Down and Across: Chapters 17–22

by Arvin Ahmadi
Rising high school senior Scott Ferdowsi is having difficulty coping with the pressure to make decisions about his future — so he runs off to Washington, DC and embarks on an adventure that will change his life.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 6, Chapters 7–16, Chapters 17–22, Chapter 23–Epilogue
40 words 5 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. purge
    rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid
    DC had given me a fresh start. It threw me into a cold washing machine, where I tumbled around a ruthless cylinder of rejection, but now I could feel the positive effects. All that insecurity and doubt were purged from the fabric of my future.
  2. gist
    the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
    I already knew the gist of his story; I just had to fill in the gaps.
  3. renowned
    widely known and esteemed
    Today, I researched the renowned Persian poet Ferdowsi. His masterpiece, Shahnameh, is the national epic of Iran and took thirty years to write.
  4. adorn
    make more attractive, as by adding ornament or color
    Free show at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. Beautiful venue—adorned with the richest red curtains I’d ever seen—but subpar folk music performance.
  5. flippant
    showing an inappropriate lack of seriousness
    How could I be so flippant about this emergency?
  6. attribute
    explain or regard as resulting from a particular cause
    Every couch was too firm. I adjusted my butt, tried sitting crisscross, wedged my hands under my quads—nothing worked. I didn't know whether to attribute it to the couches or nerves.
  7. incessantly
    without interruption
    Instead, I stood up and tapped my foot incessantly to unwind the tenseness. Maybe I was building it up.
  8. pristine
    completely free from dirt or contamination
    I never would have described Fiora as pristine and angelic.
  9. cherub
    an angel portrayed as a winged child
    Sure, she had cheeks like a cherub, but the second she opened her mouth it was all edge. In the hospital bed, though, lying there...she looked nothing but innocent.
  10. wistfully
    in a pensively sad manner
    Without batting an eyelid, he urged Fiora to reconnect with her mother. “He was so confident with his prescription that I made up my mind. I booked a trip to Philly,” she said wistfully.
  11. gall
    the trait of being rude and impertinent
    I told him he owed me an apology, and the balding bastard had the gall to demand one from me, so I hung up.
  12. dollop
    a soft lump or portion of something, especially food
    “Fiora!” I burst out. “That’s incredible news.”
    She looked at me with ferocious gratitude and a dollop of pride.
  13. muster
    summon up, call forth, or bring together
    "Saaket...I couldn’t even muster a smile. That’s what did it. I knew I should have felt happy for myself; I just couldn’t. I thought about taking another dose of my antidepressants and anxiety meds, but I stopped myself and came here instead.”
  14. ambient
    completely enveloping
    My voice was hardly audible over the ambient noise of the hospital. Heart rate machines beeped in the background.
  15. penchant
    a strong liking or preference
    “I wouldn’t worry about Fiora, Scott. Of course it’s within reason, as a friend, to be worried after her breakdown yesterday. But the way you describe her, with this penchant for crossword puzzles…. Her brain is wired a certain way. She likely moves fast, yes? She likely makes quick, intuitive decisions.”
  16. intuitive
    obtained through instinctive knowledge
    “I wouldn’t worry about Fiora, Scott. Of course it’s within reason, as a friend, to be worried after her breakdown yesterday. But the way you describe her, with this penchant for crossword puzzles…. Her brain is wired a certain way. She likely moves fast, yes? She likely makes quick, intuitive decisions.”
  17. avant-garde
    radically new or original
    Marina Abramović is a world-famous performance artist who, time and time again, has pushed herself to the limit (and past it!) for her work. She is very avant-garde.
  18. inflammatory
    inciting action or rebellion
    Abramović has put on hundreds of other thought-provoking, inflammatory (sometimes literally) performances over the decades.
  19. mosey
    walk leisurely
    “I think I was a surgeon that Halloween,” Professor Mallard said, moseying back toward the door.
  20. precarious
    not secure; beset with difficulties
    “What do you think is next?” Trent asked, stacking clean glasses behind the bar like a house of cards. I thought he’d stop at the second or third level, but he moved on to the fourth. Very precarious.
  21. ecstasy
    a state of elated bliss
    All of a sudden I experienced a feeling that could only be described as ecstasy.
  22. quash
    declare invalid
    I even quashed my What If doubts. I considered them, sure, but I squashed them with a series of So Whats.
  23. placebo
    an innocuous or inert medication
    So what if my confidence was shallow? So what if it was a placebo? So what if it wouldn’t last forever?
  24. onslaught
    a rapid and continuous outpouring
    I had an onslaught of text messages from Jeanette. Eleven. Eleven individual messages.
  25. grueling
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    Perhaps you had a grueling day of research!
  26. demeanor
    the way a person behaves toward other people
    His demeanor was almost as square and straight-edge as his checkered shirt, which was buttoned all the way to the top.
  27. superimpose
    place on top of
    Those guys had nicer chairs than we did, not to mention proper stone tables with superimposed chessboards.
  28. wane
    become smaller
    But despite their shortcomings, the Crossword Crusaders’ spirit never waned—and Fiora was never nicer to me.
  29. lilt
    a jaunty rhythm in music or speech
    His voice had a shaky lilt to it.
  30. delusional
    suffering from or characterized by erroneous beliefs
    “I know what I am. People like Charles are delusional. That’s the difference.”
  31. trill
    a note that alternates with another note a semitone above it
    Fiora tapped her fingers against her chin, like she was playing trills on piano.
  32. nicety
    conformity with some standard of correctness or propriety
    “You sound like my mother. Anyway. Let’s jump back into our puzzle when I get back next week. In return, you can listen to me recap an entire weekend of passive-aggressive niceties with my new family. Do we have a deal?”
  33. semblance
    picture consisting of a graphic image of a person or thing
    If she was a jigsaw puzzle, the image was finally beginning to come together. I was getting a semblance of the full picture.
  34. dilapidated
    in a state of decay, ruin, or deterioration
    On my way over, I passed an abandoned, fenced-off yard with a dilapidated red sign hanging off the side: CAUTION WATCH DOGS.
  35. shrill
    being sharply insistent on being heard
    “Scott!”
    I heard Jeanette’s shrill exclamation as soon as I stepped into the coffee shop.
  36. reconcile
    make compatible with
    “I went to church this morning, and the pastor gave a really lovely sermon on reconciling technology with our faith.”
  37. admonish
    scold or reprimand; take to task
    Jeanette shot me a look that I hadn't seen on her before. It wasn't admonishment or shame like I’d expected.
  38. gesticulate
    show, express, or direct through movement
    As she gesticulated her hands with acute awareness, I remembered that this girl aspired to be a lawyer one day.
  39. intricate
    having many complexly arranged elements; elaborate
    The fireworks suddenly became more intricate. Greens! Indigos! Pinks! Pink hearts! Multicolored starbursts!
  40. foreground
    the part of a scene that is near the viewer
    My favorite was the fizzling gold streamers in the foreground during the grand finale.
Created on Thu Jan 23 16:34:02 EST 2020 (updated Mon Jan 27 13:09:08 EST 2020)

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