GRE Cards Deck S Flashcards

Question

spate | noun

Answer 1

Definition: Sudden outpouring or rush; flood Usage: After a brief spate of post-exam partying, Lola is ready for classes to begin again. / He was so furious that a spate of expletives just flew out of his mouth. Related Words: Inundate and deluge are both words for flooding, also used metaphorically to mean an overwhelming influx of something (inundated with work, a deluge of complaints).

Answer 2

Definition: Be the leader of Usage: Lisa agreed to spearhead the “healthy office” initiative, and was instrumental in installing two treadmills and getting healthy food stocked in the vending machines. Related Words: Avant-garde or vanguard originally referred to the soldiers at the front of an army, and now can mean anyone who innovates or is on the forefront (as in the expression “ahead of their time”). More Info: A spearhead can, of course, be the sharp head of a spear. It can also be a person at the front of a military attack, or a leader of anything.

Answer 3

Definition: Seemingly true but actually false; deceptively attractive Usage: Earth is square is Specious. Earth is round. Related Words: Fallacious (containing a fallacy, or mistake in logic; logically unsound; deceptive), Dubious (doubtful, questionable, suspect), Meretricious (attractive in a vulgar or flashy way, tawdry; deceptive) More Info: Specious is related to the word species, from a Latin root having to do with appearances.

Answer 4

Definition: A broad range of nevertheless related qualities or ideas, esp. those that overlap to create a continuous series (as in a color spectrum, where each color blends into the next in a continuous way) Usage: A test showed she was partially colorblind—she did see blues and greens, but was unable to perceive some other colors on the spectrum. / A “dialect continuum” is a spectrum of dialects of a language where speakers in different dialect groups can understand some, but not all, of the other groups—for instance, people in the west can understand people in the middle, and people in the middle can understand people in the east, but people in the west and the east cannot talk to one another. Related Words: Panoply (splendid, wide-ranging, impressive display or array), Scope (extent or range, such as of knowledge, effectiveness, authority, etc.)

Answer 5

Definition: Contemplate; make a guess or educated guess about; engage in a risky business transaction, gamble Usage: He didn't look as though he had money to speculate in stocks. / Economist speculated that Indian stocks will gain new heights. More Info: Speculate comes from a root (“look at”) also found in spectacle, spectator, inspect, and many others. To speculate is to try to “see” into the future or a situation about which not much is known.

Answer 6

Definition: Occasional, happening irregularly or in scattered locations Usage: Her attendance was sporadic at best, so when she flounced into class after a two-session absence, she discovered that not only was everyone working on group projects, but that the professor hadn’t even thought to assign her to a group. Related Words: Erratic (inconsistent, wandering, having no fixed course), Desultory (lacking consistency or order, disconnected, sporadic; going off topic) More Info: Sporadic is related to the idea of spores, reproductive structures that come off of plants, mushrooms, etc. and are spread, such as by the wind.

Answer 7

Definition: Playful, merry, joking around, done “in sport” (rather than intended seriously) Usage: After Will shot a ball entirely off the pool table, knocking a woman’s purse off a bar stool, his friends laughed hysterically and called him “purse-snatcher” all night, but he took it as sportive and bought the next round of drinks. Related Words: Jocular, jocose, and jocund (joking or given to joking all the time; jolly, playful), Waggish (merry, roguish), Risible (laughable, related to laughing) More Info: Sportive certainly is related to sports and occasionally means “pertaining to athletics.” Also related is the idea of being a “good sport,” which generally involves having a sense of humor about yourself. Something done “in sport” is meant playfully.

Answer 8

Definition: Status, rank, reputation (noun); existing indefinitely, not movable (adj) Usage: As he had feared, his divorce greatly reduced his standing as a relationship expert. / I’m disappointed that you don’t want to leave your current job, but I want you to know that you have a standing invitation—as long as I’m the boss, you have a job here anytime you want one. / While the U.S. has a standing army (that is, an army that is not disbanded in times of peace), Costa Rica’s constitution actually forbids a standing military. More Info: “Longstanding” and the expressions “of long standing” or “in good standing” are based on standing, as in a longstanding friendship or an account in good standing (generally an account for which all debts are paid).

