High Frequency GRE Words – Extraordinary Words and Extraordinary Illustrations!

Oh my God and Wow, that’s what this blog suggests exactly! Hey but wait for a moment some words here do represent pain and anguish, but believe me they are indispensable aspects of life aren’t they? That’s the reason we do find certain words in GRE that definitely speak on the above mentioned aspects of life. Let us from this list also learn a few words that are melancholic in nature. Let us also see some techniques to commit them permanently to our memory. So, as I always tell you let us now fold our sleeves up and sit alertly to look at and into these words and understand how they function. Let us also use them in context wherever possible in order to commit them to our memory indelibly. Here we go!!

 

• Lacerate: Did you ever see a barbed wire or a sharp object tear the skin of a person? Rip it apart? Oh, I am sorry to hurt you psychologically. But you did see such a thing. Lacerate is just that. To lacerate is to wound deeply. It also means to distress somebody deeply, emotionally. You can usually find this word in the ‘Analogy’ segment of GRE.

• Ravage: How it looks the second day on a battle field? You see warriors/soldiers walking around, introspecting the damages incurred. Hmm a very bad visual indeed! Ravage as a noun means ‘havoc’, ‘damage’. As a verb it means to do ruinous damage. Is that now clear?

• Decimate: Did you hear about epidemics like swine flu, bird flu, and plague. These horrendous epidemics are the diseases that are not permanent, neither specific to a place. Nevertheless they have a potential to wipe away a substantial part of the population. Gruesome! Aren’t they? The verb decimates means to destroy a substantial part. If you look at the word closely you have the root ‘deci’ which means the tenth part. So to decimate is to kill the tenth person. Can you now imagine the loss?

• Subvert: To subvert is to corrupt, to overthrow, to destroy, to ruin. History offers rich examples for a verb like this. Can you think of ‘fall of Roman, Mughal dynasties’ owing to subverters (noun)?

An illustration explains better:

“Schemes to subvert the liberties of a great community” (Alexander Hamilton)

(dictionary.com)

• Extort: Now I will take you all into the wonderful world of imagination. Visualize a rich heiress being surrounded by perpetrators holding guns and asking her to sign on documents against her will. Did you visualize a scene like that? And now when the heiress rejects signing, the perpetrators hold the gun against her head and thrust it even more violently. Well, well, well this is extortion (noun). To extort is to force a person to do something against his/her wish.

• Sabotage: Well some people want to foil the plans of others in an intelligent way. Ahem, at the same time they do not want to become unpopular. Sabotage is any underhand interference with work/production. Hmm let me think of some candid illustration. How many of you watched the movie Gladiator?? Russell Crowe as General Maximus stole the show didn’t he? Just recollect the last scene; the surreptitious and immoral Caesar injects poison into General Maximus just before the deadly duel. The craven Caesar wants to win the duel. I am sure you all understood. An act like that is nothing but sabotage.

• Jeopardize: How many of us seriously watch birds and animals. We hardly do that, do we? Most of the time we are bothered with thoughts on carving a niche for ourselves either in the academic or the professional world. But when we read journals pertaining to Zoology we realize that there are numerous species already extinct or at the verge of extinction. How sad?! Now jeopardize is this, when something is at the verge of extinction. It also means when the existence of some thing, could be anything, is endangered, means at risk. Could you now research for a day or two on some animals/birds that are jeopardized, i.e. animals/birds that are at the brink of extinction? You can spend a Sunday doing this, some interesting project work to all my students here. Well, do not forget sharing the names of ‘jeopardized’ species with us here.

I suggest you all to spend a little time with these words. Date them rather. They are really extraordinary and interesting. Try to recollect many visuals that relate to a specific word from the above list. Believe me, these are the words that keep appearing in GRE’s (Graduate Record Examination) Verbal Ability Section. (Antonyms, Analogies and Sentence Completion).

Some important advice:

Do not just read but work on these words. Use a notebook to jot them down and a dictionary to understand the meaning and the context better. As I always tell: Utter the words aloud- each word five times!!

Things you should never forget:

1. Work with the word.

2. Expand its meaning into a suitable context.

3. Relate it to the person or situation you know.

4. Share the word with your friends, colleagues

5. Try to pronounce the word aloud at least five times

Read this blog on extraordinary words more than once to comprehend its essence thoroughly. Do get back to us with queries in case you have any.

Wishing you all, success!!

Regards,

Anu Veluri

Manager- learnwordlist.com

35 Responses to “High Frequency GRE Words – Extraordinary Words and Extraordinary Illustrations!”

1. umar on November 22nd, 2009 3:00 pm

   yes.absolutely right..great words to remember and to work on them.

2. jayanth on December 5th, 2009 1:46 pm

   i think this small section on words of anguish was very educative.with such afine illustration i dont think i can forget those words that easily.. i have seriously learnt a novelmethod of memorizing words for the GRE ..thank u madam

3. AnuVeluri on December 7th, 2009 6:56 am

   Thanks Jayanth in fact there are many words like these that can be memorized easily..I have put them all on our blog segment..I wish you read them all…:-)

4. dastgirahmad on February 5th, 2010 4:11 pm

   thanks jayanth it was very helpful material…….

5. tato on February 5th, 2010 4:44 pm

   thank you sir for your help!

