GRE Barron's 13-14

Question 1

deciduous

Answer 1

falling off, as of leaves. The oak is a deciduous tree.

Question 2

decimate

Answer 2

kill, usually one out of ten. We do more to decimate our population in automobile accidents than we do in war

Question 3

declivity

Answer 3

downward slope. The children loved to ski down the declivity.

Question 4

decorum

Answer 4

propriety; orderliness and good taste in manners. Even the best-mannered students have trouble behaving with decorum on the last day of school.

Question 4

decoy

Answer 4

lure or bait. The wild docks were not fooled by the decoy.

Question 5

decrepitude

Answer 5

state of collapse caused by illness or old age. I was unprepared for the state of decrepitude in which I had found my old friend; he seemed to have aged twenty years in six months.

Question 6

decry

Answer 6

express strong disapproval of; disparage. The founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman, strongly decries the lack of financial and moral support for children in America today.

Question 7

deducible

Answer 7

derived by reasoning. If we accept your premise, your conclusions are easily deducible.

Question 8

deface

Answer 8

mar; disfigure; の外観を損なう. If you deface a library book you will have to pay a hefty fine.

Question 9

default

Answer 9

failure to act. When the visiting team failed to show up for he big game, they lost the game by default.

Question 10

defeatist

Answer 10

resigned to defeat; accepting defeat as a natural outcome. If you maintain your defeatist attitude, you will never succeed.

Question 10

defection

Answer 10

desertion; 亡命、逃亡、減退、欠如. The children, who had made him an idol, were hurt most by his defection from our cause.

Question 11

defer

Answer 11

delay till later; exempt temporarily. In wartime, some young men immediately volunteer to serve; others defer making plans until they hear from their draft boards.

Question 12

defer

Answer 12

give in respectfully; submit; 任せる、委ねる. When it comes to making decisions about purchasing software, we must defer to Michael, our computer guru; he has the final word.

Question 13

deference

Answer 13

courteous regard for another’s wish; 尊敬、敬意、服従. In deference to the minister’s request, please do not take photographs during the wedding service.

Question 14

defiance

Answer 14

refusal to yield; resistance. When John reached the “terrible two’s,” he responded to every parental request with howls of defiance.

Question 15

defile

Answer 15

pollute; profane. The hoodlums defiled the church with their scurrilous writing.

Question 16

deflect

Answer 16

turn aside; そらす、屈折させる. His life was saved when his cigarette case deflected the bullet.

Question 17

defray

Answer 17

provide for the payment of. Her employer offered to defray the costs of her postgraduate education.

Question 18

deft

Answer 18

neat; skillful. The deft waiter uncorked the champagne without spilling a drop.

Question 19

defunct

Answer 19

dead; no longer in use or existence. The lawyers sought to examine the books of the defunct corporation.

Question 20

degenerate

Answer 20

become worse; deteriorate. As the fight dragged on, the champion’s style degenerated until he could barely keep on his feet.

Question 21

degradation

Answer 21

humiliation; debasement; degeneration. Some secretaries object to fetching the boss a cup of coffee because they resent the degradation of being made to perform such lowly tasks.

Question 22

deleterious

Answer 22

harmful. If you believe that smoking is deleterious to your health, then quit!

Question 23

deliberate

Answer 23

consider; ponder. Offered the new job, she asked for time to deliberate before she made her decision.

Question 24

delineate

Answer 24

portray; depict; sketch. Using only a few descriptive phrases, Austen delineates the character of Mr. Collins so well that we can predict his every move.

Question 24

delude

Answer 24

deceive. The mistress deludes herself into believing that her lover will leave his wife and marry her.

Question 24

deluge

Answer 24

flood; rush. When we advertised the position we received a deluge of applications.

Question 25

delusive

Answer 25

deceptive; raising vain hopes. Do not raise your hopes on the basis of his delusive promises.

Question 26

delve

Answer 26

dig; investigate. Delving into old books and manuscripts is part of a researcher's job.

Question 27

demean

Answer 27

degrade; humiliate. Standing on his dignity, he refused to demean himself by replying to the offensive letter.

Question 27

demeanor

Answer 27

behavior; bearing. His sober demeanor quieted the noisy revelers.

Question 28

demented

Answer 28

insane. Doctor Demento was a radio personality who liked to act as if he were truly demented.

Question 29

demise

Answer 29

death. Upon the demise of the dictator, a bitter dispute about succession to power developed.

Question 30

demolition

Answer 30

destruction. One of the major aims of the air force was the complete demolition of all means of transportation by the bombing of rail lines and terminals.

Question 31

demotic

Answer 31

pertaining to the people. He lamented the passing of aristocratic society and maintained that a demotic society would lower the nation's standards.

Question 32

demur

Answer 32

objection; protest. Michelangelo regularly denied that Leonardo Da Vinci had influenced him, and critics have usually accepted his statements without demur.

