GRE Drill
Terms
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- Cant
- any special language used by a particular group, class, or profession; slang; jargon Consult a computer hackers' dictionary to explore the hacker's own distinct cant. Ebonics- the distinct African American English form--is another form of cant. The
- Coquettish
- (koh KET ish) adj. alluring; enticing; coy (feigned shyness) The young girl's coquettish ways lured many suitors and broke many hearts. The word coquette is used in referring to an attractive young lady. A coquette need not cajole in order to get wh
- Corpulence
- KOR pyoo luns n. excessive fatness; obesity A related word is corpse
- Diffidence
- n. lack of self confidence or faith in one's own ability; timidity or shyness
- Dint
- n. force; power "Now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel the dint of pity." --Shakespeare Similar words: puissance (adj puissant) and potency (adj potent)
- Discursive
- adj rambling from subject to subject; digressive
- Invective
- n. vehement protest, attack, or abuse with words Overreacting to his colleague's remarks about the efficacy of Senator Burns' plan to balance the budget, Burns launched into an invective tantamount to character assassination. The word can be used as
- Odious
- adj deserving or causing hatred or scorn; detestable; despicable; offensive Compromise is odious to passionate nature because it seems a surrender; and to intellectual natures because it seems a confusion." --George Santayana
- paucity
- n. scarcity; insufficiency
- Pejorative
- adj. negative in connotation; belittling
- Penitent
- adj. regret for an offense, wrongful act or sin committed
- Penurious
- adj. extrememly stingy; miserly
- pernicious
- adj. injurious;ruinous;hurtful describes a person's actions or statements
- Perspicacious
- adj insightful, astute; discerning; keen in mental perception
- prodigal
- adj. extrememly wasteful, especially with money
- Pusillanimous
- adj. cowardly; faint-hearted; timid Similar words are craven and timorous
- Rancor
- n. malice;hostility;spite;resentment;animosity
- Rife
- adj. abundant; prevalent;widespread;commonly occuring Although the word can be used to describe a frequently occuring phenomenon (in terms of time), it is usually used to describe a widespread one ( in terms of physical space). An old wooden house m
- Risible
- adj. laughable, comical or ludicrous;given to or easily aroused to laughter Risible is a flexible word, as suggested by the two different meanings above. Popular fashions among teens often appear risible to adults. After a few drinks, she becomes
- Saturnine
- adj characterized by a gloomy, dark or sluggish disposition Saturnine on schooldays, schoolchildren suddenly turn ebullient Saturday morning.
- Savant
- n. a person who has had profound or extensive learning or understand; scholar The word is also defined more broadly to include people of high intelligence. Hence, the psychiatric terms "autistic-savant" and "idiot-savant" do not refer to a scholar but
- Sedition
- n any act designed to incite others against the gov't or to resist lawful authority; treason
- Turpitude
- n. depravity; wickedness While some would label the rancorous acts of violence by young gang members as incorrigible turpitude, the sociologist would see those acts as manifestation of an inner-city social quagmire.
- Venal
- adj able to be bribed or bought; corruptible Large corporations keep our venal political office holders in their back pockets, expecting legistlative perquisites in exchange for campaign pork. Similar word: mercenary.
- Vicissitude
- n. change or variation in the course of something --especially of cirumstance or fortune in life "Happy is the man who can endure the highest and lowest fortune. He who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity has deprived misfortune of its power.
- Vituperate
- v. to scold harshly and abusively The teacher's vituperation both stultified and stupified the sensitive youngter, who had never before been castigated in front of his schoolmates.
- Winnow
- v. to separate, scatter or disperse; to separate or sift out, especially good from bad Winnowing their way through hundreds of applications, the scholarship committee finally chose a recipient. I want to laugh the powers-that-be out of existence in