GRE Major Tests Chapter 9

Question 1

Anecdote

Answer 1

a brief amusing story

ex) Her anecdote about her crowded flight was very funny.

Question 2

Celerity

Answer 2

speed

ex) In order to work as a ball person during a tennis game, you must be able to run with great celerity.

Question 3

Dexterous

Answer 3

skillful with hands

ex) Since I do not often use my left hand, I’am not dexterous when I use it for writing.

Question 4

Extraneous

Answer 4

irrelevant

ex) If you want a good night’s sleep, it’s important to remove any extraneous light and sound.

Question 5

Incoherent

Answer 5

not clear

ex) The speaker spoke so rapidly that his words were incoherent to most in the audience.

Question 6

Maladroit

Answer 6

clumsy, unskillful

ex) When the maladroit waiter served us, he spilled wine on my dress.

Question 7

Pallid

Answer 7

pale

ex) If you have a high fever and your skin is pallid, it’s certain you have a virus.

Question 8

Presumptuous

Answer 8

assuming too much

ex) The students were presumptuous to think their teacher would not give them a quiz on a Monday.

Question 9

Scrupulous

Answer 9

careful, diligent

ex) He is a scrupulous employee who always checks his work for accuracy.

Question 10

Unequivocal

Answer 10

clear, obvious

ex) The experiment must be repeated because the results are not unequivocal.

Question 11

Animosity

Answer 11

hatred

ex) Why do you have such animosity towards me?

Question 12

Censorious

Answer 12

disapproving, critical

ex) censorious comments

Question 13

Dichotomy

Answer 13

a division into two parts, difference between two opposite things

ex) His dichotomy of heaven and hell became an excellent essay.

Question 14

Extrapolate

Answer 14

extend, predict on the basis of known data

ex) We can extrapolate the number of new students entering next year.

Question 15

Incongruous

Answer 15

not fitting in

ex) How incongruous of a fat doctor telling me to lose weight.

Question 16

Malady

Answer 16

illness

ex) Her respiratory malady required her to carry oxygen with her.

Question 17

Palpable

Answer 17

easily felt

ex) Because the bank was being robbed, the sense of fear among the patrons was palpable.

Question 18

Pretentious

Answer 18

pompous, acting more special than warranted

ex) The weight loss product seemed pretentious.

Question 19

Scrutinize

Answer 19

examine carefully

ex) I know how you like to scrutinize a thing to death.

Question 20

Unfetter

Answer 20

set free

ex) Once the bird was unfettered and out of the cage, it flew up in the sky.

Question 21

Annex

Answer 21

a building which is an addition to an existing building

ex) Our house is so small we must build an annex before my husband’s mother can move in with us.

Question 22

Censure

Answer 22

blame

ex) If he receives another censure from his boss, he will more than likely lose his job.

Question 23

Didactic

Answer 23

intended to teach, instructive

ex) The textbook was didactic without being completely boring.

Question 24

Extrinsic

Answer 24

irrelevant, coming from the outside of something

ex) You have to consider any extrinsic factors in the success of the business.

Question 25

Inconsequential

Answer 25

unimportant, insignificant

ex) At the end of the day, everything is inconsequential except for family.

Question 26

Malediction

Answer 26

a curse

ex) The witch’s malediction made the young princess fall into a deep sleep.

Question 27

Panacea

Answer 27

remedy for all ills

ex) Unfortunately there is no panacea that will make cancer instantly vanish from your body.

Question 28

Prevaricate

Answer 28

speak misleadingly

ex) During the hearings the witness was willing to prevaricate in order to protect his friend.

Question 29

Scuttle

Answer 29

sink

ex) The shark scuttled the ship.

Question 30

Unfrock

Answer 30

to remove a priest from his position

ex) The pope was unfrocked because he cursed many times in his tweets.

Question 31

Annex

Answer 31

take possession of, seize, capture

ex) The government planned to annex the islands.

Question 32

Cerebral

Answer 32

intellectual

ex) You may not realize the high level of cerebral strategy involved, which is even more crucial than physical skill.

Question 33

Diffident

Answer 33

lacking confidence

ex) Because she felt unattractive, Mary was diffident and kept to herself at parties.

Question 34

Fallacious

Answer 34

false

ex) What he says is often fallacious.

Question 35

Inconspicuous

Answer 35

not easily seen, not noticeable

ex) Since I do not like to wear flashy accessories, I always purchase inconspicuous jewelry.

Question 36

Malefactor

Answer 36

a wrong-doer, one who does evil

ex) For several years, the detective pursued the malefactor who had brutally killed the two children.

Question 37

Paradigm

Answer 37

example, model, way of looking at things

ex) His programming paradigm has taken the computer world by storm.

Question 38

Pristine

Answer 38

unspoiled

ex) Because there were few tourists on the island, the beaches were still pristine and beautiful.

Question 39

Seminary

Answer 39

an institution in which priests are trained

ex) A U.S. based religious institution is trying to set up a seminary in our town.

Question 40

Unprecedented

Answer 40

never having happened before

ex) The internet has erased distance and given people unprecedented access to each other.

Question 41

Anomaly

Answer 41

something which does not fit in a pattern

ex) In order to find the anomaly, scientists had to repeat the experiment over a hundred times.

Question 42

Certitude

Answer 42

certainty

ex) He believes with certitude that he is the best candidate for the job.

Question 43

Digress

Answer 43

wander off the subject

ex) Because abortion is difficult for me to talk about, I will digress from this topic.

Question 44

Falter

Answer 44

hesitate

ex) Because that horse has a tendency to falter at the gate, the odds that he will win the race are low.

Question 45

Indelible

Answer 45

cannot be wiped out

ex) An indelible memory.

Question 46

Malinger

Answer 46

deliberately avoid work

ex) The lazy student tried to malinger when it was time to work on his essay.

Question 47

Paradox

Answer 47

apparently contradictory statement

ex) The idea of being cruel to be kind is a paradox because cruelty is not normally associated with kindness.

Question 48

Proclivity

Answer 48

tendency towards

ex) As a young child, the award-winning singer had a proclivity for music.

Question 49

Sensuous

Answer 49

appealing to the sense

ex) Her voice was rather deep and very sensuous.

Question 50

Unscathed

Answer 50

unharmed

ex) I came through all those perils unscathed.