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
- Hope you will visit often, and share this blog with your friends

Monday, April 30, 2012

210. Austere


From, “Walk the Prank: Secret Story of Mysterious Portrait at Pentagon,” by Adam Entous, 4/16/12, The Wall Street Journal:

In a Pentagon hallway hung an austere portrait of a Navy man lost at sea in 1908, with his brass buttons, blue-knit uniform and what looks like meticulously blow-dried hair.

Wait. Blow-dried hair?

The portrait of "Ensign Chuck Hord," framed in the heavy gilt typical of government offices, may be the greatest—or perhaps only—prank in Pentagon art history. "Chuck Hord" can't be found in Navy records of the day. It isn't even a real painting. The textured, 30-year-old photo is actually of Capt. Eldridge Hord III, 53 years old, known to friends as "Tuck," a military retiree with a beer belly and graying hair who lives in Burke, Va.

Austere: severe or strict in manner, attitude or appearance

Sunday, April 29, 2012

209. Drag; Compounding


From, “What a Drag!” by Jonathan R. Laing, 4/16/12, Barron’s:

You don't need a Ph.D. in math to know that student-loan debt is compounding at an alarming rate. In the last six weeks alone, two new government reports have detailed the growing student debt burden, which has no doubt contributed to the weak economic recovery and could remain a drag on growth for decades to come.

First came a report early last month from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York stating that the $870 billion in loans carried by some 37 million present and former students exceeded the money owed by all Americans for auto loans, as of the Sept. 30 end of the government's 2011 fiscal year. It's also greater than credit-card debt.

The report went on to note that delinquencies, officially reported at about 10% of outstanding loans, were actually more than twice that number when things like loan-payment deferrals for current full-time students were properly accounted for.

Drag: the action of pulling something forcefully or with difficulty
Compound: to pay (interest) on both the accrued interest and principal

Saturday, April 28, 2012

208. Ostensibly


From, “What Cocktail Parties Teach Us,” by Melinda Beck, 4/23/12, The Wall Street Journal:

Many more people think they can effectively multitask, but they are really shifting their attention rapidly between two things and not getting the full effect of either, experts say.

Indeed, some college professors have barred students from bringing laptop computers to their classrooms, even ostensibly to take notes. Dr. Beck says she was surprised to find that some of her students were on Facebook during her lectures—even though the course was about selective attention.

Ostensibly: apparently; seemingly [appearing to be true but not necessarily so]

Friday, April 27, 2012

207. Feat


From, “The Guide to Beating a Heart Attack,” by Ron Winslow, 4/16/12, The Wall Street Journal:

Here's the good news: Heart disease and its consequences are largely preventable. The bad news is that nearly one million Americans will suffer a heart attack this year.

Deaths from coronary heart disease in the U.S. have been cut by 75% during the past 40 years. Hospital admissions for heart attack among the elderly fell by nearly 25% in a five-year period during the last decade, a remarkable feat when many experts had expected the aging population to cause an increase in the problem.

Feat: an achievement that requires great courage, skill or strength

Thursday, April 26, 2012

206. Procrastinate


From, “Permission to Procrastinate: Wait to Get a New Laptop,” by Walter S. Mossberg, 4/18/12, The Wall Street Journal:

If you're thinking of buying a new laptop this spring, my advice is to think again. Unless your laptop is on its last legs and you have to move quickly, there are compelling reasons to wait until at least the summer, and probably the fall, to buy a new machine, especially if you are looking for a Windows PC, but even if you are in the market for a Mac.

That makes this annual spring buyer's guide a bit different. People always worry that buying tech products today carries a risk of obsolescence. Most of the time, that fear is overblown. But this spring really is a bad time to buy a new laptop, because genuinely big changes are due in the coming months.

Procrastinate: delay or postpone action; to put off doing something


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

205. Gallipoli

[Taken by JHM, Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey]

From, “ANZAC Day dawn services,” NineMSN News, 4/25/12:

Thousands of Australians rose early to pay respect to the nation's fallen diggers in Anzac Day dawn services around the country this morning.

It is 97 years since Australian soldiers stormed the beaches of Gallipoli early on the morning of 25 April, 1915.

A father who has brought his children to every dawn service but one in the last 15 years summed up the mood: "I always have a tear in the eye by the end of the service."

Gallipoli is a peninsula located in Turkish Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean sea to the West and the Darndenelle straits to the East.

