GRE Barron's 11-12 Flashcards

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1
Q

connivance

A

pretense of ignorance of something wrong; assistance; permission to offend; 見て見ぬ振りをすること. With the connivance of his friends, he plotted to embarrass the teacher.

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1
Q

connoisseur

A

person competent to act as a judge of art, etc.; a lover of an art. Bernard Berenson, the American art critic and connoisseur of Italian art, was hired by wealthy art lovers to select paintings for their collections.

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1
Q

connotation

A

suggested or implied meaning of an expression. Foreigners frequently are unaware of the connotations of the words they use.

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2
Q

consanguinity

A

kinship. Wanting to be rid of yet another wife, Henry VII sought a divorce on the grounds of consanguinity, claiming their blood relationship was improperly close.

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3
Q

conscientious

A

scrupulous; careful; 良心的な、入念な. A conscientious editor, she checked every definition for its accuracy.

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4
Q

consecrate

A

dedicate; sanctify. In 1804, Napoleon forced Pope Pius VII to come to Paris to consecrate him as emperor, only to humiliate Pius at the last minute by taking the crown from the pope’s hands and crowning himself.

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4
Q

consequential

A

pompous; self-important. Convinced of his own importance, the actor strutted about the dressing room with a consequential air.

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5
Q

consign

A

deliver officially; entrust; set apart. The court consigned the child to her paternal grandmother’s care.

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6
Q

console

A

lessen sadness or disappointment; give comfort. When her father died, Marius did his best to console Cosette.

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7
Q

consonance

A

harmony; agreement. Her agitation seemed out of consonance with her usual calm.

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8
Q

consort

A

associate with. We frequently judge people by the company with whom they consort.

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9
Q

constituent

A

supporter. The congressman received hundreds of letters from angry constituents after the Equal Rights Amendment failed to pass.

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10
Q

construe

A

explain; interpret. If I construe your remarks correctly, you disagree with the theory already advanced.

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11
Q

consummate

A

wholly without flaw; supremely skilled; complete and utter. Free of her father’s autocratic rule, safely married to the man she loved, Elizabeth Barrett Browning felt consummate happiness.

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12
Q

contempt

A

scorn; disdain. The heavyweight boxer looked on ordinary people with contempt, scorning them as weaklings who couldn’t hurt a fly. We thought it was contemptible of him to be contemptuous of people for being weak.

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13
Q

contend

A

struggle; compete; assert earnestly. In Revolt of the Black Athlete, sociologist Harry Edwards contends that young black athletes have been exploited by some college recruiters.

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14
Q

contention

A

claim; thesis. It is our contention that, if you follow our tactics, you will boost your score on the GRE.

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15
Q

contentious

A

quarrelsome. Disagreeing violently with the referee’s ruling, the coach became so contentious that the referees threw him out of the game.

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16
Q

contiguous

A

adjacent to; touching upon. The two countries are contiguous for a few miles; then they are separated by the gulf.

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17
Q

contortions

A

twistings; distortions. As the effects of the opiate wore away, the contortions of the patient became more violent and demonstrated how much pain she was enduring.

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17
Q

contravene

A

contradict; oppose; infringe on or transgress. Mr. Barrett did not expect his frail daughter Elizabeth to contravene his will by eloping with Robert Browning.

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17
Q

contrite

A

penitent; 深く悔いている. Her contrite tears did not influence the judge when he imposed sentence.

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18
Q

contrived

A

forced; artificial; not spontaneous. Feeling ill at ease with his new in-laws, James made a few contrived attempts at conversation and then retreated into silence.

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19
Q

controvert

A

oppose with arguments; attempt to refute; contradict. The witness’s testimony was so clear and her reputation for honesty so well established that the defense attorney decided it was wiser to make no attempt to controvert what she said.

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20
Q

contumacious

A

disobedient; resisting authority. The contumacious mob shouted defiantly at the police.

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21
Q

conundrum

A

riddle; difficult problem. During the long car ride, she invented conundrums to entertain the children.

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22
Q

convene

A

assemble. Because much needed legislation had to be enacted, the governor ordered the legislature to convene in special session by January 15.

