GRE Barron's 21-22 Flashcards
gait
manner of walking or running; speed. The lame man walked with an uneven gait.
gale
windstorm; gust of wind; emotional outburst (laughter, teats). The Weather Channel warned viewers about a rising gale, with winds of up to 60 mies per hour.
gall
bitterness; nerve. The knowledge of his failure filled him with gall.
galvanize
stimulate by shock; stir up; revitalize. News that the prince was almost at their door galvanized the ugly stepsisters into a frenzy of combing and primping.
gamely
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.
gamut
entire range. In a classic put-down of actress Katharine Hepburn, the critic Dorothy Parker wrote that the actress ran the gamut of emotions from A to B.
gape
open widely. The huge pit gaped before him; if he stumbled, he would fall in. Slack-jawed in wonder, Huck gaped at the huge stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the limestone cavern.
gargantuan
huge; enormous. The gargantuan wrestler was terrified of mice.
garish
overbright in color; gaudy. She wore a rhinestone necklace with a garish red and gold dress trimmed with sequins.
garner
gather; store up. In her long career as an actress, Katharine Hepburn garnered many awards, including the coveted Oscar.
garnish
decorate. Parsley was used to garnish the boiled potato.
gaudy
flashy; showy. The newest Trump skyscraper is typically gaudy, covered in gilded panels that gleam in the sun.
gawk
stare foolishly; look in open-mouthed awe. The country boy gawked at the skyscrapers and neon lights of the big city.
genealogy
record of descent; lineage. He was proud of his genealogy and constantly referred to the achievements of his ancestors.
genteel
Well-bred; elegant. We are looking for a man with a genteel appearance who can inspire confidence by his cultivated manner.
gentility
those of gentle birth; refinement; 育ちの良さ. Her family was proud of its gentility and elegance.
genuflect
bend the knee as in worship. A proud democrat, he refused to genuflect to any man.
germane
pertinent; bearing upon the case at hand. The lawyer objected that the testimony being offered was not germane to the case at hand.
germinal
pertaining to a germ; creative; (発達段階の)初期の. Such an idea is germinal; I am certain that it will influence thinkers and and philosophers for many generations.
germinate
cause to sprout; sprout. After the seeds germinate and develop their permanent leaves, the plants may be removed from the cold frames and transplanted to the garden.
gestate
evolve, as in prenatal growth. While this scheme was being gestated by the conspirators, they maintained complete silence about their intentions.
ghastly
horrible. The murdered man was a ghastly sight.
gibberish
nonsense; babbling. Did you hear that foolish boy spouting gibberish about monsters from outer space?
gibe
mock; からかう、ばかにする. As you gibe at their superstitious beliefs, do you realize that you, too, are guilty of similarly foolish thoughts?
giddy
Light-hearted; dizzy. He felt his giddy youth was past.
gingerly
very carefully. To separate egg whites, first crash the egg gingerly.
girth
distance around something; circumference. It took an extra-large cummerbund to fit around Andrew Carnegie’s considerable girth.
gist
essence. She was asked to give the gist of the essay in two sentences.
glaring
highly conspicuous; harshly bright; ギラギラ輝く、明白な. Glaring spelling or grammatical errors in your resume will unfavorably impress potential employers.
glaze
cover with a thin and shiny surface. The freezing rain glazed the streets and made driving hazardous.
glean
gather leavings. After the crops had been harvested by the machines, the peasants were permitted to glean the wheat left in the fields.
glimmer
shine erratically; twinkle. In the darkness of the cavern, the glowworms hanging from the cavern roof glimmered like distant stars.
gloat
express evil satisfaction; view malevolently. As you gloat over your ill-gotten wealth, do you think of the many victims you have defrauded?
gloss over
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 taxes after all.
glossy
smooth and shining. I want this photograph printed on glossy paper, not matte.
glower
scowl; 睨みつける. The angry boy glowered at his father.
glutinous
sticky; viscous. Molasses is a glutinous substance.
gorge
stuff oneself. The gluttonous guest gorged himself with food as though he had not eaten for days.
gory
bloody. The audience shuddered as they listened to the details of the gory massacre
graduated
arranged by degrees (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.
grandeur
impressiveness; stateliness; majesty. No matter how often he hiked through the mountains, David never failed to be struck by the grandeur of the Sierra Nevada range.
grandiose
pretentious; high-flown; ridiculously exaggerated; impressive. The aged matinee idol still had grandiose notions of his supposed importance in the theatrical world.
grapple
wrestle; come to grips with. He grappled with the burglar and overpowered him.