Answer 9

Definition: Complete, total, utter; harsh or grim; extremely simple, severe, blunt, or plain Usage: It was a stark (simple) room with its white walls, and a bed and chair as the only furniture. The stark (complete) reality is that we are operating at huge loss. In the suburbs the spacious houses stand in the stark (extreme) contrast to the slums of the city's poor. Related Words: Austere (severe in manner or appearance; very self-disciplined, ascetic; without luxury or ease; sober or serious) More Info: A common expression is “stark naked” (here, stark adds emphasis). In British slang, “starkers” (American: “streakers”) are people who run naked through a public place for amusement. In many cultures, such an act would be a stark violation of public decency.

Answer 10

Definition: Fixed, not moving or changing, lacking vitality Usage: The anthropologist studied a society in the Amazon that had been deliberately static for hundreds of years—the fiercely proud people disdained change, and viewed all new ideas as inferior to the way of life they had always practiced. Related Words: Status Quo (existing state or condition), Stasis (equilibrium, a state of balance or inactivity, esp. caused by equal but opposing forces), Standing (existing indefinitely, not movable, as in a standing invitation), Stationary (not moving) More Info: The idea of television or radio static is obviously more recent—think of the fact that static keeps whatever you were watching or listening to from moving forward.

Answer 11

Definition: Existing state or condition Usage: Certain people always want to maintain the status quo. More Info: Latin for “state in which.”

Answer 12

Definition: Not generous with money, reluctant to spend or give Usage: Billionaire industrialist J. Paul Getty was so famously stingy that he installed pay phones in his mansion for guests to use. When his grandson was kidnapped, he refused to pay ransom and only changed his mind when the kidnappers cut off the boy’s ear. This famous cheapskate then demanded that his son (the boy’s father) pay him back! What a miser. Related Words: Miser, Cheapskate, Skinflint (stingy person), Frugal (economical, thrifty, not wasteful with money), Stint (to be frugal) More Info: A “scrooge” is also a miserly person, especially a wealthy one, after the character of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

Answer 13

Definition: Indifferent to pleasure or pain, enduring without complaint; person indifferent to pleasure or pain (noun) Usage: Della was not only calm but positively stoic, thanking her family for driving her home from chemotherapy, and then simply never mentioning it until it was time to go again. Related Words: Impassive (not having or not showing physical feeling or emotion), Inscrutable (not able to be scrutinized, mysterious), Stolid (showing little emotion) More Info: The Stoics were ancient Greek philosophers who believed that self-control could overcome destructive emotions. They compared wicked, emotionally driven people to “a dog tied to a cart,” forced in all directions.

Answer 14

Definition: Unemotional, showing little emotion, not easily moved Usage: Dad is so stolid that we can’t get a rise out of him no matter what we do—Jody got a tattoo, Max declared himself a communist, and Helen won a Rhodes Scholarship. No response! Dad just nods and says “Alright, then.” Related Words: Impassive (not having or not showing physical feeling or emotion), Inscrutable (not able to be scrutinized, mysterious) More Info: Stolid has a lot of overlap with stoic (indifferent to pleasure or pain). Stoic is generally stronger and often related to enduring suffering.

Answer 15

Definition: Block, hinder, or thwart (verb); an obstacle (noun) Usage: Sara feared that her learning disability would stymie her success in college, but the support services offered were excellent and she was fine academically; the thing that really stymied her college career was poor time management. Related Words: Impede, hamper (hold back, obstruct the progress of) More Info: This word originates from golf. In golf, a stymie is when an opponent’s ball lies in the way of getting your own ball into the cup.

Answer 16

Definition: Existing in the mind or relating to one’s own thoughts, opinions, emotions, etc.; personal, individual, based on feelings Usage: Naturally, anyone’s experience of a movie is subjective, and some will enjoy this picture despite its flaws; however, it is an objective fact that the cinematography is very bad. / We can give names to colors, but we can never quite convey the subjective experience of them—what if my “red” is different from your “red”? More Info: The opposite of subjective is objective (factual, related to reality or physical objects; not influenced by emotions, unbiased)

Answer 17

Definition: Sink, settle down, become less active; return to a normal level Usage: When her terror subsided, she realized that the house wasn’t really haunted. / It is a chronic illness—symptoms will flare up and subside over one’s lifetime. Related Words: Abate (reduce, diminish) More Info: From the Latin for “sink to the bottom,” subside is related to sediment (material at the bottom of a liquid) and sedentary (not moving around, as a person with an inactive lifestyle).

