GRE 1

adjunct

something attached to but holding an inferior position / I will entertain this concept as an adjunct to the main proposal. The memory expansion cards are useful adjuncts to the computer.

adjutant

staff officer assisting the commander; assistant / Though Wellington delegated many tasks to his chief adjutant, Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Somerset was in no doubt as to who made all major decisions.

allege

state without proof / It is alleged that she had worked for the enemy.

agitate

stir up; disturb / Her fiery remarks agitated the already angry mob. This remark seemed to agitate her guest.

allegory

story in which characters are used as symbols; fable / Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the temptations and victories of the human soul.

abate

subside or moderate / Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to abate.

aggregate

sum; total / The aggregate wealth of this country is staggering to the imagination.

alimentary

supplying nourishment / The alimentary canal in our bodies is so named because digestion of foods occurs there.

abeyance

suspended action / The deal was held in abeyance until her arrival.

abstract

theoretical; not concrete; non-representational / To him, hunger was an abstract concept; he had never missed a meal. The research shows that pre-school children are capable of thinking in abstract terms.

abusive

coarsely insulting; physically harmful / An abusive parent damages a child both mentally and physically. He became abusive when he was drunk.

agglomeration

collection; heap / It took weeks to assort the agglomeration of miscellaneous items she had collected on her trip.

accrue

come about by addition / You must pay the interest that has accrued on your debt as well as the principal sum.

absolute

complete; totally unlimited; certain / Although the King of Siam was an absolute monarch, he did not want to behead his unfaithful wife without absolute evidence of her infidelity.

affable

courteous, genial, pleasant, friendly and easy to talk to / Although he held a position of responsibility, he was an affable individual and could be reached by anyone with a complaint.

adorn

decorate / Wall paintings and carved statues adorned the temple.

acquittal

deliverance from a charge / His acquittal by the jury surprised those who had thought him guilty.

abscond

depart secretly and hide / The teller absconded with the bonds and was not found.

acme

peak; pinnacle; highest point;height / Welles's success in Citizen Kane marked the acme of his career as an actor; never again did he achieve such popular acclaim.

agrarian

pertaining to land or its cultivation / As a result of its recent industrialization, the country is gradually losing its agrarian traditions.

affirmation

positive assertion; confirmation; solemn pledge by one who refuses to take an oath / Despite Tom's affirmation of innocence, Aunt Polly still suspected he had eaten the pie.

adversity

poverty, misfortune / We must learn to meet adversity gracefully.

advert

refer to / Since you advert to this matter so frequently, you must regard it as important.

abstain

refrain; withhold from participation / After considering the effect of alcohol on his athletic performance, he decided to abstain from drinking while he trained for the race.

alleviate

relieve / This should alleviate the pain; if it does not, we shall have to use stronger drugs.

abdicate

renounce; give up / When Edward VII abdicated the British throne, he surprised the entire world.

abnegation

renunciation; self-sacrifice / Though Rudolph and Duchess Flavia loved one another, their love was doomed, for she had to wed the king; their act of abnegation was necessary to preserve the kingdom.

alliteration

repetition of beginning sound in poetry / The furrow followed free is an example of alliteration.

abrasive

rubbing away; tending to grind down / Just as abrasive cleaning powders can wear away a shiny finish, abrasive remarks can wear away a listener's patience.

acclivity

sharp upslope of a hill / "The car could not go up the acclivity in high gear. "

acrid

sharp; bitterly pungent / The acrid odor of burnt gunpowder filled the room after the pistol had been fired.

acuity

sharpness / In time his youthful acuity of vision failed him, and he needed glasses.

aegis

shield; defense / Under the aegis of the Bill of Rights, we enjoy our most treasured freedoms.

acidulous

slightly sour; sharp; caustic / James was unpopular because of his sarcastic and acidulous remarks.

adage

wise saying; proverb / There is much truth in the old adage about fools and their money.

abject

wretched; lacking pride;terrible and without hope / On the streets of New York the homeless live in abject poverty, huddling in doorways to find shelter from the wind.

affidavit

written statement made under oath / The court refused to accept his statement unless he presented it in the form of an affidavit.

adamant

hard, inflexible / He was adamant in his determination to punish the wrongdoer.

agog

highly excited; intensely curious / We were all agog at the news that the celebrated movie star was giving up his career in order to enter a monastery.

abbreviate

shorten / Because we were running out of time, the lecturer had to abbreviate her speech.

adroit

skillful / His adroit handling of the delicate situation pleased his employers.

adjuration

solemn urging / Her adjuration to tell the truth did not change the witnesses' testimony.

accessible

easy to approach; obtainable / We asked our guide whether the ruins were accessible on foot.

abash

embarrass / He was not at all abashed by her open admiration.

adulation

flattery; admiration / The rock star thrived on the adulation of his groupies and yes-men.

aberrant

abnormal or deviant / Given the aberrant nature of the data, we came to doubt the validity of the entire experiment.

abrogate

abolish / He intended to abrogate the decree issued by his predecessor.

adventitious

accidental; casual; happening by accident; not planned / He found this adventitious meeting with his friend extremely fortunate.

addendum

addition; appendix to book / Jane's editor approved her new comparative literature text but thought it would be even better with an addendum on recent developments in literary criticism.

accessory

additional object; useful but not essential thing / She bought an attractive handbag as an accessory for her dress.

