Compound Fracture: Chapters 47-61

by Andrew Joseph White
In this novel, trans teen Miles Abernathy survives an attempted murder and finds himself caught up in a century-old blood feud while also being haunted by his own ancestor.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapter 1-7, Chapter 8-10, Chapter 11-14, Chapter 15-22, Chapter 23-26, Chapter 27-30, Chapter 31-35, Chapter 36-39, Chapter 40-46, Chapter 47-61
25 words 16 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. dissent
    the act of protesting
    No dissent. It’s decided.
  2. leverage
    strategic advantage; power to act effectively
    The adults talk about what they’re gonna demand from Sheriff Davies once they have the leverage — the child captive — to do so.
  3. abdicate
    give up power, duties, or obligations
    Mom suggests forcing Davies to abdicate the office.
  4. exile
    the act of expelling a person from their native land
    Amber offers the idea of exile, forcing him out of the county, but that can’t really be enforced, can it?
  5. tamper
    play around with, alter, or falsify, usually dishonestly
    “We keep a piece of dog hair in the safe lock — lets us know it’s been tampered with.”
  6. explicit
    precisely and clearly expressed or readily observable
    I have explicit instructions to track down cell service and call as soon as I have Noah because, Mamaw says, what happens after that ain’t my problem no more.
  7. verge
    the limit beyond which something happens or changes
    Mom won’t stop fretting and Dad might be on the verge of some kind of meltdown.
  8. lug
    carry with difficulty
    After he dropped me off at the hospital, did he have to lug the tarp into his yard and hose it off?
  9. wipe out
    eliminate completely and without a trace
    A fire wiped out a lot of these forests a long time ago, so the trees are still infants in the grand scheme of things.
  10. aloft
    high up in or into the air
    Miners gathering outside the theater to listen to a grieving mamaw holding a Bible aloft, asking her community what they were gonna do about it.
  11. ricochet
    spring back; spring away from an impact
    The bullet hits where I’d aimed — the rock a few feet from Noah’s shoulder — but I’d forgotten that bullets ricochet.
  12. tinnitus
    a ringing or booming sensation in one or both ears
    I can’t hear nothing except a high-pitched tinnitus scream.
  13. deterrent
    something immaterial that interferes with action or progress
    “You’d be a good deterrent, even as a dead body, and my dad would — ”
    His voice cracks at the mention of Sheriff Davies.
  14. bulge
    swell or protrude outwards
    Noah’s eyes bulge.
  15. aftermath
    the consequences of an event, especially a catastrophic one
    Like the skin’s been peeled away and exposed to the night air, or the aftermath of a burn.
  16. errant
    moving in an uncontrolled, irregular, or unpredictable way
    It hits the old vinyl of the police cruiser in errant little drops, sometimes streaming like drool.
  17. glint
    a spatially localized brightness
    In the rearview mirror, I see the glint of his teeth.
  18. thrash
    move or stir about violently
    There’d be no thrashing as he stepped through the ruins and still-hot ashes.
  19. gore
    coagulated blood from a wound
    Moonlight reflects in the gore trapped between her teeth, blood across her muzzle and chest.
  20. raspy
    unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
    His voice is softer than I’d expected — raspy from smoking and the years he forced it down to pass as male, but still gentle.
  21. shard
    a broken piece of a brittle artifact
    The bullet hit my eye socket — the one already weakened by the orbital fracture — and destroyed it completely, sending shards into the surrounding tissue.
  22. abolish
    do away with
    Terry, then, suggests abolishing the county commission and instituting a direct democracy; we don’t got a whole lot of people, so we might be able to pull it off.
  23. devolve
    grow worse
    Mr. Simmonds says there ain’t no way that’ll work, and that devolves enough that Dad has to break it up.
  24. jinx
    foredoom to failure
    We’re on try eight of quitting now, and this one has lasted a lot longer than the others, but I don’t say so in case that jinxes it.
  25. vigilant
    carefully observant or attentive
    We’d have to be vigilant, of course — we’re Abernathys, we always have to watch our backs — but we’re okay for now.
Created on Wed Jun 04 08:34:41 EDT 2025 (updated Tue Jun 10 18:24:53 EDT 2025)

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