PREPARE FOR THE GRE TEST WITH A NEW WORD EACH DAY

Welcome to my blog

Words and phrases shown on this blog are taken from actual speeches and written text in the public arena during the current week

I hope that GRE General Test Takers and others who aim to build their word power will find this blog useful

"Language is the medium of all understanding and all tradition

And language is not to be understood as an instrument or tool that we use, rather it is the medium in which we live" (Gadamer)



This is a work in progress.
- Your comments and suggestions are welcome
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

142. Repatriate


From, “In Search of Yield,” by Andrew Bary, 1/23/12, Barron’s:

MANY EXECUTIVES are understandably cautious about paying big dividends after the searing experience of 2008 and 2009, when a quarter of the companies in the S&P 500 were forced to cut payouts. Yet managements may be making a mistake now in favoring share buybacks. Even with the problem posed by the repatriation of foreign income, companies generally have plenty of U.S. profits to pay nice dividends.

Repatriation: The act of restoring or returning to country of origin

Monday, January 30, 2012

141. Milquetoast


Tom McLaughlin in his 1/25/12 blog wrote, “Fiery or Milquetoast?” as he compared Newt Gingrich to Mitt Romney.
On CNN on 1/30/12, a political guest said Romney was milquetoast.

Milquetoast: a person who is timid or submissive

Sunday, January 29, 2012

140. Abjure


From, Piers Morgan interview with Alec Baldwin, Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN, aired on 1/25/12:

Baldwin: “Obama is responsible for stabilizing the economy. I mean, I thought -- I look at the Republican Party and I look at men who are the standard bearers of Wall Street, I mean, not that Obama is someone who has, you know, abjured Wall Street money in his -- in his campaign, but I look at these men like Romney who are just -- I mean they might as well put Romney's picture on Monopoly money.”

Abjure: renounce; repudiate

Saturday, January 28, 2012

139. Skirmish

From, “Grief Could Join List of Disorders,” by Benedict Carey, 1/24/12, The New York Times:

In a bitter skirmish over the definition of depression, a new report contends that a proposed change to the diagnosis would characterize grieving as a disorder and greatly increase the number of people treated for it. 

Skirmish: A minor or preliminary conflict or dispute

Friday, January 27, 2012

138. Bloviate; Doppelganger

From, “The Gusts of Gingrich,” by Frank Bruni, 1/23/12, The New York Times:

His greater liabilities were his wildly mixed messages, gross overstatements and insistence on inserting himself — like some mouthy Gump doppelgänger with a doctorate — into every key moment of the late 20th century. Gingrich was supposed to bloviate his way into oblivion.
Instead he bloviated his way to a 12-point victory in South Carolina and a credible shot at the Republican nomination. Grandiosity, it turns out, is good.

Doppelganger: someone who looks like someone else; A ghost that looks like a living person
Bloviate: To discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner

Thursday, January 26, 2012

137. Swathe


From, “Argentina’s drought: counting the costs,” by Jude Webber, 1/23/12, Financial Times:

The drought sweeping swathes of South America’s prime farmland is really starting to bite in Argentina now as farmers count the cost of irrevocably lost crops.

Swathe: A row or line of grass, grain, or other crop as it lies when mown or reaped.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

136. Disparate


From, “The Flavor in That Cabernet? It's Meteorite,” by Carol Pinchefsky, 1/23/12, Forbes:

Winemaker Ian Hutcheon, who managed to combine two disparate passions—winemaking and astronomy—in a way that motorcyclists who are also soufflĂ© chefs would be envious of, used meteorite not merely for its tangy hint of space dust.

Disparate: not allowing comparison; essentially different in kind

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

135. Unfettered; Schism


From, “Taiwan Election Stirs Hopes Among Chinese for Democracy,” by Andrew Jacobs, 1/16/12, The New York Times:

“To allow unfettered news media coverage of the race was out of the question, but to strangle the news online of a major international story might have provoked an uncomfortable backlash from China’s increasingly savvy Internet users.”

Unfettered: not restricted

“While the governing Communist Party has long sought to portray democracy as unsuitable for the Chinese nation, it also considers Taiwan a part of China — despite a six-decade schism during which the island of 23 million has developed strongly held ideas about free speech and self-determination.”

Schism: a separation or division into factions; discord

Monday, January 23, 2012

134. Senescence

From, “A Sharper Mind, Middle Age and Beyond,” by Patricia Cohen, 1/19/12, The New York Times:

Of course, certain capabilities fall off as you approach 50. Memories of where you left the keys or parked the car mysteriously vanish. Words suddenly go into hiding as you struggle to remember the guy, you know, in that movie, what was it called? And calculating the tip on your dinner check seems to take longer than it used to.
Yet it is also true that there is no preordained march toward senescence.

