GRE Barron's 41-42 Flashcards
resonant
echoing;resounding; deep and full in sound. The deep, resonant voice of the actor James Earl Jones makes him particularly effective when he appears on stage.
respite
interval of relief; time for rest; delay in punishment. For David, the two weeks vacationing in New Zealand were a delightful respite from the pressures of his job.
resplendent
dazzling; glorious; brilliant. While all the adults were commenting how glorious the emperor looked in his resplendent new clothes, one little boy was heard to say, “But he’s naked!”
restitution
reparation; indemnification. He offered to make restitution for the window broken by his son.
restive
restlessly impatient; obstinately resisting control. Waiting impatiently in line to see Santa Claus, even the best-behaved children grow restive and start to fidget.
resumption
taking up again; recommencement. During the summer break, Don had not realized how much he missed university life: at the resumption of classes, however, he felt marked excitement and pleasure.
resurge
rise again; flow to and fro. It was startling to see the spirit of nationalism resurge as the Soviet Union disintegrated into a loose federation of ethnic and national groups.
resuscitate
revive. The lifeguard tried to resuscitate the drowned child by applying artificial respiration.
retain
keep; employ. Fighting to retain his seat in Congress, Senator Foghorn retained a new manager to head his reelection campaign.
retaliation
repayment in kind (usually for bad treatment). Because everyone knew the Princeton band had stolen Brown’s mascot, the whole Princeton student body expected some sort of retaliation from Brown.
retentive
holding; having a good memory. The pupil did not need to spend much time in study as he had a retentive mind.
retinue
following; attendants. The queen’s retinue followed her down the aisle.
retiring
modest; shy. Given Susan’s retiring personality, no one expected her to take up public speaking; surprisingly enough, she became a star of the school debate team.
retort
quick, sharp reply. Even when it was advisable for her to keep her mouth shut, she was always ready with a retort.
retrench
cut down; economize. If they were to be able to send their children to college, they would have to retrench.
retribution
vengeance; compensation; punishment for offenses. The evangelist maintained that an angry deity would exact retribution from the sinners.
retrieve
recover; find and bring in. The dog was intelligent and quickly learned to retrieve the game killed by the hunter.
retroactive
taking effect before its enactment (as a law) or imposition (as a tax). Because the new pension law was retroactive to the first of the year, even though Martha had retired in February she was eligible for the pension.
retrograde
go backwards; degenerate. Instead of advancing, our civilization seems to have retrograded in ethics and culture.
revelry
boisterous merrymaking. New Year’s Eve is a night of revelry.
reverberate
echo; resound. The entire valley reverberated with the sound of the church bells.
reverie
daydream; musing. She was awakened from her reverie by the teacher’s question.
revert
relapse; backslide; turn back to. Most of the time Andy seemed sensitive and mature, but occasionally he would revert to his smart-alecky, macho, adolescent self.
revile
attack with abusive language; vilify. Though most of his contemporaries reviled Captain Kidd as a notorious, bloody-handed pirate, some of his fellow merchant-captains believed him innocent of his alleged crimes.
revoke
cancel; retract. Repeat offenders who continue to drive under the influence of alcohol face having their driver’s licenses permanently revoked.
revulsion
sudden violent change of feeling; negative reaction. Many people in this country who admired dictatorships underwent a revulsion when they realized what Hitler and Mussolini were trying to do.
ribald
wanton; profane; 下品な、みだらな. He sang a ribald song that offended many of the more prudish listeners.
riddle
pierce with holes; permeate or spread throughout. With his machine gun, Tracy riddled the car with bullets till it looked like a slice of Swiss cheese. During the proofreaders’ strike, the newspaper was riddled with typos.
rife
abundant; current; in the face of the many rumors of scandal, which are rife at the moment, it is best to remain silent.
rift
opening; break. The plane was lost in the stormy sky until the pilot saw the city through a rift in the clouds.
