Pariah

A person who is rejected or outcast from the society or home, untouchable like: Harijans in India.

Explanation

During earlier years of society reforms, dictatorship was on its peak. Anybody who dared to challenge the society norms laid down by clergies, was a pariah in the society.

The unfortunate boy was a pariah.

Bolster

A structural design to provide support like pillow; to buoy up or hearten

Explanation

Flood victims’ morale bolstered when rescue efforts reached them on time. This was great relief for them.

Aged people need a bolster support to their spine in order to sit properly.

Nemesis

An insurmountable opponent (enemy), according to Greek mythology it represents goddess of vengeance

Explanation

It seemed that my business was under the grip of a Nemesis. I experienced such a hard time that I broke into tears. I cannot forget that unfortunate spell of my life. I could not figure out the strategy to deal with.

Desiccate

Remove the moisture; to make fully dry; lifeless

Plants get desiccated if water is not provided for weeks. This is a season of scorching heat moist the plants time and again to avoid desiccation.

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Exorcise

Sounds like exercise; however it is a totally different word. It means to expel evil spirit from a person or a place. Expulsion can be done by incantation, command, or prayer. Eg. There were many spooky stories about a haunted house in my neighborhood. Local people had called a clergyman to perform sanctification rituals in order to exorcise the house.

Reproach

Mind it! It is not re approach. Reproach means, disapproval, criticism, or disappointment in someone. Eg. Alisha’s new boss is quite fussy about every minute detail. He never appreciates her work easily.  Due to nerve-racking attitude of her boss she is reproached by him so many times on different occasions.

Fatuous

It is not related to fat or being plump. It means inanely foolish (unconsciously). It is an adjective form of noun fatuity, which means utter foolishness. Eg. Banker was so smart to lure me with attractive investment plans. I blindly put my money in one of such schemes; at last I lost almost half of money fatuously.

Deference

Spells like difference. Deference is a quite different word which means humble respect. Also, keep in mind ‘Defer’ which means put off, is not abbreviated form of deference. Eg. My parents are quite renowned personalities of town. In deference to my parents, I do not wish to do anything which can harm their good repute.

Aforementioned are only a few words from huge repository of words. Vocabulary is an important aspect of GRE exam. There is no second notion to this truth. I hope the above mentioned words have definitely increased your word power. Also, do not forget to revise these words from time to time.

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Prodigal

One who expands money unneeded; given in abundance; example, 1- Don’t be a Prodigal, be judicious and save something for your future. 2- Any affluent person can become penniless if he keeps being a Prodigal.

Fervid

Characterized by intense emotion, extreme love or hate; extremely hot and burning; example, 1- He is a fervid patriot, he lost his elder son in a war still he is ready to admit his younger one in Army. 2- His fervid speech against corruption touched the hearts of millions.

Lucid

Easily understood, sane, transparent; example, 1- The people loved the lucid speech of the politician because his ideas and principles were understood by everybody in the town.  2- Lucid philosopher can turn fantasy into reality following predetermined conventions of society.

Erudite

Having or showing intense knowledge; example, 1- I would expect a person of your erudition to sort out this baffled situation. 2- I need to find a tutor with exceptional erudition, to make sure I know all, which is required to succeed in GRE exam.

Equivocal

Ambiguous; uncertain nature; example, Politicians are famed for providing equivocal answers to straight questions; example:Susan seemed very equivocal about whether she liked the recent movie or not, as she has a no interest for unconventional movies.

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Levee- it has two meanings its primary meaning is an embankment, and second meaning suggests, a formal reception, as by royalty. Let’s see its usage in sentence: Eventually, I came out in the harsh sun and crossed the dusty road to the levee bank. All the prominent figures from political domain are heading towards levee thrown by their leader after landslide victory in recent plebiscite.

Quibble - primary meaning is to make trivial objections to evade truth: prevaricate, and secondary meaning conveys, to find fault or criticize others for trivial reasons; examples, the victim was horrified as she was threatened to chop the evidences small and quibble in order save her near and dear. We all do minor quibble while purchasing, to procure the best deal.

Tangential- its first meaning conveys relating to something or moving along with tangent and its secondary meaning is merely touching or slightly connected; example, we should not dither to abandon tangential ideas to get the more direct one.

Idolatry- its primary meaning is worship of idols and secondary meaning is blind or excessive devotion to something; examples, Religious Indians are firm believers of idolatry. The idolatry of masses towards political figures is despicable.

Exercise for you:

There are more words which have multiple meanings. Search them and make a list of popular words.

Learn all possible meanings with the context.

Last but not the least, read above mentioned words at least twice.

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Roseate – it has two meaning its primary meaning is Rose- colored. As flower rose suggests blissfulness. Roseate secondary meaning conveys same; its secondary meaning suggest being optimistic; cheerful, bright. Roseate works as an adjective in a sentence; like roseate light, roseate financial project, roseate spoonbills (type of bird).

