Bud, Not Buddy: Chapters 11–15

by Christopher Paul Curtis
During the Great Depression, a ten-year-old boy hits the road in search of the father he has never known.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–10, Chapters 11–15, Chapters 16–19

Here are links to our lists for other works by Christopher Paul Curtis: The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Elijah of Buxton, The Journey of Little Charlie
15 words 9529 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. genuine
    not fake or counterfeit
    "This knife is genuine solid twenty-four-karat silver.”
  2. slew
    a large number or amount or extent
    We hadn’t been driving for a minute before he started asking a whole slew of questions.
  3. judgmental
    relating to an assessment of a person, situation, or event
    Lefty Lewis said, “Now you stop being so judgmental, Herman’s got a reputation for being no-nonsense, not mean.”
  4. sprout
    put forth and grow shoots
    Boy looks like one of George Washington Carver’s experiments sprouted legs and run off.
  5. porter
    a railroad employee who assists passengers
    "My husband is a Pullman porter, he takes care of the people once they’re on the trains.”
  6. loathsome
    highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
    First I save you from being eaten by some vampires in Owosso, then you seem to have survived my daughter’s pain-cakes and finally that police officer saves you from the feared and loathsome labor organizers of Detroit!
  7. sully
    place under suspicion or cast doubt upon
    “Well, Bud, I don’t mean to sully your reputation, but you just ran away from that man all the way across the state, I think I’d better hand-deliver you.”
  8. exaggerate
    enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
    And it didn’t take much listening to tell he was lying, or at least doing some real good exaggerating, just like I do!
  9. bout
    a contest or fight
    He said, “My manager goes and lines up a bout against a fighter outta Chicago by the name of Jordan ‘Snaggletooth’ MacNevin."
  10. affection
    a positive feeling of liking
    “Shoot, man, seems to me like you should give the man his props, seems to me like you should’ve given the man a whole lot more affection."
  11. fester
    decay with an offensive smell
    The Thug said, “You know cheap’s right up high on the list. But as I was saying, beneath all that festering nastiness is a tender, kind, loving human being."
    The word is used figuratively in this example sentence. What is offensive or disgusting is not something actually decaying; rather, it is the character's nastiness. "Fester" also means "to be a source of irritation" or "to corrupt," so the nastiness could be corrupting the character's tender heart and irritating others.
  12. lopsided
    having one side lower or smaller or lighter than the other
    Mr. Jimmy said, “Well, Grace, to be truthful I did think the boy’s face was a little swole up, but you know how dark it is in the Cabin, and, by God, there are some folks who just naturally have lopsided heads.”
  13. stampede
    a headlong rush of people on a common impulse
    For a second it looked like a stampede of Dusky Devastators of the Depression, they all jumped up at once and started heading for our table.
    The alliteration (repetition of the d sound) almost makes the sentence seem like a stampede of words rushing out of one's mouth. "Dusky" here means "naturally having skin of a dark color" and a "devastator" is "one who causes extensive destruction" or "one who overpowers."
  14. tremendous
    extraordinarily large in extent or amount or power
    It was gonna take more than a grouchy old bald-headed guy with a tremendous belly to run me out of here.
  15. contaminate
    make impure
    “This chemical reacts to turn water contaminated with urine a bright red."
Created on Sat Dec 14 12:32:47 EST 2013 (updated Wed Jun 18 13:33:41 EDT 2025)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.