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GRE5 Flashcards

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1
Q

POOR

A

indigent, esurient, impecunious, destitute

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2
Q

destitute

A

POOR:

his extravagant lifestyle after retiring left him destitute by the time he died.

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3
Q

esurient

A

POOR, or hungry/greedy:

The growling stomach proclaimed him esurient.

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4
Q

impecunious

A

POOR:

I first knew him as an impecunious student living in a tiny bedsit.

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5
Q

indigent

A

POOR:

The man lost his job and became indigent.

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6
Q

FAVORING/NOT IMPARTIAL

A

zealot, ardent/ardor, doctrinaire, fervid, partisan, tendentious

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7
Q

ardent/ardor

A

passionate; fervent, very enthusiastic FAVORING/NOT IMPARTIAL:
an ardent supporter of Arsenal

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8
Q

doctrinaire

A

dogmatic, opinionated, biased, authoritarian, bigot FAVORING/NOT IMPARTIAL:
These principles are doctrinaire.

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9
Q

fervid

A

describes beliefs that are strongly and sincerely felt or people who have strong and sincere beliefs FAVORING/NOT IMPARTIAL :
It is his fervent hope that a peaceful solution will soon be found.

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10
Q

partison

A

an adherent or supporter of a person, group, party, or cause, especially a person who shows a biased, emotional allegiance FAVORING/NOT IMPARTIAL:
The partisan was very supportive of the party.

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11
Q

tendentious

A

having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or purpose FAVORING/NOT IMPARTIAL:
She tendentiously espoused her particular solution at every opportunity.

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12
Q

zealot

A

an excessively zealous person; fanatic FAVORING/NOT IMPARTIAL:
a religious zealot

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13
Q

DENYING OF SELF

A

abstain, stoic, ascetic, temperate etc

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14
Q

abnegate

A

to refuse or deny oneself (some rights, reject; renounce DENYING OF SELF:
It’s hard to abnegate habit of smoking once started.

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15
Q

ascetic

A

a person who leads an austerely simple life, especially one who abstains from the normal pleasures of life or denies himself or herself material satisfaction DENYING OF SELF:
They live a very ascetic life.

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16
Q

spartan

A

self-denying, very simple and not comfortable or luxurious DENYING OF SELF:
The rooms were clean but spartan.

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17
Q

temperate

A

moderate or self-restrained; not extreme in opinion, statement, etc. DENYING OF SELF:
a temperate response to an insulting challenge.

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18
Q

WALKING ABOUT

A

meander, itinerant etc

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19
Q

ambulatory

A

of, pertaining to, or capable of walking WALKING ABOUT:

an ambulatory exploration of the countryside.

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20
Q

itinerant

A

characterized by such traveling, journeying, migratory, moving, nomadic, on foot, WALKING ABOUT:
an itinerant preacher

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21
Q

meander

A

to wander aimlessly; ramble zigzag WALKING ABOUT:

We meandered around town for a couple of hours.

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22
Q

peripatetic

A

walking or traveling about; itinerant. WALKING ABOUT:

The peripatetic animal never stayed in one place for too long.

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23
Q

INSINCERE

A

unctuous, ostensible etc

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24
Q

unctuous

A

groveling, ingratiating, obsequious, servile INSINCERE:

his unctuous manner/voice/smile is ridiculous.

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25
Q

ostensible

A

outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended INSINCERE:
an ostensible cheerfulness concealing sadness.

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26
Q

PREVENT/OBSTRUCT

A

discomfit, impede, hinder, occlude, inhibit,

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27
Q

encumber

A

to impede or hinder; hamper; retard PREVENT/OBSTRUCT:

Today, thankfully, women tennis players are not encumbered with/by long, heavy skirts and high-necked blouses.

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28
Q

fetter

A

to confine; restrain PREVENT/OBSTRUCT:

The fetters of his job kept him from advancing as fast as he would like to

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29
Q

forfend

A

to defend, secure, or protect, inhibit from action PREVENT/OBSTRUCT:
My roommate claims that the best way to forfend a nasty cold is to chew
garlic.

