Ready Player One: Chapters 0018-0026

by Ernest Cline
In this science fiction novel, gamer Wade Watts goes on a quest for riches in a virtual reality simulation called the OASIS. To find the prize hidden by the eccentric creator of the OASIS, Wade must solve a series of puzzles based on 80s pop culture.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 0000-0002, Chapters 0003-0008, Chapters 0009-0017, Chapters 0018-0026, Chapters 0027-0039
15 words 339 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. teem
    be full of or abuzz with
    Its skies were filled with a continuous stream of flying vehicles whirring through the vertical cityscapes, and the streets below teemed with leather-clad NPCs and mirror-shaded avatars, all sporting high-tech weaponry and subcutaneous implants as they spouted city-speak straight out of Neuromancer.
  2. undulate
    move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
    She flapped her new tail fin once and shot ahead of me, her body undulating and thrusting in time with the machine-gun beat as she swam through the air.
  3. mote
    a tiny piece of anything
    Og set the dance floor’s gravity on a counterclockwise spin, making all of our avatars slowly rotate around the club’s invisible central axis, like motes of dust floating inside a snow globe.
  4. melee
    a noisy riotous fight
    The melee seemed to halt for a split second as all eyes turned to look at Og, who was now floating at the center of the dance floor.
  5. zenith
    the highest point of something
    The vast wasteland of television programming had finally reached its zenith, and the average person was no longer limited to fifteen minutes of fame.
  6. colophon
    a publisher's emblem printed in a book
    The creation date in the quest’s colophon said it had been launched several years after Halliday’s death, which meant it couldn’t have any relation to the contest.
  7. cretin
    a person of subnormal intelligence
    Helpful Helpdesk Inc. took millions of calls a day, from all over the world. Twenty-four seven, three sixty-five. One angry, befuddled cretin after another.
  8. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    Once I finally got a grip, I pulled up the Scoreboard and made myself stare at it for thirty solid minutes while I mentally berated myself.
  9. cadre
    a nucleus of military personnel capable of expansion
    I’d looted the Vonnegut from a cadre of Oviraptor clansmen who had foolishly attempted to hijack my X-wing while I was cruising through a large group of worlds in Sector Eleven known as the Whedonverse.
  10. denote
    be a sign or indication of
    I gazed around at the horizon, which was just a jagged green vector line, denoting mountainous terrain.
  11. bauble
    cheap showy jewelry or ornament
    Shortly after I collected the last of the game’s nineteen treasures, a tiny brass bauble, a notice flashed in my display informing me that the Vonnegut had arrived outside.
  12. influx
    the process of flowing in
    It had quickly become obvious that they wouldn’t be able to maintain over five hundred different blockades or fend off the massive influx of gunters.
  13. glib
    marked by lack of intellectual depth
    In my current state, even his glib computer-generated voice was somehow comforting.
  14. hubris
    overbearing pride or presumption
    And I was about to pay the ultimate price for my hubris.
  15. vitality
    a healthy capacity for vigorous activity
    I’d used up all of my extra lives, and my vitality bar was almost at zero, but I managed to keep moving and stay clear of the dragon’s fiery breath while I slowly knocked down his life meter with a steady barrage of throwing daggers.
Created on Thu Feb 08 13:43:46 EST 2018 (updated Thu Aug 07 17:16:28 EDT 2025)

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