Seedfolks: "Nora"–"Florence"

by Paul Fleischman
Author Paul Fleischman coined the term seedfolks to describe ordinary people whose lives are connected by a community garden.

This list covers "Nora"–"Florence."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3
15 words 3325 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. pram
    a baby carriage with four wheels
    Back in England you'd see mothers pushing infants in prams through winter gales.
  2. vegetate
    lead a passive existence without using one's body or mind
    I expect as well it was the sight of my own father, vegetating in his chair by the fire. We mustn't stop living before our time.
  3. uplifting
    cheerfully encouraging
    The view, I'll admit, is less than uplifting. Half the storefronts seem to be empty.
  4. oblige
    provide a service or favor for someone
    He wanted to stop. I obliged him at once.
  5. haphazard
    marked by great carelessness
    Some plots sported brick pathways and flower borders, while others looked haphazard.
  6. tragedy
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    Gardening boring? Never! It has suspense, tragedy, startling developments—a soap opera growing out of the ground.
  7. furrow
    make or become wrinkled or creased
    What a marvelous sight it was to behold Mr. Myles' furrowed black face inspecting his smooth-skinned young, just arrived in the world he'd shortly leave.
  8. solitary
    secluded; isolated or far from others
    Then our solitary status ended, as a result of a downpour. When the rain came that day, the other gardeners all ran in the same direction, as if in a fire drill.
  9. pantomime
    a performance using gestures and movements without words
    Pantomime was often required to get over language barriers.
  10. restrain
    keep under control; keep in check
    I looked at all the tourists, who'd no notion it existed, who thought they were seeing all of Cleveland, and restrained myself from pointing and shouting out, "The Gibb Street garden is there!"
  11. decorum
    propriety in manners and conduct
    Penny couldn't shut her up. Then another woman came over and gave us this long lecture about the word "decorum."
  12. crevice
    a long narrow opening
    Here you have a million crabs living in a million crevices.
  13. exploit
    a notable achievement
    He was trusted and liked—and famous, after his exploit with the pitchfork.
  14. arthritis
    inflammation of a joint or joints
    I would have been in on the garden for sure if it weren't for this arthritis in my hands.
  15. idle
    not in action or at work
    My grandmother's sampler, from when she was a girl, said "Be Not Solitary, Be Not Idle."
Created on Wed Jul 08 19:47:44 EDT 2015 (updated Fri Aug 08 15:03:27 EDT 2025)

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.