Answer 18

Definition: Support with evidence or proof; give a material existence to Usage: You say you were at home when the crime occurred two towns over—is there anyone who can substantiate your claim? / Your business ideas are interesting, but you never substantiate them—you haven’t put a single plan into action. Related Words: Corroborate (support, add evidence to), Verify (prove true)

Answer 19

Definition: Coming after or following Usage: After the sale of the company, you will receive 5% of the profits from the current year, and 1% in all succeeding years. / In 1797, George Washington was succeeded by John Adams. Related Words: Subsequent is a synonym and often appears as the adverb subsequently, as in He took the poison and subsequently fell into a coma. More Info: Relatedly, a successor is someone who comes after, usually in holding an office, as in After losing his bid for reelection, the outgoing President handed over the White House to his successor.

Answer 20

Definition: Replace, take the position of, cause to be disregarded as void or obsolete Usage: Old models have been superseded by new models. Related Words: Supplant (take the place of, displace, especially through sneaky tactics), Outstrip (surpass, exceed; be larger or better than; leave behind), Overshadow (cast a shadow over, make to seem less important), Supersede (replace or cause to be set aside), Eclipse (obscure, darken, make less important) More Info: “Super” is Latin for “above, beyond” and appears in many words that have a sense of being literally or figuratively on top: superficial, superimpose, etc.

Answer 21

Definition: Pray humbly; ask, beg, or seek in a humble way Usage: She had been estranged(no longer close) from her wealthy father for years, but when she needed money for her daughter’s medical care, she supplicated the old man for assistance. Related Words: Entreat, Beseech, and Implore are synonyms. More Info: Supplicate is related to supple (pliant, flexible). To supplicate is to attempt to “soften” another person or get that person to “bend” to your request

Answer 22

Definition: Excess, excessive amount, overindulgence Usage: The soup kitchen would like to announce that it has a serious surfeit of cans of jellied cranberries that no one seems to want. Related Words: Replete with (supplied in abundance, filled, gorged), Glut, Surplus and Plethora (excess, overabundance) More Info: “Sur” means “over” and the rest of the word is related to the Latin “facere,” meaning “to make.” The literal meaning is overproduce.

Answer 23

Definition: Guess, infer, think or make an opinion with incomplete information Usage: He surmised that something must be wrong. Related Words: Conjecture (synonym), Supposition (assumption, hypothesis, something that has been supposed)

Answer 24

Definition: Servile flatterer, parasitic person who fawns in order to get ahead Usage: Stop being such a sycophant. I don’t need you to compliment my tie or get me coffee; I just need you to do your job without bothering me. Related Words: Lackey, Toady, and Myrmidon are synonyms. Fawn means to try to please in a submissive way. Obsequious means “servile, very compliant, fawning.” Truckle means to act subserviently and Kowtow means to fawn—or, literally, to bow until one’s forehead touches the floor. In slang, we might call a sycophant a boot-licker, suck-up, etc.

Answer 25

Definition: Happening at the same time; occurring at the same rate and thus happening together repeatedly Usage: The sound of that bell is a signal for the dancers to make perfectly synchronous entrances from opposite sides of the stage. / The two nearby churches have synchronous church bells—if you stand halfway between the buildings as the bells chime out the hour, it sounds really cool! Related Words: Simultaneous and contemporaneous also mean occurring at the same time. Contemporaneous is appropriate for describing people in the same time period (Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford had contemporaneous careers). More Info: The root “sym/syn” means “together” and also appears in symbiosis, sympathy, etc.

Answer 26

Definition: Obvious, standing out; projecting, protruding, jutting out Usage: She began to summarise the salient features / points of the proposal. / The windowless prison’s side wall had only one salient feature, a sculpture of the state bird jutting out from the building. Related Words: Jut means to project (out from something) or stand outward or upward from the main thing, as in I snagged my clothes on a nail jutting out from the wall. More Info: Don’t confuse with sapient, meaning “wise, having good judgment.”

Answer 27

Definition: Showing little respect in a humorous but unkind way, Scornfully or ironically mocking, cynically derisive Usage: Starkey attempted a sardonic smile / look / comment. More Info: This origin seems too good to be true! Sardonic comes from Sardinia, the Italian island, which supposedly had a plant that could cause death by facial convulsions resembling mocking laughter.

