Gmat Vocabulary

Front 1

Abate

Back 1

Reduce or diminish.
Her stress over spending so much money on a house abated when the real estate broker told
her about the property’s 15-year tax abatement.
Aberration, Anomaly - Something that stands out or is abnormal. Outlier is similar.
The election of a liberal candidate in the conservative county was an aberration (or anomaly),
made possible only by the sudden death of the conservative candidate two days before the elec­
tion.

Front 2

Acclaim

Back 2

Great praise or approval.

Front 3

Accord, Discord

Back 3

Accord is agreement, and discord is disagreement.
Our management is in accord with regulatory agencies about tightening standards.

Front 4

Acquisitiveness

Back 4

Desire to acquire more, especially an excessive desire.
The firm did well in buying up its competitors as a means of growth, but its acquisitiveness
ultimately resulted in problems related to growing too quickly.

Front 5

Acreage

Back 5

Land measured in acres.
Our property is large, but much of the acreage is swampland not suitable for building.

Front 6

Adhere to and Adherent

Back 6

To adhere to is to stick to (literally, such as with glue, or metaphorically,
such as to a plan or belief). An adherent is a person who sticks to a belief or cause.
The adherents of the plan wont admit that, in the long term, such a policy would bankrupt
our state.
Employees who do not adhere to the policy will be subject to disciplinary action.

Front 7

Ad-lib

Back 7

1) Make something up on the spot, give an unprepared speech; 2) Freely, as needed, accord­
ing to desire.
We have ended our policy of rationing office supplies— pens may now be given to employees
ad-lib.

Front 8

Adopt

Back 8

Take and make one’s own; vote to accept. You can adopt a child, of course, or a new policy.
To adopt a plan implies that you didn’t come up with it yourself.

Front 9

Abate

Back 9

Reduce or diminish.
Her stress over spending so much money on a house abated when the real estate broker told
her about the property’s 15-year tax abatement.

Front 10

Aberration, Anomaly

Back 10

Something that stands out or is abnormal. Outlier is similar.
The election of a liberal candidate in the conservative county was an aberration (or anomaly),
made possible only by the sudden death of the conservative candidate two days before the elec­
tion.

Front 11

Acclaim

Back 11

Great praise or approval.

Front 12

Accord, Discord

Back 12

Accord is agreement, and discord is disagreement.
Our management is in accord with regulatory agencies about tightening standards.

Front 13

Acquisitiveness

Back 13

Desire to acquire more, especially an excessive desire.
The firm did well in buying up its competitors as a means of growth, but its acquisitiveness
ultimately resulted in problems related to growing too quickly.

Front 14

Acreage

Back 14

Land measured in acres.
Our property is large, but much of the acreage is swampland not suitable for building.

Front 15

Adhere to and Adherent

Back 15

To adhere to is to stick to (literally, such as with glue, or metaphorically,
such as to a plan or belief). An adherent is a person who sticks to a belief or cause.
The adherents of the plan wont admit that, in the long term, such a policy would bankrupt
our state.
Employees who do not adhere to the policy will be subject to disciplinary action.

Front 16

Ad-lib

Back 16

1) Make something up on the spot, give an unprepared speech; 2) Freely, as needed, accord­
ing to desire.
We have ended our policy of rationing office supplies— pens may now be given to employees
ad-lib.

Front 17

Adopt

Back 17

Take and make one’s own; vote to accept. You can adopt a child, of course, or a new policy.
To adopt a plan implies that you didn’t come up with it yourself.

Front 18

Advent

Back 18

Arrival.
Before the advent of the Internet, people often called reference librarians to look up informa­
tion for them in the library’s reference section.

Front 19

Adverse

Back 19

Unfavorable, opposed.
A noisy environment is adverse to studying, and lack of sleep can have further adverse effects.

Front 20

Agency

Back 20

The ability to use power or influence.
Some global warming deniers acknowledge that the planet is heating up, but argue that human
agency does not affect the climate.

Front 21

Aggravate

Back 21

Make worse.
Allowing your band to practice in our garage has greatly aggravated my headache.

Front 22

Altogether

Back 22

Completely, overall. Altogether is an adverb, and is one word. It is not the same as all
together, as in Let's sing all together.
It was an altogether stunning new design.

Front 23

Ambivalent

Back 23

1) Uncertain, unable to decide; 2) Wanting to do two contradictory things at once.
The health care plan has been met with ambivalence from lawmakers who would like to pass
the bill but find supporting it to be politically impossible.

Front 24

Amortize

Back 24

Gradually pay off a debt, or gradually write off an asset.
A mortgage is a common form of amortized debt— spreading the payments out over as long as
30 years is not uncommon.

Front 25

Analogous

Back 25

Corresponding in a particular way, making a good analogy.
Our situation is analogous to one in a case study I read in business school. Maybe what
worked for that company will work for us.

Front 26

Annex

Back 26

To add on, or something that has been added on. An annex to a building is a part built later
and added on, or a new building that allows an organization to expand.

Front 27

Annihilate

Back 27

Completely destroy.

Front 28

Annul

Back 28

Make void or null, cancel, abolish (usually of laws or other established rules). Most people
associate this word with marriage— a marriage is annulled when a judge rules that it was invalid in the
first place (because of fraud, mental incompetence, etc.), so it is as if it never happened.
Can we appreciate the art of a murderer? For many, the value of these paintings is annulled by
the artist s crimes.

Front 29

Anoint

Back 29

The literal meaning is “rub or sprinkle oil on, especially as part of a ceremony that makes
something sacred.” The word is used metaphorically to refer to power or praise being given to someone
who is thought very highly of. For instance:
After Principal Smitters raised test scores over 60% at her school, it was only a matter of time
before she was anointed superintendant by a fawning school board.

Front 30

Antithetical to

Back 30

Totally opposed to; opposite.
The crimes of our chairman are totally antithetical to what the Society for Ethical Leadership
stands for.

Front 31

Application

Back 31

Act or result of applying. O f course, you can have an application to business school,
but you can also say The attempted application ofAmerican-style democracy in Iraq may ultimately prove
unsuccessful.
Apprentice — A person who works for someone else in order to learn a trade (such as shoemaking,
weaving, etc.) from that person. Mostly historical, but still exists in the U.S., in a few industries, such
as contracting and electrical wiring.

Front 32

Arbiter

Back 32

Judge, umpire, person empowered to decide matters at hand. Arbitration is typically a formal
process in which a professional arbitrator decides a matter outside of a court of law.
Professional mediators arbitrate disputes.
The principal said, “As the final arbiter of what is and is not appropriate in the classroom, I
demand that you take down that poster of the rapper Ice-T and his scantily clad wife Coco.”

Front 33

Archaic

Back 33

Characteristic of an earlier period, ancient, primitive.
The schools archaic computer system predated even floppy disks— it stored records on tape
drives!
Sometimes, when you look a word up the dictionary, certain definitions are marked “archa­
ic”— unless you are a Shakespeare scholar, you can safely ignore those archaisms.
Aristocracy — A hereditary ruling class, nobility (or a form of government ruled by these people).

Front 34

Artifact

Back 34

Any object made by humans, especially those from an earlier time, such as those excavated
by archaeologists.
The archaeologists dug up countless artifacts, from simple pottery shards and coins to complex
written tablets.
The girls room was full of the artifacts of modern teenage life: Justin Bieber posters, Twilight
books, and a laptop open to Facebook.

Front 35

Ascribe to/ascription

Back 35

To ascribe is to give credit; ascription is the noun form.
He ascribed his good grades to diligent studying.
The boys mother was amused by the ascription to his imaginary friend of all the powers he
wished he had himself—being able to fly, having dozens of friends, and never having to eat his
broccoli.

Front 36

Assert

Back 36

Affirm, claim, state, or express (that something is true).

Front 37

Assimilation

Back 37

The process by which a minority group adopts the customs and way of life of a larger
group, or the process by which any new thing being introduced begins to “blend in.” Words like
Westernization or Americanization refer to the process of assimilation into Western culture, American
culture, etc.

Front 38

Attain

Back 38

Achieve.

Front 39

Attribute to

Back 39

Give credit to.

Front 40

Atypical

Back 40

Not typical.

Front 41

Backfire

Back 41

To produce an unexpected and unwanted result. The literal meaning refers to an engine,
gun, etc., exploding backwards or discharging gases, flame, debris, etc., backwards, thus possibly caus­
ing injury.
The company’s new efficiency measures backfired when workers protested and staged a walk­
out, thus stopping production completely.

Front 42

Balance

Back 42

The remaining part or leftover amount. This is related to the idea of a bank balance—a bal­
ance is what you have left after deductions.
The publishing division accounted for 25% of the profits, and the film division for the bal­
ance. This means that the film division provided 75% of the profits.

Front 43

Baldly

Back 43

Plainly, explicitly. (This is the same word as in “losing one’s hair.”) To say something baldly is
to be blunt. People are sometimes shocked or offended when things are said too bluntly or baldly.
An article in Mother Jones explained that Maine is not very diverse: “It is, to put it baldly, one
of the whitest states in the union.”

Front 44

Balloon

Back 44

1) Swell or puff out; 2) Increase rapidly. Also, in finance, a balloon payment is a single pay­
ment at the end of a loan or mortgage term that is much larger than the other payments.
During the dot-com bubble, the university’s investments ballooned to three times’ their former
value.
When he won the award, his chest ballooned with pride.

Front 45

Befall

Back 45

Happen to (used with something bad). The past tense is befell.
Disaster befell the company once again when the CEO was thrown from a horse.

Front 46

Belie

Back 46

Contradict or misrepresent.
The actress’s public persona as a perky “girl next door” belied her private penchant for abusing
her assistants and demanding that her trailer be filled with ridiculous luxury goods.
The data belie the accepted theory— either we’ve made a mistake, or we have an amazing new
discovery on our hands!

Front 47

Benevolent

Back 47

Expressing goodwill, helping others or charity.

Front 48

Benign

Back 48

1) Harmless; 2) Kind or beneficial; 3) Not cancerous.
He was relieved when the biopsy results came back, informing him that the growth was
benign.
He’s a benign fellow. I’m sure having him assigned to your team at work will be perfectly
pleasant, without changing the way you do things.

Front 49

Blight

Back 49

Disease that kills plants rapidly, or any cause of decay or destruction (noun); ruin or cause to
wither (verb).
Many potato farmers have fallen into poverty as a result of blight killing their crops.
Gang violence is a blight on our school system, causing innocent students to fear even attend­
ing classes. In fact, violence has blighted our town.

Front 50

Blunt

Back 50

To dull, weaken, or make less effective.
The new therapy has severe side effects, but they can be blunted somewhat with anti-nausea
medication and painkillers.

Front 51

Blur

Back 51

To make blurry, unclear, indistinct.
In Japan, company titles are taken very seriously and roles are sharply defined, whereas in the
U.S.— especially in smaller firms— roles are often blurred as everyone is expected to pitch in
on a variety of projects.

Front 52

Bogus

Back 52

Fake, fraudulent.
The back of this bodybuilding magazine is just full of ads for bogus products— this one prom­
ises 22-inch biceps just from wearing magnetic armbands!

Front 53

Bolster

Back 53

Strengthen or support.
The general requested reinforcements to bolster the defensive line set up at the border.
Many people use alcohol to bolster their confidence before approaching an attractive person in
a bar.

Front 54

Broad

Back 54

Wide, large; in the open (“in broad daylight”); obvious, clear; liberal, tolerant; covering a
wide scope of things. (“Broad” is also a mildly derogatory term for women, in case you’re confused— of
course, no one would ever be called a broad on the GMAT.)
The panel was given broad discretionary powers. (That pretty much means that the panel can
do whatever they want.)

Front 55

Brook

Back 55

Suffer or tolerate. Often used with the word no. You could say The dictator will not brook dis­
sent, but a more common usage would be The dictator will brook no dissent.

