Month: September 2018

The definition of wiggled according to Merriam Webster is “to move to and fro with quick jerky pr shaking motions”. The word wiggled I found in the reading, “The Ride” by JL William’s when William was talking about the lady in the train. He was talking about her looks, moves and her body shape. He used the word wiggled to describe her estimated weight and when she moves that “amazed” the author William.

Sinewy(Adjective)- Strong

The definition of the word Sinewy was found on the Merriam-Webster dictionary. I first stumbled upon this word on September 24, 2018, while reading “The Ride” by JL Williams from the novel Legacies. This word can be found on page 410 it says, ” However, as a teen, I grew several inches and looked thin with sinewy muscles like my father and brother before me.” When first encountering this word I had no idea what it meant, it genuinely confused me. After knowing the definition of this word I can now use it later on in life to replace the word strong. Doing this will help my writing sound more sophisticated and professional.

  Jostled: to bump, push, or elbow a person rudely in a rough crowd. (verb)

             The meaning of the word jostled was found at Dictionary.com, it is used to describe being bumped or pushed in a disrespectful way. I first encountered this word while reading “The Ride” by JL Williams on September 23rd  in paragraph 2 of the passage, the author used jostled after the words “bumped and”, so I figured that it had a connection with bumped, the author was describing a women entering the train with a baby carriage pushing and bumping other passengers on a crowed train. Than I went on to dictionary.com and searched up the real definition after I made a guess. Dictionary.com gave me a clear meaning of this word, and I now know how to use this word in my vocabulary. I believe jostled is just a smarter way of saying push or elbowing a person, and I can now include it in my essays.

 

Nayideh Rene

 

 

As I was reading the piece “Brave We Are” by Tahira Naqvi, I came across the word “Susceptible” in the fourth sentence of the seventh paragraph in the piece. At first looking at this word I thought it meant being suspicious or anything near that due to the word starting with ‘sus’. But according to the Merriam-Webster, the word ‘Susceptible’ means ‘”open,  subject to, influence”. Based on the definitions given by the Merriam-Webster by a simple google search, I now know what the word means. The word was included in the following quote “I say wisely, with the absolute knowledge that ‘things’ is susceptible to misinterpretation.” At first this I didn’t know it meant, but now that I know what ‘Susceptible’ means, I now understand the context. By this quote, I can interpret that it means things are by default are open to being misinterpreted.

On page 408, of the story “The Ride” by JL Williams from the Novel, Legacies, I encountered the word umbrage. According to Merriam-Webster, umbrage is a noun which means a feeling of pique or resentment at some often fancied slight or insult. When I first encountered the word, I was not sure of the meaning of it. It actually is a new word I have never seen in any stories or articles that I read. Originally I thought it meant anger based off of the context clues I was reading. The reason for that is because within the paragraph it talks about a lady who would “…clubbed us all to death with it”. From this description I thought the word was describing a person showing anger and deep hatred. After finding the actual definition, I realized it is not anger but actually resentment. The narrator is describing what they portray the characters of the story to be when on the train ride and in this case she is someone who gives off a displeasing attitude off of anything insulting. I now understand the word better after finding the definition and rereading the text because I can understand how she can be feeling resentment because she comes off as harsh.

Disdain: (noun) a feeling of contempt for someone or something regarded as unworthy or inferior, scorn.

Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary (online)

I encountered this word in the reading The Ride by JL Williams on page 408 paragraph 2. “On every train car, every day, there is at least one person who irritates the rest of us, who makes us feel like we are visitors in their living room, irritants that they feel the need to convey their disdain for while we share a confined space for a limited time.” Here Williams is trying to say how there will be people on public transportations who seem to want to show the rest are inferior. As if everyone else is a guest in this “irritants” house. For example, it is rare to see someone with power dressed in a stained T-shirt and wasted shoes. They will also have the most comfortable seat and personal space. That’s why later in paragraph 4 the passenger takes up two seats on a busy and full train car. I now understand fully how the word disdain contributes to the context of this sentence.

Diana Galvez

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the word hiss is identified as a verb. It means “to make a small sibilant sound”. On page 361, it states,” Impatient, so impatient, so like the water that’s hissing and tumbling in the pot, demanding immediate attention.” The author Tahira used this word to emphasize how impatient Kasim was being at the moment, comparing him to the sounds in the surroundings.

has·ten (intransitive verb)

The word hasten was found in the story, Brave We Are by Tahira Naqvi in class on September 13. What this word means is to move or act quickly as stated in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. On the last page of the story, on the last paragraph from the left column, it states, “No!” I hasten with denial.” Now knowing what the word means, I understand now that the women acted quickly to say no to her son with denial. Which also helps to picture how and in the tone she said it as well.

“Brave We Are” by Tahira Naqvi uses a wide range of vocabulary. For instance, the word hybrid stuck out to me because it was very repetitive throughout the story. Kasim kept asking his mother for the definition of it and kept getting frustrated because his mother would try to avoid the question or work her way around it. She finally replied ” it’s sort of a mixture, a combination of different sorts of things”. She clearly had the right idea but wasn’t quite sure what it meant. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the word hybrid is a noun defined as “an offspring of two animals or plants of different races. With this definition we can see that she wasn’t completely wrong she just did not specific definition.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, indecipherable is defined as incapable of being deciphered. While I was reading “Brave We Are” by Tahira Naqvi the word appears on the first page in the fifth paragraph as stated, “He slides against the kitchen counter and hums, his fingers beating an indecipherable rhythm on the Formica”. At first glance I thought it meant knowledgeable. Now knowing what the word means, I can understand what the passage means in better detail. The hums and the fingers beating created this unrecognizable rhythm to the listener.