GRE Cards Deck L Flashcards
lackluster
adj
Definition: Not shiny; dull, mediocre; lacking brilliance or vitality
Usage: Many young people today are so accustomed to being praised by parents and adults that they are shocked when a lackluster effort in the workplace receives the indifference or mild disapproval it deserves.
Related Words: Pedestrian and prosaic mean commonplace, dull, or lacking imagination. Quotidian means daily or commonplace, as daily things tend to be! Middling comes from the idea of being in the “middle” and means medium, average, or mediocre.
More Info: This is an easy word—something lackluster literally lacks luster. Lustrous means shining (This shampoo will add luster to your hair!).
laconic
adj
Definition: Using few words, concise
Usage: The boss was famously laconic; after allowing his employees to present their new plan for an entire hour, he finally responded, “Confirmed.”
Related Words: Reticent and Taciturn (not talking much) are often used to describe shy people and do not have the sense of “getting the point across efficiently” that laconic does. Pithy, however, takes this idea even further—it means getting the point across in just a few, cleverly-chosen words.
More Info: Laconic comes from the Greek place named Laconia, the region in which Sparta (which of course gives us spartan) was located. A famous story has an invading general threatening, “If I enter Laconia, I will raze Sparta to the ground.” The Spartans laconically replied, “If.”
lament
(verb, noun)
Also lamentable (adj)
Definition: Mourn; express grief, sorrow, or regret (verb); an expression of grief, esp. as a song or poem (noun)
Usage: Silda said she couldn’t make it to the party—she’s still lamenting the death of her cat. In fact, she wrote a poem: “A Lament On the Topic of Buttons McFlufferton.” Lamentably, Silda is a very bad poet.
Related Words: To bewail is to lament, while to bemoan can be to express grief or simply disapproval (to bemoan one’s fate). The two words, of course, come from wail and moan. Lachrymose means tearful or mournful. A person might get lachrymose over a lamentable situation.
lampoon
noun, verb
Definition: A harsh satire (noun), a piece of writing, a drawing, etc. which criticizes in a humorous way a famous person or a public organization, allowing their bad qualities to be seen and making them seem stupid; ridicule or satirize (verb)
Usage: The magazine is famed for its merciless political lampoons.
Related Words: To satirize is to use ridicule, sarcasm, etc. as a form of criticism. Parody is similar but often not as harsh—the key difference is that a parody is actually a copy (the Scary Movie series parodies the horror genre).
More Info: Lampoon comes from a French word for to lap up—as in, to guzzle beer, which is what you’d probably be doing while watching a lampoon.
landmark
noun, adj
Definition: Object (such as a building) that stands out and can be used to navigate by; a very important place, event, etc.
Usage: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark in the battle for equality. / In Lebanon, many roads are unmarked, and people navigate by landmarks—for instance, “third house down from the water tower.”
Related Words: A watershed is literally a division between two water drainage areas; a watershed or watershed moment is the point of a very important decision or shift.
languid
adj
Also languor (noun) Definition: Drooping from exhaustion, sluggish, slow; lacking in spirit Usage: We signed up for a fitness boot camp, but after a single hour of exercise in the heat, we all felt so overcome with languor that we refused to go on. Turns out the reason we need a fitness boot camp in the first place is that we’re pretty languid people. Related Words: Torpid and slothful mean slow and lazy. Indolent means habitually lazy, such as a person who chooses never to work. Lassitude is weariness or lack of caring. More Info: Don’t confuse languor with langur, a type of monkey. Languorous is a more pleasant version of languid, suggesting dreamy relaxation.
lassitude
noun
Definition: Tiredness, weariness; lazy indifference
Usage: It’s so difficult to get anything done in the dead heat of August! I can’t seem to shake my lassitude enough to get out of this hammock, much less study for the GRE.
Related Words: Languid (drooping from exhaustion, sluggish, slow; lacking in spirit). Torpid and slothful mean slow and lazy. Indolent means habitually lazy, such as a person who chooses never to work.
laudable
(adj)
Also laud (verb)
Definition: (of actions and behaviour) deserving praise, even if there is little or no success a laudable aim/ambition
Usage: The recycling programme is laudable, but does it save much money?
