In the Wild Light: Chapters 9–22

by Jeff Zentner
Cash and Delaney's friendship is tested when they get the chance to leave their working-class community to study at an elite prep school.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–8, Chapters 9–22, Chapters 23–34, Chapters 35–48, Chapter 49–Epilogue
35 words 21 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. till
    a strongbox for holding cash
    I cannot just give you money from the till.
  2. respective
    considered individually
    Yolanda instructs him to go on and leave our luggage at the front desks of our respective dorms.
  3. ardent
    characterized by intense emotion
    In the dim of the porch light, I see his eyes, ardent with furious love.
  4. stately
    impressive in appearance
    We pull up in front of a stately stone building with an Administration sign on the lawn out front.
  5. tumult
    violent agitation
    A roiling tumult of hatred and fury overcomes me, and a fog of black-and-gray static envelops my brain.
  6. discreet
    not easily noticeable
    She smiles serenely as behind her, those who bother to notice point discreetly and whisper at her craft.
  7. condescend
    behave in a patronizing manner
    “Don't interrupt me. It makes you look like someone who's willing to ride my coattails and take something you didn't earn. That what you want?”
    “You're tired.”
    “Condescend to me again.”
  8. contemptuous
    expressing extreme scorn
    I’m not sure how to respond to this statement, which Tripp delivered with a faint smirk and an unmistakably contemptuous tone—one that suggested that if I’d had trouble speaking English, I’d be in for a long school year.
  9. feign
    make believe with the intent to deceive
    If Tripp is trying to feign interest in my life, he's doing a terrible job.
  10. ruddy
    inclined to a healthy reddish color
    A squat, ruddy middle-aged man wearing a cabbie hat and a navy blazer with too-long sleeves hops out with a grunt.
  11. extricate
    release from entanglement or difficulty
    When the time comes, I gently extricate myself from her grip—firm even in slumber, like she’s afraid she’ll get swept off by floodwaters if she lets go—and carry her bird-bone weight to the cab of my truck, buckling her in.
  12. wan
    lacking vitality as from weariness or illness or unhappiness
    She summons a wan smile.
  13. pensive
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    She unwraps another candy cane and gnaws the end pensively. “I’ve started to think about my future for the first time.”
  14. apprehensive
    mentally upset over possible misfortune or danger
    The more I see of Middleford, the more apprehensive I’m getting, feeling like I’m in over my head.
  15. reproachful
    expressing disapproval, blame, or disappointment
    “You don't think it's funny?"
    He gives me a reproachful look. “Why would I?"
  16. foreboding
    a feeling of evil to come
    A dense, coarse blanket of fatigue drapes itself over me, and without the excitement and elation of the early journey to fight it off, a fog of fear and melancholy begins to creep in, a deep sense of foreboding and regret.
  17. admonition
    cautionary advice about something imminent
    I almost say, Something easy, but I remember Papaw's admonition.
  18. hallowed
    worthy of religious veneration
    But then he turns and asks me quietly if I'll scatter his ashes on the river when he's gone, as we did with my mama, and I know that this is the second-to-last time I'll ever be in this hallowed place with him.
  19. unduly
    to an unnecessary degree
    He's duly horrified and she's unduly delighted.
  20. contemplative
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    Delaney grows contemplative.
  21. incandescent
    emitting light as a result of being heated
    My belly is an incandescent crucible of molten iron.
  22. dapple
    color with streaks or blotches of different shades
    I got it cut last week, and I marveled at how much summer-bleached smoky-blond hair dappled the floor by the end.
  23. abut
    lie adjacent to another or share a boundary
    At the foot of it, an unassuming desk and chair abut the wall.
  24. mull
    reflect deeply on a subject
    Yolanda mulls the question.
  25. careen
    move at high speed and in an uncontrolled way
    She arrives back at our table and sits, sliding my ice cream across the surface like an old-timey bartender. I catch it before it careens off the edge.
  26. lilt
    a jaunty rhythm in music or speech
    She says it with the unsteady lilt of a question.
  27. verve
    an energetic style
    We walk aimlessly, trying to project verve and mimic the air of belonging our future classmates give off.
  28. olfactory
    of or relating to the sense of smell
    Delaney told me about something called olfactory fatigue, which is when you just stop detecting scents that are around you every day.
  29. phosphorescence
    the emission of light without heat
    We sit for a while without speaking, taking in the man-made firefly phosphorescence beneath us.
  30. precariously
    in a manner affording no ease or reassurance
    Papaw and I hug her tight from each side for several moments while she cradles her burned face in both hands, one arm of her bifocals clenched precariously between two fingers.
  31. renege
    fail to fulfill a promise or obligation
    Delaney gives me a look defying me to renege on our new agreement.
  32. puckish
    naughtily or annoyingly playful
    “Give them something to talk about,” she says with a puckish gleam.
  33. spartan
    marked by simplicity, frugality, or self-denial
    To my left is a bare-bones twin-sized bed and a spartan mattress.
  34. collegial
    having authority vested equally among colleagues
    "It’s competitive. You can’t put this many overachievers in one place and avoid it. But we strive for a collegial and collaborative atmosphere.”
  35. standoffish
    lacking cordiality; unfriendly
    I'm not supposed to be lying on a bare mattress in this little room, in this unfamiliar place, with a standoffish stranger—one I now live with.
Created on Thu Mar 10 10:07:53 EST 2022 (updated Fri Mar 18 10:53:20 EDT 2022)

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