Front 56

Buffer

Back 56

Something that separates two groups, people, etc., who potentially do not get along. When
the U.S. was controlled by England, the state of Georgia was colonized as a buffer between the English
colonies and Spanish Florida. A breakwater of rocks would act as a buffer, protecting the beach against
crashing waves.

Front 57

Bureaucracy

Back 57

1) Government characterized by many bureaus and petty administrators; 2) Excessive,
seemingly meaningless requirements.
Some nations have a worse reputation for bureaucracy than others— in order to get a Visa, he
had to file papers with four different agencies, wait for hours in three different waiting rooms,
and, weeks later, follow up with some petty bureaucrat who complained that the original
application should ve been filed in triplicate.

Front 58

Bygone

Back 58

Past, former; that which is in the past (usually plural, as in the expression “Let bygones be
bygones,” which means to let the past go, especially by forgiving someone).
At the nursing home, the time to reminisce about bygone days was pretty much all the time.

Front 59

Bypass

Back 59

Avoid, go around; ignore. The word can be a noun or a verb. Literally, a bypass is a stretch
of highway that goes around an obstacle (such as a construction site). A synonym for bypass (verb) is
circumvent, as in to circumvent (or bypass) the normal approval process by going straight to the company
president.

Front 60

Canon

Back 60

Body of accepted rules, standards or artistic works; canonical means authorized, recognized,
or pertaining to a canon. Note that the spelling of canon is not the same as cannon (a large weapon).
The “Western canon” is an expression referring to books traditionally considered necessary for a person
to be educated in the culture of Europe and the Americas.
School boards often start controversies when replacing canonical books in the curriculum with
modern literature; while many people think students should read works more relevant to their
lives, others point out that Moby Dick is part of the canon for a reason.

Front 61

Chancy

Back 61

Risky, not having a certain outcome. This word comes from the idea of “taking a lot of
chances” or depending on chance.

Front 62

Channel

Back 62

To direct or guide along a particular course. O f course, channel can also be a noun (televi­
sion channel, the channel of a river, channels of communication). As a verb, you might channel your
energy towards productive purposes.

Front 63

Checked

Back 63

Restrained, held back. A check or checks can also be used to mean safeguards, limitations.
This is the same checks as in checks and balances, which refers to an aspect of the American system of
government in which the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches all have power over each other,
so no one branch can gain too much power. The expression held in check means restrained, held back.
Once the economy took a turn for the worse, the investors began to hold spending in check.
The situation isn’t so simple— while the warlords are surely criminals of the worst degree, they
are the only force checking the power of the dictator.

Front 64

Chronological

Back 64

Arranged in or relating to time order.
Joey, I’m afraid you’ve done the assignment wrong— the point of making a timeline is to put
the information in chronological order. You’ve made an alphabetical-order-line instead!
Clamor — Noisy uproar or protest, as from a crowd; a loud, continuous noise. (NO T the same word as
clamber, “to scramble or climb awkwardly.”)
As soon as a scent of scandal emerged, the press was clamoring for details.
The mayor couldn’t even make herself heard over the clamor of the protestors.
Clan — Traditional social unit or division of a tribe consisting of a number of families derived from a
common ancestor. Metaphorically, a clan could be any group of people united by common aims, inter­
ests, etc.

Front 65

Cloak

Back 65

To cover or conceal. Often used as cloaked in. (Literally, a cloak is a large, loose cape, much
like a winter coat without arms.)
Apple’s new products are often cloaked in mystery before they are released; before the launch
of the iPad, even tech reviewers had little idea what the new device would be.

Front 66

Coalesce

Back 66

Come together, unite; fuse together.
While at first, everyone on the team was jockeying for power and recognition, eventually, the
group coalesced and everyone was happy to share credit for a job well-done.
East and West Germany coalesced into a single country in 1990.

Front 67

Coercion

Back 67

Force; use of pressure, threats, etc. to force someone to do something.

Front 68

Coexistence

Back 68

Existing at the same time or in the same place. Coexistence is often used to mean peaceful
coexistence, as in The goal of the Camp David Accords was the coexistence of Israel and Egypt.

Front 69

Cogent

Back 69

Very convincing, logical.
Most GMAT Critical Reasoning arguments are not terribly cogent— they depend on unspo­
ken and unjustified assumptions.

Front 70

Cognitive

Back 70

Related to thinking. Cognition is the mental process of knowing (awareness, judgment,
reasoning, etc.).

Front 71

Collude

Back 71

Conspire; cooperate for illegal or fraudulent purposes.
After two competing software companies doubled their prices on the same day, leaving con­
sumers no lower-priced alternative, the federal government investigated the companies for col­
lusion.

Front 72

Compliant

Back 72

Obeying, submissive; following the requirements.
Those who are not compliant with the regulations will be put on probation and possibly
expelled.
Com pound — Add interest to the principal and accrued interest; increase. When talking about sub­
stances, compound can also mean mix, combine, as in to compound two chemicals.
The town was greatly damaged by the hurricane— damage that was only compounded by the
subsequent looting and even arson that took place in the chaos that followed.
Your success in studying for the GMAT can only be compounded by healthy sleep habits; in
fact, the brain requires sleep in order to form new memories and thus solidify your knowledge.
Compromise — Reduce the quality or value of something. O f course, to compromise can be good in
personal relationships, but often compromise means to give up something in a bad way, as in to compro­
mise one’s morals. So, if you say that the hull of your boat has been compromised, you mean that you are
going to sink!
It is unacceptable that safety is being compromised in the name of profits.

Front 73

Concede

Back 73

Give in, admit, yield; acknowledge reluctantly; grant or give up (such as giving up land
after losing a war).
The negotiations were pointless, with each side’s representatives instructed by their home coun­
tries to make no concessions whatsoever.
Quebec was a French concession to Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1763.
I suppose I will have to concede the argument now that you’ve looked up evidence on
Wikipedia.

Front 74

Condone

Back 74

Overlook, tolerate, regard as harmless.
While underage drinking is illegal, at many universities, it is tacitly condoned by administra­
tions that neglect to enforce anti-drinking policies.
Confer — Consult, compare views; bestow or give.
A Ph.D. confers upon a person the right to be addressed as “Doctor” as well as eligibility to
pursue tenure-track professorship.
Excuse me for a moment to make a call— I can’t buy this car until I confer with my spouse.
Consequently — As a result, therefore. (Don’t confuse with subsequently, which means afterwards.)
The new medicine is not only a failure, but a dangerous one; consequently, drug trials were
halted immediately.
Considerable — Large, significant.
Considerations — Factors to be considered in making a decision. Used in the singular, consideration
can mean care for other people’s feelings; high esteem or admiration; or a treatment or account, as in
The book began with a thorough consideration o f the history o f the debate.
Consolidate — Unite, combine, solidify, make coherent.
She consolidated her student loans so she would only have to make one payment per month.
As group leader, Muriel will consolidate all of our research into a single report.

Front 75

Contemplative

Back 75

Contemplating, thoughtful, meditative.

Front 76

Contend

Back 76

Assert, make an argument in favor of; strive, compete, struggle. A contention is simply a
claim, often a thesis or statement that will then be backed up with reasons. Contentious means contro­
versial or argumentative, as in The death penalty is a contentious issue.

Front 77

Contextualize

Back 77

Place in context, such as by giving the background or circumstances.
Virginia Woolf’s feminism is hard to truly understand unless contextualized within the mores
of the highly restrained, upper-class English society of her time.
Contract — Shrink, pull together, and thus become smaller (used in this way, contract is the opposite of
expand). You can also contract a disease or a debt, in which case contract just means get or acquire. To
contract can also simply mean to make a contract (to contract an agreement).

Front 78

Conventional

Back 78

T raditional, customary. This could be related to morals and culture (Her family was
surprised that she had eschewed the conventional wedding ceremony in favor o f a bohemian ceremony on the
beach) or to technology, business methods, etc. — a conventional oven is simply a regular oven (without
certain modern enhancements).
Converge — Move towards one another or towards a point; unite.
I know we’re driving in to the wedding from different states, but our routes ought to converge
when each of us hits 1-95— maybe we could converge at a Cracker Barrel for lunch!
Conversely — In an opposite way; on the other hand.
I am not here to argue that lack of education causes poverty. Conversely, I am here to argue
that poverty causes lack of education.

Front 79

Convoluted

Back 79

Twisted; very complicated.
Your argument is so convoluted that Im not even able to understand it enough to start criti­
quing it.
To get from the hotel room to the pool requires following a convoluted path up two staircases
and down two others— to get to someplace on the same floor we started on!

Front 80

Copious

Back 80

Plentiful, bountiful.
Although she took copious notes in class, she found that she was missing a big picture that
would have tied all the information together.

Front 81

Corresponding

Back 81

Accompanying; having the same or almost the same relationship.
Our profit-sharing plan means that increases in profit will be matched by corresponding
increases in employee compensation.

Front 82

Corroborate

Back 82

Support, add evidence to.
You’re telling me you were thirty miles away riding a roller coaster when the school was vandal­
ized? I have a hard time believing that— is there anyone who can corroborate your story?
Countenance — Approve or tolerate. Countenance can also literally mean “face” {Her countenance was
familiar—did we know each other?). The metaphorical meaning makes sense when you think about a
similar expression: “I cannot look you in the face after what you did.” (You would usually say “I cannot
face you” when the speaker is the guilty party.)
I saw you cheating off my paper, and I cant countenance cheating— either you turn yourself
in or HI report you.

Front 83

Counterintuitive

Back 83

Against what a person would intuitively expect.
Although it seems counterintuitive, for some extreme dieters, eating more can actually help
them to lose weight, since the body is reassured that it is not facing a period o f prolonged star­
vation.

Front 84

Counterpoint

Back 84

Contrasting item, opposite; a complement; the use of contrast or interplay in a work
of art.
The plays lighthearted, witty narrator provides a welcome counterpoint to the seriousness and
grief expressed by the other characters.
The hot peppers work in counterpoint to an otherwise sweet dish.

Front 85

Counterproductive

Back 85

Defeating the purpose; preventing the intended goal.
The candidate’s attempt to win swing votes in Ohio was actually counterproductive— follow­
ing his speech in Toledo, his poll numbers actually went down 5%.

Front 86

Credibility

Back 86

Believability, trustworthiness.
Many famous “experts” with “Dr.” before their names are not medical doctors at all. Any televi­
sion “doctor” who turns out to have a Ph.D. in botany, for instance, ought to suffer a serious
drop in credibility.

Front 87

Culminate

Back 87

Reach the highest point or final stage.
A Ph.D. program generally culminates in a written dissertation and its defense to a committee.

Front 88

Currency

Back 88

Money; the act of being passed from person-to-person (These old coins are no longer in cur­
rency); general acceptance or a period of time during which something is accepted. Cultural currency
refers to cultural knowledge that allows a person to feel “in the know.”
The call center in Mumbai trained its workers in American slang and pop culture, giving them
a cultural currency that, it was hoped, would help the workers relate to customers thousands
of miles away.

Front 89

Curtail

Back 89

Cut short or reduce.

Front 90

Cynical

Back 90

Thinking the worst of others’ motivations; bitterly pessimistic.

Front 91

Debase

Back 91

Degrade; lower in quality, value, rank, etc.; lower in moral quality.
Members of the mainstream church argued that the fringe sect was practicing a debased ver­
sion of the religion, twisting around its precepts and missing the point.
I can tell from the weight that this isn’t pure gold, but rather some debased mixed metal.
You have debased yourself by accepting bribes.

Front 92

Debilitating

Back 92

Weakening, disabling.

Front 93

Debunk

Back 93

Expose, ridicule, or disprove false or exaggerated claims.
Galileo spent his last years under house arrest for debunking the widely held idea that the Sun
revolved around the Earth.
The show MythBusters debunks pseudoscientific claims.