Saturnine- it is a word having a negative connotation. Its primary meaning conveys having a gloomy temperament. Saturnine also suggests something related to lead (develop by lead absorption, having lead poisoning). Saturnine works as an adjective in sentence. It can be use in sentence; like saturnine state (your son’s saturnine state), saturnine look (boy looked at the picture with a saturnine). It can be attached with any common nouns (saturnine place, saturnine man).

Tessellated – it means a decoration composed of multicolor like inlaid; mosaic. It works as an adjective in sentence. Its noun form (tessellation) is also used in sentences. It can be used in sentences; like, tessellated pavement, tessellated floor, and tessellated geometrical figures.

Uncouth – it means ungraceful; unrefined; lacking in good manners. It works as an adjective in sentence. It can be used in sentences like, uncouth appearance, uncouth behavior, and an uncouth relative.

Gingerly- it can be used as an adjective and adverb in a sentence. Its adjectival meanings are being cautious, reluctant, or timid, and its adverbial meanings are taking with great care or delicacy. It can be used in sentences like, gingerly manner (I tiptoed gingerly through the mine field), gingerly touching.

Do not forget;

Review all words from time to time,
Never learn word with out its contextual meaning,
Always take in account all the possible meaning of words,
Prepare a list of root words,
Keep reviewing your vocabulary learning tactics from time to time,
Last but not the least; do take vocabulary tests every week or fortnights.

If you follow the above mentioned suggestions religiously then nothing can stop you from excelling in the verbal section. Kindly do write us your feedback on this blog by filling up the feedback section beneath this article.

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Acclimate (verb):  to accustom in new surroundings; gradual adaptation (like situation, climate); for example, People find it difficult to acclimate to changed weather conditions. While scaling, mountain climber have to acclimate slowly to avoid high altitude sickness.

Note: Many a time acclimate is confused with acclamation. Do bear in mind that these two are separate words where acclimate means adaptation, acclamation means loud shout.

Remember my last post where I had discussed ‘Break the Word’ technique for better learning of the word.

Alacrity (noun): thrill with joy, cheerful promptness, aliveness; for example: One remains spellbound at the alacrity of James Bond!

Alacrity can be broken ‘as all is in my kitty’. When every thing goes into your kitty you are thrilled with joy (alacrity).

Allegiance means loyalty, for example: My allegiance is to my work

Allegiance can be broken as all in alliance (association) this gives the sense of Allegiance among them.

Amiss (adj): means out of order, wrong; faulty; for example: Quality is amiss in the recently published novel by Penguin.

Amiss can be broken:  This room was in a mess (rhyme with miss). Mess also means a disorderly condition.

The best way to develop a powerful vocabulary is to read extensively. However, it is possible to fine-tune your vocabulary by exploring different ways like root word knowledge, Mnemonics, breaking word into meaningful sentences and many more. I have discussed many techniques all from time to time. If you think you have some other excellent way to ameliorate vocabulary then kindly do share with us right under this blog.

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Reversion (noun)

Reversion means return to previous state (condition, belief, or interest). Eg. The girl’s reversion to old school was an indication of her exceptional dedication towards studies.

Untenable (adjective)

Untenable means unable to believe or maintain. Eg. Though, she is good natured person but today her behavior was untenable.

Dissent (noun)

Dissent means disagreement within an organization.  Eg. At the time of approving the proposal there were many voices of dissent.

Travesty (noun)

Travesty means comedy that makes mockery of something (parody). Eg. Their production of ‘Julius Caesar’ was the worst – it was a travesty.

Vocabulary Enhancing tips

A Research has proved that human mind retains faces better than anything else. So always try to associate a word with Picture/ face to store in your memory enduringly. Eg. If you are learning word ‘amicable’ (means friendly) you can associate amicable with some of your favorite friend. This way the face of your dear friend will remind you word amicable.

Discussing words with your peers is also an effective way of improving your vocabulary. All you require to do form a group but make sure all group members should be of fairly equal ability. So there will be no fear of one dominating other.

There are many vocabulary enhancing softwares available in market. Some are very effective but be careful before buying such software do not fall prey to any misleading advertisement. Always check the demo version before buying the actual software.

Taking test from time to time is also very an effective way of learning and enhancing your word power.

Kindly leave your comment beneath this article and feel free to ask any query related to this post.

Shipra Srivastava

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Abysmal

Abysmal means bottom less or unfathomable (limitless) like an abysmal misery. It is used as adjective in sentence .It is used for conveying negative/bad aspect in sentence like an abysmal movie. Let see some sentences using ‘abysmal’: after getting an abysmal (bad) start in match, we tried to pace up our speed. But, still our scores were abysmal (bad). Because of anxiety our performance was keep getting abysmal (bad). At last misery of our defeat was abysmal (very profound).I hope you get the meaning of abysmal very well now.