rig
fix or manipulate. The ward boss was able to rig the election by bribing people to stuff the ballot boxes with ballots marked in his candidate’s favor.
rigor
severity. Many settlers could not stand the rigors of the New England winters.
rile
vex; irritate; muddy. Red had a hair-trigger temper: he was an easy man to rile.
riveting
absorbing; engrossing; うっとりさせる、魅惑的な. The reviewer described Byatt’s novel Possession as a riveting tale: absorbed in the story, she had finished it in a single evening.
roil
to make liquids murky by stirring up sediment; to disturb. Be careful when you pour not to roil the wine; if you stir up the sediment you’ll destroy the flavor.
roseate
rosy; optimistic. I am afraid you will have to alter your roseate views in the light of the distressing news that has just arrived.
roster
list. They print the roster of players in the season’s program.
rote
repetition. He recited the passage by rote and gave no indication he understood what he was saying.
rotundity
roundness; sonorousness of speech. Washington Irving emphasized the rotundity of the governor by describing his height and circumference.
rousing
lively; stirring. “And now, let’s have a rousing welcome for TV’s own Rosie O’Donnell, who’ll lead us in a rousing rendition of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.”
rout
stampede; drive out; 探し出す、一掃する、追い出す. The reinforcements were able to rout the enemy.
rubble
fragments. Ten years after World War II, some of the rubble left by enemy bombings could still be seen.
ruddy
reddish; healthy-looking. Santa Claus’s ruddy cheeks nicely complement Rudolph the Reindeer’s bright red nose.
rudimentary
not developed; elementary; crude. Although my grandmother’s English vocabulary was limited to a few rudimentary phrases, she always could make herself understood.
ruffian
bully; scoundrel; 悪漢、ごろつき. The ruffians threw stones at the police.
ruminate
chew over and over (mentally or, like cows, physically); mull over; ponder. Unable to digest quickly the baffling events of the day, Reuben ruminated about them till four in the morning.
rummage
ransack; thoroughly search. When we rummaged through the trunks in the attic, we found many souvenirs of our childhood days.
runic
mysterious; set down in an ancient alphabet. Tolkien’s use of Old English words and inscriptions in the runic alphabet give The Lord of the Rings its atmosphere of antiquity.
rusticate
banish to the country; dwell in the country; 田舎に住む、田舎に行かせる. I like city life so much that I can never understand how people can rusticate in the suburbs.
ruthless
pitiless; cruel. Captain Hook was a dangerous ruthless villain who would stop at nothing to destroy Peter Pan.
sacrilegious
desecrating; profane; 不信心の、不謹慎な. His stealing of the altar cloth was a very sacrilegious act.
sacrosanct
most sacred; inviolable. The brash insurance salesman invaded the sacrosanct privacy of the office of the president of the company.
sagacious
perceptive; shrewd; having insight. My father was a sagacious judge of character: he could spot a phony a mile away.
salient
prominent; 目立った、顕著な. One of the salient features of that newspaper is its excellent editorial page.
salvage
rescue from loss. All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.
sanctimonious
displaying ostentatious or hypocritical devoutness; 聖人ぶった. You do not have to be so sanctimonious to prove that you are devout.
sanguinary
bloody. The battle of Iwo Jima was unexpectedly sanguinary, with many casualties.
sanguine
cheerful; hopeful. Let us not be too sanguine about the outcome; something could go wrong.
sap
diminish; undermine. The element kryptonite had an unhealthy effect on Superman: it sapped his strength.
sate
satisfy to the full; cloy. Its hunger sated, the lion dozed.
satire
form of literature in which irony, sarcasm, and ridicule are employed to attack vice and folly. Gulliver’s Travels, which is regarded by many as a tale for children, is actually a bitter satire attacking human folly.
satirical
mocking; 風刺の. The humor of cartoonist Gary Trudeau often is satirical; though the comments of the Doonesbury characters, Trudeau ridicules political corruption and folly.
