Category: Entry 2

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, invariably is defined as on every occasion. While I was reading “The Turbid Ebb and Flow of Misery” by Margaret Sanger, the word appears on the second page in the second paragraph as stated, “I tried to explain the only two methods I had ever heard of among the middle classes, both of which were invariably brushed aside as unacceptable”. At first glance, I thought the word meant simply. In this case, the methods presented were simply brushed aside. Now knowing what the word means, “the only two methods she had ever heard of among the middle classes” were occasionally ignored or deemed unacceptable.

According to Dictionary.com, the word achromatous means ” having little or inadequate color; lighter in collor than normal. I stumbled accross this word in Tahira Naqvi’s “Brave We are” when she was describing the seasons in the small town in Conneticut in which she lived in. Naqvi used a vast variety of words to create imagery for us to understand that sometimes the area was not so appealing. For example, “… when the tones on its canvas are achromatous and dark, to melancholy, to sadness. At first, I thought this word meant gloomy or mysteriouys looking. I then looked it up and realized it was neither, but it was a way to describe the canvas’s lack of color.

Sieve: (noun, informal) unable to remember things well or can be used figuratively with reference to the fact that a sieve does not hold all its contents.

Source: Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionary

In the excerpt Brave We Are, the word sieve is mentioned. “His vagueness passes through the sieve in my head and comes out as clarity.” says Tahira on page 363. I had to find two definition to fully understand what she meant in this context. The first definition helps to show how she has sort of a bad memory and the second expands on that by allowing me to see how her son’s comment/question is vague but later realizes what he is talking about when he talks about Mary.

Diana Galvez

As I was reading “The Turbid Ebb and Flow of Misery” by Margaret Sanger on the train to school, I came across the word “Sentiment” on the third sentence of the first paragraph in which I was not familiar with. It belongs in the line “Sentiment was especially vehement in the matter of having babies.”. At first, I thought the word ‘Sentiment’ and ‘Sentimental Value’ is the same thing, but it is actually very different. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the definition of the word “Sentiment” means a view of or attitude toward a situation or event. Basically it could be more or less of a opinion or a feeling. Now that I know what the context of where the word “Sentiment” belongs in means, as quoted earlier the context would mean that ‘the feeling of importance of having babies’ in the simplest way I could interpret it.

Link of a picture that represents the word Sentiment -https://gyazo.com/fbf94cb39b03065dbb762020b095169b

Achromatous:  Without color, or having little inadequate color. (adjective)

Word of the week is Achromatous, according to dictionary.com, Achromatous is a word used to describe something with no or a minimal amount of color. I encountered this word on September 11th, while reading a short story called, Brave We Are by Tahira Naqvi, I knew what every word meant in the reading until I came across achromatous in paragraph 13. I read the words that came before and after this word to see if I figure out what it meant before actually searching up the real definition. “when the tones on its canvas, and dark to melanchony” were the phrases that helped me figure out that achromatous might have something to do with describing color. I believed that the women in this story used this word to describe Connecticut’s environment color when the seasons changed. I than, searched up the real meaning, and I was correct. I know understood what achromatous meant, and I now know a new word that can be added to my conversations.

Nayideh R.

/ˈdisəˌpādəd/ verb

Tahira Naqvi, “Brave We Are”

In the text ” Brave We Are” by Tahira Naqvi, the word I would love to know the meaning of is dissipated (verb). In my opinion I thought that dissipated meant to gain power.  But according to Macmillan Dictionary, the word dissipate means to gradually disappear by becoming less strong, or to make something do this.  Which means that opposite in which I thought it meant. Also, the sentences that the shows the word dissipate being used is ” Kasim is at the breakfast table now, some of his earlier energy dissipated.”  The sentence explains that the joy that Kasim represented previously had faded away.

 

 

According to “Merriam-Webster”, the meaning of embellish is ” To heighten the attractiveness of by adding decorative or fanciful details”. In the reading, “Brave We Are” by Tahira Naqvi I found the word embellish that was used by the mother of Kasim. She used this word when she was talking about the food that she can cook before she got married. After her marriage she started embellishing the food for her husband and “innovate” them.

Disparate: markedly distinct in quality or character. (adjective)

The definition of disparate was found in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. I first stumbled onto this word on September 6, 2018, while reading “Brave We Are” by Tahira Naqvi. The word disparate can be found on page 362 and the sentence says, “Why does snow in February always remind me of February in Lahore? Incongruent, disparate, the seasons have so little in common.” When first encountering the word I thought it said desperate until I read the sentence over and then realized that made no sense. Now I know a more sophisticated word for different and that word is disparate. Learning this new word will now help me further improve my vocabulary in my writing.

While reading the story “The Turbid Ebb and Flow of Misery” by Margaret Sanger I stumbled upon the word fetid. I stared at the word for a while and did not know what it meant. The excerpt read ” There were the approximately ten thousand apartments in New York into which no sun ray penetrated directly; such windows as they had opened only narrow court from which rose fetid odor.” According to Merriam- Webster dictionary the word fetid is an adjective which means “having a heavy offensive smell”. In the story the she used that word to describe the harsh living situations in early 1900s New York. Conditions such as large families being forced to live together in small one bed room apartments, which was a direct cause of a horrible smell that was so strong it will leave the apartments through the small opening in the windows.

The word pensive is defined as suggestive of sad thoughtfulness or musingly dreaming thoughtful according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. The word pensive is an adjective used in the story, “The Turbid Ebb and Flow of Misery” by Margaret Sanger. On September 5th, 2018, I stumbled upon this word during a reading discussion we had. It was stated on page 107, “One by one worried, sad, pensive, and aging faces marshaled themselves before me in my dreams, sometimes appealingly, sometimes accusingly”. When I first came across the word, I was not sure what the word was saying. I used context clues and assumed it had something to do with dreaming, but, I had thought pensive meant in terms of speaking because the narrator was describing her thoughts being in her dreams as if they were speaking to her. After actually looking up the definition to the word I realized it did deal with dreams but, the dreams were sad and they were only thoughts, not actually people or things speaking. I understand the word more clearer now as it is a synonym of being sad as mentioned in the text. The narrator is basically describing her dreams in more ways than just sad by using the word pensive. She uses other words such as worried and aging to depict how she is feeling.