"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 21

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
20 words 587 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. indomitable
    impossible to subdue
    She takes some ribbing from a lot of her friends, but she’s indomitable when she’s pursuing what she thinks is the truth.
  2. precept
    a rule of personal conduct
    One of her precepts is never to follow conventional thinking without a healthy dose of skepticism.
  3. conventional
    following accepted customs and proprieties
    One of her precepts is never to follow conventional thinking without a healthy dose of skepticism.
  4. skepticism
    doubt about the truth of something
    One of her precepts is never to follow conventional thinking without a healthy dose of skepticism.
  5. diverse
    many and different
    “She sounds like quite a remarkable young woman. Where did she get all these diverse interests?”
  6. expertise
    skillfulness by virtue of possessing special knowledge
    “Anyway, his expertise is Indian philosophy,” Simon said.
  7. recondite
    difficult to understand
    He’s working on really recondite subjects like the place of mind in the universe.
  8. ultimate
    furthest or highest in degree or order; utmost or extreme
    “I’ve read some of your .... I mean, the Indian philosophers, and I find them often to be profound thinkers, in some ways closer to the ultimate truth than those in the Western philosophic tradition.”
  9. bemused
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements
    Simon looked at Xela with a somewhat bemused expression.
  10. psychic
    affecting or influenced by the human mind
    She says some of the yogis exhibit remarkable psychic abilities. They seem to use not only telepathy, she says, but things like clairvoyance and precognition, or knowing about something before it happens.
  11. substantiate
    establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts
    Anyway, Jaz wants to find out more about it—how it works and if it can be substantiated empirically.
  12. fuse
    mix together different elements
    Jaz thinks that maybe they do this by temporarily fusing our spacetime with this other one.
  13. sentient
    consciously perceiving
    She says if there are people here who can do this kind of stuff, it seems reasonable to suppose that there are other sorts of sentient beings who can do it too.
  14. rationality
    the quality of being consistent with or based on logic
    He’s a math and physics guy, so he’s really into rationality.
  15. odyssey
    a long wandering and eventful journey
    “You know,” Simon said, “sometimes I think if an alien landed, those two would love nothing more than to hop on its ship and go for a long odyssey through space studying everything they could.”
  16. candid
    openly straightforward and direct without secretiveness
    He was so candid. And so handsome.
  17. vertigo
    a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
    Once again, Xela felt a touch of vertigo.
  18. verifiable
    capable of being proven
    The thing about Axel is that everything must be rational—empirically verifiable, as he says.
  19. predicate
    involve as a necessary condition or consequence
    His life seems to be predicated on the view that logic is the best way of understanding things.
  20. revelation
    an enlightening or astonishing disclosure
    Suddenly, looking at Xela, Simon had a revelation; maybe this odd, brilliant, wonderful girl was the one for Axel.
Created on Mon Aug 18 21:35:32 EDT 2014 (updated Tue Aug 19 15:43:03 EDT 2014)

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