GRE Barron's 43-44 Flashcards
sequester
isolate; retire from public life; segregate; seclude. Toe prevent the jurors from hearing news broadcasts about the case, the judge decided to sequester the jury.
sere
parched; dry. After the unseasonably dry winter the Berkeley hills looked dusty and sere.
serendipity
gift for finding valuable or desirable things by accident; accidental good fortune or luck. Many scientific discoveries are a matter of serendipity: Newton was not sitting there thinking about gravity when the apple dropped on his head.
serenity
calmness, placidity. The serenity of the sleepy town was shattered by a tremendous explosion.
serpentine
winding; twisting. The car swerved at every curve in the serpentine road.
servitude
slavery; compulsory labor. Born a slave, Douglass resented his life of servitude and plotted to escape to the North.
sever
cut; separate. Dr. Guillotin invented a machine that could neatly sever an aristocratic head from its equally aristocratic body. Unfortunately, he couldn’t collect any severance pay.
shackle
chain; fetter. The criminal’s ankles were shackled to prevent his escape.
sham
pretend. She shammed sickness to get out of going to school.
shambles
wreck; mess. After the hurricane, the Carolina coast was a shambles. After the New Year’s Eve party, the host’s apartment was a shambles.
shaving
very thin piece, usually of wood. As the carpenter pared away the edge of the board with his plane, a small pile of shavings began to accumulate on the floor.
sheaf
bundle of stalks of grain; any bundle of things tied together. The lawyer picked up a sheaf of papers as she rose to question the witness.
sheathe
place into a case. As soon as he recognized the approaching men, he sheathed his dagger and hailed them as friends.
shimmer
glimmer intermittently; 揺らめき、きらめき. The moonlight shimmered on the water as the moon broke through the clouds for a moment.
shirk
avoid (responsibility, work, etc.); malinger. Brian has a strong sense of duty; he would never shirk any responsibility.
shoddy
sham; not genuine; inferior. You will never get the public to buy such shoddy material.
shrewd
clever; astute. A shred investor, she took clever advantage of the fluctuations of the stock market.
shunt
turn aside; divert; sidetrack. If the switchman failed to shunt the Silver Streak onto a side track, the train would plow right into Union Station.
simper
smirk; smile affectedly. Complimented on her appearance, Stella self-consciously simpered.
sinewy
tough; strong and firm. The steak was too sinewy to chew.
sinister
evil. We must defeat the sinister forces that seek our downfall.
skimp
provide scantily; live very economically. They were forced to skimp on necessities in order to make their limited supplies last the winter.
skirmish
minor fight. Custer’s troops expected they might run into a skirmish or two on maneuvers; they did not expect to face a major battle.
skittish
lively; frisky. She is as skittish as a kitten playing with a piece of string.
skulduggery
dishonest behavior. The investigation into municipal corruption turned up new instances of skulduggery daily.
skulk
move furtively and secretly. He skulked through the less fashionable sections of the city in order to avoid meeting any of his former friends.
slacken
slow up; loosen. As they passed the finish line, the runners slackened their pace.
slag
residue from smelting metal; dross; waste matter. The blast furnace had a special opening at the bottom to allow the workers to remove the worthless slag.
slake
quench; sate; 満たす、いやす、和らげる. When we reached the oasis, we were able to slake our thirst.
slander
defamation; utterance of false and malicious statements. Considering the negative comments politicians make about each other, it’s a wonder that more of them aren’t sued for slander.
slapdash
haphazard; careless; sloppy. From the number of typos and misspellings I’ve found in it, it’s clear that Mario proofread the report in a remarkably slapdash fashion.
sleazy
flimsy; unsubstantial; 安っぽい、薄っぺらな. This is a sleazy fabric; it will not wear well.
sleeper
something originally of little value or importance that in time becomes very valuable. Unnoticed by the critics at its publication, the eventual Pulitzer Prize winner was a classic sleeper.
sleight
dexterity; 手練、策略. The magician amazed the audience with his sleight of hand.
slew
large quantity or number. Although Ellen had checked off a number of items on her “To Do” list, she still had a whole slew of errands left.
slight
insult to one’s dignity; snub. Hypersensitive and ready to take offense at any discourtesy, Bertha was always on the lookout for real or imaginary slights.
