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.