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GRE > Word Meanings 2 > Flashcards

Word Meanings 2 Flashcards

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1
Q

Alloy

A

To commingle; to debase by mixing something inferior; unalloyed means pure
“an ethnic alloy of many peoples”

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2
Q

Appropriate

A

To take for one’s own use; to confiscate
“the accused had appropriated the property”

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3
Q

Arrest

A

To suspend; to engage; holding one’s attention
“An arresting portrait”

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4
Q

August

A

Majestic, venerable
“she was in august company”

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5
Q

Broach

A

To bring up; to announce; to begin to talk about
“he broached the subject he had been avoiding all evening”

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6
Q

Brook

A

To tolerate; to endure; to countenance
“She’d had a plan of action, one that would brook no interference.”

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7
Q

Cardinal

A

Of great importance, as in cardinal sin

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8
Q

Chauvinist

A

A blindly devoted patriot
“she now reports to a new boss, who is a chauvinist”

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9
Q

Color

A

Influence

The attitude of the parents must colour the way children approach school.

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10
Q

Essay

A

To test or try; to attempt; to experiment
“Donald essayed a smile”

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11
Q

Exact

A

To demand; to call for; to require; to take
“he exacted promises that another Watergate would never be allowed to happen”

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12
Q

Fell

A

Inhumanly cruel, lethal

A fell disease

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13
Q

Flip

A

Sarcastic, impertinent

A flip remark

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14
Q

Ford

A

To wade across the shallow part of a river or stream without a boat

They were guarding the bridge, so we forded the river.

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15
Q

Grouse

A

To complain or grumble
“groused about the higher prices.”

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16
Q

Guy/ guyed

A

A rope or cord, or cable attached to something as a brace or guide

“We have to have guy ropes and hoardings to stop it from falling over and hitting somebody.”

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17
Q

Intimate

A

To imply, suggest, or insinuate
He went on to intimate that he was indeed contemplating a shake-up of the company.

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18
Q

List

A

of a ship) lean over to one side, typically because of a leak or unbalanced cargo.

“the ship was listing badly”

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19
Q

Lumber

A

To move heavily and clumsily

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20
Q

Meet

A

Fitting, proper

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21
Q

Milk

A

To exploit; to squeeze every last ounce of

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22
Q

Mince

A

to speak too carefully; to take tiny steps
“there were plenty of secretaries mincing about”

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23
Q

Nice

A

Exacting, fastidious, extremely precise

I’ll explain it nice and simply so you can understand

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24
Q

Occult

A

Hidden, concealed, beyond comprehension

The countries are drawn together by some occult footballing force.

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25
Q

Pedestrian

A

Commonplace, trite, unremarkable, quotidian

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26
Q

Pied

A

Multicoloured, usually in blotches.

a pied horse

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27
Q

Plastic

A

Moldable, pliable, not rigid

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28
Q

Pluck

A

Courage, spunk, fortitude
“it must have taken a lot of pluck to walk along a path marked ‘Danger’”

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29
Q

Prize

A

To pry, to press or force with a lever; something taken by force, spoils
“I tried to prize Joe’s fingers away from the stick”

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30
Q

Rail

A

To complain about bitterly
“he railed at human fickleness”

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31
Q

Rent/rend (past tense)

A

Torn; an opening or tear caused by such

“Eddie was dismayed by the rent in the roof of the tent”

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32
Q

Quail

A

To lose courage; to turn frightened

The very words make many of us quail.

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33
Q

Qualify

A

If you qualify a statement, you make it less strong or less general by adding a detail or explanation to it.

I would qualify that by putting it into context

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34
Q

Sap

A
  1. To enervate (verb)
  2. A fool or nitwit (noun)

“our energy is being sapped by bureaucrats and politicians”

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35
Q

Scurvy

A

Contemptible, despicable

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36
Q

Singular

A

Exceptional, unusual, odd

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37
Q

Stand

A

A group of trees

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38
Q

Steep

A

To saturate or completely soak, as in to let a tea bag steep

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39
Q

Strut

A

The supporting structural cross-part of a wing

40
Q

Table

A

To remove from consideration (as a parliamentary motion)

41
Q

Tender

A

To proffer or offer

…the consortium that has won the tender to build the bridge.

