GRE_3000_List18

Question 1

paucity

Answer 1

smallness in number
[E] an extreme paucity of natural resources
[S] dearth; deficit; drought; inadequacy;
[A] amplitude; adequacy;

Question 2

paunchy

Answer 2

having a potbelly
[E] a paunchy middle-aged man
[S] corpulent; fat; potbellied;
[A] slender; slim; svelte; thin

Question 3

pedant

Answer 3

one who pays undue attention to book learning and formal rules
[E] He is a perfect type of pedant.
[S] doctrinaire; dogmatist;

Question 4

pejorative

Answer 4

disparaging; belittling;
[E] I agree that I am ambitious, and I don’t see it as a pejorative term.
[S] belittling; derogative; disdainful;
[A] commendatory; complimentary; laudatory;

Question 5

penitent

Answer 5

feeling or expressing humble or regretful pain or sorrow for sis or forgiveness.
[E] a penitent businessman who had come to ask for forgiveness.
[S] apologetic; compunctious; regretful; remorseful; repentant;
[A] impenitent; remorseless;

Question 6

perambulate

Answer 6

to travel over or through especially on foot for exercise or pleasure
[E] We decided to lazily perambulate the entire length of the esplanade and enjoy the fresh air.
[S] amble; peregrinate; proceed; ramble;

Question 7

peremptory

Answer 7

1 not allowing contradiction
[E] a peremptory order from the general
[S] compulsory; forced;
[A] elective;
2 fonder of ordering people around
[E] The peremptory secretory began telling the crowd of reporters and photographers exactly where they should stand.
[S] authoritarian; despotic;
3 having a feeling of superiority
[E] She had such a peremptory approach to run the club that people started to avoid her.
[S] assumptive; bumptious; haughty; lofty;
[A] humble; modest;

Question 8

perfervid

Answer 8

marked by overwrought or exaggerated emotion
[E] perfervid love letter
[S] ardent; torrid; fervid;
[A] cold; cool; impassive;

Question 9

perforate

Answer 9

to make a hole through
[E] perforate with a pin
[S] bore; drill; pierce;

Question 10

perfunctory

Answer 10

1 characterized by routine or superficiality and often done merely as a duty
[E] His colleague gave his usual perfunctory nod.
[S] automatic; cursory; mechanical; superficial;
2 lacking in interest
[E] She gave the list only a perfunctory glance.
[S] apathetic; pococurante;
[A] concerned; interested;

Question 11

peripatetic

Answer 11

walking around or from place to place
[E] peripatetic preachers
[S] ambulant; errant; peregrine;
[A] sedentary; settled;

Question 12

pernicious

Answer 12

highly injurious or destructive
[E] Business maybe troublesome but idleness is pernicious.
[S] adverse; mischievous;
[A] anodyne; innocuous;

Question 13

peroration

Answer 13

1 the concluding prt of a speech
[E] He summarized his main points in his peroration.
[S] denouement; epilogue; finale;
[A] preclude; prologue; overture;
2 a usual formal discourse delivered to an audience
[E] a peroration celebrating the nation’s long tradition of religious tolerance and pluralism.
[S] address; harangue;

Question 14

persiflage

Answer 14

good-natured teasing or exchanging of clever remarks
[E] Their tongue-in-check persiflage in sometimes mistaken for an exchange of insults by people who don’t know them.
[S] backchat; badinage; chaff; joshing;

Question 15

personable

Answer 15

pleasing in personality or appearance;
[E] apparently be attracted by personable young man.
[S] alluring; appealing; attractive; captivating;
[A] grotesque; hideous;

Question 16

perspicacious

Answer 16

having or showing penetrating mental discernment; clear sighted
[E] an impartial and perspicacious judge
[S] astute; savvy; shrewd;
[A] oblivious; ignorant;
[P] perspicacity;

Question 17

perspicuity

Answer 17

the quality of being perspicuous; clearness and lucidity
[E] The key of modern enterprise is the perspicuity of property right.
[S] clarity; clearness; explicitness;
[A] obscureness; ambiguity;

Question 18

pertain

Answer 18

to have a relation or connection
[E] new evidence that pertains to the accident
[S] appertain; bear; refer;
[P] pertaining;

Question 19

peruse

Answer 19

to read or examine typically with great care
[E] peruse the manuscript to check for grammatical errors
[S] examine; scrutinize;
[A] glance; glimpse; scan; skim;

Question 20

patrician

Answer 20

1 a man or woman of high birth or social position
[E] the rank of a patrician
[S] aristocrat; noble; 
[A] plebeian;
2 of high birth, rank, or station
[E] come from a patrician family
[S] aristocratic; noble;
[A] baseborn; humble;

