The Shape of Thunder: Chapters 25–38

by Jasmine Warga
A year after a devastating tragedy, Cora and Quinn attempt to rebuild their friendship — and find a way to change the past.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–10, Chapters 11–24, Chapters 25–38
30 words 15 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. atone
    make amends for
    “Quinn,” she says slowly, “I want you to listen to me. You can’t spend your life atoning for what your brother did. Do you know what I mean by atoning?”
  2. nondescript
    lacking distinct or individual characteristics
    Inside there’s a brass Little League trophy and a completely nondescript black notebook. I pick up the notebook. When I flip through it, I see that it’s blank.
  3. anecdote
    short account of an incident
    Almost every anecdote I read about someone finding a wormhole talked about the power of positivity.
  4. frank
    characterized by directness in manner or speech
    None of the articles I read gave an exact description of what the wormhole looked like, which I frankly found to be maddening.
  5. piercing
    very perceptive
    She throws me a hard stare. It’s so piercing that I can feel it deep inside my chest.
  6. critical
    urgently needed; absolutely necessary
    “It’s critically important to understand your surroundings. I can’t believe I trusted you. What a mistake that was.”
  7. medley
    a collection containing a variety of kinds of things
    I stare again at the dead leaves on the ground, a medley of burnt red and golden brown, a collection of fallen things.
  8. linear
    progressing from one stage or idea to the next in sequential order
    I think it means that time is fluid. That it isn’t quantifiable. At least not in the way that we perceive it to be. We’ve given time a linear order because it suits us. But the order we’ve given it is actually an illusion.
  9. wry
    humorously sarcastic or mocking
    Dad gives me a wry smile.
  10. conceive
    judge or regard; look upon as
    “The shape of time?”
    “Yeah. The idea that time is circular. Or at least not the straight line that we often conceive of it to be.”
  11. bashful
    self-consciously timid
    Catching himself, he shakes his head and gives me a bashful look.
  12. oxymoron
    conjoined contradictory terms
    The shape of thunder. What a strange phrase. It doesn’t quite make sense. I would say it’s an oxymoron, but it feels even bigger than that.
  13. contradictory
    not able to be true at the same time
    It’s more than contradictory; it’s impossible. A thing that doesn’t actually exist, but possibly could. An impossible thing that could actually be possible.
  14. foyer
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    Since it happened, she hardly wears anything other than leggings and cozy sweaters and her cooking apron, but she’s standing in the foyer wearing crisp dark jeans and a billowy white blouse.
  15. throng
    a large gathering of people
    I do my best to blend into the throng of kids.
  16. devoid
    completely wanting or lacking
    A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. A vacuum could theoretically be related to a wormhole.
  17. meteorology
    the earth science dealing with phenomena of the atmosphere
    I pull up the weather report for this week. Meteorology is, of course, not a precise science, but for this particular experiment I am going to have to rely on it.
  18. stem
    grow out of, have roots in, originate in
    Owen’s obsession with Spider-Man stems from a fascination with spiders. Most people care about the superhero stuff, but Owen’s obsessed with the insect.
  19. queasy
    causing or fraught with or showing anxiety
    Basically Owen thinks all bugs are awesome. Me, though, I get why insects are important for our ecosystem, but spiders still make me queasy.
  20. cavernous
    being or suggesting a large dark enclosed space
    During PE, the gym always feels so cavernous.
  21. blunt
    characterized by directness in manner or speech
    Her voice is clipped and blunt. “Have you seen Cora? Do you know where she went?”
  22. glower
    look angry or sullen as if to signal disapproval
    She’s glowering at me.
  23. loll
    hang loosely or laxly
    Her head lolls, dipping into the current.
  24. contemplate
    consider as a possibility
    “What were you doing in the woods?”
    I contemplate lying.
  25. shroud
    burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
    Even when I watched her get lowered into the ground, there was a part of me that didn’t believe that was my sister in that white cloth shroud.
  26. relativity
    the theory that space and time are not absolute concepts
    And Newton’s laws of motion were replaced with Einstein’s theory of relativity, and someday, Einstein’s theory of relativity may be replaced.
  27. marginal
    just barely adequate or within a lower limit
    The fact that I know how to say it in Arabic only marginally makes me dislike it less.
  28. paisley
    a fabric with a colorful swirled pattern of curved shapes
    My eyes drop to my paisley bedspread that Mom picked out when I was ten.
  29. attribute
    a characteristic that distinguishes objects or individuals
    She tells me all the reasons she thinks Peter Tolbin is cute. She, of course, has made a whole list of his attractive attributes.
  30. anagram
    a phrase rearranged from the letters of another phrase
    She told me the other day that silent is an anagram for listen. An anagram is like a word scramble. It’s when the letters used to write one word can be rearranged to write another.
Created on Tue Nov 09 10:27:56 EST 2021 (updated Mon Nov 15 14:55:45 EST 2021)

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