GRE Barron's 49-50 Flashcards
veneer
thin layer; cover. Casual acquaintances were deceived by his veneer of sophistication and failed to recognize his fundamental shallowness.
venerable
deserving high respect. We do not mean to be disrespectful when we refuse to follow the advice of our venerable leader.
venial
forgivable; trivial. When Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving sister, he committed a venial offense.
venom
poison; hatred. Bitten on his ankle by a venomous snake, the cowboy contortionist curled up like a pretzel and sucked the venom out of the wound.
vent
express; utter. He vented his wrath on his class.
ventral
abdominal; 前面の、腹部の. We shall now examine the ventral plates of this serpent, not the dorsal side.
ventriloquist
someone who can make his or her voice seem to come from another person or thing. This ventriloquist does an act in which she has a conversation with a wooden dummy.
venture
risk; dare; undertake a risk. Fearing to distress the actors, the timorous reviewer never ventured to criticize a performance in harsh terms.
venturesome
bold; 向こう見ずな. A group of venturesome women were the first to scale Mt. Annapurna.
veracity
truthfulness. Trying to prove Hill a liar, Senator Spector repeatedly questioned her veracity.
verbalize
put into words. I know you don’t like to talk about these things, but please try to verbalize your feelings.
verbatim
word for word. He repeated the message verbatim.
verbiage
pompous array of words. After we had waded through all the verbiage, we discovered that the writer had said very little.
verge
border; edge. Madame Curie knew she was on the verge of discovering the secrets of radioactive elements.
verisimilar
probable or likely; having the appearance of truth. Something verisimilar is very similar to the truth, or at least seems to be.
verisimilitude
appearance of truth; likelihood. Critics praised her for the verisimilitude of her performance as Lady Macbeth. She was completely believable.
veritable
actual; being truly so; not false or imaginary. At his computer, Pavel is a veritable wizard, creating graphic effects that seem magical to programmers less skilled than he.
verity
quality of being true; lasting truth or principle. Do you question the verity of Kato Kaelin’s testimony about what he heard the night Nicole Brown Simpson was slain? To the skeptic, everything was relative: there were no eternal verities in which one could believe.
verve
enthusiasm; liveliness. She approached her studies with such verve that it was impossible for her to do poorly.
vestige
trace; remains. We discovered vestiges of early Indian life in the cave.
vicarious
acting as a substitute; done by a deputy. Many people get a vicarious thrill at the movies by imagining they are the characters on the screen.
vicissitude
change of fortune. Humbled by life’s vicissitudes, the last emperor of China worked as a lowly gardener in the palace over which he had once ruled.
vie
contend; compete. Politicians vie with one another, competing for donations and votes.
vigilant
watchfully awake; alert to spot danger. From the battlement, the vigilant sentry kept his eyes open for any sign of enemy troops approaching.
vigor
active strength. Although he was over seventy years old, Jack had the vigor of a man in his prime.
vignette
picture; short literary sketch. The New Yorker published her latest vignette.
vilify
slander; けなす、そしる. Waging a highly negative campaign, the candidate attempted to vilify his opponent’s reputation.
vindicate
clear from blame; exonerate; justify or support. The lawyer’s goal was to vindicate her client and prove him innocent on all charges.
virulent
extremely poisonous; hostile; bitter. Laid up with a virulent cases of measles, Vera blamed her doctors because her recovery took so long. In fact, she became quite virulent on the subject of the quality of modern medical care.
visceral
felt in one’s inner organs. She disliked the visceral sensations she had whenever she rode the roller coaster.
vitriolic
corrosive; sarcastic. Such vitriolic criticism is uncalled for.
vociferous
clamorous; noisy. The crowd grew vociferous in its anger and threatened to take the law into its own hands.
volition
act of making a conscious choice. She selected this dress of her own volition.
voluble
fluent; glib; talkative. An excessively voluble speaker suffers from logorrhea: he continually runs off at the mouth!
voluminous
bulky; large. A caftan is a voluminous garment; the average person wearing one looks as if he or she is draped in a small tent.
voracious
ravenous; 食欲おう盛な、貪欲な. The wolf is a voracious animal, its hunger never satisfied.
vouchsafe
grant condescendingly; guarantee. I can safely vouchsafe you fair return on your investment.
vulpine
like a fox; crafty. She disliked his sly ways, but granted him a certain vulpine intelligence.
waffle
speak equivocally about an issue; 言葉を濁す、煮え切らない. When asked directly about the governor’s involvement in the savings and loan scandal, the press secretary waffled, talking all around the issue.
waft
moved gently by wind or waves. Daydreaming, he gazed at the leaves that wafted past his window.
waggish
mischievous; humorous; tricky. He was a prankster who, unfortunately, often overlooked the damage he could cause with his waggish tricks.
waive
give up temporarily; yield. I will waive my rights in this matter in order to expedite our reaching a proper decision.
wake
trail of ship or other object through water; path of something that has gone before. The wake of the swan gliding through the water glistened in the moonlight. Reporters and photographers converged on South Carolina in the wake of the hurricane that devastated much of the eastern seaboard.
wallow
roll in; indulge in; become helpless. The hippopotamus loves to wallow in the mud.
