GRE BARRONS - 49
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74 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 1. velocity | N. speed. The train went by at considerable velocity. |
| 2. venal | ADJ. capable of being bribed. The venal policeman accepted the bribe offered him by the speeding motorist whom he had stopped. |
| 3. vendetta | N. blood feud. The rival mobs engaged in a bitter vendetta. |
| 4. vendor | N. seller. The fruit vendor sold her wares from a stall on the sidewalk. |
| 5. veneer | N. thin layer; cover. Casual acquaintances were deceived by his veneer of sophistication and failed to recognize his fundamental shallowness. |
| 6. venerable | ADJ. deserving high respect. We do not mean to be disrespectful when we refuse to follow the advice of our venerable leader. |
| 7. venerate | V. revere. In Tibet today, the common people still venerate their traditional spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. |
| 8. venial | ADJ. forgivable; trivial. When Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving sister, he committed a venial offense. |
| 9. venison | N. the meat of a deer. The hunters dined on venison. |
| 10. venom | N. poison; hatred. Bitten on his ankle by a venomous snake, the cowboy contortionist curled up like a pretzel and sucked the venom out of the wound. |
| 11. vent | V. express; utter. The wine did not flow because the air vent in the barrel was clogged. |
| 12. vent | N. small opening; outlet. We shall now examine the ventral plates of this serpent, not the dorsal side. |
| 13. ventral | V. abdominal. We shall now examine the ventral plates of this serpent, not the dorsal side. |
| 14. ventriloquist | N. someone who can make his or her voice seem to come from another person or thing. This ventriloquist does an act in which she has a conversation with a wooden dummy. |
| 15. venture | V. risk; dare; undertake a risk. Fearing to distress the actors, the timorous reviewer never ventured to criticize a performance in harsh terms. also N. |
| 16. venturesome | ADJ. bold. A group of venturesome women were the first to scale Mt. Annapurna. |
| 17. venue | N. location. The attorney asked for a change of venue; he thought his client would do better if the trial were held in a less conservative county. |
| 18. veracious | ADJ. truthful. I can recommend him for this position because I gave always found him veracious and reliable. veracity, N. |
| 19. veracity | N. truthfulness. Trying to prove Hill a liar, Senator Spector repeatedly questioned her veracity. |
| 20. verbalize | V. put into words. I know you don't like to talk about these things, but please try to verbalize your feelings. |
| 21. verbatim | ADV. word for word. He repeated the message verbatim. also ADJ.. |
| 22. verbiage | N. pompous array of words. After we had waded through all the verbiage, we discovered that the writer had said very little. |
| 23. verbose | ADJ. wordy. We had to make some major cuts in Senator Foghom's speech because it was far too verbose. verbosity, N. |
| 24. verdant | ADJ. green; lush in vegetation. Moner's paintings of the verdant meadows were symphonies in green. |
| 25. verdigris | N. green coating on copper that has been exposed to the weather. Despite all attempts to protect the statue from the elements, it became coated with verdigris. |
| 26. verge | N. border; edge. Madame Curie know she was on the verge of discovering the secrets of radioactive elements. also V. |
| 27. verisimilar | ADJ. probable or likely; having the appearance of truth. Something verisimilar is very similar to the truth, or at least seems to be. |
| 28. verisimilitude | N. appearance of truth; likelihood. Critics praised her for the verisimilitude of her performance as Lady Macbeth. She was completely believable. |
| 29. veritable | ADJ. actual; being truly so; not false or imaginary. At his computer, Pavel is a veritable wizard, creating graphic effects that5 seem magical to programmers less skilled than he. |
| 30. verity | N. quality of being true; lasting truth or principle. Do you question the verity of Kato Kaelin's testimony about what he heard the night Nicole Brown Simpson was slain? To the skeptic, everything was relative there were no eternal verities in which one could believe. |
| 31. vernacular | N. living language; natural style. Cut out those old-fashioned "thee's" and "thou's" and write in the vernacular. also ADJ. |
| 32. vernal | ADJ. pertaining to spring. We may expect vernal showers all during the month of April. |
| 33. versatile | ADJ. having many talents; capable of working in many fields. She was a versatile athlete, earning varsity fetters in basketball, hockey, and track. versatility, N. |
| 34. vertex | N. summit. Let us drop a perpendicular line from the vertex of the triangle to the base. vertices, PL |
| 35. vertigo | N. severe dizziness. When you test potential plane pilots for susceptibility to spells of vertigo, be sure to hand out airsick bags. |
| 36. verve | N. enthusiasm; liveliness. She approached her studies with such verve that it was impossible for her to do poorly. |
| 37. vestige | N. trace; remains. We discovered vestiges of early Indian life in the cave. |
| 38. vex | N. annoy; distress. Please try not to vex your mother; she is doing the best she can. |