Related Words: Encomium (warm, glowing praise, esp. a formal expression of praise), Panegyric (formal, lofty, or elaborate praise), Paean (song of praise, triumph, or thanks)
More Info: Laud shares a root with applaud and plaudits (applause, approval).
layperson
noun
Also laity (noun), lay (adj)
Definition: a person who is not a member of the clergy or not a member of a particular profession (such as medicine, law, etc.)
Usage: The actress Jenny McCarthy has written a book about autism. While her experience as a parent is interesting to anyone in a similar situation, it’s still important to remember that McCarthy is a layperson, not a doctor.
More Info: A layperson is literally a member of a church who is not a minister or priest. The laity is the church’s membership (not including the clergy), or a group of people outside a particular profession. Lay can be an adjective meaning “pertaining to regular people,” as in a lay version of a medical text.
levity
noun
Definition: Lightness (of mind, spirit, or mood) or lack of seriousness, sometimes in an inappropriate way
Usage: a brief moment of levity amid the solemn (serious) proceedings
More Info: Levity comes from a Latin word for “lightness,” which also gives us elevator, lever, leaven (to cause bread to rise) and levitate (to cause to float, such as in a magic show).
levy
verb, noun
Definition: Collect tax from, wage war on, or enlist for military service; (verb); act of colleting tax or amount owed, or the drafting of troops into military service (noun)
Usage: When England levied yet another tax on the colonists, the colonists were pushed one further step towards levying war. Soon, the worried British began to levy troops.
Related Words: Do not confuse levy with levee (a slope or wall along a waterway, designed to stop flooding).
More Info: Levy has many definitions that seem somewhat unrelated; however, the root means “raise” or “lightness” (as in lever, elevate), so you can think of raising money through taxes, raising an army by drafting soldiers, or using that army to wage war.
liberal
adj, noun
Definition: Favorable to progress or reform; believing in maximum possible individual freedom; tolerant, open-minded; generous (adj); a person with such beliefs or practices (noun)
Usage: Split pea soup benefits from a liberal application of pepper. / Liberal reformers in Egypt pushed for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly.
Related Words: “Liberal” in modern American politics isn’t quite the same as the dictionary definition. For instance, liberal Democrats tend to favor social programs that require a larger government to administer, while some conservatives say that liberalism means having the smallest government possible in order to maximize freedom. For the GRE, liberal means generous, freely-flowing, open-minded, or pertaining to values like freedom of speech.
libertine
noun
Definition: Morally or sexually unrestrained person; freethinker (regarding religion)
Usage: A famed libertine, the sitcom star was constantly in the news for cavorting with women of dubious occupations and overdosing on drugs often enough to regularly hold up production of his popular television show.
Related Words: Hedonists, sybarites, and voluptuaries are people devoted to pleasure. Debauchery is excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.
More Info: Libertine certainly is related to “liberty”—think of a libertine as someone who has a little too much liberty. You can also use libertine as an adjective (as in libertine attitudes).
likewise
adverb
Definition: Also, in addition to; similarly, in the same way
Usage: Chip was baffled by all the silverware set before him, so when his host began eating salad with the smallest, leftmost fork, Chip did likewise.
Related Words: Moreover (in addition to what has been said, for instance “His actions cost us the job; moreover, he seriously offended our client).”
More Info: In conversation, likewise can mean “Me, too.” When someone says “Nice to meet you,” you could say, “Likewise.”
log
verb, noun
Definition: Keep a record of, write down; travel for or at a certain distance or speed (verb); a written record (noun)
Usage: Lawyers who bill by the hour have to be sure to log all the time they spend on every client’s case. / You cannot get your pilot’s license until you have logged 40 hours of flight time.
Related Words: Chronicle (a historical account in time order)
More Info: Of course, a log is a piece of a tree, and to log can also mean to cut down trees (what loggers do).
loquacious
adj
Definition: Talkative, wordy
Usage: The loquacious professor spoke at a million miles an hour and still regularly talked past the scheduled end time of the class.
