Vocabulary ladder
War and Peace
Book One, VIII
1,232 words. Everyday vocabulary (band A) covers 63% of the text; the hard 6% is 32 entries — all of them below.
A 63.4% (283 types) B 5.4% (57 types) C 2.9% (35 entries) D 1.2% (15 entries) E 0.2% (3 entries) N 4.7% (14 entries)
Band B — common reading vocabulary
A sample of 24 of 57 — you will meet these often; they are explained only at the fullest help level.
- spoiled
- addicted
- merry
- elbows
- uttered
- consult
- forehead
- gossip
- fond
- continually
- glance · glanced ×2
- decorated
- elegant
- meditation
- philosophical
- sigh
- wit
- rubbed
- evident
- perfection
- weighs
- kindly
- possessed
- ceased
Band C — recognition checklist
All 35 upper-intermediate words in this chapter. Tick the ones you know; the rest are explained at the fullest help level.
- newness
- amiable
- lackey
- impassioned
- lifeless
- morbid
- astonish
- shrug
- affectionate
- torment
- imprint
- plainly
- reassure
- irritation
- ache
- illegitimate
- enchanted
- unmarried
- luxurious
- blush
- convict
- superiority
- careless
- crimson
- spectacle
- simplest
- trivial
- defect
- smoothly
- gaze
- grease
- incapable
- supper
- vain
- vanity
Band D — advanced (15 entries)
- half-closed
- partly closed
- lolled
- to lounge at ease
- irrevocable
- beyond recall
- debauchery
- wild, shameless living
- dissipation
- idle, wasteful pleasure
- comme
- of trade; trading
- quivering
- to tremble finely
- trifles
- a thing of no importance
- caustic
- bitingly sharp
- amazement
- great wonder
- commendation
- praise
- dissipated
- wasted in idle pleasure
- napkins
- a table cloth for the lap
- agitation
- troubled excitement
- extinguished
- put out
Band E — rare & archaic (3 entries)
- good-natured
- kindly by nature
- triviality
- empty smallness
- faut
- proper — French, from comme il faut
False friends — common words wearing old senses (1)
- use
- habit; custom — the old sense here
Names (9)
- bolkónski
- the family name of Prince Andrew and Princess Mary
- kurágin
- the family name of Prince Vasíli and his children
- kurágins ×2
- the Kurágin family
- pávlovna ×2
- a patronymic — daughter of Paul; Anna Pávlovna Schérer
- vasíli
- Prince Vasíli Kurágin, the smooth court intriguer
- anatole
- Anatole Kurágin, Prince Vasíli's handsome, dissolute son
- bonaparte ×3
- Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French
- anna ×2
- a woman's name — Anna Pávlovna Schérer and others
- Anna Pávlovna
- the Petersburg hostess