GRE Barron's 43-44

Question 1

sequester

Answer 1

isolate; retire from public life; segregate; seclude. Toe prevent the jurors from hearing news broadcasts about the case, the judge decided to sequester the jury.

Question 2

sere

Answer 2

parched; dry. After the unseasonably dry winter the Berkeley hills looked dusty and sere.

Question 3

serendipity

Answer 3

gift for finding valuable or desirable things by accident; accidental good fortune or luck. Many scientific discoveries are a matter of serendipity: Newton was not sitting there thinking about gravity when the apple dropped on his head.

Question 4

serenity

Answer 4

calmness, placidity. The serenity of the sleepy town was shattered by a tremendous explosion.

Question 5

serpentine

Answer 5

winding; twisting. The car swerved at every curve in the serpentine road.

Question 6

servitude

Answer 6

slavery; compulsory labor. Born a slave, Douglass resented his life of servitude and plotted to escape to the North.

Question 7

sever

Answer 7

cut; separate. Dr. Guillotin invented a machine that could neatly sever an aristocratic head from its equally aristocratic body. Unfortunately, he couldn’t collect any severance pay.

Question 8

shackle

Answer 8

chain; fetter. The criminal’s ankles were shackled to prevent his escape.

Question 9

sham

Answer 9

pretend. She shammed sickness to get out of going to school.

Question 10

shambles

Answer 10

wreck; mess. After the hurricane, the Carolina coast was a shambles. After the New Year’s Eve party, the host’s apartment was a shambles.

Question 11

shaving

Answer 11

very thin piece, usually of wood. As the carpenter pared away the edge of the board with his plane, a small pile of shavings began to accumulate on the floor.

Question 12

sheaf

Answer 12

bundle of stalks of grain; any bundle of things tied together. The lawyer picked up a sheaf of papers as she rose to question the witness.

Question 13

sheathe

Answer 13

place into a case. As soon as he recognized the approaching men, he sheathed his dagger and hailed them as friends.

Question 14

shimmer

Answer 14

glimmer intermittently; 揺らめき、きらめき. The moonlight shimmered on the water as the moon broke through the clouds for a moment.

Question 15

shirk

Answer 15

avoid (responsibility, work, etc.); malinger. Brian has a strong sense of duty; he would never shirk any responsibility.

Question 16

shoddy

Answer 16

sham; not genuine; inferior. You will never get the public to buy such shoddy material.

Question 17

shrewd

Answer 17

clever; astute. A shred investor, she took clever advantage of the fluctuations of the stock market.

Question 18

shunt

Answer 18

turn aside; divert; sidetrack. If the switchman failed to shunt the Silver Streak onto a side track, the train would plow right into Union Station.

Question 19

simper

Answer 19

smirk; smile affectedly. Complimented on her appearance, Stella self-consciously simpered.

Question 20

sinewy

Answer 20

tough; strong and firm. The steak was too sinewy to chew.

Question 21

sinister

Answer 21

evil. We must defeat the sinister forces that seek our downfall.

Question 22

skimp

Answer 22

provide scantily; live very economically. They were forced to skimp on necessities in order to make their limited supplies last the winter.

Question 23

skirmish

Answer 23

minor fight. Custer’s troops expected they might run into a skirmish or two on maneuvers; they did not expect to face a major battle.

Question 24

skittish

Answer 24

lively; frisky. She is as skittish as a kitten playing with a piece of string.

Question 25

skulduggery

Answer 25

dishonest behavior. The investigation into municipal corruption turned up new instances of skulduggery daily.

Question 26

skulk

Answer 26

move furtively and secretly. He skulked through the less fashionable sections of the city in order to avoid meeting any of his former friends.

Question 27

slacken

Answer 27

slow up; loosen. As they passed the finish line, the runners slackened their pace.

Question 28

slag

Answer 28

residue from smelting metal; dross; waste matter. The blast furnace had a special opening at the bottom to allow the workers to remove the worthless slag.

