When the World Turned Upside Down: Chapters 22–35

by K. Ibura
Fourth graders Shayla, Liam, Ben, and Ai struggle to adjust to quarantine life in their New York City apartment building during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–10, Chapters 11–21, Chapters 22–35
25 words 7 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. paranoid
    suffering from delusions of persecution or grandeur
    “Why? Are you spying on me?” Ai asked with her hands on her hips. Kartika waved her fingers in the air.
 “Paranoid,” she sang. “I’m just checking on you.”
  2. hostility
    an unfriendly disposition
    The raised voices and slamming furniture had disappeared. Instead the apartment was dead silent. They filled every room they entered with a cold hostility that felt creepier than the yelling.
  3. vanity
    low table with a mirror where one sits while dressing
    “Ready?” Ben said, gripping his side of the vanity.
    “You didn’t make your wish,” Ai said.
    “What?” Ben asked.
    “Your wish,” Ai said, pointing to the mirror.
  4. deteriorate
    become worse or disintegrate
    After they put the furniture on the curb, they lingered there, looking at the deteriorating wood and splotchy mirror that had gotten them talking.
  5. stealth
    the act of moving in a quiet or secretive way to avoid being noticed
    So he decided to call himself the Stealth Destroyer. No one could see him coming—he was as invisible as the germs themselves and he would wipe them out before they could hurt anybody.
  6. grimace
    contort the face to indicate a certain mental state
    “Sorry, man,” he heard a voice say. “You alright?”
    Liam grimaced and looked up.
  7. flinch
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    Her mother flinched when the light hit her face, but she didn’t open her eyes.
  8. disoriented
    having lost your bearings
    “She’s weak and disoriented—and I think she needs to get checked out.”
  9. clammy
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    Strands of her black hair were sticking to her forehead and her skin was pale and clammy.
  10. intently
    with strained or eager attention
    She was busy staring intently at her mother, studying her as if she could learn something just by watching her movements.
  11. flashy
    tastelessly showy
    They moved down the block in a wiggling mess of arms and legs as everyone took turns showing off flashy dance moves.
  12. scrawl
    write carelessly
    All along the way, there was graffiti scrawled on the walls.
  13. debris
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    The sidewalk was full of little obstacles—random pieces of metal, mysterious canisters, and masks on the ground. Everywhere they turned, they saw trash and debris.
  14. funky
    having an offensive or unpleasant smell
    “Alright, everybody. All those funky, dirty hands need to get washed,” Mr. Kwame said.
  15. thrash
    move or stir about violently
    She twisted and turned, thrashing as hard as she could to get them off her, but it didn’t work.
  16. groggy
    stunned or confused and slow to react
    Her father opened his eyes and rubbed his face.
    “What?” he asked groggily.
  17. sterilize
    make free from bacteria
    Shayla reached into her bag and handed Cypher one of the pens they’d sterilized.
  18. overwhelm
    overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
    He felt conflicted and overwhelmed, but he decided he would fix that when they were done.
  19. tinker
    try to fix or mend in an unskilled manner
    If it were a toy she could hold in her hands, she could tinker with it and figure out how to get it moving smoothly again, but the world was way too big for one set of hands to fix.
  20. slink
    move or walk stealthily
    She slunk back against the window frame and stared down at the toes of her socks.
  21. cognitive
    relating to or involving the mental process of knowing
    I know my name and I remember where I live, but I’m in cognitive behavioral therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.
  22. collage
    a paste-up of pieces to form an artistic image
    When she had covered the whole door, she stepped back to look at the patterns. She was shocked to see that from far away, her paper collage looked like a huge painting or a mural.
  23. inspiration
    arousal of the mind to unusual activity or creativity
    “Ah,” her father said when he saw her making the first few strokes on the blank page. “Inspiration has struck.”
  24. escapade
    a wild and exciting undertaking
    As the porcupine and his friends—a hippo and an antelope—got into sticky situations and close escapes, Ai kept an eye on the cartoon escapades as she sketched the people and shapes that came into her mind.
  25. stubborn
    refusing to change one's mind or ways; difficult to convince
    It was hard to believe that when this all started, whenever the four of them were thrown together, they had nothing to share but stubborn silences and awkward glances. But now everything around them had changed—and they had changed too.
Created on Wed Mar 23 10:17:22 EDT 2022 (updated Fri Apr 01 14:38:18 EDT 2022)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.