A Girl Named Disaster: Chapters 25–32

by Nancy Farmer
Eleven-year-old Nhamo flees from her abusive aunt's home in Mozambique and embarks on a dangerous journey to find her father in Zimbabwe.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–8, Chapters 9–16, Chapters 17–24, Chapters 25–32, Chapters 33–42
40 words 11 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. painstaking
    characterized by extreme care and great effort
    Slowly, painstakingly, Nhamo cut down the mukwa.
  2. devoid
    completely wanting or lacking
    Breezes ruffled its surface, and occasionally a tiger fish leaped after a low-flying dragonfly. Otherwise the lake was devoid of interest. Blue and endless, it lay between her and freedom.
  3. steadfast
    firm and dependable especially in loyalty
    From that time, the descendants of the younger brother were called the Tsunga, the Steadfast Ones, because he had honored the totem.
  4. scuttle
    move about or proceed hurriedly
    She jerked away, and a large black scorpion scuttled out of the hole.
  5. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    Nhamo had only a fleeting memory of how she got up.
  6. hapless
    unfortunate and deserving pity
    The warriors, their duty performed, followed the hapless servants to destruction.
  7. finery
    elaborate or showy attire and accessories
    She could see them like the inhabitants of a great city in their finery and gold.
  8. reconciled
    made compatible or consistent
    Princess Senwa and Prince Kakono danced apart, apparently still not reconciled with each other.
  9. subside
    sink to a lower level or form a depression
    The water had subsided and would probably disappear by the end of the dry season.
  10. mandible
    either of the mouthparts used by arthropods to bite food
    One of the termite soldiers had transferred its mandibles from the grass to her finger.
  11. smolder
    burn slowly and without a flame
    It smoldered and hissed—a thick smoke drifted over her platform—but it would burn slowly.
  12. stunted
    inferior in size or quality
    The plants were stunted anyhow, with few flowers and less fruit.
  13. muse
    reflect deeply on a subject
    “Now what shall I hunt?” she mused.
  14. carcass
    the dead body of an animal
    She got the panga and expertly prepared the carcass. Soon she had it roasting over the fire.
  15. sieve
    a strainer for separating lumps from powdered material
    She poked holes in a calabash and padded it with dry grass to make a sieve, because unfiltered mutsangidza ashes were slightly poisonous.
  16. residue
    matter that remains after something has been removed
    The juice that dripped through was collected in a pot and boiled until only a white residue was left. The result didn’t taste as good as salt, but it was better than nothing, and the same residue could be used to tenderize tough leaves or meat.
  17. enigmatic
    not clear to the understanding
    Anything's possible in the country of the njuzu, the boatman said enigmatically.
  18. earnestly
    in a sincere and serious manner
    After a while, the baboons fanned out and began digging earnestly in the soil.
  19. grub
    a soft thick wormlike larva of certain insects
    The baboons devoured beetles, grubs, maggots, grasshoppers, mice, and even scorpions.
  20. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    She felt her head ruefully. Tag was anything but gentle.
  21. salvage
    save from ruin, destruction, or harm
    She was reduced to eating the pumpkin leaves when every one of the new vegetables was devoured by beetles. Here and there she managed to salvage a tomato, a handful of okra, a stunted yam.
  22. billow
    rise and move, as in waves
    Clouds of smoke billowed up through gaps in the platform, adding flavor as well as preserving the meat.
  23. meager
    deficient in amount or quality or extent
    He spotted Nhamo and trotted up, fur bristling, to demand the meager bunch of blackjack leaves.
  24. supple
    moving and bending with ease
    They lengthened their supple bodies until they were thin enough to slither between the thorns.
  25. rift
    a narrow fissure in rock
    One of the snakes carried the wood to the hole in her fangs and the other butted it into place with her head. In a moment the rift was healed.
  26. subtly
    in a manner difficult to detect or grasp
    She was sitting by the mukwa log, trying to shape the outside of the boat, when it came to her that something had subtly changed about the forest.
  27. oppressive
    weighing heavily on the senses or spirit
    The sky remained as cloudless as ever, and the heat was even more oppressive than usual.
  28. foliage
    the collective amount of leaves of one or more plants
    During the dry season many of the forest trees lost their foliage.
  29. torrent
    a violently fast stream of water or other liquid
    Branch-cracking winds and thunder that shook the bowl of the sky would descend on the island, along with torrents of life-giving rain.
  30. ensconce
    fix firmly
    He managed to reach a low shelf, where he ensconced himself in a crack.
  31. rend
    tear or be torn violently
    From her earliest childhood that scream came, with a memory of flowing, spotted skin and rending claws, and later of Ambuya tearing out her hair when they brought Mother’s bones home from the forest.
  32. plume
    anything that resembles a feather in shape or lightness
    She saw plumes of smoke.
  33. caulk
    seal with a waterproof filler
    She pulled the craft onto sandbanks and poked as much caulking as she could into the cracks.
  34. waif
    a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned
    “She’s only a waif from the forest, Oppah,” snapped the old woman.
  35. imminent
    close in time; about to occur
    The clouds gathered overhead. Their bottoms were dark and lumpy, and Nhamo knew a violent storm was imminent.
  36. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    She picked it up gingerly and went on.
  37. clamor
    a loud, harsh, or strident noise
    Nhamo fled past more houses, where other dogs set up a clamor.
  38. intoxicating
    extremely exciting
    Suddenly, she was possessed by an intoxicating—and frightening—sense of power.
  39. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    “Whhhooo’s going to be my next meal?” she screamed, brandishing the panga.
  40. bemused
    deeply absorbed in thought
    She stood bemused until the pain in her head forced her on.
Created on Wed Aug 24 13:13:50 EDT 2022 (updated Fri Sep 23 12:47:20 EDT 2022)

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