The Sun Is Also a Star: "Multiverses"–"Daniel"

by Nicola Yoon
In one of the most popular and highly praised YA novels of 2016, two teens meet and fall in love over the course of a single day in New York City.

This list covers pages 56–115.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
40 words 225 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. wary
    openly distrustful and unwilling to confide
    Still, getting over him didn’t take that long at all. And that’s the thing that makes me wary. Where did all those feelings go?
  2. infinitesimal
    immeasurably small
    Like hydrogen-7 or lithium-5 or boron-7, love has an infinitesimally small half-life that decays to nothing.
  3. actuarial
    relating to statistics to calculate insurance premiums
    He has actuarial tables in his mind. He knows the cost of a human life lost in an airplane crash, a car accident, a mining disaster. He knows these things because he once worked in insurance.
  4. satellite
    any celestial body orbiting around a planet or star
    It seems like such a long time ago when I thought the world of him. He was some exotic planet and I was his favorite satellite.
  5. testy
    easily irritated or annoyed
    I’m crankier and testier than I should be with someone who just saved my life.
  6. banter
    light teasing repartee
    Watching him stand there in his suit, I can picture him in a black-and-white Hollywood romantic comedy trading witty banter with his heroine.
  7. forlorn
    marked by or showing hopelessness
    And by slightly, I mean there are several oil paintings of single coffee beans hanging on the wall. Who knew coffee-bean portraiture was a thing? Who knew they could look so forlorn?
  8. quota
    a prescribed number
    Her face dares me to ask her more, but I’ve reached my quota of daring things (1 = following cute girl, 2 = yelling at ex-boyfriend of cute girl, 3 = saving life of cute girl, 4 = asking out cute girl) for the day.
  9. paradox
    a statement that contradicts itself
    She’s gesturing with her hands, talking about researchers at MIT and probability bending to prevent paradoxes.
  10. inevitable
    incapable of being avoided or prevented
    It’s the feeling when you meet someone that you’re going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don’t love them right away, but it’s inevitable that you will.
  11. insurmountable
    impossible to overcome
    I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m experiencing right now. The only slight (possibly insurmountable) problem is that I’m pretty sure that Natasha is not.
  12. nihilism
    the delusion that things do not exist
    Instead of pushing him away, my nihilism is only making him more comfortable.
  13. quantum
    the smallest discrete quantity of some physical property
    For every event at the quantum level, the current universe splits into multiple universes. This means that for every choice you make, an infinite number of universes exist in which you made a different choice.
  14. posit
    take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom
    The theory neatly solves the grandfather paradox by positing separate universes in which each possible outcome exists, thereby avoiding a paradox.
  15. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    I kinda don’t want to know, because if they did stay married, then love is less mysterious than I think and can be grown in a petri dish. If they didn’t stay married, then love is as fleeting as Natasha says it is.
  16. skeptical
    marked by or given to doubt
    He tells me about some study involving a lab and questions and love. I am skeptical and say so.
  17. intrigue
    cause to be interested or curious
    I’m also slightly intrigued but don’t say so.
  18. mutual
    common to or shared by two or more parties
    At some point it just becomes friendship with mutual self-interest for the benefit of society and the next generation.
  19. earnestness
    the trait of being serious or sincere
    The more I talk to him, the cuter he gets. I even like his earnestness, despite the fact that I usually hate earnestness.
  20. addle
    mix up or confuse
    The sexy ponytail may be addling my brain.
  21. inherently
    in an essential manner
    It's just hair, I tell myself. Its function is to keep the head warm and protect it against ultraviolet radiation. There's nothing inherently sexy about it.
  22. compatibility
    a feeling of sympathetic understanding
    “My ingredients are friendship, intimacy, moral compatibility, physical attraction, and the X factor.”
  23. philosophical
    relating to the investigation of existence and knowledge
    “Do you really think asking me deep, philosophical questions is going to make us fall in love?”
  24. unflappable
    not easily perturbed, excited, or upset
    “That you solve by writing them a poem?” The skepticism in my voice cannot be missed.
    “Or reading one,” he says, with more unflappable sincerity.
  25. benevolence
    disposition to do good
    Pure benevolence from me. I would decide what was good for everyone and do it.
  26. intact
    undamaged in any way
    I arrived at the crosswalk before the BMW driver showed up, and there was no near-miss accident. My phone and headphones remain intact.
  27. incompetent
    showing lack of skill or aptitude
    “So you’re going to die an incompetent hero?”
  28. equilibrium
    a sensory system that registers the orientation of the head
    I pull my eyes away from his chest and up to his face, but that’s not any better for my equilibrium.
  29. somber
    serious and gloomy in character
    My mood turns somber at the thought. I don’t want to start over again. It was hard enough when we first moved to America.
  30. clique
    an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
    I don’t want to have to learn the rituals and customs of a new high school. New friends. New cliques. New dress codes. New hangouts.
  31. respective
    considered individually
    He says we as if there’s some future of us together where our respective mortalities will matter to each other.
  32. notwithstanding
    despite anything to the contrary
    “But you’re Jamaican. You grew up surrounded by water.”
    “Island heritage notwithstanding, I can’t swim.”
  33. discern
    perceive, recognize, or detect
    “Data scientists analyze data, separate the noise from the signal, discern patterns, draw conclusions, and recommend actions based on the results.”
  34. mundane
    found in the ordinary course of events
    We are capable of big lives. A big history. Why settle? Why choose the practical thing, the mundane thing? We are born to dream and make the things we dream about.
  35. fickle
    marked by erratic changeableness in affections
    But the poetic heart is not to be trusted. It is fickle and will lead you astray. It will tell you that all you need is love and dreams. It will say nothing about food and water and shelter and money.
  36. orchestrate
    plan and direct (a complex undertaking)
    According to scientists, there are three stages of love: lust, attraction, and attachment. And, it turns out, each of the stages is orchestrated by chemicals—neurotransmitters—in the brain.
  37. unrequited
    not returned in kind
    That and the fact that my extreme like for her is clearly unrequited. And love is not love if it’s not requited, right?
  38. sheaf
    a package of several things tied together
    She pushes a sheaf of forms at me and doesn’t look at me again.
  39. flush
    glow or cause to glow with warm color or light
    Her face flushes and her eyes shine with happy tears.
  40. concrete
    capable of being perceived by the senses
    “Hope” is the thing with feathers. I understand concretely what that means now. Something inside my chest wants to fly out, wants to sing and laugh and dance with relief.
Created on Mon Jun 26 10:59:31 EDT 2017 (updated Sat Jul 30 13:22:46 EDT 2022)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.