GRE Cards Deck F Flashcards
facetious
adj
Definition: Joking, humorous, esp. inappropriately; not serious, concerned with frivolous things
Usage: When I said, “Sure, you can take anything in my house as a souvenir of this study session,” I was being facetious! I would like my nightgown back now. / He’s a facetious person—I doubt he will take your offer of a spiritual quest very seriously.
Related Words: Waggish (merry, roguish), Risible (laughable, related to laughing), Jocular, Jocund, or Jocose (jesting, jolly), Droll (funny in an odd way)
More Info: Don’t confuse facetious with fatuous, meaning “foolish, silly, inane.” Facetious people can be smartly sarcastic; fatuous people are dull and dim-witted. Facetious comes from a Latin word for clever; fatuous comes from a word for gaping—as in, having one’s mouth hang open like a very stupid person.
facilitate
verb
Definition: Make easier, help the progress of
Usage: A good meeting facilitator lets everyone be heard while still keeping the meeting focused. / As a midwife, my goal is simply to facilitate a natural process.
More Info: Speakers of Spanish and French will certainly recognize facilitate’s similarity with “fácil” or “facile,” meaning “easy.” Interestingly, though, the word facile in English can be negative, meaning “shallow or superficial”—that is, a little too easy.
fallacious
adj
Also fallacy (noun)
Definition: Containing a fallacy, or mistake in logic; logically unsound; deceptive
Usage: The formal study of logic can enable a student to more easily identify fallacious reasoning and, furthermore, to point out its fallacies.
Related Words: That which is fallacious definitely embodies a logical mistake, while that which is fallible is capable of being wrong (but may not actually be).
More Info: Among the logical fallacies are the Ad Hominem Attack (attacking the person rather than the argument) and the Post Hoc fallacy (confusing correlation with causation).
fanatical
adj
Also fanatic (noun) Definition: Excessively devoted, enthusiastic, or zealous in an uncritical way Usage: We avoid our neighbors—they’re fanatics who can’t go five minutes without trying to convert you to their beliefs. / Mrs. Becker was fanatical about grammar, once deducting fifteen points from a student’s paper for a misused semicolon—and it was a physics class! Related Words: Ardent (very passionate), Zealous (full of fervor or dedicated enthusiasm for a cause, person, etc.). Also Fervent, Fervid, and Perfervid all mean “passionate, fiery, deeply enthusiastic.”
fanciful
adj
Definition: Whimsical, capricious; imaginary; freely imaginative rather than based on reason or reality
Usage: The play was set in a fanciful version of New York City, one where all the cab drivers spoke perfect English and the Statue of Liberty seemed to be in the middle of the island.
Related Words: Whimsical (fanciful, eccentric) is a near-synonym. Capricious (acting on impulse, erratic) is also close, but is sometimes used negatively.
fathom
verb
Definition: Measure the depth of (usually of water) as with a sounding line; penetrate and discover the meaning of, understand
Usage: I cannot even remotely fathom how you interpreted an invitation to sleep on my couch as permission to take my car on a six-hour joyride!
Related Words: Sound and Plumb (used as verbs) are synonyms.
More Info: A sounding line or plumb line is a length of rope with a weight at the bottom; dropping it into water will allow the weight to sink and water to be measured in fathoms (six-foot increments—fathom comes from a word for outstretched arms, which on an adult male tend to measure about six feet).
feasible
adj
Definition: Possible; logical or likely; suitable
Usage: Your plan to promote our product launch with a parade is just not feasible—we don’t have the money or enough time to get the permits.
Related Words: Plausible (credible, having the appearance of truth), Viable (able to live or develop; capable of success, practicable, workable)
More Info: Feasible shares a root (“do, make”) with factory, factitious, and laissez-faire.
fidelity
noun
Definition: Faithfulness, loyalty; strict observance of duty; accuracy in reproducing a sound or image
Usage: Wedding vows typically include a promise of fidelity—such as by “forsaking all others as long as I may live.”
Related Words: Constancy (loyalty, the state of being unwavering)
More Info: Fidelity contains the root “fid,” for “trust,” also appearing in diffident, fiduciary, infidel, and Fidel Castro’s name.
finesse
noun, verb
Definition: Extreme delicacy, subtlety, or diplomacy in handling a sensitive situation or in a performance or skill (noun); use tact or diplomacy; employ a deceptive strategy (verb)
Usage: After the prince deeply insulted his hosts, the diplomat was able to finesse the situation, playing it off as a translation error and getting the negotiations back on track.
