"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 9

Philip Geer's "Simon's Saga" includes 820 SAT-level words and gives students an entertaining glimpse into college life.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20, Episode 21, Episode 22, Episode 23, Episode 24, Episode 25, Episode 26, Episode 27, Episode 28, Episode 29, Episode 30, Episode 31, Episode 32, Episode 33, Episode 34, Episode 35, Episode 36, Episode 37
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. impediment
    something immaterial that interferes with action or progress
    The impediment to my understanding the ideas is that Ax uses a lexicon so confounding that I have to ask Jaz to explain what he said in normal English.
  2. confound
    be confusing or perplexing to
    The impediment to my understanding the ideas is that Ax uses a lexicon so confounding that I have to ask Jaz to explain what he said in normal English.
  3. succinctly
    with concise and precise brevity; to the point
    But, as always, Jaz is really great: she succinctly expresses what I need to know in words I can understand.
  4. opaque
    not clearly understood or expressed
    Ideas that were opaque to me gradually become clear.
  5. buttress
    make stronger or defensible
    If I need some extra points to buttress my argument or rebut counterarguments to my thesis, I ask Ax to give me some ideas.
  6. rebut
    overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof
    If I need some extra points to buttress my argument or rebut counterarguments to my thesis, I ask Ax to give me some ideas.
  7. thesis
    an unproved statement advanced as a premise in an argument
    If I need some extra points to buttress my argument or rebut counterarguments to my thesis, I ask Ax to give me some ideas.
  8. critique
    a serious examination and judgment of something
    Then Jaz peruses my paper and gives me her critique of it.
  9. camaraderie
    the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability
    So, as you can see, the three of us have a real camaraderie.
  10. negligible
    so small as to be meaningless; insignificant
    I mean, his social skills are negligible.
  11. paradigm
    the generally accepted perspective of a discipline
    A total party animal can get 99.9 percent or a complete hermit can get 0.01 percent, but nobody can get 100 or 0 percent according to their paradigm.
  12. lethargic
    deficient in alertness or activity
    Now, all this brainwork leaves me feeling kind of lethargic, so I head for my favorite sofa to cop some Zs.
  13. retrospect
    contemplation of things past
    In retrospect, it was kind of amusing.
  14. perturbed
    thrown into a state of agitated confusion
    I thought he might be a little perturbed, but like I’ve said, Ax is cool.
  15. empirical
    derived from experiment and observation rather than theory
    “This lends empirical confirmation to my theory concerning the nature of my personality as evinced in its interaction with other members of the species Homo sapiens."
  16. evince
    give expression to
    “This lends empirical confirmation to my theory concerning the nature of my personality as evinced in its interaction with other members of the species Homo sapiens."
  17. unbiased
    characterized by a lack of partiality
    He even looks at himself from a totally unbiased perspective.
  18. circumlocution
    an indirect way of expressing something
    Although I had just used circumlocution to break the truth gently to my friend, I decided that from this moment I would eschew it.
  19. eschew
    avoid and stay away from deliberately
    Although I had just used circumlocution to break the truth gently to my friend, I decided that from this moment I would eschew it.
  20. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
    He needed to be chided and shown reality.
Created on Mon Aug 18 18:10:04 EDT 2014 (updated Tue Aug 19 13:17:04 EDT 2014)

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