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30
Q

ECCENTRIC/DISSIMILAR

A

aberrant, anachronism, anomalous, eclectic, esoteric, discrete, iconoclast

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31
Q

anachronism

A

something out of place in time ECCENTRIC/DISSIMILAR:

For some people, marriage is an anachronism from the days when women needed to be protected.

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32
Q

aberrant

A

deviant, departing from the right, normal, or usual course, ECCENTRIC/DISSIMILAR:
aberrant behaviour/sexuality

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33
Q

iconoclast

A

a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, cynic, denouncer, dissenter, dissident, heretic, nonbeliever ECCENTRIC/DISSIMILAR:
Rogers, an iconoclast in architecture, is sometimes described as putting the insides of buildings on the outside.

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34
Q

FUNNY

A

facetious, jocular, ludicrous, simper

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35
Q

chortle

A

chuckle gleeful FUNNY:

She chortled with glee at the news.

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36
Q

droll

A

amusing in an odd way; whimsically humorous; waggish. ridiculous, preposterous clownish FUNNY:
a droll remark/expression/person

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37
Q

flippant

A 
frivolously disrespectful, shallow, or lacking in seriousness, characterized of levity FUNNY: 
She was flippant in her class so she got very bad grades in her report card.
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38
Q

gibe

A

to utter mocking or scoffing words; jeer, ridicule, jeer, joke, mockery FUNNY:
The bullies gibed at the new kid in school because he had glasses.

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39
Q

levity

A

lightness of mind, character, or behavior; lack of appropriate seriousness or earnestness.funniness, silliness FUNNY:
a brief moment of levity amid the solemn proceedings

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40
Q

raillery

A

good-humored ridicule; banter, a bantering remark, joking or laughing at someone in a friendly way FUNNY:
Have you heard the latest Raillery about the new principal and his bad toupe

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41
Q

reposte

A

a quick and clever remark, often made in answer to a criticism FUNNY:
She made a sharp/witty/neat riposte.

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42
Q

simper

A

to smile in a silly, self-conscious way, smile coyly, grin, smile in a silly or annoying way FUNNY:
She gave her teacher a simpering smile.

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43
Q

SORROW

A

doleful, melancholy, morose, plaintive,

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44
Q

disconsolation

A

without consolation or solace; hopelessly unhappy, SORROW:

The team were disconsolate after losing what should have been an easy game.

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45
Q

dolor

A

sorrow; grief, misery, anguish, agony SORROW:

The family was filled with much dolor after the death of their son.

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46
Q

elegiac/elegy

A

expressing sorrow or lamentation, doleful, funereal, melancholy, mournful, sad, sorrowful, SORROW:
Such a poem would employ a mournful or elegiac tone

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47
Q

forlorn

A

unhappy or miserable, as in feeling, condition, or appearance. expressive of hopelessness; despairing: forlorn glances. SORROW:
The captured soldiers looked forlorn and helpless.

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48
Q

lament

A

to feel or express sorrow or regret for: SORROW:

to lament his absence

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49
Q

lugubrious

A

mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner SORROW:
lugubrious songs of lost love.

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50
Q

threnody

A

a poem, speech, or song of lamentation, especially for the dead; dirge; funeral song. SORROW:
The choir sang the threnody at the funeral.

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51
Q

DISGUSTING/OFFENSIVE

A

fetid, odious,

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52
Q

defile

A

to make foul, dirty, or unclean; pollute; taint; debase, to violate the chastity of, corrupt, violate DISGUSTING/OFFENSIVE:
The employee’s reputation for looking professional was defiled when he arrived at work without wearing proper attire.

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53
Q

invidious

A

offensively or unfairly discriminating; injurious DISGUSTING/OFFENSIVE:
invidious comparisons.

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54
Q

noisome

A

very unpleasant and offensive, offensive or disgusting, as an odor DISGUSTING/OFFENSIVE:
Symptoms are noisome and include headache and cranial nerve deficits.

