GRE Cards Deck W Flashcards
(13 cards)
warranted
(adj)
Also warrant (verb, noun)
Definition: Justified, authorized (warrant can mean to justify or a justification, but can also mean to vouch for or guarantee)
Usage: The IERF warrants that the degree is not fake. / Your criticism of Anne is unwarranted—as your assistant, she has done everything you’ve asked her to do. / He doesn’t have his documents with him, but I’ll warrant that he is indeed a certified Microsoft Professional.
More Info: A warrant can, of course, be a legal justification (as in every cop movie ever)—such as permission given to police by a judge to enter and search a suspect’s home.
wary
adj
Definition: Watchful, motivated by caution, on guard against danger
Usage: Be wary of anyone who tells you that “anyone” can get rich with some special plan or scheme.
Related Words: Chary is a synonym (there are very few rhyming synonyms in English!), Leery (suspicious or wary), Vigilant (keenly watchful or alert in order to guard against danger)
whereas
conjunction
Definition: While on the contrary, considering that
Usage: Mr. Katsoulas had always assumed his son would take over the family business, whereas his son had always assumed he would go away to college and never come back. / Whereas peppers and squash are technically fruits, they are typically considered vegetables for culinary purposes.
More Info: Legal statements often begin with whereas, as in “Whereas the plaintiff was living with the defendant, and whereas she had lent him her car…”
whimsical
adj
Definition: Marked or motivated by whims (odd, fanciful ideas); erratic, unpredictable
Usage: Alice in Wonderland is a famously whimsical story in which a little girl falls down a rabbit hole and finds a strange and at times absurd world. / She enjoyed a whimsical day at the seashore—no plan, just wandering around and making sand castles as the mood struck.
Related Words: Capricious (synonym), Arbitrary (based entirely on one’s discretion; capricious, unreasonable, or having no basis), Lark (merry adventure), Mercurial (changing moods)
More Info: Whimsical is generally positive, but it depends on context—fanciful behavior that’s fun on a date would not be so fun coming from your boss (Do this! No, that! Let’s have office yoga! Why aren’t you working harder?)
wily
(adj)
Also wiles (plural noun)
Definition: Crafty, cunning, characterized by tricks or artifice
Usage: The wily criminal stole eight laptops by simply walking into a branch of a large company, introducing himself as the laptop repairman, and waiting for people to hand him their computers. / She was quite offended when her coworker suggested that she use her “feminine wiles” to make the sale.
Related Words: Artifice (trickery, especially as part of a strategy), Finesse (use tact or diplomacy; employ a deceptive strategy), Duplicity (deceit, double-dealing, acting in two different ways for the purpose of deception)
More Info: “Feminine wiles” refers to artful or beguiling behavior that a typically attractive woman uses to get what she wants—which could be as innocent as a romance, or something more devious.
wan
adj
Definition: Unnaturally pale, or showing some other indication of sickness, unhappiness, etc.; weak, lacking forcefulness
Usage: Are you okay? You’re looking wan. / Bryan’s wan attempt at asking for a raise was easily brushed off by his boss.
Related Words: Pallid (abnormally pale, lacking color or vitality), Sallow (sickly-yellow in color)
More Info: A wan smile is a weak, sort of forced smile that people use to pretend they’re okay when they’re not.
wanton
adj
Definition: Reckless, vicious, without regard for what is right; unjustifiable, deliberately done for no reason at all; sexually unrestrained or excessively luxurious
Usage: Wanton destruction of property / Wanton disregard for life / Wanton behavior at the match.
More Info: Wanton comes from two roots meaning “wanting” and “discipline.” Here, wanting means lacking (as in, I read the book and found it wanting).
welter
noun, verb
Definition: Large no of items in no order - Confused mass or pile, jumble;
Usage: This god-down has large number of items arranged in welter fashion / They struggled to keep the sailboat afloat on the weltering sea.
More Info: No one’s quite sure why a boxer weighing 140–147 pounds is a “welterweight,” but it might have something to do with what you might do if hit really hard by a boxer—welter on the ground.
whet
verb
Definition: Stimulate, make keen or eager (esp. of an appetite)
Usage: Dinner will take another twenty minutes, but maybe this cheese plate can whet your appetite?
Related Words: To pique a person is to anger or annoy, but to pique one’s interest, curiosity, etc., is to whet or stimulate that emotion.
More Info: To whet is literally to sharpen (a knife or cutting tool) using grinding or friction, such as on a whetstone, which can also be used metaphorically (Debate camp was a whetstone that sharpened the teenagers’ critical faculties).
whitewash
noun, verb
Definition: A substance used to whiten walls, wood, etc. (noun); deception, covering up of wrongs, errors, misdeeds, etc. (verb)
Usage: The journalist accused the government of trying to whitewash the scandal.
Related Words: Gloss over, paper over, and whitewash are all expressions for covering up a problem, insult, etc. rather than addressing it or fixing it. Because gloss is slippery (think of lip gloss), gloss over often has the sense of trying to smoothly and quickly move on to something else, as in “He made a snide remark about short people and then tried to gloss over it when he realized his 5’2” boss had overheard.”
winnow
verb
Definition: Sift, analyze critically, separate the useful part from the worthless part
Usage: We got 120 resumes for one job—it’s going to take me awhile just to winnow this down to a reasonable stack of people we want to interview.
Related Words: Rarefy (make more pure, more exclusive, or thinner and less dense—rarefied air at the top of a mountain or a rarefied crowd at an exclusive event)
More Info: Literally, winnowing is separating the edible part of wheat from the chaff, the outer husks. Relatedly, the expression “separate the wheat from the chaff” means to winnow, as in “The first week of our training program will really separate the wheat from the chaff—over 50% of recruits drop out in the first few days.”
winsome
adj
Definition: Charming, engaging, esp. in a sweet and innocent way
Usage: It’s hard for some to believe that Sridevi was once the winsome young starlet.
Related Words: Ingenuous, guileless, and artless are all related to being genuine and sincere (perhaps a bit naive). An Ingénue is a young—presumably innocent —actress or other female performer.
Memory Trick: Being winsome will help you “win some” friends.
wizened
adj
Definition: Withered (of plant - become dry, of person - become shrunken), shriveled (wrinkle and contract)
Usage: The wizened old man still possessed a remarkably sharp mind.
/ The program would wither (cease to flourish) away if we don’t get local support.
Related Words: Hoary (very old, gray or white as from old age), Grizzled (graying), Antediluvian (very old; literally, from before the Biblical flood), Desiccated (dried out)
