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GRE Essential > Essential Units 15-21 > Flashcards

Essential Units 15-21 Flashcards

1
Q

Coda

A

Coda (n)

Concluding part of a literacy or musical composition; something that summarizes or concludes.

The coda of the Danish composer per Norgand’s sixth symphony seems to return to the serene sounds of the opening.

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2
Q

Codify

A

Codify (v)

To systematize

The state legislature voted to codify regulations governing banking fraud.

Codification is the noun

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3
Q

Cognizant

A

Cognizant (adj)

Informed; conscious; aware

We saw a story about a husband and wife in straightened circumstances each sacrifice to buy Christmas presents for the other, not cognizant of what the other is doing.

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4
Q

Collage

A

Collage (n)

Artistic composition of materials pasted over a surface; an assemblage of diverse elements

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5
Q

Commensurate

A

Commensurate (adj)

Proportional

In the United States, malpractice suits have raised the cost of medicine because doctors must pay for insurance, and thus increase their fees commensurately.

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6
Q

Compendium

A

Compendium (n)

Brief, comprehensive summary

The Mozart compendium; a guide to Mozart’s life and music.

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7
Q

Complacent

A

Complacent (adj)

Self-satisfied

Although tom received an “A” on his midterm exam, professor Donovan warned him not to become complacent since the work in the second term would be harder.

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8
Q

Complaisant

A

Complaisant (adj)

Overly polite; willing to please; obliging

Although France and Germany have a close relationship, neither would consider the other a complaisant ally.

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9
Q

Complement

A

Complement (n)

Something that completes or makes up a whole.

Some people envision chess developing into a game between teams of humans and computers, each complementing the other.

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10
Q

Coalesce

A

Coalesce (v)

To cause to become one

JFK must be vigilant so that the interests of business and the military do not coalesce and thus undermine those of society as a whole.

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11
Q

Compliant

A

Compliant (adj)

Yielding

The young negotiator is trying to learn the skill of being open to proposals by the other side without seeming too compliant.

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12
Q

Compunction

A

Compunction (n)

Uneasiness caused by guilt

The American psychiatrist Frank Pittman said, “Men who have been raised violently have every reason to believe it is appropriate for them to control others through violence; they feel no compunction over being violent to women, children, and one another.

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13
Q

Concave

A

Concave (adj)

Curving inward

Concave lenses are used in glasses to compensate for myopia (nearsightedness)

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14
Q

Conciliatory

A

Conciliatory (adj)

Overcoming distrust or hostility

The leader of the country made conciliatory statements assuring the world that his country did not intend to acquire nuclear weapons.

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15
Q

Concoct

A

Concoct (v)

To invent

The various human cultures have concocted a great many explanations to describe the beginning of the Earth, life, and humanity.

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16
Q

Concomitant

A

Concomitant (n)

Existing concurrently

A rebuild of the argument that Homo sapiens higher cognitive functions could not be the result solely of evolution is that such abilities arose as concomitants of language, which gave early hominids a tremendous advantage over other species.

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17
Q

Condone

A

Condone (v)

To overlook voluntarily; forgive

Mahatma Gandhi believed in the principle of ahimsa and refused to condone violence of any kind, even if used in a just cause.

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18
Q

Confound

A

Confound (v)

To baffle; perplex; mix up

Everyone but astrophysicists seems to be confounded by the question, “what happened before the Big Bang?”

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19
Q

Congenial

A

Congenial (adj)

Similar in tastes and habits; friendly; suited to the physicist Freeman Dyson has expressed his awe at how congenial the universe is to intelligent life and consciousness.

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20
Q

Conjugal

A

Conjugal (adj)

Pertaining to marriage agreement

The goal of the Bennett sisters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is to find a suitable man to marry with whom they they can live in conjugal happiness.

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21
Q

Connoisseur

A

Connoisseur (n)

A person completely possessing expert knowledge or training; a person of informed and discriminating taste.

The art connoisseur selected works by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Picasso for the exhibition.

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22
Q

Conscript

A

Conscript (n)

Person compulsorily enrolled for military service

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23
Q

Consecrate

A

Consecrate (v)

To declare sacred

The brave men that died here have consecrated this ground.

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24
Q

Contentious

A

Contentious (adj)

Quarrelsome; causing quarrels

When genetic engineering began in the 1970’s, there was a contentious, and sometimes acrimonious, debate among scientists themselves about it’s dangers.