Question 29

slake

Answer 29

quench; sate; 満たす、いやす、和らげる. When we reached the oasis, we were able to slake our thirst.

Question 30

slander

Answer 30

defamation; utterance of false and malicious statements. Considering the negative comments politicians make about each other, it's a wonder that more of them aren't sued for slander.

Question 31

slapdash

Answer 31

haphazard; careless; sloppy. From the number of typos and misspellings I've found in it, it's clear that Mario proofread the report in a remarkably slapdash fashion.

Question 32

sleazy

Answer 32

flimsy; unsubstantial; 安っぽい、薄っぺらな. This is a sleazy fabric; it will not wear well.

Question 33

sleeper

Answer 33

something originally of little value or importance that in time becomes very valuable. Unnoticed by the critics at its publication, the eventual Pulitzer Prize winner was a classic sleeper.

Question 34

sleight

Answer 34

dexterity; 手練、策略. The magician amazed the audience with his sleight of hand.

Question 35

slew

Answer 35

large quantity or number. Although Ellen had checked off a number of items on her “To Do” list, she still had a whole slew of errands left.

Question 36

slight

Answer 36

insult to one's dignity; snub. Hypersensitive and ready to take offense at any discourtesy, Bertha was always on the lookout for real or imaginary slights.

Question 37

slipshod

Answer 37

untidy or slovenly; shabby; だらしない、ぞんざいな. As a master craftsman, the carpenter prided himself on never doing slipshod work.

Question 38

slither

Answer 38

slip or slide. During the recent ice storm, many people slithered down this hill as they walked to the station.

Question 39

slothful

Answer 39

lazy. The British word “layabout” is a splendid descriptive term for someone slothful: What did the lazy bum do? He lay about the house all day.

Question 40

slough

Answer 40

cast off; 泥沼の中を歩く. Each spring, the snake sloughs off its skin.

Question 41

slovenly

Answer 41

untidy; careless in work habits. Unshaven, sitting around in his bathrobe all afternoon, Gus didn't care about the slovenly appearance he presented.

Question 42

sluggard

Answer 42

lazy person. “You are a sluggard, a drone, a parasite,” the angry father shouted at his lazy son.

Question 43

sluggish

Answer 43

slow; lazy; lethargic. After two nights without sleep, she felt sluggish and incapable of exertion.

Question 44

slur

Answer 44

insult to one's character or reputation; slander. Polls revealed that the front-runner's standing had been damaged by the slurs and innuendoes circulated by his opponent's staff.

Question 45

slur

Answer 45

speak indistinctly; mumble. When Sol has too much to drink, he starts to slur his words: “Washamater? Cansh you undershtand what I shay?”

Question 46

smattering

Answer 46

slight knowledge. I don't know whether it is better to be ignorant of a subject or to have a mere smattering of information about it.

Question 47

smelt

Answer 47

melt or blend ores, changing their chemical composition. The furnaceman smelts tin with copper to create a special alloy used in making bells.

Question 48

smirk

Answer 48

conceited smile. Wipe that smirk off your face!

Question 49

smolder

Answer 49

burn without flame; be liable to break out at any moment. The rags smoldered for hours before they burst into flame.

Question 50

snicker

Answer 50

Half-stifled laugh. The boy could not suppress a snicker when the teacher sat on the tack.

Question 51

snivel

Answer 51

run at the nose; snuffle; whine; 鼻水をたらす、すすり泣く. Don't you come sniveling to me complaining about your big brother.

Question 52

sojourn

Answer 52

temporary stay. After his sojourn in Florida, he began to long for the colder climate of his native New England home.

Question 53

solace

Answer 53

comfort in trouble; 慰め、癒し. I hope you will find solace in the thought that all of us share your loss.

Question 54

solder

Answer 54

repair or make whole by using a metal alloy. The plumber fixed the leak in the pipes by soldering a couple of joints from which water had been oozing.

