The Thing About Jellyfish: Parts 1–2

by Ali Benjamin
In this novel, a seventh grader struggles to come to terms with the drowning death of her best friend.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Parts 1–2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Parts 6–7
30 words 1763 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. frilly
    having decorative ruffles or similar ornamentation
    It doesn’t matter what kind: the blood-red Atolla with its flashing siren lights, the frilly flower hat variety, or the near-transparent moon jelly, Aurelia aurita.
  2. contract
    squeeze or push together
    It’s their pulse, the way they contract swiftly, then release.
  3. graze
    scrape gently
    He explained that if we placed our hands in the tank and held them perfectly still, tiny sharks and rays would graze against our palms like friendly house cats.
  4. psychedelic
    having vivid colors and bizarre patterns
    We’d stained our hands neon orange and blue, and now we wore the shirts like a psychedelic uniform.
  5. smock
    a loose coverall that protects the clothes
    Mine hung over my jeans like an old art smock.
  6. insist
    be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge
    If I made small talk, maybe my parents wouldn’t insist that I see the kind of doctor you can talk to, which is what I would be doing this afternoon, after today’s field trip.
  7. mantel
    a shelf that projects from the wall above a fireplace
    I heard the refrigerator hum, a poink poink from the shower dripping, the ticking that comes from the old clock on the mantel whose time is always wrong unless I remember to wind it.
  8. grotesque
    distorted and unnatural in shape or size
    She looked grotesque, her face all crumpled like that.
  9. tentacle
    a flexible appendage adapted for grasping or feeling
    The room was filled with tanks of jellyfish. I saw jellies whose tentacles were finer than hair; the aquarium must have projected lights into the tank, because the animals kept changing color.
  10. enigma
    something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
    Near the corner of the room a sign said AN INVISIBLE ENIGMA.
  11. deliberately
    with intention; in an intentional manner
    I knew what enigma meant—my mother often said I was one, especially when I dipped fried eggs in grape jelly or deliberately wore mismatched socks.
  12. venom
    toxin secreted by animals
    The text explained that the jar held something called an Irukandji jellyfish, whose venom is among the most dangerous in the world.
  13. excruciating
    extremely painful
    An Irukandji sting results in excruciating headache and body pain, vomiting, sweating, anxiety, dangerously fast heartbeat, brain hemorrhage, and fluid in the lungs.
  14. hemorrhage
    the flow of blood from a ruptured blood vessel
    An Irukandji sting results in excruciating headache and body pain, vomiting, sweating, anxiety, dangerously fast heartbeat, brain hemorrhage, and fluid in the lungs.
  15. impending
    close in time; about to occur
    When stung, patients report a feeling of impending doom; some patients are so certain that death is imminent they beg physicians to kill them so they can “get it over with.”
  16. doom
    an unpleasant or disastrous destiny
    When stung, patients report a feeling of impending doom; some patients are so certain that death is imminent they beg physicians to kill them so they can “get it over with.”
  17. imminent
    close in time; about to occur
    When stung, patients report a feeling of impending doom; some patients are so certain that death is imminent they beg physicians to kill them so they can “get it over with.”
  18. attribute
    credit to
    Indeed, there are a number of documented deaths from Irukandji Syndrome, and it is unknown if Irukandji stings have been the true cause of deaths mistakenly attributed to other causes.
  19. migrate
    move periodically or seasonally
    As a result, many researchers believe the Irukandji has migrated far beyond its native Australia.
  20. mottled
    having spots or patches of color
    They snaked around a giant ocean tank like a school of mottled, neon-colored fish.
  21. constellation
    a configuration of stars as seen from the earth
    I like your freckles, the way they look like constellations against your skin.
  22. defy
    resist or confront with resistance
    It was like one part of my brain insisted on defying another part of my brain.
  23. asphalt
    mixed substance used for paving and roofing
    Rocco squinted up at me from the asphalt.
  24. successive
    following in order without gaps
    “If I were a bird" he said, “I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns...”
  25. rummage
    search haphazardly
    She squatted down on the kitchen floor, opened up a cabinet, and began rummaging.
  26. rumple
    disturb the smoothness of
    Through the windshield, I saw Rocco rumple Aaron’s hair.
  27. hypothesis
    a tentative insight that is not yet verified or tested
    A hypothesis is a tentative explanation, a proposed answer to the question that underlies your research.
  28. tentative
    under terms not final or fully worked out or agreed upon
    A hypothesis is a tentative explanation, a proposed answer to the question that underlies your research.
  29. propose
    present for consideration, examination, or criticism
    A hypothesis is a tentative explanation, a proposed answer to the question that underlies your research.
  30. underlie
    be or form the base for
    A hypothesis is a tentative explanation, a proposed answer to the question that underlies your research.
Created on Mon Aug 06 13:18:45 EDT 2018 (updated Mon Aug 13 14:50:23 EDT 2018)

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