6. bisnu on February 5th, 2010 5:49 pm

   thats so nice to be………. really amazing

7. Neetu on February 6th, 2010 6:08 am

   THESE WORDS ARE REALLY VERY FANTASTIC

8. Neetu on February 6th, 2010 6:10 am

   THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP SIR

9. kiran on February 6th, 2010 9:23 am

   Its really a good job, u r doing.Learning words by illustration becomes easy for us not only to understand but also to memorise them……Many thanks.

10. JOSEPH MWANGALAWA on February 6th, 2010 10:04 am

    great word to understand and to use it at any place

11. Nowrooz on February 6th, 2010 11:01 am

    Thanks a lot for youre help and guidance.

12. AnuVeluri on February 6th, 2010 12:44 pm

    Hey Tato..when are you appearing for GRE??

13. AnuVeluri on February 6th, 2010 12:45 pm

    Hi Bisnu, pls do run through the other blogs you will find them all equally interesting..

14. AnuVeluri on February 6th, 2010 12:48 pm

    Yes Neetu and they keep appearing in GRE..Neetu become an active member in the forum and you will immensely enjoy the conversations going on there..

15. AnuVeluri on February 6th, 2010 12:49 pm

    Yes Kiran right said..that’s the reason it is very important to use the word in context..only then will you remember it forever…

16. AnuVeluri on February 6th, 2010 12:50 pm

    Joseph there are many other blogs in the blog segment dealing with many many interesting words like these..run through them all..and yes do join our forum and become an active member there…

17. AnuVeluri on February 6th, 2010 12:55 pm

    Thanks too Nowrooz read all the other blogs too…

18. rezvaneh on February 6th, 2010 6:28 pm

    Hi
    Thank you for your guidance.I find them very interesting.
    Best regards,
    rezvaneh

19. Chami on February 7th, 2010 9:22 pm

    Thanks for the guidance that u guys provide us.

20. AnuVeluri on February 8th, 2010 7:52 am

    Hey Rezvaneh, I find you on and off on the site..when is ur GRE??..:-)

21. AnuVeluri on February 8th, 2010 7:57 am

    Chami, why don’t you join in the forum and discuss these things with your friends? You can also start posting some interesting things there..

22. Muhammad Ahmad on February 8th, 2010 9:07 am

    exceptional, absolutely exceptional, i have found these words, easy to memorize, after having gone through a sentence, making its sense clear. they are ubiquitous and helpful to enhance someone’s vocablury for any kind of competitive exam.

23. The words hunter on February 8th, 2010 9:37 am

    Thanks a million for the kind help you are providing English language learners with. Really ,your approach is an innovative one.

24. Arthur on February 8th, 2010 4:47 pm

    Just wanna let you guys know that you are doing a very good job. Your efforts in helping us to learn new words with descrption is another way of reducing illiteracy world wide. Your work will not go in vaine. Continue the good job .

25. AnuVeluri on February 9th, 2010 4:41 am

    Thanks!! I am sure these techniques help general learners of English too…stay tuned..:-)

26. AnuVeluri on February 9th, 2010 4:49 am

    Thanks Arthur, when are you appearing for GRE?

27. adarsha kumar jena on February 10th, 2010 6:32 am

    i feel it the best way to learn word easily

28. AnuVeluri on February 10th, 2010 6:54 am

    Hi Adarsh, there are many more blogs that speak on Vocabulary learning techniques…do read them all…

29. kittu on February 20th, 2010 6:24 am

    i am very happy to receive these kinds of mails.really sir your work is appreciated.but sir there is some dificulty with me.i want to talk to a native speaker you know that i come to end my hesitation.but i unable to do it.will you please help me for this at anyhow…….i will be waiting…

    best regards
    kittu`

30. AnuVeluri on February 22nd, 2010 4:42 am

    Hey Kittu, u need not speak to a naive speaker alone..u can also speak to people who are fluent in English..and dear we cannot arrange anyone like that..:-)

31. sajida on February 26th, 2010 3:40 am

    thanks. its really very very good and amazing help for the english students and for the people who do not find time to go through the books for these amazing words. I feel very happy and easy to read these words with illustrations and its very easy to remember them as well. Once again I congratulate your team for such a fantastic job.

32. AnuVeluri on February 26th, 2010 8:15 am

    Thanks so much Sajida..but tell us one thing are u appearing for GRE??

33. Solomon Jemal on March 4th, 2010 5:49 am

    Dear sir, i need to improve my English. when i got this site i considered my self as the luckiest person. thankyou for delivering such an opportunity! my problem is i couldnt follow the lesson from the A word lists because my connection is poor. by the way i am writing from Ethiopia. my name is Solomon. i am Agricultural Researcher

34. Solomon Jemal on March 4th, 2010 5:51 am

    Dear sir, i need to improve my English. when i got this site i considered my self as the luckiest person. thankyou for delivering such an opportunity! my problem is i couldnt follow the lesson from the A word lists because my connection is poor. by the way i am writing from Ethiopia. my name is Solomon. i am Agricultural Researcher. could i get hard copies. my postal address is
    solomon jemal
    p.o.box 436
    Nazareth ,
    Ethiopia
    thankyou

35. AnuVeluri on March 4th, 2010 8:53 am

    We shall certainly try to help u..we dont promise though..

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