Ground Zero: List 2

by Alan Gratz
A teen in New York City fights for his life during the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, while on September 11, 2019, a teen in Afghanistan gets caught up in war.

This list covers "A Hole in the World"–"Moving Forward."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3
35 words 652 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. flail
    thrash about
    Over the ledge he would go, and then that terrible, awful sinking feeling as he fell backward, arms flailing, legs churning.
  2. scrabble
    grope, scratch, or feel searchingly
    He cried out, an indistinguishable gurgle of fear and despair, and he scrabbled at the damp carpet, desperate not to fall.
  3. cower
    crouch or curl up
    She dove behind a rock and cowered as the landslide rumbled by, pelting her with dirt and bouncing stones.
  4. corrugated
    shaped into alternating parallel grooves and ridges
    Reshmina heard the Taliban firing back, their Soviet-era rifles clanging like metal poles on a corrugated roof.
  5. raspy
    unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
    “Mr. Chen!” he called, his voice raspy from the smoke.
  6. roil
    make turbid by stirring up the sediments of
    They were both huffing too much from the effort and from the thick smoke roiling in the air.
  7. debris
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    The door to the 92nd floor was bent too, and behind it Brandon could see another mountain of debris.
  8. backfire
    return with an undesired effect
    The Americans had shut most of these logging camps down, convinced the money made there was being used to buy weapons for the Taliban. But the move had backfired, in a way: When the loggers were put out of work, many of them traded their chain saws for rifles and joined the very same insurgents the Americans were trying to stop.
  9. pendant
    an adornment that hangs from a piece of jewelry
    Most of the women wore tunics and pants like Reshmina, but a few wore dresses with full skirts and wide sleeves, decorated with metallic laces and pendants and amulets.
  10. swaddle
    wrap very tightly in cloth, as a baby
    The mother cradled something under her shawl, and Reshmina was surprised to see a tiny baby, wrapped up so tightly in swaddling clothes that it couldn’t move anything but its little mouth.
  11. seethe
    be in an agitated emotional state
    Reshmina seethed. Her brother could be so stupid sometimes.
  12. tentatively
    in a hesitant manner
    Brandon and Richard came out of the stairwell cautiously, tentatively, scanning the 91st floor.
  13. iridescent
    varying in color when seen in different lights
    An eerie, iridescent blue haze shimmered down like a curtain between the open doors and the elevator car, blocking the way in and out.
  14. resolute
    firm in purpose or belief
    He sounded calmer now. More resolute. As though arguing with Reshmina had talked him into joining the Taliban, not out of it.
  15. procession
    the action of a group moving ahead in regular formation
    It was tradition to escort the bride-to-be to the house of her new family, where the wedding would take place, and the procession was always a party.
  16. register
    enter into someone's consciousness
    The happy gunshots of the wedding procession had registered as an attack on an American airplane flying so high up that none of them had even seen it or heard it.
  17. override
    prevail or be more important than
    He kicked a rock in Reshmina’s direction, a little of the old anger overriding his sadness, and then he turned and walked away.
  18. inhospitable
    unfavorable to life or growth
    The only cedars left survived in the most inhospitable mountains, places where even armies feared to go.
  19. sliver
    (figurative) a small or narrow piece or slice
    She waited for her eyes to adjust, but it was too dark. There was only a sliver of light from the entrance to orient herself.
  20. orient
    determine one's position with reference to another point
    There was only a sliver of light from the entrance to orient herself.
  21. doggedly
    with obstinate determination
    Why did he have to follow so doggedly in the footsteps of all the other boys who had left home for the Taliban before him?
  22. squabble
    argue over petty things
    Reshmina and her twin brother had played rough since they were babies, pushing and poking and yanking at each other whenever they squabbled.
  23. waver
    be unsure or weak
    Pasoon’s voice wavered as he answered.
  24. desolate
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    She’d been running since she left her brother behind, taking shortcuts up and down rocky, desolate hills.
  25. imam
    the person who leads prayers in a mosque
    According to their imam, the prayer leader in their mosque, God promised to answer a du’a in one of three ways.
  26. bottleneck
    a narrowing that reduces the flow through a channel
    Everyone seemed to have gotten the message to get out as quickly as they could, and the stairwells were a bottleneck of desperate, frightened people.
  27. labored
    requiring or showing effort
    The back and armpits of his shirt were covered in sweat, and his face was pale and his breathing labored.
  28. plaintively
    in a manner expressing sorrow
    Across the room, a phone rang plaintively, no one there to answer it.
  29. blubber
    cry or whine with snuffling
    Brandon could only blubber.
  30. gangly
    tall, thin, and awkward
    He was gangly and thin, with a wisp of beard on his chin.
  31. wisp
    a thin tuft, piece, or amount of something
    He was gangly and thin, with a wisp of beard on his chin.
  32. inaccessible
    capable of being reached with great difficulty or not at all
    It was incredibly rare to see a snow leopard. It felt almost magical to come face-to-face with one here, now, in this remote, inaccessible place.
  33. bound
    the line indicating the limit or extent of something
    As though they were two creatures who lived outside the bounds of society, beyond the reach of the rest of the world.
  34. instinctive
    unthinking
    Reshmina instinctively looked over her shoulder, toward the sound.
  35. idyllic
    excellent and delightful in all respects
    And the Kochi—Reshmina had longed for their fairytale life, riding camels through mountain passes and trading food and stories around the campfires of a hundred different villages and towns. But as idyllic as that sounded, Reshmina didn’t want to be a Kochi either.
Created on Mon Apr 12 10:57:46 EDT 2021 (updated Tue Apr 13 15:51:28 EDT 2021)

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