GRE Barron's 49-50

Question 1

veneer

Answer 1

thin layer; cover. Casual acquaintances were deceived by his veneer of sophistication and failed to recognize his fundamental shallowness.

Question 2

venerable

Answer 2

deserving high respect. We do not mean to be disrespectful when we refuse to follow the advice of our venerable leader.

Question 3

venial

Answer 3

forgivable; trivial. When Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving sister, he committed a venial offense.

Question 4

venom

Answer 4

poison; hatred. Bitten on his ankle by a venomous snake, the cowboy contortionist curled up like a pretzel and sucked the venom out of the wound.

Question 5

vent

Answer 5

express; utter. He vented his wrath on his class.

Question 6

ventral

Answer 6

abdominal; 前面の、腹部の. We shall now examine the ventral plates of this serpent, not the dorsal side.

Question 7

ventriloquist

Answer 7

someone who can make his or her voice seem to come from another person or thing. This ventriloquist does an act in which she has a conversation with a wooden dummy.

Question 8

venture

Answer 8

risk; dare; undertake a risk. Fearing to distress the actors, the timorous reviewer never ventured to criticize a performance in harsh terms.

Question 9

venturesome

Answer 9

bold; 向こう見ずな. A group of venturesome women were the first to scale Mt. Annapurna.

Question 10

veracity

Answer 10

truthfulness. Trying to prove Hill a liar, Senator Spector repeatedly questioned her veracity.

Question 11

verbalize

Answer 11

put into words. I know you don’t like to talk about these things, but please try to verbalize your feelings.

Question 12

verbatim

Answer 12

word for word. He repeated the message verbatim.

Question 13

verbiage

Answer 13

pompous array of words. After we had waded through all the verbiage, we discovered that the writer had said very little.

Question 14

verge

Answer 14

border; edge. Madame Curie knew she was on the verge of discovering the secrets of radioactive elements.

Question 15

verisimilar

Answer 15

probable or likely; having the appearance of truth. Something verisimilar is very similar to the truth, or at least seems to be.

Question 16

verisimilitude

Answer 16

appearance of truth; likelihood. Critics praised her for the verisimilitude of her performance as Lady Macbeth. She was completely believable.

Question 17

veritable

Answer 17

actual; being truly so; not false or imaginary. At his computer, Pavel is a veritable wizard, creating graphic effects that seem magical to programmers less skilled than he.

Question 18

verity

Answer 18

quality of being true; lasting truth or principle. Do you question the verity of Kato Kaelin’s testimony about what he heard the night Nicole Brown Simpson was slain? To the skeptic, everything was relative: there were no eternal verities in which one could believe.

Question 19

verve

Answer 19

enthusiasm; liveliness. She approached her studies with such verve that it was impossible for her to do poorly.

Question 20

vestige

Answer 20

trace; remains. We discovered vestiges of early Indian life in the cave.

Question 21

vicarious

Answer 21

acting as a substitute; done by a deputy. Many people get a vicarious thrill at the movies by imagining they are the characters on the screen.

Question 22

vicissitude

Answer 22

change of fortune. Humbled by life’s vicissitudes, the last emperor of China worked as a lowly gardener in the palace over which he had once ruled.

Question 23

vie

Answer 23

contend; compete. Politicians vie with one another, competing for donations and votes.

Question 24

vigilant

Answer 24

watchfully awake; alert to spot danger. From the battlement, the vigilant sentry kept his eyes open for any sign of enemy troops approaching.

Question 25

vigor

Answer 25

active strength. Although he was over seventy years old, Jack had the vigor of a man in his prime.

Question 26

vignette

Answer 26

picture; short literary sketch. The New Yorker published her latest vignette.

Question 27

vilify

Answer 27

slander; けなす、そしる. Waging a highly negative campaign, the candidate attempted to vilify his opponent's reputation.

Question 28

vindicate

Answer 28

clear from blame; exonerate; justify or support. The lawyer's goal was to vindicate her client and prove him innocent on all charges.

Question 29

virulent

Answer 29

extremely poisonous; hostile; bitter. Laid up with a virulent cases of measles, Vera blamed her doctors because her recovery took so long. In fact, she became quite virulent on the subject of the quality of modern medical care.