Answer 28

Definition: Learned person, scholar, someone admitted to membership in a scholarly field; a person with amazing mental abilities despite having a cognitive difference or disability Usage: The TED conferences feature savants and newsmakers speaking on topics of great importance to the world. / Many people associate autism with being an “autistic savant,” but most people who have autism do not actually have the ability to mentally multiply a five digit number by a five digit number in five seconds, for instance. More Info: Marilyn vos Savant, listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for “highest IQ,” wasn’t born “vos Savant,” but didn’t simply choose a clever penname either—her maternal grandparents were named “Savant” and “vos Savant.”

Answer 29

Definition: A tiny bit or trace Usage: With not one scintilla of food in the house, the pioneer woman resorted to desperate means, boiling weeds and even shoe leather to feed her children. Related Words: A modicum, iota, mite, or tad of something is also a small amount (as in, If you had one iota of decency, you would have come to the funeral, or I had the tailor shorten the sleeves just a tad). A vestige is a leftover trace or remaining evidence of something that no longer exists. More Info: Scintilla is Latin for “spark.” Spark can still be used metaphorically in a sentence where scintilla would also work—for instance, “I had not even a spark of an idea.”

Answer 30

Definition: Contemptible, mean Usage: Our neighbor is so scurvy that he deliberately broke my little brother’s bicycle because, as he said, “You kids are too loud!” Related Words: Reprobate (disreputable or unprincipled person) More Info: Scurvy is also a disease caused by lack of vitamin C and resulting in anemia, bleeding gums, and other pretty horrible symptoms. Scurvy was common in sailors on long sea voyages in centuries past (before they figured out the cause and started taking lemons with them to sea).

Answer 31

Definition: In a searching or penetrating manner; while examining closely or probing for answers; intended to find out the often hidden truth about something. Usage: I think we need to ask some searching questions about how the money has been spent.

Answer 32

Definition: Produce and release a substance from a cell or gland of the body for a functional purpose Usage: When threatened, skunks secrete an odor that humans consider horrible. / The late-night infomercial offered a pheromone perfume that promised to mimic the “attraction” hormones that humans secrete naturally. Related Words: Emit means send, give forth, or issue—it could be used in either sentence above or in any of a wide variety of situations (a person emits a scream, a tower emits radio waves, etc.) More Info: Secrete is related to “secret,” from a root meaning “to set apart.” To secrete a substance, of course, is to “set it apart” or release it from the body.

Answer 33

Definition: Inciting rebellion against a government, esp. speech or writing that does this Usage: Amnesty International regularly fights for the release of political prisoners imprisoned for sedition. Related Words: Incendiary (starting fire; inflaming the senses or arousing rebellion)

Answer 34

Definition: Relating to the different meanings of words or other symbols Usage: Bob said plastic surgery should be covered under the health care plan and Marion said it shouldn’t, but it turns out that their disagreement was purely semantic—what Bob meant was reconstructive surgery and what Marion meant was cosmetic surgery. More Info: Semantic comes from a Greek root for “sign.” When an argument becomes muddled due to language confusion, or when an arguer appears to be redefining a word rather than making a real point, it is common to call the person’s remarks “mere semantics” or to say, “You’re just playing semantics.”

Answer 35

Definition: Like an angel; serene, spiritually carried off or transported Usage: A group of people looked seraphic in their shimmering white robes. Related Words: Cherubic means like a cherub, an angel that resembles a chubby baby or child. Cherubic is generally used to describe chubby, rosy-cheeked babies. Beatific means showing celestial happiness, spiritual joy, etc. More Info: A seraph (in Christian writings) is a celestial being—various definitions suggest that a seraph has six wings, or is depicted as the winged head of a child.

Answer 36

Definition: Fragment of some brittle substance, esp. a sharp fragment of pottery, glass, etc. Usage: Shards of glass have been cemented into the top of the wall to stop people climbing over. More Info: Shard is related to shear, a verb meaning “to cut” (also, scissors can be called shears).

Answer 37

Definition: A job or position that pays while requiring little or no work Usage: It’s a wealthy university—it’s sort of understood that professors who relocate to campus are rewarded with sinecures for their spouses, whether those spouses have any qualifications or not. More Info: From Latin “beneficia sine cura,” meaning “a church living without care (of souls).” That sounds pretty bad, but sometimes a sinecure is used for a good reason—for instance, a government might appoint someone (who already has a job) a title and salary for another job in order to allow that person expanded power to accomplish something.

