Only This Beautiful Moment: List 4

by Abdi Nazemian
Three generations of Jafarzadeh men (Babak, Saeed, and Mahmoud), while sharing stories from their teenage years in Tehran and Los Angeles, discover they have more in common than just their Iranian blood.

This list covers pages 313–390 in the 2023 Blazer + Bray edition.

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

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. confrontation
    a hostile disagreement face-to-face
    I’ve been ignoring his calls since finding out who he really is, since giving up the love of my life for him and Maman. And now he’s here to force me into a confrontation.
  2. dejected
    affected or marked by low spirits
    “I don’t blame you, Mother,” Baba says, dejected. “Just myself.”
  3. enrapture
    hold spellbound
    A mother and a son, scooting just a little bit closer to each other on the couch, enraptured by the same images, the same sounds, the same fantasy.
  4. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    “History is a strange thing,” Baba says as we drive away from the once imposing lot.
  5. spontaneous
    said or done without having been planned in advance
    “Tell me something, do you remember every piece of spontaneous wisdom I throw out there?”
  6. muster
    summon up, call forth, or bring together
    I give her as much of a smile as I can muster.
  7. lewd
    suggestive of or tending to moral looseness
    “You’re under arrest for lewd conduct.”
  8. illicit
    contrary to accepted morality or convention
    Maybe they think he’s taking me home for an illicit tryst.
  9. tryst
    a date or meeting with a love interest
    Maybe they think he’s taking me home for an illicit tryst. Maybe they think this is what new love looks like.
  10. crony
    a close friend or associate
    Before Tyrone or his cronies can say another word, Zip leads me away.
  11. lenient
    characterized by tolerance and mercy
    I have a police record. If this ever happens to me again, they won’t be lenient.
  12. expunge
    remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line
    “I have friends in the movie industry,” he says. “The studios, they have fixers. Very powerful men who can get police records expunged. They do it for all their stars.”
  13. enthralled
    filled with wonder and delight
    I’m enthralled when he opens the door to reveal his home. It might be a tiny little studio apartment, but it’s so full of life.
  14. haphazardly
    without care; in a slapdash manner
    There are photos of mysterious men and women haphazardly taped to the wall.
  15. terse
    brief and to the point
    She’s terse. All business. She has no interest in talking to me. Just in doing her job.
  16. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    She hangs up on me, and I clutch the phone tight, like she might come back at any second to keep shaming and berating me.
  17. implore
    beg or request earnestly and urgently
    “Willie, please don’t,” Mother implores.
  18. pine
    have a desire for something or someone who is not present
    I want so badly to find her single, still pining for my dad. I have a fantasy of giving my dad a second chance at life, at love.
  19. ample
    more than enough in size or scope or capacity
    “I’m sorry I haven’t called you back—”
    “Or texted. Or emailed. Or used any of the ample means of communication at our disposal to say, ‘Hey, Shane, I know you’ve been having a hard time. How are you coping?’”
  20. equilibrium
    a stable situation in which forces cancel one another
    I put a hand over my mouth, my warm palm stifling the laughter. When I’ve found my equilibrium again, I finally speak words that belong to me and not to him.
  21. compromise
    expose or make liable to danger, suspicion, or disrepute
    Then, in his driest tone, he adds, “But your emotional immune system must be feeling very compromised right now, Shane.”
  22. profoundly
    to a great depth psychologically
    If we don’t talk until you get home, I just want to say that was a profoundly weird moment with your father, and also...good luck with everything.
  23. precocious
    characterized by exceptionally early development
    My dad’s voice is quiet as he asks, “Were you named after your father?”
    “I was,” the kid says. “But I’m the superior Bijan Golbahar, and my dad knows it.”
    I look at my dad as he realizes that the boy he helped at the protest all those years ago is alive, and has a very precocious son.
  24. doctrine
    a belief accepted as authoritative by some group or school
    “He politicized a spiritual doctrine. He made disobeying him a sin. That’s his doing, not yours.”
  25. charismatic
    possessing an extraordinary ability to attract
    He was warm. Charismatic. You know, when I flew to Tehran to see him when I was seventeen, the visit was meant to last a week, not a lifetime.
  26. reminisce
    recall the past
    “The first place he took me was to a hammam,” Baba reminisces. “He asked me so many questions as we sat on those hot rocks. And he answered so many of my questions. When the man came to exfoliate me, I was shocked by how much dead skin was coming off me. I think I knew in that moment I would never leave. Because it felt good to be this new person, in a new skin.”
  27. fend
    try to manage without help
    Our evil president has waged war on asylum seekers and immigrants, leaving people like Siamak to fend for themselves in this stew of corruption.
  28. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    His face suddenly looks ashen. “Oh no, I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t—”
  29. assuage
    provide physical relief, as from pain
    I quickly assuage his guilt.
  30. raze
    tear down so as to make flat with the ground
    My dad and I rush back to the safety of a house that will be razed in a week’s time, soon to be replaced by a high-rise.
Created on Wed Mar 27 08:44:48 EDT 2024 (updated Mon Apr 01 15:48:29 EDT 2024)

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