Today Tonight Tomorrow: List 3

by Rachel Lynn Solomon
High school senior and budding romance novelist Rowan Luisa Roth teams up with her academic rival to win a game that sends them throughout Seattle.

This list covers pages 128–199 in the 2020 edition published by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 10 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. entail
    impose, involve, or imply as a necessary result
    “What exactly would it entail, teaming up?” he asks, ever logical.
  2. gist
    the choicest or most vital part of some idea or experience
    We team up now, and I destroy him later. That’s the gist of it.
  3. unabridged
    not shortened by condensing or rewriting
    “The only question is, should it be The Old Man and the Sea or Great Expectations? Or wait, I’d love to see what you do with War and Peace. Unabridged, naturally.”
  4. anomaly
    deviation from the normal or common order, form, or rule
    The day I finished, she emailed to let everyone know she’d sent the wrong list and “surely” no one had started yet.
    “That was an anomaly.”
  5. relent
    give in, as to influence or pressure
    I play the car card: if he wants to walk, he’s welcome to take off as soon as we finish eating, but I’m staying here until I figure out a few more. He relents.
  6. lexicographer
    a compiler or writer of a dictionary
    “I know what the Oxford English Dictionary is,” I snap. “I just wasn’t familiar with the acronym. How often does that come up in daily life, anyway? When you need to whip out a dictionary...or five?”
    He shrugs. “Somewhat often, if you want to become a lexicographer.”
  7. quirk
    twist or curve abruptly
    The corner of his mouth quirks up.
  8. enamored
    marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness
    As he’s explaining this, his eyes light up, and he gestures with his hands. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him this animated, this clearly enamored with something.
  9. snide
    expressive of contempt
    Most of what we talk about is completely harmless, but you’ve never been able to stop with the snide remarks about romance novels, and that’s not teasing to me. It just...hurts.
  10. spinster
    an elderly unmarried woman
    Nope, if you like romance novels, you have zero taste or you’re a lonely spinster.
  11. reverie
    an abstracted state of absorption
    “She was deep in some kind of Nirvana reverie. I didn’t want to completely lose her to it.”
  12. melancholy
    characterized by or causing or expressing sadness
    “It’s catchy, but...it seems melancholy, too,” he says.
  13. jovial
    full of or showing high-spirited merriment
    He says this in such a jovial way, his eyes bright behind his glasses—like he’s proud, which I guess makes sense since we’re technically on the same team.
  14. strew
    spread by scattering
    There’s a worktable with four monitors, a rack of tools, and countless wires and electronic gadgets strewn about.
  15. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    His face has gone ashen, and he has a hand against the wall, as though he can’t remain steady without it.
  16. objectively
    in a manner not influenced by emotion
    Not in an I’m-attracted-to-him way. Just, like, objectively nice-looking. Interesting-looking is maybe more accurate, with his red hair and wild freckles and the way his eyes are sometimes deep brown and sometimes almost golden.
  17. mesmerized
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    At first I was mesmerized by the sheer number of freckles he had, thought they were beautiful, really.
  18. quintessential
    representing the perfect example of a class or quality
    “And I was so cool?”
    “You were,” he insists. “Aside from your inability to acknowledge The Great Gatsby as the quintessential American novel.”
  19. reverence
    a feeling of profound respect for someone or something
    “Your parents,” he says, his tone full of reverence, “are Jared Roth and Ilana García Roth.”
    “Yeah...?”
    “I read their books. All of them. I was obsessed.”
  20. demise
    the event of departure from life
    But it doesn’t feel right to split up yet, not when an entire army of seniors is out there plotting our demise.
  21. fawn
    try to gain favor through flattery or deferential behavior
    “And just so you know, we might be having dinner together, but this isn’t a date,” Neil says, completely straight-faced. “I just don’t want you to get too excited. I mean, your parents are going to be there, so it would be really awkward if you were fawning over me the whole time.”
  22. wary
    marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    I shrink back a few steps, suddenly very, very wary of what I’ve walked into.
  23. formerly
    at a previous time
    “Baby, don’t forget your manners. You know how to treat a guest.”
    The puddle of embarrassment formerly known as Neil McNair mutters, “Uh, do you want anything to drink?”
  24. inclined
    having a preference, disposition, or tendency
    His mom is a sweetheart. His sister is cute.... I’m inclined to think his homelife is pretty normal.
  25. haphazardly
    without care; in a slapdash manner
    And there’s his bed, a blanket haphazardly thrown across it. I assumed it would be perfectly neat.
  26. tactful
    showing skill and sensitivity in dealing with people
    Of course my friends know, and I used to talk to Sean about it all the time...but not as much anymore. Everyone would act like they wanted to ask questions but didn’t know a tactful way to go about it.
  27. labored
    lacking natural ease
    He sits on the edge of his bed, gripping the blanket. His shoulders rise and fall with his labored breaths, and all I want is to sit down next to him, drape an arm around him, something.
  28. erratic
    having no fixed course
    I’m even more aware of his breaths, their erratic rhythm.
  29. acquire
    come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
    “There’s this word in Japanese: tsundoku,” Neil says suddenly. “It’s my favorite word in any language.”
    “What does it mean?”
    He grins. “It means acquiring more books than you could ever realistically read. There’s no direct translation.”
  30. saucy
    improperly forward or bold
    “We have to go,” I urge, shouldering my saucy little minx of a backpack.
  31. curator
    the custodian of a collection, as a museum or library
    The museum's senior curator, Mrs. Graves, said it had been found on a dig in Jordan, and the image carved into it was unmistakably a menorah.
  32. lament
    regret strongly
    In the car, he lamented not having changed into something nicer, but I insisted my parents wouldn’t care that he’s wearing a shirt with an obscure Latin phrase on it.
  33. inflection
    the modification of pitch, tone, or volume when speaking
    His pronunciation, his inflection—flawless.
  34. affinity
    a close connection marked by community of interests
    His pronunciation, his inflection—flawless. Of course they are, with his affinity for words and languages.
  35. rapt
    feeling great delight and interest
    They’re rapt as Neil and I explain our strategy, this year’s clues, and the grand prize.
  36. misogyny
    hatred of women
    He places an emphasis on “bored housewives,” as though it’s not a phrase he likes, necessarily, but couldn’t come up with a better one. Dad, your misogyny is showing.
  37. incontrovertible
    impossible to deny or disprove
    “Well, I don’t know if that’s necessarily true,” my dad says, and rattles off the names of a few Netflix shows because, of course, three recent examples are incontrovertible proof that an entire art form isn’t still majorly skewed toward the male gaze.
  38. revel
    take delight in
    I revel in my solitude for a few minutes, trying to figure out how this day went from Neil McNair winning valedictorian to defending romance novels to my parents.
  39. abject
    showing humiliation or submissiveness
    My hands fly to my mouth, and I’m sure there’s an expression of abject horror on my face.
  40. pointillism
    a painting technique characterized by applying paint in dots
    Then the pointillism of freckles across his face and down his neck, the dots that wrap around his fingers and crawl up his arms.
Created on Tue Jan 02 12:31:48 EST 2024 (updated Wed Jan 03 12:17:45 EST 2024)

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.