Beauty Queens: Chapter 30–Epilogue

by Libba Bray
When their plane crashes on a desert island, the fifty contestants of the Miss Teen Dream Pageant learn what it takes to survive the toughest challenge. Learn these words from Libba Bray's hilarious social satire.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 9, Chapters 10–17, Chapters 18–29, Chapter 30–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. revenue
    the entire amount of income before any deductions are made
    He sort of lost some revenue. The Corporation posted second, third, and fourth quarter losses totaling around forty billion?
  2. severance
    the act of cutting
    My mom was one of those forty percent of workers laid off. She got one week of severance, and it definitely wasn’t twenty million.
  3. submerged
    beneath the surface of the water
    She pointed to the piranha tank. The hook that had held Mary Lou and Tane was completely submerged.
  4. ravenous
    extremely hungry
    A ravenous piranha surfaced briefly to eat several floating sequins.
  5. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    Her hair was disheveled and her face was flushed.
  6. unassailable
    impossible to attack
    Taylor looked around as if she were seeing everything for the first time: the arsenal, the unassailable wall of green, the volcano stretching up from the land like an angry fist of rock.
  7. wreak
    cause to happen or to occur as a consequence
    The humidity had wreaked havoc on her hair, which was a tangle of greasy blond.
  8. mogul
    a very wealthy or powerful businessperson
    The yacht, a sleek luxury model favored by rappers, movie stars, and moguls, powered toward the small island.
  9. monstrosity
    something hideous or frightful
    If Adina did die, she hoped to God it wouldn’t be in this tulle-and-lace monstrosity.
  10. juggernaut
    a massive inexorable force
    “But the deck is really stacked against us. You really think we can win against all of that?” Miss Montana swept her arm toward the juggernaut on the beach.
  11. clamor
    a loud, harsh, or strident noise
    The jungle insects tuned their constant hum to a high-pitched clamor.
  12. teeming
    abundantly filled with especially living things
    And across the great land, from the glistening malls on the prairies to the department stores in the teeming cities to those small, cracker-box houses that can barely contain the bottled-up dreams and discontent of those who must be more, the televisions flicker, bathing the watchers in its seductive blue-gray glow.
  13. cacophony
    loud confusing disagreeable sounds
    Before them, the audience of Corporation employees clapped and cheered. Behind them, the jungle answered with its own cacophony.
  14. iridescent
    varying in color when seen in different lights
    She wore an emerald green gown with iridescent seashells sewn around the waist and hem.
  15. exploit
    use or manipulate to one's advantage
    What you may not know is that many big corporations exploit female workers.
  16. ensemble
    a coordinated outfit (set of clothing)
    “Love the ensemble, Petra. Did you put that together yourself?”
  17. opulent
    rich and superior in quality
    She took the stairs two at a time to the lower deck and raced through the opulent yacht, marveling at its wonders.
  18. reverberate
    ring or echo with sound
    The trees reverberated with the joyful cry of a Hindi love song from Shanti’s Greatest Bollywood Hits CD.
  19. elicit
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    Jennifer “exploded” and rolled offstage while Sosie blew on the jar as if it were a gun — eliciting chuckles again — and placed the jar in the sand at the end of the runway.
  20. scuttle
    move about or proceed hurriedly
    Jen jerked her head toward the jungle and the two of them scuttled into the cover of leaves.
  21. misshapen
    so badly formed or distorted as to be ugly
    No, Miss Miss had come to compete in a slinky pink evening gown that stretched across her misshapen body.
  22. terse
    brief and to the point
    On the sidelines, Agent Jones looked angry and tense as he barked terse orders.
  23. melee
    a noisy riotous fight
    Shanti and Nicole had dodged left in the melee.
  24. phalanx
    a body of troops in close array
    Now they were running deep into the jungle with a phalanx of black shirts behind them.
  25. totem
    emblem consisting of an object such as an animal or plant
    Through the trees, she saw one of the totems.
  26. askew
    turned or twisted to one side
    His Elvis wig had been knocked askew during the blast.
  27. scoff
    laugh at with contempt and derision
    Harris scoffed. “Oh, so inspiring. Honestly, what do you know how to do, huh? Tell me and maybe I won’t waste you.”
  28. lurch
    move abruptly
    It lurched forward and, in one giant-size bite, gulped down the screaming Harris Buffington Ewell Davis III.
  29. insolent
    marked by casual disrespect
    “Don’t be insolent, beauty queen!”
  30. nadir
    the lowest point of anything
    Agent Jones had lived through a lot in his years with the agency, but tonight marked the absolute nadir.
  31. ambivalence
    mixed feelings or emotions
    Any ambivalence he’d felt about killing these beauty queens had been erased by this one’s relentless campaign against him.
  32. decry
    express strong disapproval of
    Articles appeared in newspapers and blogs decrying the moral decay of girls in general.
  33. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    Decked out in oversize sunglasses, a (yellow) sari over a Run-D.M.C. tee, and glitter sneakers, she stands in the makeshift DJ booth working the turntables.
  34. overture
    orchestral music at the beginning of an opera or musical
    The yacht’s excellent sound system blasts the killer Hip-Hopera groove of La-La Bohemes overture punctuated by the danceable mix of tabla and sitar from Beena’s “Mumbai Love Song.”
  35. lope
    run easily
    Brandishing a cutlass and wearing her Miss Nebraska sash around her head, pirate-style, Mary Lou takes the runway in long, loping strides.
  36. formidable
    extremely impressive in strength or excellence
    She will make a formidable captain, but God bless her, she still cannot dance.
  37. festoon
    decorate or adorn
    Like some alien goddess, Petra shimmies down the runway in a mod, sequined mini festooned with palm-frond fringe.
  38. dashiki
    a loose and brightly colored African shirt
    Her purple dashiki is accessorized with a flower-and-frond necklace.
  39. rakish
    marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness
    Adina shifts her straw fedora to a rakish angle.
  40. compunction
    a feeling of deep regret, usually for some misdeed
    Currently enjoying dating with no compunction to settle down.
Created on Wed Jan 06 17:07:39 EST 2016 (updated Mon Sep 17 16:43:48 EDT 2018)

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