The Radium Girls: Chapters 17–25

by Kate Moore
Adapted especially for young readers, this book tells the true story of women who worked painting watch dials with radium paint — and became ill as a consequence.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue–Chapter 9, Chapters 10–16, Chapters 17–25, Chapters 26–35, Chapter 36–Postscript
35 words 18 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. expendable
    suitable to be used up
    The girls now understood how unforgivably careless the company had been with their lives. So the real question was how the firm’s executives could have considered them expendable.
  2. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    For she recalled all too well a fleeting moment in her memory that sealed the company’s guilt.
  3. jurisdiction
    the right and power to interpret and apply the law
    He now said to Grace, “The matter was not in [my] jurisdiction but Mr. Roeder’s. Since the matter was under his supervision, [I] could do nothing.”
  4. undermine
    weaken or impair, especially gradually
    “Her face, once usually pretty,” a newspaper wrote of her at this time, “is now pinched and drawn with suffering. The suspense and worry have undermined her spirit.”
  5. deranged
    driven insane
    The worry. It brought her so low and made her so anxious. Her former company put it more harshly. They called her “mentally deranged.”
  6. skeptical
    marked by or given to doubt
    Yet it wasn’t just those who made money from radium who had their doubts about Martland’s declaration. Even the American Medical Association—which in 1914 had formally included radium on its list of “New and Nonofficial Remedies”—was skeptical.
  7. galvanize
    stimulate to action
    Grace was galvanized into action.
  8. bias
    a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue
    Hoffman dubbed the report “more bias than science.”
  9. blatantly
    in a completely obvious manner
    For a start, his published conclusions blatantly contradicted his privately stated opinion to Dr. Drinker.
  10. peal
    sound loudly and sonorously
    The bells of St. Columba pealed out joyously across Ottawa.
  11. maelstrom
    a violent commotion or disturbance
    One of its few parishioners not caught up in this maelstrom of marriage was Catherine Wolfe.
  12. implement
    pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue
    To be fair to Radium Dial, therefore, they didn’t have to implement the change.
  13. intervene
    get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action
    No organization had intervened on the national stage to keep workers beyond Orange from being harmed.
  14. obliterate
    do away with completely, without leaving a trace
    The X-ray showed that Grace’s spine had been shattered by the radium, with her medical notes recording the “obliteration” in her body.
  15. heartrending
    causing or marked by grief or anguish
    From the very start, the radium girls’ case attracted heartrending headlines.
  16. summons
    a writ issued by authority of law
    In the end, he was forced to issue a formal court summons to get the doctor's evidence.
  17. invariably
    without change, in every case
    “In these negotiations,” wrote one commentator, “Flinn held the upper hand. He knew what he wanted and the women he dealt with were invariably young, unsophisticated, vulnerable, and without the benefit of legal counsel.”
  18. bearing
    the direction or path along which something moves or lies
    She started walking to work. She took her bearings, as always, from the spire of St. Columba, which was only a block or two from her home.
  19. spire
    a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
    She started walking to work. She took her bearings, as always, from the spire of St. Columba, which was only a block or two from her home.
  20. toll
    ring slowly
    It was less than ten minutes before she was back on Clinton Street, as the St. Columba bells tolled the hour of noon.
  21. bunk
    meaningless nonsense
    Ella told him that her mom had always been scared of her working at Radium Dial. He retorted with a hearty chuckle, “That’s all bunk, there’s not a cleaner place.”
  22. septic
    of or relating to or caused by the process of decay
    Septic poisoning set in, and her pretty face and head turned black.
  23. vigil
    a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
    Nellie kept a bedside vigil as long as the doctors would let her, even though the person in the bed didn’t look like Ella anymore.
  24. sodden
    wet through and through; thoroughly wet
    Then they worked to uncover the coffin, heaving sodden earth out of the hole.
  25. nondescript
    lacking distinct or individual characteristics
    Eventually, their efforts unveiled a nondescript wooden box with a silver nameplate.
  26. modus operandi
    an unvarying or habitual method or procedure
    And like the expert serial killer it was, it had evolved its modus operandi: the way it killed the women.
  27. chafe
    tear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading
    She shifted uncomfortably from time to time, her metal back brace chafing her skin.
  28. succinct
    briefly giving the gist of something
    Grace’s answers were impressively succinct and informative.
  29. proceeding
    a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked
    Still half listening to the proceedings, she started to picture her life afterward, how happy she hoped she would be. Just a few more days of these January hearings, she thought, and then it would all be over—one way or the other.
  30. pry
    search or inquire in a meddlesome way
    As Katherine wrote, they were at last “safe from intrusion [and] safe from the prying eyes of unwelcome advisers.”
  31. compulsory
    required by rule
    On April 22, three days before the trial was to resume, the girls were summoned to a compulsory physical examination by the company doctors.
  32. dissipate
    cause to separate and go in different directions
    Flinn also held the equipment several feet away from the girls, which allowed the radiation to dissipate.
  33. resignation
    acceptance of an unpleasant but inevitable situation
    The press called them a “sadly smiling sorority” and said they “maintained an attitude of almost cheerful resignation.”
  34. distinguished
    standing above others in character or attainment
    Distinguished doctors testified that it had been common knowledge since at least 1912 that radium could do harm.
  35. adjourn
    break from a meeting or gathering
    “The hearing is adjourned to September 24.”
Created on Tue Mar 02 09:36:11 EST 2021 (updated Tue Mar 09 12:22:35 EST 2021)

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