Front 94

Decry

Back 94

Condemn openly. The “cry” in decry has the sense of “cry out against,” as in The activist
decried the destruction of the animals' habitat.

Front 95

Deem

Back 95

Judge; consider.
“You can take the black belt exam when I deem you ready, and not a moment before,” said the
karate instructor.

Front 96

Deflect

Back 96

Cause to curve; turn aside, especially from a straight course; avoid.
The purpose of a shield is to deflect arrows or bullets from an enemy.
Every time he was asked a difficult question, Senator Warrington deflected by changing the
topic, saying he’d answer later, or even— insincerely, it seemed— calling for a moment of prayer.

Front 97

Delimit

Back 97

Fix, mark, or define the boundaries of.
The role of an executive coach is delimited by our code of conduct—we may not counsel peo­
ple for psychological conditions, for instance.

Front 98

Denote

Back 98

Be a name or symbol for. A denotation is the literal meaning of a word; a connotation is the
feeling that accompanies that word.
There’s nothing in the denotation of “crotchety” (grumpy, having strong and irrational prefer­
ences) that indicates any particular group of people, but because of the expression “crotchety
old man,” the word connotes, for many people, an image of an especially unpleasant male sen­
ior citizen.
Deride — Mock, scoff at, laugh at contemptuously.
The manager really thought that deriding his employees as “stupid” or “lazy” would motivate
them to work harder; instead, it motivated them to hide his office supplies as an act of revenge.

Front 99

Deterrent

Back 99

Something that restrains or discourages.
Some argue that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime— that is, the point is not just to
punish the guilty, but to frighten other prospective criminals.

Front 100

Dichotomy

Back 100

Division into two parts or into two contradictory groups.
There is a dichotomy in the sciences between theoretical or “pure” sciences such as physics and
chemistry, and the life sciences, which often deal more with classifying than with theorizing.
Disclosure — Revealing, exposing the truth; something that has been revealed. Full disclosure is an
expression meaning telling everything. In journalism, the expression is often used when a writer reveals
a personal connection to the story. For instance, a news article might read, “M SN BC may have forced
the departure of popular anchor Keith Olbermann (full disclosure: I was employed as a fact-checker for
M SNBC in 2004).”

Front 101

Discount

Back 101

Ignore, especially to ignore information because it is considered untrustworthy; to underes­
timate, minimize, regard with doubt. To discount an idea is to not count it as important.
After staying up all night to finish the presentation, he was understandably unhappy that his
boss discounted his contribution, implying that she had done most of the work herself.

Front 102

Discredit

Back 102

Injure the reputation of, destroy credibility of or confidence in.
Congresswoman Huffman’s opponent tried to use her friendship with a certain radical extremist
to discredit her, even though the Congresswoman hadn’t seen this so-called “extremist” since
sixth-grade summer camp.

Front 103

Discrepancy

Back 103

Difference or inconsistency.
When there is a discrepancy between a store’s receipts and the amount of money in the regis­
ter, the cashier’s behavior is generally called into question.

Front 104

Discrete

Back 104

Separate, distinct, detached, existing as individual parts. This is N O T the same word as dis­
creet, which means subtle, secretive.
Be sure to use quotation marks and citations as appropriate in your paper in order to keep your
ideas discrete from those of the experts you are quoting.
The advertising agency pitched us not on one campaign, but on three discrete ideas.

Front 105

Discretionary

Back 105

Subject to someone’s discretion, or judgment (generally good judgment). Discretionary
funds can be spent on anything (for instance, a budget might contain a small amount for “extras”).
Begin at your discretion means Begin whenever you think is best.

Front 106

Discriminating

Back 106

Judicious, discerning, having good judgment or insight. Many people automatically
think of discriminating as bad, because they are thinking of racial discrimination. However, discriminat­
ing is simply telling things apart and can be an important skill— it is important to discriminate legiti­
mate colleges from fraudulent diploma mills, for instance.
He is a man of discriminating tastes— all his suits are handmade in Italy, and I once saw him
send back an entree when he complained that black truffle oil had been substituted for white.
The chef was astounded that he could tell.
You can tell a real Prada bag by the discriminating mark on the inside.

Front 107

Disinterested

Back 107

Unbiased, impartial; not interested. Don’t confuse with uninterested, which means not
interested, bored, apathetic.
Let’s settle this argument once and for all! We’ll get a disinterested observer to judge who can
sing the highest note!

Front 108

Disparate

Back 108

Distinct, different.
He chose the college for two disparate reasons: the strength of the computer science program,
and the excellence of the hip-hop dance squad.

Front 109

Dispatch

Back 109

Speed, promptness (noun); send off or deal with in a speedy way (verb).
So, you want to be a bike messenger? I need messengers who approach every delivery with alac­
rity, care, and dispatch— if the customers wanted their packages to arrive slowly, they’d use the
post office.
Acting with all possible dispatch, emergency services dispatched a rescue squad to the scene.

Front 110

Disperse

Back 110

Scatter, spread widely, cause to vanish. Dispersal is the noun form.
Because the demonstrators didn’t have a permit, the police showed up with megaphones,
demanding loudly that the crowd disperse. The eventual dispersal of the crowd resulted in
smaller protests at various points throughout the city.

Front 111

Dismiss

Back 111

Put aside or reject, especially after only a brief consideration; allow to disperse or leave; fire
from a job. To dismiss biases (biases is the plural of bias) in science is to rule out possible prejudices that
could have influenced results.
“Before I dismiss class,” said the teacher, “I want to remind you of the importance of dismiss­
ing biases in your research by ruling out or adjusting for factors other than the variable you are
testing that may have led to your results.”

Front 112

Disseminate

Back 112

Scatter, spread about, broadcast.
In the 1760s, revolutionary ideas were disseminated via pamphlets such as Thomas Paine’s
“Common Sense.”

Front 113

Divest

Back 113

Deprive or strip of a rank, title, etc., or of clothing or gear; to sell off holdings (opposite of
invest).
When she found out that the most profitable stock in her portfolio was that of a company that
tested products on animals, she immediately divested by telling her broker to sell the stock.
Once his deception was exposed, he was divested of his position on the Board.

Front 114

Dovetail

Back 114

Join or fit together.
When the neuroscientist married an exercise physiologist, neither thought they’d end up work­
ing together, but when Dr. Marion Ansel received a grant to study how exercise improves brain
function and Dr. Jim Ansel was assigned to her team, the two found that their careers dove­
tailed nicely.

Front 115

Echelon

Back 115

A level, rank, or grade; the people at that level. A stratum is the same idea (strata is the plu­
ral, as in rising through the upper strata/echelons of the firm).
Obtaining a job on Wall Street doesn’t guarantee access to the upper echelon of executives,
where multi-million dollar bonuses are the norm.
I’m not sure I’m cut out to analyze poetry; I find it hard to dig beyond the most accessible ech­
elon of meaning.

Front 116

Eclectic

Back 116

Selecting the best of everything or from many diverse sources.
Eclectic taste is helpful in being a DJ— crowds love to hear the latest hip-hop mixed
with ‘80s classics and other unexpected genres of music.

Front 117

Eclipse

Back 117

1) One thing covering up another, such as the sun hiding the moon or a person losing atten­
tion to a more famous or talented person; 2) To cover up, darken, or make less important.
Billy Ray Cyrus, who had a hit song, “Achy Breaky Heart,” in the ‘90s, has long since found
his fame eclipsed by that of his daughter, Miley.

Front 118

Effectively

Back 118

O f course, effectively can just mean in a successful manner, as in He did the job effectively.
But it can also mean in effect, but not officially. For instance, when Woodrow Wilson was president of
the United States, he was incapacitated by a stroke, and some people believe that Wilson’s wife, Edith,
effectively served as president. That doesn’t mean she was any good at it (she wasn’t). Rather, it means
that she was doing the job of the president without officially being the president.
He went on a two-week vacation without asking for time off or even telling anyone he was
leaving, thus effectively resigning from his position.

Front 119

Efficacy

Back 119

The quality of being able to produce the intended effect. Don’t confuse efficacy with effi­
ciency. Something efficacious gets the job done; something efficient gets the job done without wasting
time or effort. Efficacy is frequently used in reference to medicines.
Extensive trials will be necessary to determine whether the drug’s efficacy outweighs the side
effects.

Front 120

Egalitarian

Back 120

Related to belief in the equality of all people.
It is very rare that someone turns down an offer to be knighted by the Queen of England;
however, he was egalitarian enough to feel uncomfortable with the entire idea of titles and
royalty.

Front 121

Egregious

Back 121

Extraordinarily or conspicuously bad; glaring.
Your conduct is an egregious violation of our Honor Code— not only did you steal your
roommate s paper off his computer and turn it in as your own, you also sold his work to a pla­
giarism website so other cheaters could purchase it!

Front 122

Emancipate

Back 122

Free from slavery or oppression. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation legally ended
slavery in the U.S. In law, to emancipate a minor is to declare the child (generally a teenager) no longer
under the control of his or her parents.

Front 123

Eminent

Back 123

Prominent, distinguished, of high rank.

Front 124

Emphasize

Back 124

Give special force or attention to. This word often occurs in GMAT Reading
Comprehension answer choices. Hint: While the purpose of a particular sentence could be to emphasize
a point that came before, the main idea of an entire passage is never just to emphasize something.

Front 125

Empirical

Back 125

Coming from, based on, or able to be verified by experience or experimentation; not
purely based on theory.
The Ancient Greeks philosophized about the nature of matter (concluding, for instance, that
everything was made of earth, water, air, and fire) without any empirical evidence— that is, the
very idea of conducting experiments hadn’t been invented yet.
People always knew empirically that when you drop something, it falls to the ground; the the­
ory of gravity later explained why.

Front 126

Emulate

Back 126

Copy in an attempt to equal or be better than.
The ardent Star Trek fan emulated Captain Kirk in every way possible— his brash and confi­
dent leadership might have gotten him somewhere, but the women he tried to impress weren’t
so impressed.
Enigma — Puzzle, mystery, riddle; mysterious or contradictory person.
The enormous rock sculptures in Stonehenge, Scotland, are truly an enigma—were they creat­
ed as part of a religious observance, in deference to a great ruler, or for some other reason?

Front 127

Enjoy

Back 127

O f course, enjoy means “receive pleasure from,” but it also means “benefit from.” Thus, it is
not true that only people and animals can enjoy. For instance:
The college has long enjoyed the support of wealthy alumni.

Front 128

Ensure vs. Insure

Back 128

If you buy insurance for something, you have insured it. If you guarantee some­
thing, you have ensured it.
If you go past this security checkpoint, I cannot ensure your safety.

Front 129

Enumerate

Back 129

Count or list; specify one-by-one.
The Bill of Rights enumerates the basic rights held by every citizen of the United States.

Front 130

Equitable

Back 130

Fair, equal, just.
As the university president was a heavily biased towards the sciences, faculty in the liberal arts
felt they had to fight to get an equitable share of funding for their departments.

Front 131

Equivalence

Back 131

The state of being equal or essentially equal.
Equivocal or Equivocate — Use unclear language to deceive or avoid committing to a position.
Not wanting to lose supporters, the politician equivocated on the issue, tossing out buzzwords
related to each side while also claiming more study was needed.

Front 132

Erratic

Back 132

Inconsistent, wandering, having no fixed course.
When someone engages in erratic behavior, family members often suspect drugs or mental ill­
ness. However, sometimes the person is just building a top-secret invention in the garage!

Front 133

Erroneous

Back 133

Mistaken, in error.
Hilda was completely unable to assemble her new desk chair after the instructions erroneously
instructed her to screw the left armrest onto a small lever on the bottom o f the seat.

Front 134

Erstwhile

Back 134

Former, previous.
A novelist and erstwhile insurance salesman, he told us his story of the long road to literary
success, before he was able to quit his day job.

