I'll Give You the Sun: List 3: The History of Luck (2)

by Jandy Nelson
Jude and Noah are talented, artistic, impassioned teenagers—and fraternal twins. In this novel, they take turns telling the story of how their family falls apart—and comes together again.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1: The Invisible Museum (1)-The History of Luck (1), List 2: The Invisible Museum (2), List 3: The History of Luck (2), List 4: The Invisible Museum (3)-The History of Luck (4)
15 words 104 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. soliloquize
    talk to oneself
    Whew—on a roll, off to the races, put on this earth solely to soliloquize to his ginormous clay-covered shoes.
  2. motif
    a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work
    Maybe he’s suffering from a different kind of syndrome after all. Lovesickness, it would seem, if the repeating motif around this place is any indication.
  3. innuendo
    an indirect and usually malicious implication
    “He’s agreed to mentor me,” I reply triumphantly, not appreciating the innuendo.
  4. subterfuge
    something intended to misrepresent the nature of an activity
    “Never would’ve suspected you of such subterfuge, whoever you are.”
  5. transcendence
    a state of being beyond the limits of material experience
    The rich warm chocolate overtakes my mouth, erases my mind, spinning me into a state of transcendence.
  6. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    “Behave, Oscore,” Guillermo berates.
  7. repartee
    adroitness and cleverness in reply
    “Me too. You wouldn’t believe the things I believe in,” I interject, sounding frantic, wanting to join in their repartee so I don’t stare at it.
  8. ethereal
    characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy
    “Your eyes are so ethereal, your whole face is. I stared at pictures of you for hours last night. You give me chills.”
  9. rapport
    a relationship of mutual understanding between people
    Our rapport is so easy. Why is it so easy?
  10. inflection
    the modification of pitch, tone, or volume when speaking
    “Look, bad news I may be, but I’m not a stranger. You said so yourself. ‘I’m so familiar to you,’” he mimics me with perfect beach girl inflection, then snaps the cover on his lens.
  11. intrepid
    invulnerable to fear or intimidation
    “No, I don’t think you do. I was going to say very Jude Sweetwine. Remember that intrepid girl?” She points to my pocket.
  12. mores
    the conventions embodying the fundamental values of a group
    “You don’t know that for sure. He’s European. They have different mores.”
  13. scalawag
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
    I completely forgot about Sophia. It seems he did too, from the way he’s still looking at me. What a louse. A lousy louse. Such a scalawag rake bounder miscreant...
  14. miscreant
    a person without moral scruples
    I completely forgot about Sophia. It seems he did too, from the way he’s still looking at me. What a louse. A lousy louse. Such a scalawag rake bounder miscreant...
  15. maelstrom
    a powerful circular current of water
    I swam fast as a shark despite my clothes, then started diving down where he sank, gripping armful after armful of water, trying to think about currents and riptides and maelstroms and everything Dad had ever taught me.
Created on Mon Jan 01 17:21:46 EST 2018 (updated Wed Jul 30 11:06:21 EDT 2025)

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