GRE Barron's 33-34 Flashcards
obstinate
stubborn; hard to control or treat. We tried to persuade him to give up smoking, but he was obstinate and refused to change.
obstreperous
boisterous; noisy; 手に負えない、騒々しい. What do you do when an obstreperous horde of drunken policemen carouses through your hotel, crashing into potted plants and sinning vulgar songs?
obtrude
push (oneself or one’s ideas) forward or intrude; butt in; stick out or extrude. Because Fanny was reluctant to obtrude her opinions about child-raising upon her daughter-in-law, she kept a close watch on her tongue.
obtuse
blunt; stupid. What can you do with somebody who’s so obtuse that he can’t even tell that you’re insulting him?
odious
hateful; vile. Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters had the odious habit of popping their zits in public.
odium
detestation; hatefulness; disrepute. Prince Charming could not express the odium he felt toward Cinderella’s stepsisters because of their mistreatment of poor Cinderella.
odoriferous
giving off an odor. The odoriferous spices stimulated her jaded appetite.
odorous
having an odor. This variety of hybrid tea rose is more odorous than the one you have in your garden.
offhand
casual; done without prior thought. Expecting to be treated with due propriety by her hosts, Great-Aunt Maud was offended by their offhand manner.
ogle
look at amorously; make eyes at. At the coffee house, Walter was too shy to ogle the pretty girls openly; instead, he peeked out at them from behind a rubber plant.
ominous
threatening. Those clouds are ominous; they suggest that a severe storm is on the way.
omnipresent
universally present; ubiquitous. On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus is omnipresent.
omniscient
all-knowing. I do not pretend to be omniscient, but I am positive about this fact.
onslaught
vicious assault. We suffered many casualties during the unexpected onslaught of the enemy troops.
onus
burden; responsibility. The emperor was spared the onus of singing the surrender papers; instead, he relegated the assignment to his generals.
opaque
dark; not transparent. The opaque window shade kept the sunlight out of the room.
opiate
medicine to induce sleep or deaden pain; something that relieves emotions or causes inaction. To say that religion is the opiate of the people is to condemn religion as a drug that keeps the people quiet and submissive to those in power.
opportune
timely; well-chosen. Cher looked at her father struggling to balance his checkbook; clearly this would not be an opportune moment to ask him for an increase in her allowance.
opportunist
individual who sacrifices principles for expediency by taking advantage of circumstances; 日和見主義者、都合のいい時を知っている人. Forget about ethics! He’s such an opportunist that he’ll vote in favor of any deal that will give him a break.
opulence
extreme wealth; luxuriousness; abundance. The glitter and opulence of the ballroom took Cinderella’s breath away.
opus
work. Although many critics hailed his Fifth Symphony, he did not regard it as his major opus.
oracular
prophetic; uttered as if with divine authority; mysterious or ambiguous. Like many others who sought divine guidance from the oracle at Delphi, Oedipus could not understand the enigmatic oracular warning he received.
orator
public speaker. The abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a brilliant orator whose speeches brought home to his audience the evils of slavery.
ordeal
severe trial or affliction. June was so painfully shy that it was an ordeal for her to speak up when the teacher called on her in class.
ordinance
decree; 条例、しきたり. Passing a red light is a violation of a city ordinance.
orgy
wild, drunken revelry; unrestrained indulgence; 飲めや歌えの大騒ぎ、熱狂. The Roman emperor’s orgies were far wilder than the toga party in the movie Animal House. When her income tax refund check finally arrived, Sally indulged in an orgy of shopping.