acclimate

adjust to climate or environment / One of the difficulties of our present air age is the need of travellers to acclimate themselves to their new and often strange environments. Competitors should arrive two weeks earlier to get acclimated to the sweltering heat.

accede

agree / If I accede to this demand for blackmail, I am afraid that I will be the victim of future demands.

aggrandize

increase or intensify; raise in power, wealth, rank or honor / The history of the past quarter century illustrates how a President may aggrandize his power to act aggressively in international affairs without considering the wishes of Congress.

affront

insult; offend / Accustomed to being treated with respect, Miss Challoner was affronted by Vidal's offensive behavior.

adverse

unfavorable; hostile;negative and unpleasant; not likely to produce a good result / Adverse circumstances compelled him to close his business. Lack of money will have an adverse effect on our research programme.

abortive

unsuccessful; fruitless / We had to abandon our abortive attempts.

advocate

urge; plead for / The abolitionists advocated freedom for the slaves.

admonish

warn; reprove / He admonished his listeners to change their wicked ways.

ablution

washing / "His daily ablutions were accompanied by loud noises that he humorously labeled ""Opera in the Bath."""

affix

attach or add on; fasten / First the registrar had to affix his signature to the license; then he had to affix his official seal.

accolade

award of merit / "In Hollywood, an ""Oscar"" is the highest accolade."

accord

agreement / She was in complete accord with the verdict.

alias

an assumed name / John Smith's alias was Bob Jones.

accost

approach and speak first to a person / When the two young men accosted me, I was frightened because I thought they were going to attack me.

advent

arrival / Most Americans were unaware of the advent of the Nuclear Age until the news of Hiroshima reached them.

affected

artificial; pretended / His affected mannerisms irritated may of us who had known him before his promotion.

acquiesce

assent; agree passively / "Although she appeared to acquiesce to her employer's suggestions, I could tell she had reservations about the changes he wanted made. "

abet

assist, usually in doing something wrong / She was unwilling to abet him in the swindle he had planned.

abut

border upon; adjoin / Where our estates abut, we must build a fence.

actuarial

calculating; pertaining to insurance statistics / According to recent actuarial tables, life expectancy is greater today than it was a century ago.

allay

calm; pacify / The crew tried to allay the fears of the passengers by announcing that the fire had been controlled.

alacrity

cheerful promptness / He demonstrated his eagerness to serve by his alacrity in executing the orders of his master.

aghast

" horrified " / He was aghast at the nerve of the speaker who had insulted his host.

actuate

" motivate ;activate " / I fail to understand what actuated you to reply to this letter so nastily.

adversary

" opponent ; enemy" / Batman struggled to save Gotham City from the machinations of his wicked adversary, the Joker.

abjure

" renounce upon oath" / He abjured his allegiance to the king.

adherent

" supporter ; follower" / In the wake of the scandal, the senator's one-time adherent quietly deserted him.

affluence

"abundance; wealth; prosperity " / Foreigners are amazed by the affluence and luxury of the American way of life. The 1950s were an age of affluence in America.

abysmal

"extremely bad or of a very low standard, bottomless, terrible " / His arrogance is exceeded only by his abysmal ignorance.

adulterate

"make impure by mixing with baser substances, contaminate " / It is a crime to adulterate foods without informing the buyer. The water supply had been adulterated with chemicals from the soil.

acrimonious

"stinging, caustic; bitter ;angry and full of strong bitter feelings and words" / His tendency to utter acrimonious remarks alienated his audience. His parents went through an acrimonious divorce.

accoutre

equip / The fisherman was accoutred with the best that the sporting goods store could supply She arrived accoutred in an ankle-length leather coat.

accretion

growth; increase / The accretion of wealth marked the family's rise in power.

agenda

items of business at a meeting / We had so much difficulty agreeing upon an agenda that there was very little time for the meeting.

affiliation

joining; associating with / His affiliation with the political party was of short duration for he soon disagreed with his colleagues.

affinity

kinship / She felt an affinity with all who suffered; their pains were her pains.

abominate

loathe; hate / Moses scolded the idol worshippers in the tribe because he abominated the custom.

abase

lower; degrade; humiliate / Anna expected to have to curtsy to the King of Siam; when told to cast herself down on the ground before him, however she refused to abase herself.

alienate

make hostile; separate / Her attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith in each other.

alchemy

medieval chemistry / The changing of baser metals into gold was the goal of the students of alchemy.

acumen

mental keenness / His business acumen helped him to succeed where others had failed.

alloy

mixture as of metals / alloy of gold are used more frequently than the pure metal.

accelerate

move faster / In our science class, we learn how falling bodies accelerate.

addle

muddle; drive crazy;to make sb unable to think clearly; to confuse sb / This idiotic plan is confusing enough to addle anyone. Being in love must have addled your brain.

agility

nimbleness / The agility of the acrobat amazed and thrilled the audience.

alcove

nook; recess / Though their apartment lacked a full-scale dining room, an alcove adjacent to the living room made an adequate breakfast nook for the young couple.

agnostic

one who is skeptical of the existence of knowability of a god or any ultimate reality / The agnostic demanded proof before she would accept the statement of the minister.

agape

openmouthed / She stared, agape, at the many strange animals in the zoo.

absolve

pardon (an offense) / The father confessor absolved him of his sins. The court absolved him of all responsibility for the accident.

alimony

payments make to an ex-spouse after divorce / Because Tony had supported Tina through medical school, on their divorce he asked the court to award him $500 a month in alimony.