Middlemarch: 40 words to know before you read it
The 40 words George Eliot uses again and again in Middlemarch that are outside the 4,000 most common in English. Learn them first and the opening chapters read much more easily. Each comes with its pronunciation and a sentence from the book.
oblige/əˈbɫaɪdʒ/81× in the book
He’s very hot on new sorts; to oblige you.”
hinder/ˈhɪndɝ/75× in the book
Certainly such elements in the character of a marriageable girl tended to interfere with her lot, and hinder it from being decided according to custom, by good looks …
till/ˈtɪɫ/75× in the book
You know, he said that he had forgotten them till then.
fond/ˈfɑnd/70× in the book
“No, I have other things of mamma’s—her sandal-wood box which I am so fond of—plenty of things.
inward/ˈɪnwɝd/68× in the book
If Miss Brooke ever attained perfect meekness, it would not be for lack of inward fire.
pity/ˈpɪti/63× in the book
Celia felt that this was a pity.
clergyman/ˈkɫɝdʒiˌmæn/61× in the book
… not excepting even Monsieur Liret, the Vaudois clergyman who had given conferences on the history of the Waldenses.
dislike/dɪˈsɫaɪk/61× in the book
So Miss Brooke presided in her uncle’s household, and did not at all dislike her new authority, with the homage that belonged to it.
delight/dɪˈɫaɪt/60× in the book
… and was taking her usual place in the pretty sitting-room which divided the bedrooms of the sisters, bent on finishing a plan for some buildings (a kind of work which she delighted in), when Celia …
dread/ˈdɹɛd/59× in the book
But he himself dreaded so much the sort of superior woman likely to be available for such a position, that he allowed himself to be dissuaded by Dorothea’s objections …
disagreeable/ˌdɪsəˈɡɹiəbəɫ/50× in the book
But he was positively obtrusive at this moment, and his dimpled hands were quite disagreeable.
temper/ˈtɛmpɝ/50× in the book
It was hardly a year since they had come to live at Tipton Grange with their uncle, a man nearly sixty, of acquiescent temper, miscellaneous opinions, and uncertain vote.
peculiar/pəkˈjuɫjɝ/50× in the book
… her eyes following the same direction as her uncle’s, she was struck with the peculiar effect of the announcement on Dorothea.
spite/ˈspaɪt/50× in the book
Riding was an indulgence which she allowed herself in spite of conscientious qualms; she felt that she enjoyed it in a pagan sensuous way, and always looked forward to renouncing it.
agreeable/əˈɡɹiəbəɫ/48× in the book
But there may be good reasons for choosing not to do what is very agreeable,” said Dorothea.
chiefly/ˈtʃifɫi/47× in the book
… and did not regard his future wife in the light of prey, valuable chiefly for the excitements of the chase.
beforehand/bɪˈfɔɹˌhænd/46× in the book
You couldn’t put the thing better—couldn’t put it better, beforehand, you know.
thoroughly/ˈθɝoʊɫi/45× in the book
She was thoroughly charming to him, but of course he theorized a little about his attachment.
clever/ˈkɫɛvɝ/44× in the book
She was usually spoken of as being remarkably clever, but with the addition that her sister Celia had more common-sense.
ignorance/ˈɪɡnɝəns/43× in the book
This elevating thought lifted her above her annoyance at being twitted with her ignorance of political economy, that never-explained science which was thrust as an extinguisher over all her lights.
charm/ˈtʃɑɹm/43× in the book
Yet those who approached Dorothea, though prejudiced against her by this alarming hearsay, found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it.
carriage/ˈkæɹɪdʒ/41× in the book
When she got out of the carriage, her cheeks were pale and her eyelids red.
unpleasant/ənˈpɫɛzənt/41× in the book
He was not going to renounce his ride because of his friend’s unpleasant news—only to ride the faster in some other direction than that of Tipton Grange.
affection/əˈfɛkʃən/41× in the book
… vanity, and merely canine affection.
morrow/ˈmɑɹoʊ/40× in the book
“You can go with me to-morrow, if you like.
banker/ˈbæŋkɝ/40× in the book
… who happened to be a manufacturer; the philanthropic banker his brother-in-law, who predominated so much in the town that some called him a Methodist …
disposition/ˌdɪspəˈzɪʃən/38× in the book
Miss Brooke argued from words and dispositions not less unhesitatingly than other young ladies of her age.
conscience/ˈkɑnʃəns/37× in the book
… hardly more than a budding woman, but yet with an active conscience and a great mental need, not to be satisfied by a girlish instruction comparable to the nibblings and judgments of a discursive mouse.
uneasy/əˈnizi/36× in the book
Dorothea felt a little more uneasy than usual.
afterwards/ˈæftɝwɝdz/36× in the book
… on plans at once narrow and promiscuous, first in an English family and afterwards in a Swiss family at Lausanne, their bachelor uncle and guardian trying in this way to remedy the disadvantages of their orphaned condition.
contrary/ˈkɑntɹɛɹi/36× in the book
“On the contrary, I am often unable to decide.
bill/ˈbɪɫ/35× in the book
For the creditor to whom he owed a hundred and sixty held a firmer security in the shape of a bill signed by Mary’s father.
aunt/ˈænt/35× in the book
“My aunt made an unfortunate marriage.
disgust/dɪsˈɡəst/34× in the book
All her dear plans were embittered, and she thought with disgust of Sir James’s conceiving that she recognized him as her lover.
ignorant/ˈɪɡnɝənt/34× in the book
“I am very ignorant—you will quite wonder at my ignorance,” said Dorothea.
utter/ˈətɝ/34× in the book
… present in the king’s mind, but not uttered,” said Mr. Casaubon, smiling and bending his head towards Celia …
offend/əˈfɛnd/34× in the book
… and was unhappy: she saw that she had offended her sister, and dared not say even anything pretty about the gift of the ornaments which she put back into the box and carried away.
fool/ˈfuɫ/34× in the book
A man always makes a fool of himself, speechifying: there’s no excuse but being on the right side, so that you can ask a blessing on your humming and hawing.
lately/ˈɫeɪtɫi/34× in the book
I have been using up my eyesight on old characters lately; the fact is …
backward/ˈbækwɝd/33× in the book
… the color rose in her cheeks, and her straw bonnet (which our contemporaries might look at with conjectural curiosity as at an obsolete form of basket) fell a little backward.
Pronunciation: ipa-dict (MIT), from Wiktionary.
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