It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Part III

by Trevor Noah
In this adaptation of Born a Crime for young readers, Trevor Noah recounts his childhood in apartheid-era South Africa.

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: Part I: Preface–Chapter 4, Part I: Chapters 5–8, Part II, Part III

Here is a link to our lists for the original edition of Born a Crime by Trevor Noah.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. bequeath
    leave or give, especially by will after one's death
    “Trevor," he told me, "you’ve been a loyal partner.” And, as thanks, he bequeathed unto me his CD writer.
  2. dispossessed
    physically or spiritually homeless or deprived of security
    What he did, on a small scale, showed me how important it is to empower the dispossessed and the disenfranchised in the wake of oppression.
  3. disenfranchised
    deprived of the rights of citizenship, as the right to vote
    What he did, on a small scale, showed me how important it is to empower the dispossessed and the disenfranchised in the wake of oppression.
  4. gravitate
    move toward
    Alexandra was also where I was playing the most gigs, so to keep earning I naturally gravitated that way.
  5. raze
    tear down so as to make flat with the ground
    So while Sophiatown and other black ghettos were razed and rebuilt as white suburbs, Alex fought and held on and asserted its right to exist.
  6. placid
    calm and free from disturbance
    One minute it’ll be a placid afternoon, people hanging out, doing their thing, and next thing you know there’s a cop car chasing gangsters, flying through the streets, a gun battle going off, helicopters circling overhead.
  7. unconscionable
    greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation
    We don’t see them as people. Which was the whole reason the hood was built in the first place, to keep the victims of apartheid out of sight and out of mind. Because if white people ever saw black people as human, they would see that slavery is unconscionable.
  8. euphemism
    an inoffensive expression substituted for an offensive one
    At a certain point we realized this cop was shaking us down for a bribe. “Spot fine” is the euphemism everyone uses.
  9. wayward
    difficult to manage or keep in order
    Eventually he let me go on the assumption that I was some wayward orphan, because what mother would send her ten-year-old child to jail?
  10. subservient
    compliant and obedient to authority
    The way my mother always explained it, the traditional man wants a woman to be subservient, but he never falls in love with subservient women.
  11. patronizing
    characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance
    To this day I’ll never forget the patronizing, condescending way they spoke to her.
  12. condescending
    characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance
    To this day I’ll never forget the patronizing, condescending way they spoke to her.
  13. sporadic
    recurring in scattered or unpredictable instances
    It was sporadic enough that you’d think it wouldn’t happen again, but it was frequent enough that you never forgot it was possible.
  14. resolute
    firm in purpose or belief
    She herself seemed resolute, as determined as ever, but with an undertone of sadness.
  15. reconcile
    bring into consonance or accord
    How does he reconcile his love with that situation? How does he carry on loving both sides?
Created on Thu May 23 18:32:01 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Jun 26 16:01:59 EDT 2025)

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