610969
Description
Flashcards by praku.bits, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by praku.bits
almost 11 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Mesmerize | hold spellbound. The plot and the characters were so well developed that many viewers were mesmerized, unable to move their eyes from the screen for even a single second. |
| Gerrymander | refers to the manipulation of boundaries to favor a certain group. |
| billingsgate | Mn : coarsely abusive language Ex : A steady stream of billingsgate could be heard coming from the basement after my father hit his thumb with his hammer. |
| Alacrity | An eager willingness to do something. Imagine the first day at a job that you’ve worked really hard to get. How are you going to complete the tasks assigned to you? With alacrity, of course. |
| Prosaic | Prosaic means dull and lacking imagination. - It can be used to describe plans, life, language, or just about anything inanimate that has become dull |
| Veracity | Veracity means truthful. The adjective form, veracious, sounds a lot like voracious. So be careful. |
| Paucity | Paucity is a lack of something. In honor of paucity, this entry will have a paucity of words. |
| Maintain | Is to assert. One can maintain their innocence. A scientist can maintain that a recent finding support her theory. |
| Contrite | To be contrite is to feel remorse. |
| Laconic | A person is described as laconic when he/she says very few words. I’m usually reminded of John Wayne, the quintessential cowboy, who, with a gravely intonation, muttered few words. |
| Pugnacious | A person who is pugnacious likes to aggressively argue about everything. Verbally combative is another good way to describe pugnacious. |
| Disparate | If two things are fundamentally different, they are disparate |
| Egregious | Meant standing out in a bad way. In sports, an egregious foul would be called on a player who slugged another player. |
| Innocuous | Something innocuous is harmless and doesn’t produce any ill effects. Many germs are innocuous. As are most bug bites. Even television, in small doses, is typically innocuous. Innocuous can also mean inoffensive. An innocuous question is unlikely to upset anyone. Everyone found Nancy’s banter innocuous-– except for Mike, who felt like she was intentionally picking on him. |
| Candid | A straightforward and honest look at something is a candid one. Many great photographers have created enduring work because they turn their respective lens on what is real. Whether these photos are from the Dust Bowl, the Vietnam War, or on the Arab Winter, they move us because they reveal how people felt at a certain moment. A person can also be candid if they are being honest and straightforward with you. Even with a perfect stranger, he was candid and would rarely hold anything back. |
| Erratic | Unpredictable, often wildly so, erratic is reserved for pretty extreme cases. An athlete who scores the winning point one game, and then botches numerous opportunities. The stock market. And your sleep, especially if your stocks aren’t doing well, can become erratic. Erratic can also mean strange and unconventional. Someone may be known for their erratic behavior. Regardless of which meaning you are employing, you should not be erratic in your GRE prep. |
| Bleak | If one has a very depressing take on life, we say that person has a bleak outlook. Landscapes can be bleak (Siberia in April, the Texas of No Country for Old Men), and writers, too. |
| Profuse | If something literally pours out in abundance we say it is profuse. This pouring is usually figurative. A person who apologies ceaselessly does so profusely. Perhaps a little more vividly, certain men who fail to button up their shirts all the way, let the world – perhaps not unwittingly – know of their profuse chest hair. |
| Extant | 1. still existing 2. currently or actually 3. standing out or above Ex: 1. One of the oldest buildings still extant. 2. Despite many bookstores closing, experts predict that some form of book dealing will still be extant generations from now. |
| Contentious | 1. to argue. If you are contentious, you like to argue. 2. likely to cause people to argue or disagree 3. involving a lot of arguing 4.likely or willing to argue Ex 1 : After a contentious debate, members of the committee finally voted to approve the funding. Ex 2 : The dispute involves one of the region's most contentious leaders. |
| Auspicious | 1. means favorable. 2. showing or suggesting that future success is likely 3. attended by good fortune Ex 1 : His acclaimed first novel was an auspicious debut. Ex 2 : told him she couldn't dance with him just then, but her auspicious smile encouraged him to ask again later Ex 3 : After his auspicious debut, Chambers became sought after by serious collectors of folk art |
| Enervate | 1. sap the energy from 2. to reduce the mental or moral vigor of 3. to lessen the vitality or strength of Ex 1 : John preferred to avoid equatorial countries; the intense sun would always leave him enervated after he’d spent the day sightseeing. Ex 2 : a lifetime of working in dreary jobs had enervated his very soul. Ex 3 : the surgery really enervated me for weeks afterwards |
| Equivocate | 1. to speak vaguely, usually with the intention to mislead or deceive. 2. to use equivocal language especially with intent to deceive 3. to avoid committing oneself in what one says Ex 1: The applicant seemed to be equivocating when we asked him about his last job. Ex 2 : When asked about her tax plan, the candidate didn't equivocate. Ex 3 : |
| Ambivalent | 1: simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings (as attraction and repulsion) toward an object, person, or action 2 : continual fluctuation (as between one thing and its opposite) |
| indifferent | 1: marked by impartiality, unbiased 2: that does not matter one way or the other 3: of no importance or value one way or the other 4: marked by no special liking for or dislike of something something |
| Sedulous | 1. diligent and carefull Ex : 1 An impressively sedulous suitor, he was constantly sending her flowers and other tokens of his affection Ex 2: If you are sedulously studying for the GRE, you are studying diligently and carefully. |
| Benighted | 1. overtaken by darkness or night 2. existing in a state of intellectual, moral, or social darkness Ex1 : The poor benighted souls who do not know the joys of reading Ex2 : Far from being a period of utter benightedness, The Medieval Ages produced some inestimable works of theological speculation. |
| Scintillating | 1. If something gives off sparks, such as when photons collide, it is said to scintillate 2. Figuratively, scintillating describes someone who is brilliant and lively. Richard Feynman was renowned for his scintillating lectures—the arcana of quantum physics was made lucid as he wrote animatedly on the chalkboard. |
| Inundate | 1. to cause (someone or something) to receive or take in a large amount of things at the same time 2. to cover (something) with a flood of water 3. Figuratively, to be inundated means to be overwhelmed by too many people or things. Ex : Once inundated with 5,000 vocabulary words, GRE students now have to contend with somewhat fewer words. Ex : The newsroom was inundated with false reports that only made it more difficult for the newscasters to provide an objective account of the bank robbery. |
| Imbibe | 1. Literally, to imbibe is to drink, usually copiously. Figuratively, imbibe can refer to an intake of knowledge or information. Ex :The professor was a fountain of erudition, and we imbibed his wisdom. Ex : Plato imbibed Socrates’ teachings to such an extent that he was able to write volumes of work that he directly attributed, sometimes word for word, to Socrates. |
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