GRE Cards Deck U Flashcards
ubiquitous
adj
Definition: Existing everywhere at the same time
Usage: Maggie learned in Sunday school that God was ubiquitous, leading to the question nearly all children ask when they hear this: “Does that mean God sees me in the bathroom?”
Related Words: Omnipresent (synonym), Pervasive (tending to spread throughout)
undermine
verb
Definition: Weaken, cause to collapse by digging away at the foundation (of a building or an argument); injure or attack in a secretive or underhanded way
Usage: Rather than searching impartially for the truth, these pharmaceutical company “scientists” willfully ignored any evidence that undermined the conclusion they were being paid to produce. / You are nice to my face, but you are undermining me behind my back, suggesting to others in the office that I am making mistakes in my work and that you have been fixing them!
More Info: Don’t confuse with undergird (strengthen, add support) and underscore (emphasize). Undermine literally comes from the idea of “mining” underneath—certainly, mining under your house would be likely to make the house fall down.
underscore
verb
Definition: Emphasize (or, literally, to underline text)
Usage: “You’re not going to mess with Joey anymore,” said Joey. His new bodyguards stepped forward threatening, as though to underscore Joey’s point.
Related Words: Undergird means strengthen, support.
More Info: Underscore literally can mean to underline, as in a word processing program—of course, we do this for emphasis. Don’t confuse underscore with the antonym undermine, “to weaken or remove the support for; to injure or attack in a sneaky way.”
unearth
verb
Definition: Dig up, uncover, expose
Usage: The ACLU’s Prison Project works tirelessly to unearth evidence from old cases that might exonerate innocent people who have spent years or even decades in prison. / The archaeologist unearthed what appears to be the world’s oldest known gravesite, showing that the earliest humans cared for their deceased loved ones.
Related Words: Debunk (expose, ridicule, or disprove false or exaggerated claims), Disabuse (free someone from a mistake in thinking)
unequivocal
adj
Definition: Unambiguous, clear, absolute; having only one possible meaning
Usage: The church has been unequivocal in its condemnation of the violence.
Related Words: Resolute or Unambivalent (firmly determined), Resolution (the quality of being firmly determined; resolving to do something; a formal judgment, esp. decided by a vote), Patent (obvious, apparent, plain to see), Explicit (direct, clear, fully revealed)
More Info: The base word equivocal contains the roots for “equal” and “voice”—giving equal voice to all of the options would make it really hard to decide.
unprecedented
adj
Definition: Never before known or seen, without having happened previously
Usage: The sudden resignation of a President was disgraceful and unprecedented.
Related Words: Novel (new, fresh, original)
More Info: It’s not hard to unpack this word—the base word precedented looks a lot like precede, “to come before.” If something is unprecedented, nothing has come before it. In law, a precedent is a ruling in a similar case that a judge would draw on or reference in writing a decision.
unseemly
adj
Definition: Improper, inappropriate, against the rules of taste or politeness
Usage: The last three weeks of the campaign were particularly unseemly.
Only a left wing radical agenda could account for such unseemly behavior.
Related Words: Indecorous (synonym), Boorish or Churlish (rude, ill-mannered, insensitive), Uncouth (having bad manners, awkward), Gauche (tactless, lacking social grace, awkward, crude)
More Info: The antonym seemly means suitable, proper, appropriate, or even handsome.
umbrage
noun
Definition: Offense or annoyance (usually as take umbrage, meaning become offended or annoyed)
Usage: With thirty years’ experience in the IT field and quite recent successes on a variety of projects, the executive understandably took umbrage when his boss asked him to lead a small team.
Related Words: Pique also means anger or irritate. Note that to pique (that is, stimulate) someone’s interest is positive, but to pique a person is always bad.
unconscionable
adj
Definition: Not guided by conscience; morally wrong, unjust, unreasonable
Usage: It is unconscionable that you would deny your sister a bone marrow transplant knowing that you’re the only person in the family who’s a match.
Related Words: Unscrupulous or unprincipled also mean not guided by moral rules.
unsparing
adj
Definition: Generous, lavish (as in not sparing any help or gifts to others); unmerciful, harsh (as in not sparing any criticism)
Usage:
Merciless, Severe:-
He is unsparing in his criticism of the arms trade.
Given freely and generously:-
She had won her mother’s unsparing approval.
Related Words: Acerbic, Acrid, Astringent, Caustic are all words that literally have to do with bitterness, burning, corroding, etc., and can be metaphorically used to describe harshness (unsparing condemnation, caustic condemnation, etc.)
More Info: To spare can mean to treat with mercy, hold back, or refrain from doing (the kidnapper spared the victim’s life, the father spared no expense on his daughter’s Sweet Sixteen, etc.)
untempered
adj
Definition: Not toned down; not moderated, controlled, or counterbalanced
Usage: The report was an untempered overview of the company’s practices.
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). Thus unqualified can mean untempered —that is, not limited or restrained. If your boss gives unqualified approval for your plan, you can do whatever you want.
More Info: To temper is to moderate, soften, or tone down, or to make less intense, esp. by mixing something good with something bad. Of course, temper as a noun means a person’s state of mind or tendency to anger.
upbraid
verb
Definition: Find fault with, criticize or scold severely
Usage: I’m not surprised they got divorced— janie was upbraided by by her husband daily.
Related Words: Admonish means scold or mildly criticize. Reprove, reproach, reprimand, rebuke, excoriate, and castigate are all words for criticizing or scolding more harshly. Censure means strong disapproval or official reprimand.
More Info: Upbraid is related to braid (intertwined hair)—the root relates to twisting, darting, or being quick (such as in battle). The idea is that, when you upbraid someone, you bring up his or her faults quickly and sharply—almost as a weapon. Of course, now we’re imagining braided hair twisting like a sneaky enemy.
usury
noun
Definition: Charging interest on a loan, esp. charging illegally high or excessive interest
Usage: A person borrowing $100 will end up paying over $150 interest in just a few months! Isn’t that usury?
More Info: Usury is always bad. Whether it means simply charging interest or charging way too much depends on the time and place. In medieval times when all moneylending was illegal, usury meant any charging of interest; today, usury laws specify exactly how much interest it’s allowable to charge.
