Liar & Spy: The Science Unit of Destiny–Uncle

by Rebecca Stead
When Georges moves to a new apartment building, he meets Safer, who enlists Georges in a scheme to spy on a mysterious neighbor. Learn these words from the novel by Rebecca Stead.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: The Science Unit of Destiny–Uncle, Bittersweet–Fieldwork, Big Picture–A Message From the Chef, Break & Enter (#3)–The Scout

Here are links to our lists for other works by Rebecca Stead: When You Reach Me, Goodbye Stranger
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. rotation
    a planned recurrent sequence (of crops or personnel etc.)
    I count the number of rotations we have left in “Volleyball!” before it’s my serve and then glance at the huge clock in its protective cage on the wall.
  2. premonition
    an early warning about a future event
    Just as I’m about to smack it, I get this feeling, this premonition, that I’m going to land the ball at least somewhere on the other side of the net, maybe even in that big hole in the second row where Mandy and Gabe are being careful not to stand too close because they secretly like each other.
  3. epic
    very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary
    My serve is what is called an epic fail, and some of the girls start doing the slow clap.
  4. sarcastic
    expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds
    Clap.
    Pause.
    Clap.
    It’s sarcastic clapping.
  5. philosophical
    relating to the investigation of existence and knowledge
    You know that famous philosophical question “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Well, I have no idea, but it has to be better than the slow clap.
  6. designate
    give an assignment to someone
    Mom will be at the hospital, so I’m Dad’s designated helper.
  7. puncture
    pierce with a pointed object; make a hole into
    I do some shallow breathing, because I don’t want his heel to puncture any of my internal organs.
  8. cumulative
    increasing by successive addition
    I’ve been doing morning weights with Dad for about a year—just these little blue plastic ones that tuck under my parents’ bed, but there’s a cumulative effect.
  9. simultaneously
    at the same instant
    There should be a word for that, when you hear something and simultaneously realize that it’s been swimming around in your brain for five minutes without your permission.
  10. intercom
    a communication system linking different rooms or areas
    I glance around to see what’s buzzing, first at the ancient yellow chandelier above my head, then at the shiny silver intercom on the wall.
  11. surge
    rise or move forward
    The dogs surge, pulling the boy down the stairs, and the door slams shut behind them.
  12. elegance
    a refined quality of gracefulness and good taste
    He calls it “faded elegance.”
  13. stubby
    short and blunt
    There’s a pad taped to it, with a stubby pencil hanging from a string, and a Post-it that says: DATE YOUR WORK REQUESTS.
  14. scrawl
    write carelessly
    The second door has something stuck to it too—a piece of loose-leaf paper with words scrawled on it:
    Spy Club Meeting—TODAY!
  15. superintendent
    a caretaker for an apartment house
    Dad takes the pencil-on-a-string from the superintendent’s door and stretches it over to the Spy Club notice.
  16. camouflage
    an outward semblance misrepresenting the nature of something
    I’m holding a little bag of crumpled-up newspaper, for camouflage, in case it is a seven-year-old.
  17. dingy
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
    It’s a tiny little room, almost a closet, with dingy walls, a concrete floor, and one lightbulb dangling from the ceiling in a way that’s slightly creepy.
  18. stunt
    check the growth or development of
    “I heard coffee stunts your growth.”
  19. exasperation
    a feeling of annoyance
    Safer blows out his cheeks in exasperation and throws his arms toward the ceiling.
  20. demolish
    destroy completely
    A long time ago, Dad took apart a fire escape—a real fire escape, from a building that his office was demolishing—and he rebuilt the bottom level of it inside my bedroom.
  21. classy
    elegant and fashionable
    Once Mom told Yum Li that he could have a big classy restaurant in Manhattan if he wanted to.
  22. splotch
    an irregularly shaped spot or patch
    Dad cracks his cookie open, pulls an extra-long fortune out of it, and reads aloud: “I read an article about those dark splotches on the sidewalk, and it turns out”—he flips the fortune over to read from the back—“those splotches are all chewed-up, spit-out, walked-on gum. Next time use the garbage can!”
  23. squint
    partly close one's eyes, as when hit by direct light
    I walk around, opening the closet door and squinting through the window to the fire escape.
  24. raze
    tear down so as to make flat with the ground
    I’m stuffing schoolbooks into my backpack the next morning when I see that Dad’s Scrabble-tile towers have been razed.
  25. destined
    governed by fate
    Everyone knows that she hopes the taste test will reveal that she and Gabe are destined to fall in love and be together forever.
  26. catastrophic
    extremely harmful; bringing physical or financial ruin
    Dallas tries for another minute to make it seem completely catastrophic that I drank an ounce of salt water.
  27. morality
    motivation based on ideas of right and wrong
    Bennie is chatting, which means I have to wait to pay, because Bennie does only one thing at a time. I debate the morality of eating a Starburst before the pack is paid for and decide not to.
  28. grudge
    a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation
    The girl is talking on her cell phone, saying, “I’m telling you, forget it. Vanessa holds a grudge forever. Forever!”
  29. pivot
    turn on an axis
    She pivots and marches away from me, leading me down the hall with her hand up in the air as if I might otherwise lose her.
  30. espionage
    the systematic use of spies to obtain secrets
    “You know what Uncle means, right? It’s spy slang for the headquarters of an espionage organization.”
  31. hover
    be suspended in the air, as if in defiance of gravity
    Safer is completely intent upon the screen, his pen hovering over his spiral notebook.
  32. stifle
    smother or suppress
    At first I try to stifle my yawns, but it’s hopeless.
  33. furtive
    secret and sly
    I wait. “He looked like what?”
    Safer clicks his pen a few times. “He looked furtive.”
  34. protractor
    drafting instrument used to draw or measure angles
    Downstairs, I can’t find my protractor, which I need for geometry.
  35. cram
    crowd or pack to capacity
    I go into Dad’s bedroom closet, where he crammed all the drawing supplies that used to be in his home office, behind our old kitchen.
Created on Wed Jan 03 17:13:25 EST 2018 (updated Mon Sep 24 13:42:39 EDT 2018)

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