wan
having a pale or sickly color; pallid. Suckling asked, “Why so pale and wan, fond lover?”
wangle
wiggle out; fake. She tried to wangle an invitation to the party.
wanton
unrestrained; willfully malicious; unchaste. Pointing to the stack of bills, Sheldon criticized Sarah for her wanton expenditures. In response, Sara accused Sheldon of making an unfounded, wanton attack.
warble
sing; babble. Every morning the birds warbled outside her window.
warren
tunnels in which rabbits live; crowded conditions in which people live. The tenement was a veritable warren, packed with people too poor to live elsewhere.
wastrel
profligate; 浪費家、怠け者. He was denounced as a wastrel who had dissipated his inheritance.
wax
increase; grow. With proper handling, her fortunes waxed and she became rich.
waylay
ambush; lie in wait; 待ち伏せる. They agreed to waylay their victim as he passed through the dark alley going home.
wean
accustom a baby not to nurse; give up a cherished activity. He decided he would wean himself away from eating junk food and stick to fruits and vegetables.
weather
endure the effects of weather or other forces. He weathered the changes in his personal life with difficulty, as he had no one in whom to confide.
wheedle
cajole; coax; deceive by flattery. She knows she can wheedle almost anything she wants from her father.
whet
sharpen; stimulate. The odors from the kitchen are whetting my appetite; I will be ravenous by the time the meal is served.
whiff
puff or gust (of air, scent, etc); かすかな匂い、名残. The slightest whiff of Old Spice cologne brought memories of George to her mind.
whit
smallest speck; shred; tiny bit. There’s not one whit of truth in your allegations.
whittle
pare; cut off bits. As a present for Aunt Polly, Tom whittled some clothespins out of a chunk of wood.
willful
intentional; headstrong. Donald had planned to kill his wife for months; clearly, her death was a case of deliberate, willful murder, not a crime of passion committed by a hasty, willful youth unable to foresee the consequences of his deeds.
wily
cunning; artful. She is as wily as a fox in avoiding trouble.
wince
shrink back; flinch. The screech of the chalk on the blackboard made her wince.
windfall
fallen fruit; unexpected lucky event. This huge tax refund is quite a windfall.
winnow
sift; separate good parts from bad. This test will winnow out the students who study from those who don’t bother.
winsome
agreeable; gracious; engaging. By her winsome manner, she made herself liked by everyone who met her.
wispy
thin; slight; barely discernible. Worried about preserving his few wispy tufts of hair, Walter carefully massaged his scalp and applied hair restorer every night.
withdrawn
introverted; remote; 引きこもった、人里離れた. Rebuffed by his colleagues, the initially outgoing young researcher became increasingly withdrawn.
wither
shrivel; decay. Cut flowers are beautiful for a day, but all too soon they wither.
withhold
refuse to give; hold back. The tenants decided to withhold a portion of the rent until the landlord kept his promise to renovate the building.
withstand
stand up against; successfully resist. If you can withstand all the peer pressure in high school to cut classes and goof off, you should survive college in fine shape.
witless
foolish; idiotic. If Beavis is a half-wit, then Butthead is totally witless.
witticism
witty saying; wisecrack. I don’t mean any criticism, but your last supposed witticism really hurt my feelings.
wizened
withered; shriveled; しわくちゃの、しなびた. The wizened old man in the home for the aged was still active and energetic.
woe
deep, inconsolable grief; affliction; suffering. Pale and wan with grief, Wanda was bowed down beneath the burden of her woes.
wont
custom; habitual procedure. As was her wont, she jogged two miles every morning before going to work.
wrangle
quarrel; obtain through arguing; herd cattle. They wrangled over their inheritance.
wrath
anger; fury. She turned to him, full of wrath, and said, “What makes you think I’ll accept lower pay for this job than you get?”
wreak
inflict; 〔破壊や損害を〕引き起こす、〔罰や復讐を人に〕加える. I am afraid he will wreak his vengeance on the innocent as well as the guilty.
wrench
pull; strain; twist. She wrenched free of her attacker and landed a powerful kick to his kneecap.
wrest
pull away; take by violence. With only ten seconds left to play, our team wrested victory from their grasp.
writhe
twist in coils; contort in pain; 身をよじる、苦悶する. In Dances with Snakes, the snake dancer wriggled sinuously as her boa constrictor writhed around her torso.
wry
twisted; with a humorous twist. We enjoy Dorothy Parker’s verse for its wry wit.
yen
longing; urge. She had a yen to get away and live on her own for a while.
yoke
join together, unite. I don’t wish to be yoked to him in marriage, as if we were cattle pulling a plow.
yore
time past. She dreamed of the elegant homes of yore, but gave no thought to their inelegant plumbing.
zany
crazy; comic. I can watch the Marx brothers’ zany antics for hours.
zeal
eager enthusiasm. Wang’s zeal was contagious; soon all his fellow students were busily making posters, inspired by his ardent enthusiasm for the cause.
zenith
point directly overhead in the sky; summit. When the sum was at its zenith, the glare was not as strong as at sunrise and sunset.
zephyr
gentle breeze; west wind. When these zephyrs blow, it is good to be in an open boat under a full sail.
