GRE Barron's 19-20 Flashcards
fallacy
mistaken idea based on flawed reasoning; invalid argument. The challenge that today’s social scientists face is to use computers in ways that are most suited to them without falling into the fallacy that, by themselves, computers can guide and organize the study of human society.
fallible
liable to err; 誤りを犯しがちな、(情報が)当てにならない. Although I am fallible, I feel confident that I am right this time.
falter
hesitate. When told to dive off the hight board, she did not falter, but proceeded at once.
fancied
imagined; unreal. One of the carpal (wrist) bones, the navicular bone was given its name because of its fancied resemblance to a boat.
fancy
notion; whim; inclination. Martin took a fancy to paint his toenails purple.
farce
broad comedy; mockery; 茶番. Nothing went right; the entire interview degenerated into a farce.
fastidious
difficult to please; squeamish. Bobby was such a fastidious eater that he would eat a sandwich only if his mother first cut off every scarp of crust.
fathom
comprehend; investigate. I find his motives impossible to fathom; in fact, I’m totally clueless about what goes on in his mind.
faze
disconcert; dismay; 慌てさせる、困らせる. No crisis could faze the resourceful hotel manager.
febrile
feverish; 熱の（ある）. In his febrile condition, he was subject to nightmares and hallucinations.
feckless
feeble and ineffective; careless and irresponsible. Richard II proved such a feckless ruler that Bolingbroke easily convinced Parliament to elect him king in Richard’s place.
fecundity
fertility; fruitfulness. The fecundity of her mind is illustrated by the many vivid images in her poems.
feign
pretend. Lady Macbeth feigned illness in the courtyard although she was actually healthy.
felicity
happiness; appropriateness (of a remark, choice, etc.). She wrote a note to the newlyweds wishing them great felicity in their wedded life.
fell
cruel; deadly. The newspapers told of the tragic spread of the fell disease.
fell
cut or knock down; bring down (with a missile). Crying “Timber!” Paul Bunyan felled the mighty redwood tree. Robin Hood loosed his arrow and felled the king’s deer.
felon
person convicted of a grave crime; 重犯罪人. A convicted felon loses the right to vote.
ferment
agitation; commotion; 発酵、興奮、混乱. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, much of Eastern Europe was in a state of ferment.
ferret
drive or hunt out of hiding. She ferreted out their secret.
fervent
ardent; hot. She felt that the fervent praise was excessive and somewhat undeserved.
fervid
ardent; 熱烈な、熱情的な. Her fervid enthusiasm inspired all of us to undertake the dangerous mission.
fester
rankle; produce irritation or resentment. Joe’s insult festered in Anne’s mind for days, and made her too angry to speak to him.
festive
joyous; celebratory. Their wedding in the park was a festive occasion.
fickle
changeable; faithless. As soon as Romeo saw Juliet, he forgot all about his crush on Rosaline, Was Romeo fickle?
fictitious
imaginary. Although this book purports to be a biography of George Washington, many of the incidents are fictitious.
figment
invention; imaginary thing. Was he hearing real voices in the night, or were they just a figment of his imagination?
filch
steal. The boys filched apples from the fruit stand.
finicky
too particular; fussy. The little girl was finicky about her food, leaving anything that wasn’t to her taste.
firebrand
hothead; troublemaker. The police tried to keep track of all the local firebrands when the president came to town.
fitful
spasmodic; intermittent; 断続的な、気まぐれな. After several fitful attempts, he decided to postpone the start of the project until he felt more energetic.
flaccid
flabby; しおれた、たるんだ. His sedentary life had left him with flaccid muscles.
flagrant
conspicuously wicked; blatant; outrageous; 目に余る、言語道断の. The governor’s appointment of his brother-in-law to the state Supreme Court was a flagrant violation of the state laws against nepotism (favoritism based on kinship).
flail
thresh grain by hand; strike or slap; toss about; 連打する、を殻ざおで打つ. In medieval times, warriors flailed their foe with a metal ball attached to a handle.
flair
talent. She has an uncanny flair for discovering new artists before the public has become aware of their existence.
flamboyant
ornate; これ見よがしの、見せびらかしの. Modern architecture has discarded the flamboyant trimming on buildings and emphasizes simplicity of line.
flaunt
display ostentatiously; を見せびらかす. Mae West saw nothing wrong with showing off her considerate physical charms, saying, “Honey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it!”
flay
strip off skin; plunder; whip; attack with harsh criticism. The reviewer’s stinging comments flayed the actress’s sensitive spirit. How could she go on, after such a vicious attack?
fleck
spot; 小さな点、しみ. Pollack’s coveralls, flecked with paint, bore witness to the sloppiness of the spatter school of art.
fleece
rob; plunder. The tricksters fleeced him of his inheritance.
