GRE Major Tests Chapter 15

Question 1

Atheist

Answer 1

person who does not believe in God

ex) Being an atheist, he did not attend church.

Question 2

Colloquial

Answer 2

local and informal

ex) While my father always speaks formally at work, he addresses us in colloquial terms at home.

Question 3

Dotard

Answer 3

foolish old man

ex) I was ashamed to lose my patience with such a dotard.

Question 4

Furrow

Answer 4

groove

ex) Her brows furrow slightly.

Question 5

Instigator

Answer 5

troublemaker

ex) She was the instigator of their quarrel.

Question 6

Misnomer

Answer 6

wrong name

ex) The name she chose made no sense to anyone so we could only assume it was a misnomer.

Question 7

Percipient

Answer 7

perceptive, insightful

ex) The real space is public, the apparent space is private to the percipient.

Question 8

Quaff

Answer 8

drink down quickly

ex) My husband always has to quaff a pot of coffee before leaving for work.

Question 9

Staunch

Answer 9

loyal

ex) The men and women who serve in out military are staunch defendants of our country.

Question 10

Vilification

Answer 10

blackening someone’s name

ex) We have to do something about vilification.

Question 11

Atrophy

Answer 11

waste away from lack of use, to weaken in ability or function

ex) When she stopped practicing the piano, her musical skills started to atrophy.

Question 12

Collusion

Answer 12

plotting and planning

ex) The collusion between the two oil companies is being investigated by the justice department.

Question 13

Drawl

Answer 13

speak slowly with words running together

He drawled an apology.

Question 14

Furtive

Answer 14

hidden and secret

ex) Though he was furtive with his tears, I could still visibly see them

Question 15

Insurgent

Answer 15

a rebel

ex) The soldiers were trained to shoot any enemy insurgent on sight.

Question 16

Misogynist

Answer 16

hater of women

ex) According to the criminal profiler, only a person with misogyny could kill so Manu women so brutally.

Question 17

Perdition

Answer 17

damnation

ex) The priest hoped he could save the troubled woman from perdition.

Question 18

Quagmire

Answer 18

a situation from which it is hard to escape

ex) Many young people do not realize the quagmire to which occasional drug use can lead.

Question 19

Stereotype

Answer 19

fixed image

ex) In some areas of France, citizens accept the stereotype of Americans as rude people.

Question 20

Vindicate

Answer 20

prove right, remove blame

ex) If you want me to vindicate your point of view, you’re going to have to explain your ideas to me in a way that I can understand.

Question 21

Attenuate

Answer 21

weaken

ex) Doctors claim taking the vaccine will attenuate the effects of the illness.

Question 22

Commandeer

Answer 22

take possession of

ex) The taxi driver shot the escaped convict who was trying to commander his vehicle.

Question 23

Drivel

Answer 23

nonsense

ex) Sometimes listening to my mother’s nonstop drivel makes my head hurt.

Question 24

Futile

Answer 24

useless, hopeless

ex) It appears that filling out job applications in this troubled economy is a futile exercise.

Question 25

Interminable

Answer 25

never-ending ex) His friend complained about hid interminable tweets.

Question 26

Misrepresentation

Answer 26

deliberately deceiving ex) There are quite a few misrepresentations of historical facts in the college textbook.

Question 27

Peremptory

Answer 27

in a commanding manner ex) The prison guard spoke to the inmate in a peremptory tone.

Question 28

Quaint

Answer 28

picturesque ex) My grandmother's quaint home is filled with knick-knacks from her childhood.

Question 29

Stevedore

Answer 29

dockworker ex) Stevedore has a very hard life.

Question 30

Virtuoso

Answer 30

an accomplished musician ex) Ruben is a musical virtuoso who runs his own school of music.

Question 31

Augment

Answer 31

increase, make bigger ex) Because I want to augment my income, i'am thinking about getting a second job.

Question 32

Complacent

Answer 32

self-satisfied ex) I'am rightfully not complacent with low quality service.

Question 33

Droll

Answer 33

dryly amusing ex) The droll performance by the children's choir.

Question 34

Galleon

Answer 34

ancient type of sailing ship ex) The English galleon gradually developed more sail and gun power.

Question 35

Intermittent

Answer 35

sporadic, irregular ex) When the cops arrived the land intermittent noise had stopped.

Question 36

Mitigate

Answer 36

lessen, make less severe ex) Medicines are used to mitigate a patient's suffering.

Question 37

Perfidy

Answer 37

treachery, behavior that shows that someone cannot be trusted ex) Because my brother was the one who attacked me, I know I could never forget the perfidy of the incident.

Question 38

Quandary

Answer 38

dilemma ex) Whether or not you should drink and drive is an easy decision, not a quandary.

Question 39

Stifle

Answer 39

suppress ex) The hot temperature is so stifling it is pulling all the energy out of my body.

Question 40

Virulent

Answer 40

dangerous ex) The firemen had to wear masks that would protect them from the virulent fumes.

Question 41

Auspicious

Answer 41

favorable ex) Everybody knows that the end of the year is an auspicious time to buy a car.

Question 42

Complaint

Answer 42

easy to control ex) The men were complaint.

Question 43

Drone

Answer 43

monotonous noise, to speak with no emotion ex) A drone of noises was audible through the closed window.

Question 44

Gambol

Answer 44

frolic, leap ex) They gambled about without a care.

Question 45

Intransigence

Answer 45

stubbornness ex) Because my father is usually intransigent, he rarely lets my mother have her way.

Question 46

Modicum

Answer 46

small amount ex) We collectively felt a modicum of relief.

Question 47

Perfunctory

Answer 47

superficial, done routinely ex) The beauty queen waved so often that her greeting was simply perfunctory.

Question 48

Quarantine

Answer 48

isolation to prevent the spread of disease ex) The animals are quarantined before they are allowed to enter a foreign nation.

Question 49

Stoic

Answer 49

known for fortitude ex) His features were stoic, his beautiful purple eyes.

Question 50

Vital

Answer 50

essential ex) Water is vital in order to survive in a desert.