GRE Barron's 7-8 Flashcards

Question

brittle

Answer 1

easily broken; difficult. My employer's brittle personality made it difficult for me to get along with her.

Answer 2

introduce; open up. Jack did not even try to broach the subject of religion with his in-laws. If you broach a touchy subject, the result may be a breach.

Answer 3

tolerate; endure. The dean would brook no interference with his disciplinary actions.

Answer 4

bully; intimidate. Billy resisted Ted's attempts to browbeat him into handing over his lunch money.

Answer 5

main impact or shock. Tom Sawyer claimed credit for painting the fence, but the brunt of the work fell on others. However, Tom bore the brunt of Aunt Polly's complaints when the paint began to peel.

Answer 6

blunt; abrupt; ぶっきらぼうな、無愛想な. She was offended by his brusque reply.

Answer 7

rustic; pastoral; 羊飼いの、田舎風の. Filled with browsing cows and bleating sheep, the meadow was a charmingly bucolic sight.

Answer 8

clowning; おどけ. In the Ace Ventura movies, Jim Carrey's buffoonery was hilarious.

Answer 9

bugbear; object of baseless terror. If we become frightened by such bugaboos, we are no wiser than the birds who fear scarecrows.

Answer 10

earthwork or other strong defense; person who defends. The navy is our principal bulwark against invasion.

Answer 11

mismanage; blunder. Don't botch this assignment, Bumstead; if you bungle the job, you're fired.

Answer 12

able to float; cheerful and optimistic. When the boat capsized, her buoyant life jacket kept Jody afloat.

Answer 13

grow forth; send out buds; 新芽を出す. In the spring, the plants that burgeon are a promise of the beauty that is to come.

Answer 14

give an imitation that ridicules. In Galaxy Quest, Alan Rickman burlesques Mr. Spock of Star Trek, outrageously parodying Spock's unemotional manner and stiff bearing.

Answer 15

make shiny by rubbing; polish. The maid burnished the brass fixtures until they reflected the lamplight.

Answer 16

support; prop up. Just as architects buttress the walls of cathedrals with flying buttresses, debaters buttress their arguments with facts.

Answer 17

Full-bosomed; plump; jolly; 快活な、陽気な、胸が豊かな. High-fashion models usually are slender rather than buxom.

Answer 18

discordant; inharmonious. Do the students in the orchestra enjoy the cacophonous sounds they make when they're tuning up? I don't know how they can stand the racket.

Answer 19

rhythmic rise and fall (of words or sounds); beat. Marching down the road, the troops sang out, following the cadence set by the sergeant.

Answer 20

beg; mooch; panhandle. While his car was in the shop, Bob had to cadge a ride to work each day. Unwilling to be a complete moocher, however, he offered to pay for the gas.

Answer 21

disaster; misery. As news of the calamity spread, offers of relief poured in to the stricken community.

Answer 22

ability; quality. Einstein's cleaning the blackboards again? Albert, quit it! A man of your caliber shouldn't have to do such menial tasks.

Answer 23

hardened; unfeeling. He had worked in the hospital for so many years that he was callous to the suffering in the wards.

Answer 24

youthful; immature; inexperienced. As a freshman, Jack was sure he was a man of the world; as a sophomore, he made fun of freshman as callow youths. In both cases, his judgement showed just how callow he was.

Answer 25

Heat-producing. Coal is much more calorific than green wood.

Answer 26

malicious misrepresentation; slander. He could endure his financial failure, but he could not bear the calumny that his foes heaped upon him.

Answer 27

Good-fellowship. What he loved best about his job was the sense of camaraderie he and his coworkers shared.

Answer 28

false or unfounded story; fabricated report. Rather than becoming upset by the National Enquirer story about Tony's supposed infidelity, Tina refused to take the canard seriously.

Answer 29

frankness; open honesty. Jack can carry candor too far: when he told Jill his honest opinion of her, she nearly slapped his face.

Answer 30

any ulcerous sore; any evil. Poverty is a canker in the body politic; it must be cured.

Answer 31

shrewd; thrifty; 抜け目ない、慎重な. The canny Scotsman was more than a match for the swindlers.

Answer 32

collection or authoritative list of books (e.g., by an author, or accepted as scripture)

Answer 33

rule or principle, frequently religious.

Answer 34

insincere expression of piety; jargon of thieves; うわべだけの言葉、偽善の言葉. Shocked by news of the minister's extramarital love affairs, the worshippers dismissed his talk about the sacredness of marriage as mere cant.