flinch
hesitate; shrink. She did not flinch in the face of danger but fought back bravely.
flippant
lacking proper seriousness. When Mark told Mona he loved her, she dismissed his earnest declaration with a flippant “Oh, you say that to all the girls!”
flit
fly; dart lightly; pass swiftly by. Like a bee flitting from flower to flower, Rose flitted from one boyfriend to the next.
flounder
struggle and thrash about; proceed clumsily or falter; もがく、じたばたする. Up to his knees in the bog, Floyd floundered about, trying to regain his footing.
fluctuate
waver; shift. The water pressure in our shower fluctuates wildly; you start rinsing yourself off with a trickle, and two minutes later a blast of water nearly knocks you off your feet. I’ll never get used to these fluctuations.
fluster
confuse. The teacher’s sudden question flustered him and he stammered his reply.
foible
weakness; slight fault. We can overlook the foibles of our friends; no one is perfect.
foil
contrast. In Star Wars, dark, evil Darth Vader is a perfect foil for fair-haired, naive Luke Skywalker.
foil
defeat; frustrate. In the end, Skywalker is able to foil Vader’s diabolical schemes.
foist
insert improperly; palm off. I will not permit you to foist such ridiculous ideas upon the membership of this group.
foray
raid; 急襲、進出. The company staged a midnight foray against the enemy outpost.
forebears
ancestors. Reverence for one’s forebears (sometimes referred to as ancestor worship) plays an important part in many Oriental cultures.
foreboding
premonition of evil; (悪い)予感、虫の知らせ、前兆. Suspecting no conspiracies against him, Caesar gently ridiculed his wife’s forebodings about the Ides of March.
foreshadow
give an indication beforehand; portend; prefigure; 前兆となる、予示する. In retrospect, political analysts realized that Yeltsin’s defiance of the attempted coup foreshadowed his emergence as the dominant figure of the new Russian republic.
foresight
ability to foresee future happenings; prudence. A wise investor, she had the foresight to buy land just before the current real estate boom.
forgo
give up; do without. Determined to lose weight for the summer, Ida decided to forgo dessert until she could fit into a size eight again.
forlorn
sad and lonely; wretched. Deserted by her big sisters and her friends, the forlorn child sat sadly on the steps awaiting their return.
forsake
desert; abandon; renounce. No one expected Foster to forsake his wife and children and run off with another woman.
forthright
straightforward; direct; frank. I prefer Jill’s forthright approach to Jack’s tendency to beat around the bush.
fortitude
bravery; courage. He was awarded the medal for his fortitude in the battle.
fortuitous
accidental; by chance. Though he pretended their encounter was fortuitous, he’d actually been hanging around her usual haunts for the past two weeks, hoping she’d turn up.
frail
weak. The delicate child seemed too frail to lift the heavy carton.
frantic
wild. At the time of the collision, many people became frantic with feat.
fraudulent
cheating; deceitful. The government seeks to prevent fraudulent and misleading advertising.
fraught
filed or charged with; causing emotional distress. “Parenting, like brain surgery, is now all-consuming, fraught with anxiety, worry, and self-doubt. We have allowed what used to be simple and natural to become bewildering and intimidating.” (Fred Gosman)
fray
brawl; 口論、けんか. The three musketeers were in the thick of the fray.
frenetic
frenzied; frantic. The novels of the beat generation reflect a frenetic, restless pursuit of new sensation and experience, and a disdain for the conventional measures of economic and social success.
frenzied
madly excited. As soon as they smelled smoke, the frenzied animals milled about in their cages.
fret
be annoyed or vexed. To fret over your poor grades is foolish; instead, decide to work harder in the future.
frigid
intensely cold. Alaska is in the frigid zone.
fritter
waste. He could not apply himself to any task and frittered away his time in idle conversation.
frivolous
lacking in seriousness; self-indulgently carefree; relatively unimportant. Though Nancy enjoyed Bill’s frivolous, lighthearted companionship, she sometimes wondered whether he could ever be serious.
frolicsome
prankish; gay; 跳ね回る、陽気な. The frolicsome puppy tried to lick the face of its master.
fruition
bearing of fruit; fulfillment; realization. After years of scrimping and saving, her dream of owning her own home finally came to fruition.
fugitive
fleeting or transitory; roving; 逃亡の、変わりやすい、つかの間の. The film brought a few fugitive images to her mind, but on the whole it made no lasting impression upon her.
functionary
official. As his case was transferred from one functionary to another, he began to despair of ever reaching a settlement.
furtive
stealthy; sneaky. Noticing the furtive glance the customer gave the diamond bracelet on the counter, the jeweler wondered whether he had a potential shoplifter on his hands.
gaffe
social blunder; 失敗、へま、失言. According to Miss Manners, to call your husband by your lover’s name is worse than a mere gaffe; it is a tactical mistake.
