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G Flashcards

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1
Q

gadfly

A

animal-biting fly, an irritating person

Like a gadfly, he irritated all the guests at the hotel; within forty eight hours, everyone regarded him as an annoying busybody.

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2
Q

gaffe

A

social blunder

According to Miss Manners, to call your husband by your lover’s name is worse than a mere gaffe; it is a tactical mistake.

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3
Q

gait

A

manner of walking or running; speed

The lame man walked with an uneven gait.

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4
Q

gall

A

bitterness; nerve

The knowledge of his failure filled him with gall.

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5
Q

gall”

A

annoy; chafe

Their taunts galled him.

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6
Q

galleon

A

large sailing ship

The Spaniards pinned their hopes on the galleon, the large warship; the British, on the smaller and faster pinnace.

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7
Q

galvanize

A

stimulate by shock; stir up

The entire nation was galvanized into strong military activity by the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

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8
Q

gambit

A

opening in chess in which a piece is sacrificed

The player was afraid to accept his opponent’s gambit because he feared a trap which as yet he could not see.

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9
Q

gambol

A

skip; leap playfully

Watching children gamboling in the park is a pleasant experience

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10
Q

gamely

A

in a spirited manner; with courage

Because he had fought gamely against a much superior boxer, the crowd gave him a standing ovation when he left the arena.

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11
Q

gamut

A

entire range

In this performance, the leading lady was able to demonstrate the complete gamut of her acting ability.

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12
Q

gape

A

open widely

The huge pit gaped before him; if he stumbled, he would fall in.

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13
Q

garbled

A

mixed up; jumbled; distorted

A favorite party game involves passing a whispered message from one person to another; by the time it reaches the last player, the message has become totally garbled.

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14
Q

gargantuan

A

huge; enormous

The gargantuan wrestler was terrified of mice.

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15
Q

gargolye

A

waterspout carved in groteque figures on a building

The gargoyles adorning the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris are amusing in their grotesqueness.

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16
Q

garish

A

gaudy

She wore a garish rhinestone necklace.

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17
Q

garner

A

gather; store up

She hoped to garner the world’s literature in one library.

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18
Q

garnish

A

decorate

Parsley was used to garnish the boiled potato.

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19
Q

garrulity

A

talkativeness

The man who married a dumb wife asked the doctor to make him deaf because of his wife’s garrulity after her cure

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20
Q

garrulous

A

excessively talkative, especially about unimportant subjects; loquacious; wordy

Many club members avoided the company of the garrulous junior executive because his contant chatter bored them to tears.

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21
Q

gauche

A

clumsy; boorish

Such remarks are gauche and out of place; you should apologize for making them.

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22
Q

gaudy

A

flashy; showy

Her gaudy taste in clothes apalled us.

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23
Q

gaunt

A

lean and angular; barren

His once-round face looked surprisingly gaunt after he had lost weight.

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24
Q

gawk

A

stare foolishly; look in open-mouthed awe

The country boy gawked at the skyscrapers and neon lights of the big city.

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25
Q

gazette

A

official publication

He read the gazettes regularly for announcement of his promotion.

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26
Q

genealogy

A

record of descent; lineage

He was proud of his genealogy and constantly referred to the achievements of his ancestors.

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27
Q

geniality

A

cheerfulness; kindliness; sympathy

This restaurant is famous and popular because of the geniality of the proprietor, who tries to make everyone happy.

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28
Q

genteel

A

well-bred; elegant

We are looking for a man with a genteel apperance who can inspire confidence by his cultivated manner.

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29
Q

gentility

A

those of gentle birth; refinement

Her family was proud of its gentility and elegance.

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30
Q

gentry

A

people of standing; class of people just below nobility

The local gentry did not welcome the visits of the summer tourists and tried to ignore their presence in the community.

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31
Q

germane

A

pertinent; bearing upon the case at hand

The lawyer objected that the testimony being offered was not germane to the case at hand.

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32
Q

germinal

A

pertaining to a germ; creative

Such an idea is germinal; I am certain that it will influence thinkers and philosophers for many generations.

33
Q

gerontacracy

A

government ruled by old people

Gulliver visited a gerontocracy in which the young people acted as servants to their elders, all the while dreaming of the day they would be old enough to have servants of their own.

34
Q

gerrymander

A

change in voting district lines in order to favor a political party

The illogical pattern of the map of this congressional district is proof that the state legislature gerrymandered this area in order to favor the majority party.

35
Q

gestate

A

evolve, as in prenatal growth

While this scheme was being gestated by the conspirators, they maintained complete silence about their intentions.

36
Q

gesticulation

A

motion; gesture

Operatic performers are trained to make exaggerated gesticulations because of the large auditoriums in whic they appear.

37
Q

ghastly

A

horrible

The murdered man was a ghastly sight.

38
Q

gibe

A

mock

As you gibe at their superstitious beliefs, do you realize that you, too, are guilty of similarly foolish thoughts?