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55
Q

putrid

A

decaying and smelling bad DISGUSTING/OFFENSIVE:

putrid smell

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56
Q

rebarbative

A

causing annoyance, irritation, or aversion; repellent. troubling DISGUSTING/OFFENSIVE:
he became rebarbative and prickly and spiteful

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57
Q

WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT

A

abnegation, rescind, abrogate, demur,

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58
Q

abeyance

A

temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT:
Let’s hold that problem in abeyance for a while.

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59
Q

abjure

A

to renounce, repudiate, or retract, especially with formal solemnity; recant WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT:
to abjure one’s errors.

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60
Q

abortive

A

failing to succeed; unsuccessful WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT: an abortive rebellion; an abortive scheme.

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61
Q

abrogate

A

to abolish by formal or official means; annul by an authoritative act; repeal WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT:
to abrogate a law.

62
Q

decamp

A

to depart quickly, secretly, or unceremoniously WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT:
The band of thieves decamped in the night.

63
Q

recidivism

A

habitual relapse into crime WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT:

With a high recidivism rate, the parole program’s success story is often the exception rather than the rule.

64
Q

remission

A

pardon; forgiveness, as of sins or offenses WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT:
to be in a period of time when a serious illness is better:
He is in remission at the moment.
The disease seems to be in remission.

65
Q

renege

A

not to do what you promise or say WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT:

to renege on a promise.

66
Q

retrograde

A

moving backward; having a backward motion or direction; retiring or retreating WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT:
After Sally’s accident, her progress in school went retrograde.

67
Q

DEATH/MOURNING

A

dolorous

68
Q

bereave

A

to deprive and make desolate, especially by death (usually followed by of ) DEATH/MOURNING:
Illness bereaved them of their mother.

69
Q

cadaver

A

a dead body, especially a human body to be dissected; corpse DEATH/MOURNING:
The cadaver helped medical students understand human anatomy

70
Q

knell

A

a sound or sign announcing the death of a person or the end, extinction, failure, etc., of something DEATH/MOURNING:
the knell of parting day.

71
Q

macabre

A

gruesome and horrifying; ghastly; horrible (related to death):
a macabre story

72
Q

moribund

A

in a dying state; near death DEATH/MOURNING:

How can the Trade Department be revived from its present moribund state?

73
Q

obsequy

A

a funeral rite or ceremony DEATH/MOURNING:

Some of the mourners left after the obsequies.

74
Q

sepulchral

A

of or pertaining to burial DEATH/MOURNING:

The curtain rose to reveal a gloomy, sepulchral set for the play.

75
Q

wraith

A

spirit of a dead person DEATH/MOURNING:

a wraith-like (= thin and pale) figure in a grey floating dress

76
Q

COPY

A

emulate, factitious,

77
Q

counterpart

A

a copy; duplicate COPY:

The artist worked together with her foreign counterpart.

78
Q

facsimile

A

an exact copy, as of a book, painting, or manuscript. COPY:

a facsimile of the original manuscript

79
Q

quintessence

A

the purest example or representative of a type COPY:

An American football game is the quintessence of machismo.

80
Q

vicarious

A

Experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person: “vicarious pleasure” COPY:
It gives me vicarious pleasure to watch him eat.

81
Q

EQUAL

A

equitable, equity,

82
Q

tantamount

A

equivalent COPY:

Resignation would be tantamount to admitting he was guilty.

83
Q

UNUSUAL

A

aberration, anomaly, iconoclast,

84
Q

idiosyncrasy

A

characteristic that is peculiar to an individual UNUSUAL:

She had an idiosyncratic fashion sense

85
Q

WANDERING

A

itinerant, peripatetic, expatiate

86
Q

forage

A

search madly for WANDERING:

Chimpanzees spend most of the day foraging for fruit, leaves, and insects.

87
Q

peregrination

A

travel from one place to another, especially on foot WANDERING:
He brought back souveniers and photos from his peregrination abroad.

88
Q

sojourn

A

a temporary stay WANDERING:

during his sojourn in Paris.

89
Q

GAPS/OPENINGS

A

aperture

90
Q

fissure

A

a narrow opening produced by cleavage or separation of parts GAPS/OPENINGS:
The green glob seeped into the fissures on the rock

91
Q

meretricious

A

based on pretense, deception, or insincerity:

He claims that a lot of journalism is meretricious and superficial.

