"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 24

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 411 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail
    He’s pretty fastidious when it comes to his barbecue.
  2. amalgam
    a combination or blend of diverse things
    It’s an amalgam of a mother’s tender love and the love of a man and woman.
  3. assimilate
    take up mentally
    But within a few months he had assimilated what he needed to know to function quite well.
  4. precocious
    characterized by exceptionally early development
    And he was the most amazingly precocious child.
  5. proficient
    having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude
    He was proficient in calculus at seven.
  6. prodigy
    an unusually gifted or intelligent person
    He was a prodigy. He just amazed people with his erudition.
  7. rudimentary
    being in the earliest stages of development
    “Axel’s social skills are still a little rudimentary.”
  8. minutia
    a small or minor detail
    He watches over him and kind of helps him out with mundane things—food, clothing, all that—the minutia of everyday life.
  9. guileless
    innocent and free of deceit
    I have never met anyone so completely guileless, she thought.
  10. renounce
    turn away from; give up
    If this one doesn’t work, Jaz thought, I’m renouncing any claim to the title of Queen of the Matchmakers.
  11. juncture
    a particular point in a process or activity
    What you’re doing is very necessary. Particularly at this critical juncture in this planet’s history.
  12. imperative
    some duty that is essential and urgent
    It is imperative that you continue.
  13. tranquility
    a disposition free from stress or emotion
    Jaz felt a sense of tranquility unlike any she had ever experienced before.
  14. scintillating
    brilliantly clever
    Some nights we’ve had the group just crackling with energy, absolutely scintillating ideas everywhere.
  15. cohere
    have internal elements or parts logically connected
    And it even starts to cohere into a pattern. When that happens, it’s amazing. A few times I’ve felt we’ve been really close to something.
  16. equitable
    fair to all parties as dictated by reason and conscience
    I mean like how to have an equitable society that’s also affluent.
  17. affluent
    having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value
    I mean like how to have an equitable society that’s also affluent.
  18. culmination
    a concluding action
    We’re going to try to bring this thing to some sort of culmination.
  19. dais
    a platform raised above the surrounding level
    Some really important people—like Dr. James, the famous space scientist—will be on the dais.
  20. rostrum
    a platform raised above the surrounding level
    And Simon is even going to have a rostrum.
Created on Tue Aug 19 06:13:44 EDT 2014 (updated Tue Aug 19 16:08:23 EDT 2014)

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