| 39. viable | ADJ. practical or workable; capable of maintaining life. The plan to build a new baseball stadium, though missing a few details, is viable and stands a good chance of winning popular support. |
| 40. viand | N. food. There was a variety of viands at the feast. |
| 41. vicarious | ADJ. acting as a substitute; done by a deputy. Many people get a vicarious thrill at the movies by imagining they are the characters on the screen. |
| 42. vicissitude | N. change of fortune. Humbled by life's vicissitudes, the last emperor of China worked as a lowly gardener in the palace over which he had once ruled. |
| 43. victuals | N. food. I am very happy to be able to provide you with these victuals; I know you are hungry. |
| 44. vie | V. contend; compete. Politicians vie with one an other, competing for donations and votes. |
| 45. vigilant | ADJ. watchfully awake; alert to spot danger. From the battlement, the vigilant sentry kept his eyes open for any sign of enemy troops approaching. vigilance, N. |
| 46. vigor | N. active strength. Although he was over seventy years old, Jack had the vigor of a man in his prime. vigorous, ADJ. |
| 47. vignette | N. picture; short literary sketch. The New Yorker published her latest vignette. |
| 48. vilify | V. slander. Waging a highly negative campaign, the candidate attempted to vilify his opponent's reputation. vilification, N. |
| 49. vindicate | V. clear from blame; exonerate; justify or support. The lawyer's goal was to vindicate her client and prove him innocent on all charges. The critics' extremely favorable reviews vindicate my opinion that The Madness of King George is a brilliant movie. |
| 50. vindictive | ADJ. out for revenge; malicious. Divorce some times brings out a vindictive streak in people; when Tony told Tina he was getting a divorce, she poured green Jell-O into his aquarium and turned his tropical fish into dessert. |
| 51. vintner | N. winemaker; seller of wine. The poet wondered what the vintners could but that would be half as precious as the wine they sold. |
| 52. viper | N. poisonous snake. The habitat of the horned viper, a particularly venomous snake, is in sandy regions like the Sahara or the Sinai peninsula. |
| 53. virile | ADJ. manly. I do not accept the premise that a man is virile only when he is belligerent. |
| 54. virtual | ADJ. in essence; for practical purposes. She is a virtual financial wizard when it comes to money matters. |
| 55. virtue | N. goodness; moral excellence; good quality. A virtue carried to extremes can turn into something resembling vice; humility, for example, can degenerate into servility and spinelessness. |
| 56. virtuoso | N. highly skilled artist. The child prodigy Yehudi Menuhin grew into a virtuoso whose virtuosity on the violin thrilled millions. virtuosity, N. |
| 57. virulent | ADJ. extremely poisonous; hostile; bitter. Laid up with a virulent case of measles, Vera blamed her doctors because her recovery took so long. In fact, she became quite virulent on the subject of the quality of modern medical care. virulence, N. |
| 58. virus | N. disease communicator. The doctors are looking for a specific medicine to control this virus. |
| 59. visage | N. face; appearance. appearance. The stern visage of the judge indicated that she had decided to impose a severe penalty. |
| 60. visceral | ADJ. felt in one's inner organs. She disliked the visceral sensations she had whenever she rode the roller coaster. |
| 61. viscid | ADJ. adhesive; gluey. The trunk of the maple tree was viscid with sap. |
| 62. viscous | ADJ. sticky; gluey. gluey. Melted tar is a viscous substance. viscosity, N. |
| 63. vise | N. tool for holding work in place. Before filing its edges, the keysmith took the blank key and fixed it firmly between the jaws of a vise. |
| 64. visionary | ADJ. produced by imagination; fanciful; mystical. She was given to visionary schemes that never materialized. also N. |
| 65. vital | ADJ. vibrant and lively; critical; breathing; living; breathing. The vital, highly energetic first aid instructor stressed that it was vital in examining accident victims to note their vital signs. |
| 66. vitiate | V. spoil the effect of; make inoperative. Fraud will vitiate the contract. |
| 67. vitreous | ADJ. pertaining to or resembling glass. Although this plastic has many vitreous qualities such as transparency, it is unbreakable. |
| 68. vitriolic | ADJ. corrosive; sarcastic. Such vitriolic criticism is uncalled for. |
| 69. vituperative | ADJ. abusive; scolding. He became more vituperative as he realized that we were not going to grant him his wish. |
| 70. vivacious | ADJ. lively or animated; sprightly. She had always been vivacious and sparkling. |
| 71. vivisection | N. act of dissecting living animals. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals opposed vivisection and deplored the practice of using animals in scientific experiments. |
| 72. vixen | N. female fox; ill-tempered woman. Aware that she was right once again, he lost his temper and called her a shrew and a vixen. |
| 73. vociferous | ADJ. clamorous, noisy. The crowd grew vociferous in its anger and threatened to take the law into its own hands. |
| 74. vogue | N. popular fashion. Jeans became the vogue on many college campuses. |
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