This Is My Brain in Love: List 5

by I.W. Gregorio
While working together in central New York to save A-Plus Chinese Garden from bankruptcy, high school sophomores Jocelyn Wu and William Domenici fall in love.

This list covers "This Is My Brain on Hold"–"This Is My Brain on Drugs."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 7 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. nominal
    insignificantly small; a matter of form only
    There are quite a few other institutions that have the same problem, which is why A-Plus has a program to augment your event with a hybrid of free and low-cost items. Essentially, we’d be able to provide the event with free fried rice and beverages, with the option for your students to buy egg rolls and crab rangoon for a nominal fee.
  2. modicum
    a small or moderate or token amount
    Then, when I have a modicum of control over my body, I open up a new message and type slowly, reluctantly:
    “Hi, Dr. Rifkin. Do you have any emergency slots this week?”
  3. metronome
    clicking pendulum indicating the tempo of a piece of music
    Five minutes later the knocking starts again, and I can tell by the knock (softer, but regular like a metronome) that it’s my mom, whose knocking is not to be denied.
  4. ruddy
    of the color between orange and purple in the color spectrum
    My hair is a rat’s nest, and the makeup I had put on is a ruddy, streaky mess from my post-interview cry.
  5. wallow
    devote oneself entirely to something
    After Will’s text message I cried myself to sleep, wallowing in a freaking tsunami of disappointment and self-loathing.
  6. ineptitude
    unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training
    Even though part of me is grateful that he doesn’t ask me about the interview, a bigger part wants to spill everything like a confession, as if he could pardon me for my ineptitude.
  7. niggle
    worry unnecessarily or excessively
    Then, when Will leaves to make some deliveries and we still haven’t said more than three sentences to each other in a row, a niggling voice in my head asks, What if he doesn’t even care if the interview went well?
  8. keen
    express grief verbally
    I want to take the plate and do something dramatic with it, like smashing it into the ground only to collapse keening into the shards like the actresses in the Taiwanese soap operas my amah watches.
  9. veritable
    being truly so called; real or genuine
    My head is a veritable fake news factory: Hyperbolic statements of distress. Unconfirmed catastrophes.
  10. incessant
    uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing
    Without her, A-Plus is depressingly quiet except for her father’s incessant throat clearing and the occasional phone call.
  11. fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail
    I can’t envision a world where he wouldn’t respond—he’s too fastidious, to use an SAT word that I would never in a million years have thought was remotely attractive in a boy.
  12. complacent
    contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions
    How could I have been so complacent as to think that we were succeeding? I didn’t try hard enough.
  13. bereft
    lacking or deprived of something
    “I’ll ask your sister.” If I ever get to talk to Jocelyn again, that is. I feel bereft.
  14. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    With each ring, my lungs feel tighter, even as I berate myself. This is ridiculous.
  15. euphemism
    an inoffensive expression substituted for an offensive one
    “Do you think she’s been down lately?” I ask, doing that thing that my sister hates, using euphemisms for sadness.
  16. terse
    brief and to the point
    The last contact I had with her was a terse response to my e-mail, sent right after she left.
  17. mirth
    great merriment
    He makes a farting sound, and I let out a mirthless laugh.
  18. streamline
    contour economically or efficiently
    The catering business is just getting off the ground, and there are still plenty of ideas for outreach, plus I haven’t really had time to look into how we can streamline operations better.
  19. trill
    sing or play alternating with the half note above or below
    It’s like a Disney movie where the clouds part and rays of sun shine down on Bambi in a forest, and treble voices trill, giving you reassurance that everything will be okay.
  20. iridescent
    varying in color when seen in different lights
    She fidgets with a pen for a while, leans forward until she’s close enough that I can see the flecks in the iridescent blue eyeshadow she’s wearing, blinks, then leans back again like she was repelled by a magnetic field.
  21. altruistic
    showing unselfish concern for the welfare of others
    And of course you had to be all altruistic and help, right?
  22. vertigo
    a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
    As the room spins around me, Jocelyn turns, too, and I feel the vertigo thick and dark in my throat as her scowl morphs into something more uncertain, then melts into fear.
  23. lethargic
    deficient in alertness or activity
    Priya and I trudge over and squeeze ourselves in between an elderly man who’s been there for so long that he’s fallen asleep and a woman with a lethargic toddler draped over her shoulder.
  24. ordinance
    a statute enacted by a city government
    A blond-haired officer sauntered over, and he eventually had a “friendly” conversation with my uncle Akunna about local noise ordinances that led to some not-so-friendly shouting, and my aforementioned panic attack.
  25. gurney
    a metal stretcher with wheels
    I shift around in the hospital gurney.
  26. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    “Hey, isn’t that my line?” He chuckles ruefully.
  27. veracity
    unwillingness to tell lies
    I can feel the veracity of his statement in my gut, but it takes a little longer for my brain to make sense of the more complicated strands of truth.
  28. chasten
    censure severely
    I look at him with raised eyebrows, and he has the grace to look chastened.
  29. rile
    disturb, especially by minor irritations
    But Dr. Rifkin is, and he’s heard everything, all my screwups, my soft spots, every embarrassing thing that’s riled me up or turned me inside out.
  30. ambient
    completely enveloping
    It’s only dusk, so there’s enough ambient light from the street so it’s not completely dark, but it’s enough.
  31. rivet
    hold someone's attention
    I look over at my A-Plus family, and they’re all riveted. Miss Zhou is leaning forward half out of her chair with her chin on her hands.
  32. augmented
    added to or made greater in amount or number or strength
    After a minute we pan over to a shot of Will making jiaozi, at which point Sarah McLachlan finishes and is replaced by circus music augmented by whoopee cushion sound effects when his jiaozi lose their structural integrity.
  33. motley
    consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds
    Will rounds out our motley crew, and Priya’s camera catches the deference with which he spoons out a plate for my amah and tops off my dad’s water when it gets low.
  34. deference
    a courteous expression of esteem or regard
    Will rounds out our motley crew, and Priya’s camera catches the deference with which he spoons out a plate for my amah and tops off my dad’s water when it gets low.
  35. mawkish
    very sentimental or emotional
    Even as I teared up the first time I watched her initial cut, the reviewer in me wanted to use words like “mawkish” or “sentimental.”
  36. scrabble
    grope, scratch, or feel searchingly
    I’ve watched the video enough times that it doesn’t make me cry anymore, but I can see Miss Zhou scrabbling in her purse for a tissue.
  37. agnostic
    a person who claims the existence of God is unknowable
    And yes, I’m a total atheist (or at least an agnostic), but at that particular moment I pray.
  38. subdued
    softened in tone
    Last night, my mom finally told him about her own depression, and he’s been unusually subdued all day. Or maybe subdued is the wrong word—he’s just talking less, and watching and listening more.
  39. intently
    with strained or eager attention
    He looks at me intently when he drops me off at the clinic, and he swallows.
  40. rapport
    a relationship of mutual understanding between people
    After about half an hour of information gathering or, as Will put it, “creating rapport,” Dr. Cotton asks me the million-dollar question: “So, what are you hoping to achieve with these visits?”
Created on Sat Nov 26 16:43:32 EST 2022 (updated Fri Oct 06 13:38:57 EDT 2023)

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