The Great Gatsby: 40 words to know before you read it
The 40 words F Scott Fitzgerald uses again and again in The Great Gatsby 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.
inquire/ˌɪnˈkwaɪɹ/27× in the book
I inquired innocently.
butler/ˈbətɫɝ/20× in the book
When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me.
grey/ˈɡɹeɪ/17× in the book
Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discontented face.
murmur/ˈmɝmɝ/16× in the book
If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apology for having disturbed her by coming in.
policeman/pəˈɫismən/14× in the book
When we came into the station he was next to me and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm—and so I told him I'd have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied.
taxi/ˈtæksi/12× in the book
Upstairs, in the solemn echoing drive she let four taxi cabs drive away before she selected a new one, lavender-colored with grey upholstery …
coup/ˈku/12× in the book
In the ditch beside the road, right side up but violently shorn of one wheel, rested a new coupé which had left Gatsby's drive not two minutes before.
faint/ˈfeɪnt/12× in the book
… when that certain girl played tennis, a faint mustache of perspiration appeared on her upper lip.
tremble/ˈtɹɛmbəɫ/11× in the book
The murmur trembled on the verge of coherence, sank down, mounted excitedly, and then ceased altogether.
chauffeur/ˈʃoʊfɝ/10× in the book
A chauffeur in a uniform of robin's egg blue crossed my lawn early that Saturday morning with a surprisingly formal note from his employer—the honor would be entirely Gatsby's, it said …
anyhow/ˈɛniˌhaʊ/10× in the book
"You see I think everything's terrible anyhow," she went on in a convinced way.
faintly/ˈfeɪntɫi/10× in the book
I am not even faintly like a rose.
glow/ˈɡɫoʊ/10× in the book
The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold, and wide open to the warm windy afternoon …
eagerly/ˈiɡɝɫi/9× in the book
asked Mrs. Wilson eagerly as he came to the taxi-window.
twilight/ˈtwaɪˌɫaɪt/9× in the book
Tom and Miss Baker, with several feet of twilight between them strolled back into the library, as if to a vigil beside a perfectly tangible body …
exclaim/ɪkˈskɫeɪm/9× in the book
she exclaimed surprisingly.
unfamiliar/ˌənfəˈmɪɫjɝ/9× in the book
They shook hands briefly and a strained, unfamiliar look of embarrassment came over Gatsby's face.
upstairs/əpˈstɛɹz/9× in the book
The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing upstairs; the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive …
fool/ˈfuɫ/9× in the book
"I'd be a God Damned fool to live anywhere else."
whereupon/ˈhwɛɹəˈpɑn/8× in the book
The butler came back and murmured something close to Tom's ear whereupon Tom frowned, pushed back his chair and without a word went inside.
incredulous/ˌɪnˈkɹɛdʒəɫəs/8× in the book
Her host looked at her incredulously.
politely/pəˈɫaɪtɫi/8× in the book
He turned me around again, politely and abruptly.
yacht/ˈjɑt/8× in the book
A large photograph of an elderly man in yachting costume attracted me, hung on the wall over his desk.
groan/ˈɡɹoʊn/8× in the book
I must have stood for a few moments listening to the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a picture on the wall.
supper/ˈsəpɝ/8× in the book
Tom rang for the janitor and sent him for some celebrated sandwiches, which were a complete supper in themselves.
cocktail/ˈkɑkˌteɪɫ/8× in the book
"No, thanks," said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, "I'm absolutely in training."
conceal/kənˈsiɫ/8× in the book
She was only extemporizing but a stirring warmth flowed from her as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words.
mutter/ˈmətɝ/8× in the book
… at least I had him for a few days until he ran away, and an old Dodge and a Finnish woman who made my bed and cooked breakfast and muttered Finnish wisdom to herself over the electric stove.
impatiently/ˌɪmˈpeɪʃəntɫi/7× in the book
What was that word we—" "Well, these books are all scientific," insisted Tom, glancing at her impatiently.
solemn/ˈsɑɫəm/7× in the book
I was rather literary in college—one year I wrote a series of very solemn and obvious editorials for the "Yale News"—and now I was going to bring back all such things into my life and become again that most limited of all specialists, the "well-rounded man."
cheerful/ˈtʃɪɹfəɫ/7× in the book
Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay.
restless/ˈɹɛstɫəs/7× in the book
I enjoyed the counter-raid so thoroughly that I came back restless.
whiskey/ˈhwɪski/7× in the book
Meanwhile Tom brought out a bottle of whiskey from a locked bureau door.
scarcely/ˈskɛɹsɫi/7× in the book
And so it happened that on a warm windy evening I drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I scarcely knew at all.
goodbye/ˌɡʊdˈbaɪ/7× in the book
He was saying some last word to her but the eagerness in his manner tightened abruptly into formality as several people approached him to say goodbye.
overhead/ˈoʊvɝˈhɛd/7× in the book
They are not perfect ovals—like the egg in the Columbus story they are both crushed flat at the contact end—but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the gulls that fly overhead.
champagne/ʃæmˈpeɪn/7× in the book
In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.
orchestra/ˈɔɹkəstɹə/7× in the book
By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived—no thin five-piece affair but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums.
frown/ˈfɹaʊn/7× in the book
objected Daisy, frowning.
fantastic/fænˈtæstɪk/7× in the book
This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort …
Pronunciation: ipa-dict (MIT), from Wiktionary.
Read the book freeEvery sentence translated, natural audio, one-tap dictionary