Front 135

Escape velocity

Back 135

The minimum velocity that an object must attain in order to completely escape a
gravitational field.

Front 136

Estimable

Back 136

1) Worthy of esteem, admirable; 2) Able to be estimated.
As the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review, Barack Obama presented an estimable
resume when he ran for president in 2008.
Riding a roller coaster is safer than driving on the highway, but there is still an estimable risk.

Front 137

Ethos

Back 137

The character, personality, or moral values specific to a person, group, time period, etc.
At the prep school, the young man happily settled into an ethos of hard work and rigorous
athletic competition.
Exacerbate — Make worse (more violent, severe, etc.), inflame.
Allowing your band to practice in our garage has greatly exacerbated my headache.

Front 138

Exacting

Back 138

Very severe in making demands; requiring precise attention.
The boxing coach was exacting, analyzing Joeys footwork down to the millimeter and forcing
him to repeat movements hundreds of times until they were correct.
Execute — Put into effect, do, perform (to execute a process). Execute can also mean enforce, make legal,
carry out the terms of a legal agreement. To execute a will is to sign it in the presence of witnesses. To
execute the terms of a contract is to fulfill an obligation written in the contract.

Front 139

Exhaustive

Back 139

Comprehensive, thorough, exhausting a topic or subject, accounting for all possibilities;
draining, tending to exhaust.
The consultant s report was an exhaustive treatment of all possible options and their likely
consequences. In fact, it was so exhaustive that the manager joked that he would need to hire
another consultant to read the first consultant s report.

Front 140

Exotic

Back 140

Foreign, intriguingly unusual or strange.

Front 141

Expansionist

Back 141

Wanting to expand, such as by conquering other countries.

Front 142

Expedient

Back 142

Suitable, proper; effective (sometimes while sacrificing ethics).
“I need this report by 2pm, and I don’t care what you have to do to make that happen,” said
the boss. “I expect you to deal with it expediently.”
When invited to a wedding you cannot attend, it is expedient to send a gift.

Front 143

Explicit

Back 143

Direct, clear, fully revealed. Explicit in the context of movies, music, etc., means depicting or
describing sex or nudity, but explicit can be used for anything {explicit instructions is a common phrase).
The antonym of explicit is implicit or tacit, meaning “hinted at, implied.”
The goal of my motivational talk is to make explicit the connection between staying in school
and avoiding a life of crime.

Front 144

Extraneous

Back 144

Irrelevant; foreign, coming from without, not belonging.
This essay would be stronger if you removed extraneous information; this paragraph about the
authors life doesn’t happen to be relevant to your thesis.
Maize, which originated in the New World, is extraneous to Europe.

Front 145

Extrapolate

Back 145

Conjecture about an unknown by projecting information about something known;
predict by projecting past experience. In math and science, to extrapolate is to infer values in an unob­
served interval from values in an observed interval. For instance, from the points (1,4) and (3, 8), you
could extrapolate the point (5, 12), since it would be on the same line.
No, I’ve never been to Bryn Mawr, but I’ve visited several small, private womens colleges in the
Northeast, so I think I can extrapolate.

Front 146

Facilitate

Back 146

Make easier, help the progress of.
A good meeting facilitator lets everyone be heard while still keeping the meeting focused.
As a midwife, my goal is simply to facilitate a natural process.

Front 147

Faction

Back 147

A group (especially an exclusive group with strong beliefs, self-interest, bias, etc.) within a
larger organization. This word is usually meant in a negative way (once people have joined factions,
they are no longer willing to hear the issues and debate or compromise).
The opposition movement was once large enough to have a chance at succeeding, but it has
since broken into numerous, squabbling factions, each too small to have much impact.

Front 148

Faculty

Back 148

An ability, often a mental ability. Most often used in the plural, as in A stroke can often
deprive a person of important mental faculties. (O f course, faculty can also mean the teachers or professors
of an institution of learning.)

Front 149

Fading

Back 149

Declining.
In the face of fading public support for national health care, the Senator withdrew his support
for the bill.

Front 150

Fashion

Back 150

Manner or way.
The watchmaker works in a meticulous fashion, paying incredible attention to detail.

Front 151

Fathom

Back 151

Understand deeply.
I cannot even remotely fathom how you interpreted an invitation to sleep on my couch as per­
mission to take my car on a six-hour joyride!

Front 152

Finding

Back 152

' ‘The finding” (or “the findings”) refers to a discovery, report, result of an experiment, etc.
When the attorneys received the results of the DNA report, they were shocked by the finding
that John Doe could not have committed the crime.
Fishy — Suspicious, unlikely, questionable, as in a fishy story. This expression probably arose because
fish smell very bad when they start to spoil.

Front 153

Fledgling

Back 153

New or inexperienced. A fledgling is also a young bird that cannot fly yet.
The Society of Engineers is available for career day presentations in elementary schools, where
we hope to encourage fledgling talents in the applied sciences.

Front 154

Fleeting

Back 154

Passing quickly, transitory.
I had assumed our summer romance would be fleeting, so I was very surprised when you pro­
posed marriage!

Front 155

Foreshadow

Back 155

Indicate or suggest beforehand.
You didn’t know this was a horror movie? I thought it was pretty clear that the childrens ghost
story around the campfire was meant to foreshadow the horrible things that would happen to
them years later as teenagers at a motel in the middle of the woods.

Front 156

Forestall

Back 156

Delay, hinder, prevent by taking action beforehand.
Our research has been forestalled by a lack of funding; were all just biding our time while we
wait for the university to approve our grant proposal.

Front 157

Glacial

Back 157

Slow, cold, icy, unsympathetic. Glacial can also just mean “related to glaciers.”
Progress happened, but at a glacial pace everyone found frustrating.
He had wanted to appear on the reality singing competition his whole young life, but he was
not encouraged by the judges’ glacial response to his audition.

Front 158

Grade, Gradation

Back 158

A gradation is a progression or process taking place gradually, in stages; to grade is
to slant (the road grades steeply) or to blend (the dress’s fabric grades from blue to green).
The hills gradation was so gradual that even those on crutches were able to enjoy the nature
trail.
The marshland grades into the water so gradually that it is difficult to tell the land from the
bay.

Front 159

Graft

Back 159

Join together plant parts or skin so that two living things grow together (for instance, a skin
graft for a burn victim); or the act of acquiring money or other benefits through illegal means, espe­
cially by abusing one’s power.
The part of the book describing the financial crisis is good, but the “What You Can Do” sec­
tion seems grafted on, almost as though written by a different author.
It’s not cool for your boss to pressure you into buying Girl Scout cookies from his daughter. If
she were selling something larger, we’d call that graft.

Front 160

Grandstand

Back 160

Perform showily in an attempt to impress onlookers.
I was really passionate about the candidate when he spoke at our school, but now that I think
about it, he was just grandstanding. I mean, who could disagree that young people are the
future? And doing a cheer for the environment doesn’t actually signify a commitment to chang­
ing any public policies about it.

Front 161

Guesswork

Back 161

A set of guesses or estimates; work based on guesses or estimates.

Front 162

Guile

Back 162

Clever deceit, cunning, craftiness.
The game of poker is all about guile, manipulating your own body language and patter to lead
other players to erroneous conclusions about the cards you’re holding.

Front 163

Hallmark

Back 163

A mark of indication of quality, purity, genuineness, etc.; any distinguishing characteristic.
Fast-paced rhymes, an angry tenor, and personal attacks on celebrities are hallmarks of Eminem’s
music.

Front 164

Hallucination

Back 164

A delusion, a false or mistaken idea; seeing, sensing, or hearing things that aren’t
there, such as from a mental disorder.
Handpick — To pick by hand, to personally select.
The retiring CEO handpicked his successor.
Hardly — Hardly can mean almost or probably not, or not at all. O f course, I can hardly see you means /
can see you only a little bit. But in the following sentence, hardly means not:
The news could hardly have come at a worse time. (The meaning is The news came at the worst
possible time.)

Front 165

Hardy

Back 165

Bold, brave, capable of withstanding hardship, fatigue, cold, etc.
While the entire family enjoyed the trip to South America, only the hardier members even
attempted to hike to the top of Ecuador’s tallest volcano.

Front 166

Hearken or Hark

Back 166

Listen, pay attention to. The expression hearken back or hark back means to turn
back to something earlier or return to a source.
The simple lifestyle and anachronistic dress of the Amish hearken back to an earlier era.
The nation’s first change of leadership in decades is causing the people to hearken closely to
what is happening in government.

Front 167

Hedge

Back 167

Avoid commitment by leaving provisions for withdrawal or changing one’s mind; protect a
bet by also betting on the other side.
When the professor called on him to take a stand on the issue, he hedged for fear of offending
her: “Well, there are valid points on both sides,” he said.

Front 168

Hegemony

Back 168

Domination, authority; influence by a one country over others socially, culturally, eco­
nomically, etc.
The discovery of oil by a previously poor nation disrupted the larger, richer nation’s hegemony
in the region— suddenly, the hegemon had a competitor.

Front 169

Heterogeneous

Back 169

Different in type, incongruous; composed of different types of elements.
Homogeneous (of the same kind) is the opposite of heterogeneous.
Rather than build the wall with plain brick, we used a heterogeneous mixture of stones— they
are not only different colors, but a variety of sizes as well.

Front 170

Hierarchy

Back 170

A ranked series; a classification of people according to rank, ability, etc.; a ruling body.
The Eco-Action Coalition was led by a strict hierarchy — members followed orders from dis­
trict leaders, district leaders from regional leaders, and regional leaders from the national head.

Front 171

Holdings

Back 171

Property, such as land, capital, and stock. The company liquidated its holdings means that
the company sold off everything. O f course, the word hold has many meanings. In a holding pattern is
an expression that means staying still, not changing.

Front 172

Host

Back 172

A large amount. A host of problems means a lot of problems.

Front 173

Hyperbole

Back 173

Deliberate exaggeration for effect.
Oh, come on. Saying “That movie was so bad it made me puke” was surely hyperbole. I
strongly doubt that you actually vomited during or following The Back-up Plan.
Iconoclast — Attacker of cherished beliefs or institutions.
A lifelong iconoclast, Ayn Rand wrote a controversial book entitled The Virtue of Selfishness.

Front 174

Imminent

Back 174

Ready to occur, impending.
In the face of imminent war, the nation looked to Franklin D. Roosevelt for reassurance.

Front 175

Immunity

Back 175

The state of not being susceptible to disease; exemption from a duty or liability; exemp­
tion from legal punishment. Diplomatic immunity is an example of immunity meaning exemption from
legal punishment. For instance, every year, New York City loses millions of dollars from United Nations
diplomats parking illegally and then not paying their parking tickets, since the diplomats are not sub­
ject to U.S. laws.

Front 176

Impair

Back 176

Make worse, weaken.
Playing in a rock band without earplugs will almost certainly impair your hearing over time.

Front 177

Impartial

Back 177

Unbiased, fair. Disinterested\ dispassionate, and nonpartisan are all related to being fair and
not having a bias or personal stake.
Judge Gonzales removed himself from the case because, having a personal connection to the
school where the shooting took place, he did not think he could be appropriately impartial.

Front 178

Impasse

Back 178

Position or road from which there is no escape; deadlock, gridlock.
If the union wont budge on its demands and the transit authority wont raise salaries, then we
are at an impasse.

Front 179

Impede

Back 179

Hold back, obstruct the progress of.
I didn’t realize business school would be entirely group work— sadly, there’s always at least one
person in every group who impedes the group’s progress more than helps it.

Front 180

Impinge on

Back 180

Trespass on, violate.
Civil liberties experts argued that a school systems regulating what its students do on Facebook
outside of school is an impingement of their right to free speech.

Front 181

Implode

Back 181

Burst inward. Metaphorically, to collapse or break down.
The startup struggled for years before it simply imploded— the management team broke into
factions, all the clients were scared off, and employees who hadn’t been paid in weeks began
taking the office computers home with them in retribution.
Imply — Hint at, suggest, “say without saying.”

Front 182

Impute

Back 182

Credit, attribute; lay blame or responsibility for.
The ineffectual CEO was nevertheless a master of public relations— he made sure that all suc­
cesses were imputed to him, and all of the failures were imputed to others.

Front 183

Inadvertently

Back 183

Accidentally, carelessly, as a side effect.
In attempting to perfect his science project, he inadvertently blew a fuse and plunged his fam­
ily’s home into darkness.

Front 184

Inasmuch

Back 184

Since, because. Usually inasmuch as.
Inasmuch as a whale is not a fish, it will not be covered in this biology course specifically
about fish.

Front 185

Incentive

Back 185

Something that encourages greater action or effort, such as a reward.
A controversial program in a failing school system uses cash payments as an incentive for stu­
dents to stay in school.

Front 186

Incidentally

Back 186

Not intentionally, accidentally. Incidentally can also mean by the way and is used to
introduce information that is only slightly related. Incidentals can refer to expenses that are “on the
side” (The company gives us $100 a day for meals and incidentals).
The environmental protection law was incidentally injurious to the rubber industry.
I think we should move forward with the new office. Incidentally, there’s a great Mexican res­
taurant opening up right across the street from it!

Front 187

Incinerate

Back 187

Burn, reduce to ashes, cremate.

Front 188

Inconsequential

Back 188

Insignificant, unimportant. The sense here is that the thing is so small that it
doesn’t even have consequences.
You wrote a bestselling book and got a stellar review in the New York Times—whatever your
cousin has to say about it is simply inconsequential.

Front 189

Incorporate

Back 189

Combine, unite; form a legal corporation; embody, give physical form to.
When a business incorporates, it becomes a separate legal entity— for instance, the business
can declare bankruptcy without the owners doing so.
Local legend has it that ghosts can incorporate on one night of the year and walk among the
living.

Front 190

Indeterminate

Back 190

Not fixed or determined, indefinite; vague.
The results of the drug trial were indeterminate; further trials will be needed to ascertain
whether the drug can be released.
The lottery can have an indeterminate number of winners— the prize is simply divided among
them.

Front 191

Indicative

Back 191

Indicating, suggestive of. Usually used as indicative of
Your symptoms are indicative of the common cold.

Front 192

Induce

Back 192

Persuade or influence (a person to do something); bring about, cause to happen (to induce
labor when a birth is not proceeding quickly enough).

Front 193

Inert

Back 193

Inactive; having little or no power to move.
All of the missiles at the military museum are inert— they’re not going blow up.
When she saw her fathers inert body on the floor, she thought the worst, but fortunately,
he was just practicing very slow yoga.

Front 194

Inevitable

Back 194

Not able to be avoided or escaped; certain.
Benjamin Franklin famously said that only two things in life are inevitable: “death and taxes.”

Front 195

Inexplicable

Back 195

Not able to be explained.

Front 196

Inextricably

Back 196

In a way such that one cannot untangle or escape something. If you are inextricably tied
to something (such as your family), then you have so many different obligations and deep relationships
that you could never leave, disobey, etc.

Front 197

Infer

Back 197

Conclude from evidence or premises. Remember, on the GMAT, infer means draw a
DEFINITELY TRUE conclusion. It does NO T mean “assume”!

Front 198

Inform

Back 198

Inspire, animate; give substance, essence, or context to; be the characteristic quality of. O f
course, inform most commonly means “impart knowledge to”; thus, many students are confused when
they see the word used in other ways on the GMAT.
Her work as an art historian is informed by a background in drama; where others see a static
tableau, she sees a protagonist, a conflict, a denouement.

Front 199

Ingenuity

Back 199

Inventive skill, imagination, cleverness, especially in design.

Front 200

Ingrained

Back 200

Deep-rooted, forming part of the very essence; worked into the fiber.
Religious observance had been ingrained in him since birth; he could not remember a time
when he didn’t pray five times a day.

Front 201

Inherent

Back 201

Existing as a permanent, essential quality; intrinsic. (See the similar intrinsic in this list.)
New research seems to support the idea that humans have an inherent sense of justice— even
babies become upset at puppet shows depicting unfairness.

Front 202

Initial

Back 202

First, at the beginning. An initial deposit might be the money you put down to open a new
bank account.

Front 203

Inordinate

Back 203

Excessive, not within proper limits, unrestrained.
Students taking practice computer-adaptive tests at home often take an inordinate number of
breaks— remember, on the real thing, you cant stop just because you’re tired or hungry.
Instrumental — Serving as a means of doing something. Just as you might call a weapon an instru­
ment of war, saying He was instrumental in the restructuring has the sense that the person was used as an
instrument of getting something done.

Front 204

Insular

Back 204

Pertaining to an island; detached, standing alone; narrow-minded (like the stereotype of peo­
ple from small towns or places).
The young actress couldn’t wait to escape the insularity of her small town, where life revolved
around high school football and Taco Bell was considered exotic international cuisine.

Front 205

Interplay

Back 205

Interaction, reciprocal relationship or influence.
Bilingual readers will enjoy the interplay of English and Spanish in many of the poems in this
anthology of the work of Mexican-American poets.

Front 206

Intractable

Back 206

Difficult to control, manage, or manipulate; hard to cure; stubborn.
That student is positively intractable! Last week, we talked about the importance of staying in
your seat during the lesson— this week, she not only got up mid-class, but she actually scram­
bled on top of a bookcase and refused to come down!
Back injuries often result in intractable pain; despite treatment, patients never feel fully cured.

Front 207

Intrepid

Back 207

Fearless, brave, enduring in the face of adversity.
Intrepid explorers Lewis and Clark led the first U.S. expedition to the West Coast, facing bit­
ter winters and rough terrain.

Front 208

Intrinsic

Back 208

Belonging to the essential nature of a thing. (See the similar inherent in this list.)
Despite all this high-tech safety equipment, skydiving is an intrinsically dangerous proposi­
tion.
Communication is intrinsic to a healthy relationship.

Front 209

Inundate

Back 209

Flood, cover with water, overwhelm.
As the city was inundated with water, the mayor feared that many evacuees would have
nowhere to go.
I can t go out— I am inundated with homework!

Front 210

Invaluable

Back 210

Priceless; so valuable that the value cannot be measured.

Front 211

Investiture

Back 211

Investing; formally giving someone a right or title.
The former dean had her academic robes dry cleaned in preparation for her investiture as uni­
versity president.

Front 212

Involved

Back 212

Complicated, intricate; confused or tangled.
The story is quite involved— are you sure you have time for it?
Invulnerable — Immune to attack; not vulnerable; impossible to damage, injure, etc.

Front 213

Isotope

Back 213

Forms of the same chemical element, but with different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus
or different atomic weights. There are 275 isotopes of the 81 stable elements, plus 800 radioactive iso­
topes. Different isotopes of the same element have almost identical properties.

Front 214

Jettison

Back 214

Discard, cast off; throw items overboard in order to lighten a ship in an emergency.
We got so tired while hiking the Appalachian Trail that we jettisoned some of our fancy camp­
ing supplies just so we could keep going.
Sadly, when school budgets are slashed, the first thing jettisoned is usually an art or music pro­
gram.

Front 215

Jumbo

Back 215

Unusually large, supersized.

Front 216

Juncture

Back 216

Critical point in time, such as a crisis or a time when a decision is necessary; a place where
two things are joined together.
We are at a critical juncture in the history of this organization: either we can remain a non­
profit, or we can register as a political action committee and try to expand our influence.
The little canoe started to sink when it split at the juncture between the old wood and the
new material used to repair it.

Front 217

Juxtapose

Back 217

Place side-by-side (either physically or in a metaphorical way, such as to make a compari­
son). If a Reading Comprehension answer choice says something like, “Juxtapose two theories,” ask
yourself if the main purpose of the entire passage was to compare two theories. (Hint: Probably not.
Usually if an author introduces two competing ideas, only one of them turns out to be the main point
of the passage.)
Making a decision between two engagement rings from two different stores was difficult, he
noted— it would be much easier if he could juxtapose them and compare them directly.

Front 218

Kinetic

Back 218

Pertaining to motion.
Marisa told her mother what she had learned in science class: a ball sitting on a table has
potential energy, but a ball falling towards the ground has kinetic energy.

Front 219

Lackluster

Back 219

Not shiny; dull, mediocre; lacking brilliance or vitality.
Many young people today are so accustomed to being praised by parents and adults that they
are shocked when a lackluster effort in the workplace receives the indifference or mild disap­
proval it deserves.

Front 220

Landmark

Back 220

Object (such as a building) that stands out and can be used to navigate by; a very impor­
tant place, event, etc.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark in the battle for equality.
In Lebanon, many roads are unmarked, and people navigate by landmarks— for instance,
“third house down from the water tower.”.
Latent — Potential; existing but not visible or active. A similar word is dormant.
Certain experts believe that some people have a genetic propensity for addiction; however, if
such a person never comes into contact with drugs, the propensity for addiction can remain
latent for life.

Front 221

Lateral

Back 221

Sideways, related to or located at the side. A lateral move in a career is taking a new job at the
same level.

Front 222

Lax

Back 222

N ot strict; careless, loose, slack.
My parents were really lax about homework— they never checked to see if I did it or not.
Sadly, this legacy of laxity is not serving me well while studying for the GMAT.

Front 223

Laypeople

Back 223

Regular people, non-specialists.
The doctor s books were so successful because he was able to explain complicated medical con­
cepts in colloquial language for the layperson.

Front 224

Levy

Back 224

Collect tax from or wage war on; act of collecting tax or amount owed, or the drafting of troops
into military service.
When England levied yet another tax on the colonists, the colonists were pushed one further
step towards levying war. Soon, the worried British began to levy troops.

Front 225

Liberal

Back 225

Favorable to progress or reform; believing in maximum possible individual freedom; tolerant,
open-minded; generous. (“Liberal” in modern American politics isn’t quite the same as the dictionary
definition. For instance, liberal Democrats tend to favor social programs that require a larger govern­
ment to administer, while some conservatives say that liberalism means having the smallest government
possible in order to maximize freedom.)
Split pea soup benefits from a liberal application of pepper.
Liberal reformers in Egypt pushed for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of
assembly.

Front 226

Lift

Back 226

Remove (such as a restriction); improve or lighten (such as a person’s mood).
If the city government lifts the water rationing restrictions, we’ll be able to hold a car wash.

Front 227

Likewise

Back 227

Also, in addition to; similarly, in the same way. In conversation, likewise can mean “Me,
too.” (“Nice to meet you.” “Likewise.”)
Chip was baffled by all the silverware set before him, so when his host began eating salad with
the smallest, leftmost fork, Chip did likewise.

Front 228

Log

Back 228

Keep a record of, write down; travel for or at a certain distance or speed; a written record.
Lawyers who bill by the hour have to be sure to log all the time they spend on every clients
case.
You cannot get your pilot s license until you have logged 40 hours of flight time.
Machination or machinations - Crafty schemes or plots.
It s cute to think that teen idols became famous because their talent was simply so great that
the music industry reached out to them, but usually, any teen idol is the product of intense
coaching and parental machinations.

Front 229

Magma

Back 229

Molten material (such as very hot liquid rock) beneath or within the Earth’s crust.

Front 230

Magnate

Back 230

Very important or influential person, especially in business.
Many students pursue MBAs in hopes of becoming wealthy and powerful magnates; some stu­
dents never quite make it there, instead spending their careers staring at spreadsheets and tak­
ing orders from magnates.

Front 231

Makeshift

Back 231

Improvised, relating to a temporary substitute. The expressions thrown together or slapped
together express a similar idea of a making do with the resources on hand. Similarly, to jury rig some­
thing is to assemble it quickly with whatever materials you have available.
Lost in the woods for over 24 hours, the children were eventually found sleeping under a
makeshift tent made from branches and old plastic bags.

Front 232

Malleable

Back 232

Able to be bent, shaped, or adapted. Tractable, pliable, and plastic can also mean physically
bendable, or metaphorically bendable, as in “easily influenced or shaped by others.” Mutable means
changeable.
The more malleable the material, the easier it is to bend into jewelry— and the easier it is to
damage that jewelry.
My mother is a little too malleable— she said she liked all the things her first husband liked,
and now she says she likes all the things her second husband likes.

Front 233

Manifest

Back 233

Obvious, apparent, perceptible to the eye (adj.) or to become obvious, apparent, percepti­
ble to the eye (verb). Also to show, make clear, or prove (verb). As a noun, a manifest is a list of people
or goods aboard a plane, ship, train, etc. A manifestation is often when something “under the surface”
breaks out or becomes apparent.
Lupus is difficult to diagnose, but sometimes manifests as muscular weakness or joint pain.
The protest was a manifestation of a long-brewing discontent.

Front 234

Mantle (of the Earth)

Back 234

Layer of the Earth between the crust and the core. The mantle is about 1,800
miles thick and makes up about 85% of the total volume of the Earth.

Front 235

Max out

Back 235

Take to the limit (in a good or a bad way). To max out your credit cards is to incur as
much debt as is permitted; to max out your productivity is to achieve maximum productivity.

Front 236

Maxim

Back 236

A general truth or fundamental principle, especially expressed as a proverb or saying.
My favorite maxim is “Seize the day!” How much would it cost to get that on a tattoo? How
much more for “Curiosity killed the cat”?

Front 237

Mediated by

Back 237

Brought about by means of; assisted as an intermediary. O f course, to mediate a dispute
is to bring about a resolution, but mediated in science also has the idea of being “in the middle.” For
instance, a study might show that poverty leads to inattentiveness in school. But how? Research might
reveal that poverty leads to inattentiveness, mediated by poor nutrition. That is, poverty causes poor
nutrition, which causes inattentiveness (because the kids are hungry). Mediation can help make sense of
what seems like an indirect correlation.

Front 238

Mercurial

Back 238

Quickly and unpredictably changing moods; fickle, flighty.
Its tough being married to someone so mercurial. I do pretty much the same thing every
day— some days, she thinks Ym great, and other days, the exact same behaviors make her inex­
plicably angry.

Front 239

Militarism

Back 239

Glorification of the military; government in which the military has a lot of power or in
which the military is the top priority.

Front 240

Mired

Back 240

Stuck, entangled (in something, like a swamp or muddy area), soiled. Morass and quagmire
are also words (often used metaphorically) for soft, swampy ground that a person can sink into. The
Vietnam War was famously called a quagmire. The expression muck and mire means, literally, “animal
waste and mud” and can be used metaphorically. To muck up is to mess up or get dirty, and to muck
about or around is to waste time.
Mired in her predecessor s mess and mistakes, the new CEO found it difficult to take the com­
pany in a new direction.
The federal prosecutor spent weeks wading through the muck and mire of the scandal— every
uncovered document showed that the corruption was deeper and worse than previously
thought.

Front 241

Modest

Back 241

Humble; simple rather than showy; decent (especially “covering up” in terms of dress); small,
limited.
The reporter was surprised that the celebrity lived in such a modest house, one that looked
just like every other plain, two-story house on the block.
Her first job out of college was a rude awakening— her modest salary was barely enough for
rent, much less going out and having fun.

Front 242

Moreover

Back 242

In addition to what has been said, for instance; besides.
His actions cost us the job; moreover, he seriously offended our client.

Front 243

Mores

Back 243

Customs, manners, or morals of a particular group. Pronounce this word as two syllables
(rhymes with “more ways”).
An American in Saudi Arabia should study the culture beforehand so as to avoid violating con­
servative cultural mores.

Front 244

Municipal

Back 244

Relating to local self-government. A municipality is a city, town, etc.

Front 245

Narrative

Back 245

Story, report, narrated account.

Front 246

Nebula

Back 246

A cloud of gas and dust in space. Nebulas can form star-forming regions— all the materials
clump together to form larger masses, thus attracting further matter and ultimately creating stars. A
nebula can also be a cloudy spot on a person’s eye, and nebulous can mean cloudy, unclear.

Front 247

Net

Back 247

Remaining after expenses or other factors have been deducted; ultimate; to bring in as profit; to
catch, as in a net.
In one day of trading, my portfolio went up $10,000 and down $8,000, for a net gain of
$2,000.
All those weeks of working weekends and playing golf with the boss ought to net her a promo­
tion.

Front 248

Nevertheless or nonetheless

Back 248

However, even so, despite that. Note that both nevertheless and nonethe­
less are single words— the GM AT has tested this on Sentence Correction (“none the less” is N O T an
expression in English and cannot be substituted for “no less”).
While losing the P&G account was a serious blow, we nevertheless were able to achieve a new
sales goal this month because of the tireless efforts of the sales team in bringing in three new
clients.
I really cant stand working with you. Nonetheless, were stuck on this project together and
were going to have to get along.

Front 249

Nontrivial

Back 249

Important or big enough to matter.
The chief of staff told the assembled doctors, “We all make mistakes. But this mistake was
nontrivial, and there is going to be an investigation.”.

Front 250

Normative

Back 250

Implying or attempting to establish a norm; expressing value judgments or telling people
what to do (rather than merely describing that which is happening).
The reason we are not understanding each other in this argument about grammar is that you
are arguing normatively, telling me how people should talk, and I am simply reporting how
people actually talk.

Front 251

Nostalgia

Back 251

Longing for the past.
The retail store Urban Outfitters uses nostalgia as a marketing strategy, branding many prod­
ucts with cartoon characters popular 10-20 years ago. Sure enough, many adult women do
want to buy Jem or Spongebob t-shirts and lip balm.

Front 252

Nuances

Back 252

Subtle differences in tone, meaning, expression, etc.
People with certain cognitive disabilities cannot understand the nuances of non-literal speech.
For instance, “You can come if you want to, but it’s really going to be mostly family” really
means that you shouldn’t try to come.

Front 253

Nucleus

Back 253

Structure within a cell containing the cell’s hereditary material; any central or essential part;
core, kernel.
As a member of the president’s cabinet, he found himself in the nucleus of power.

Front 254

Offliand

Back 254

Casual, informal; done without preparation or forethought; rude in a short way, brusque.
I was pretty happy with my salary until my coworker Deena mentioned offiiandedly that she
was thinking about buying a house now that she made six figures.

Front 255

Offset

Back 255

Counteract, compensate for. Offset is usually a verb, but as a noun: My company provided me
with an offset against moving expenses.
Property taxes did go up this year, but we didn’t really suffer because the hit to our finances
was ofifset by a reduction in fees paid to our homeowners association.

Front 256

Oligarchy

Back 256

Government by the few, especially by a class or a small group or clique.

Front 257

Omit

Back 257

Remove, delete, take out.

Front 258

Operative

Back 258

Operating; having influence, force, or effect; effective, key, significant. The expression
operative word refers to the one most meaningful word within a larger phrase. An operative can be a
worker, or a detective or spy.
In the doctor’s prescription of daily cardio exercise, the operative word is “daily.”.

Front 259

Optimal

Back 259

Best, most desirable or favorable. To optimize is to make perfect, such as by “maxing out”
or striking just the right balance.
Many believe that the U.S. Constitutions genius lies in its striking an optimal balance between
freedom and order.

Front 260

Oral narratives

Back 260

Stories told verbally, especially by people who are not literate or whose cultures do
not have writing (or didn’t at the time). An oral tradition is a practice of passing down a culture’s his­
tory verbally.

Front 261

Outstrip

Back 261

Surpass, exceed; be larger or better than; leave behind.
Our sales figures this quarter have outstripped those of any other quarter in the company’s his­
tory.

Front 262

Revamp

Back 262

Renovate, redo, revise (verb); a restructuring, upgrade, etc. (noun). The similar word over­
haul means repair or investigate for repairs.
I have my whole room decorated in Twilight: Eclipse paraphernalia. When Breaking Dawn
comes out, I will surely have to revamp my decor.
Paradigm — Model or pattern; worldview; set of shared assumptions, values, etc.
Far from being atypically bawdy, this limerick is a paradigm of the form— nearly all of them
rely on off-color jokes.

Front 263

Paradox

Back 263

Contradiction, or seeming contradiction that is actually true.
Kayla was always bothering the youth minister with her paradoxes, such as “If God is all-pow-
erfiil, can He make a burrito so big He can’t eat it?”

Front 264

Paragon

Back 264

Model of excellence, perfect example.
Unlike his sister, he was a paragon of responsibility, taking in her three children when she
went to jail, and even switching jobs so he could be there to pick them up from school.

Front 265

Partial

Back 265

Biased, prejudiced, favoring one over others; having a special liking for something or someone
(usually partial to). Partial can also mean “in part,” of course.
Although I grew up in New York, I’ve always been partial to country music.
His lawyers are appealing on the grounds that the judge was partial to the plaintiff, even play­
ing golf with the plaintiff during the trial.

Front 266

Patent

Back 266

Obvious, apparent, plain to see (adj.); a letter from a government guaranteeing an inventor
the rights to his or her invention (noun).
Her resume was full of patent lies: anyone could check to see that she had never been presi­
dent of UNICEF.

Front 267

Peddle

Back 267

Travel around while selling; sell illegally; give out or disseminate.
After an unsuccessful year spent peddling cutlery door-to-door, he turned to peddling drugs,
thus landing himself in jail.
“I don’t want these people peddling lies to our children,” said Mrs. Hoffman, protesting an
event in which fringe political candidates were invited to speak to kids.

Front 268

Penumbra

Back 268

Outer part of a shadow from an eclipse; any surrounding region, fringe, periphery; any
area where something “sort o f’ exists.
The Constitution doesn’t specifically mention a right to privacy, but some experts consider this
to exist in the penumbra of the Constitution, as a guarantee of privacy is needed in order to
exercise the rights that are enumerated.
The rent in Chicago was too high, so they moved to a suburb in the penumbra of the city.

Front 269

Per

Back 269

The most common use of per is “for each,” as in, We will need one sandwich per child. However,
per may also mean “by means o f’ or “according to,” as in I have delivered the package per your instruc­
tions.
Periodic — Happening at regular intervals.

Front 270

Perpetuate

Back 270

Make perpetual, cause to continue.
Failing public schools in already distressed neighborhoods only perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

Front 271

Physiological

Back 271

Relating to the normal functioning of a living thing. This word is easy to remember: it
looks a lot like physically logical.
A rapid heart rate is a physiological response to fear.

Front 272

Piggyback

Back 272

“Riding” on something bigger or more important. Piggyback literally refers to one per­
son riding on the back of another (the way one sometimes carries a larger child). This word can be an
adverb, adjective, or noun.
The jobs bill arrived piggyback on the urgent disaster relief bill— a pretty dirty trick, if you
ask me.
Maybe we can piggyback this smaller design project onto the bigger one and end up saving
some money with our web designers.

Front 273

Pilot program (or project)

Back 273

Program planned as a test or trial.
Before rolling out the program nationwide, a pilot program was launched in just three cities.

Front 274

Plutocratic

Back 274

Related to government by the wealthy.

Front 275

Polarized

Back 275

Divided into sharply opposed groups.
The school board was used to rationally discussing issues, but when it came to the teaching of
evolution in schools, the board was polarized, immediately splitting into two camps, with the
discussion devolving into a shouting match within minutes.

