GRE Confused Sets Flashcards
(12 cards)
Frugal (adj.) vs. Miserly (adj.)
Frugal has a positive connotation, i.e. you spend money wisely, and miserly has a negative connotation, i.e. you pinch every penny
Miserly: Unwilling to spend money; stingy, greedy, or mean with resources
🔹 The miserly landlord refused to fix the heating to save money.
Frugal: Economical in use of money or resources; careful and wise about spending without being wasteful.
🔹 She lives a frugal lifestyle, cooking at home and budgeting carefully.
Miser = one who spends money miserably
Frugal = spend in fruitful goal
Monte was no miser, but was simply frugal, wisely spending the little that he earned
Prevaricate (v.) vs. Variance (n.)
To prevaricate is to speak in an evasive way. Prevaricate does not mean to vary before; indeed, it is totally unrelated to variance, which simply means the quality of varying. A good synonym for prevaricate is equivocate. And that’s no lie.
pre - varicate prevent verification, deliberately avoid correctness, lie
The cynic quipped, “There is not much variance in politicians; they all seem to prevaricate
Histrionic (adj.) vs. History (n.)
Histrionic is totally unrelated to history. It comes from the Latin for actor. To be histrionic is not to have a penchant for bad Pacino or Brando imitations, but to be overly theatrical.
Overly dramatic or theatrical in behavior or speech
Melodramatic , Overacting
“ma tayar chu wala viral kt”
Though she received a B- on the test, she had such a histrionic outburst that one would have thought that she’d been handed a death sentence.
🔹 Her histrionic reaction to the criticism made it hard to have a serious discussion.
🔹 He dismissed the witness’s testimony as a histrionic performance.
🔹 The actor’s personal life was filled with as much drama as his histrionic roles.
Demur (v.) vs. Demure (adj.)
To demur is a verb meaning to object or show reluctance.To object or raise doubts
Wallace dislike the cold, so he demurred when his friends suggested they going skiing in the Alps.
🔹 Though he initially demurred, he eventually agreed to the plan.
🔹 She demurred when asked to support the new policy, citing ethical concerns.
To be demure is to be modest reserved and shy. This word is typically used to describe a woman, so don’t call a man demure, as they will surely demur.
🔹 She gave a demure smile and said little during the meeting.
🔹 Beneath her demure exterior was a strong and independent thinker.
🔹 He demurred at the idea of confronting her, while she gave a demure nod and stayed silent.
Beatific (adj.) vs. Beautiful (adj.)
A beatific person is one who radiates bliss. This person is so happy, they almost seem blessed and holy (think of a saint, or the Buddha). As for beautiful, well you may be beatific if you are beautiful, or you may be totally unhappy. The two words are totally unrelated.
Marred by the ravages of time, the idols were hardly beautiful, yet each seemed to emanate a beatific aura that not even 500 years could diminish.
Her hair is now short and white, her vibe eternally beatific.
Under the wimple, her face had a beatific glow that lit up the stage
Scenes from the film seem to recapture the beatific landscape of his youth.
Perfunctory (adj.) vs. Preemptive (adj.) vs. Peremptory (adj.)
Perfunctory: Done hastily or with little interest or care — just going through the motions.
🔹 She gave a perfunctory nod and walked away.
🔹 His apology was perfunctory — clearly not heartfelt.
🔹 As far as my perfunctory dish-cleaning goes, my wife can attest to
this
Preemptive: To act before someone else does is to act preemptively.
- Just as Martha was about to take the only cookie left on the table, Noah preemptively swiped it.
- Preemptive is often times heard in a political context. A country that strikes before another country
can do so is launching a preemptive strike.
Peremptory: If you are peremptory you are bossy and domineering.
My sister used to peremptorily tell me to do the dishes, a chore I would either do perfunctorily or avoid doing altogether
Perfunctory : “Functional, but barely” — just going through motions
Preemptive: Preventing something by acting first , “Pre = before” + “emptive = empty the threat”
Peremptory: Bossy, not open to debate “Peremptory = Permanent + Authori-tory”
🔹 He gave a perfunctory handshake, made a preemptive offer, and ended the meeting with a peremptory command to leave.
Indigent (adj.) vs. Indigenous (adj.) vs. Indignant (adj.)
Indigent word means poor, having very little means.Poor; lacking basic necessities of life.
- In the so-called Third World, many are indigent and only a privileged few have the wherewithal to enjoy material luxuries.
🔹 An indigent old man lived alone in the shelter.
in-dirt-gent → so poor you’re in the dirt.
Indigenous means relating to a certain area. Plants and animals are often indigenous, as are people.
- The flora and fauna indigenous to Australia are notably different from those indigenous to the U.S— one look at a duckbill platypus and you know you’re not dealing with an opossum
“Indigenous = in the genes of the land” → native/original to the place..
Imagine you are waiting in line to order your morning coffee. Right as you are about to ask for a nice steaming cup, someone cuts in front of you and places an order for six people. How would you feel? indignant.
- Indignant means to feel anger over a perceived injustice. And you don’t want to be indignant the day of the test, when ETS just happens to pick that one word you always end up confusing with another word.
🔹 She was indignant at the accusation of cheating.
🔹 He became indignant when his honesty was questioned.