Related Words: Tact (sensitivity to what is proper and inoffensive)
More Info: Finesse is also a brand of shampoo. The commercials typically feature a person getting into—and then out of—a tough situation. The slogan is “Sometimes you need a little finesse, sometimes you need a lot.”
flag
verb
Definition: Get tired, lose enthusiasm; hang limply or droop
Usage: Our grandmother is so physically fit that she was ready to make the rounds of the entire amusement park again after lunch, while most of us were flagging and just wanted to sit.
Related Words: Enervate (weaken, tire)
More Info: One way to think of the “get tired” meaning of flag is to think of how a flag waving in the breeze droops and hangs when the wind stops. Of course, flag as a verb can also mean “to hail or wave down,” as in “flag a taxi,” or “to mark,” as in “flag a page of a book with a sticky note.”
fleeting
adj
Definition: Passing quickly, transitory
Usage: This a just a fleeting visit.
Related Words: Ephemeral, Evanescent and Fugacious are synonyms. Fugitive is best known as meaning “running from the law,” but can also mean fleeting.
More Info: A fleet is a group of ships controlled together. The connection is the root word, “to float”—a fleet of boats floats on the water, and a fleeting romance, for instance, is one that simply seems to float away.
figurative
adj
Definition: Metaphorical, based on figures of speech; containing many figures of speech (as fancy-sounding writing); related to portraying human or animal figures
Usage:
figurative
of words and phrases - used not with their basic meaning but with a more
imaginative meaning.
Of course, she was using the term ‘massacre’ in the figurative sense
figurative art (of a painting, drawing, etc.) representing something as it really looks, rather than in an abstract way
Related Words: The opposite of figurative is literal, although in regular speech, people often use literal to mean figurative. People who say I was literally ready to kill someone rarely mean that, which is why we are not alarmed when they say that. We understand that they are really speaking figuratively.
foment
verb
Definition: Incite, instigate, stir up, promote the growth of; apply medicated liquid to a body part
Usage: The revolutionary group was quietly fomenting a rebellion, galvanizing student radicals, leading unions in revolutionary songs, and anonymously pasting incendiary posters in every quarter of the city.
Related Words: Rouse (wake up; incite, stir up)
More Info: Abigail Adams famously told her husband John Adams that, if left out of the Constitution, ladies would “foment a rebellion.” Foment comes from a Latin word for a poultice or hot compress. The similiar-sound ferment (to undergo fermentation as in yogurt, kimchi, etc., such as by a yeast or bacterium) can also be used to mean “excite or agitate”—you can foment or ferment a rebellion.
foreshadow
verb
Also foreshadowing (noun) Definition: Indicate or suggest beforehand, presage Usage: You didn’t know this was a horror movie? I thought it was pretty clear that the children’s ghost story around the campfire was meant to foreshadow the horrible things that would happen to them years later as teenagers at a motel in the middle of the woods. Related Words: Prefigure is a synonym. Forerun means run before or foreshadow. Harbinger and Herald mean a person or thing that indicates what is to come (Herald can also mean “messenger,” including about something in the past). Portentous and Ominous can mean “giving a bad sign about the future” (portentous can also mean “very significant, exciting wonder and awe”). More Info: “Fore” means “before”—foreshadow literally comes from the idea that an object’s shadow sometimes arrives before the object does.
forfeit
verb
Also forfeiture (noun)
Definition: Surrender or lose as a result of an error, crime, or failure to fulfill an obligation
Usage: “The rules are clear,” said the umpire. “This is a co-ed league, and if your team doesn’t have at least three women, you forfeit. Sorry, everybody, no game today!” / If you are found guilty of defrauding this casino, the forfeiture of your winnings will be only the first of the consequences coming your way.
More Info: Forfeit comes from the Middle English “forfet,” for “crime” (people often have to give up, or forfeit, rights or property as punishment for a crime). A forfeit, as a noun, simply means the property, right, etc. that was forfeited.
fortify
verb
Definition: Strengthen, invigorate, encourage
Usage: The white bread found in American grocery stores has been stripped of all the nutrients naturally found in wheat, and then artificially fortified with vitamins and minerals. / The general called for reinforcements to fortify the defenses around the capital.
Related Words: Bolster (strengthen or support), Buttress (a support against a building; to strengthen or support), Galvanize (stimulate with electric current; excite, stimulate to action)
More Info: Fortify shares a root (meaning “strong”) with fortress and fortitude (strength in facing adversity).
fringe
noun, adj
Definition: On the margin, periphery (adj); the people in a group who hold the most extreme views (noun)
Usage: In America, reincarnation is a fringe belief, but in primarily Hindu countries, the belief is quite mainstream. / Stacey and Mark liked to say they lived on the fringe of the big city, but really they had just moved to the suburbs.