Question 21

philistine

Answer 21

a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values
[E] The philistine’s critics sometimes limits artists’ imagine.
[S] lowbrow; materialist;
[A] highbrow;

Question 22

phlegmatic

Answer 22

having or suggesting a clam, sluggish temperament; unemotional;
[E] a strangely phlegmatic response to what should have been happy news.
[S] affectless; apathetic;
[A] demonstrative; fervent;

Question 23

piddling

Answer 23

so trifling or trivial as to be beneath one’s consideration
[E] raise a piddling abjection to the plan
[S] insignificant; measly; paltry
[A] consequential; considerable;

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Question 24

pigment

Answer 24

1  a substance that imparts black or white or a color to other materials.
[E] natural red pigment
[S] colorant; dye;
2 to color with or as if with pigment
[E] pigmented silk
[S] paint; tincture;
[A] blanch; decolorize;

Question 25

pillory

Answer 25

to expose to public contempt, ridicule, or scorn;
[E] The candidate mercilessly pilloried his opponent.
[S] abase; debase; denounce;
[A] carol; eulogize; extol

Question 26

piquant

Answer 26

1 pleasantly pungent or tart in taste
[E] a piquant sauce
[S] peppery; poignant; salty;
[A] insipid;vapid;
2 appealingly provocative;
[E] a piquant glance
[S] exciting; pungent; racy; stimulating;
[A] flat; pallid;

Question 27

pithy

Answer 27

precisely meaningful; forceful and brief
[E] The professor gives a pithy introduction to this course.
[S] apothegmatic; brief; capsule;
[A] circuitous; prolix; windy; wordy

Question 28

pittance

Answer 28

a small portion, amount, or allowance
[E] The internship offers a pittance for a salary, but it is a great opportunity to gain experience.
[S] bit; mite; modicum; peanuts;
[A] cornucopia; opulence; boodle;

Question 29

plangent

Answer 29

1 having a loud reverberating sound
[E] The camera man was stunned by the plangent roar of wild animals.
[S] blaring; blasting; clamorous; deafening; earsplitting; sonorous;
[A] muffled; muted; gentle;
2 having an expressive and especially plaintive quality
[E] a plangent song about a long-ago love
[S] doleful; dolorous; funeral; grieving; lugubrious; plaintive;woeful;
[A] agreeable; delightful;

Question 30

pleat

Answer 30

fold
[S] corrugate; crease; furrow; ruffle; wrinkle;
[A] flatten; smooth;

Question 31

plethora

Answer 31

excess; superfluity
[E] a plethora of advice and a paucity of assistance
[S] abundance; cornucopia; feast; overabundance; overflow;
[A] dearth; inadequacy; insufficiency; paucity; scarcity
[P] plethoric;

Question 32

plumb

Answer 32

1 to measure the depth of 
[E] We will plumb the bay to make sure it was deep enough for the huge vessel.
[S] fathom
2 exactly vertical
[S] perpendicular; upright; vertical;
[A] horizontal
3 having no exceptions or restrictions
[E] Such a movie is a plumb trash and further evidence of the deterioration of popular culture.
[S] absolute; categorical; consummate; definite; sheer;
[A] doubtful; dubious;
4 to exam closely and deeply
[E] plumb the book's complexities.
[S] explore; delve; inquire;

Question 33

plummet

Answer 33

to decline suddenly and steeply
[E] Overall GPA plummeted 0.5 points.
[S] crash; decline; descend; dip; dive; fall; plunge;
[A] skyrocket;soar;

Question 34

polemic

Answer 34

a controversial argument
[E] The polemic between science and religion has never ceased.
[S] contention; controversy; disagreement;disputation;
[P] polemical

Question 35

politic

Answer 35

1 characterized by shrewdness in managing, contriving, or dealing
[E] a politic secretary
[S] diplomatic; judicious; perspicacious; sagacious; tactful;
[A] tactless; unsophisticated
2 suitable for bringing about a desired result under the circumstances
[E] It probably would not be polite to tell your boss that his latest idea is the worst thing you’ve ever heard.
[S] advisable; desirable; prudent; tactical;
[A] imprudent; inadvisable; injudicious; unwise;

Question 36

pompous

Answer 36

1 excessively elevated or ornate
[E] The candidate was given to windy and pompous rhetorical speeches.
[S] affected; bombastic; flowery; grandiloquent; magniloquent; rhetorical
[A] homely
2 having or exhibiting self-importance
[E] a pompous politician who insisted on boarding the plane first.
[S] arrogant; egocentric; pontifical; presumptuous; supercilious;
[A] humble; modest; unpretentious;