The Probability of Everything: List 2

by Sarah Everett
Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter is an aspiring scientist who loves the predictability of statistics, especially when she cannot control what's happening to her life in Michigan.

This list covers Part I's "The Inside of the Sun"–"Failure."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3
40 words 7 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. retina
    a light-sensitive membrane covering the back of the eyeball
    Maybe it was like a solar eclipse, where you needed special glasses so it didn’t burn your retinas.
  2. plait
    weave into a braided hairdo
    Grandma called Tillie’s hairstyle “shuku,” which just meant that her hair was plaited so every track went up to the middle of her head, where it formed a bun.
  3. stump
    cause to be perplexed or confounded
    What are the chances of sitting next to someone on a bus who has the same birthday as you? Tell me tonight at dinner. I love you.
    The question stumped me at first.
  4. cravat
    a scarf or band of cloth worn around the neck
    Dia: I THINK MR. GRACEN SHOULD WEAR A CRAVAT
    Me: What’s that?
    Dia: A KIND OF POOFY NECKTIE
  5. condition
    an illness, disease, or other medical problem
    But Dad had explained a couple of years ago that Uncle Jere had this condition that made him really afraid of germs.
  6. squeamish
    easily disturbed or disgusted by unpleasant things
    “Actually, it’s the one job where I can get away with wearing gloves 24/7,” Jeremiah told me once. “I’m not squeamish. Just don’t touch me.”
  7. financial
    involving fiscal matters
    Dad used to be something called a “financial analyst.”
  8. mode
    a particular functioning condition or arrangement
    “Summer mode,” Dia once told me grandly, “is not a feeling; it’s not an experience; it’s a way of being. It is jeans cut short and platform flip-flops and sleeveless turtlenecks.” But to me, summer mode was just that lazy feeling you got that made you want to sleep in whenever there was no school.
  9. inspired
    of surpassing excellence
    “I heard you’re making a time capsule!” he said, half facing the stove and half facing me at the counter. “That is an absolutely brilliant idea, by the way. Inspired.”
  10. plaque
    a tablet that commemorates a person or achievement
    But Uncle Steve was holding a pair of lime green socks and a plaque with four birds on the same wire.
  11. keepsake
    something of sentimental value
    “Mementos are keepsakes,” Uncle Steve said. “Precious things that belong to us and remind us of a particular time.”
  12. troupe
    an organization of performers and associated personnel
    “We’re a whole circus troupe. A herd of elephants. A caravan of camels?”
  13. memento
    a reminder of past events
    So far, I had my memento (the menu from Patricia’s Diner), Uncle Jere’s (the boarding pass), and Aunt Miriam’s and Uncle Steve’s (the socks and the plaque). I still needed Grandma’s, Mom’s, Lo’s and Z’s, all my cousins’ favorite items, and of course, Dad’s.
  14. embroider
    decorate with needlework
    Sure enough, there was a name embroidered on it: UNIQUE.
  15. repent
    feel sorry for; be contrite about
    There were about ten of them standing at one corner of the street, holding signs about the end of the world.
    “REPENT! FOR THE HOUR IS NIGH,” one said.
  16. nigh
    not far distant in time or space or degree or circumstances
    There were about ten of them standing at one corner of the street, holding signs about the end of the world.
    “REPENT! FOR THE HOUR IS NIGH,” one said.
  17. hoax
    something intended to deceive
    “THE ASTEROID IS A GOVERNMENT HOAX” and “SEND US TO VENUS” and so many other signs that I didn’t have a chance to read them all as Jen slowly drove past.
  18. scepter
    a ceremonial or emblematic staff
    “I thought you’d have crown jewels, diamonds, or...or a golden scepter.”
  19. bustle
    move or cause to move energetically or busily
    Even though I didn’t see him, I heard him bustling through the house already, looking for the items on my list, and I felt grateful for his help.
  20. hypothesis
    a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations
    Most people thought scientists like me only believed in things we could see, things we could hold in our hands, but actually science was made up of so much you couldn’t hold—theories, hypotheses, statistics, equations, formulas.