Indignant = You feel “dignity” has been attacked.
🔹 The indigenous people protested the eviction with indignant speeches, highlighting the plight of the indigent families displaced by the project.
Errant (adj.) vs. Arrant (adj.) vs. Errand (n.) vs. Err (v.)
To be errant is to be wandering, not sticking to a circumscribed path. It can also connote deviating from accepted behavior or standards.
- Unlike his peers, who spent their hours studying in the library, Matthew preferred errant walks through the university campus to help his brain function.
🔹 An errant knight wandered far from the kingdom
Arrant means complete and utter. It usually modifies a noun with a negative connotation, e.g. liar, fool, etc. used to emphasize something bad.
Arrant = arrogant nonsense
- An arrant fool, Lawrence surprised nobody when he lost all his money in a pyramid scheme that was every bit as transparent as it was corrupt.
🔹 That’s arrant nonsense!
An errand is a small chore.A short task or trip to accomplish something (
- Maria carried out her errands with dispatch, completing most before noon.
🔹 She ran a few errands before coming home.
🔹 Can you do a quick errand for me and grab milk?
To err is (surprise!) to make an error.
- He erred in thinking that errant and arrant were synonyms.
🔹 To err is human, to forgive divine.
🔹 He erred in judgment by trusting the wrong person.
Errant : wandering
Arrant : Complete (negative emphasis) Arrant = arrogant nonsense
Errand : Short task or mission Short run
Err : To make a mistake
The errant employee, while running an errand, erred in judgment and delivered arrant lies to the manager.
Artless (adj.) vs. Artful (adj.) vs. Artifice (n.)
To be artful means to be cunning and wily. Clever, cunning, or skillful — often with a hint of trickiness.
🔹 The politician gave an artful response to dodge the question.
🔹 Her artful negotiation saved the company thousands.
To have artifice is to be artful. A clever trick or strategy, often used to deceive.
🔹 The con artist’s artifice fooled dozens of investors.
🔹 She used every artifice to delay the meeting.
If somebody is artless, on the other hand, that person is innocent, guileless. Innocent, natural, without deception or pretense.
🔹 Her artless smile charmed everyone at the party.
🔹 He gave an artless explanation, without trying to cover his mistake.
Artless natural, without trickery Lacking artifice
Artful Clever, skillful, sometimes sly Full of art/trickery
Artifice Trick or strategy, clever deceit Artificial method to fool
🔹 The artful lawyer, using subtle artifice, manipulated the artless witness into contradicting himself.
Expurgate (v.) vs. Expunge (v.)
To remove objectionable, offensive, or inappropriate content from something, especially from a book, movie, speech, etc.
They both mean to remove, but in different ways. To expurgate means to remove objectionable material. If you’ve ever watched a rated-R film that has been adapted for prime time, you’ll probably note that all those F-words—factitious, facetious, and fatuous—have been removed. That’s expurgation
(think of the “beep”).
🔹 The novel was expurgated before it could be taught in schools.
🔹 They expurgated the film to make it suitable for a younger audience.
To expunge simply means to wipe out or remove any trace off. Many people who commit petty crimes have those crimes expunged from their records, given that person doesn’t decide to start running every other red light. So, if you’ve been a good driver over the last 10 years, then that one incident when 85 became the new 65…well, that’s probably been expunged from your record.
🔹 His criminal record was expunged after 10 years of good behavior.
🔹 She tried to expunge the memory of that day from her mind.
Expurgate Remove offensive content Books, movies, speeches (censor)
Expunge Erase completely from existence Records, memories, documents
The committee voted to expurgate the offensive scenes from the manuscript, but the author wanted to expunge all traces of the storyline entirely.
Censure (v.) vs. Censor (v.)
Speaking of beeping out the F-word, we have a synonym for expurgate: censor. Censure, the much more common GRE word, has nothing to do with removing objectionable words and/or material. However, if you decide to start dropping the F-bomb in public—and I don’t mean facetious—then you
can easily expect someone to censure you. To censure someone is to express strong disapproval of that person.
censure: formal disapproval
censor: censor the film to remove objectionable things/ scenes
Ponderous (adj.) vs. Imponderable (adj./n.)
Ponder means to think over. So, ponderous must mean thinking. However, this is not the case. Ponderous is derived from ‘pondus’, which means weight (think of a pound). So, to be ponderous means to be weighed-down, and to move slowly and in a labored fashion.
Slow, heavy, and awkward — either literally or metaphorically.
🔹 The speaker’s ponderous delivery made the lecture hard to follow.
🔹 She walked with a ponderous gait, burdened by the heavy suitcase.
🔹 His writing style was ponderous, weighed down by complex jargon.
Imponderable is not the opposite of ponderous. It actually relates to thinking. An imponderable is something that is impossible to estimate, fathom or figure out. Say a child was to ask, “How long would it take driving in a car to go from one end of the universe to the other?” Unless you have a really big calculator—and a very fast car—the answer to this question would be imponderable.
Impossible to measure, assess, or fully understand.
🔹 The effects of the new policy remain imponderable at this stage.
🔹 There are imponderable questions about the origin of consciousness.
Ponderous Heavy, slow, dull, labored Negative
Imponderable Impossible to measure, mysterious
