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GRE Essential > Essential Units 15-21 > Flashcards

Essential Units 15-21 Flashcards

1
Q

Coda

A

Coda (n)

Concluding part of a literacy or musical composition; something that summarizes or concludes.

The coda of the Danish composer per Norgand’s sixth symphony seems to return to the serene sounds of the opening.

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2
Q

Codify

A

Codify (v)

To systematize

The state legislature voted to codify regulations governing banking fraud.

Codification is the noun

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3
Q

Cognizant

A

Cognizant (adj)

Informed; conscious; aware

We saw a story about a husband and wife in straightened circumstances each sacrifice to buy Christmas presents for the other, not cognizant of what the other is doing.

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4
Q

Collage

A

Collage (n)

Artistic composition of materials pasted over a surface; an assemblage of diverse elements

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5
Q

Commensurate

A

Commensurate (adj)

Proportional

In the United States, malpractice suits have raised the cost of medicine because doctors must pay for insurance, and thus increase their fees commensurately.

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6
Q

Compendium

A

Compendium (n)

Brief, comprehensive summary

The Mozart compendium; a guide to Mozart’s life and music.

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7
Q

Complacent

A

Complacent (adj)

Self-satisfied

Although tom received an “A” on his midterm exam, professor Donovan warned him not to become complacent since the work in the second term would be harder.

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8
Q

Complaisant

A

Complaisant (adj)

Overly polite; willing to please; obliging

Although France and Germany have a close relationship, neither would consider the other a complaisant ally.

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9
Q

Complement

A

Complement (n)

Something that completes or makes up a whole.

Some people envision chess developing into a game between teams of humans and computers, each complementing the other.

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10
Q

Coalesce

A

Coalesce (v)

To cause to become one

JFK must be vigilant so that the interests of business and the military do not coalesce and thus undermine those of society as a whole.

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11
Q

Compliant

A

Compliant (adj)

Yielding

The young negotiator is trying to learn the skill of being open to proposals by the other side without seeming too compliant.

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12
Q

Compunction

A

Compunction (n)

Uneasiness caused by guilt

The American psychiatrist Frank Pittman said, “Men who have been raised violently have every reason to believe it is appropriate for them to control others through violence; they feel no compunction over being violent to women, children, and one another.

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13
Q

Concave

A

Concave (adj)

Curving inward

Concave lenses are used in glasses to compensate for myopia (nearsightedness)

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14
Q

Conciliatory

A

Conciliatory (adj)

Overcoming distrust or hostility

The leader of the country made conciliatory statements assuring the world that his country did not intend to acquire nuclear weapons.

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15
Q

Concoct

A

Concoct (v)

To invent

The various human cultures have concocted a great many explanations to describe the beginning of the Earth, life, and humanity.

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16
Q

Concomitant

A

Concomitant (n)

Existing concurrently

A rebuild of the argument that Homo sapiens higher cognitive functions could not be the result solely of evolution is that such abilities arose as concomitants of language, which gave early hominids a tremendous advantage over other species.

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17
Q

Condone

A

Condone (v)

To overlook voluntarily; forgive

Mahatma Gandhi believed in the principle of ahimsa and refused to condone violence of any kind, even if used in a just cause.

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18
Q

Confound

A

Confound (v)

To baffle; perplex; mix up

Everyone but astrophysicists seems to be confounded by the question, “what happened before the Big Bang?”

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19
Q

Congenial

A

Congenial (adj)

Similar in tastes and habits; friendly; suited to the physicist Freeman Dyson has expressed his awe at how congenial the universe is to intelligent life and consciousness.

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20
Q

Conjugal

A

Conjugal (adj)

Pertaining to marriage agreement

The goal of the Bennett sisters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is to find a suitable man to marry with whom they they can live in conjugal happiness.

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21
Q

Connoisseur

A

Connoisseur (n)

A person completely possessing expert knowledge or training; a person of informed and discriminating taste.

The art connoisseur selected works by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Picasso for the exhibition.

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22
Q

Conscript

A

Conscript (n)

Person compulsorily enrolled for military service

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23
Q

Consecrate

A

Consecrate (v)

To declare sacred

The brave men that died here have consecrated this ground.

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24
Q

Contentious

A

Contentious (adj)

Quarrelsome; causing quarrels

When genetic engineering began in the 1970’s, there was a contentious, and sometimes acrimonious, debate among scientists themselves about it’s dangers.

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25
Q

Contiguous

A

Contiguous (adj)

Touching; neighboring; connecting without a break

There are forty-eight contiguous states in the USA.

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26
Q

Continence

A

Continence (n)

Self-control; abstention from sexual activity

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27
Q

Contrite

A

Contrite (adj)

Very sorrowful for a wrong

In sentencing the convicted man to a life sentence, the judge took into account that he didn’t seem contrite about his offenses.

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28
Q

Contumacious

A

Contumacious (adj)

Disobedient; rebellious

In the late 18th century, Great Britain tried unsuccessfully to put down the uprising against their rule by contumacious Americans.

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29
Q

Conundrum

A

Conundrum (n)

Riddle; puzzle with no solution.

30
Q

Contend

A

Contend (v)

To assert

The study’s contention is that obesity is America’s biggest health problem.

31
Q

Convention

A

Convention (n)

Practice widely observed in a group; custom; accepted technique or device

The work of French artist Henri Rousseau demonstrates a naïveté that many people find more attractive than the sophistication of highly complex works that make use of all the conventions of their genre.

32
Q

Converge

A

Converge (v)

To approach; come together; tend to meet

Although the peoples republic of China and India are rivals in many ways, in certain areas their interests converge.