Question 55

solecism

Answer 55

construction that is flagrantly incorrect grammatically. I must give this paper a failing mark because it contains many solecisms.

Question 56

solemnity

Answer 56

seriousness; gravity. The minister was concerned that nothing should disturb the solemnity of the marriage service.

Question 57

solicit

Answer 57

request earnestly; seek. Knowing she needed to have a solid majority for the budget to pass, the mayor telephoned all the members of the city council to solicit their votes.

Question 58

solitude

Answer 58

state of being alone; seclusion. Much depends on how much you like your own company. What to one person seems fearful isolation to another is blessed solitude.

Question 59

soluble

Answer 59

able to be dissolved; able to be worked out. Sugar is soluble in water; put a sugar cube in water and it will quickly dissolve. Because the test-maker had left out some necessary data, the problem was not soluble.

Question 60

somber

Answer 60

gloomy; depressing. From the doctor's grim expression, I could tell he had somber news.

Question 61

somnolent

Answer 61

half asleep. The heavy meal and the overheated room made us all somnolent and indifferent to the speaker.

Question 62

sonorous

Answer 62

resonant; 音を出す、鳴り響く. His sonorous voice resounded through the hall.

Question 63

sophistry

Answer 63

seemingly plausible but fallacious reasoning. Instead of advancing valid arguments, he tried to overwhelm his audience with a flood of sophistries.

Question 64

sophomoric

Answer 64

immature; half-baked, like a sophomore. Even if you're only a freshman, it's no compliment to be told your humor is sophomoric, the humor in Dumb and Dumber is sophomoric at best.

Question 65

sparse

Answer 65

not thick; thinly scattered; scanty. No matter how carefully Albert combed his hair to make it appear as full as possible, it still looked sparse.

Question 66

spasmodic

Answer 66

fitful; periodic. The spasmodic coughing in the auditorium annoyed the performers.

Question 67

spat

Answer 67

squabble; minor dispute. What had started out as a mere spat escalated into a full-blown argument.

Question 68

spate

Answer 68

sudden flood. I am worried about the possibility of a spate if the rains do not diminish soon.

Question 69

spatial

Answer 69

relating to space. Certain exercises test your sense of spatial relations by asking you to identify two views of an object seen from different points in space.

Question 70

sphinx-like

Answer 70

enigmatic; mysterious. The Mona Lisa's sphinx-like expression has puzzled art lovers for centuries.

Question 71

splice

Answer 71

fasten together; unite. Before you splice two strips of tape together, be sure to line them up evenly.

Question 72

spontaneity

Answer 72

lack of premeditation; naturalness; freedom from constraint. The cast overrehearsed the play so much that the eventual performance lacked any spontaneity.

Question 73

sportive

Answer 73

playful. Such a sportive attitude is surprising in a person as serious as you usually are.

Question 74

spruce

Answer 74

neat and trim. Every button buttoned, tie firmly in place, young Alex Keaton looked spruce and tidy for his job interview at the bank.

Question 75

spry

Answer 75

vigorously active; nimble. She was eighty years old, yet still spry and alert.

Question 76

spurious

Answer 76

false; counterfeit; forged; illogical. The hero of Jonathan Gash's mystery novels is an antique dealer who gives the reader advice on how to tell spurious antiques from the real thing.

Question 77

spurn

Answer 77

reject; scorn. The heroine spurned the villain's advances.

Question 78

squabble

Answer 78

minor quarrel; bickering. Children invariably get involved in petty squabbles; wise parents know when to interfere and when to let the children work things out on their own.

Question 79

squander

Answer 79

waste. If you squander your allowance on candy and comic books, you won't have any money left to buy the new box of crayons you want.

Question 80

squat

Answer 80

stocky; short and thick. Tolkien's hobbits are somewhat squat, sturdy little creatures, fond of good ale, good music, and good food.

Question 81

stagnant

Answer 81

motionless; stale; dull. Mosquitoes commonly breed in ponds of stagnant water. Mike's career was stagnant; it wasn't going anywhere, and neither was he!

