Gre 500 Words Set 9

Front 1

Plastic

The new material was very plastic and could be formed into products of vastly different shape.

Back 1

able to be molded, altered, or bent

Hint 1

adaptable, ductile, malleable, pliant

Front 2

mar

Telephone poles mar the natural beauty of the countryside.

Back 2

to damage or deface, spoil

Hint 2

blemish, disfigure, impair, injure, scar

Front 3

cabal

The boys on the street formed a cabal to keep the girls out of their tree house.

Back 3

a secret group seeking to overturn something

Hint 3

camp, circle, clan, clique, coterie, in-group, mafia, mob, ring

Front 4

coffer

The bulletproof glass of the coffer is what keeps the crown jewels secure.

Back 4

strongbox, large chest for money

Hint 4

treasury, chest, exchequer, war chest

Front 5

abstemious

Because Alyce is a vegetarian, she was only able to eat an abstemious meal at the Texas Steakhouse

Back 5

moderate in appetite

Hint 5

abstinent, continent, self-restraining, sober, temperament

Front 6

alacrity

The restaurant won a reputation for fine service since the wait staff responded to their client's requests with alacrity.

Back 6

speed or quickness

Hint 6

celerity, dispatch, haste, swiftness

Front 7

assail

The foreign army will try to assail our bases, but they will not be successful in their attack.

Back 7

to attack, assault

Hint 7

beset, strike, storm

Front 8

impugn

"How dare you impugn my motives?" protested the lawyer, on being accused of ambulance chasing.

Back 8

to call into question, to attack verbally

Hint 8

challenge, dispute

Front 9

imperturbable

The counselor had so much experience dealing with distraught children that she was imperturbable, even when faced with the wildest tantrums.

Back 9

not capable of being disturbed

Hint 9

composed, dispassionate, impassive, serene, stoical

Front 10

puerile

Olivia's boyfriend's puerile antics are really annoying, sometimes he acts like a five-year-old.

Back 10

childish, immature, or silly

Hint 10

infantile, jejune, juvenile

Front 11

abate

As the hurricane's force abated, the winds dropped and the sea became calm.

Back 11

to reduce in amount, degree, or severity

Hint 11

ebb, lapse, let up, moderate, relent, slacken, subside, wane

Front 12

aggrandize

The supervisor sought to aggrandize himself by claiming that the achievements of his staff were actually his own.

Back 12

to increase in power, influence, and reputation

Hint 12

amplify, apotheosize, augment, dignify, elevate, enlarge, ennoble, exalt, glorify, magnify, swell, uplift, wax

Front 13

proliferate

Although he only kept two guinea pigs initally, they proliferated to such an extent that he soon had dozens.

Back 13

to increase in number quickly

Hint 13

breed, multiply, procreate, propagate, reproduce, spawn

Front 14

hapless

I wish someone would give that poor, hapless soul some food and shelter.

Back 14

unfortunate, having bad luck

Hint 14

ill-fated, ill-stared, jinxed, luckless, unlucky

Front 15

homogeneous

The class was fairly homogenous since almost all of the students were journalism majors.

Back 15

of a similar kind

Hint 15

consistent, standardized, uniform, unvarying

Front 16

upbraid

The teacher upbraided the student for scrawling graffiti all over the walls of the school.

Back 16

to scold sharply

Hint 16

berate, chide, rebuke, reproach, tax

Front 17

usury

The moneylender was convicted of usury when it was discovered that he charged 50 percent interest on all his loans.

Back 17

the practice of lending money at exorbitant rates

Hint 17

loan-sharking

Front 18

jargon

You need to master technical jargon in order to communicate successfully with engineers.

Back 18

nonsensical talk, specialized language

Hint 18

argot, cant, dialect, idiom, slang

Front 19

fatuous

Ted's fatuous comments always embarrassed his keen-witted wife at parties.

Back 19

stupid, foolishly self-satisfied

Hint 19

absurd, ludicrous, preposterous, ridiculous, silly

Front 20

abase

My intention was not to abase the comedian.

Back 20

to humble, disgrace

Hint 20

demean, humiliate

Front 21

apathy

The apathy of voters is so great that less than half the people who are eligible to vote actually bother to do so.

Back 21

lack of interest or emotion

Hint 21

coolness, disinterest, disregard, impassivity, indifference, insensibility, lassitude, lethargy, listlessness, phlegm, stolidity, unconcern, unresponsiveness

Front 22

gullible

The con man pretended to be a bank officer so as to fool gullible bank customers into giving him their account information.

Back 22

easily deceived

Hint 22

credulous, exploitable, naive

Front 23

mannered

The portrait is an example of the mannered style that was favored in that era.

Back 23

artificial or stilted in character

Hint 23

affected, unnatural

Front 24

prescient

Jonah's decision to sell the apartment seemed to be a prescient one, as its value soon dropped by half.

Back 24

having foresight

Hint 24

augural, divinatory, mantic, oracular, premonitory

Front 25

zenith

The diva considered her appearance at the Metropolitan Opera to be the zenith of her career.