33
Q

Convex

A

Convex (adj)

Curved outward

34
Q

Convivial

A

Convivial (adj)

Sociable

One of the jobs of an ambassador is to provide a convivial atmosphere for diplomats to meet.

35
Q

Convoluted

A

Convoluted (adj)

Twisted; complicated

Unraveling the convoluted genetic code is one of the great achievements of modern science.

36
Q

Copious

A

Copious (adj)

Abundant; plentiful

The copious rainfall was welcomed by farmers in the parched land.

37
Q

Coquette

A

Coquette (n)

Woman who flirts

After she had played the cart of coquette in the college play. Pans boyfriend reminded her that real life is different from theater.

38
Q

Cornucopia

A

Cornucopia (n)

Horn overflowing with fruit and grain; state of abundance

The U.S. Economy has produced a cornucopia of employment opportunities.

39
Q

Cosmology

A

Cosmology (n)

Study of the universe as a totality; theory of the origin and structure of the universe.

Cosmos and cosmic

40
Q

Covert

A

Covert (adj)

Hidden; secret

The CIA gathers information about foreign intelligence through many means, including covert ones.

41
Q

Covetous

A

Covetous (adj)

Desiring something owner by another

The astronomer is covetous of the time that his colleague gets for research using the Hubble space telescope.

Cover is the verb

42
Q

Cozen

A

Cozen (v)

To mislead by trick or fraud; deceive

The writer H.L. Mencken pointed out that a common strategy of politicians is to Cozen the people by exaggerating the seriousness of a problem and then offering a solution that, conveniently, only they can provide.

43
Q

Craven

A

Craven (adj)

Cowardly

In the Hindu epic poem the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna warns the hero, who is reluctant to fight, that refusing to fight would be a craven act.

44
Q

Credence

A

Credence (n)

Acceptance of something true

People will be less likely to give credence to future alarms raised by that person.

45
Q

Credo

A

Credo (n)

Statement of belief or principle; creed

The credo of Google is “Don’t be evil.”

46
Q

Daunt

A

Daunt (v)

To discourage; intimidate; dishearten

Do not let the difficulty of learning the 800 words for the GRE daunt you.

Daunting

47
Q

Dearth

A

Dearth (n)

Scarcity

Leaving a dearth of resources is obviously bad

48
Q

Debauchery

A

Debauchery (n)

Corruption

The prince lived a life of debauchery until he discovered a spiritual dimension to live.

49
Q

Decorum

A

Decorum (n)

Proper behavior

When addressing the nation, the president generally has an air of decorum

Decorous (adj)

50
Q

Defame

A

Defame (v)

To malign; harm someone’s reputation

51
Q

Default

A

Default (v)

To fail to act

Defaulting on a loan

52
Q

Deference

A

Deference (n)

Respect; regard for a others wish

Despite many misguidings, the proposal was dropped in deference to the objections of a number of people.

Deferred

53
Q

Defunct

A

Defunct (adj)

No longer existing

Moored law will soon become defunct.

54
Q

Delineate

A

Delineate (v)

To represent or depict

Quantum theory led to the formulation of the uncertainty principle which was delineated in 1937 by Werner Heisenberg.

55
Q

Demographic

A

Demographic (adj)

Related to population balance

56
Q

Demotic

A

Demotic (adj)

Pertaining to people

One critic praised him as a poet who was able to make the demotic sing.

57
Q

Demur

A

Demur (v)

To express doubt

One justice demurred, saying that the majority decision used specious reasoning.

58
Q

Denigrate

A

Denigrate (v)

To slur someone’s reputation

According to a recent biography of Napoleon, the famous leader felt a need to denigrate women.

59
Q

Denizen

A

Denizen (n)

An inhabitant; a regular visitor

The US census bureau has a responsibility of collecting information about the denizens of the United States.

60
Q

Denouement

A

Denouement (n)

Outcome; unravelling of the plot of a play or work of literature.

The book tells the story of what was for Europe a rather embarrassing denouement to the crusades.

61
Q

Deride

A

Deride (v)

To mock

Companies with innumerable research breakthroughs to their credit- and were derided as impractical visionaries.

62
Q

Derivative

A

Derivative (n)

Something derived; unoriginal

Morphine is the principal derivative of opium.

63
Q

Desiccate

A

Desiccate (v)

To dry completely

The dry desert air caused the bodies of the dead animals to desiccate quickly.

64
Q

Desuetude

A

Desuetude (n)

State of disuse

NASA, is considering a plan to refurbish booster rockets from the Apollo program that have fallen into desuetude.

65
Q

Desultory

A

Desultory (adj)

Random; disconnected; rambling

The jury had difficulty following the witnesses desultory testimony.

66
Q

Deterrent

A

Deterrent (n)

Something that discourages or hinders

67
Q

Detraction

A

Detraction (n)

The act of taking away; derogatory comment on a person’s character

The writer responded in a letter to the critics long list of detractions about his book

68
Q

Diaphanous

A

Diaphanous (adj)

transparent; fine-textured; insubstantial; vague

In world war 2, many soldiers went to war with diaphanous dreams of glory, but found instead horror and death.

69
Q

Diatribe

A

Diatribe (n)

Bitter verbal attack

The speaker launched into a diatribe against what he called, “the evils of technology”

70
Q

Dichotomy

A

Dichotomy (n)

Division into two usually contradictory parts

The philosopher is a dualist who argues that there is a dichotomy between the mind and physical phenomena.

GRE Essential (8 decks)

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