savory
tasty; pleasing, attractive, or agreeable. Julia Child’s recipes enable amateur chefs to create savory delicacies for their guests.
scad
a great quantity. Refusing Dave’s offer to lend him a shirt, Phil replied, “No, thanks; I’ve got scads of clothes.”
scaffold
temporary platform for workers; bracing framework; platform for execution; 足場、作業台、処刑台. Before painting the house, the workers put up a scaffold to allow them to work on the second story.
scanty
meager; insufficient. Thinking his helping of food was scanty, Oliver Twist asked for more.
schism
division; split. Let us not widen the schism by further bickering.
scintilla
shred; least bit; 微量、閃光. You have not produced a scintilla of evidence to support your argument.
scintillate
sparkle; flash. I enjoy her dinner parties because the food is excellent and the conversation scintillates.
scoff
mock; ridicule. He scoffed at dentists until he had his first toothache.
scotch
stamp out; thwart; hinder; もみ消す、動けなくする. Heather tried to scotch the rumor that she had stolen her best friend’s fiance.
scourge
lash; whip; severe punishment. They feared the plague and regarded it as a deadly scourge.
scruple
fret about; hesitate, for ethical reasons. Fearing that her husband had become involved in an affair, she did not scruple to read his diary.
scrupulous
conscientious; extremely thorough. Though Alfred is scrupulous in fulfilling his duties at work, he is less conscientious about his obligations to his family and friends.
scrutinize
examine closely and critically. Searching for flaws, the sergeant scrutinized every detail of the private’s uniform.
scuffle
struggle confusedly; move off in a confused hurry. The twins briefly scuffled, wrestling to see which of them would get the toy. When their big brother yelled, “Let go of my Gameboy!” they scuffled off down the hall.
scurrilous
obscene; indecent; 下品な. Your scurrilous remarks are especially offensive because they are untrue.
scurry
move briskly; 小走りで行く. The White Rabbit had to scurry to get to his appointment on time.
scurvy
despicable; contemptible; 人間のくずの、卑劣な. Peter Pan sneered at Captain Hook and his scurvy crew.
scuttle
sink. The sailors decided to scuttle their vessel rather than surrender it to the enemy.
seamy
sordid; unwholesome; 縫い目がある、みすぼらしい. In The Godfather, Michael Corleone is unwilling to expose his wife and children to the seamy side of his life as the son of Mafia don.
seasoned
experienced. Though pleased with her new batch of rookies, the basketball coach wished she had a few more seasoned players on the team.
secession
withdrawal. The secession of the Southern states provided Lincoln with his first major problem after his inauguration.
sedate
composed; grave. The parents were worried because they felt their son was too quiet and sedate.
sedentary
requiring sitting. Sitting all day at the computer, Sharon grew to resent the sedentary nature of her job.
seedy
run-down; decrepit; disreputable; みすぼらしい、怪しげな、調子が悪い. I would rather stay in dormitory lodgings in a decent youth hostel than have a room of my own in a seedy downtown hotel.
seemly
proper; appropriate. Lady Bracknell did not think it was seemly for Ernest to lack a proper family: no baby abandoned on a doorstep could grow up to marry her daughter.
seep
ooze; trickle; しみ出る、漏れる. During the rainstorm, water seeped through the crack in the basement wall and damaged the floor boards.
seethe
be disturbed; boil. The nation was seething with discontent as the noblemen continued their arrogant ways.
semblance
outward appearance; guise. Although this book has a semblance of wisdom and scholarship, a careful examination will reveal many errors and omissions.
seminal
germinal; influencing future developments; related to seed or semen. Although Freud has generally been regarded as a seminal thinker who shaped the course of psychology, his psychoanalytic methods have come under attack recently.
sententious
terse; concise; aphoristic; 警句の多い、警句的な文句を好む. After reading so many redundant speeches, I find his sententious style particularly pleasing.