Back 25

the point of culmination, peak

Hint 25

acme, pinnacle

Front 26

peripatetic

Eleana's peripatetic meanderings took her all over the countryside in the summer months.

Back 26

wandering from place to place, especially on foot

Hint 26

itinerant, nomadic, wayfaring

Front 27

nascent

The advertising campaign was still in a nascent stage, and nothing had been finalized yet.

Back 27

starting to develop, coming into existence

Hint 27

embryonic, emerging, inchoate, incipient

Front 28

exculpate

The legal system is intended to convict those who are guilty and exculpate those who are innocent.

Back 28

to clear from blame, prove innocent

Hint 28

absolve, acquit, clear, exonerate, vindicate

Front 29

glib

The slimy politician managed to continue gaining supporters because he was a glib speaker.

Back 29

fluent in an insincere manner, offhand, casual

Hint 29

easy, superficial

Front 30

effrontery

The receptionist had the effrontery to laugh out loud when the CEO tripped over a computer wire and fell flat on his face.

Back 30

impudent, boldness, audacity

Hint 30

brashness, gall, nerve, presumption, temerity

Front 31

taciturn

The clerk's taciturn nature earned him the nickname Silent Bob.

Back 31

silent, not talkative

Hint 31

laconic, reticent

Front 32

jocular

The jocular old man entertained his grandchildren for hours.

Back 32

playful, humorous

Hint 32

amusing, comical

Front 33

exonerate

The fugitive was exonerated when another criminal confessed to committing the crime.

Back 33

to clear from blame

Hint 33

absolve, acquit, clear, exculpate

Front 34

tangential

Your argument is interesting, but it's tangential to the matter at hand, so I suggest we get back to the point.

Back 34

digressing, diverting

Hint 34

digressive, extraneous, inconsequential, irrelevant, peripheral

Front 35

licentious

Religious communities were outraged by teh licentious exploits of the free-spirited artists living in the town.

Back 35

immoral, unrestrained by society

Hint 35

lewd, wanton

Front 36

onerous

THe assignment was so extensive and difficult to manage that it proved onerous to the team in charge of it.

Back 36

troublesome and oppressive, burdensome

Hint 36

arduous, backbreaking, burdensome, cumbersome, difficult, exacting, formidable, hard, laborious, oppressive, rigorous, taxing, trying

Front 37

slake

In order to slake his curiosity, Bryan finally took a tour backstage at the theatre.

Back 37

to calm down or to moderate

Hint 37

moderate, quench, satisfy

Front 38

lucid

The explanations were written in a simple and lucid manner so that students were immediately able to apply what they learned.

Back 38

clear and easily understood

Hint 38

clear, coherent, explicit, inteligible, limpid

Front 39

deference

The respectful young law clerk treated the Supreme Court Justice with the utmost deference.

Back 39

respect, courtesy

Hint 39

courtesy, homoage, honor, obeisance, respect, reverence, veneration

Front 40

legerdemain

The little boy thought his legerdemain was working on his mother, but she in fact knew about every hidden toy and stolen cookie.

Back 40

trickery

Hint 40

chicanery, conjuring

Front 41

lassitude

The lack of energy that characterized patients with anemia makes lassitude one of the primary symptoms of the disease.

Back 41

a state of diminished energy

Hint 41

debilitation, enervation, fatigue, languor, listlessness, tiredness, weariness

Front 42

pariah

Once he betrayed those in his community, he was banished and lived the life of a pariah.

Back 42

an outcast

Hint 42

castaway, derelict, leper, offscouring, untouchable

Front 43

intrepid

Despite freezing winds, the intrepid hiker completed his ascent.

Back 43

fearless, resolutely courageous

Hint 43

brave

Front 44

declivity

Because the village was situated on the declivity of a hill, it never flooded.

Back 44

downward slope

Hint 44

decline, descent, grade, slant, tilt

Front 45

catalyst

The imposition of harsh taxes was the catalyst that finally brought on the revolution.

Back 45

something that brings about a change in something else

Hint 45

accelerator, goad, impetus, impulse, incentive, motivation, spur, stimulant

Front 46

talon

A Vulture holds its prey in its talons while it dismembers it with its beak.

Back 46

claw of an animal, a bird of prey

Hint 46

claw, nail

Front 47

debutante

The debutante spent hours dressing for her very first ball, hoping to catch the eye of an eligible bachelor.

Back 47

young woman making debut in society

Hint 47

lady, maiden

Front 48

acme

Just when he reached the acme of his power, the dictator was overthrown.

Back 48

highest point, summit, the highest level or degree attainable

Hint 48

apex, peak, summit

Front 49

indolent

Her indolent ways got her fired from many jobs.

Back 49

habitually lazy or idle

Hint 49

faineant, languid, lethargic, slothful, sluggish

Front 50

naive

Inexperienced writers often are naive and assume that big words make them sound smarter.

Back 50

lacking sophistication or experience

Hint 50

artless, credulous, guileless, ingenuous, simple, unaffected, unsophisticated