grate
make a harsh noise; have an unpleasant effect; shred. The screams of the quarreling children grated on her nerves.
gratify
please. Lori’s parents were gratified by her successful performance on the GRE.
gratis
free. The company offered to give one package gratis to every purchaser of one of their products.
gratuitous
given freely; unwarranted; uncalled for. Quit making gratuitous comments about my driving; no one asked you for your opinion.
grievance
cause of complaint. When her supervisor ignored her complaint, she took her grievance to the union.
grill
question severely. In violation of the Miranda law, the police grilled the suspect for several hours before reading him his rights.
grisly
ghastly. She shuddered at the grisly sight.
grovel
crawl or creep on ground; remain prostrate; 腹這う、ひれ伏す. Even though we have been defeated, we do not have to grovel before our conquerors.
grudging
unwilling; reluctant; stingy. We received only grudging support from the mayor despite his earlier promises of aid.
grueling
exhausting. The marathon is a grueling race.
gruff
rough-mannered. Although he was blunt and gruff with most people, he was always gentle with children.
gull
trick; hoodwink. Confident no one could gull him, Pul prided himself on his skeptical disposition.
gusto
enjoyment; enthusiasm. He accepted the assignment with such gusto that I feel he would have been satisfied with a smaller salary.
gusty
windy. The gusty weather made sailing precarious.
habituate
accustom or familiarize; addict. Macbeth gradually habituated himself to murder, shedding his scruples as he grew accustomed to his bloody deeds.
hackneyed
commonplace; trite. When the reviewer criticized the movie for its hackneyed plot, we agreed; we had seen similar stories hundreds of times before.
haggard
wasted away; gaunt; やつれた. After his long illness, he was pale and haggard.
haggle
argue about prices. I prefer to shop in a store that has a one-price policy because, whenever I haggle with a shopkeeper, I am never certain that I paid a fair price for the articles I purchased.
hale
healthy. After a brief illness, he was soon hale.
halting
hesitant; faltering. Novice extemporaneous speakers often talk in a halting fashion as they grope for the right words.
hamper
obstruct. The new mother hadn’t realized how much the effort of caring for an infant would hamper her ability to keep an immaculate house.
hap
chance; luck. In his poem Hap, Thomas Hardy objects to the part chance plays in our lives.
haphazard
random; by chance. His haphazard reading left him unacquainted with many classic books.
hapless
unfortunate. This hapless creature had never known a moment’s pleasure.
harbinger
forerunner; 先駆者、前触れ. The crocus is an early harbinger of spring.
harbor
provide a refuge for; hide. The church harbored illegal aliens who were political refugees.
hardy
sturdy; robust; able to stand inclement weather; 頑丈な、たくましい、図々しい. We asked the gardening expert to recommend particularly hardy plants that could withstand our harsh New England winters.
harping
tiresome dwelling on a subject. After he had reminded me several times about what he had done for me I told him to stop his harping on my indebtedness to him.
harry
harass, annoy, torment; raid. The guerrilla band harried the enemy nightly.
haughtiness
pride; arrogance. When she realized that Darcy believed himself too good to dance with his inferiors, Elizabeth took great offense at his haughtiness.
haven
place of safety; refuge. For Ricardo, the school library became his haven, a place to which he could retreat during chaotic times.
hazy
slightly obscure. In hazy weather, you cannot see the top of this mountain.
headlong
hasty; rash. The slave seized the unexpected chance to make a headlong dash across the border to freedom.
heckler
person who verbally harasses others. The heckler kept interrupting the speaker with rude remarks.
hedonist
one who believes that pleasure is the sole aim in life. A thoroughgoing hedonist, he considered only his own pleasure and ignored any claims others had on his money or time.
heedless
not noticing; disregarding. She drove on, heedless of the warnings that the road was dangerous.
hegemony
dominance, especially of one nation over others. As one Eastern European nation after another declared its independence, commentators marveled at the sudden breakdown of the once monolithic Soviet hegemony.
heinous
atrocious; hatefully bad. Hitler’s heinous crimes will never be forgotten.
heresy
opinion contrary to popular belief; opinion contrary to accepted religion. Galileo’s assertion that the earth moved around the sun directly contradicted the religious teachings of his day; as a result, he was tried for heresy.
hermitage
home of a hermit; 隠者の住処、隠れ家. Even in his remote hermitage he could not escape completely from the world.
hiatus
gap; pause. Except for a brief two-year hiatus, during which she enrolled in the Peace Corps, Ms. Clements has devoted herself to her medical career.
