Zeitoun: Part IV

by Dave Eggers
When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the Zeitoun family faced not only the aftermath of the storm, but also the sudden and inexplicable arrest of Adbulrahman Zeitoun, a small business owner and father of four. Learn these words from their story, as reported by acclaimed writer Dave Eggers.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. exacerbate
    make worse
    Zeitoun knew not to exacerbate the situation, and assumed that when they were interviewed by a superior, everything would be explained.
  2. smattering
    a small number or amount
    A smattering of other men in bulletproof vests, sunglasses, and black caps all looked up.
  3. malaise
    a feeling of mild sickness or depression
    Fronted by a lush lawn and palm trees, the Union Passenger Terminal had opened in 1954, an art deco-style building once aspiring to grandness but since overtaken by a certain grey municipal malaise.
  4. admonition
    a firm rebuke
    The soldiers around him stood closer, barking admonitions and threats back at him.
  5. askance
    directed to one side with doubt or suspicion or envy
    There were the occasional looks askance, of course, sneers from people upon hearing his accent.
  6. subjugation
    forced submission to control by others
    Now that he did, it was a startling thing, a dark catalog of subjugation and struggle.
  7. garish
    tastelessly showy
    He saw Ku Klux Klan hoods, skeletons, harlequins in garish colors, painted faces.
  8. derrick
    a framework erected over an oil well for drilling
    In one segment, oil derricks stood below a flooded landscape, water engulfing a city.
  9. abut
    lie adjacent to another or share a boundary
    The back of their cage nearly abutted the train tracks, and on the tracks directly behind them stood an Amtrak train engine.
  10. tenuous
    lacking substance or significance
    Nasser had had no luck explaining that legions of immigrants kept their money in cash, that trust in banks was tenuous.
  11. glib
    marked by lack of intellectual depth
    At best they got shrugs and glib answers.
  12. manifest
    reveal its presence or make an appearance
    With that help, the chaos that had brought him to this cage would be reined in and the misunderstanding manifested here would be mitigated.
  13. mitigate
    make less severe or harsh
    With that help, the chaos that had brought him to this cage would be reined in and the misunderstanding manifested here would be mitigated.
  14. aberration
    a state or condition markedly different from the norm
    Zeitoun convinced himself that the previous day had been an aberration, that today would bring a return to reason and procedure.
  15. requisition
    make a formal request for official services
    The toilets and floodlights and all other equipment would have had to be borrowed or requisitioned.
  16. disparaging
    expressive of low opinion
    He made disparaging remarks about the United States.
  17. ambivalence
    mixed feelings or emotions
    The ban on phone calls was, then, purely punitive, just as the pepper-spraying of the child-man had been born of a combination of opportunity, cruelty, ambivalence, and sport.
  18. depraved
    deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper
    But that he had to watch, helpless, knowing how depraved it was—this was punishment for the other prisoners, too.
  19. portly
    fairly large
    He was portly, with a kind face and a ducklike walk.
  20. reticent
    not inclined to talk or provide information
    Nasser, reticent by nature, withdrew almost completely.
  21. glean
    gather, as of natural products
    Todd would later insist that he had been a spy, a plant—meant to glean information from the Syrians in the cage.
  22. impiety
    unrighteousness by virtue of lacking respect for a god
    ...when the seas have been caused to overflow,
    when the souls have been mated,
    when the buried infant girl has been asked
    for what impiety she was slain,
    when the scrolls have been unfolded...
  23. cursory
    hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
    This time the guard issued a cursory shake of the head before peering around Zeitoun to see Nasser, who again was sitting on the bed.
  24. barrage
    the rapid and continuous delivery of communication
    He let loose a barrage of expletives and threats to the guard.
  25. expletive
    profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger
    He let loose a barrage of expletives and threats to the guard.
  26. behest
    an authoritative command or request
    He had, after all, come to New Orleans at the behest of his company.
  27. arraign
    call before a court to answer an indictment
    Zeitoun learned that most of those brought to Camp Greyhound had been arraigned in a more or less standard fashion.
  28. impart
    transmit, as knowledge or a skill
    He had one hope, which was to impart his name and innocence to every prisoner he might meet, so that in the event that one of them was someday released they might not only remember his name, but also bother to call Kathy or tell someone where he was.
  29. loath
    strongly opposed
    And though he was loath to make this leap, was it so improbable that he, like so many others, might be taken to an undisclosed location—to one of the secret prisons abroad?
  30. behoove
    be appropriate or necessary
    Would it not behoove the Department of Homeland Security to add a name to their roster of dangerous individuals?
  31. hubris
    overbearing pride or presumption
    How could he have been guilty of such hubris?
  32. preclude
    make impossible, especially beforehand
    There were political realities there, then and now, that precluded blind faith, that discouraged one from thinking that everything, always, would work out fairly and equitably.
  33. vainglorious
    feeling self-importance
    And was this imprisonment God’s way of curbing his pride, tempering his vainglorious dreams?
  34. limbo
    the state of being disregarded or forgotten
    Kathy told him it was in St. Gabriel, and that because the legal system was in limbo, it would be some time before they could even hope to get Abdulrahman out.
  35. trifle
    consider not very seriously
    A Syrian in an American prison in 2005—this was not to be trifled with.
  36. specious
    plausible but false
    Any connection, no matter how specious, might be used to justify his incarceration and extend it.
  37. docket
    the calendar of a court
    “Okay,” he said, “they finally have a system arranged, and we’ve got a court date. They want to clear the docket as much as we want him out of there. So gather as many people as you can to come to court and testify on his behalf. Character witnesses.”
  38. profuse
    produced or growing in extreme abundance
    But he was confident that between Zeitoun’s reputation, lack of any prior infractions, and this showing of character witnesses—a wide swath of upstanding New Orleanians—the judge would release Abdulrahman Zeitoun with profuse apologies.
  39. preempt
    take the place of or have precedence over
    Kathy preempted him. “We’re contractors,” she said. She gave the officer her business card. The officer took it back to the squad car.
  40. delineate
    represented accurately or precisely
    It wasn’t visible to her, but the guards had delineated an area within which the prisoners’ relatives were not allowed.
Created on Tue Apr 10 16:41:58 EDT 2018 (updated Wed Apr 11 11:42:28 EDT 2018)

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