindly way
- kindliness
- gentle kindness
- genially
- in a warm friendly way
- complacently
- with self-satisfaction
- disapprovingly
- with disapproval
- ironical
- mocking by saying the opposite
- copyists
- one who makes copies by hand
- deigned
- to lower oneself to grant
- reddening
- to grow red; blush
- phantasm
- a ghostly unreal show
- deferential
- humbly respectful
- coterie
- a small close set of people
- stammered
- to speak with halting breaks
False friends — common words wearing old senses (6)
- condition
- social rank — the old sense here
- hit
- captured exactly — the old sense here
- interest
- the spectacle that draws a crowd — the old sense here
- passage
- a sea-journey — the old sense here
- sensible
- aware — the old sense here
- use
- habit; custom — the old sense here
Names (33)
- arkadyevitch ×30
- a Russian patronymic, meaning son of Arkady
- dmitrievitch
- a Russian patronymic, meaning son of Dmitri
- grinevitch ×8
- a Russian patronymic, meaning son of Grigory
- ivanitch
- a Russian patronymic, meaning son of Ivan
- kammerjunker
- a young gentleman of the court, in German
- karazinsky ×2
- a Russian family name
- koznishev ×2
- Levin's half brother, a writer on public questions
- nikititch
- a Russian patronymic, meaning son of Nikita
- shtcherbatskys
- the Shtcherbatsky family
- stanislavitch
- a Russian patronymic, meaning son of Stanislav
- oblonsky ×21
- Anna's brother, a genial Moscow official
- stiva ×2
- a familiar form of Oblonsky's name
- alexandrovitch
- a Russian patronymic, meaning son of Alexandr
- gurin
- a Russian family name
- karenin ×2
- Anna's husband, a high official in Petersburg
- ivanovitch ×2
- a Russian patronymic, meaning son of Ivan
- penza
- a Russian province and town
- fomin
- a Russian family name
- zahar
- a Russian man's name
- mihail
- a Russian man's name
- nikitin ×3
- a Russian family name
- stepan ×30
- a Russian man's name; also Oblonsky's first name
- alexey
- a Russian man's name; also Vronsky's and Karenin's first name
- konstantin ×2
- Levin's first name
- tsar
- the emperor of Russia
- sergey ×2
- a Russian man's name; also Koznishev's first name
- levin ×33
- a landowner who farms his own estate in the country
- kitty ×2
- the youngest of the Shtcherbatsky sisters
- anna
- the woman this story follows, wife of a Petersburg official
- Alexey Alexandrovitch
- Karenin, Anna's husband, by his first name and patronymic
- Konstantin Dmitrievitch
- Levin, by his first name and patronymic
- Sergey Ivanovitch
- Koznishev, Levin's half brother, by his first name and patronymic
- Stepan Arkadyevitch
- Oblonsky, Anna's brother, by his first name and patronymic