There’s Something about Sweetie: Chapters 1–5

by Sandhya Menon
In this companion novel to When Dimple Met Rishi, Ashish Patel allows his parents to set him up on a series of dates with Sweetie Nair, an athlete who wants to prove to her traditional mother that she can be happy at any size.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–13, Chapters 14–20, Chapters 21–27, Chapter 28–Epilogue

Here are links to our lists for other works by Sandhya Menon: When Dimple Met Rishi; From Twinkle, with Love
40 words 295 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. debonair
    having a sophisticated charm
    He was debonair. He was brilliant.
  2. hiatus
    an interruption in the intensity or amount of something
    His mojo wasn’t gone, though. It was just...on hiatus. Kicking up its shoes on the table, snoozing. Taking a little trip to Hawaii or something.
  3. finesse
    subtly skillful handling of a situation
    Despite (or maybe because of) their shared lack of finesse in executing subterfuge, they became instant best friends in detention.
  4. subterfuge
    something intended to misrepresent the nature of an activity
    Despite (or maybe because of) their shared lack of finesse in executing subterfuge, they became instant best friends in detention.
  5. surreptitiously
    in a secretive manner
    Ashish adjusted his backpack and surreptitiously wiped his definitely damp palms on his shorts.
  6. sadistic
    deriving pleasure from inflicting pain on another
    Then, as if his mouth had been charmed by an evil, sadistic magician, he found himself adding, “Actually, no, I’m not. I got dumped three months ago..."
  7. jaunty
    having a cheerful, lively, and self-confident air
    “So apparently, I was wrong,” Ashish said to them, smiling jauntily for Dana’s benefit, just in case she was still looking at him.
  8. robust
    sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction
    She shimmied in the shower, her round, robust voice echoing across the tile like a symphony of clear bells, bouncing off the glinting silver faucet and showerhead.
  9. asinine
    devoid of intelligence
    There was a reason the local paper had called her the Piedmont Road Runner recently (but it had been a mistake to read the comments on the online article—those were full of people who couldn’t stop asking variants of the asinine question, How does she lug all of that around the track?)
  10. hovel
    small crude shelter used as a dwelling
    Sweetie laughed. “We’re not a hovel. But yeah, we’re definitely not the Ivy League incubator that Richmond is either.”
  11. stave off
    prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening
    Ashish had made a digital copy freshman year of the one legit pass he’d gotten to go off-campus, and he’d been printing it out and reusing it ever since. Updating their passes to stave off delinquents like Ash obviously wasn’t high on Richmond’s priority list.
  12. litany
    a prayer consisting of a series of invocations by the priest with responses from the congregation
    Ashish tried not to cringe away at the litany of questions about his health.
  13. belie
    be in contradiction with
    This was more information than he’d ever shared about his love life with her, but Ma’s outward appearance belied any internal screaming that might be going on.
  14. overbearing
    expecting unquestioning obedience
    As if that weren’t enough, he was completely smothered by his overbearing mother, whose only fear was that something bad would befall her only child.
  15. connoisseur
    an expert able to appreciate a field
    Samir was the kind of boy who’d share any old thought with his mom if he wasn’t prepped in advance. The guy had no filter. Whereas Ashish, now, he was a connoisseur of secrets.
  16. wistfully
    in a pensively sad manner
    “I think I’d like to play basketball on a school team,” Samir said sort of wistfully.
  17. apt
    naturally disposed toward
    They’d had this conversation many times. Ashish knew it wasn’t apt to suddenly change Samir’s mind, but he couldn’t help it.
  18. relentless
    never-ceasing
    If you don’t want to repel people more than you already do with your relentless body odor, you should probably do something about that.
  19. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    Amma brandished her spatula at Sweetie, and sighing, Sweetie made her way out into the yard.
  20. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    She was adamant that Sweetie would magically gain happiness when she lost weight.
  21. requisite
    necessary for relief or supply
    After the requisite ten laps, Sweetie came in and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl.
  22. perpetuate
    cause to continue or prevail
    How this entire freaking “We’re afraid for your health” angle was perpetuated by a society too afraid and too shallow to recognize a person’s worth in any other way besides their dress size but too “polite” to always say it in those words.
  23. pretext
    a fictitious reason that conceals the real reason
    Amma and a few of her Indian auntie friends all had booths for various things, and while the pretext was that it was good for a bit of pocket money, it was really more of a social networking (aka gossiping) opportunity for them all.
  24. kameez
    a long tunic worn by people from South Asia
    “You can wear this for your birthday party, mol.” It was a voluminous, somewhat shapeless salwar kameez made of thick silver brocade fabric.
  25. brocade
    thick expensive material with a raised pattern
    It was a voluminous, somewhat shapeless salwar kameez made of thick silver brocade fabric.
  26. unconscionable
    lacking a sense of right conduct
    “Um, it’s where beavers live? Not to mention all the other wildlife they’re totally gonna murder just to build another playground or whatever. It’s unconscionable.”
  27. disaffected
    discontented as toward authority
    “So what are you disaffected youth up to today?” Pinky said.
  28. pique
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    Samir was the one who thought I should ask you and Pappa for advice, and then I did it out of pique, and now...
  29. transpire
    come about, happen, or occur
    Tina and Sheena (ew, even saying their rhyming names in her head annoyed Sweetie) would’ve totally relished the moment that had just transpired.
  30. swathe
    wrap in or as if in strips of cloth
    Sweetie glanced at her, but Amma was busy rearranging the boxes, her small frame swathed in a bright-blue salwar kameez.
  31. fraught
    marked by distress
    Eating was so fraught when you were fat. If you ate something unhealthy, thin people would say it was no wonder you were fat. But if you ate something healthy, they’d roll their eyes, laugh, and say, “Yeah, right.”
  32. opulent
    rich and superior in quality
    Taj was just as opulent and pretentious as Sweetie was expecting, but it was still really fun to be in an environment like this one, so different from anywhere she usually went.
  33. iridescent
    varying in color when seen in different lights
    There were models roaming around—beautiful, pin-thin people with peacocks on delicate leashes, iridescent feathers trailing behind them.
  34. overzealous
    marked by excessive enthusiasm for a cause or idea
    “I think Vidya was about to tell us something,” she said, and she sounded so much like a teacher telling off an overzealous kindergartner with no manners that Sweetie almost choked on her water.
  35. snide
    expressive of contempt
    “But of course, one has to have the body for it, no?” Smiling snidely, she took a sip of her water.
  36. proxy
    a person authorized to act for another
    Here it was, the beginning of Tina auntie’s efforts to show, once again, how amazing she and her offspring were and how damaged Sweetie—and by proxy, Amma—was.
  37. gusto
    vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment
    The waitress arrived with their food, and Sweetie dug in with gusto.
  38. rictus
    a gaping grimace
    Amma kept smiling that rictus fake smile as she and Sweetie got up and made their way outside, leaving a somber-looking Sunita auntie behind.
  39. disdain
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    At first it had just been disdain and mockery because of her weight.
  40. platonic
    free from physical desire
    And then, as she beat record after record, it was respect. Platonic respect. The kind of platonic respect that made them laugh when anyone even suggested that they might take her to the prom, as Izzy had suggested to Brett Perkins once.
Created on Wed Jun 26 18:26:05 EDT 2019 (updated Wed Jul 03 09:31:04 EDT 2019)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.