Related Words: Penumbra (partial shadow in an eclipse; outer area, periphery)
More Info: Fringe is also, of course, a clothing decoration of hanging cords, strings, etc. (as worn by cowboys or hippies). The connection is that fringe is on the border or edge of clothes, just as fringe ideas are on the border or edge of society.
frugal
adj
Also frugality (noun)
Definition: Economical, thrifty, not wasteful with money; inexpensive
Usage: It wasn’t terribly surprising when Lea—who was so frugal in restaurants that she always drank water, ate salad, and requested a separate check—said she had never tried lobster.
Related Words: Provident (showing foresight, providing for the future, frugal), Stinting (frugal, acting sparingly or with restraint)
More Info: Frugal comes from the Latin word for “fruit.” By the way, don’t confuse these two adjectives: economical means not spending too much money; economic means pertaining to the science of economics.
futile
adj
Definition: Producing no useful result, ineffective; trivial or unimportant
Usage:
It’s quite futile trying to reason with him - he just won’t listen.
All my attempts to cheer her up proved futile.
Related Words: Bootless (useless), Otiose (lazy, idle; ineffective or useless)
More Info: Futile comes from a Latin word for “pouring out easily,” as in a water jug that is full of unfortunate cracks or holes.
fallow
adj
Definition: Left unplanted (of land); not in use
Usage: Crop yields were increased substantially when the villagers discovered that leaving a portion of their fields lie fallow allowed that unused part of the land to become renewed with minerals. / It is terribly important that we make college affordable for underprivileged students, lest great minds lie fallow, and the world never benefit from their genius.
Related Words: Another GRE word related to farming is arable, which means “able to be farmed, fertile,” as in “arable land.”
More Info: Fallow can mean “light yellowish-brown.” Although this seems like a color that an untended field might turn, this meaning of the word comes from a different origin.
fastidious
adj
Definition: Excessively particular, difficult to please; painstaking, meticulous, requiring excessive attention to detail
Usage: Steve was a fastidious housekeeper, fluffing his couch pillows at least twice a day and never allowing the tiniest speck of dust to settle on any exposed surface.
Related Words: Meticulous (taking extreme care with details; fussy), Exacting (severe in making demands; requiring precise attention)
More Info: Fastidious comes from a Latin word for disgust. Fastidious people are easily disgusted by regular people’s housekeeping, manners, work standards, etc.
fatuous
adj
Definition: Foolish, silly, esp. in a smug or complacent manner
Usage: Sadly, every philosophy class seems to have one person who responds to every discussion, from metaphysics to ethics, with the fatuous question, “But what if we don’t really exist?”
Related Words: Inane (lacking sense, silly; empty), Waggish (merry, roguish), Risible (laughable, related to laughing), Jocular, Jocund, or Jocose (jesting, jolly), Droll (funny in an odd way)
More Info: Don’t confuse fatuous with facetious, meaning “joking, humorous, esp. inappropriately.” Facetious people can be smartly sarcastic; fatuous people are dull and dim-witted. Fatuous comes from a word for gaping—as in, having one’s mouth hang open like a very stupid person.
fawn
verb
Definition: Show affection or try to please in the manner of a dog; try to win favor through flattery and submissive behavior
Usage: Although he was only president of a chain of grocery stores, he was used to being fawned over like a king or rock star. “You are truly king of the low-priced produce world,” said the regional manager. “May I wash your car for you?”
Related Words: Sycophant, Lackey, Toady, and Myrmidon are all words for a person who fawns, such as the regional manager in the sentence above. The adjective Obsequious means fawning. The verb Truckle means to act subserviently and Kowtow means to fawn—or, literally, to bow until one’s forehead touches the floor.
fecund
(adj)
Also fecundity (noun)
Definition: Fruitful, fertile; capable of abundantly producing offspring, vegetation, or creative or intellectual work
Usage: Rabbits are quite fecund; if you’ve got two, you’ll soon have forty. / While some novelists seem to return to the same themes over and over, Bredlaw’s fecund mind produced whole new universes for every story he wrote.
Related Words: Prolific is a synonym. Teeming means “full of things, abundantly filled,” as in “Rome was teeming with tourists.”
More Info: Fecund, unsurprisingly, shares a root with fetus.