Senescence: the state or process of ageing, especially in humans; old age

Sunday, January 22, 2012

133. Sultry


From, “Remembering Etta James,” by Paul Devlin, 1/20/12, The Root:

“Music has lost another icon, the miraculously voiced Etta James, whose sultry soul, going back to the 1950s, provided a mature sound track for several generations.”

Sultry: attractive in a way that suggests a passionate nature

Saturday, January 21, 2012

132. Enteric


From, “A Gut Check for Many Ailments,” by Shirley S. Wang, 1/17/12, The Wall Street Journal:

“The gut—considered as a single digestive organ that includes the esophagus, stomach and intestines—has its own nervous system that allows it to operate independently from the brain.
This enteric nervous system is known among researchers as the "gut brain." It controls organs including the pancreas and gall bladder via nerve connections. Hormones and neurotransmitters generated in the gut interact with organs such as the lungs and heart.”

Enteric: of, relating to, or occurring in the intestines

Friday, January 20, 2012

131. Scintilla


In the CNN political debate on 1/19, Mitt Romney stated that one of his opponents’ statements had only a scintilla of truth.

Scintilla: a very small amount of something; a tiny trace or spark of a specified quality or feeling

Thursday, January 19, 2012

130. Egregious; Schadenfreude


From, “Chef [Paula Deen] Has Diabetes, and Some Say ‘I Told You So’” by Julia Moskin, 1/17/12, The New York Times:

“There’s no question that she [Deen] was the face of a certain kind of egregious indulgence,” he [Andrew Essex] said. “If she can now become the face of healthy living, it will be a Gatsby-esque turnaround.”

Egregious: conspicuously bad or offensive

Her [Deen’s] revelation also adds a fresh story line to a roiling national debate about obesity, with elements of celebrity, schadenfreude and the current popular favorite, class warfare.

Schadenfreude: pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

129. Assiduous

From, “Giuseppe Quintarelli, Revered Vintner, Dies at 84,” by Eric Asimov, 1/16/12, The New York Times:

“Giuseppe, Silvio’s youngest son, started working on the estate in the 1950s, and worked assiduously to improve methods of farming and making wine. He extended the domain and was relentlessly experimental even as he adhered to traditional techniques.”

Assiduous: constant in application or attention; diligent; unceasing

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

128. Predilection

From, “Exit Left, Wordlessly,” by Aimee Lee Ball, 1/12/12, The New York Times:

“But it’s often hard to “get” someone else’s pastimes. Some people can’t relate to my predilection for rummaging through piles of old quilts at flea markets, or spending three days cooking cassoulet. This man explained that he loved the horseback riding and the chance, as a divorced father, to bond with his son, then 10 years old.”

Predilection: a preference or special liking for something; a bias in favor of something

Monday, January 16, 2012

127. Minnow


From, “So what DID cause the liner to hit the rocks? Human error, electrical failure and uncharted obstruction are all theories to be investigated,” by David Derbyshire, The Daily Mall (UK) online, 1/15/12:

“Even the Costa Concordia is no minnow. As the 26th largest passenger ship in the world, its 13 passenger decks are stacked on a vessel nearly 1,000 ft long and 100ft high above the water. When it set sail from Italy on Friday, it resembled a floating office block, rather than a conventional ship.”

Minnow: a very small fish

Sunday, January 15, 2012

126. Afflict


From, “Fatal Stampede in South Africa Points Up University Crisis,” by Lydia Polgreen, 1/10/12, The New York Times:

“They lined up well before dawn, some driving from the deep countryside with bags of fluffy blankets and neatly packed sandwiches, to wait for the gates to a new life to open. They hoped for a shot at a coveted spot at one of South Africa’s public universities, and with it a chance to escape the indignity of joblessness that afflicts more than a third of the nation. By morning, the line was more than a mile long.”

Afflict: To inflict grievous physical or mental suffering on

Saturday, January 14, 2012

125. Inexorable


From, “A Perfect Doll,” by Maureen Dowd, 1/10/12, The New York Times:

“Although Mitt has studied his dad’s mistakes in that race carefully, he seems to be inexorably repeating some of them.”

Inexorable: impossible to stop or prevent

Friday, January 13, 2012

124. Inimitable; Terroir


From, “Prosecco Growers Act to Guard Its Pedigree,” by Alan Tardi, 1/10/12, The New York Times:

“There is nothing that says a prosecco must be bubbly, either. Though uncommon, nonsparkling prosecco is an intriguing wine that retains the inimitable character of the glera grape, as the prosecco grape is now called, and the unique terroir it comes from. Adami, for example, makes a beautifully aromatic prosecco tranquillo in which the absence of bubbles seems to make the particularities of site and grape stand out even more.”

