Better Nate Than Ever: Some Backstory - Black and White to Color

by Tim Federle
In this hilarious novel, 13-year-old Nate sneaks off to New York City to audition for a role in a Broadway play. Learn this list in which the vocabulary from the novel takes center stage. Break a leg!

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Some Backstory - Black and White to Color, Explanation Time - Moving Ahead, Learning Lines - Enter: Oysters, The Next Part - A Boy Soprano
45 words 274 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. tranquility
    an untroubled state that is free from disturbances
    By the time I was born, disturbing the tranquility of Anthony’s remarkable career as a three-year-old wonder-jock, the video cameras were fully trained on his every sprint, gasp, dive, and volley.
  2. clarion
    loud and clear
    No high-res shots of little Nate Foster scurrying around the Christmas tree, belting “Santa Baby” in a clarion, silver soprano.
  3. alibi
    proof that someone accused of a crime could not have done it
    “So we’re good on the alibi?”
    “Yes. We’re good. I’ll cover your dogsitting duties while Anthony goes off to win another track meet tomorrow. And if anyone calls your landline, I’ll pick up the phone and disguise my voice as yours.”
  4. hassle
    annoying inconvenience, trouble, or disturbance
    “No, Nate. The key is to get it exactly right. The A train is running local today, what a hassle. That’s the phrase. I Googled ‘things that annoy New Yorkers,’ and I need you to trust me.”
  5. insecurity
    the anxiety experienced when feeling vulnerable
    Sixteen-year-olds always drive with their high beams on, to make up for their insecurity and lack of experience manning a seven-ton death toaster.
  6. literally
    without exaggeration
    Try loving showtunes alongside an older brother who can bench-press your weight. No, literally!
  7. flawless
    without a weakness or defect or mistake
    He makes for the broken sliding screen door (years ago, Anthony wrestled me through the kitchen and out onto the back patio, smashing through the screen, ending up grounded for the first/last time in his whole flawless life) and disappears within, reemerging a moment later.
  8. morgue
    a building or room where dead bodies are kept before burial
    “And don’t do anything stupid tonight, guys. I’m serious. Mom and Dad will kill me if they have to ID your body at the morgue.”
  9. stutter
    speak haltingly
    “What if I stutter my name?”
  10. audition
    a test of the suitability of a performer
    “Take this, and don’t open it till after your audition. After they fall completely in love with you.”
  11. ludicrous
    inviting ridicule
    It’s downright ludicrous, I’ll admit as much, but on the topic of my mom: She’s just in the bathroom.
  12. ailment
    an often persistent bodily disorder or disease
    And I’m sure she’ll be out in just a moment, but she’s going through a bit of a stomach ailment and asked that I please take care of my ticket, alone, before she gets out.
  13. covert
    secret or hidden
    We worked out every covert detail of my trip, yesterday, when she showed up at my house after school.
  14. modem
    a device used to connect computers by a telephone line
    I get all my headlines from Libby; we still have a dial-up modem at home, and thus all Facebook monitoring is done at her house.
  15. supernova
    a star that explodes and becomes luminous in the process
    And Libby squatted and shielded her face, knowing how I always react to world-shaking news. Knowing I would launch anything on my physical person—coins; old friendship bracelets; the rake—thirty feet in every direction, like a supernova star explosion.
  16. intimidating
    discouraging through fear
    They probably all shave their heads or have discovered some other trend that is going to be totally intimidating and exciting.
  17. abscess
    a localized collection of pus surrounded by inflamed tissue
    I’m actually holding my bookbag so tight, it probably looks like an extension of my shirt. Or like I have a horribly distended belly, like an abscess, and have ventured to New York for surgery at one of their world-famous belly abscess hospitals.
  18. nirvana
    any place of complete bliss and delight and peace
    Just across the street is the New York Times building, a towering sheet of metal, and—my God, it’s like nirvana—to my left, an Applebee’s.
  19. emporium
    a large shop organized into sections
    Like a super Applebee’s, the Cadillac of Applebee’s, an Americana food emporium made automatically bigger and better by being here.
  20. gouge
    swindle; obtain by coercion
    Because I can already tell: Things are more fair here, just because everything’s so fast that who’d have the time to stop and gouge a customer?
  21. unconditional
    not modified or restricted
    The only thing I’m unconditional about is dessert, and how much I love Feather and musicals.
  22. monologue
    a long utterance by one person
    “Yes, I’m traveling solo,” I say, “but I’m older than I look,” and I almost launch into my monologue about Mom in the bathroom but then remember this guy isn’t a Greyhound employee.
  23. exotic
    characteristic of another place or part of the world
    Yes, a trip to Akron, Ohio, can feel intoxicatingly foreign—sophisticated, even—in that “anything that’s different from me is exotic” kind of way.
  24. exasperation
    a feeling of annoyance
    He stops what he’s doing, dropping his arms so that the metal sandwich board pops with cheap exasperation, and groans at me.
  25. karma
    effects of one's actions that determine his or her destiny
    Libby’s on a real kick about karma these days, so I decide to be extremely selfless.
  26. selfless
    showing concern for the welfare of others
    Libby’s on a real kick about karma these days, so I decide to be extremely selfless.
  27. extravagant
    unrestrained, especially with regard to feelings
    Three teenage boys pass me, all a little taller than I am (duh) and each wearing extravagant fashions, their hair daring and swoopy; one’s dancing across his forehead and another’s spiked to the skies, probably able to predict the weather before the news, even.
  28. clavicle
    bone linking the scapula and sternum
    A cross that’s practically burning a hole into my clavicle for all the sins simmering in my stupid head.
  29. ensemble
    a coordinated outfit (set of clothing)
    “Okay, thanks. Because”—I lift up the giant plaid Ecko Unlimited shirt he’s dressed me in, something Anthony could probably catch a gust with and sail to Saturn on, winning awards and creating a new Galactic sports event—“I’m not so sure I can pull this ensemble off.”
  30. don
    put on clothes
    No matter how out of place I may feel in clothes that my friend Jaime Madison might don, it’s better to walk into a job interview dry.
  31. cumbersome
    difficult to handle or use, especially because of size or weight
    I walk through a shiny-floored lobby, aware suddenly of how slippery and cumbersome my new purple Adidas high-tops are, and step up to a security guard.
  32. teeming
    abundantly filled with especially living things
    Twin girls bump past me, and I turn to survey a Broadway audition studio teeming with a grab bag of multicultured children...
  33. overbearing
    expecting unquestioning obedience
    I’ve got lozenges too, I think to myself, and I don’t even have to deal with an overbearing mom.
  34. endeavor
    a purposeful or industrious undertaking
    Maybe this is a perfect moment to pick up my bookbag and march back to Port Authority and just write the whole endeavor off as an exploration of New York City and nothing more.
  35. suburban
    relating to or characteristic of or situated in suburbs
    After pulling off one of the great suburban escapes of all time, I’m getting sidelined on a technicality.
  36. technicality
    a detail that is considered insignificant
    After pulling off one of the great suburban escapes of all time, I’m getting sidelined on a technicality.
  37. demeanor
    the way a person behaves toward other people
    My costume would be her horrible wig-hair and a purse full of fruits and matches, and honey packets, and a general demeanor of bloodthirsty competition.
  38. pirouette
    a rapid spin of the body
    “And so Shawn would list my studio, the Robert Poppins School of Performing Arts, under that column on the application. Shawn, tell this boy how many pirouette turns you can do.”
  39. disoriented
    having lost your bearings
    But Shawn’s lazy eye has reached its limit, dropping entirely to the bottom of his socket, and he nods off for a second and then pops his head up, disoriented, beginning the whole trick again.
  40. scoliosis
    an abnormal lateral curve of the spine
    A month ago, Danny Brooks, the eighth grader with a scoliosis brace, was picked six slots ahead of me for a round of dodgeball.
  41. fib
    a trivial lie
    It’s a minor lie, a white one, and looking up at Uncle Robert, I can tell—his hair is just this fake-shade-of-red enough—that he isn’t a big enough deal in the dance world for anyone to cross-reference my fib.
  42. flamboyant
    tending to attract attention; marked by ostentatious display
    This is the kind of thing people in Jankburg make fun of, the kind of flamboyant stuff that got the arts funding all but cut from my school in the first place.
  43. relocate
    become established in a new place
    I’d be willing to relocate to New York City.
  44. knack
    a special way of doing something
    I have a knack for spotting garbage cans, because I so often end up in them, headfirst.
  45. vouch
    give personal assurance; guarantee
    “Unless you’ve got an adult to vouch for you today, don’t waste our time. This is Broadway," and she leans over, pulling the dripping audition-form out from the garbage, and says (as loudly as anyone has ever said anything, as loudly as the shade of red she used to X out my application), “This isn’t Jankburg, Pennsylvania."
Created on Wed Oct 25 12:23:53 EDT 2017 (updated Wed Oct 25 16:07:29 EDT 2017)

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