WORD LISTS

"Thieves' Gambit" by Kayvion Lewis, Chapters 24–34

Mon Feb 05 16:11:13 EST 2024
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
Born into a legendary family of thieves, seventeen-year-old Rosalyn Quest tries to escape the criminal life by applying to college programs outside of the Bahamas, but when her mom disappears, she realizes that the best chance to save her would be winning a competition of international heists.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–15, Chapters 16–23, Chapters 24–34, Chapters 35–47
flashy
Appropriate for the occasion but not too flashy. Perfect for blending into the jungle of treasures and wealth we were about to enter.
intoxicating
“The rush of swiping something when no one is looking is intoxicating, sure. But it’s nothing quite like finessing someone to tell you the code to their bank account without even knowing it. Or drawing them into mentioning exactly where in their summer home they keep their prized Fabergé egg collection, even though they’ve only known you for a few hours.”
gauge
Start up a few calculated conversations, get to know people, gauge how much money they have.
condescending
He shook his head in an awfully condescending way.
grungy
“Because the links are all discolored and grungy. It looks like you stole it off a bike rack. The key is to blend in, remember? This draws attention.”
vicinity
This somehow managed to draw hearty laughter from everyone in the vicinity.
extravagant
Instead of an uppercut, I settled for swiping one of his extravagant ruby cuff links before I abandoned the group.
ogle
Here in the main room, rows and rows of pedestaled treasures were divided off with velvet ropes. Crowds of the most elegantly dressed, self-entitled guests ogled them in between conversations like the one I’d just left.
par
But even from a distance, I could tell his tux was leagues below par compared to the rest of the partygoers.
entitlement
They’d been keeping other guests from touching and poking the treasure all night. The entitlement of some of these people to do something like that was unbelievable.
audacity
“The audacity!” the woman scoffed. The guards clipped the rope back in place, much to her annoyance.
chagrin
But to my surprise, and maybe his chagrin, he instead turned into the second, smaller ballroom.
allocate
“Two hundred million. That’s how much they’ve allocated.”
intimate
“Pull up your wrist the tiniest bit, and then bend it a few degrees. It has to be an intimate gesture.”
blanch
I blanched. It felt like his words had just punched me in the stomach.
wax
“Oh, boo hoo. Go ahead and wax poetic about how distraught you are that all your charm can’t get the one girl you really want to kiss you, or some other cliché stuff like that. I’ll give you a few minutes to get the phrasing right.”
berate
Auntie called, and because I’m a dweeb who would probably fold if I had to hear her berate me about this in real time, I declined.
Auntie: He’s a thief. He’s playing you. DO NOT KISS YOUR COMPETITION.
cadence
Was it Devroe? No, the chatter of two people in Korean, with voices sounding nothing like his self-assured, charismatic cadence.
poised
She settled belly-down on the bed, but with her fries poised off the edge.
compensate
Her husband’s a prosperous second-generation business owner. Loaded, he’s got a fortune but no faithfulness. Sadia seems to frequent auctions to collect things on her husband’s dime—probably to compensate for his constant cheating.
proxy
“So long as Ross can make sure the museum proxy isn’t able to overbid.”
socialite
Devroe already made a connection with this socialite target, so that left the museum proxy to me.
frivolous
Two weeks ago, I’d have known exactly what to wish for. Freedom. Something new. Other frivolous things. The only thing I should’ve wanted now was my mom back.
pallid
Mylo was pallid. Withering. Watching him was like watching a spark flicker away in my palms.
fallout
Devroe didn’t stay to watch the fallout. For the second time that night, he stormed out.
tentative
I took a tentative step closer to him.
deliberation
He left, and after a little deliberation, I followed, even though I wasn’t invited.
brigand
“It’s a Zhuangzi quote. ‘A petty thief is put in jail. A great brigand becomes a ruler of a nation.’”
taciturn
“Okay, that’s cryptic,” Mylo said. “And I thought my parents were taciturn.”
elusive
Common sense, and the matching silky lashes, told me that I was looking at his elusive mum.
unwavering
Don’t be stubborn, unless it’s important, then don’t be stubborn, be unwavering.
glitz
Even she’d gotten distracted by the glitz for a second.
revamp
I rubbed my revamped meteor bracelet.
relent
“Will you hold my seat, please?”
The woman seemed to debate with herself for a moment. She was here to work, not to get distracted shooing people away from the seat next to her, but she relented. “Sure.”
reminiscent
I couldn’t help but chance another hasty scan of the whole room, looking for anyone even vaguely reminiscent of Taiyō, Adra, or Lucus.
conservative
An older Egyptian woman in a conservative gown with a fur shawl took her time settling inside.
mundane
At least twenty folders, all in alphabetical order were inside. Some of the titles were mundane—Accounts, Associates, Bookings—but others were stranger.
hodgepodge
A string of email addresses pulled up, most a hodgepodge of numbers and letters.
rogue
Was this guest investigating the organization? A rogue member, maybe?
charisma
What were the odds this room’s guests would come back soon? Even if I had Devroe’s charisma, I didn’t think I could spin any sort of logical explanation for this.

Word List Actions:

Create a new Word List