The Marrow Thieves: List 2

by Cherie Dimaline
In this dystopian novel, indigenous people of North America are hunted by sinister Recruiters who hope to harvest the bone marrow that allows them to dream.

This list covers Magic Words–The Four Winds.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
35 words 754 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. dissent
    express opposition through action or words
    We were used to her outbursts during Story; in fact, she became part of Story, the dissenting voice to the way things are, the rebel waiting for the fight to be brought.
  2. bravado
    a swaggering show of courage
    We were lucky; we had Miig to learn from instead of Minerva to babysit. We clamored out of the camp, all elbows and bravado, feeling our superiority, owning our luck.
  3. disdain
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    I watched my feet navigate the tripwires we’d set up yesterday and avoided her disdain.
  4. peal
    a deep prolonged sound
    Miig’s response brought fresh peals of laughter, including my own.
  5. warble
    sing by changing register; sing by yodeling
    We sang it around and around in our warbling voices somewhere between youth and where they would settle, like bees around a single flower.
  6. cadence
    a recurrent rhythmical series
    He kept cadence and didn’t answer for a full minute. “Birds are too quiet.”
  7. commiserate
    feel or express sympathy or compassion
    I commiserated, glad to have something to talk about, glad that she leaned into me to do so.
  8. juxtaposition
    the act of positioning close together
    It made my lungs feel heavy, my heart grow light, until the juxtaposition of the two phased into sleep.
  9. patter
    rain gently
    I could see my breath and hear the near constant rain pattering on the vinyl walls.
  10. stilted
    artificially formal or stiff
    Something about their movements, choppy and stilted, made me feel awkward.
  11. wry
    humorously sarcastic or mocking
    Instead she gave me a wry look, then started braiding up her hair as she watched Chi-Boy work.
  12. striate
    marked with stripes
    After a hasty breakfast of mush, the Hunters were off, eager to take advantage of the halt in the rain and the appearance of sliced sunlight through the striated clouds.
  13. synchronicity
    the relation that exists when things occur at the same time
    I walked southeast, careful to pace my steps so that I was moving neither too fast nor too slow to keep the group synchronicity that would make it easier to track anyone who didn’t return on time.
  14. deluge
    a heavy rain
    The earth barely had a chance to absorb the rainwater before the next deluge.
  15. gait
    a person's manner of walking
    I concentrated on my gait, marking the changes in direction, following nothing but the way my feet seemed to divine.
  16. prone
    lying face downward
    Insects with wings pirouetted somewhere above my prone head.
  17. contort
    twist and press out of shape
    In this new space, I had time to aim squarely between the moose's eyes, watching his muscles contort and his skin wrinkle as he bent to take another mouthful of grass.
  18. sinew
    a band of tissue connecting a muscle to its bony attachment
    He exhaled, long and loud like the wind. This was food for a week. Hide and sinew to stitch together for tarps, blankets, ponchos. This was bone for pegs and chisels.
  19. robust
    sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction
    We enjoyed this new cadence, taking the time to help Chi-Boy gather sticks for arrows, playing in the clearings dotted with strangely robust flowers new to the territory.
  20. gruff
    blunt and unfriendly or stern
    Chi-Boy got uncharacteristically gruff.
  21. nonchalant
    marked by casual unconcern or indifference
    "We’re good.” I wanted it to sound more confident, bigger, with more nonchalant swagger.
  22. smother
    conceal or hide
    He walked his way down about eight feet and then dropped the rest of the way with just the smothered crunch of gravel to mark his arrival.
  23. bilious
    irritable as if suffering from indigestion
    There was that electricity again, except this time the hornets had bilious wings because they swarmed, with texture and speed, from my heart down to my groin.
  24. atrophy
    any weakening or degeneration
    The gates popped open with a metallic screech and we slipped through the small gap rust and atrophy would allow.
  25. jut
    something that bulges out or projects from its surroundings
    From the outside it looked like an oversized cottage, all wood and peaks and log pillars holding up odd angles and juts.
  26. dignitary
    an important or influential person
    Still, there were stars, and we passed down the hall two by two, like visiting dignitaries underneath them.
  27. dilapidated
    in a state of decay, ruin, or deterioration
    We took in the room, quickly at first to scan for danger, and then with more care to see everything we could in this space that was not forest or dilapidated barn.
  28. docile
    easily handled or managed
    It was a mass of vines and blooms that twisted sinisterly in the flame but sat, docile and domestic, in the moonlight.
  29. slink
    move or walk stealthily
    I slunk back to my room.
  30. extravagance
    the quality of exceeding appropriate limits
    I knew it was an extravagance I would regret later when we didn’t have any more portable light, but I enjoyed the way it flickered and jumped in the small breezes from the crumbling window panes, jumping against the walls and ceiling so that I remembered there were walls and ceilings around me once more.
  31. lineage
    inherited properties shared with others of your bloodline
    My mom barely cleared five feet. My dad, well, he came from a less challenged lineage.
  32. amalgamate
    bring or combine together or with something else
    My mom said her family came from the White River reserve before it was amalgamated into the wider Kenora band and then moved.
  33. precedent
    an example that is used to justify similar occurrences
    I guess with no precedent to go by, she wouldn’t really understand the concept of knocking.
  34. adjoin
    lie next to another or share a boundary
    The memory of Rose punched me in the gut, and I stepped over Chi-Boy and Wab to the adjoining bathroom to empty my bladder and catch my breath.
  35. secrete
    conceal or place out of sight
    He’d found it in one of the storage rooms in the back and secreted it out to his bags under the folds of his grey sweater. I pretended to not notice.
Created on Fri Dec 28 21:51:15 EST 2018 (updated Wed Jan 09 16:42:09 EST 2019)

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