Answer 38

Definition: Shy, fickle, uncertain, or prone to act suddenly due to nervousness; lively in a restless or excessive way Usage: My horse is rather skittish, so I have to keep him away from traffic. Investors are skittish about the impact of an economic downturn. Marilyn was a complete child, playful and skittish one moment, sulky and withdrawn the next. Related Words: Inconstancy (fickleness, unreliability; the state of changing without good reason), Mercurial (quickly and unpredictably changing moods; fickle, flighty)

Answer 39

Definition: Satisfy (esp. thirst), cool, or refresh; make less active Usage: Having been lost for hours, the weary hikers were more than willing to slake their thirst in a mountain stream. / The teacher’s harsh, demanding attitude soon slaked the girls’ enthusiasm for the ballet class. Related Words: Satiate or Sate (to fully satisfy, or to go beyond satisfying to the point of excess) More Info: Slake is related to slack (loose, negligent, lazy, weak)—if you slake your thirst, your thirst has weakened or gone away.

Answer 40

Definition: A nickname Usage: My sobriquet is Jhoney. Related Words: An epithet can be a descriptive nickname or an “add-on” to a name—for instance, “Alexander the Great” is an epithet for Alexander III of Macedon. Epithet can also mean “insult”—a “racial epithet” is a slur and is always bad. More Info: From French, sobriquet is usually pronounced “so-bri-KAY.”

Answer 41

Definition: Nonstandard use of grammar or words; mistake, esp. in etiquette Usage: “I could care less” is a solecism—what the speaker really means to say is “I couldn’t care less.” / Apparently, Libby had committed a solecism by asking a man if he wanted to dance. “In Lubbock, Texas,” said her friend, “we keep things traditional.” Related Words: Malapropism (ludicrous mistake in word use), Faux Pas (social blunder) More Info: Solecism comes from the place name Soloi—the ancient Greeks considered the people from that region to speak in a horrible, substandard dialect.

Answer 42

Definition: Fellowship in interests, feelings, responsibilities, etc., such as among a group of people or among classes, nations, etc. Usage: The lecturers joined the protest march to show solidarity with their students. More Info: The Polish trade union Solidarity (founded 1980) helped break out of Soviet control and bring about free elections in that country. Related to the word solid, think of solidarity as forming a solid front with your compatriots.

Answer 43

Definition: Of the body Usage: While some depression is caused by outside forces (the death of a loved one, for instance), many cases of depression have a somatic cause—for instance, postpartum (after birth) depression can be related to hormones and physical changes associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Related Words: Psychosomatic (involving both the mind and the body—for instance, a physical illness caused by mental stress)

Answer 44

Definition: Disgusting, filthy, foul, extremely neglected Usage: Social Services removed the children from the home due to the squalid conditions, including rats running freely in the kitchen and spoiled food all over the house. Related Words: Sordid can mean squalid, or morally squalid, as in “The recovered junkie told a sordid tale of his time on the streets, full of every type of degradation.”

Answer 45

Definition: Crush, squash; suppress or silence; walk through ooze or in wet shoes, making a smacking or sucking sound Usage: The repressive government squelched the rebellion immediately. / Ew, I just squelched a slug (creature) in my bare feet! Related Words: Curb (restrain, control, rein in, as in Parliament attempted to curb the excesses of the monarchy), Quell (forcibly suppress; quiet down) More Info: This word is imitative in origin—that is, it comes from the sound that occurs when you step on something soft and squishy.

Answer 46

Definition: Equilibrium, a state of balance or inactivity, esp. caused by equal but opposing forces Usage: Edie felt that her career was in stasis: her boss made it clear she wasn’t getting promoted, but she also couldn’t leave because of her health insurance situation. Related Words: Status Quo (existing state or condition), Stationary (not moving), Static (fixed, not moving or changing, lacking vitality) More Info: From the Greek for “standing still.”

Answer 47

Definition: Immersed (in), saturated (with) Usage: A person steeped in classic literature probably thinks about almost everything in terms of old, famous books. More Info: To steep as a verb is to soak in liquid, infuse, or saturate. A teabag steeps in hot water. In French onion soup, a large crouton steeps in broth and becomes soft.

