We Are the Ants: List 5

by Shaun David Hutchinson
Is the world worth saving? That's the question Henry Denton must answer when aliens give him the power to save—or destroy—the planet. Learn these words from the novel by Shaun David Hutchinson.

This list covers 28 Dec 2015 – Ms. Faraci.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, LIst 3, List 4, List 5
35 words 33 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. explicit
    precisely and clearly expressed or readily observable
    Mom decided to celebrate New Year's Eve with her girlfriends at the Hard Rock Casino, leaving the house to me and Charlie with explicit instructions not to throw a party, which we obviously planned to ignore.
  2. void
    an empty area or space
    Charlie wasn’t listening to us so much as talking to fill the void where Zooey should have been.
  3. bravado
    a swaggering show of courage
    Most every kid in juvie is inside because they screwed up pretty bad, but they’re all just boys hiding under layers of false bravado. They act like thugs, but most of them miss their mothers.
  4. arbitrary
    based on or subject to individual discretion or preference
    It seems silly to worry about the arbitrary moment some person long dead declared to be the end of one year and the beginning of another, as if our attempts to divide time into meaningful chunks actually mean anything.
  5. tenuous
    lacking substance or significance
    “As long as it’s got something to do with science, no matter how tenuous the relation, I’ll take it.”
  6. consortium
    a cooperative association among institutions or companies
    While attempting to isolate enough of the compounds in the cockroaches, an international consortium of scientists develops revolutionary technologies to increase the size of the cockroaches through genetic manipulation.
  7. immunity
    the condition in which an organism can resist disease
    These novel insects, named Blatella asmithicus after the geneticist responsible for creating them, Dr. Andrew Smith, measure nearly a meter in length, and have an astounding resiliency and immunity to all known toxins.
  8. ravenous
    extremely hungry
    On 29 January 2016 a pair of CroMS escape from a laboratory in Austin, Texas. They begin to breed. As a result of their increased size, CroMS possess a ravenous appetite and devour everything in their path.
  9. retribution
    the act of taking revenge
    After Adrian punched me in the hallway at school, which I read on Marcus’s SnowFlake page was retribution for his expulsion, despite not even being the one who’d e-mailed his video confession to Principal DeShields, I spent most of my free time in my room, contemplating my existence.
  10. farce
    a comedy characterized by broad satire
    Because if that’s all they are—if there are no rules governing our lives—then our entire existence is a meaningless farce.
  11. transitory
    lasting a very short time
    I was inert, still in my school clothes, lying on top of my sheets, dozing in a transitory space between asleep and awake.
  12. distraction
    drawing someone's attention away from something
    I wanted him to focus on his studies. You were a distraction.
  13. insincere
    lacking the quality of being open and truthful
    Mrs. Franklin’s voice was wooden, like she was reciting lines, but I didn’t know whether it was because she was insincere or because if she allowed any emotion to creep into her voice, she’d fall apart.
  14. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    Mrs. Franklin pushed back her chair and stood. She was even more imposing towering over me.
  15. closure
    something settled or resolved
    I’d broken into her house looking for closure, and I think she came to mine looking for the same. I’m not sure either of us found what we were looking for, but maybe continuing to search was the best we could do.
  16. coherent
    marked by an orderly and consistent relation of parts
    Charlie slurred his words, barely able to form a coherent sentence.
  17. obstetrician
    a physician specializing in childbirth
    Their obstetrician suspects the baby suffered from chromosomal damage.
  18. teeming
    abundantly filled with especially living things
    All those galactic clusters and far-flung stars ringed by planets—some dead, some teeming with alien life—are going to come zipping back toward one another, faster and faster as the pull of gravity draws them toward the center.
  19. naive
    marked by or showing unaffected simplicity
    Joel was never the marrying type, and I was naive. In love with the idea of love.
  20. taint
    place under suspicion or cast doubt upon
    They say when we recall a memory, we’re actually calling up the last time we remembered it, and I’m not sure I can trust that my anger at him for leaving hasn’t tainted those memories.
  21. ergonomic
    designed to maximize workers' comfort and efficiency
    It was supposed to remind cubicle workers to stand and stretch every hour, but it sounded like an ergonomic torture device.
  22. rendition
    a performance of a musical composition or a dramatic role
    The Calypso Crooners were hosting a karaoke booth, and I couldn’t listen to one more off-key rendition of “Summer Nights,” so I ended up on the far side of the carnival, where it was quieter.
  23. dingy
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
    The outside of the tent may have been dingy, but the inside was wondrous.
  24. placard
    a sign posted in a public place
    Each piece of art had a little placard indicating the artist and name of the work.
  25. cheeky
    offensively bold
    The boy's hand hovered over a button, and his lips bore a cheeky Mona Lisa smile, as if he were hoarding all the secrets of the universe and would never share.
  26. nullify
    make ineffective by counterbalancing the effect of
    The hitch was that Orpheus was forbidden from looking backward until he was clear of the dread god’s domain. Failure to abide by this one rule would nullify his victory; and Eurydice would be lost forever.
  27. paramedic
    a person trained to give emergency medical treatment
    “Young man,” said the red-haired paramedic with bloodshot eyes. “We need to take you to the hospital.”
  28. impact
    the striking of one body against another
    Some scientists have theorized that Miranda's piecemeal structure is the result of a massive impact that broke the moon into several pieces that—held together by her gravity—were reformed into something entirely unique.
  29. contraband
    goods whose trade or possession is prohibited by law
    Nurse Curtis watched us from the door to make sure Audrey wasn’t sneaking me contraband. They took my shaving razors and my shoelaces. The only thing I was allowed to keep was a pencil so I could keep writing in my journal.
  30. tentative
    hesitant or lacking confidence; unsettled in mind or opinion
    Audrey’s tentative smile morphed into a grin.
  31. threadbare
    thin and tattered with age
    I led her to a threadbare couch, ignoring and ignored by the other patients.
  32. refute
    overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof
    The judge was ready to toss me back in, but my lawyer argued that since Marcus wasn’t pressing charges, there was no one to refute my story that I’d been acting in self-defense.
  33. unfettered
    not bound or restrained, as by shackles and chains
    I kissed Diego. We floated free and unfettered. Maybe love doesn’t require falling after all. Maybe it only requires that you choose to be in it.
  34. scenario
    a postulated sequence of possible events
    I know this isn’t what you had in mind when you assigned me this extra credit project. You probably expected a thousand words on gravity or the four laws of thermodynamics, not a journal recounting the last 144 days of my life—possibly of all life—interspersed with crazy doomsday scenarios.
  35. defiance
    an act boldly resisting authority or an opposing force
    We can march to the edge of the void and scream in defiance. Yell out for all to hear that we do matter.
Created on Thu Jul 27 19:54:00 EDT 2017 (updated Fri Sep 13 13:56:45 EDT 2019)

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