Question 30

visceral

Answer 30

felt in one's inner organs. She disliked the visceral sensations she had whenever she rode the roller coaster.

Question 31

vitriolic

Answer 31

corrosive; sarcastic. Such vitriolic criticism is uncalled for.

Question 32

vociferous

Answer 32

clamorous; noisy. The crowd grew vociferous in its anger and threatened to take the law into its own hands.

Question 33

volition

Answer 33

act of making a conscious choice. She selected this dress of her own volition.

Question 34

voluble

Answer 34

fluent; glib; talkative. An excessively voluble speaker suffers from logorrhea: he continually runs off at the mouth!

Question 35

voluminous

Answer 35

bulky; large. A caftan is a voluminous garment; the average person wearing one looks as if he or she is draped in a small tent.

Question 36

voracious

Answer 36

ravenous; 食欲おう盛な、貪欲な. The wolf is a voracious animal, its hunger never satisfied.

Question 37

vouchsafe

Answer 37

grant condescendingly; guarantee. I can safely vouchsafe you fair return on your investment.

Question 38

vulpine

Answer 38

like a fox; crafty. She disliked his sly ways, but granted him a certain vulpine intelligence.

Question 39

waffle

Answer 39

speak equivocally about an issue; 言葉を濁す、煮え切らない. When asked directly about the governor's involvement in the savings and loan scandal, the press secretary waffled, talking all around the issue.

Question 40

waft

Answer 40

moved gently by wind or waves. Daydreaming, he gazed at the leaves that wafted past his window.

Question 41

waggish

Answer 41

mischievous; humorous; tricky. He was a prankster who, unfortunately, often overlooked the damage he could cause with his waggish tricks.

Question 42

waive

Answer 42

give up temporarily; yield. I will waive my rights in this matter in order to expedite our reaching a proper decision.

Question 43

wake

Answer 43

trail of ship or other object through water; path of something that has gone before. The wake of the swan gliding through the water glistened in the moonlight. Reporters and photographers converged on South Carolina in the wake of the hurricane that devastated much of the eastern seaboard.

Question 44

wallow

Answer 44

roll in; indulge in; become helpless. The hippopotamus loves to wallow in the mud.

Question 45

wan

Answer 45

having a pale or sickly color; pallid. Suckling asked, “Why so pale and wan, fond lover?”

Question 46

wangle

Answer 46

wiggle out; fake. She tried to wangle an invitation to the party.

Question 47

wanton

Answer 47

unrestrained; willfully malicious; unchaste. Pointing to the stack of bills, Sheldon criticized Sarah for her wanton expenditures. In response, Sara accused Sheldon of making an unfounded, wanton attack.

Question 48

warble

Answer 48

sing; babble. Every morning the birds warbled outside her window.

Question 49

warren

Answer 49

tunnels in which rabbits live; crowded conditions in which people live. The tenement was a veritable warren, packed with people too poor to live elsewhere.

Question 50

wastrel

Answer 50

profligate; 浪費家、怠け者. He was denounced as a wastrel who had dissipated his inheritance.

Question 51

wax

Answer 51

increase; grow. With proper handling, her fortunes waxed and she became rich.

Question 52

waylay

Answer 52

ambush; lie in wait; 待ち伏せる. They agreed to waylay their victim as he passed through the dark alley going home.

Question 53

wean

Answer 53

accustom a baby not to nurse; give up a cherished activity. He decided he would wean himself away from eating junk food and stick to fruits and vegetables.

Question 54

weather

Answer 54

endure the effects of weather or other forces. He weathered the changes in his personal life with difficulty, as he had no one in whom to confide.

Question 55

wheedle

Answer 55

cajole; coax; deceive by flattery. She knows she can wheedle almost anything she wants from her father.

Question 56

whet

Answer 56

sharpen; stimulate. The odors from the kitchen are whetting my appetite; I will be ravenous by the time the meal is served.

Question 57

whiff

Answer 57

puff or gust (of air, scent, etc); かすかな匂い、名残. The slightest whiff of Old Spice cologne brought memories of George to her mind.

Question 58

whit

Answer 58

smallest speck; shred; tiny bit. There's not one whit of truth in your allegations.

Question 59

whittle

Answer 59

pare; cut off bits. As a present for Aunt Polly, Tom whittled some clothespins out of a chunk of wood.

