Saints and Misfits: List 2

by S.K. Ali
Sophomore Janna Yusuf must navigate faith, family, and a complicated crush, all while struggling with a devastating secret.

This list covers pages 56–125 in the 2017 Simon and Schuster edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
35 words 6 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. deliberation
    careful consideration
    Even though Fizz and her sisters are up at the front (upon orders of their mom), I stay at the back of the cafeteria, far from the makeshift stage, where team-member-selection deliberations are going on.
  2. peripheral
    on or near an edge or constituting an outer boundary
    I’m sitting on my own, scrolling through my new phone, adding numbers, when someone moves into my peripheral vision.
  3. avail
    a means of serving
    I need to actively ignore him.
    I deploy my intrigued-at-the-spot-behind-the-emcee’s-head trick, but it’s to no avail.
  4. inertia
    a disposition to remain inactive
    I lumber up there, my legs feeling jointless, hatred for Farooq nearly crippling me with inertia.
  5. convene
    meet formally
    We convene in the kitchen to talk “strategy” for the remaining ten minutes before we face the two teams from the other mosques.
  6. modus operandi
    an unvarying or habitual method or procedure
    He isn’t moving, but standing at an angle where I can see him. His modus operandi at public events. He wants to break me.
  7. beau
    a man with whom one has a romantic relationship
    He smiles at Saint Sarah as if he’s expecting her to say, Aw shucks, beau. What a piece of heaven you are.
  8. divvy
    separate into parts or portions
    A stash of candy is spread around me on the bed. Auntie Fatima was right: Goodies rock, especially because the winning team got to divvy up and take the leftovers home.
  9. intoxicating
    extremely exciting
    But the feeling of possibility is intoxicating. Jeremy and Janna even sounds good together.
  10. scrutinize
    look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail
    I put the phone down and realize, by the intense way Muhammad is scrutinizing me, that I have the remains of a dreamy smile on my face.
  11. livelihood
    the financial means whereby one supports oneself
    “Yes? May I help you?” I say, my mouth newly unstuck from peanut butter cement. “Don’t you have a livelihood to pursue or something?”
  12. philosophical
    meeting trouble with level-headed detachment
    “No problem,” he says, missing my sarcasm as usual or ignoring it in that philosophical way of his. “It’s the least I can do when you’re doing so much for me tonight!”
  13. invariably
    without change, in every case
    Fizz is prone to remedying me and would invariably seek the answer to my “problem.”
  14. lurch
    move abruptly
    The bus lurches away from a stop. I still the camera around my neck and shrug at Fizz.
  15. strew
    spread by scattering
    The lawn is strewn with tables laden with wares because the open house is really one big superbazaar, a suburban souk, with haggling thrown in for authenticity.
  16. laden
    filled with a great quantity
    The lawn is strewn with tables laden with wares because the open house is really one big superbazaar, a suburban souk, with haggling thrown in for authenticity.
  17. bazaar
    a street of small shops, especially in the Middle East
    The lawn is strewn with tables laden with wares because the open house is really one big superbazaar, a suburban souk, with haggling thrown in for authenticity.
  18. malleable
    capable of being shaped or bent
    She made the decorated pins herself, melting and molding malleable plastic into interesting shapes, seated at a picnic table in her backyard a few weekends ago.
  19. trinket
    a small cheap ornament, knickknack, or piece of jewelry
    I was there trying to convince her to go wildly corporate, while packaging the trinkets for her.
  20. flak
    intense adverse criticism
    He immediately turns to everyone around him and says, “This is my niece, you know! Janna, my sister’s daughter.”
    He always does that to make sure he gets no flak for hugging me, a female.
  21. sheer
    so thin as to transmit light
    He holds up a sheer skirt with gold coins hanging off the waist, with even spaces between them.
  22. fez
    a felt cap for a man
    He opens it to reveal flattened caps arranged in neat rows. He takes one out and pulls it open. It’s a red fez, high and tapered at the top with a hanging tassel.
  23. precariously
    in a manner affording no ease or reassurance
    Nuah poses for Muhammad, his hands resting on the hilt, sword pointing down, the fez sitting precariously on his hair.
  24. incredulous
    not disposed or willing to believe; unbelieving
    “So you memorized a book, but you don’t know what it says?” Mr. Khoury sounds incredulous. “A book you say God sent?”
  25. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    A weird, completely alien feeling suddenly pierces my heart for a brief, fleeting moment.
  26. surreptitious
    marked by quiet and caution and secrecy
    “Why? You can’t only eat breadsticks,” Saint Sarah says, glancing at me, then at Muhammad as she notices my “surreptitious” peeks at my brother.
  27. rejoinder
    a quick reply to a question or remark
    His eyes narrow. He’s getting it and will soon gather the forces of his puny yet searing rejoinders, so I stand.
  28. flourish
    a showy gesture
    Muhammad stands up, pulls out my chair for me with a flourish and then Saint Sarah’s before sitting down with a smile.
  29. echelon
    level of authority in a hierarchy
    She travels in the upper echelons of Fenway High, and getting a hi from up there is good enough.
  30. woe
    misery resulting from affliction
    I talk about the woes of living at Fairchild Towers for the rest of lunch period with Tats acting out the more colorful neighbors.
  31. paraphernalia
    equipment consisting of miscellaneous articles
    It’s apparent we’re the only ones who hang out there just to talk, judging by the paraphernalia cluttered around the place.
  32. prod
    urge on; cause to act
    “Maybe he’ll like you more, the more he hears about you secondhand. It’s worked for others,” I say, thinking again of Muhammad and his weird claim that my talking about Saint Sarah had prodded him into falling for her.
  33. meander
    move or cause to move in a winding or curving course
    I stay quiet because I’m about to explode. Either from the agony of waiting as Tats meanders through her story, the agony of finding out that it had something to do with Farooq, or the agony of carrying around so much potential happiness.
  34. quaint
    attractively old-fashioned
    After school I head to the kitchen and pour cold chocolate milk into the quaint old teacup with roses that Teta, my maternal grandma, presented to me last Eid.
  35. depravity
    moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles
    When Mom wakes me up for evening prayers, I’m clutching an old Franklin Covey agenda, one that contains a series of arguments to prove Caliban’s depravity.
Created on Fri Mar 01 20:07:09 EST 2019 (updated Thu Mar 14 11:32:44 EDT 2019)

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