Answer 48

Definition: Very loud and powerful (generally of a human voice) Usage: The substitute teacher had a hard time calling the rowdy class to order. He poked his head into the hallway and flagged down the football coach walking by, who shut down the chaos immediately with a stentorian “Sit down and shut up!” More Info: Stentor was a Greek herald (messenger) in the Trojan War. His voice is described in the Iliad as being as loud as those of fifty men!

Answer 49

Definition: Mark of disgrace, a figurative stain or mark on someone’s reputation Usage: In the 1950s, bearing a child out of wedlock was severely stigmatized, but today in many social circles, there is no stigma whatsoever to unmarried parents having a child. Related Words: Pariah (social outcast, untouchable) More Info: Stigma is sometimes used to mean stigmata, marks supernaturally appearing on hands and feet (of nuns, monks, etc.) and resembling the wounds of Christ. This happens to Patricia Arquette in the 1999 movie Stigmata. In The Scarlet Letter, the character Hester Prynne is stigmatized by having to wear the letter “A” on her chest (for “adultery”).

Answer 50

Definition: Period of time spent doing something, or a specific, limited amount of work (noun); to be frugal, to get by on little (verb) Usage: Perhaps her most productive period was her five-year stint as a foreign correspondent in New York. Related Words: Miser, Cheapskate, Skinflint (stingy person), Frugal (economical, thrifty, not wasteful with money) More Info: The different meanings of stint are all related the idea of a limited quantity or period—to do one’s stint is to get an assigned job done (and no more than that), and to stint on something is to limit how much is used or given.

Answer 51

Definition: Specify; make an open demand, esp. as a condition of agreement Usage: Before taking the job, Owen stipulated in his contract that he would be able to leave early on Fridays to attend religious services. Related Words: Qualified means “modified, limited, conditional on something else” (qualified optimism means the person is part optimistic and part unsure, perhaps waiting for more information). A person who says “Yes, if you do X” is giving qualified agreement by stipulating X.

Answer 52

Definition: Military maneuver to deceive or surprise; crafty scheme Usage: The party’s stratagem was to dig up a scandal on their candidate’s opponent, and then release the photos the day before the election, leaving the opponent no time to defend himself before voters took to the polls. Related Words: Ruse and Subterfuge are synonyms. Artifice (trickery, especially as part of a strategy), Finesse (use tact or diplomacy; employ a deceptive strategy), Duplicity (deceit, double-dealing, acting in two different ways for the purpose of deception), Wily (crafty, cunning) More Info: Strategy has generally positive connotations, but stratagem implies deception. The similar scheme often has negative connotations (a plot or scam).

Answer 53

Definition: One of many layers or parts (such as in a rock formation or in the classes of a society) Usage: The report shows that drugs have penetrated every stratum of American society. / I love this dish—it’s like a lasagna, but with strata made of bread, eggs, and pancetta!. Related Words: Hierarchy (a ranked series; a classification of people according to rank, ability, etc.; a ruling body), Echelon (a level, rank or grade; the people at that level) More Info: A highly stratified society is one marked by inequality, or one in which people cannot easily move from layer to layer—that is, one where the poor stay poor and the rich stay rich.

Answer 54

Definition: A structural support or brace Usage: Looking out the window of the small biplane, Maureen could see the struts, the vertical connectors between the lower and upper sets of wings. Related Words: Bolster or fortify (strengthen or support), Buttress (a support against a building; to strengthen or support), More Info: Of course, strut as a verb means to swagger or walk in a showy or pompous way, such as in a fashion show. Adam Lambert has a song called “Strut” (“Strut for me and show me what you’re working with”).

Answer 55

Definition: Lofty or elevated, inspiring reverence or awe; excellent, majestic; complete, utter Usage: She loved visiting Gothic churches, which truly filled even a nonbeliever with a sense of the sublime. / It was sublime stupidity that caused him to invest all his money in the market without doing any research. / This dinner is sublime! I will leave a glowing review on Yelp! Related Words: Lofty (in a high position, esp. in character, spirit, or rank), Elevate (Lift the spirits of; move up to a higher status or spiritual plane), Edify (uplift, enlighten), Rarefied (lofty, figuratively high up or elevated) More Info: As you can see, sublime is usually positive, but sometimes it’s used a bit ironically (sublime idiocy). The related sublimate means to suppress or make socially acceptable (He sublimated his violent anger into stunning performances on the football field)—that is, to make an ugly or immoral impulse more lofty.

