The Crossover: Third Quarter

by Kwame Alexander
Twin brothers Josh and Jordan Bell clash both on and off the basketball court. How high can you score on this list of words from Alexander's award-winning novel in verse?

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Warm Up, First Quarter, Second Quarter,
Third Quarter, Fourth Quarter–Overtime

Here are links to our lists for other books by Kwame Alexander: Booked, Solo, Rebound, Swing
15 words 4643 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. brutal
    harsh
    On the short ride home from the hospital
    there is no jazz music or hoop talk, only brutal silence,
    the unspoken words volcanic and weighty.
  2. churlish
    rude and boorish
    Did your father and I raise you to be churlish?
  3. deranged
    driven insane
    So, what’s been wrong with you these past few weeks?
    Put that sandwich down and answer me.
    I guess I’ve been just—
    You’ve been just what? DERANGED?
  4. atone
    make amends for
    Try to atone day and night.
    Sit beside JB at dinner. He moves.
    Tell him a joke.
    He doesn’t even smile.
    Do his chores.
    He pays no attention.
  5. anticipate
    make a prediction about; tell in advance
    Basketball Rule 17
    Rebounding is the art of anticipating, of always being prepared to grab it.
  6. flagrant
    conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
    Flagrant foul
  7. onset
    the beginning or early stages
    Mom take a tissue from her purse to wipe her tears,
    and the sudden onset of blood from Dad’s nose.
  8. profusely
    in very large amounts or quantities; extremely
    Your brother has apologized profusely for his mistake
  9. faze
    disturb the composure of
    Playing without suspended phenom Josh Bell didn’t seem to faze Coach Hawkins’ undefeated ’Cats.
  10. melee
    a noisy riotous fight
    After a brief melee caused by a hard foul, Josh’s twin, Jordan, led the team, like GW crossing the Delaware, to victory, and to their second straight playoff appearance.
  11. pulchritudinous
    having great physical beauty
    It was her first day at our school, and we just started talking about all kinds of stuff and she said she played basketball at her last school, and then Vondie was like, “JB, she’s hot, ’’and I was like, “Yeah, she is kinda pulchritudinous. ”
  12. eavesdrop
    listen without the speaker's knowledge
    Josh, you know I don’t like you eavesdropping.
  13. heirloom
    something that has been in a family for generations
    As in: Dad treats his championship ring like some kind of family heirloom that we can’t wear until one of us becomes Da Man.
  14. align
    bring into proper or desirable coordination correlation
    If my two stars
    aren't aligned,
    there’s no way
    the universe is kind to us.
  15. estranged
    caused to be unloved
    My brother and I
    got into a bad fight
    when we were in high school,
    and we’ve been estranged ever since.
Created on Wed Mar 23 20:14:35 EDT 2016 (updated Mon Aug 11 12:02:14 EDT 2025)

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