Question 60

willful

Answer 60

intentional; headstrong. Donald had planned to kill his wife for months; clearly, her death was a case of deliberate, willful murder, not a crime of passion committed by a hasty, willful youth unable to foresee the consequences of his deeds.

Question 61

wily

Answer 61

cunning; artful. She is as wily as a fox in avoiding trouble.

Question 62

wince

Answer 62

shrink back; flinch. The screech of the chalk on the blackboard made her wince.

Question 63

windfall

Answer 63

fallen fruit; unexpected lucky event. This huge tax refund is quite a windfall.

Question 64

winnow

Answer 64

sift; separate good parts from bad. This test will winnow out the students who study from those who don't bother.

Question 65

winsome

Answer 65

agreeable; gracious; engaging. By her winsome manner, she made herself liked by everyone who met her.

Question 66

wispy

Answer 66

thin; slight; barely discernible. Worried about preserving his few wispy tufts of hair, Walter carefully massaged his scalp and applied hair restorer every night.

Question 67

withdrawn

Answer 67

introverted; remote; 引きこもった、人里離れた. Rebuffed by his colleagues, the initially outgoing young researcher became increasingly withdrawn.

Question 68

wither

Answer 68

shrivel; decay. Cut flowers are beautiful for a day, but all too soon they wither.

Question 69

withhold

Answer 69

refuse to give; hold back. The tenants decided to withhold a portion of the rent until the landlord kept his promise to renovate the building.

Question 70

withstand

Answer 70

stand up against; successfully resist. If you can withstand all the peer pressure in high school to cut classes and goof off, you should survive college in fine shape.

Question 71

witless

Answer 71

foolish; idiotic. If Beavis is a half-wit, then Butthead is totally witless.

Question 72

witticism

Answer 72

witty saying; wisecrack. I don't mean any criticism, but your last supposed witticism really hurt my feelings.

Question 73

wizened

Answer 73

withered; shriveled; しわくちゃの、しなびた. The wizened old man in the home for the aged was still active and energetic.

Question 74

woe

Answer 74

deep, inconsolable grief; affliction; suffering. Pale and wan with grief, Wanda was bowed down beneath the burden of her woes.

Question 75

wont

Answer 75

custom; habitual procedure. As was her wont, she jogged two miles every morning before going to work.

Question 76

wrangle

Answer 76

quarrel; obtain through arguing; herd cattle. They wrangled over their inheritance.

Question 77

wrath

Answer 77

anger; fury. She turned to him, full of wrath, and said, “What makes you think I'll accept lower pay for this job than you get?”

Question 78

wreak

Answer 78

inflict; 〔破壊や損害を〕引き起こす、〔罰や復讐を人に〕加える. I am afraid he will wreak his vengeance on the innocent as well as the guilty.

Question 79

wrench

Answer 79

pull; strain; twist. She wrenched free of her attacker and landed a powerful kick to his kneecap.

Question 80

wrest

Answer 80

pull away; take by violence. With only ten seconds left to play, our team wrested victory from their grasp.

Question 81

writhe

Answer 81

twist in coils; contort in pain; 身をよじる、苦悶する. In Dances with Snakes, the snake dancer wriggled sinuously as her boa constrictor writhed around her torso.

Question 82

wry

Answer 82

twisted; with a humorous twist. We enjoy Dorothy Parker's verse for its wry wit.

Question 83

yen

Answer 83

longing; urge. She had a yen to get away and live on her own for a while.

Question 84

yoke

Answer 84

join together, unite. I don't wish to be yoked to him in marriage, as if we were cattle pulling a plow.

Question 85

yore

Answer 85

time past. She dreamed of the elegant homes of yore, but gave no thought to their inelegant plumbing.

Question 86

zany

Answer 86

crazy; comic. I can watch the Marx brothers' zany antics for hours.

Question 87

zeal

Answer 87

eager enthusiasm. Wang's zeal was contagious; soon all his fellow students were busily making posters, inspired by his ardent enthusiasm for the cause.

Question 88

zenith

Answer 88

point directly overhead in the sky; summit. When the sum was at its zenith, the glare was not as strong as at sunrise and sunset.

Question 89

zephyr

Answer 89

gentle breeze; west wind. When these zephyrs blow, it is good to be in an open boat under a full sail.