Question 33

demure

Answer 33

grave; serious; coy. She was demure and reserved, a nice modest girl whom any young man would be proud to take home to his mother.

Question 34

denigrate

Answer 34

blacken; を傷つける、中傷する. All attempts to denigrate the character of our late president have failed; the people still love him and cherish his memory.

Question 35

denizen

Answer 35

inhabitant or resident; regular visitor. In The Untouchables, Eliot Ness fights Al Capone and the other denizens of Chicago's underworld.

Question 36

denotation

Answer 36

meaning; distinguishing by name. A dictionary will always give us the denotation of a word; frequently, it will also give us its connotation.

Question 37

denouement

Answer 37

outcome; final development of the plot of a play or other literary work. The play was childishly written; the denouement was obvious to sophisticated theatergoers as early as the middle of the first act.

Question 38

denounce

Answer 38

condemn; criticize. The reform candidate denounced the corrupt city officers for having betrayed the public's trust.

Question 39

deplete

Answer 39

reduce; exhaust. We must wait until we deplete our present inventory before we order replacements.

Question 40

deplore

Answer 40

regret. Although I deplore the vulgarity of your language, I defend your right to express yourself freely.

Question 41

depose

Answer 41

dethrone; remove from office. The army attempted to depose the king and set up a military government.

Question 42

depravity

Answer 42

extreme corruption; wickedness. The depravity of Caligula's behavior eventually sickened even those who had willingly participated in his earlier, comparatively innocent orgies.

Question 43

depreciate

Answer 43

lesson in value. If you neglect this property, it will depreciate.

Question 44

depredation

Answer 44

plundering; 略奪行為、損傷、破壊. After the depredations of the invaders, the people were penniless.

Question 45

derange

Answer 45

make insane; disarrange. Hamlet's cruel rejection deranged poor Ophelia; in her madness, she drowned herself.

Question 46

derelict

Answer 46

abandoned; negligent. The derelict craft was a menace to navigation.

Question 47

deride

Answer 47

ridicule; make fun of. The critics derided his pretentious dialogue and refused to consider his play seriously.

Question 48

derogatory

Answer 48

expressing a low opinion; 相手を見下した. Because the word Eskimo has come under strong attack in recent years for its supposedly derogatory connotations, many Americans today either avoid the term or feel uneasy using it.

Question 49

descry

Answer 49

catch sight of. In the distance, we could barely descry the enemy vessels.

Question 50

desecrate

Answer 50

profane; violate the sanctity of. Shattering the altar and trampling the holy objects underfoot, the invaders desecrated the sanctuary.

Question 51

desolate

Answer 51

unpopulated; joyless. After six months in the crowded, bustling metropolis, David was so sick of people that he was ready to head for the most desolate patch of wilderness he could find.

Question 52

despise

Answer 52

look on with scorn; regard as worthless or distasteful. Mr. Bond, I despise spies; I look down on them as mean, despicable, honorless men, whom I would wipe from the face of the earth with as little concern as I would scrape dog droppings from the bottom of my shoe.

Question 52

despoil

Answer 52

strip of valuables; rob. Seeking plunder, the raiders despoiled the village, carrying off any valuables they found.

Question 53

despondent

Answer 53

depressed; gloomy. To the distress of his parents, William became seriously despondent after he broke up with Jan.

Question 54

destitute

Answer 54

extremely poor. Because they had no health insurance, the father's costly illness left the family destitute.

Question 54

detached

Answer 54

emotionally removed; calm and objective; physically separate. A psychoanalyst must maintain a detached point of view and stay uninvolved with her patients' personal lives.

Question 55

detraction

Answer 55

slandering; aspersion; 減損. Because Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton dared to fight for women's rights, their motives, manners, dress, personal appearance, and character were held up to ridicule and detraction.

Question 56

detrimental

Answer 56

harmful; damaging. The candidate's acceptance of major financial contributions from a well-known racist ultimately proved detrimental to his campaign, for he lost the backing of many of his early grassroots supporters.

Question 57

devious

Answer 57

roundabout; erratic; not straightforward. The Joker's plan was so devious that it was only with great difficulty we could follow its shifts and dodges.

Question 58

devise

Answer 58

think up; invent; plan. How clever he must be to have devised such a devious plan!

Question 59

devoid

Answer 59

lacking. You may think Cher's mind is a total void, but she's actually not devoid of intelligence.

Question 60

devolve

Answer 60

be transferred to another; delegate to another; gradually worsen. Because Humpty Dumpty was too shattered by his fall to clean up his own mess, all the work of picking up the pieces devolved upon poor Alice.

Question 61

devotee

Answer 61

enthusiastic follower. A devotee of the opera, she bought season tickets every year.

Question 62

devout

Answer 62

pious; 敬虔な、熱心な、誠実な. The devout man prayed daily.

Question 63

dexterous

Answer 63

skillful. The magician was so dexterous that we could not follow his movements as he performed his tricks.