92
Q

pejorative

A

having a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect:

Make sure students realise that ‘fat’ is an unflattering or pejorative word

93
Q

celibacy

A

abstention from sexual relations:

They couple remained celibate until they got married.

94
Q

hiatus

A

a missing piece (as a gap in a manuscript), an interruption in the intensity or amount of something GAPS/OPENINGS:
When it began to require too much effort, he took a hiatus from his coin collecting hobby.
While on hiatus from the university, the professor wrote a book on economics.

95
Q

interregnum

A

any pause or interruption in continuity, any period of freedom from the usual authority GAPS/OPENINGS:
Postwar interregnum as conflicting plans for central intelligence are shaken down into a presidential directive.

96
Q

interstice

A

a small or narrow space or interval between things or parts GAPS/OPENINGS:
The wall was old and crumbling with plants growing in the interstices between/in/of the bricks.

97
Q

lull

A

to soothe or quiet GAPS/OPENINGS:

Soft music lulled him to sleep.

98
Q

orifice

A

an opening or aperture GAPS/OPENINGS:

I was stuffing cake into every available orifice.

99
Q

respite

A

pause, suspension in activity, pause from doing something (as work) GAPS/OPENING:
The weekend was a brief respite from the pressures of work.

100
Q

rift

A

an opening made by splitting, cleaving, fissure, serious disagreement GAPS/OPENINGS:
the deepening rift between the government and the unions.

101
Q

ABBREVIATED COMMUNICATION

A

curtail, terse, compendium,

102
Q

abridge

A

to shorten by omissions while retaining the basic contents ABBREVIATED COMMUNICATION:
to abridge a reference book.

103
Q

cursory

A

done quickly and without much care ABBREVIATED COMMUNICATION:
a cursory glance

104
Q

WISDOM

A

aphorism, axiom,

105
Q

adage

A

a traditional saying expressing a common experience or observation, a wise saying; proverb aphorism, apothegm, axiom WISDOM:
He remembered the old adage ‘Look before you leap’.

106
Q

apothegm

A

a short, pithy, instructive saying; a terse remark or aphorism WISDOM:
Apothegms are normally used by dumb people to try to make themselves seem more intelligent.

107
Q

bromide

A

a platitude or trite (dull & boring) saying, a trite or obvious remark WISDOM

108
Q

dictum

A

saying, proverb, adage, aphorism, apothegm, axiom WISDOM:

He followed the famous American dictum, ‘Don’t get mad, get even’.

109
Q

epigram

A

any witty, ingenious, or pointed saying tersely expressed WISDOM:
One of Oscar Wilde’s most frequently quoted epigrams is “I can resist everything except temptation”.

110
Q

sententious

A

abounding in pithy aphorisms or maxims WISDOM: a sententious book.

111
Q

FAMILY

A

conjugal, scion, progenitor, filial, fratricide, distaff, consanguine, endogamous

112
Q

conjugal

A

relating to marriage FAMILY:

Maria often spent hours awake in bed, dreaming of future conjugal bliss.

113
Q

consanguine

A

having the same ancestry or descent; related by blood FAMILY:

114
Q

distaff

A

pertaining to females; a stick that holds wool or flax for spinning FAMILY:

115
Q

endogamous

A

marriage within a specific tribe or similar social unit. Compare exogamy FAMILY

116
Q

filial

A

of, pertaining to, or befitting a son or daughter FAMILY: filial obedience.

117
Q

fratricide

A

the act of killing one’s brother FAMILY:

“My Brother carried out an act of fractricide”.

118
Q

progenitor

A

predecessor in family, a person who first thinks of something and causes it to happen FAMILY:
Marx was the progenitor of communism.

119
Q

scion

A

a descendant FAMILY:

He’s the scion of a very wealthy newspaper-publishing family.

