Barron's Gre Vocab 7Th 40

Front 1

abeyance

Back 1

temporary suppression or suspension
A good judge must hold his or her judgment in abeyance until all the facts in the case have been presented.

Front 2

adamant

Back 2

uncompromising; unyielding
Despite widespread opposition to his plan, the party's leader is adamant that it must move to the centre to apeal to moderate voters

Front 3

alchemy

Back 3

medieval chemical philosophy based on changing metal into gold; a seemingly magical power or process of transmutation

Front 4

amenable

Back 4

agreeable; cooperative; suited
the young writer is amenable to suggestions for improving her prose style to make it more interesting.

Front 5

antediluvian

Back 5

prehistoric
Most of our knowledge of antediluvian times has been built up as a result of one of humanity's greatest collaborative endeavors.

Front 6

approbation

Back 6

praise; approval
The congressional metal of Honor s the highest approbation an American soldier can receive.

Front 7

artless

Back 7

guileless; natural
Such artless beauty lies in Shakespear's wit.

Front 8

audacious

Back 8

bold; daring
The German army commander Erwin Rommel was know as the Desert fox as a result of audacious surprise attacks on Allied forces in WW II.

Front 9

banter

Back 9

playful conversation
The governor engaged in some banter with reporters before getting to serious business of the news conference.

Front 10

blase

Back 10

bored because of frequent indulgence; unconcerned
We were amazed by John's blase attitude toward school.he seems to have made it a rule to never to open a book.

Front 11

buttress

Back 11

to reinforce; support
Some critics of the American legal system buttress their case by citing the fact that objective studies suggest that only a very small number of criminals are successfully prosecuted.

Front 12

captious

Back 12

Faultfinding; intend to entrap, as in an argument
The pedantic and captious critic seems incapable of appreciating the merits of even the most highly regarded books.

Front 13

caucus

Back 13

Smaller group within an organization
The worker formed and informal caucus to discuss their difficulties.

Front 14

churlish

Back 14

rude; boorish
According to the chivalric code, a knight was never supposed to be churlish, especially toward noble ladies.

Front 15

cognizant

Back 15

informed; conscious; aware
They are not cognizant of what the other is doing.

Front 16

conciliatory

Back 16

overcome distrust or hostility
The leader of the country made conciliatory statements assuring the world that his country did not intend to acquire nuclear weapons.

Front 17

contend

Back 17

to assert
FN contended that the rightness of a particular action is dependent on the circumstances of the time and culture in which it occurs.

Front 18

convivial

Back 18

sociable
One of the jobs of an ambassador is to provide a convivial atmosphere for diplomats to meet.

Front 19

credence

Back 19

acceptance of something as true
People will be less likely to give credence to future alarms raised by that person.

Front 20

delineate

Back 20

the present or depict
Quantum theory led to the formulation of uncertainty principle, which was delineated in 1937 by Werner Heisenberg.

Front 21

desuetude

Back 21

state of disuse
NASA is considering a plan to refurbish booster rockets from the Apollo Program that have fallen into desuetude

Front 22

dirge

Back 22

funeral hymn
the critic described the movement of the symphony portraying last days as "dirge-like"

Front 23

disinterested

Back 23

unprejudiced; objective
The newspaper reporter looked for disinterested witnesses to the event so that she could get an objective account of what had happened.

Front 24

distend

Back 24

to expand; swell out
People in an advanced stage of starvation often have distended bellies.

Front 25

dormant

Back 25

inactive

Front 26

egotistical

Back 26

Excessively self-centred; conceited
The critic accused the writer of being egotistical since she wrote only about herself.

Front 27

encomium

Back 27

Formal expression of praise
The prime minister asked her speechwriter to compose an encomium for the retiring general.

Front 28

equanimity

Back 28

Composure; calmness
Emergency room doctors and nurses are trained to maintain equanimity when treating patients.

Front 29

eugenics

Back 29

Study of factors that influence the hereditary qualities of the human race to improve these qualities.
The science fiction novel describes a military eugenics program.

Front 30

execrable

Back 30

detestable; abhorrent
When fold artists like Bob Dylan began to use rock instruments, many folk music traditionalists considered it an execrable travesty.

Front 31

extant

Back 31

in existence; not lost
Unfortunately for Bible scholars, there are no extant writings of Jesus Christ.

Front 32

fallow

Back 32

plowed but not sowed; uncultivated
At the beginning of each school year the teacher looks out at the new students and thinks of a fallow field, ready to be cultivated.

Front 33

fidelity

Back 33

loyalty; exact correspondence
Monks joining the Franciscan Order pledge fidelity to the ideals and rules of the order

Front 34

flux

Back 34

flowing; a continuous moving
In some cultures time is considered as a flux moving in one direction.

Front 35

frieze

Back 35

ornamental band on a wall
One of the best-known friezes, on the outer wall of the Parthenon in Athens a depiction of the Panathenaic procession honoring Athena.

Front 36

gauche

Back 36

coarse and uncouth; clumsy
What is considered gauche in one culture might not be considered gauche in another culture.

Front 37

Guileless

Back 37

free of cunning or deceit; artless
One of the charms of the novel is that the guileless hero manages to defeat the scheming villain.

Front 38

heterodox

Back 38

unorthodox; not widely accepted
Recently a competing, heterodox view has arisen theorizing that they also may have evolved in Euroasia.

Front 39

igneous

Back 39

produced by fire; volcanic
The presence of igneous rocks on the beach suggests that there was a volcanic eruption in the area millions years ago.

Front 40

impinge

Back 40

to strike; encroach
Individuals that are not members of a group impinging on the territory of that group are normally met with aggression.