slipshod
untidy or slovenly; shabby; だらしない、ぞんざいな. As a master craftsman, the carpenter prided himself on never doing slipshod work.
slither
slip or slide. During the recent ice storm, many people slithered down this hill as they walked to the station.
slothful
lazy. The British word “layabout” is a splendid descriptive term for someone slothful: What did the lazy bum do? He lay about the house all day.
slough
cast off; 泥沼の中を歩く. Each spring, the snake sloughs off its skin.
slovenly
untidy; careless in work habits. Unshaven, sitting around in his bathrobe all afternoon, Gus didn’t care about the slovenly appearance he presented.
sluggard
lazy person. “You are a sluggard, a drone, a parasite,” the angry father shouted at his lazy son.
sluggish
slow; lazy; lethargic. After two nights without sleep, she felt sluggish and incapable of exertion.
slur
insult to one’s character or reputation; slander. Polls revealed that the front-runner’s standing had been damaged by the slurs and innuendoes circulated by his opponent’s staff.
slur
speak indistinctly; mumble. When Sol has too much to drink, he starts to slur his words: “Washamater? Cansh you undershtand what I shay?”
smattering
slight knowledge. I don’t know whether it is better to be ignorant of a subject or to have a mere smattering of information about it.
smelt
melt or blend ores, changing their chemical composition. The furnaceman smelts tin with copper to create a special alloy used in making bells.
smirk
conceited smile. Wipe that smirk off your face!
smolder
burn without flame; be liable to break out at any moment. The rags smoldered for hours before they burst into flame.
snicker
Half-stifled laugh. The boy could not suppress a snicker when the teacher sat on the tack.
snivel
run at the nose; snuffle; whine; 鼻水をたらす、すすり泣く. Don’t you come sniveling to me complaining about your big brother.
sojourn
temporary stay. After his sojourn in Florida, he began to long for the colder climate of his native New England home.
solace
comfort in trouble; 慰め、癒し. I hope you will find solace in the thought that all of us share your loss.
solder
repair or make whole by using a metal alloy. The plumber fixed the leak in the pipes by soldering a couple of joints from which water had been oozing.
solecism
construction that is flagrantly incorrect grammatically. I must give this paper a failing mark because it contains many solecisms.
solemnity
seriousness; gravity. The minister was concerned that nothing should disturb the solemnity of the marriage service.
solicit
request earnestly; seek. Knowing she needed to have a solid majority for the budget to pass, the mayor telephoned all the members of the city council to solicit their votes.
solitude
state of being alone; seclusion. Much depends on how much you like your own company. What to one person seems fearful isolation to another is blessed solitude.
soluble
able to be dissolved; able to be worked out. Sugar is soluble in water; put a sugar cube in water and it will quickly dissolve. Because the test-maker had left out some necessary data, the problem was not soluble.
somber
gloomy; depressing. From the doctor’s grim expression, I could tell he had somber news.
somnolent
half asleep. The heavy meal and the overheated room made us all somnolent and indifferent to the speaker.
sonorous
resonant; 音を出す、鳴り響く. His sonorous voice resounded through the hall.
sophistry
seemingly plausible but fallacious reasoning. Instead of advancing valid arguments, he tried to overwhelm his audience with a flood of sophistries.
sophomoric
immature; half-baked, like a sophomore. Even if you’re only a freshman, it’s no compliment to be told your humor is sophomoric, the humor in Dumb and Dumber is sophomoric at best.
sparse
not thick; thinly scattered; scanty. No matter how carefully Albert combed his hair to make it appear as full as possible, it still looked sparse.
spasmodic
fitful; periodic. The spasmodic coughing in the auditorium annoyed the performers.
spat
squabble; minor dispute. What had started out as a mere spat escalated into a full-blown argument.
spate
sudden flood. I am worried about the possibility of a spate if the rains do not diminish soon.
spatial
relating to space. Certain exercises test your sense of spatial relations by asking you to identify two views of an object seen from different points in space.
sphinx-like
enigmatic; mysterious. The Mona Lisa’s sphinx-like expression has puzzled art lovers for centuries.
splice
fasten together; unite. Before you splice two strips of tape together, be sure to line them up evenly.
spontaneity
lack of premeditation; naturalness; freedom from constraint. The cast overrehearsed the play so much that the eventual performance lacked any spontaneity.
