Feed: Part 4

by M.T. Anderson
This satirical novel imagines a dystopian future in which people have computers implanted in their heads to control their perceptions of reality.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Here are links to our lists for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (Volume 1), The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (Volume 2) by M.T. Anderson.
15 words 630 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. centrifugal
    tending to move away from the middle
    I want to go on rides. The flume, the teacups, the Tilt-a-Whirl? You know, a big bunch of us on the teacups, with you and me crushed together from the centrifugal force.
  2. acquiesce
    agree or express agreement
    “If you do not acquiesce, others will. We will find someone who will support this repair. We will take our business elsewhere.”
  3. chromosome
    a threadlike strand of DNA that carries genes
    They couldn’t remember things the way everyone else could, or see the models that were in the air, you know, of chromosomes or stamens.
  4. ambient
    completely enveloping
    Anyway, the ambient radiation was already too bad by then for freestyle.
  5. sedative
    a drug that reduces excitability and calms a person
    The next day, her arms stopped working for an hour, and she panicked and had to be given a sedative.
  6. ritual
    the prescribed procedure for conducting religious ceremonies
    It’s strange—once you start listening to wailing that’s also singing, that’s also like a ritual, you start to wonder—how much does anyone really miss anyone else?
  7. immobility
    the quality of not moving
    Things happen—immobility—then a few hours later, it stops, and I can move.
  8. requiem
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    The other day, Nina said she’d noticed all of the requiem masses I’d been listening to.
  9. askance
    directed to one side with doubt or suspicion or envy
    She was looking what people call “askance.”
  10. hurtle
    move with or as if with a rushing sound
    We were hurtling forward, and it was like we were fueled by how much we hated each other.
  11. hierarchy
    a series of ordered groupings within a system
    He said it was great and really refreshing, and that it was just the kind of thing to promote team interface, and to get everyone to work out their stop/go hierarchies.
  12. witticism
    a message whose ingenuity has the power to evoke laughter
    Her speech became increasingly slurred. Toward the end, she no longer could make the kind of sly witticism of which she was so fond. Your bon mots cannot fly fleetly when each consonant is a labor.
  13. bewildered
    extremely confused and uncertain what to do
    Her own mind, at that point, was as small and bewildered as a little fly.
  14. risible
    arousing or provoking laughter
    I realized that they had chatted me, and that I had not responded. They found this funny. Risible. That a man would not have a feed. So they were chatting about me in my presence. Teasing me when I could not hear.
  15. dissident
    a person who objects to some established policy
    “It’s about this meg normal guy, who doesn’t think about anything until one wacky day, when he meets a dissident with a heart of gold.”
Created on Wed Apr 30 20:20:57 EDT 2014 (updated Wed Jul 30 09:42:07 EDT 2025)

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