Question 82

staid

Answer 82

sober; sedate. Her conduct during the funeral ceremony was staid and solemn.

Question 83

stalemate

Answer 83

deadlock. Negotiations between the union and the employers have reached a stalemate; neither side is willing to budge from previously stated positions.

Question 84

stalwart

Answer 84

strong, brawny; steadfast. His consistent support of the party has proved that he is a stalwart and loyal member.

Question 85

steadfast

Answer 85

loyal; unswerving. Penelope was steadfast in her affections, faithfully waiting for Ulysses to return from his wanderings.

Question 86

steep

Answer 86

soak; saturate. Be sure to steep the fabric in the dye bath for the full time prescribed.

Question 87

stickler

Answer 87

perfectionist; person who insists things be exactly right. The Internal Revenue Service agent was a stickler for accuracy; no approximations or rough estimates would satisfy him.

Question 88

stifle

Answer 88

suppress; extinguish; inhibit. Halfway through the boring lecture, Laura gave up trying to stifle her yawns.

Question 89

stilted

Answer 89

bombastic; stiffly pompous. His stilted rhetoric did not impress the college audience; they were immune to bombastic utterances.

Question 90

stipend

Answer 90

pay for services; 固定給、俸給. There is a nominal stipend for this position.

Question 91

stock

Answer 91

typical; standard; kept regularly in supply. Victorian melodramas portrayed stock characters – the rich but wicked villain, the sweet young ingenue, the poor but honest young man – in exaggerated situations. Although the stationery store kept only stock sizes of paper on hand, the staff would special-order any items not regularly in stock.

Question 92

stodgy

Answer 92

stuffy; boringly conservative. For a young person, Winston seems remarkably stodgy: you'd expect someone his age to have a little more life.

Question 93

stoke

Answer 93

stir up a fire; feed plentifully; 補給する、かき立てる. As a Scout, Marisa learned how to light a fire, how to stoke it if it started to die down, and how to extinguish it completely.

Question 94

stratagem

Answer 94

clever trick; deceptive scheme. What a gem of a stratagem! Watson, I have the perfect plan to trick Moriarty into revealing himself.

Question 95

stratum

Answer 95

layer of earth's surface; layer of society. Unless we alleviate conditions in the lowest stratum of our society, we may expect grumbling and revolt.

Question 96

strew

Answer 96

spread randomly; sprinkle; scatter. Preceding the bride to the altar, the flower girl will strew rose petals along the aisle.

Question 97

stringent

Answer 97

binding; rigid. I think these regulations are too stringent.

Question 98

studied

Answer 98

unspontaneous; deliberate; thoughtful. Given Jill's previous slights, Jack felt that the omission of his name from the guest list was a studied insult.

Question 99

stupor

Answer 99

state of apathy; daze; lack of awareness. In his stupor, the addict was unaware of the vents taking place around him.

Question 100

stymie

Answer 100

present an obstacle; stump. The detective was stymied by the contradictory evidence in the robbery investigation.

Question 101

suavity

Answer 101

urbanity; polish; 上品さ、口当たりの良さ、人当たりの良さ. He is particularly good in roles that require suavity and sophistication.

Question 102

subaltern

Answer 102

subordinate. The captain treated his subalterns as though they were children rather than commissioned officers.

Question 103

subdued

Answer 103

less intense; quieter. Bob liked the subdued lighting at the restaurant because he thought it was romantic. I just thought the place was dimly lit.

Question 104

subjugate

Answer 104

occurring or taking place within the mind; unreal. Your analysis is highly subjective; you have permitted your emotions and your opinions to color your thinking.

Question 105

sublimate

Answer 105

refine; purify. We must strive to sublimate these desires and emotions into worthwhile activities.

Question 106

sublime

Answer 106

exalted; noble and uplifting; utter; 気品のある、崇高な. Lucy was in awe of Desi's sublime musicianship, while he was in awe of her sublime naivete.