39
Q

giddy

A

light-hearted; dizzy

He felt his giddy youth was past.

40
Q

gingerly

A

very carefully

To separate egg whites, first crack the egg gingerly.

41
Q

girth

A

distance around something; circunference

It took an extra-large cummerbund to fit around Andrew Carnegie’s considerable girth.

42
Q

glaring

A

highly conspicuous; harshly bright

glaring spelling or grammatical errors in your resume will unfavorably impress potential employers.

43
Q

glaze

A

cover with a thin and shiny surface

The freezing rain glazed the streets and made driving hazardous.

44
Q

glean

A

gather leavings

After the crops had been harvested by the machines, the peasants were permitted to glean the wheat left in the fields.

45
Q

glib

A

fluent

He is a glib and articulate speaker.

46
Q

gloat

A

express evil satisfaction; view malevolently

As you gloat over your ill-gotten wealth, do you think of the many victims you have defrauded?

47
Q

gloss over

A

explain away

No matter how hard he tried to talk around the issue, President Bush could not gloss over the fact that he had raised the taxes after all.

48
Q

glower

A

scowl

The angry boy glowered at his father.

49
Q

glut

A

overstock; fill to excess

The many manufacturers glutted the market and could not find purchasers for the many articles they had produced.

50
Q

glutinous

A

sticky; viscous

Molasses is a glutinous substance.

51
Q

gnarled

A

twisted

The gnarled oak tree had been a landmark for years and was mentioned in several deeds.

52
Q

gnome

A

dwarf; underground spirit

In medieval mythology, gnomes were the special guardians and inhabitants of subterranean mines.

53
Q

goad

A

urge on

He was goaded by his friends until he yielded to their wishes.

54
Q

gorge

A

narrow canyon; steep, rocky cleft

Terrified of heights, George could not bring himself to peer down into the gorge to see the rapids below.

**

stuff oneself

The gluttonous guest gorged himself with food as though he had not eaten for days.

55
Q

gory

A

bloody

The audience shuddered as they listened to the details of the gory massacre.

56
Q

gossamer

A

sheer; like cobwebs

Nylon can be woven into gossaner or thick fabrics.

57
Q

gouge

A

tear out

In that fight, all the rules were forgotten; the adversaries bit, kicked, and tried to gouge each other’s eyes out.

58
Q

gourmand

A

epicure; person who takes excessive pleasure in food and drink

goumands lack self-restraint; if they enjoy a particular cuisine, they eat far too much of it.

59
Q

graduated

A

arraged by degree (of height, difficulty, etc.)

Margaret loved her graduated set of Russian hollow wooden dolls; she spent hours happily putting the smaller dolls into their larger counterparts.

60
Q

grandiloquent

A

pompous; bombastic; using high-sounding language

The politician could bever speak simply; she was always grandiloquent.

61
Q

grapple

A

wrestle; come to grips with

He grappled with the burglar and overpowered him.

62
Q

grate

A

make a harsh noise; have an unpleasant effect; shred

The screams of the quarreling children grated on her nerves.

63
Q

gravity

A

seriousness

We could tell we were in serious trouble from the gravity of her expression.

64
Q

grievance

A

cause of complaint

When her supervisor ignored her complaint, she took her grievance to the union.

65
Q

grill

A

question severely

In violation of the Miranda law, the police grilled the suspect for several hours before reading him his rights.

66
Q

grimace

A

a facial distortion to show feeling such as pain, disgust, etc.

Even though he remained silent, his grimace indicated his displeasure.

67
Q

grotesque

A

fantastic; comically hideous

On Halloween people enjoy wearing groteque costumes.

68
Q

grotto

A

small cavern

The Blue Grotto in Capri can be entered only by small boats rowed by natives through a natural opening in the rocks.

69
Q

grouse

A

complain; fuss

Students traditionally grouse about the abysmal quality of “mystery meat” and similar dornitory food.

70
Q

grovel

A

crawl or creep on ground; remain prostrate

Even though we have been defeated, we do not have to grovel before our conquerors.

71
Q

gruel

A

thin, liquid porridge

Our daily allotment of gruel made the meal not only monotonous but also unpalatable.

72
Q

gruff

A

rough-mannered

Although he was blunt and gruff with most people, he was always gentle with children.

73
Q

guffaw

A

boisterous laughter

The loud guffaws that came from the closed room indicated that the members of the committe had not yet settled down to a serious business.

74
Q

guile

A

deceit; duplicity

She achieved her high position by guile and treachery.

75
Q

guileless

A

without deceit

He is naive, simple, and guileless; he cannot be guilty of fraud.

76
Q

guise

A

appearance; costume

In the guise of a plumber, the detective investigated the murder case.

77
Q

gusto

A

enjoyment; enthusiasm

He accepted the assignment with such gusto that I feel he would have been satisfied with a smaller salary.

78
Q
A

GRE (24 decks)

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