"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 27

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
25 words 361 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. hindsight
    understanding the nature of an event after it has happened
    At the time I didn’t think it was important. I was happy in my world. But with hindsight, I realize he was right.
  2. vantage
    place or situation affording some benefit
    It was important for me to see things from a different vantage point.
  3. insular
    narrowly restricted in outlook or scope
    I was pretty insular, you see.
  4. imbue
    fill or soak totally
    “I was really imbued with Indian culture. I was totally into it—Indian art, music, philosophy, everything.”
  5. ethnocentric
    centered on a specific ethnic group, usually one's own
    For a while I was pretty ethnocentric. Anything—any other way of looking at the world—was inferior in my eyes.
  6. doctrinaire
    stubbornly insistent on theory rather than practicality
    I was completely doctrinaire.
  7. reactionary
    an extreme conservative
    “Jaz was becoming a real reactionary, weren’t you?”
  8. fundamentalism
    the interpretation of sacred texts as literal truth
    Yes, I guess I was something of a fundamentalist.
  9. conservative
    resistant to change
    You know, it’s interesting how sometimes young people are more conservative than their parents.
  10. reductionism
    the analysis of complex things into simpler constituents
    “Isn’t that a little reductionistic, Jaz?” Simon said. “You’re always warning me about reducing a person’s motives to some simple cause.
  11. xenophobia
    a fear of foreigners or strangers
    “Xenophobia,” Simon said.
  12. monolithic
    characterized by rigidity and total uniformity
    Some people start to see the West as some monolithic force consciously bent on getting everybody in the world to eat hamburgers, wear Nikes, watch CNN and Mission Impossible or whatever blockbuster is playing at the movies, spend all day making money, and think that the degree of individual freedom is the sole criterion for judging the success of a political system.
  13. analogy
    drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity
    “Evolution can be a dangerous analogy when we’re talking about culture and ideas,” Jaz said.
  14. homogenize
    become homogeneous or similar, as by mixing
    Anyway, it looks like the world might be heading, for better or worse, toward one homogenized culture.
  15. hybrid
    the offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock
    A mongrel hybrid.
  16. rampant
    occurring or increasing in an unrestrained way
    Rampant materialism. Conspicuous consumption the privilege of the elite and the dream of the masses.
  17. ominous
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    There are some pretty ominous trends.
  18. ideology
    an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group
    Some of that sounds like Marxism. I thought that ideology had been completely debunked.
  19. debunk
    expose while ridiculing
    Some of that sounds like Marxism. I thought that ideology had been completely debunked.
  20. affirm
    declare solemnly and formally as true
    I mean, some of what I’ve said would be affirmed by many adherents of the world’s major religious faiths.
  21. adherent
    someone who believes and helps to spread a doctrine
    I mean, some of what I’ve said would be affirmed by many adherents of the world’s major religious faiths.
  22. despotism
    dominance through threat of punishment and violence
    Did you know, for example, that in 1931 Pope Pius XII described capitalism as ‘the economic despotism of a few’?
  23. pontificate
    talk in a dogmatic and pompous manner
    Once I get going on this sort of subject I have a tendency to start pontificating.
  24. polemicist
    a writer who argues in opposition to others
    There’s this polemicist inside me that’s bottled up, but is always ready to come out if anybody is willing to listen.
  25. sententious
    abounding in or given to pompous or aphoristic moralizing
    “Yeah, Jaz doesn’t have a sententious bone in her body, do you, honey?” Simon said.
Created on Tue Aug 19 06:34:27 EDT 2014 (updated Tue Aug 19 16:40:44 EDT 2014)

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