Answer 56

Definition: A court order requiring a person to appear in court and give testimony Usage: A friend of the victim was subpoenaed as a witness by lawyers representing the accused. More Info: “Sub poena” is Latin for “under a penalty,” after the first words of a subpoena: “Under penalty of...” (meaning that, if the person does not comply, the specified punishment will be applied).

Answer 57

Definition: Make dirty, stain, tarnish, defile Usage: The Senator did win his campaign for re-election, but his reputation was sullied when he was photographed shaking hands with a terrorist. Related Words: Adulterate (make impure), Debauch (corrupt morally), Vitiate (ruin, make faulty, corrupt), Debase (degrade; lower in quality, value, rank, etc.; lower in moral quality)

Answer 58

Definition: Take the place of, displace, especially through sneaky tactics Usage: In the 1950s, many people took cod liver oil as a health supplement. Today, fish oil capsules and flaxseed oil have supplanted the smelly old standby our grandparents used. / He did achieve his dream of becoming CEO, but only after supplanting our previous CEO by wresting control while she was battling cancer. Related Words: Outstrip (surpass, exceed; be larger or better than; leave behind), Overshadow (cast a shadow over, make to seem less important), Supersede (replace or cause to be set aside), Eclipse (obscure, darken, make less important) More Info: From the Latin for “to trip up” (“planta” meant the sole of the foot).

Answer 59

Definition: Assumption, hypothesis, something that has been supposed Usage: In order to test our supposition that customers will buy our product if they associate it with celebrities, let’s send free samples to some popular young starlets, track mentions in the press, and see if our sales increase accordingly. Related Words: Conjecture (educated guess, speculation, opinion formed with incomplete information)

Answer 60

Definition: Bad-tempered, hostile, unfriendly, or rude Usage: This diner is terrible. My eggs are overcooked, and our surly waitress actually told me, “If you don’t like it, scram.” Related Words: Curmudgeon (bad-tempered, difficult person; grouch), Crotchety (grouchy, picky, given to odd notions), Cantankerous (disagreeable, contentious), Crank (an unbalanced person who is fanatical about a private, generally petty cause) More Info: Surly comes from “sir” and originally meant “lordly, acting like a nobleman.” Today’s meaning is surely still in line with the behavior of many noblemen towards their servants.

Answer 61

Definition: Substitute, person who acts for another (noun); acting as a replacement (adj) Usage: A study found that baby monkeys, once separated from their mothers, preferred a surrogate mother made of cloth to a less comforting, rigid monkey doll, even when induced with treats to change their behavior. Related Words: Proxy (agent, substitute, person authorized to act on behalf of another) More Info: A surrogate mother carries a child for another woman (generally, the child is not biologically related to the surrogate—the intended parent or egg donor supplies genetic material).

Answer 62

Definition: Person devoted to pleasure and luxury Usage: The reality show about Beverly Hills “housewives” portrayed wealthy sybarites who has all the luxury and pleasure in this world. Related Words: Voluptuary is a synonym. A hedonist is a pleasure-seeker. More Info: From the Greek place name Sybaris—the original Sybarites were renowned for living in luxury.

Answer 63

Definition: Mutually dependent relationship between two organisms, people, groups, etc. Usage: In a food chain, one can see that one has symbiotic relationship with other. More Info: The root “sym/syn” means “together” and also appears in synchronized and sympathy. “Bio” means “life.”

Answer 64

Definition: Relating to a synopsis or summary; giving a general view Usage: The movie studio had interns read screenplays and write up synoptic outlines for the executives to review. Related Words: Digest (a periodical containing shortened versions of works published elsewhere), Recapitulation (summary or the act of summing up), Précis (summary or abstract), Compendium (concise but complete summary; a list or collection) More Info: The root “sym/syn” means “together” and “op” comes from a Latin root for “eye” (optometrist, optical, ocular, myopia). Thus, synoptic literally means “see all together,” which is what a good summary allows you to do.

Answer 65

Definition: The rules governing grammar and how words join to make sentences (or how words and symbols join in writing computer code), the study of these rules, or any system or orderly arrangement Usage: Anyone learning a language is bound to make syntactical mistakes—even if he or she knows the appropriate vocabulary, it is still difficult to assemble the words perfectly. More Info: The root “taxis” (arrangement) also gives us taxonomy (the science of classification, such as in biology).