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GRE Lesson 2
100 word chunks of Barron's data
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| advocate | speak in favor of; support (an idea or plan); urge; plead for |
| aegis | shield; protection; defense |
| aerie(aery,eyrie,eyry) | nest of a large bird of prey |
| aesthetic | artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful (of a person or building); CF. aesthete; CF. aesthetics |
| affable | easily approachable; easy to talk to; warmly friendly |
| affected | artificial; pretended |
| affidavit | written statement made under oath (for use as proof in a court of law) |
| affiliation | joining; associating with |
| affinity | feeling of kinship; similarity; Ex. strong affinity for her; Ex. many affinities between two languages |
| affirmation | positive assertion; confirmation; solemn pledge by one who refuses to take an oath; V. affirm; ADJ. affirmative; CF. affirmative action: positive discrimination |
| affliction | state of distress; trial; cause of distress or suffering; V. afflict: inflict grievous suffering on |
| affluence | abundance; wealth |
| affront | insult; offense; intentional act of disrespect; V: insult or hurt the feelings of intentionally |
| afterlife | life after death; later part of one's life |
| agape | openmouthed |
| agenda | items of business at a meeting |
| agglomeration | collection; heap; V. agglomerate: gather into a rounded mass; N. aggolmeate: jumbled mass; heap |
| aggrandize | make greater; increase in power, wealth, rank, or honor; N. aggrandizement |
| aggregate | sum; total; ADJ. V: gather into a mass or whole; accumulate; add up to; Ex. aggregate 100 dollars |
| aghast | filled with great surprise or fear; horrified |
| agility | nimbleness; ability to move quickly |
| agitate | stir up; disturb |
| agnostic | one who is skeptical of the existence or knowability of a god or any ultimate reality |
| agog | highly excited; intensely curious |
| agrarian | pertaining to land or its cultivation; Ex. agrarian reform |
| airy | of air; high in the air; lofty; immaterial; unreal |
| alacrity | cheerful promptness without reluctance |
| alchemy | medieval chemistry |
| alcove | nook; recess |
| alias | an assumed name esp. by a criminal (usually to mislead people); ADV. alias |
| alienate | make unfriendly or hostile; estrange; separate; change the ownership of |
| alimentary | supplying nourishment |
| alimony | payments made regularly to an ex-spouse after divorce |
| allay | calm; pacify |
| allege | state without proof |
| allegiance | loyalty |
| allegory | story, play, or picture in which characters are used as symbols; fable |
| alleviate | relieve (pain) |
| alliteration | repetition of beginning sound in poetry |
| allocate | assign; set apart for a particular purpose |
| alloy | mixture as of metals; something added that lowers in value or purity; V: mix; make less pure; lower in value or quality; spoil; CF. unalloyed: not in mixture with other maetals; pure; complete; unqualified; Ex. unalloyed happiness |
| allude | refer indirectly; N. allusion: indirect reference |
| allure | entice; attract; tempt |
| alluvial | pertaining to soil deposits left by running water |
| alms | money or goods given to the poor |
| aloft | upward; high up in the air |
| aloof | apart; not open in one's relationship with other people; reserved; ADV. |
| altercation | noisy quarrel |
| altruistic | unselfishly generous; concerned for others; N. altiruism: unselfish concern for the welfare of others; unselfishness; OP. egoism |
| amalgam | combination of different things; mixture of metals (containing mercury) used for filling holes in teeth |
| amalgamate | (of societies or groups) combine; unite in one body |
| amass | collect (gradually, in a very large amount) |
| amazon | female warrior |
| ambidextrous | capable of using either hand with equal ease |
| ambience | environment; atmosphere; Ex. restraurant with a pleasant ambience; ADJ. ambient: completely surrounding; Ex. ambient temperature |
| ambiguous | unclear or doubtful in meaning; having more than one possible interpretation |
| ambivalence | the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes or opinions |
| amble | walking at an easy unhurried pace; V: walk slowly and aimlessly |
| ambrosia | food of the gods |
| ambulatory | able to walk |
| ambush | act of lying in wait to attack by surprise; sudden attack made from a concealed position; Ex. lie in ambush; V. |
| ameliorate | improve |
| amenable | obedient; compliant; readily managed; responsive; willing to be led; answerable or accountable legally; responsible; able to be tested by; Ex. amenable to sensible suggestions; Ex. He is very amenable; Ex. amenable to the usual tests |
| amend | correct; change ; generally for the better |
| amenities | convenient features that helps to make life pleasant; social courtesies |
| amiable | agreeable; lovable; warmly friendly |
| amicable | peaceful; politely friendly; not quarrelsome; Ex. amicable settlement |
| amiss | wrong; faulty; Ex. something amiss; ADV. |
| amity | friendship; peaceful relationship as between nations |
| amnesia | loss of memory |
| amnesty | pardon (allowed by government to political criminals) |
| amok(amuck) | in a state of rage; Ex. run amok |
| amoral | nonmoral; having no understanding of right and wrong |
| amorous | moved by sexual love; loving; of sexual love; Ex. amorous advances |
| amorphous | formless; lacking shape or definition |
| amphibian | able to live both on land and in water; N. |
| amphitheater | oval building with tiers of seats; CF. arena |
| ample | enough; abundant; spacious; large in size; Ex. ample opportunity/garden; N. amplitude: quality of being ample; abundance; largeness of space |
| amplify | increase in size or effect; expand; broaden or clarify by expanding; intensify; make stronger; Ex. amplify one's remarks with a graph |
| amputate | cut off part of body; prune (a limb) |
| amulet | charm; talisman; an object worn believed to protect against evil, bad luck |
| anachronism | an error involving time in a story; something or someone misplaced in time; ADJ. anachronistic |
| analgesia | condition of being unable to feel pain |
| analgesic | causing insensitivity to pain; N. |
| analogous | comparable; similar |
| analogy | similarity; parallelism; comparing two similar things |
| anarchist | person who seeks to overturn the established government; advocate of abolishing authority |
| anarchy | absence of governing body; state of disorder |
| anathema | solemn curse; someone or something regarded as a curse; V. anathematize |
| ancestry | family descent; ADJ. ancestral |
| anchor | secure or fasten firmly; be fixed in place; N. anchorage |
| ancillary | serving as an aid or accessory; auxiliary; N. |
| anecdote | short story of an amusing or interesting event |
| anemia | condition in which blood lacks red corpuscles; ADJ. anemic |
| anesthetic | substance that removes sensation with or without loss of consciousness; N. anesthesia |
| anguish | acute pain; extreme suffering |
| angular | sharp-cornered; having an angle; not rounded (body); bony; lean; gaunt; stiff in manner |
| animadversion | critical remark; V. animadvert: comment critically with disapproval |
| animated | lively; spirited |
| animosity | active enmity |