GRE - New list
Terms
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- transmute
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\trans-MYOOT; tranz-\, transitive verb:
To change from one nature, form, substance, or state into another; to transform.
intransitive verb:
To undergo transmutation.
[I]t now seems as if she no longer had the strength or will to transmute life into art.
--Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "Changes Not for the Better," New York Times, February 28, 1974
Sand that once was rock becomes rock once again as it slowly sediments and compresses into layers of sandstone, which, in turn, transmute into sand.
--Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker, The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth
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Transmute is from Latin transmutare, "to change utterly," from trans-, "across" + mutare, "to change - galumph
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\guh-LUHM(P)F\, intransitive verb:
To move in a clumsy manner or with a heavy tread.
Then he climbed up the little iron ladder that led to the wharf's cap, placed me once more upon his shoulders and galumphed off again.
--Alistair MacLeod, Island: The Complete Stories
Lizards patrol the . . . landscape, and giant tortoises galumph on the beaches.
--Peter M. Nichols, "Galápagos," New York Times, March 30, 2001
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Galumph is probably an alteration of gallop. It was coined by Lewis Carroll in the nonsense poem "Jabberwocky." - emolument
- n.: The profit arising from office, employment, or labor; gain; compensation; advantage; perquisites, fees, or salary
- palindrome
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n.: a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward
A few examples:
* "Madam, I'm Adam." (Adam's first words to Eve?)
* "A man, a plan, a canal--Panama!" (The history of the Panama Canal in brief)
* "Able was I ere I saw Elba." (Napoleon's lament)
* Mom, Dad - deprecate
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v. 1: to disapprove of strongly; deplore 2: belittle; "The teacher should not deprecate his student's efforts"
3 archaic: To pray against, as an evil; to seek to avert by prayer - bivouac
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n. 1: The watch of a whole army by night, when in danger of surprise or attack
2: An encampment for the night usually without tents or covering. --v.i.; BIVOUACKED; BIVOUACKING: To encamp for the night under little or no shelter. - umbrage
- n.: suspicion of injury or wrong; offense; resentment
- incipient
- adj.: Beginning to be, or to show itself; commencing; initial; as, the incipient stage of a fever; incipient light of day
- dapple
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1 dapple (DAP-uhl), n.: A small contrasting spot or blotch
2 dapple, adj.: Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse. Note: The word is used in composition to denote that some color is variegated or marked with spots; as, dapple-bay; dapple-gray.
3 dapple, v.t.: To variegate with spots; to spot. - pugnacious
- adj.: Disposed to fight; inclined to fighting; quarrelsome; fighting.
- capitulate
- v.: to surrender under agreed conditions
- susurrus
- n.: The act of whispering; a whisper; a murmur; a rustling
- thaumaturgy
- The act or art of performing something wonderful; magic; legerdemain
- capacious
- adj.: Having capacity; able to contain much; large; roomy; spacious; extended; broad; as, a capacious vessel, room, bay, or harbor.
- glower
- v. i.: to stare angrily or with a scowl.
- canorous
- adj.: Melodious; musical
- effulgence
- noun: The state of being effulgent; extreme brilliancy; a flood of light; great luster or brightness; splendor.
- assuage
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verb:
To soften; to allay, mitigate, ease, or lessen, as heat, pain, or grief; to appease or pacify, as passion or tumult. - repast
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noun:
1. Something taken as food; a meal; figuratively, any refreshment.
2. The act of taking food. - spoonerism
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noun:
The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words
Some examples:
* "We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish ['half-formed wish'] inside us."
* "The Lord is a shoving leopard ['loving shepherd']."
* "It is kisstomary to cuss ['customary to kiss'] the bride."
* "Is the bean dizzy ['dean busy']?"
* "When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out ['flags hung out']!"
* "Let me sew you to your sheet ['show you to your seat']." - tenebrous
- adjective: Dark; gloomy; dusky
- nescience
- noun: Lack of knowledge; ignorance
- gewgaw
- noun: A showy trifle; a toy; a splendid plaything; a pretty but worthless bauble.
- exiguity
- noun: Scantiness; smallness; thinness;the quality of being meager. --EXIGUOUS, adjective
- seriatim
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adverb and adjective:
in a series; one after another - tmesis
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noun: in grammar and rhetoric, the separation of the parts of a compound word, now generally done for humorous effect; for example, what place soever instead of whatsoever place, or abso-bloody-lutely.
"In two words, im possible." --Samuel Goldwyn - chthonic
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adjective:
dwelling in or under the earth; also, pertaining to the underworld - objurgate
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verb:
1: express strong disapproval of;
2: censure severely - plethora
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noun:
1. Overfullness; especially, excessive fullness of the blood vessels; repletion; that state of the blood vessels or of the system when the blood exceeds a healthy standard in quantity; hyperæmia; -- opposed to anæmia.
2. State of being overfull; excess; superabundance. - lissom (or lissome)
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adjective:
1. Limber; supple; flexible; lithe; lithesome
2. Light; nimble; active - badinage
- noun: playful raillery; banter
- propitious
- presenting favorable circumstances; as, a propitious season; a propitious breeze, a propitious sign, propitious omens
- inclement
- physically severe or harsh (esp. said of the weather)
- kobold
- a kind of domestic spirit in German mythology
- knell
- the stoke of a bell tolled at a funeral
- cogent
- Having the power to compel conviction or move the will; constraining; conclusive; forcible; powerful; not easily resisted
- regale
- to entertain with something that delights
- mordant
- biting; caustic; sarcastic; keen; severe
- agog
- in eager desire; eager; highly excited
- captious
- Apt to catch at faults; disposed to find fault or to cavil; eager to object; difficult to please.