Vocabulary List

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.

Front 2

aberration, anomaly

Back 2

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 election.

Front 3

acclaim

Back 3

grate praise or approval

Front 4

accord, discord

Back 4

accord is agreement, and discord is disagreement.

Our management is in accord with regulatory agencies about tightening standards.

Front 5

acquisitiveness

Back 5

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 6

acreage

Back 6

land measured in acres.

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

Front 7

adhere to and adherent

Back 7

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 won't 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 8

Ad-lib

Back 8

1)Make something up on the spot, give an unprepared speech; 2) Freely, as needed, according to desire.

We have ended our policy of rationing office supplies -- pens may now be given to employees ad-lib.

Front 9

Adopt

Back 9

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 10

advent

Back 10

arrival

Before the advent of the internet, people often called reference librarians to look up information for them in the library's reference section.

Front 11

adverse

Back 11

unfavorable, opposed

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

Front 12

agency

Back 12

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 13

aggravate

Back 13

make worse

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

Front 14

altogether

Back 14

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 15

ambivalent

Back 15

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 16

amortize

Back 16

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 17

analogous

Back 17

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 18

annex

Back 18

To add on, or something that has been adds 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 19

annihilate

Back 19

completely destroy

Front 20

annul

Back 20

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 21

anoint

Back 21

the literal meaning is "rub or sprinkle oil on, especially as part of a ceremony that makes something sacred." Thew 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 22

antithetical to

Back 22

totally opposed to ; opposite.

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

Front 23

application

Back 23

act or result of applying. Of course, you can have an application to business school, but you can also say The attempted application of American-style democracy in Iraq may ultimately prove unsuccessful.

Front 24

apprentice

Back 24

a person who works for someone else in order to learn a trade(such as shoe-making, 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 25

arbiter

Back 25

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 26

Archaic

Back 26

characteristic of an earlier period, ancient, primitive.

The school's archaic computer system predated even floppy disks -- it stored records on tape drivers.

Sometimes, when you look a word up the dictionary, certain definitions are marked "archaic"--unless you are a Shakespeare scholar, you can safely ignore those archaisms.

Front 27

aristocracy

Back 27

a hereditary ruling class, nobility( or a form of government ruled by these people).

Front 28

artifact

Back 28

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 girl's room was full of the artifacts of modern teenage life: Justin Birbor posters, Twilight books, and a laptop open to Facebook.

Front 29

Ascribe to/ ascription

Back 29

To ascribe is to give credit; ascription is the noun form.

He ascribed his good grades to diligent studying.

The boy's 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 30

assert

Back 30

affirm, claim, state, or express(that something is true)

Front 31

assimilation

Back 31

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 32

Attain

Back 32

achieve

Front 33

attribute to

Back 33

give credit to

Front 34

atypical

Back 34

not typical

Front 35

backfire

Back 35

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 causing injury.

The company's new measures backfired when workers protested and staged a walkout , thus stopping production completely.

Front 36

balance

Back 36

the remaining part or leftover amount. This is related to the idea of a bank balance -- a balance is what you have left after deductions.

The publishing division accounted for 25% of the profits, and the film division for the balance. This means that the film division provided 75% of the profits.

Front 37

baldly

Back 37

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 the Maine is not very diverse: "It is, to put it baldly, one of the whitest states in the union."

Front 38

Balloon

Back 38

1)Swell or puff out; 2)Increase rapidly. Also, in finance, a balloon payment is a single payment 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 39

befall

Back 39

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 40

belie

Back 40

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 41

benevolent

Back 41

expressing goodwill, helping others or charity.

Front 42

benign

Back 42

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 43

blight

Back 43

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 attending classes. In fact, violence has blighted our town.

Front 44

blunt

Back 44

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 45

blur

Back 45

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 46

bogus

Back 46

fake, fraudulent.

The back of the bodybuilding magazine is just full of ads for bogus products -- this one promises 22-inch biceps just from wearing magnetic armbands

Front 47

bolster

Back 47

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 48

broad

Back 48

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