Question 64

diabolical

Answer 64

devilish. “What a friend I am, to devise such a diabolical scheme to destroy Gotham City,” chortled the Joker.

Question 65

dialectical

Answer 65

relating to the art of debate; mutual or reciprocal. The debate coach's students grew to develop great forensic and dialectical skill. Teaching, however, is inherently a dialectical situation: the coach learned at least as much from her students as they learned from her.

Question 66

dictum

Answer 66

authoritative and weighty statement; saying; maxim. University administrations still follow the old dictum “Publish or perish.” They don't care how good a teacher you are; if you don't publish enough papers, you're out of a job.

Question 67

didactic

Answer 67

teaching; instructional. Pope's lengthy poem An Essay on Man is too didactic for my taste: I dislike it when poets turn preachy and moralize.

Question 68

diffuse

Answer 68

wordy; rambling; spread out (like a gas). If you pay authors by the word, you tempt them to produce diffuse manuscripts rather than brief ones.

Question 69

dilapidated

Answer 69

ruined because of neglect. The dilapidated old building needed far more work than just a new coat of paint.

Question 70

dilate

Answer 70

expand. In the dark, the pupils of your eyes dilate.

Question 71

dilatory

Answer 71

tending to delay; intentionally delaying. If you are dilatory in paying your bills, your credit rating may suffer.

Question 72

diminution

Answer 72

lessening; reduction in size. Old Jack was as sharp at eighty as he had been at fifty; increasing age led to no diminution of his mental acuity.

Question 73

din

Answer 73

continued loud noise. The din of the jackhammers outside the classroom window drowned out the lecturer's voice.

Question 74

dingy

Answer 74

dull; not fresh; cheerless. Refusing to be depressed by her dingy studio apartment, Bea spent the weekend polishing the floors and windows and hanging bright posters on the walls.

Question 75

dint

Answer 75

means; effort. By dint of much hard work, the volunteers were able to control the raging forest fire.

Question 76

dire

Answer 76

disastrous. People ignored her dire predictions of an approaching depression.

Question 77

disaffected

Answer 77

disloyal. Once the most loyal of Bradley's supporters, Senator Moynihan found himself becoming increasingly disaffected.

Question 78

disapprobation

Answer 78

disapproval; condemnation. The conservative father viewed his daughter's radical boyfriend with disapprobation.

Question 79

disarray

Answer 79

a disorderly or untidy state. After the New Year's party, the once orderly house was in total disarray.

Question 80

disavowal

Answer 80

denial; disclaiming. The novelist Andre Gide was controversial both for his early support of communism and for his subsequent disavowal of it after a visit to the Soviet Union.

Question 81

disburse

Answer 81

pay out; 支出する、を分配する. When you disburse money on the company's behalf, be sure to get a receipt.

Question 82

discernible

Answer 82

distinguishable; perceivable. The ships in the harbor were not discernible in the fog.

Question 82

disclaim

Answer 82

disown; renounce claim to; 否定する、放棄する、拒否する. If I grant you this privilege, will you disclaim all other rights?

Question 83

discombobulated

Answer 83

confused; discomposed. The novice square dancer became so discombobulated that he wandered into the wrong set.

Question 84

discomfit

Answer 84

put to rout; defeat; disconcert; を当惑させる、の裏をかいて失敗させる. This ruse will discomfit the enemy.

Question 85

disconcert

Answer 85

confuse; upset; embarrass. The lawyer was disconcerted by the evidence produced by her adversary.

Question 86

disconsolate

Answer 86

sad. The death of his wife left him disconsolate.

Question 87

discord

Answer 87

conflict; lack of harmony. Watching Tweedledum battle Tweedledee, Alice wondered what had caused this pointless discord.

Question 88

discordant

Answer 88

not harmonious; conflicting. Nothing is quite so discordant as the sound of a junior high school orchestra tuning up.

Question 89

discount

Answer 89

disregard. Be prepared to discount what he has to say about his ex-wife.

Question 90

discursive

Answer 90

digressing; rambling. As the lecturer wandered from topic to topic, we wondered what if any point there was to his discursive remarks.

Question 91

disdain

Answer 91

view with scorn or contempt; を軽蔑する、を見下す. In the film Funny Face, the bookish heroine disdained fashion models for their lack of intellectual interests.

Question 92

disengage

Answer 92

uncouple; separate; disconnect. A standard movie routine involves the hero's desperate attempt to disengage a railroad car from a moving train.

Question 93

disfigure

Answer 93

mar the appearance of; spoil; の外観を損なう. An ugly frown disfigured her normally pleasant face.

Question 94

disgorge

Answer 94

surrender something; eject; vomit. Unwilling to disgorge the cash he had stolen from the pension fund, the embezzler tried to run away.

Question 95

disgruntle

Answer 95

make discontented; を不満にさせる. The passengers were disgruntled by the numerous delays.