City Spies: Chapters 17–23

by James Ponti
This first book in the series introduces five kids, born on different continents and ranging in age from twelve to fifteen, who are recruited by the United Kingdom's MI6 for their abilities to carry out missions where adult spies cannot succeed.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–10, Chapters 11–16, Chapters 17–23, Chapters 24–37
40 words 12 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. hail
    many objects thrown forcefully through the air
    The robbers responded to this demand with a hail of bullets, and soon shots were fired from both sides.
  2. deftly
    with dexterity; in a dexterous manner
    He deftly pulled a pistol from his shoulder holster, pointed it right at the door to the bank, and...froze.
  3. materialize
    come into being; become reality
    A bell sounded, and crewmembers suddenly materialized from everywhere.
  4. jar
    affect in a disagreeable way
    It was jarring in a humorous way to watch the men who moments before were playing bank robbers take off their masks and make small talk with the cops who’d just been pointing guns at them.
  5. cavernous
    being or suggesting a large dark enclosed space
    Tru led them through a green door into a cavernous room 165 feet long by 110 feet wide.
  6. admonish
    warn strongly; put on guard
    “After years of admonishing me to maintain a low profile and take every possible precaution to mask my identity as a spy, you’re training my team on Goldfinger Avenue in a soundstage where they literally make James Bond films.”
  7. blunt
    characterized by directness in manner or speech
    But here on the lot, the props were all next door, and anyone walking by will just think you’re making a film. And, to be blunt, since none of you are famous, no one’s going to give you a second look.
  8. cunning
    marked by skill in deception
    “Anyone can hide under darkness of night, but the cunning one hides out in plain sight,” recited Tru.
  9. meticulous
    marked by precise accordance with details
    Tru showed them three separate sets: a small auditorium, a laboratory, and a ballroom, each of which was a meticulous copy of a room in the Paris headquarters of Sinclair Scientifica.
  10. concoct
    devise or invent
    “We want you to break in, hack into the mainframe, and insert a program our top coders are concocting as we speak.”
  11. nicety
    conformity with some standard of correctness or propriety
    This stung the others and put Mother on the defensive, which was exactly what Tru wanted. She wasn’t concerned with niceties, only the mission.
  12. vertigo
    a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
    That same feeling of vertigo was in full force two days later as she dangled in a climbing harness from the ceiling of the soundstage.
  13. painstakingly
    in a very careful manner
    The set designers had painstakingly re-created a portion of the exterior wall of the Sinclair Scientifica building and Brooklyn was trying to make it from one spot to another using nothing more than the mortar joints between bricks, a rain gutter, and some windowsills.
  14. mortar
    a substance used as a bond in masonry or for covering a wall
    The set designers had painstakingly re-created a portion of the exterior wall of the Sinclair Scientifica building and Brooklyn was trying to make it from one spot to another using nothing more than the mortar joints between bricks, a rain gutter, and some windowsills.
  15. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    Rio stormed out of the room, while Brooklyn turned back to face the wall and started all over again. As she did, a fleeting thought occurred to her. What if he had been trying to help?
  16. ambitious
    requiring full use of your abilities or resources
    His most ambitious plot was hours from being set into motion.
  17. resentment
    a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will
    Additionally, there’d been extra pressure ever since Tru said Mother had labeled her “a true natural...already better than the other four.” They never talked about it, but she saw the resentment in their eyes and felt their contempt every time she failed to live up to that standard.
  18. contempt
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    They never talked about it, but she saw the resentment in their eyes and felt their contempt every time she failed to live up to that standard.
  19. funk
    a state of nervous depression
    Directly across from her and riding backward, Sydney was in a similar funk as she worked on the speech she was giving at the summit’s closing rally. In the past three weeks she’d written eleven different versions and hated each one.
  20. directive
    a pronouncement encouraging or banning some activity
    “She gave you an order. Actually, she called it a directive, which sounds even more official than an order.”
  21. anomaly
    deviation from the normal or common order, form, or rule
    Just then, Kat slid into the seat next to Brooklyn and said, “I’ve discovered a fascinating anomaly.”
  22. intrigue
    cause to be interested or curious
    “I looked for patterns in the victims.”
    He leaned forward, intrigued by this approach. “Go on.”
  23. revelation
    an enlightening or astonishing disclosure
    They were all surprised by this revelation, especially Kat.
  24. deductive
    relating to reasoning from the general to the particular
    “That’s sound deductive reasoning.”
  25. diligently
    in a hard-working manner
    As with most hotels in the city, the staff worked diligently to maintain its star rating in guidebooks and on travel websites.
  26. mediocre
    moderate to inferior in quality
    Except, unlike others who tried to move up the scale, the Three Lions was determined never to earn more than a single star, the lowest score possible.
    To achieve this, the staff offered mediocre service; the rooms were kept clean, but not too clean, and the building’s lone elevator was almost always out of order.
  27. disparage
    express a negative opinion of
    “I heard you disparage this fine establishment,” he answered.
  28. amenities
    things that make you comfortable and at ease
    “Let me show you to your rooms and make sure everyone’s acquainted with all the amenities.”
  29. ballistic
    of the motion of objects moving under their own momentum
    These are ballistic level-three glass-clad polycarbonate windows, and the bathroom walls are reinforced steel with armor plating.
  30. imperceptibly
    in a manner that is difficult to discern
    In the corner of her eye she noticed Kat almost imperceptibly shaking her head no.
  31. mantra
    a commonly repeated word or phrase
    To help, she relied on a Motherism: You cannot achieve what you cannot believe.
    She repeated it like a mantra, and it helped until they reached the headquarters and were escorted through a gated entrance to the building’s courtyard.
  32. cue
    a reminder for some action or speech
    The dynamic pioneer she’d read about took risks, but the real Stavros appeared...scripted. He stepped out exactly on cue. He delivered his lines and was gone forty-seven seconds after he’d entered the room.
  33. mundane
    found in the ordinary course of events
    Maybe, like picking out clothes, he couldn’t waste time on the mundane things that ordinary people did.
  34. subtle
    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    They entered the lab, and it looked a lot like the set that had been built at Pinewood, although there were some subtle differences, like the color of the walls and the arrangement of the workstations.
  35. curator
    the custodian of a collection, as a museum or library
    Gilles was the collection’s curator.
  36. pleasantry
    an agreeable or amusing remark
    They shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, and Mother followed him to a doorway with a security camera.
  37. exquisite
    of extreme beauty
    Two levels down, the elevator opened onto an exquisite gallery. On the first wall alone were paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir.
  38. array
    an impressive display or assortment
    Unlike most private collections, which were located in grand homes and centered on a few signature paintings, this seemed more like a secret museum, with multiple galleries and an array of masterpieces.
  39. dupe
    fool or hoax
    “There was a trickster god named Loki who duped him into not finishing the gate,” he said.
  40. catacomb
    an underground tunnel with recesses where bodies were buried
    “There are countless tunnels, catacombs, and abandoned mines underneath this part of the city,” he said. “They’re filled with the bones of dead Parisians. When I lived here, that’s how I got around. Mother and I escaped through one of the passageways.”
Created on Mon Apr 29 11:13:31 EDT 2024 (updated Tue Apr 30 12:06:08 EDT 2024)

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