Gre Vocab Words C And D

Front 1

cacophonous

Back 1

adjective; discordant; inharmonious. "Do the students in the orchestra enjoy the cacophonous soudns they make when they're tuning up? I don't understand how they can endure the noise"

Front 2

capricious

Back 2

adjective; unpredictable; fickle. The storm was capricious; it changed course constantly. Jill was capricious too; she changed boyfriends almost as often as she changed clothes"

Front 3

castigation

Back 3

noun; punishment; severe criticism. Sensitive even to mild criticism, Woolf could not bear the castigation that she found in certain reviews"

Front 4

caustic

Back 4

burning; sarcastically biting. "The critics caustic remarks angered the hapless actors who were the subjects of his sarcasm"

Front 5

chicanery

Back 5

noun; trickery, deception; "those sneaky lawyers misrepresented what occurred, made up all sorts of implausible alternative scenarios to confuse the juror, and in general depended on chicanery to win the case.

Front 6

coagulate

Back 6

verb; thicken, congeal or clot. Even after you remove the pudding from the burner, it will continue to coagulate as it stands.

Front 7

coda

Back 7

noun; concluding part to a musical or literary composition; something that rounds out, summarizes or concludes.

Front 8

cogent

Back 8

adjective. convincing. "He had several very cogent reasons for doing so; including free tuition, great opportunities and close to home"

Front 9

commensurate

Back 9

adjective. corresponding in extent, degree or amount. very proportionate. "By the close of world war II, much progress had been made in assigning nurses rank and responsibilities commensurate with their training and abilities"

Front 10

compendium

Back 10

noun. brief but comprehensive summary. "This text can serve as a compendium of the tremendous amount of new material being developed in this field"

Front 11

complaisant

Back 11

adjective; trying to please, overly polite or obliging. "Fearing that the king might become enraged if his will were thwarted, the complaisant Parliamnet recongized Henry VIII as King of Ireland."

Front 12

conciliatory

Back 12

adjective. reconciling; soothing. She was still angry despite his conciliatory words.

Front 13

confound

Back 13

verb; confuse or puzzle. No mystery could confound or puzzle Sherlock Holmes for long

Front 14

connoisseur

Back 14

noun; person competent to act as a judge of art. A lover of an art. Bernard Berenson, the American art critic and connoisseur of Italian art, was hired by wealthy art lovers to selecting paintings for their collections."

Front 15

contrite

Back 15

adjective; penitent; regretful (feeling or showing regret for having done something wrong); "her contrite tears did not influence the judge as he showed no remorse when sentencing her."

Front 16

craven

Back 16

adjective; cowardly. "Lillians craven refusal to join the protest was criticized by her comrades who had expected her to be brave enough to stand up for her beliefs"

Front 17

daunt

Back 17

verb; intimidate; frighten. "Boast all you like of your prowess. Mere words cannot daunt me"

Front 18

decorum

Back 18

noun; proprietary. orderliness and good taste in manners. "Even the best -mannered students have trouble behaving with decorum on the last day of school."

Front 19

deference

Back 19

noun; courteous regard for another's wish. "In deference to the minister's request, please do not take photographs during the wedding service"

Front 20

delineate

Back 20

verb; portray; depict, sketch. "Using only a few descriptive phrases, Austin delineates the character of Mr. Collins so well that we can predict his every move"

Front 21

denigrate

Back 21

verb; blacken. All attemps to "denigrate the character of our late president have failed; the people still love him and cherish his memory"

Front 22

deride

Back 22

verb; ridicule; make fun of. The critics derided his pretentious dialogue and refused to consider his play seriously"

Front 23

derivative

Back 23

adjective; unoriginal, derived from someone or something else.

Front 24

desiccate

Back 24

verb; to dry up. A tour of this smokehouse will give you an idea of how the pioneers used to desiccate food in order to preserve it.

Front 25

desultory

Back 25

adjective; aimless. haphazard and digressing at random. "In prison, Malcolm X sets himself the task of reading straight through the dictionary; to him, reading was purposeful, not desultory."

Front 26

diatribe

Back 26

noun; bitter or scolding. During the lengthy diatribe delivered by his opponent, he remained calm and self-controlled."

Front 27

diffidence

Back 27

adjective; shyness. "you must overcome your diffidence if you intend on becoming a salesperson"

Front 28

diffuse

Back 28

adjective; wordy, rambling, spead out. If you pay authors by the word, you tempt them to produce diffuse manuscripts rather than brief ones"

Front 29

dirge

Back 29

lament with music. "The funeral dirge stirred us to tears"

Front 30

disabuse

Back 30

verb; correct a false impression; undecieve. I will attempt to disabuse you of your impression of my client's guilt because I know he is innocent"

Front 31

discerning

Back 31

adjective; mentally quick and observant. having insight. "Though no genius, the star was sufficiently discerning to distinguish her true friends from those that just wanted her assets"

Front 32

disinterested

Back 32

adjective; unprejudiced. "Given the judge's political ambitions and the lawyers' financial interest in the case, the only disinterested person in the courtroom may have been the court reporter"

Front 33

disparate

Back 33

adjective; basically different; unrelated. "Unfortunately, Tony and Tiny have disparate notions of marriage; Tony sees it as a carefree extended love affair, while Tina sees it as solemn commitment to build a family and a home"

Front 34

dissemble

Back 34

verb; disguise; pretend. "Even though John tried to dissemble his motive for taking modern dance, we all knew he was there not to dance but to meet girls"

Front 35

distend

Back 35

verb; expand; swell out. "I can tell when he is under stress by the way the veins distend on his forehead"

Front 36

dogmatic

Back 36

adjective; opinionated; arbitrary; doctrinal. "We tried to discourage Doug from being so dogmatic; but never could convince him that his opinions might be wrong"