Friday, April 20, 2012

204. Implores


From, “Why You Should Watch Oprah Winfrey's OWN,” by Michael Arceneaux, 4/9/12,
The Root:

Writing at Ebony.com, Michael Arceneaux implores readers not to give up on the media queen's latest venture, which is struggling in the ratings. He argues that most networks take years to "find their groove" and wonders why we won't give Winfrey's the same opportunity to grow and improve:

Implore: to beg for urgently; beseech

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

203. Formidable; Recede; Deride; Monolith; Inchoate


From, “Gloria Steinem, a Woman Like No Other,” by Sarah Hepola, 3/16/12, The New York Times:

History’s most formidable figures have always been a tough act to follow, of course. There will never be another Martin Luther King Jr., but Jesse Jackson was certainly waiting in the wings to give it a go….

Twenty years after Ms. Faludi and Ms. Wolf burst onto the scene, both have receded from the front lines. For her part, Ms. Faludi said she was not interested in leading any battles….

“Gloria Steinem did not invent feminism,” said Rebecca Traister, author of “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” “She was a figurehead chosen by the media for complicated reasons. She was young and white and pretty, and she looked great on magazine covers. I’m not deriding her. She tells this story about herself.”….

This was back when the three big networks and a handful of must-read magazines could anoint even a reluctant spokesperson, which Ms. Steinem certainly was. But that star-making monolith has splintered into a pluralism of blogs, social media and niche cable outlets….

And so the 21st century labors on with a more inchoate sense of feminist leadership….

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Formidable: inspiring fear or respect through being impressively large, powerful, intense, or capable
Recede: go or move back or further away from a previous position
Deride: express contempt for; ridicule
Monolith: a very large and powerful organization that acts as a single unit; a massive structure
Inchoate: just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

202. Cohort


From, “Insta-Rich: $1 Billion for Instagram, Facebook Inks Its Biggest Deal Ever; Neutralizes Threat from a Hot Photo Start-Up,” by Shayndi Raice and Spencer E. Ante, 4/10/12, The Wall Street Journal:

Instagram is one of a cohort of young start-ups that have built products around the iPhone and have registered incredibly fast growth in a short period of time. The company bills its service as a fun and quirky way to share photos with friends. A user can snap a photo with an iPhone, then choose a filter to transform the look of the shot, say by giving it the look of an old Polaroid.

Cohort: a group of people banded together or treated as a group

Monday, April 16, 2012

201. Modicum


From, “Years After Acid Horror, Suicide Stirs Pakistan,” by Declan Walsh, 4/9/12, The New York Times:

Fakhra Younas went under the surgeon’s knife 38 times, hoping to repair the gruesome damage inflicted by a vengeful Pakistani man who had doused her face in acid a decade earlier, virtually melting her mouth, nose and ears.
The painful medical marathon took place in Rome, a distant city that offered Ms. Younas refuge, the generosity of strangers and a modicum of healing. She found an outlet in writing a memoir and making fearless public appearances.

Modicum: a small, moderate, or token amount

Saturday, April 14, 2012

200. Prolong

Botanical Garden in Kandy, Sri Lanka [photo taken by JHM]    [click on image to enlarge]


From, “Why Trees Matter,” by Jim Robbins, 4/11/12, The New York Times:

TREES are on the front lines of our changing climate. And when the oldest trees in the world suddenly start dying, it’s time to pay attention.
North America’s ancient alpine bristlecone forests are falling victim to a voracious beetle and an Asian fungus. In Texas, a prolonged drought killed more than five million urban shade trees last year and an additional half-billion trees in parks and forests. In the Amazon, two severe droughts have killed billions more.
The common factor has been hotter, drier weather.

Prolong: extend the duration of

Friday, April 13, 2012

199. Neophyte


From, “Obama Embraces National Security as Campaign Issue,” by Helene Cooper, 4/6/12, The New York Times:

At the same time, the Obama campaign is seeking to portray Mitt Romney, the likely Republican nominee, as a national security neophyte whose best ideas are simply retreads of what the president is already doing, and whose worst instincts would take the country back to the days of President George W. Bush: cowboy diplomacy, the Iraq war and America’s lowest standing on the international stage.

Neophyte: a beginner or novice

Thursday, April 12, 2012

198. Internet Meme


From, “State of Cool,” by Maureen Dowd, 4/10/12, The New York Times:

Hillary Clinton cemented her newly cool image and set off fresh chatter about her future when she met at the State Department with two young men who created a popular Internet meme showing photos of the secretary of state on a military plane, wearing big sunglasses, checking her BlackBerry and looking as if she’s ready to ice somebody.
The pictures, as Raymond Chandler would say, make Hillary look “as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.”
The meme, which exploded on Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter, was dreamed up last Wednesday by Hillary fans Adam Smith and Stacy Lambe, communications specialists here in Washington, at the gay sports bar Nellie’s.