Inimitable: Defying imitation; matchless.
Terroir: the complete set of local conditions in which a particular wine or family of wines is produced, including soil-type, weather conditions, topography and wine-making savoir-faire

Thursday, January 12, 2012

123. Salient


From, “Paved, but Still Alive,” by Michael Kimmelman, 1/6/12, The New York Times:

“In “Rethinking a Lot,” a new study of parking, due out in March, Eran Ben-Joseph, a professor of urban planning at M.I.T., points out that “in some U.S. cities, parking lots cover more than a third of the land area, becoming the single most salient landscape feature of our built environment.””

Salient: prominent

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

122. Antediluvian


From, “The Grating Santorum,” by Maureen Dowd, 1/7/12, The New York Times:

“Even for Santorum, it was a masterpiece of antediluvian abrasiveness — slapping gays and Mormons at the same time.”

Antediluvian: outmoded; old fashioned

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

121. Recumbent


From, “The 27 Rules of Conquering the Gym,” by Jason Gay, 1/5/12, The Wall Street Journal:

"4. No one in the history of gyms has ever lost a pound while reading "The New Yorker" and slowly pedaling a recumbent bicycle. No one."

Recumbent: lying down (especially of a person or human figure)

Monday, January 9, 2012

120. Contrarian


 From, “The Money Paradox,” by Martin Conrad, 12/31/11, The Wall Street Journal:

“Disciplined independent analysis done under intense market pressure will inevitably be contrarian. But the usual pernicious effect of the mass media is to magnify the intensity of the destructive conformist pressure and to make effective contrarianism very difficult.”

Contrarian: opposing or rejecting popular opinion
Pernicious: having a harmful effect, esp in a gradual or subtle way; malign

Sunday, January 8, 2012

119. Raucous


From, “Apropos Appropriation,” by Randy Kennedy, 12/28/11, The New York Times:

“ONE recent afternoon in the offices of the Midtown law firm run by David Boies and his powerful litigation partners, a large black clamshell box sat on a conference table. Inside were raucous, sometimes wildly funny collages of photographs and magazine pages handmade by the artist Richard Prince, works of art that have become the ur-texts of one of the most closely watched copyright cases ever to rattle the world of fine art.”

Raucous: harsh; disturbingly loud noise

Saturday, January 7, 2012

118. Semiotics


From, The Oscars. The Winner Is ... Wait! New Rule! By Michael Cieply, 12/20/11, The New York Times:

"The semiotics were unmistakable. Mr. Firth’s movie [The King’s Speech] had the top Oscar in the bag, and everyone knew it."

Semiotics: the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation

Friday, January 6, 2012

117. Lambaste; Cede


From, The New York Times Editorial, Where the Real Jobs Are, Published: January 1, 2012:

“This is precisely the moment for him [Pres. Obama] to argue the case for alternative fuel sources and clean energy jobs — and to lambaste the Republicans for doubling down on conventional fuels while ceding a $5 trillion global clean technology market (and the jobs that go with it) to more aggressive competitors like China and Germany.”


Lambaste: criticize [someone or something] harshly
Cede: to give up power/territory; yield; relinquish

Thursday, January 5, 2012

116. Vapid


 From, "Iraq: The gloves come off," by Robert Grenier, 1/2/12, Aljazeera:

“First, it should be acknowledged that the complaints of President Obama’s Republican critics are vapid.”

Vapid: offering nothing that is stimulating or challenging; dull

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

115. Pervasive


From, “Can The Gap Come Back?” by Michael Santoli, 12/26/11, Barron’s:

“Pervasive skepticism is often a bullish indicator, but in Gap's case, only better results at the cash register will make the stock fly.”

Pervasive: spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people; penetrative

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

114. Samizdat


From, “How to Ace a Google Interview,” by William Poundstone, 12/24/11, The Wall Street Journal:

“And though Google doesn't comment on the specifics of its hiring process—it likes to maintain an air of mystery, which has led to a cottage industry of samizdat Google questions passed among hopeful future employees and curious outsiders—former and current Google HR specialists have shared rather freely with me what it is that motivates the way they interview job candidates.”

Samizdat: The clandestine copying and distribution of literature banned by the state, esp. formerly in communist countries.

Monday, January 2, 2012

113. Exacerbate


From, “If Your Teeth Could Talk ...” by Melinda Beck, 12/27/11, The Wall Street Journal:

“It's not just that the same lifestyle habits contribute to both gum disease and high blood sugar; the two conditions exacerbate each other, experts say. Inflammation from infected gums makes it more difficult for people with diabetes to control their blood-sugar level, and high blood sugar accelerates tooth decay and gum disease, creating more inflammation.”

Exacerbate: make a [problem, bad situation] worse; aggravate

Sunday, January 1, 2012

112. Palimpsest


From, “This Is How the End Begins,” by Manohla Dargis, 12/30/11, The New York Times:

“Many of the movie’s [Melancholia] themes are introduced in the first eight minutes, a masterpiece in miniature that is a palimpsest of literary, artistic and cinematic allusions.”


Palimpsest:  a manuscript that has been written on more than once; something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface