The Fight of Our Lives: List 1

by David Levithan, Gabriel Duckels
This blend of history, memoir, and poetry tells the story of AIDS in the United States, from before its formal discovery to the present day.

This list covers vocabulary from "A Brief Overview of the AIDS Epidemic, in Facts and Figures"–"Health Care by M.L."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5, List 6
15 words 14 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. subversive
    in opposition to an established system or government
    It wasn’t until he hit college in the 1970s that he found his crowd…and once he did, he plunged right into the dynamic, subversive wave of gay culture that moved through New York City after the Stonewall Riot.
  2. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    Just south of downtown St. Louis, City Hospital is an imposing building with six floors and a tower.
  3. innate
    inborn or existing naturally
    There are two parts of the immune system: the innate immune system and the acquired immune system.
  4. pervasive
    spreading or spread throughout
    Homophobia was pervasive, a powder keg ready to explode.
  5. disparate
    fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind
    This painfully neutral language tries to acknowledge the diversity of possible cases—picture the sickly children on Rubinstein’s ward in the Bronx, the drug users seeking a fix on Rikers Island, the disparate hemophiliacs in the American population, or the queer people in gayborhoods like Greenwich Village in Manhattan or the Castro in San Francisco.
  6. plight
    a situation from which extrication is difficult
    Most people knew his plight was no laughing matter.
  7. perspective
    a way of regarding situations or topics
    His fresh-faced innocence provided a different perspective—an eye-opening realization that anyone could fall victim to the disease, and a call for the world to help, rather than shun, those afflicted with AIDS.
  8. shun
    avoid and stay away from deliberately
    His fresh-faced innocence provided a different perspective—an eye-opening realization that anyone could fall victim to the disease, and a call for the world to help, rather than shun, those afflicted with AIDS.
  9. unequivocally
    in an unambiguous manner
    And yet medicine has not come forth unequivocally and said, “This we know for a fact, that it is safe.”
  10. poignant
    arousing powerful emotions, especially pity or sadness
    In a most poignant way, he told us of a health crisis in our country that has claimed too many victims.
  11. galvanize
    stimulate to action
    No other person, living or dead, has so galvanized the spirit of the nation in common battle against this 20th-Century plague.
  12. unambiguous
    admitting of no doubt or misunderstanding
    Kaposi’s sarcoma became synonymous with AIDS partly because of its unambiguous visual markings.
  13. manifest
    reveal its presence or make an appearance
    It manifests first as lesions on the face, arms, and legs.
  14. eradicate
    destroy completely, as if down to the roots
    Again, in America this has largely been eradicated by rigorous treatment, but it remains a serious problem elsewhere in the world, where treatments are not as available or affordable.
  15. exacerbate
    make worse
    It can also exacerbate mental health challenges that were already present.
Created on Fri Oct 09 05:37:37 EDT 2026 (updated Mon Oct 19 19:05:11 EDT 2026)

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