Related Words: Prolix and Verbose are synonyms. Magniloquent and Grandiloquent mean speaking in a lofty, grandiose style.
More Info: The root “loq” means “speech” and also appears in eloquent and interlocutor (participant in a dialogue; interrogator).
lucid
adj
Definition: Clear, easy to understand; rational, sane
Usage: After surgery, it’ll take at least an hour until she’s lucid—it’s nothing to worry about, but patients sometimes talk complete nonsense until the anesthesia wears off and their speech becomes lucid.
Related Words: Lucid can mean literally clear, but often means metaphorically clear or clearheaded—a lucid argument, a lucid person. The similar pellucid usually means literally transparent, as in pellucid waters.
More Info: The root “luc” for “light” also occurs in translucent, luminous, luminary, lucubrate (work or study, originally by candlelight), and elucidate (make clear, explain).
lull
noun, verb
Definition: Soothe or cause to fall asleep (as in a lullaby); quiet down; make to feel secure, sometimes falsely (verb); a period of calm or quiet (noun) Usage: Tisha always tried to be polite—if she had to slip out of class to use the bathroom, she waited for a lull in the action so as not to attract too much attention. / Grandma’s singing lulled the baby to sleep—much as, in her work as a spy during World War II, Grandma used her beauty and charm to lull foreign dignitaries into giving up their secrets. Related Words: Slack usually means loose, negligent, or lazy, but a slack can also be a calm spot in the water or a period of quiet or suspended activity. The holidays represent a lull or slack in work at many companies.
lachrymose
adj
Definition: Tearful, mournful
Usage: Accustomed to lachrymose occasions, the funeral home kept boxes of tissues near every seat.
Related Words: Maudlin (overly tearful and sentimental), Lament (express sorrow, mourn)
More Info: Interestingly, lacrimation is the medical condition of making too many tears.
larceny
noun
Definition: Theft
Usage: The department store employs a security officer whose job it is to prevent larceny.
Related Words: To purloin is to steal. To pilfer or filch is also to steal, but generally of something small (I filched these awesome coffee mugs from the local diner).
More Info: In legal terms, larceny refers to a particular type of theft—the thief must physically carry away the stolen item. No one but lawyers cares about this distinction.
largess or largesse
noun
Definition: Generosity, the giving of money or gifts (esp. with the implication that the giver is a bit superior to the recipient)
Usage: While I did attend a tony private school, my parents were actually quite poor—I was at that school through the largesse of my grandfather.
Related Words: Magnanimity, munificence, and openhandedness all mean generosity.
More Info: Largesse certainly does come from the idea of largeness (of spirit). The word is from French (thus the extra “e” in some spellings).
latent
adj
Definition: Potential; existing but not visible or active
Usage: Certain experts believe that some people have a genetic propensity for addiction; however, if such a person never comes into contact with drugs, the propensity for addiction can remain latent for life.
Related Words: Dormant (not active at this time), Inert (inactive; having little or no power to move), Hiatus (break or gap in an activity)
laudable
(adj)
Also laud (verb)
Definition: worthy of praise
Usage: When a major discount mart fired several employees for subduing a gunman, most people considered the action a laudable act of heroism, but the discount chain fired the employees for “violating company policies.” Nevertheless, the mayor lauded the former employees in a medal-granting ceremony.
Related Words: Encomium (warm, glowing praise, esp. a formal expression of praise), Panegyric (formal, lofty, or elaborate praise), Paean (song of praise, triumph, or thanks)
More Info: Laud shares a root with applaud and plaudits (applause, approval).
lax
adj
Definition: Not strict; careless, loose, slack
Usage: My parents were really lax about homework—they never checked to see if I did it or not. Sadly, this legacy of laxity is not serving me well while studying for the GRE.
Related Words: Slack (loose, negligent, or lazy, as in a slack rope or He is slack in his duties).
More Info: Lax comes from a Latin word for “loose” that also gives us laxative.