  21. poised
    marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action
    Ballerina, tap dancer, gymnast, poised, fancy, elegant.
  22. commotion
    a disorderly outburst or tumult
    Mrs. Sorensen swore and swung her broom at one of the other guys, just barely missing.
    “Luc! Kemi!” someone hissed under the commotion.
  23. chic
    elegant and stylish
    “What’s a fascinator?” Lucas asked, and Dia answered: THOSE TINY FANCY HATS BRITISH PEOPLE WEAR. DUCHESS KATE IS SOOO CHIC.
  24. exclusively
    without any others being included or involved
    “I do like to cook, but I feel like are you really a cook if you make exclusively breakfast foods?”
  25. condemn
    declare or judge unfit for use or habitation
    Rush It or Crush It was this show where the host, Piper Peters, was given only a week to fix a condemned house, to knock down walls and repaint and repair windows, and if she didn’t make it in that time, they had to crush it. A condemned house is a house that is in such bad shape that no one can live there until it is fixed.
  26. ailment
    an often persistent bodily disorder or disease
    He said there wasn’t an ailment sleep couldn’t cure.
  27. bellow
    shout loudly and without restraint
    “DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN,” Mr. Vance bellowed, getting even more worked up and I felt afraid.
  28. fringe
    an ornamental border of short lengths of hanging threads
    I noticed as Dia walked down the remaining steps and over to the couch that she was wearing a pair of tie-dye pants that flared out wide at the bottom, a white T-shirt that said FLOWER POWER, and a brown fringe jacket.
  29. checkered
    patterned with alternating squares of color
    Lucas and Tillie came downstairs then, Lucas yawning in his checkered blue pajamas, holding his trusty phone, and Tillie’s dying flower already in her bun again.
  30. pore
    any small opening in the skin or outer surface of an animal
    With binoculars, you could see the little bumps and craters on the surface of the asteroid, like pores on skin.
  31. pry
    be nosey
    I decided to take the garment bag Dia had given me upstairs, where it would be safe from dogs and prying eyes.
  32. insistent
    demanding attention
    The other person spoke, insistent and firm.
  33. clammy
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    Her hand felt cold and clammy when I touched it.
  34. ruffle
    disturb the smoothness of
    “I love you more than hot dogs, Grit,” Dad said, ruffling my hair.
  35. rendition
    a performance of a musical composition or a dramatic role
    I giggled, and we listened as Dad did the most terrible rendition of “It’s My Life.” It was terrible not just because he was off-beat and off-key but because he coughed quite a bit through it too.
  36. artery
    a blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the body
    I wondered what that would look like—if my heart spilled onto the guest room floor.
    I knew it would be blood and guts and arteries and veins, but it would also be songs and numbers, percentages and good food, happiness and loneliness and so many other things.
  37. pirouette
    a rapid spin of the body
    We included Z too by talking to her and touching Mom’s belly, feeling her pirouettes and twirls.
  38. ominous
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    “The Final Four.”
    “That sounds ominous,” Mom said, and I nodded in agreement even though I wasn’t sure what ominous meant. (I wrote it down in my notebook and researched it later. Ominous: “threatening” or “unfavorable.”)
  39. emit
    give off, send forth, or discharge
    “Do you know what else I love about stars? I like this idea of us, humans, being like stars in the sky. I like the idea that people absorb and emit energy just the way stars do. We put out light and we receive it too,” he said, scratching his chin.
  40. analogy
    drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity
    “Then we surround ourselves with the stars that know and love us, making our very own star clusters. It’s not a perfect analogy, but it’s one I’ve always liked.”
Created on Sun Jan 21 12:31:00 EST 2024 (updated Sun Jan 21 16:38:45 EST 2024)

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