sportive
playful. Such a sportive attitude is surprising in a person as serious as you usually are.
spruce
neat and trim. Every button buttoned, tie firmly in place, young Alex Keaton looked spruce and tidy for his job interview at the bank.
spry
vigorously active; nimble. She was eighty years old, yet still spry and alert.
spurious
false; counterfeit; forged; illogical. The hero of Jonathan Gash’s mystery novels is an antique dealer who gives the reader advice on how to tell spurious antiques from the real thing.
spurn
reject; scorn. The heroine spurned the villain’s advances.
squabble
minor quarrel; bickering. Children invariably get involved in petty squabbles; wise parents know when to interfere and when to let the children work things out on their own.
squander
waste. If you squander your allowance on candy and comic books, you won’t have any money left to buy the new box of crayons you want.
squat
stocky; short and thick. Tolkien’s hobbits are somewhat squat, sturdy little creatures, fond of good ale, good music, and good food.
stagnant
motionless; stale; dull. Mosquitoes commonly breed in ponds of stagnant water. Mike’s career was stagnant; it wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was he!
staid
sober; sedate. Her conduct during the funeral ceremony was staid and solemn.
stalemate
deadlock. Negotiations between the union and the employers have reached a stalemate; neither side is willing to budge from previously stated positions.
stalwart
strong, brawny; steadfast. His consistent support of the party has proved that he is a stalwart and loyal member.
steadfast
loyal; unswerving. Penelope was steadfast in her affections, faithfully waiting for Ulysses to return from his wanderings.
steep
soak; saturate. Be sure to steep the fabric in the dye bath for the full time prescribed.
stickler
perfectionist; person who insists things be exactly right. The Internal Revenue Service agent was a stickler for accuracy; no approximations or rough estimates would satisfy him.
stifle
suppress; extinguish; inhibit. Halfway through the boring lecture, Laura gave up trying to stifle her yawns.
stilted
bombastic; stiffly pompous. His stilted rhetoric did not impress the college audience; they were immune to bombastic utterances.
stipend
pay for services; 固定給、俸給. There is a nominal stipend for this position.
stock
typical; standard; kept regularly in supply. Victorian melodramas portrayed stock characters – the rich but wicked villain, the sweet young ingenue, the poor but honest young man – in exaggerated situations. Although the stationery store kept only stock sizes of paper on hand, the staff would special-order any items not regularly in stock.
stodgy
stuffy; boringly conservative. For a young person, Winston seems remarkably stodgy: you’d expect someone his age to have a little more life.
stoke
stir up a fire; feed plentifully; 補給する、かき立てる. As a Scout, Marisa learned how to light a fire, how to stoke it if it started to die down, and how to extinguish it completely.
stratagem
clever trick; deceptive scheme. What a gem of a stratagem! Watson, I have the perfect plan to trick Moriarty into revealing himself.
stratum
layer of earth’s surface; layer of society. Unless we alleviate conditions in the lowest stratum of our society, we may expect grumbling and revolt.
strew
spread randomly; sprinkle; scatter. Preceding the bride to the altar, the flower girl will strew rose petals along the aisle.
stringent
binding; rigid. I think these regulations are too stringent.
studied
unspontaneous; deliberate; thoughtful. Given Jill’s previous slights, Jack felt that the omission of his name from the guest list was a studied insult.
stupor
state of apathy; daze; lack of awareness. In his stupor, the addict was unaware of the vents taking place around him.
stymie
present an obstacle; stump. The detective was stymied by the contradictory evidence in the robbery investigation.
suavity
urbanity; polish; 上品さ、口当たりの良さ、人当たりの良さ. He is particularly good in roles that require suavity and sophistication.
subaltern
subordinate. The captain treated his subalterns as though they were children rather than commissioned officers.
subdued
less intense; quieter. Bob liked the subdued lighting at the restaurant because he thought it was romantic. I just thought the place was dimly lit.
subjugate
occurring or taking place within the mind; unreal. Your analysis is highly subjective; you have permitted your emotions and your opinions to color your thinking.
sublimate
refine; purify. We must strive to sublimate these desires and emotions into worthwhile activities.
sublime
exalted; noble and uplifting; utter; 気品のある、崇高な. Lucy was in awe of Desi’s sublime musicianship, while he was in awe of her sublime naivete.