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23
Q

conversant

A

familiar with. In this age of specialization, someone reasonably conversant with modern French literature may be wholly unacquainted with the novels of Latin America and Spain.

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23
Q

conveyance

A

vehicle; transfer. During the transit strike, commuters used various kinds of conveyances.

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24
Q

conviction

A

judgement that someone is guilty of a crime; strongly held belief. Even her conviction for murder did not shake Lord Peter’s conviction that Harriet was innocent of the crime..

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25
Q

convoke

A

call together. Congress was convoked at the outbreak of the emergency.

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25
Q

convoluted

A

coiled around; involved; intricate. His argument was so convoluted that few of us could follow it intelligently.

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26
Q

copious

A

plentiful. She had copious reasons for rejecting the proposal.

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27
Q

cordial

A

gracious; heartfelt; 思いやりのある. Our hosts greeted us at the airport with a cordial welcome and a hearty hug.

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28
Q

corollary

A

consequence; accompaniment. Brotherly love is a complex emotion, with sibling rivalry its natural corollary.

29
Q

corporeal

A

bodily; material. The doctor had no patience with spiritual matters: his job was to attend to his patients’ corporeal problems, not to minister to their souls.

29
Q

corroborate

A

confirm; support. Though Huck was quite willing to corroborate Tom’s story, Aunt Polly knew better than to believe either of them.

30
Q

corrosive

A

eating away by chemicals or disease. Stainless steel is able to withstand the effects of corrosive chemicals.

30
Q

coterie

A

group that meets socially; select circle. After his book had been published, he was invited to join the literary coterie that lunched daily at the hotel.

31
Q

countenance

A

approve; tolerate. Miss Manners refused to countenance such rude behavior on their part.

31
Q

countermand

A

cancel; revoke. The general countermanded the orders issued in his absence.

32
Q

covenant

A

agreement. We must comply with the terms of the covenant.

33
Q

covert

A

secret; hidden; implied. Investigations of the Central Intelligence Agency and other secret service networks reveal that such covert operations can get out of control.

34
Q

covetous

A

avaricious; eagerly desirous of. The poor man wants many things; the covetous ma, all.

35
Q

cow

A

terrorize; intimidate. The little boy was so cowed by the hulking bully that he gave up his lunch money without a word of protest.

36
Q

cower

A

shrink quivering, as fro fear. The frightened child cowered in the corner of the room.

37
Q

coy

A

shy; modest; coquettish. Reluctant to commit herself so early in the game, Kay was coy in her answers to Ken’s offer.

38
Q

cozen

A

cheat; hoodwink; swindle. He was the kind of individual who would cozen his friends in a cheap card game but remain eminently ethical in all his business dealings.

39
Q

crabbed

A

sour; peevish; 気難しい、ひねくれた. The children avoided the crabbed old man because he scolded them when they made noise.

40
Q

crass

A

very unrefined; grossly insensible. The film critic deplored the crass commercialism of movie-makers who abandon artistic standards in order to make a quick buck.

41
Q

craven

A

cowardly. Lillian’s craven refusal to join the protest was criticized by her comrades, who had expected her to be brave enough to stand up for her beliefs.

42
Q

credence

A

belief. Do not place any credence in his promises.

43
Q

credo

A

creed; 信条. Just two months before his death, as he talked about life with some friends, the writer Jack London proclaimed his credo: “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

44
Q

credulity

A

belief on slight evidence; gullibility. Con artists take advantage of the credulity of inexperienced investors to swindle them out of their savings.

45
Q

crestfallen

A

dejected; dispirited; うなだれた、意気消沈した. We were surprised at his reaction to the failure of his project; instead of being crestfallen, he was busily engaged in planning new activities.

45
Q

crevice

A

crack; fissure. The mountain climbers found footholds in the tiny crevices in the mountainside.

46
Q

cringe

A

shrink back, as if in fear. The dog cringed, expecting a blow.

47
Q

crotchety

A

eccentric; whimsical. Although he was reputed to be a crotchety old gentleman, I found his ideas substantially sound and sensible.

48
Q

crux

A

essential or main point. This is the crux of the entire problem: everything centers on its being resolved.

