GRE Major Tests Chapter 14

Question 1

Ascetic

Answer 1

without luxuries

ex) He chose the live an ascetic life because of his strict religious beliefs.

Question 2

Coercion

Answer 2

force

ex) Leadership by coercion would not produce the results we see.

Question 3

Diurnal

Answer 3

active in daytime

ex) Because bats are not active during the day, they are not diurnal creatures.

Question 4

Fortuitous

Answer 4

happening by chance

ex) The decrease in unemployment is not a fortuitous result.

Question 5

Innovate

Answer 5

create, introduce something new

ex) The purpose of this program is to inspire young people to innovate products.

Question 6

Meticulous

Answer 6

very careful

ex) This accounting job requires a meticulous person.

Question 7

Pejorative

Answer 7

derogatory

ex) A pejorative remark usually brings about an angry response from the listener.

Question 8

Puerile

Answer 8

childish

ex) Your jokes are puerile and not appropriate for a woman of your years.

Question 9

Sporadic

Answer 9

not continuous, occurring occasionally

ex) The doctor decided to hospitalize my mother because of her sporadic heartbeat.

Question 10

Verbose

Answer 10

talkative

ex) The verbose man took thirty minutes to give me a simple answer.

Question 11

Assiduous

Answer 11

thorough, diligent

ex) With an assiduous attitude, we will finish this project.

Question 12

Cogent

Answer 12

lucid

ex) The angry husband hired a detective to find cogent proof of his wife’s extramarital affair.

Question 13

Divert

Answer 13

entertain, distract

ex) The change of scenery helped divert my attention from my miserable past.

Question 14

Fractious

Answer 14

irritable, difficult to control

ex) The fractious child would not listen to a word his mother said.

Question 15

Inscrutable

Answer 15

mysterious

ex) Not even the leading experts in criminology could understand the killer’s inscrutable motives.

Question 16

Mettle

Answer 16

courage, bravery

ex) To prove his mettle, he had to spend an hour alone in the haunted house.

Question 17

Pellucid

Answer 17

transparently clear

ex) The swimming people in the school is so pellucid that the tiles at the bottom are visible,

Question 18

Punctilious

Answer 18

paying attention to small details

ex) Pharmacists must be very punctilious because the actions they take could lead to or result in fatalities.

Question 19

Spurious

Answer 19

false

ex) To win elections, politicians often make spurious promises to voters.

Question 20

Verbosity

Answer 20

using too may words

ex) His speeches who always marred by verbosity.

Question 21

Assuage

Answer 21

to calm

ex) Knowing that my grandfather pulled through heart surgery does assuage my nerves.

Question 22

Cogitate

Answer 22

think over something, ponder

ex) If you cogitate on your destiny for too long, you will miss out on your life.

Question 23

Docile

Answer 23

gentle and easily lead

ex) The wild dog was far from docile.

Question 24

Fraudulent

Answer 24

fake, false

ex) Corrupt leaders were chosen in a fraudulent election.

Question 25

Insentient

Answer 25

unfeeling ex) It's arrogant to presume animals to be insentient.

Question 26

Milieu

Answer 26

environment ex) As the son of a legendary pianist, Henry grew up in a musical milieu.

Question 27

Pensive

Answer 27

in a thoughtful mood ex) Unrequited love caused her to be in a very pensive mood.

Question 28

Purloin

Answer 28

steal ex) He was shocked when her best friend tried to purloin her favorite necklace.

Question 29

Stagnant

Answer 29

still, not moving ex) Because his current salary has been stagnant for years, he is looking for a new job.

Question 30

Vertigo

Answer 30

dizziness ex) Because she suffers from vertigo, it is difficult for her to walk in a straight line.

Question 31

Astute

Answer 31

perceptive ex) The astute thing to do at night is study your vocabulary.

Question 32

Collage

Answer 32

picture made of/from fragments of other pictures ex) I made a collage out of all the pictures I took today.

Question 33

Dogmatic

Answer 33

having stubbornly held opinions ex) I don't mean to be dogmatic, but I'am certain I'am correct on this issue.

Question 34

Frivolous

Answer 34

not serious ex) Students who consider test instructions to be frivolous often fail exams.

Question 35

Insipid

Answer 35

dull ex) The soup lacks the night seasoning and tastes insipid.

Question 36

Mire

Answer 36

swamp, muddy ground ex) Her shoes were stuck in the mire.

Question 37

Penury

Answer 37

poverty ex) Many people in third world countries live in penury and misery.

Question 38

Pusillanimous

Answer 38

cowardly ex) The pusillanimous girl would not stand up to the school bully.

Question 39

Staid

Answer 39

dull, serious ex) When people describe my boss, they describe him as a staid man who never smiles.

Question 40

Vestigial

Answer 40

not developed ex) Although it cannot fly, the bird still has vestigial wings.

Question 41

Asylum

Answer 41

place of refuge or safety ex) Seeking asylum from their homelands, many people have fled to the United States in the hopes of having a better life.

Question 42

Collate

Answer 42

arrange in order ex) It took me a moment or two to collate this new information.

Question 43

Dolt

Answer 43

stupid person ex) He is a dolt for forgetting to bring his money.

Question 44

Frugal

Answer 44

economical ex) Stop being so frugal and just buy me a real gold necklace.

Question 45

Instigate

Answer 45

to start, provoke ex) The road construction will definitely instigate major traffic delays during rush hour.

Question 46

Misanthrope

Answer 46

hater of the rest of mankind ex) Living in a crime filled city will turn anyone into a nervous misanthrope.

Question 47

Perceptive

Answer 47

observant ex) You're far more perceptive than most.

Question 48

Pyromania

Answer 48

compulsion to start fires ex) The arsonist had pyromania.

Question 49

Stanza

Answer 49

section of a poem ex) The second stanza of the poem contains rhyming lines.

Question 50

Vignette

Answer 50

small sketch, a short but meaningful account ex) In my short film class, I shot a vignette about the life of a homeless teenager.