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25
Contiguous
Contiguous (adj) Touching; neighboring; connecting without a break There are forty-eight contiguous states in the USA.
26
Continence
Continence (n) Self-control; abstention from sexual activity
27
Contrite
Contrite (adj) Very sorrowful for a wrong In sentencing the convicted man to a life sentence, the judge took into account that he didn't seem contrite about his offenses.
28
Contumacious
Contumacious (adj) Disobedient; rebellious In the late 18th century, Great Britain tried unsuccessfully to put down the uprising against their rule by contumacious Americans.
29
Conundrum
Conundrum (n) Riddle; puzzle with no solution.
30
Contend
Contend (v) To assert The study's contention is that obesity is America's biggest health problem.
31
Convention
Convention (n) Practice widely observed in a group; custom; accepted technique or device The work of French artist Henri Rousseau demonstrates a naïveté that many people find more attractive than the sophistication of highly complex works that make use of all the conventions of their genre.
32
Converge
Converge (v) To approach; come together; tend to meet Although the peoples republic of China and India are rivals in many ways, in certain areas their interests converge.
33
Convex
Convex (adj) Curved outward
34
Convivial
Convivial (adj) Sociable One of the jobs of an ambassador is to provide a convivial atmosphere for diplomats to meet.
35
Convoluted
Convoluted (adj) Twisted; complicated Unraveling the convoluted genetic code is one of the great achievements of modern science.
36
Copious
Copious (adj) Abundant; plentiful The copious rainfall was welcomed by farmers in the parched land.
37
Coquette
Coquette (n) Woman who flirts After she had played the cart of coquette in the college play. Pans boyfriend reminded her that real life is different from theater.
38
Cornucopia
Cornucopia (n) Horn overflowing with fruit and grain; state of abundance The U.S. Economy has produced a cornucopia of employment opportunities.
39
Cosmology
Cosmology (n) Study of the universe as a totality; theory of the origin and structure of the universe. Cosmos and cosmic
40
Covert
Covert (adj) Hidden; secret The CIA gathers information about foreign intelligence through many means, including covert ones.
41
Covetous
Covetous (adj) Desiring something owner by another The astronomer is covetous of the time that his colleague gets for research using the Hubble space telescope. Cover is the verb
42
Cozen
Cozen (v) To mislead by trick or fraud; deceive The writer H.L. Mencken pointed out that a common strategy of politicians is to Cozen the people by exaggerating the seriousness of a problem and then offering a solution that, conveniently, only they can provide.
43
Craven
Craven (adj) Cowardly In the Hindu epic poem the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna warns the hero, who is reluctant to fight, that refusing to fight would be a craven act.
44
Credence
Credence (n) Acceptance of something true People will be less likely to give credence to future alarms raised by that person.
45
Credo
Credo (n) Statement of belief or principle; creed The credo of Google is "Don't be evil."
46
Daunt
Daunt (v) To discourage; intimidate; dishearten Do not let the difficulty of learning the 800 words for the GRE daunt you. Daunting
47
Dearth
Dearth (n) Scarcity Leaving a dearth of resources is obviously bad
48
Debauchery
Debauchery (n) Corruption The prince lived a life of debauchery until he discovered a spiritual dimension to live.
49
Decorum
Decorum (n) Proper behavior When addressing the nation, the president generally has an air of decorum Decorous (adj)
50
Defame
Defame (v) To malign; harm someone's reputation
51
Default
Default (v) To fail to act Defaulting on a loan
52
Deference
Deference (n) Respect; regard for a others wish Despite many misguidings, the proposal was dropped in deference to the objections of a number of people. Deferred
53
Defunct
Defunct (adj) No longer existing Moored law will soon become defunct.
54
Delineate
Delineate (v) To represent or depict Quantum theory led to the formulation of the uncertainty principle which was delineated in 1937 by Werner Heisenberg.
55
Demographic
Demographic (adj) Related to population balance
56
Demotic
Demotic (adj) Pertaining to people One critic praised him as a poet who was able to make the demotic sing.
57
Demur
Demur (v) To express doubt One justice demurred, saying that the majority decision used specious reasoning.
58
Denigrate
Denigrate (v) To slur someone's reputation According to a recent biography of Napoleon, the famous leader felt a need to denigrate women.
59
Denizen
Denizen (n) An inhabitant; a regular visitor The US census bureau has a responsibility of collecting information about the denizens of the United States.
60
Denouement
Denouement (n) Outcome; unravelling of the plot of a play or work of literature. The book tells the story of what was for Europe a rather embarrassing denouement to the crusades.
61
Deride
Deride (v) To mock Companies with innumerable research breakthroughs to their credit- and were derided as impractical visionaries.
62
Derivative
Derivative (n) Something derived; unoriginal Morphine is the principal derivative of opium.
63
Desiccate
Desiccate (v) To dry completely The dry desert air caused the bodies of the dead animals to desiccate quickly.
64
Desuetude
Desuetude (n) State of disuse NASA, is considering a plan to refurbish booster rockets from the Apollo program that have fallen into desuetude.
65
Desultory
Desultory (adj) Random; disconnected; rambling The jury had difficulty following the witnesses desultory testimony.
66
Deterrent
Deterrent (n) Something that discourages or hinders
67
Detraction
Detraction (n) The act of taking away; derogatory comment on a person's character The writer responded in a letter to the critics long list of detractions about his book
68
Diaphanous
Diaphanous (adj) transparent; fine-textured; insubstantial; vague In world war 2, many soldiers went to war with diaphanous dreams of glory, but found instead horror and death.
69
Diatribe
Diatribe (n) Bitter verbal attack The speaker launched into a diatribe against what he called, "the evils of technology"
70
Dichotomy
Dichotomy (n) Division into two usually contradictory parts The philosopher is a dualist who argues that there is a dichotomy between the mind and physical phenomena.

GRE Essential (8 decks)

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