When the Moon Was Ours: List 1

by Anna-Marie McLemore
Best friends Miel and Sam must protect each other when four powerful sisters try to harness Miel's magical abilities.

This list covers "Sea of Clouds"–"Sea of Islands."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
35 words 125 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. bound
    move forward by leaping
    Moon knew to keep his steps and his voice gentle, so he would not startle the rabbits, but would stir them to bound back toward their burrows.
  2. feral
    wild and menacing
    Everyone drew back, expecting her to bite him or to slash her fingernails across his face. But she looked at him, and listened to him, his words stripping the feral look out of her eyes.
  3. distillation
    the purest and most concentrated essence of something
    This would be the story, a neat distillation of what had happened. It would weed out all the things that did not fit.
  4. saffron
    aromatic dried stigmas of a crocus flower, used as flavoring
    Their fields of crocuses. Their quick, delicate work of picking the saffron threads from the center of those purple flowers.
  5. wisp
    a thin tuft, piece, or amount of something
    A craft that started as finding wisps of red among violet petals, and that, through years and generations, became the skill of finding, easily and without hesitation, what he was looking for.
  6. mar
    cause to become imperfect
    The one thing that marred it all, that made it anything shy of perfect, was the Bonner sisters.
  7. gradient
    a graded change in the magnitude of something
    One stray thought, and those threads of saffron turned to the red of their braids and curls. Just that single, unwanted thought, and the gradient of their hair swirled through Miel like fall leaves.
  8. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    Now the Bonner sisters were older, and beautiful, their eyes a fierce and fearless kind of open. Together, they were as imposing as an unmapped forest.
  9. chrysalis
    pupa of a moth or butterfly enclosed in a cocoon
    Some said they had hidden, in the woods, a stained glass coffin that acted like a chrysalis, turning each girl who slept in it as beautiful as every Bonner girl before her.
  10. iridescent
    varying in color when seen in different lights
    And when, early that autumn, they all flitted away, there was Aracely, this strange, tall young woman with skin like those iridescent wings.
  11. blight
    any plant disease resulting in withering without rotting
    During the day, they whispered that she was a witch, or blamed her for the powdery blight bleaching out an orchard's harvest, or held her responsible for the storm that might rain out that year's lighting of the pumpkin lanterns.
  12. inconsistency
    the quality of lacking a harmonious uniformity among parts
    They gave her the same inconsistency they might give a lover, adoration at night, disavowal in the morning.
  13. disavowal
    denial of any connection with or knowledge of
    They gave her the same inconsistency they might give a lover, adoration at night, disavowal in the morning.
  14. scorn
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    How indebted they were to her meant they offered her either scorn or respect, depending on the time of day and how many people were watching.
  15. flush
    turn red, as if in embarrassment or shame
    Aracely poured coffee into heavy mugs, and Miel flushed and looked down.
  16. trill
    a note that alternates with another note a semitone above it
    "She's back,'' Aracely said. She half-sang the words, drawing out each syllable until it was almost a trill.
  17. stricken
    grievously affected especially by disease
    It was what made her so good at curing lovesickness. Less skilled curanderas left their patients stricken with susto, a fright so deep they wandered the woods startled and blind.
  18. wary
    marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    But even Aracely was wary of the fire-haired girls.
  19. auburn
    (of hair) colored a moderate reddish-brown
    But he'd lost that look to Lian Bonner, to her hair that was so dark red it was almost auburn, to the bursts of freckles fanning her temples like wings.
  20. jostle
    come into rough contact with while moving
    How, if a moon was fragile, he carried a wooden ladder from his mother's shed and leaned it against the trunk, so he wouldn't jostle the moon as he climbed.
  21. defiance
    intentionally contemptuous behavior or attitude
    But even the defiance in how she whipped her braid through the air couldn't hide the way she held herself a little differently.
  22. intrigue
    cause to be interested or curious
    Together, they were similar enough to dazzle half the boys in this town, different enough that they'd intrigue Sam.
  23. incline
    bend or turn towards a speaker in order to listen well
    But she could make out their posture, the girl's inclining forward.
  24. obscure
    make unclear or less visible
    From where Miel stood, a tree branch obscured the girl's face, but the moon lit her hair enough to show the color.
  25. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    She'd seen it, when girls had tried flirting with Sam, who seemed as oblivious as he was indifferent.
  26. indifferent
    marked by a lack of interest
    She'd seen it, when girls had tried flirting with Sam, who seemed as oblivious as he was indifferent.
  27. reticent
    cool and formal in manner
    Some said her roses could turn the hearts of those who had no desire. Others insisted their perfume, the soft brush of their petals, was enough to enchant the reticent, the frightened, the guarded.
  28. poise
    cause to be balanced or suspended
    She poised the scissors low, close to her skin, and snapped the blades shut.
  29. refract
    subject to change in direction of a propagating wave
    The moon refracted into a dozen sickles.
  30. rosary
    a series of prayers counted using a string of beads
    Even with as little as Miel remembered, she remembered the whispers about how children with roses growing from their skin would poison their own brothers, or steal the rings and rosaries from their family's graves.
  31. stifled
    held in check or kept back with difficulty
    It broke into small, stifled cries.
  32. agnostic
    of or pertaining to a religious orientation of doubt
    Agnostic, indifferent to the faiths of both her father's family and her mother's, she had barely tolerated Sam going along with Miel and Aracely to church and Sunday school.
  33. disdain
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    She allowed it only because she thought things would be easier for him if this town thought he was a good Christian boy, a phrase she never said without disdain edging her words.
  34. pallor
    an unnatural lack of color in the skin
    Sometimes she said things like that, and he could almost see the pallor of frost on her words. It's not my place to be disappointed, she'd said when he was failing math three years ago. It's your future, not mine.
  35. hinder
    prevent the progress or accomplishment of
    And maybe their lives as wives and mothers at first felt cramped, narrow after the wide, cleared roads of being boys. But whatever freedom they missed was not because they wanted to be boys again. It was because they wanted to be both women and unhindered.
Created on Wed Sep 29 10:06:23 EDT 2021 (updated Mon Oct 04 13:43:52 EDT 2021)

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