I's

Question 1

Iconoclast

Answer 1

Attacker of cherished beliefs or institutions.

A lifelong iconoclast, Ayn Rand wrote a controversial book entitled The Virtue of Selfishness.

Question 2

Imminent

Answer 2

Ready to occur, impending.

In the face of imminent war, the nation looked to its leader for reassurance.

Question 3

Immunity

Answer 3

The state of not being susceptible to disease; exemption from a duty or liability; exemption from legal punishment. Diplomatic immunity is an example of immunity meaning exemption from legal punishment.

Every year, New York City loses millions of dollars when United Nations diplomats don’t pay their parking tickets, since the diplomats have immunity from U.S. laws.

Question 4

Impair

Answer 4

Make worse, weaken.

Playing in a rock band while failing to use earplugs will almost certainly impair your hearing over time.

Question 5

Impartial

Answer 5

Unbiased, fair. Disinterested, dispassionate, and nonpartisan are all related to being fair and not having a bias or personal stake.

Judge Gonzales removed himself from the case because, having a personal connection to the school where the alleged violation took place, he did not think he could be appropriately impartial.

Question 6

Impasse

Answer 6

Position or road from which there is no escape; deadlock, gridlock.

If the union won’t budge on its demands and the transit authority won’t raise salaries, then we are at an impasse.

Question 7

Impede

Answer 7

Hold back, obstruct the progress of.

I didn’t realize graduate school would consist of so much group work; sadly, there’s always at least one person in every group who impedes the group’s progress more than helps it.

Question 8

Impinge on

Answer 8

Trespass on, violate.

Civil liberties experts argued that a school system’s regulation of what its students do on Facebook outside of school is an impingement on their right to free speech.

Question 9

Implode

Answer 9

Burst inward; metaphorically, to collapse or break down.

The startup struggled for years before it simply imploded - the management team broke into factions, all the clients were scared off, and employees who hadn’t been paid in weeks began taking the office computers home with them in retribution.

Question 10

Imply

Answer 10

Hint at, suggest, “say without saying”.

Question 11

Impute

Answer 11

To credit to, to attribute to; lay blame or responsibility for.

The ineffectual CEO was nevertheless a master of public relations - he made sure that all successes were imputed to him, and all of the failures were imputed to others.

Question 12

Inadvertently

Answer 12

Accidentally, carelessly, as a side effect.

In attempting to perfect his science project, he inadvertently blew a fuse and plunged his family’s home into darkness.

Question 13

Inasmuch

Answer 13

Since, because; usually inasmuch as

Inasmuch as a whale is not a fish, it will not be covered in this biology course specifically about fish.

Question 14

Incentive

Answer 14

Something that encourages greater action or effort, such as a reward.

A controversial program in a failing school system uses cash payments as an incentive for students to stay in school.

Question 15

Incidentally

Answer 15

Accidentally, not intentionally, Incidentally can also mean b the way and is used to introduce information that is only slightly related. Incidentals can refer to expenses that are “on the side” (The company given us $100 a day for meals and incidentals).

The environmental protection law was incidentally injurious to the rubber industry.

I think we should move forward with the new office. Incidentally, there’s a great Mexican restaurant opening up right across the street from it!

Question 16

Incinerate

Answer 16

Burn, reduce to ashes, cremate.

Question 17

Inconsequential

Answer 17

Insignificant, unimportant. The sense here is that the thing is so small that it doesn’t even have consequences.

You wrote a best-selling book and got a stellar review in the New York Times - whatever your cousin has to say about it is simply inconsequential.

Question 18

Incorporate

Answer 18

Combine, unite; form a legal corporation; embody, give physical form to.

When a business incorporates, it becomes a separate legal entity; for instance, the business can be sued without personal consequences for the owners.

Local legend has it that ghosts can incorporate on one night of the year and walk among the living.

Question 19

Indeterminate

Answer 19

Not fixed or determined, indefinite; vague.

The results of the drug trial were indeterminate; further trials will be needed to ascertain whether the drug can be released.

The lottery can have an indeterminate number of winners - the prize is simply divided among them.

Question 20

Indicative

Answer 20

Indicating, suggestive of. Usually used as indicative of.

Your symptoms are indicative of the common cold.

Question 21

Induce

Answer 21

Persuade or influence (a person to do something); bring about, cause to happen (to induce labor when a birth is not proceeding quickly enough).

