When the Moon Was Ours: List 2

by Anna-Marie McLemore
Best friends Miel and Sam must protect each other when four powerful sisters try to harness Miel's magical abilities.

This list covers "Bay of the Center"–"Serpent Sea."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
35 words 12 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. guileless
    innocent and free of deceit
    The words had sounded open, guileless, one girl asking another outside to play.
  2. petty
    preoccupied with unimportant matters in a spiteful way
    "No," Miel said. "They're mine." The words sounded petty, but they were true.
  3. malice
    the desire to see others suffer
    "You look like her," Lian said, without malice, not baiting her.
  4. spur
    incite or stimulate
    She was already weighted down having a daughter born with roses in her body, a curse that spurred those petaled children to turn on their mothers.
  5. slander
    attack the good name and reputation of someone
    Now, because of Miel, because of the roses the Bonner girls wanted, her mother would be blamed, slandered.
  6. tarnish
    discoloration of metal surface caused by oxidation
    Tarnish dulled the brass of the blades, the handle rubbed shiny by the oils of the Bonners' hands.
  7. unyielding
    resistant to physical force or pressure
    It made the pumpkins brittle and hard and unyielding as the bond between those four girls.
  8. scalloped
    decorated with a margin or border of semicircles
    Her sweater clung to her skin, and the scalloped neckline of the shirt she wore underneath bit into her like teeth.
  9. fringe
    the outside boundary or surface of something
    But she ran, fast enough that she could pretend she didn't see the pumpkins at the fringes of the fields, hardening and turning clear, shining the faint gold of hot glass.
  10. skittish
    unpredictably excitable, especially of horses
    Having a boy around made the men more comfortable. They were already skittish about having Aracely's hands on their chests.
  11. sash
    a sliding framework that holds the panes in a window
    Sam jumped toward the window, pulling the sash up from the sill.
  12. halting
    proceeding in a fragmentary, hesitant, or ineffective way
    They still held that shared power of being Bonner girls. It had kept its sharpness. But it was turning into something halting and jagged.
  13. prim
    affectedly dainty or refined
    Even in her prim pearl-buttoned cardigans, she was pretty and white-blond-haired enough that she was rarely alone on a Friday night.
  14. swath
    a path or strip (also figurative)
    A swath of copper swept out of the woods, like a whole branch of leaves breaking loose.
  15. provocation
    unfriendly behavior that causes anger or resentment
    But ignoring her would have felt like provocation.
  16. deference
    a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others
    "I'm not mad."
    "You're not?" Miel asked, hating the deference in her own voice.
  17. antagonistic
    characterized by feelings of intense dislike or hostility
    But another current inside her pushed her toward following Ivy. Both because she was a little curious, and because when a Bonner girl offered a secret, it seemed foolish and antagonistic to refuse it.
  18. elated
    full of high-spirited delight
    The deeper they walked into those gold and orange woods, the more she flitted between fear and excitement. That was the thrill of the Bonner sisters, she guessed, to the boys who loved them. That they never knew in which parts to be elated and terrified.
  19. dissipate
    go away, scatter, or disappear
    When Miel threw her weight against one of them, another pulled her back so the force dissipated and did not land.
  20. reverberate
    be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves
    Miel's knees hit first, the impact reverberating up to her wrist.
  21. distinction
    an identifying difference
    Sam had the distinction of being the only person in this town Lian Bonner was rude to.
  22. patina
    a fine coating of oxide on the surface of a metal
    When the Bonner sisters went to the same school as Sam and Miel, everyone thought Lian was as dull as the patina on her copper bracelets.
  23. compliant
    disposed to act in accordance with someone's wishes
    They said she passed her classes only because her sisters did her homework, and she was so compliant and docile the school administrators couldn't bring themselves to fail her.
  24. docile
    willing to be taught or led or supervised or directed
    They said she passed her classes only because her sisters did her homework, and she was so compliant and docile the school administrators couldn't bring themselves to fail her.
  25. unfurl
    unroll, unfold, or spread out
    Miel had a few memories that were only stray threads, frayed from her going over them so many times. Now, locked in these walls of stained glass, they unfurled and spread out, made brave by how little space they had to fill.
  26. expendable
    suitable to be used up
    Maybe they'd let her out when they realized she would always put them before anyone else, boy or girl, and that the girls she liked were as expendable to her as the boys.
  27. sheen
    the visual property of something that shines
    But the sheen of glass must have pulled him back.
  28. tranquility
    an untroubled state that is free from disturbances
    He'd paint its mare serenitatis and mare tranquillitatis, the wide seas of serenity and tranquility crossing the crisp white of a snow moon.
  29. proprietary
    behaving in a way that is characteristic of an owner
    There was something proprietary in that look. Something possessive, both defensive and proud.
  30. actuary
    someone versed in the interpretation of numerical data
    Ms. Owens' voice was unsteady, and Miel wondered what actuary, what mattress-franchise millionaire, had broken her heart this time.
  31. flourish
    a showy gesture
    To visitors, curing lovesickness seemed all instinct and flourish. But Aracely treated it as a craft that took as much patience and method as cutting raw opal.
  32. billow
    rise and move, as in waves
    Dread billowed through her.
  33. threshold
    the entrance for passing through a room or building
    Even at the threshold he could smell perfume and the sugary fruit scent of their soap.
  34. kurta
    a loose collarless shirt common in parts of South Asia
    It had never been about a dress. It had been about the clothes his grandmother would have wanted to see him in for family photos. Not a boy's kurta, but the sunrise colors and scrolled patterns of a girl's salwar kameez.
  35. kameez
    a long tunic worn by people from South Asia
    It had never been about a dress. It had been about the clothes his grandmother would have wanted to see him in for family photos. Not a boy's kurta, but the sunrise colors and scrolled patterns of a girl's salwar kameez.
Created on Wed Sep 29 10:06:56 EDT 2021 (updated Mon Oct 04 13:44:17 EDT 2021)

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.