Vocabulary in Infinite Jest

Ring-shaped or forming a ring; in this novel used to describe a cyclical, self-referencing structure, particularly regarding the geography and politics of the near-future North America.

The novel's satirical calendar system in which corporations pay to have entire years named after their products, replacing numbered years with brand names.

The inability to feel pleasure or enjoyment in activities that would normally be pleasurable; used here to describe a deep emotional numbness afflicting characters.

The dropping of one or more sounds or letters from the end of a word; referenced in the novel's linguistic and academic discussions.

Literally the end of the world; in the novel, also the name of a war-simulation game played by the tennis academy students using tennis courts as a map.

The wave-like muscular contractions that move food through the digestive tract; used in the novel's clinical, hyper-detailed descriptions of bodily experience.

Produced according to a fixed, predictable formula; used to describe the rote, mechanical quality of certain speech or thought patterns in the novel.

A word or phrase that refers forward to a later expression in the text; relevant to the novel's dense, self-referential narrative structure.

A state of inactivity, equilibrium, or paralysis; used to describe the emotional and psychological immobility that traps many of the novel's characters.

A Latin legal term meaning suicide, literally 'felon of oneself'; used in the novel's clinical and bureaucratic discussions of self-destruction.

An extreme feeling of dread, anxiety, or the creeps; an archaic or dialectal expression used in the novel to describe a character's overwhelming terror or unease.

Lower or situated beneath; used in the novel to refer to lower regions of the body or to underground/hidden spaces in a slightly archaic register.

Truthful or corresponding to facts; used in philosophical and psychological passages to distinguish genuine perception from hallucination or delusion.

A short, pithy, instructive saying; the novel uses this word when characters or narrators deliver terse, maxim-like pronouncements about addiction or tennis.

Using too many words; excessively long and wordy in speech or writing. Used self-referentially in the novel's awareness of its own verbose style.

Relating to a transitional or threshold state between two conditions; used to describe characters caught between addiction and recovery, or childhood and adulthood.

The philosophical view that only one's own mind is certain to exist; used to describe the self-enclosed, reality-denying mental state of addicts and entertainers.

The process of releasing strong or repressed emotions, often through art; used ironically in the novel's discussions of entertainment and addiction.

Physical or mental weariness; a state of listless fatigue. Used to describe the enervated, motivationless state of characters in addiction or depression.

The process of sorting patients or problems by urgency to decide the order of treatment; used in the novel's medical and recovery-house contexts.

A feeling of listless dissatisfaction and boredom arising from a lack of purpose; a key emotional condition the novel diagnoses in modern American life.

A term used in the novel to describe art or culture that comes after the avant-garde, suggesting a post-ironic or sincerely earnest aesthetic position.

A young man, especially one undergoing training or initiation; used in the novel's discussions of young athletes and their mentorship at the tennis academy.

Very loud and powerful in sound; used to describe the booming, authoritative voices of coaches, administrators, or commanding figures in the novel.

A synthetic opioid used medically to treat addiction to heroin and other opiates; appears in the novel's detailed, clinical depictions of addiction treatment.