Internet meme: A concept, cultural idea, an image, video, etc. that is passed electronically from one Internet user to another

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

197. Vagary


From, “On Jobs, Obama and Romney Argue Over Fullness of the Glass,” by Mark Landler, 4/6/12, The New York Times:

The president’s advisers said it made little sense to get caught up in the vagaries of the job report, as long as the economy’s overall trend was upward. The monthly report, they noted, is subject to volatility, is frequently revised up or down in subsequent months, and has a margin of error of 100,000 jobs.

Vagaries: an unexpected and inexplicable change in a situation or in someone's behavior; whim

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

196. Herculean


From, “Native Tongues,” Lapham’s Quarterly, 4/5/12:

The fieldwork was Herculean.
Herculean, that is, in the performance of the lexical work alone One shouldn’t forget the nonlexical difficulties the fieldworkers might have encountered too. This being the late sixties, the time of Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, My Lai, and the Watts riots, suspicion, hostility, and violence abounded—and not a few of the volunteers, especially the shaggier-haired and more obviously intrusive and inquisitive, were chased out of town, threatened, and even arrested, accused of stirring things up and fomenting trouble.

Herculean: requiring great strength or effort, extraordinary power (derived from the mythological Hercules)

Monday, April 9, 2012

195. Nascent


From, “Rise in Phoenix Housing Shows Path for Other Cities,” by Nick Timiraos, 3/13/12, The Wall Street Journal:

As home prices continue to drop in most cities, a nascent real-estate rebound here holds lessons for the rest of the country.
This sprawling desert metropolis was one of the hardest hit housing markets during the bust. Phoenix home prices declined 55% from 2006 through the end of 2011, and Arizona's foreclosure rate jumped to No. 3 in the nation in 2009. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners are underwater, meaning they owe more than their homes are worth.

Nascent: just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential; not yet fully developed

Sunday, April 8, 2012

194. Xenophobia


From, “Even by local standards, the French President's recent burst of xenophobia is pretty cynical,” by Nicolas Le Pen, 3/13/12, The Wall Street Journal:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ramped up the anti-immigrant rhetoric in recent days, telling a TV audience last week that France has "too many foreigners" and offering to cut the number of immigrants admitted to France by half should he be re-elected to a second term. Then on Sunday, before a monster rally in a stadium near Paris, he threatened to suspend France's participation in Schengen, Europe's internal borderless-travel zone, unless it is reformed to better keep out the great unwashed.

Xenophobia: intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

193. Ecstasy


From, “California's Greek Tragedy,” by Michael J.Boskin and John F. Cogan, 3/13/12, The Wall Street Journal:

Long a harbinger of national trends and an incubator of innovation, cash-strapped California eagerly awaits a temporary revenue surge from Facebook IPO stock options and capital gains. Meanwhile, Stockton may soon become the state's largest city to go bust. Call it the agony and ecstasy of contemporary California.

Harbinger: a forerunner of something; precursor
Ecstasy: an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement

Friday, April 6, 2012

192. Decadent; Tangible


From, “Don't Call It Pampering: Massage Wants to Be Medicine,” by Andrea Petersen, 3/13/12, The Wall Street Journal:

While massage may have developed a reputation as a decadent treat for people who love pampering, new studies are showing it has a wide variety of tangible health benefits.
Research over the past couple of years has found that massage therapy boosts immune function in women with breast cancer, improves symptoms in children with asthma, and increases grip strength in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. Giving massages to the littlest patients, premature babies, helped in the crucial task of gaining weight.

Decadent: characterized by or reflecting a state of moral or cultural decline
Tangible: perceptible by touch

Thursday, April 5, 2012

191. Outlier


From, “Appetites of a Poetry Virtuoso in America - ‘Collected Poems’ by Jack Gilbert,” by Dwight Garner, 3/13/12, The New York Times:

“Games” is in some respects a good example of Mr. Gilbert’s work. It is plain-spoken, unmetered, pared to essentials. It’s as weathered as a piece of driftwood or a late Chet Baker song.
In other respects, though, it’s an outlier. As his new “Collected Poems” makes clear, Mr. Gilbert is generally wilier than this.

Outlier: a value far from most others in a set of data

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

190. Aura

The Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka built in1837   [photo taken by JHM]

From a tourist magazine. "Adjacent to the Colombo Harbour, lies the stately Grand Oriental Hotel. Witness to a history of close to 200 years, it caters a unique aura of a resplendent past intermingled with the best of modern luxuries."
I enjoyed my stay at this hotel.

Aura:  the distinctive atmosphere or quality that seems to surround and be generated by a person, thing, or place