Question 22

Inert

Answer 22

Inactive; having little or no power to move.

All fo the missiles at the military museums are inert - they’re not going blow up.

When she saw her father’s inert body on the floor, she thought the worst, but fortunately he was just practicing very slow yoga.

Question 23

Inevitable

Answer 23

Not able to be avoided or escaped; certain.

Benjamin Franklin famously said that only two things in life are inevitable : “death and taxes.”

Question 24

Inexplicable

Answer 24

Not able to be explained.

Question 25

Inextricably

Answer 25

In a way such that one cannot untangle or escape something. If you are inextricably tied to something (such as your family), then you have so many different obligations and deep relationships that you could never leave, disobey, etc.

Question 26

Infer

Answer 26

Conclude from evidence or premises. Remember, on the GRE, infer means draw a definitely true conclusion. It does not mean “assume”!

Question 27

Inform

Answer 27

Inspire, animate; give substance, essence or context to; be the characteristic quality of. Inform most commonly means “impart knowledge to”; thus, many students are confused when they see the word used in other ways on the GRE.

Her work as an art historian is informed by a background in drama; where others see a static tableau, she sees a protagonist, a conflict, a denouement.

Question 28

Ingenuity

Answer 28

Inventive skill, imagination, cleverness, especially in design.

Question 29

Ingrained

Answer 29

Deep-rooted, forming part of the very essence; worked into the fiber.

Religious observance had been ingrained in him since birth; he could not remember a time when he didn’t pray five times a day.

Question 30

Inherent

Answer 30

Existing as a permanent, essential quality; intrinsic.

New research seems to support the idea that humans have an inherent sense of justice - even babies become upset at puppet shows depicting unfairness.

Question 31

Initial

Answer 31

First, at the beginning. An initial deposit might be the money you put down to open a new bank account.

Question 32

Inordinate

Answer 32

Excessive, not within proper limits, unrestrained.

Students taking GRE practice tests at home often take an inordinate number of breaks - remember, on the real thing, you can’t stop just because you’re tired or hungry.

Question 33

Instrumental

Answer 33

Serving as a means of doing something. Just as you might call a weapon an instrument of war, saying He was instrumental in the restructuring has the sense that the person was used as an instrument in order to get something done.

Question 34

Insular

Answer 34

Pertaining to an island; detached, standing alone; narrow-minded (like the stereotype of people from small towns or places).

The young actress couldn’t wait to escape the insularity of her small town, where life revolved around high school football and Taco Bell was considered exotic international cuisine.

Question 35

Interplay

Answer 35

Interaction, reciprocal relationship or influence.

Bilingual readers will enjoy the interplay of English and Spanish in many of the poems in this anthology of the work of Mexican-American poets.

Question 36

Intractable

Answer 36

Difficult to control, manage, or manipulate; hard to cure; stubborn.

That student is positively intractable! Last week, we talked about the importance of staying your seat during the lesson; this week, she not only got up mid-class, but she actually scrambled on top of a bookcase and refused to come down!

Back injuries often results in intractable pain; despite treatment, patients never feel fully cured.

Question 37

Intrepid

Answer 37

Fearless, brave, enduring in the face of adversity.

The intrepid explorers volunteered for the first manned mission to Mars, despite the fact that scientists estimated the chance of success at just 40%.

Question 38

Intrinsic

Answer 38

Belonging to the essential nature of a thing.

Despite all of the high-tech safety equipment, skydiving is an intrinsically dangerous proposition.

Communication is intrinsic to a healthy relationship.

Question 39

Inundate

Answer 39

Flood, cover with water, overwhelm.

As the city was inundated with water, the mayor feared that many evacuees would have nowhere to go.

I can’t go out - I am inundated with homework!

Question 40

Invaluable

Answer 40

Priceless; so valuable that the value cannot be measured.

Question 41

Investiture

Answer 41

Investing; formally giving someone a right or title.

The former dean had her academic robes dry cleaned in preparation for her investiture as university president.

Question 42

Involved

Answer 42

Complicate, intricate; confused or tangled.

The story is quite involved - are you sure you have time for it?

Question 43

Invulnerable

Answer 43

Immune to attack; not vulnerable; impossible to damage, injure, etc.

Question 44

Isotope

Answer 44

Forms of the same chemical element, but with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus or different atomic weights. Different isotopes of the same element have almost (but not quite!) identical properties.