The Marrow Thieves: List 4

by Cherie Dimaline
In this dystopian novel, indigenous people of North America are hunted by sinister Recruiters who hope to harvest the bone marrow that allows them to dream.

This list covers The Way it All Changed–The Miracle of Minerva.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
35 words 205 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. heave
    rise and move up and down, as in waves
    Miigwans was a few steps to their right, his own gun on the ground by his feet, chest heaving.
  2. lull
    make calm or still
    I’d been lulled to complacency by the color of skin and an accent that made home feel real.
  3. complacency
    the feeling you have when you are satisfied with yourself
    I’d been lulled to complacency by the color of skin and an accent that made home feel real.
  4. catatonic
    characterized by unresponsiveness or lack of movement
    I was yelling now, pacing a small half circle around the catatonic group.
  5. prostrate
    stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
    I cocked the barrel and trained it on the prostrate man in front of me.
  6. sterile
    deficient in originality or creativity
    And anything is better than living in a maze of hallways and sterile rooms, not knowing if the person you care most for in the world is alive or dead or hurting.
  7. notion
    an odd or fanciful or capricious idea
    They had this crazy notion that there was goodness left, that someone, somewhere, would see just how insane this whole school thing was.
  8. devoid
    completely wanting or lacking
    When I got to where the trees thinned into forced meadow, devoid of grass, the air empty of birds, I could barely keep myself from pissing my pants.
  9. mirth
    great merriment
    He shrugged his shoulders and chuckled without mirth.
  10. viscous
    having a relatively high resistance to flow
    "I took one out. It was a frosted test tube with the shadow of liquid inside, a thick, viscous liquid that was neither cool nor warm. I turned the tube and on one side there was a paper label.“
  11. cog
    a subordinate who performs an important but routine function
    “I didn’t think. I didn't consider. I walked back to the driver and started shooting. It wasn’t even his fault. He was just a cog in the system. Not that he didn’t know what was going on, but still.”
  12. fetid
    offensively malodorous
    Sharp, short blasts of fetid breath pushed through a metal cylinder through the scruff of a combed-down moustache.
  13. nettle
    plant having stinging hairs that cause skin irritation
    Miig turned to the right and we followed, tumbling through a dense thicket, coming out the other side into another low clearing with nettles in our hair.
  14. azure
    bright blue in color, like a clear sky
    The sky was navy blue in the east, azure overhead, purple bleeding out to a pink-stained orange in the west.
  15. concede
    admit or acknowledge, often reluctantly
    “All right, then,” Miig conceded, swinging his feet over the edge onto the ladder.
  16. acute
    of critical importance and consequence
    We were faster without our youngest and oldest, but now we were without deep roots, without the acute need to protect and make better.
  17. deliberate
    carefully thought out in advance
    I bent closer and the dent turned into a scar, and then the scar revealed itself to be a series of deliberate cuts.
  18. impending
    close in time; about to occur
    He sounded more hopeful about an impending meeting than I would have imagined, especially after the last one.
  19. ecstatic
    feeling great rapture or delight
    I followed her to the smell of water, ecstatic, almost crazed with hope and the small bundle that was building to a fire in my chest.
  20. tenacious
    stubbornly unyielding
    It bled from somewhere up the hill and carried itself with quiet grace across the tortured ground, over the glassy rocks, feeding bundles of greens with tenacious roots, some pulled from the split earth and dangling under the cool surface like old ladies dipping vein-bruised legs into a pool.
  21. seer
    a person with unusual powers of foresight
    “Oh boy, you some kinda seer or something?” He lowered his gaze to my face like a lion stooping to smell a daisy. I shook my head.
  22. relentless
    never-ceasing
    The sounds were relentless, and I wiggled a bit on the stool, uncomfortable in its strength.
  23. pious
    having or showing or expressing reverence for a deity
    I heard capture and release and a high whine over something that echoed off the trees growing downwards towards the brook like pious monks in all manner of fancy dress, voluminous green silks peeking out of their austere brown habits.
  24. austere
    severely simple
    I heard capture and release and a high whine over something that echoed off the trees growing downwards towards the brook like pious monks in all manner of fancy dress, voluminous green silks peeking out of their austere brown habits.
  25. habit
    a distinctive attire worn by a member of a religious order
    I heard capture and release and a high whine over something that echoed off the trees growing downwards towards the brook like pious monks in all manner of fancy dress, voluminous green silks peeking out of their austere brown habits.
  26. respective
    considered individually
    He nodded, and we leaned back into our respective places.
  27. evasive
    deliberately vague or ambiguous
    He was being evasive, and that, on top of being sassed by someone my own age, frustrated me.
  28. tuft
    a bunch or cluster of strands, as of grass, hair, etc.
    My own braid was two days old, and tufts stuck up here and there.
  29. abode
    housing that someone is living in
    The cave opened into a low, wide room filled on both sides with tents and makeshift abodes of impressive structure: panel walls, blanket doorways.
  30. integral
    existing as an essential constituent or characteristic
    Sensible words—English words—could not be made out, and she refused to answer any questions, not that that was integral to the process.
  31. sentry
    a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
    Really, the Recruiters were just there as added sentries at this point.
  32. crux
    the most important point
    The chase was the crux; after that, who cared how the savages screamed or cried?
  33. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    The school had been imposing: a fallacy of glass and steel against the dusty expanse of the north shore clearing, like a middle finger thrown into the sky, built in record time.
  34. strew
    spread by scattering
    When the Council’s man exited his black vehicle and walked the remaining path to the gate, strewn with debris from the explosions and subsequent fires and maybe even some looting, the campers moved in closer.
  35. subsequent
    following in time or order
    When the Council’s man exited his black vehicle and walked the remaining path to the gate, strewn with debris from the explosions and subsequent fires and maybe even some looting, the campers moved in closer.
Created on Sat Dec 29 14:02:11 EST 2018 (updated Wed Jan 09 16:41:49 EST 2019)

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