Front 276

Polemic

Back 276

Controversial argument, especially one attacking a specific idea.
Laura Kipnis’s 2003 book Against Love: A Polemic has been called “shocking” and “scathing.”
Perhaps Kipnis used the word polemic in the title to indicate that she’s making an extreme
argument as a means of starting a debate. After all, whos really against love?

Front 277

Postulate

Back 277

Claim, assert; assume the truth or reality of in order to form an argument.
Before proceeding further, let us postulate that men and women have some fundamental dif­
ferences. If we can accept that, we can talk about what type of policies should exist to ensure
workplace equality.

Front 278

Pragmatic

Back 278

Practical; dealing with actual facts and reality.
The congresswomen personally believed in animal rights, but she knew she had to be pragmat­
ic— if she proposed animal rights legislation, she probably wouldn’t get reelected.

Front 279

Predatory

Back 279

Living by preying on other animals; given to plundering, exploiting, or destroying others
for one’s own benefit.
Many “check-cashing” outlets are actually predatory lenders who charge interest rates that
would be illegal in many nations.

Front 280

Predisposed

Back 280

having an inclination or tendency beforehand; susceptible. A predisposition is an inclination
or tendency.
His defense attorney argued that his abusive childhood predisposed him to a life of crime.

Front 281

Predominant

Back 281

Having the greatest importance or influence; most common, main. A design might
have a predominant color, a country might have a predominant religion. Sentence Correction problems
have tested the fact that you need to use predominant >NOT predominating, in these situations.

Front 282

Preempt

Back 282

Prevent; take the place of, supplant; take before someone else can.
The speaker attempted to preempt an excessively long Q&A session by handing out a
“Frequently Asked Questions” packet at the beginning of the seminar.
Premise — Proposition on which an argument is based. The functional parts of an argument other than
the conclusion. Less commonly, premise is a verb, as in The report is premised on (based on) this study.
For somewhat obscure reasons, “the premises” can also refer to a building and its surrounding land.

Front 283

Prey

Back 283

An animal that is hunted and eaten. Predators are animals that hunt and eat prey.

Front 284

Priceless

Back 284

Extremely valuable, so valuable that the worth cannot even be estimated.

Front 285

Pristine

Back 285

In an original, pure state; uncorrupted. A pristine forest has not been touched by humans.
Sometimes pristine is just used to mean very clean.

Front 286

Progeny

Back 286

Offspring, descendants.
The study showed that selective breeding could cause the progeny of wolves to become more
like dogs in a small number of generations.

Front 287

Prominent

Back 287

Projecting outward, sticking out; very noticeable. A prominent nose might not be a desir­
able characteristic, according to some people, but a prominent citizen is generally a well-known and
important person.

Front 288

Pronounced

Back 288

Distinct, strong, clearly indicated.
Aunt Shirley claimed we would never know that her “secret recipe” for brownies involved lots
of healthy vegetables, but the brownies had a pronounced asparagus flavor.

Front 289

Propagated

Back 289

Breed, cause to multiply.
Some plants can be propagated from cuttings— my mother gave me a piece of her houseplant,
and it grew roots after just a few days in water.

Front 290

Prospective

Back 290

Potential, aspiring. Prospective students have not yet been admitted; prospective entrepre­
neurs are people considering becoming entrepreneurs. This word is related to prospect, which can be
both a noun (a good possibility) or a verb (to look for something good, such as to prospect for gold).
A committee was formed to evaluate the new plans prospects. As part of their analysis, mem­
bers of the committee looked at the past performance of the prospective leader of the new
division. One member remarked that the prospect of opening up a completely new division
was exciting, but might stretch the company too thin.

Front 291

Proximity

Back 291

Closeness, the state of being near.

Front 292

Psyche

Back 292

The spirit or soul; the mind (as discussed in psychology). Pronounce this word “SY-key.”

Front 293

Qualified

Back 293

Modified, limited, conditional on something else. Unqualified can mean not limited or
not restrained. If your boss gives unqualified approval for your plan, you can do whatever you want. O f
course, everyone knows qualified in the sense of qualified for the job. Use context to determine which
meaning is intended. A qualified person is suitable or well-prepared for the job; a qualified statement or
feeling is held back or limited.
The scientist gave her qualified endorsement to the book, pointing out that, while it posed a
credible theory, more research was still needed before the theory could be applied.
Radiometric, radioactive, carbon, or radiocarbon dating - Methods for determining the approxi­
mate age of an ancient object by measuring the amount of radioactivity it contains.

Front 294

Recalcitrant

Back 294

Not obedient, resisting authority, hard to manage.
The aspiring kindergarten teacher was not prepared for a roomful of twenty recalcitrant chil­
dren who wouldn’t even sit down, much less learn the words to “Holding Hands Around the
World.”

Front 295

Recapitulate

Back 295

Summarize, repeat in a concise way.
I’m sorry I had to leave your presentation to take a call— I only have a minute, but can you
recapitulate what you’re proposing?

Front 296

Receptive

Back 296

Capable of or ready and willing to receive, as in receptive to a new idea.

Front 297

Reconvene

Back 297

Gather, come together again (or call together again), such as for a meeting, as in Let’s
break for lunch and reconvene at 1pm.

Front 298

Redress

Back 298

Setting something right after a misdeed, compensation or relief for injury or wrongdoing
(noun); correct, set right, remedy (verb).
My client was an innocent victim of medical malpractice. As would anyone who had the wrong
leg amputated in surgery, he is seeking financial redress.

Front 299

Refute

Back 299

Prove to be false.
She’s not a very valuable member of the debate team, actually— she loves making speeches, but
she’s not very good at refuting opponents’ arguments.
Rehash — Discuss or bring up (an idea or topic) again without adding anything new.
We’re not going to agree, so why rehash the issue?

Front 300

Remedial

Back 300

Providing a remedy, curative; correcting a deficient skill.
After harassment occurs in the workplace, it is important that the company takes remedial
action right away, warning or firing the offender as appropriate, and making sure the com­
plainant s concerns are addressed.
For those who need remedial reading help, we offer a summer school program that aims to
help students read at grade level.
Reminiscent — Looking back at the past, reminding of the past. A reminiscent person is remembering;
an old-fashioned object could be reminiscent of an earlier time.

Front 301

Render

Back 301

Give, submit, surrender; translate; declare formally; cause to become. To render harmless is
simply to make harmless.
When you render your past due payments, we will turn your phone back on.
Only in her second year of Japanese, she was unable to render the classic poem into English.
The judge rendered a verdict that rendered us speechless.

Front 302

Repercussions

Back 302

Consequences.
One of the worries about the financial industry is that irresponsible executives rarely suffer
lasting repercussions.

Front 303

Respectively

Back 303

In the order given. This is a very useful word! The sentence “Smith and Jones wrote the
books 7 Success Tips and Productivity Rocks' is ambiguous— did they work together on both or did they
each write one of the books? “Smith and Jones wrote the books 7 Success Tips and Productivity Rocks,
respectively” answers the question— Smith wrote 7 Success Tips and Jones wrote Productivity Rocks. The
word is typically used to match up two things to two other things, in the same order.
His poems “An Ode to the Blossoms of Sheffield” and “An Entreaty to Ladies All Too Prim”
were written in 1756 and 1758, respectively.

Front 304

Reticent

Back 304

Not talking much; private (of a person), restrained, reserved.
She figured that, to rise to the top, it was best to be reticent about her personal life; thus, even
her closest colleagues were left speculating at the water cooler about whether her growing belly
actually indicated a pregnancy she simply declined to mention to anyone.

Front 305

Returns

Back 305

Profits.

Front 306

Revamp

Back 306

Renovate, redo, revise (verb); a restructuring, upgrade, etc. (noun). Similarly, overhaul
means to repair or investigate for repairs.
I have my whole room decorated in Twilight: Eclipse paraphernalia. When Breaking Dawn
comes out, I will surely have to revamp my decor.

Front 307

Rife

Back 307

Happening frequently, abundant, currently being reported.
Reports of financial corruption are rife.

Front 308

Rudimentary

Back 308

Elementary, relating to the basics; undeveloped, primitive.
My knowledge of Chinese is quite rudimentary—I get the idea of characters and I can order
food, but I really cant read this document youve just given me.

Front 309

Sanction

Back 309

Permission or approval, or to give permission or approval O R a legal action by one or more
countries against another country to get it to comply (or the act of placing those sanctions on another
country). Whoa! Yes, that’s right— sanction can mean two different things that are basically opposites.
Use context to figure it out— if it’s plural (sanctions)y it’s definitely the bad meaning.
Professional boxers may only fight in sanctioned matches— fighting outside the ring is prohib­
ited.
America’s sanctions on Cuba mean that it is illegal for Americans to do business with Cuban
companies.

Front 310

Satire

Back 310

Literary device in which foolishness or badness is attacked through humor, irony, or making
fun of.

Front 311

Save

Back 311

But or except. As a verb, of course, save means keep safe, store up, set aside. But as a preposition
or conjunction, save can be used as follows:
All of the divisions of the company are profitable save the movie-rental division. (This means
that the movie-rental division was not profitable.)
He would have been elected president, save for the scandal that derailed his campaign at the last min­
ute. (Here, save means except.)

Front 312

Scant

Back 312

not enough or barely enough. Scanty is used in the same way (both are adjectives).
The new intern was scant help at the conference— he disappeared all day to smoke and didn’t
seem to realize that he was there to assist his coworkers.
The soldiers were always on the verge of hunger, complaining about their scanty rations.
Scarcely — Hardly, barely, by a small margin. Sometimes the adjective scarce is used where it sounds
like the adverb scarcely is needed. This is an idiomatic usage:
She lived a lavish lifestyle she could scarce afford.

Front 313

Scrutiny

Back 313

Close, careful observation.

Front 314

Seemingly

Back 314

Apparently, outwardly appearing to be a certain way. If an author says that something
is seemingly X, the author is probably about to say that it is actually Y. The word seemingly means that
something seems a certain way (but maybe isn’t really).
Hes a seemingly honest man— I’ll need to get to know him better to say for sure.

Front 315

Semantic

Back 315

Relating to the different meanings of words or other symbols.
Bob said plastic surgery should be covered under the health care plan and Marion said it
shouldn’t, but it turns out that their disagreement was purely semantic— what Bob meant was
reconstructive surgery and what Marion meant was cosmetic surgery.

Front 316

Settled

Back 316

Fixed, established, concluded. Sediment can settle in water, people who marry can settle down,
and a settled judgment is one that has been firmly decided.

Front 317

Siphon

Back 317

Tube for sucking liquid out of something (some people steal gasoline from other people’s
cars by siphoning it). To siphon funds is to steal money, perhaps in a continuous stream.

Front 318

Skeptical

Back 318

Doubting, especially in a scientific way (needing sufficient evidence before believing).
Don’t confuse skeptical and cynical (thinking the worst of others’ motivations; bitterly pessi­
mistic). In a GMAT Reading Comprehension passage, an author might be skeptical (a very
appropriate attitude for a scientist, for instance), but would never be cynical.

Front 319

Sketchy

Back 319

Like a sketch: incomplete, imperfect, superficial.

Front 320

Skirt

Back 320

Border, lie along the edge of, go around; evade.
Melissa spent all of Thanksgiving skirting the issue of who she was dating and when she might
get married.
The creek skirts our property on the west, so it’s easy to tell where our farm ends.

Front 321

Slew

Back 321

A large number or quantity. O f course, slew is also the past tense of slay (kill), so you could
actually say She slew him with a slew of bullets.
As soon as we switched software packages, we encountered a whole slew of problems.

Front 322

Slight

Back 322

Small, not very important, slender or delicate; treat as though not very important; snub, ignore;
a discourtesy.
She was very sensitive, always feeling slighted and holding a grudge against her coworkers for a
variety of slights, both real and imagined.
Natalie Portman has always been slight, but she became even thinner to portray a ballerina in
Black Swan.

