Ronit and Jamil: "Ronit"–Act I

by Pamela Laskin
In this verse novel based on Romeo and Juliet, Ronit and Jamil are star-crossed lovers who try to overcome geographical and familial barriers in Israel and Palestine.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: "Ronit"–Act I, Acts II–V
40 words 28 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. elixir
    a substance believed to cure all ills
    Papa has pills, elixirs
    to heal the sick, the wounded
  2. amulet
    a trinket thought to be a magical protection against evil
    I am my father’s son
    though I am a girl,
    but as firstborn
    of three,
    he gives me power like an amulet
    cherishes my voice
    like it’s the Bible,
    asks my opinion
    like it’s a prize
  3. solace
    comfort offered to one who is disappointed or miserable
    You are the sun of my heart
    for you I burn
    Abi chants
    like a prayer
    all the while questioning
    why I read Rumi
    why I look to the stars for solace
    why the Quran
    is just a book
    and stars are my solace.
  4. dilapidated
    in a state of decay, ruin, or deterioration
    We enter
    through a dilapidated door
  5. cascade
    rush down in big quantities
    You could be my sister
    with your blue eyes
    and the curls
    cascading past your shoulders.
  6. talisman
    a trinket thought to be a magical protection against evil
    I’ve named you
    talisman
    for the wishes
    buried
    in this burning lamp
  7. callus
    a skin area that is thick or hard from continual pressure
    to touch the bronzed calluses
    that rise from your knuckles
    to smell the aroma
    of your unshaven face
  8. banish
    drive away
    These countries
    separate us,
    so I am banished
    from the song
    and the sea—
    me.
  9. hummus
    a thick spread made from mashed chickpeas
    We talk
    around the dinner table:
    Ommi’s good food:
    hummus, falafel, baba ghanoush.
  10. monastic
    relating to life in an isolated religious community
    Where I’m from
    the monastery of martyrs
    once the most important of monastic centers
    still stands
  11. revere
    regard with feelings of respect
    Where I’m from
    school is our temple
    (yes, there are forty synagogues)
    but I revere
    the God of knowledge
  12. emphasis
    special importance or significance
    we won
    the Israeli Ministry Education prize
    twice,
    and a national prize
    for our community’s emphasis
    on green space, on playgrounds.
  13. obsolete
    no longer in use
    I am from greenery
    and recreation
    on running races till my body is obsolete
  14. parched
    dried out by heat or excessive exposure to sunlight
    Where I’m from
    everywhere I look
    I see desert
    long and sad
    like a parched sky.
  15. anguish
    extreme distress of body or mind
    but the aged olive tree
    is dried up in anguish
    because it belongs
    in my grandfather’s backyard,
    not yours.
  16. relic
    something of sentimental value
    My mother, my Ommi,
    whose womb wrestled with war
    for years
    until twins
    tore through her womb
    like a bomb—
    beautiful relics
    a son, a daughter.
  17. enigma
    something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
    I am the eternal enigma
    the Quran
    can’t answer.
  18. lament
    express grief verbally
    My father is a tiger
    sleek on the outside, contained
    he pounces on illness
    till it oozes out of you,
    unless you die in his hands
    then my father roars
    laments, cries out
    to Allah
  19. futile
    unproductive of success
    and my grandfather
    snarls
    "fool"
    for becoming a doctor
    in such futile times
  20. admonish
    scold or reprimand; take to task
    I call him fish
    for the way he stays in deep waters
    (where others would drown)
    admonishing his only son
    for giving out drugs
    to Arabs
  21. demise
    the event of departure from life
    The first thing that I notice are her eyes
    as blue as day or sorrow they have rage
    she teases me to enter, my demise
    if Abi only knew my heart is caged.
  22. cacophony
    loud confusing disagreeable sounds
    As blue as day or sorrow they have rage
    from years of being told to stay away
    if Abi only knew my heart is caged
    a cacophony of hands that beg to stay.
  23. distort
    make false by mutilation or addition
    Senseless school
    like history
    when they distort
    that Arabs
    have no right
    to the land.
  24. idle
    silly or trivial
    I hate idle chatter
    my sisters rumble with it:
    hair and makeup.
  25. subterfuge
    something intended to misrepresent the nature of an activity
    I hate
    when Imah asks me
    where I’m going
    like she senses
    my subterfuge.
  26. indecipherable
    impossible to determine the meaning of
    Ronit’s alphabet
    its letters
    are indecipherable
    though she says
    mine are, too.
  27. compel
    force somebody to do something
    My shell
    is feather-light
    but sturdy, strong
    compelled
    by an unknown sea.
  28. petrify
    make rigid and set into a conventional pattern
    Are my prayers
    too petrified for you?
  29. glare
    a light that is brighter than what the eyes are adapted to
    I’ll ask the sun
    to step aside
    since the glare
    is blinding.
  30. treacherous
    tending to betray
    no one sees
    the full moon
    and its treacherous treason.
  31. shroud
    burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
    The dead come stumbling by
    in shrouds.
  32. baklava
    dessert made of flaky pastry, nuts, and honey
    I am hungry for
    knafeh nabulsi
    the queen of Arabic sweets,
    or date-filled semolina cookies
    the magrood
    of pistachio baklava cake,
    and hummus
  33. ruthless
    without mercy or pity
    My Abi has named you
    the enemy:
    such a ruthless thief
    to steal land
    when no one is looking
    change locks,
    change the keys
  34. mutton
    meat from a mature domestic sheep
    Walking the narrow alleyways
    of Zion,
    eating murtabak—
    Yemeni mutton-filled pancakes
  35. rash
    marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences
    "It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden
    too like the lightning"

    to call this love
    the summer’s ripening breath
  36. envious
    painfully desirous of another's advantages
    Ronit is the fair sun in the east,
    the one who kills
    the envious moon
  37. brazen
    not held back by conventional ideas of behavior
    I can answer her eyes,
    but Chaim is looking
    and though she may be bold and brazen
    her eyes still twinkle
    tempt me
    to touch them.
  38. inconstant
    likely to change often without apparent reason
    "O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon"
    because the moon wears a mask
  39. ambiguous
    having more than one possible meaning
    I will take yours
    as mine,
    and swear by you,
    not the ambiguous moon,
    or the dead night.
  40. cryptic
    having a secret or hidden meaning
    I’ve heard about keys
    ancient, cryptic
    ones that have traveled
    across oceans
    guarded like gold.
Created on Tue Nov 15 13:25:20 EST 2022 (updated Thu Aug 17 13:40:41 EDT 2023)

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.