120
Q

NOT STRAIGHT

A

careen, circumvent, carom, labyrinth, meander

121
Q

askance

A

with suspicion, mistrust, or disapproval sideways, disapprovingly NOT STRAIGHT:
He looked askance at my offer

122
Q

awry

A

away from the expected or proper direction; amiss; wrong NOT STRAIGHT: Our plans went awry.

123
Q

careen

A

to lean, sway, or tip to one side while in motion NOT STRAIGHT: The car careened around the corner.

124
Q

gyrate

A

to move in a circle or spiral, or around a fixed point; whirl NOT STRAIGHT:
A line of male dancers gyrated to the music while the audience screamed their appreciation.

125
Q

labyrinth

A

maze, complexity NOT STRAIGHT:

Finally, through a labyrinth of corridors she found his office.

126
Q

oblique

A

not straight or direct, as a course NOT STRAIGHT:

an oblique comment

127
Q

sidle

A

to move sideways or obliquely NOT STRAIGHT:

He sidled up to her and whispered something in her ear.

128
Q

undulating

A

to move with a sinuous or wavelike motion NOT STRAIGHT:

undulating roads, undulating waves

129
Q

INVESTIGATE

A

assay, ascertain, appraise, descry. peruse

130
Q

appraise

A

to estimate the monetary value of; determine the worth of; assess INVESTIGATE:
We had an expert appraise the house before we bought it.

131
Q

ascertain

A

to find out definitely; learn with certainty or assurance, confirm; determine INVESTIGATE:
We are still trying to ascertain whether the fire was started deliberately.

132
Q

assay

A

to examine or analyze INVESTIGATE:

to assay a situation; to assay an event.

133
Q

descry

A

to see (something unclear or distant) by looking carefully; discern; espy INVESTIGATE: The lookout descried land.

134
Q

peruse

A

to survey or examine in detail INVESTIGATE:

If there are comments, take a second and peruse them.

135
Q

TIME/ORDER/DURATION

A

anachronism, antecede, antedate, anterior, archaic, ephemeral, epoch, fortnight, temporal, synchronous.

136
Q

antecede

A

to precede TIME/ORDER/DURATION:

Behavior problems antecede the development of respiratory conditions in children.

137
Q

antedate

A

precede in time TIME/ORDER/DURATION: The Peruvian empire antedates the Mexican empire.

138
Q

anterior

A

going before in time or sequence; preceding; earlier TIME/ORDER/DURATION: events anterior to the outbreak of war.

139
Q

diurnal

A

occurring every day; during the day TIME/ORDER/DURATION:

We should see the days are warming faster than days and the diurnal temperature differences increasing.

140
Q

eon

A

an indefinitely long period of time; age TIME/ORDER/DURATION:
I’ve been waiting eons for my new computer.

141
Q

epoch

A

a particular period of time marked by distinctive features, events, etc TIME/ORDER/DURATION:
The treaty ushered in an epoch of peace and good will.

142
Q

fortnight

A

two weeks TIME/ORDER/DURATION:

We usually get together about once a fortnight.

143
Q

penultimate

A

next to the last TIME/ORDER/DURATION:

the penultimate scene of the play.

144
Q

BAD MOOD

A

petulant, irascible, pique, dudgeon, bilious, pettish, querulous, umbrage, waspish.

145
Q

bilious

A

peevish; irritable; cranky, not healthy BAD MOOD:

She suffered from bilious attacks.

146
Q

dudgeon

A

anger, bitterness, displeasure, fury BAD MOOD:

We left in high dudgeon.

147
Q

pettish

A

petulantly peevish, very angry BAD MOOD:

a pettish refusal.

148
Q

pique

A

anger, irritation BAD MOOD:

She was greatly piqued when they refused her invitation.

149
Q

querulous

A

full of complaints; complaining BAD MOOD:

He became increasingly dissatisfied and querulous in his old age.

150
Q

umbrage

A

offense; annoyance; displeasure BAD MOOD:

to feel umbrage at a social snub; to give umbrage to someone; to take umbrage at someone’s rudeness.

151
Q

waspish

A

irascibly or petulantly spiteful BAD MOOD:

She had a waspish tongue which could hurt.

my own gre words (6 decks)

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