Front 323

Smelt

Back 323

Fuse or melt ore in order to separate out metal.

Front 324

Sparing

Back 324

Holding back or being wise in the use of resources; deficient. Be sparing with the ketchup in
order to make it last longer, but don’t be sparing in praising your employees for a job well done.

Front 325

Spate

Back 325

Sudden outpouring or rush; flood.
After a brief spate of post-exam partying, Lola is ready for classes to begin again.

Front 326

Spearhead

Back 326

Be the leader of. A spearhead can, of course, be the sharp head of a spear. It can also be a
person at the front of a military attack, or a leader of anything.
Lisa agreed to spearhead the “healthy office” initiative, and was instrumental in installing two
treadmills and getting healthy food stocked in the vending machines.

Front 327

Staggered

Back 327

Starting and ending at different times, especially also occurring in overlapping intervals.
(O f course, you can also stagger around drunk, weaving from side to side.)
Employees who work on staggered schedules may only see each other for part of the day.

Front 328

Static

Back 328

Fixed, not moving or changing, lacking vitality. Stasis is the quality of being static.
The anthropologist studied a society in the Amazon that had been deliberately static for hun­
dreds of years— the fiercely proud people disdained change, and viewed all new ideas as inferior
to the way of life they had always practiced.

Front 329

Stratum

Back 329

One of many layers (such as in a rock formation or in the classes of a society). The plural is
strata.
From overhearing his rich and powerful passengers’ conversations, the chauffeur grew to
despise the upper stratum of society.
I love this dish— it’s like a lasagna, but with strata made of bread, eggs, and pancetta! Oh, look
at the menu— it’s actually called a strata! That makes perfect sense.

Front 330

Subjective

Back 330

Existing in the mind or relating to one’s own thoughts, opinions, emotions, etc.; personal,
individual, based on feelings
We can give names to colors, but we can never quite convey the subjective experience of
them— what if my “red” is different from your “red”?

Front 331

Subjugation

Back 331

Conquering, domination, enslavement.

Front 332

Subordinate

Back 332

Having a lower order or rank, inferior, secondary.

Front 333

Subset

Back 333

A set that is contained within a larger set.

Front 334

Subvert

Back 334

Overthrow, corrupt, cause the downfall of.
Succeeding — Coming after or following. The succeeding sentence is simply the sentence that comes
after.
After the sale of the company, you will receive 5% of the profits from the current year, and
1% in all succeeding years.
In 1797, George Washington was succeeded by John Adams.

Front 335

Suffrage

Back 335

The right to vote. Womens suffrage was ensured in the U.S. via the 19th Amendment.

Front 336

Suppress

Back 336

Prohibit, curtail, force the end of. A repressive government might suppress dissent against its
policies.

Front 337

Surge

Back 337

Sudden, transient increase (power surge), heavy swelling motion like that of waves. A surge of
troops is sending a lot of soldiers at once. A surge in interest is sudden.

Front 338

Surpass

Back 338

Transcend, exceed, go beyond, as in It’s only August, and we've already surpassed last years
sales.
Synchronized — Happening at the same time, simultaneous, in unison.

Front 339

Syntax

Back 339

The rules governing grammar and how words join to make sentences (or how words and
symbols join in writing computer code), the study of these rules, or any system or orderly arrangement.
Now that my linguistics class is studying syntax, it makes a little more sense when my comput­
er flashes “SYNTAX ERROR” at me.
Anyone learning a language is bound to make syntactical mistakes— even if he or she knows
the appropriate vocabulary, it is still difficult to assemble the words perfectly.

Front 340

Synthesis

Back 340

Combining of complex things to create a unified whole.

Front 341

Table

Back 341

In American English, to table something means to postpone discussion of it until later. (In
British English, to table a bill is the opposite— to submit it for consideration.)
I see were not going to agree on whether to scrap our entire curriculum and develop a new
one, so let s table that discussion and move on to voting on the budget.

Front 342

Tardy

Back 342

Late, not on time.
Taxonomy — Science or technique of classification. The taxonomic system in biology classifies organ­
isms by Phylum, Class, Order, Species, etc.

Front 343

Temperament

Back 343

Natural personality, as in an angry temperament or a pleasant temperament.

Front 344

Temperance

Back 344

Moderation, self-control, especially regarding alcohol or other desires or pleasures; total
abstinence from alcohol. Relatedly, temperate means moderate, as in a temperate climate.
After the end of the Civil War, economic change led to an increase in alcohol problems and the
birth of the Temperance Movement, which ultimately led to Prohibition.
Grandma is a model of temperance— she drinks red wine every night, but only the one-third
of a glass that she read was the minimum amount needed to help prevent heart attacks.

Front 345

Terrestrial

Back 345

Relating to the Earth or to land; worldly.
Mr. and Mrs. Daruza were certain they had seen a UFO, plus aliens running around in the
night. What they really saw was an especially dense flock of birds in the air, and some mun­
dane, terrestrial animals on the ground.

Front 346

Thenceforth

Back 346

From that time forward.
In 1956, Grace Kelly married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and was thenceforth known as
Princess Grace.

Front 347

Theoretically

Back 347

In theory (but not necessarily in reality). People sometimes just say theoretically when
talking about theories, but they also often say it when they mean that something will not work in real
life.
Theoretically, the new process will result in reduced particle emission. (This could mean, “So
we will need to try it in order to find out,” or it could mean “But I doubt that it will really
work.” You need the next sentence to know which meaning is intended.)

Front 348

Thesis

Back 348

Proposition supported by an argument.
Thorny-Controversial, full of difficulties. Literally, having thorns, prickly (as a rose bush).

Front 349

Tides

Back 349

Periodic rise and fall of the ocean about every 12 hours, caused by the attraction of the Sun
and moon. Metaphorically, you can say the tides of refugees, for instance— implying the refugees are
arriving periodically, in large groups.

Front 350

Token

Back 350

Sign, symbol, mark, badge; souvenir, memento; sample, or person, thing, idea taken to rep­
resent an entire group. O f course, a token can also be a coin-like disk used as currency for subways,
arcade games, etc. As an adjective, it means “not very important.”
I am starting to realize that this law firm hired me to be its token woman. There I am, smiling
in all the ads— but I never actually get to work on important cases.
Hollywood movies are often guilty of tokenism—many have exacdy one black character (the
“token minority”), often present to give advice to the (usually white) main characters.
I am giving you this “Best Friends Forever” necklace as a token of our friendship.

Front 351

Trajectory

Back 351

The curved path of an object in flight, as in the missile's trajectory.

Front 352

Transient

Back 352

Moving around, not settled; temporary, not lasting.
In the last decade, podcasting was thought to be the “next big thing,” but it turned out to be
a largely transient phenomenon.

Front 353

Transmute

Back 353

Transform, change from one form to another.

Front 354

Transplantation

Back 354

Moving from one place to another. Certainly you have heard of a heart transplant,
for instance. It can also be used metaphorically: a person who has just moved to a new state might refer
to herself as a transplant from Texas.

Front 355

Truce or Armistice

Back 355

Suspension of fighting for a specified period because of mutual agreement; cease­
fire.
After the earthquake, the two warring nations agreed to a truce and sent their soldiers to help
the quakes victims.

Front 356

Undergird

Back 356

Strengthen, support. To undergird an argument is to make it stronger— the opposite of
undermine!

Front 357

Undermine

Back 357

Weaken, cause to collapse by digging away at the foundation (of a building or an argu­
ment); injure or attack in a secretive or underhanded way.
Rather than searching impartially for the truth, these pharmaceutical company “scientists” will­
fully ignored any evidence that undermined the conclusion they were being paid to produce.
You are nice to my face, but you are undermining me behind my back, suggesting to others in
the office that I am making mistakes in my work and that you have been fixing them!

Front 358

Underpin

Back 358

Strengthen, corroborate, support from below.
Her argument was underpinned with the results of several recent studies.

Front 359

Underscore

Back 359

Emphasize (or, literally, to underline text).
“You re not going to mess with Joey anymore,” said Joey. His new bodyguards stepped forward
threatening, as though to underscore Joeys point.

Front 360

Undifferentiated

Back 360

Not distinguished from one another, the same.

Front 361

Unfettered

Back 361

Free, liberated.

Front 362

Unforeseeable

Back 362

Not able to be predicted.
Our company had disaster insurance and a succession plan in case something happened to the
president, but we had no plans for the unforeseeable circumstance that our office would be
completely overtaken by rats.

Front 363

Unprecedented

Back 363

Never before known or seen, without having happened previously.
When Nixon resigned, American bravado was at an all-time low— the resignation of a sitting
president was disgraceful and unprecedented.

Front 364

Untempered

Back 364

Not toned down; not moderated, controlled, or counterbalanced. Often untempered by.
I wouldn’t call it “tough love”— his harshness is untempered by any kind of affection.
The report was an untempered condemnation of the company’s practices— the investigators
didn’t have a single good thing to say.

Front 365

Untenable

Back 365

Not defendable (as an argument), not able to be lived in (as a house).
GMAT Critical Reasoning is full of untenable arguments that rest upon unproven assump­
tions.

Front 366

Unwarranted

Back 366

Not justified or authorized.

Front 367

Utopian

Back 367

Related to ideals of perfection; unrealistically idealistic.
Reducing homelessness to zero is a utopian goal, but our agency views reducing the street pop­
ulation by 25% and getting children off the streets as more practical aims.

Front 368

Via

Back 368

Through, by means of, by way of (by a route that goes through or touches). Per can also be used
in this way.
We will be flying to Russia via Frankfurt.
Many of the students at our college got here via special programs that assist low-income
students in preparing for college.

Front 369

Wanting

Back 369

Lacking, insufficient, or not good enough (as in, I read the book andfound it wanting). This
makes sense when you think about the fact that people generally want good things, of course— so if a
person is left wanting, he did not get those good things. Conversely, a person who wants for nothing is
someone who already has everything.

Front 370

Warranted

Back 370

Justified, authorized (warrant can mean to justify or a justification, but it can also mean
to vouch for or guarantee).
The pundit’s comments don t even warrant a response from our organization— they were mere
name-calling, not suitable for public discourse.
Your criticism of Anne is unwarranted—as your assistant, she has done everything youve
asked her to do.
He doesn’t have his documents with him, but I’ll warrant that he is indeed a certified forklift
operator.

Front 371

Whereas

Back 371

While on the contrary, considering that.
Mr. Katsoulas had always assumed his son would take over the family buiness, whereas his son
had always assumed he would go away to college and never come back.
Whereas squash and peppers are vegetables, a tomato is technically a fruit.

Front 372

Whet

Back 372

Stimulate, make keen or eager (especially of an appetite).
Dinner will take another twenty minutes, but maybe this cheese plate can whet your appetite?

Front 373

Wholesale

Back 373

Sale of goods in quantity to resellers (opposite of retail). The word can also mean exten­
sive, in a large way.
Neckties have an enormous markup— a tie that sells for $50 often has a wholesale cost of less
than $5.
Pol Pot’s war crimes included the wholesale slaughter of his people.

Front 374

Winnow

Back 374

Sift, analyze critically, separate the useful part from the worthless part.
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.

Front 375

Yoke

Back 375

A frame for attaching animals (such as oxen) to each other and to a plow or other equipment to
be pulled, or a bar across a person’s shoulders to help carry buckets of water, etc. Metaphorically, a yoke
is a burden or something that oppresses. To yoke is to unite together or to burden. To throw off the yoke
of oppression is to free oneself from oppression.
The speaker argued that humanity had traded the yoke of servitude to kings and tyrants for
the yoke of consumerism, which enslaves us just as much in the end.

Front 376

Dubious

Back 376

Doubtful, questionable, suspect.
This applicant’s resume is filled with dubious qualifications— this is a marketing position, and
this resume is mostly about whitewater rafting.