49
Q

cryptic

A

mysterious; hidden; secret. Thoroughly baffled by Holmes’s cryptic remarks, Watson wondered whether Holmes was intentionally concealing his thoughts about the crime.

50
Q

cull

A

pick out; reject. Every month the farmer culls the nonlaying hens from his flock and sells them to the local butcher.

51
Q

culmination

A

attainment of highest point. His inauguration as President of the United States marked the culmination of his political career.

52
Q

culpable

A

deserving blame. Corrupt politicians who condone the activities of the gamblers are equally culpable.

53
Q

cumbersome

A

heavy; hard to manage. She was burdened with cumbersome parcels.

54
Q

cupidity

A

greed. The defeated people could not satisfy the cupidity of the conquerors, who demanded excessive tribute.

55
Q

curator

A

superintendent; manager. The members of the board of trustees of the museum expected the new curator to plan events and exhibits that would make the museum more popular.

56
Q

cursory

A

casual; hastily done. Because a cursory examination of the ruins indicates the possibility of arson, we believe the insurance agency should undertake a more extensive investigation of the fire’s cause.

57
Q

curtail

A

shorten; reduce. When Elton asked Cher for a date, she said she was really sorry she couldn’t go out with him, but her dad had ordered her to curtail her social life.

57
Q

cynosure

A

object of general attention. As soon as the movie star entered the room, she became the cynosure of all eyes.

58
Q

dabble

A

work at in a nonserious fashion; splash around. The amateur painter dabbled at art, but seldom produced a finished piece.

59
Q

dally

A

trifle with; procrastinate; 不真面目に扱う、時間を無駄に過ごす. Laertes told Ophelia that Hamlet would only dally with her affections.

60
Q

damp

A

lessen in intensity; diminish; mute. Not even the taunts of his brother, who considered ballet no proper pursuit for a lad, could damp Billy Elliot’s enthusiasm for dancing.

61
Q

dapper

A

neat and trim. In The Odd Couple, Tony Randall played Felix Unger, an excessively dapper soul who could not stand to have a hair out of place.

62
Q

dappled

A

spotted; まだらの. The sunlight filtering through the screens created a dappled effect on the wall.

63
Q

dauntless

A

bold. Despite the dangerous nature of the undertaking, the dauntless soldier volunteered for the assignment.

63
Q

dawdle

A

loiter; waste time. We have to meet a deadline. Don’t dawdle; just get down to work.

64
Q

deadpan

A

wooden; impassive; まじめ腐った、無表情な. We wanted to see how long he could maintain his deadpan expression.

65
Q

dearth

A

scarcity. The dearth of skilled labor compelled the employers to open trade schools.

66
Q

debacle

A

sudden downfall; complete disaster. In the Airplane movies every flight turns into a debacle, with passengers and crew members collapsing, engines falling apart, and carry-on baggage popping out of the overhead bins.

67
Q

debase

A

reduce the quality or value; lower in esteem; degrade. In The King and I, Anna refuses to kneel down and prostrate herself before the king; she feels that to do so would debase her position, and she will not submit to such debasement.

68
Q

debauch

A

corrupt; seduce from virtue. Did Socrates’ teachings lead the young men of Athens to be virtuous citizens, or did they debauch the young men, causing them to question the customs of their fathers? Clearly, Socrates’ philosophical talks were nothing like the wild debauchery of the toga parties in Animal House.

69
Q

debilitate

A

weaken; enfeeble. Michael’s severe bout of the flu debilitated him so much that he was too tired to go to work for a week.

70
Q

debonair

A

urbane and suave; amiable; cheerful and carefree; 礼儀正しい、愛想のいい. Reporters frequently describe polished and charming leading men as debonair.

71
Q

debunk

A

expose as false, exaggerated, worthless, etc.; ridicule. Pointing out that he consistently had voted against strengthening antipollution legislation, reporters debunked the candidate’s claim that he was a fervent environmentalist.

72
Q

decadence

A

decay. The moral decadence of the people was reflected in the lewd literature of the period.

73
Q

decapitate

A

behead; の頭部(指導部)を(除去)排除する. They did not hang Lady Jane Grey; they decapitated her. “Off with her head!” cried the Duchess, eager to decapitate poor Alice.