42
Q

Waffle

A

Prattle

There was some bloke on the phone waffling about an airline ticket.

43
Q

Wag

A

A wag is someone who makes jokes.

He’s a bit of a wag, his dad

44
Q

Abjure

A

To renounce or reject solemnly;

He abjured the Protestant faith and became King in 1594

45
Q

Adumbrate

A
  1. represent in outline.
    “Hobhouse had already adumbrated the idea of a welfare state”
  2. foreshadow (a future event).
    “tenors solemnly adumbrate the fate of the convicted sinner”
46
Q

likened

A

similar; same

47
Q

anathema

A

If something is anathema to you, you strongly dislike it.
Violence was anathema to them.

48
Q

anodyne

A

soothing; something that assuages or allays pain or comforts

49
Q

apogee

A

farthest or highest point; culmination; zenith

50
Q

apostate

A

one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions

“after fifty years as an apostate he returned to the faith”

51
Q

apotheosis

A

deification; glorification to godliness; an exalted example; a model of excellence or perfection

52
Q

asperity

A

severity; rigor; harshness; acrimony

53
Q

asseverate

A

to aver, allege, or assert

54
Q

assiduous

A

diligent, hardworking, sedulous

55
Q

augury

A

omen, portent

56
Q

captious

A

tending to find fault or raise petty objections.
“a captious teacher”

57
Q

cavil

A

to find fault without good reason

58
Q

celerity

A

speed, alacrity; think accelerate

59
Q

chimera

A

an illusion; an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster

60
Q

contumacious

A

insubordinate, rebellious; contumely means insult, scorn, aspersion

61
Q

denouement

A

an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot

62
Q

descry

A

to catch sight of
“she descried two figures”

63
Q

desultory

A

random; aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose

64
Q

diaphanous

A

transparent, gauzy

65
Q

dirge

A

a song of grief or lamentation

66
Q

encomium

A

panegyric, eulogy

67
Q

eschew

A

to shun or avoid

68
Q

exegesis

A

critical examination, explication

69
Q

expiate

A

to atone or make amends for

70
Q

fractious

A

quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly

71
Q

gainsay

A

to deny, to dispute, to contradict, to oppose

72
Q

heterodox

A

unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic

73
Q

imbroglio

A

difficult or embarrassing situation

74
Q

insouciant

A

unconcerned, carefree, heedless

75
Q

lubricious

A

lewd, slippery

76
Q

mendicant

A

a beggar, supplicant

77
Q

minatory

A

menacing, threatening

78
Q

nadir

A

low point, perigee

79
Q

nonplussed

A

baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think

80
Q

obstreperous

A

noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous

81
Q

palliate

A

to make something seem less serious, to make less severe or intense

82
Q

pellucid

A

transparent, easy to understand, limpid

83
Q

peroration

A

the concluding part of a speech; flowery

84
Q

prolix

A

long-winded, verbose

85
Q

puerile

A

childish, immature, jejune, nugatory

86
Q

remonstrate

A

to protest, to object

87
Q

sagacious

A

having sound judgment

88
Q

salutary

A

remedial, causing improvement; beneficial
“it failed to draw salutary lessons from Britain’s loss of its colonies”

89
Q

saturnine

A

gloomy, dark, sullen, morose

90
Q

sententious

A

aphoristic or moralistic; epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively

91
Q

stentorian

A

extremely loud and powerful

92
Q

stygian

A

gloomy, dark

93
Q

tendentious

A

biased; showing marked tendencies

94
Q

vitiate

A

to corrupt, to debase, to spoil, to make ineffective
“development programmes have been vitiated by the rise in population”

95
Q

voluble

A

fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language

GRE (4 decks)

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