Answer 35

Ill-humored; irritable. Constantly complaining about his treatment and refusing to cooperate with the hospital staff, he was a cantankerous patient.

Answer 36

determine or seek opinions, votes, etc. After canvassing the sentiments of his constituents, the congressman was confident that he represented the majority opinion of his district.

Answer 37

spacious. In the capacious areas of the railroad terminal, thousands of travelers lingered while waiting for their trains.

Answer 38

surrender. The enemy was warned to capitulate or face annihilation.

Answer 39

whim; 気まぐれ、移り気. She was an unpredictable creature, acting on caprice, never taking thought of the consequences.

Answer 40

unpredictable; fickle. The storm was capricious: it changed course constantly.

Answer 41

faultfinding. His criticisms were always captious and frivolous, never offering constructive suggestions.

Answer 42

lurch; sway from side to side. The taxicab careened wildly as it rounded the corner.

Answer 43

distortion; burlesque; パロディー. The caricatures he drew always emphasized personal weaknesses of the people he burlesqued.

Answer 44

destruction of life. The film The Killing Fields vividly depicts the carnage wreaked by Pol Pot's followers in Cambodia.

Answer 45

fleshly. Is the public more interested in carnal pleasures than in spiritual matters? Compare the number of people who read Playboy daily to the number of those who read the Bible every day.

Answer 46

petty criticism; fault-finding. Welcoming constructive criticism, Lexy appreciated her editor's comments, finding them free of carping.

Answer 47

punishment; severe criticism. Sensitive even to mild criticism, Woolf could not bear the castigation that she found in certain reviews.

Answer 48

deluge; upheaval; 大変動、激変. A cataclysm such as the French Revolution affects all countries.

Answer 49

shout of disapproval; boo. Every major league pitcher has off days during which he must learn to ignore catcalls and angry hisses from the crowd.

Answer 50

purging or cleansing of any passage of the body; (精神の)浄化、便通. Aristotle maintained that tragedy created a catharsis by purging the soul of base concepts.

Answer 51

purgative; 排便作用のある、浄化作用のある. Some drugs act as laxatives when taken in small doses but act as cathartics when taken in much larger doses.

Answer 52

universal; wide-ranging; liberal. He was extremely catholic in his taste and read everything he could find in the library.

Answer 53

burning; sarcastically biting. The critic's caustic remarks angered the hapless actors who were the subjects of his sarcasm.

Answer 54

casual and offhand; arrogant. Sensitive about having her ideas taken lightly, Marcia felt insulted by Mark's cavalier dismissal of her suggestion.

Answer 55

make frivolous objections; 難癖をつける. I respect your sensible criticisms but I dislike the way you cavil about unimportant details.

Answer 56

yield (title, territory) to; surrender formally. Eventually the descendants of England's Henry II were forced to cede their French territories to the King of France.

Answer 57

speed; rapidity. Hamlet resented his mother's celerity in remarrying within a month after his father's death.

Answer 58

heavenly. She spoke of the celestial joys that awaited virtuous souls in the hereafter.

Answer 59

abstaining fro sexual intercourse; unmarried; 禁欲主義の、独身の. Though the late Havelock Elis wrote extensively about sexual customs and was considered an expert in such matters, recent studies maintain he was celibate throughout his life.

Answer 60

severely critical; fault-finding. Censorious people delight in casting blame.

Answer 61

blame; criticize. The senator was censured for behavior inappropriate to a member of Congress.

Answer 62

pertaining to the brain or intellect. The content of philosophical works is cerebral in nature and requires much thought.

Answer 63

thought. Mathematics problems sometimes require much cerebration.

Answer 64

marked by formality. Ordinary dress would be inappropriate at so ceremonious an affair.

Answer 65

certainty. Though there was no certitude of his getting the job, Lou thought he had a good chance of being hired.

Answer 66

stoppage. The airline's employees threatened a cessation of all work if management failed to meet their demands.

Answer 67

yielding (something) to another; ceding; 譲渡、割譲. The Battle of Lake Erie, a major U.S. Naval victory in the War of 1812, ensured U.S. Control over Lake Erie and ruled out any territorial cession in the Northwest to Great Britain in the peace settlement.

Answer 68

worthless products of an endeavor. When you separate the wheat from the chaff, be sure you throw out the chaff.

Answer 69

vexation (caused by humiliation or injured pride); disappointment. Embarrassed by his parents' shabby, working-class appearance, Doug felt their visit to his school would bring him nothing but chagrin.

GRE Barron's 7-8 Flashcards

(93 cards)