Anomalous

Anomalous means from deviated from normal course (not normal).Let see some sentences using anomalous like: walking while sleeping is anomalous (not normal) behavior.

My friend was in anomalous (odd/unusual) situation when he was lost in jungle.

Apocryphal

Spurious means not authentic; spurious (questionable authenticity). Let see some example using apocryphal: who owns this house is apocryphal (questionable). There are so many perhaps apocryphal (spurious) stories prevailed about the ownership of house. These apocryphal stories are prevailed since 18 century.

Arbitrary

Arbitrary means unreasonable (Determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle thefreedictionary.com) .Let see some sentences using arbitrary: we were on our way .We started feeling hungry so we made an arbitrary (Determined by chance) decision to eat in restaurant that we saw first. We were running out of money so we thought to share our food, but my one friend had been arbitrary (whim) because he doesn’t like to share.

Asinine

Asinine means stupid. Let see some sentences using asinine: all the players were surprised by the asinine comments made by other team.

If somebody try to rob a treasury with water gun that will indeed an asinine concept.

Now try these.

Read out all these words again for better understanding.

Make you own list for negative adjectives.

Your comments, suggestions are always welcome. Kindly write us your query, comments beneath this article.

Happy Learning!!!

Shipra Srivastava

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Your ability to play with words is very important if you are aiming for high score in verbal section of GRE. ETS measures your in depth – knowledge of words, just superficial knowledge of words will not sail you through the GRE exam. We all know Barrons 3500 words are must learnt for every GRE aspirant. In this post we have discussed the words related to progress / increment /expend.

We have tried to cover all those words which represent Progress from GRE Barron’s high – frequency words.

Accelerate

If I say, “you can accelerate your word power by regular practice”. What is ‘accelerate’ here? Well, Accelerate means to increase the speed or cause to develop/ progress more quickly. Prefix ‘ac’ means forward. Now, I hope you have guessed the meaning of accelerate rightly in above sentence. Accelerate is originated from Latin word ‘accelerationem’ (a hastening).

Burgeon

Burgeon means grow or develop rapidly. It is originated from old French ‘borjoner’ (to bud, sprout).If I say, “Internet users have burgeoned in recent years”. I hope now you can understand what I am saying in aspect of internet users counting.

Dilate

Useless arguments have already been adequately dilated upon. No prize for guessing, dilated means cause to expand or become wider/lager in this sentence. Dilate is originated from Latin word l?tus (wide).It is also used in medical jargon, e.g, her pupils (of eye) were dilated (expended).

Enhance

Let see some sentences using word Enhance: Many people use flash cards in order to enhance their vocabulary. Vocabulary enhancing techniques, Shelly put special herbs in dish in order to enhance the aroma. By now I hope you have guess the meaning of enhance, it means to make greater or improved /advanced.

Flourish

Flourish means to grow or become prosper. You might have heard sentences like: his business is flourishing like never before, T.S.Eliot, is a poet who flourished in nineteenth century. It is originated from old French floriss (to blossom, grow).

Now you can try these.

You can read all these words again for better understanding of words.

Here I am providing you a list of words, which are all related to progress, now  grab a pen and note  write down the detailed illustration of following words( off course, you can take help from  dictionary):

Accrete, Aggrandize, Ameliorate, Amplify, Anneal, Augment, Distend, Exalt, Flourish, Foment, Predispose, Prolong, Proliferate, Propagate, Thrive

We always encourage our students to send us their valuable feedback on our work. So kindly get back with us by writing your auspicious comments beneath this blog.

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Shipra Srivastava

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We can define root word as a word that has a prefix, suffix, or both attached to it. Numbers of words are formed with a root or base word and a prefix. Some words also consist of a suffix. For example, the root word apt means fit. Attach the prefix ad and you have the word adapt means to fit (prefix ad means to). Now let’s attach the suffix able (meaning able to be) and you have adaptable.

Words prefix and suffix themselves good example of prefix and suffix. Pre ( before) and fix (fasten or attach) so Prefix is a word that attached to the beginning(before) of some other words. Suf is another alternative of sub means below or under. In this case I would say suffix is something that attaches to behind of the root or base. Common roots and prefixes (and a few suffixes) are useful tool to determine the meaning of unknown words almost immediately. (But do look them up in dictionary for confirmation)

Root             cent

Meaning       one hundred

Illustration    century: one hundred years

entennial: one hundredth anniversary

entipede: many-footed animal

Root              chron

Meaning        time

Illustration    chronic:  long lasting

anachronistic: out of date

chronology :timetable of events

Root              Bio

Meaning        life

Illustration     biogenetic: development of life from life that exists

biogeny: development of life

biology: study of living things

Root               Alter

Meaning        other

Illustration      alternate: that exchange with something else

alternatively: one after other at regular interval

Root                Cur

Meaning          to care

Illustration     curator: person who has the care of something

sinecure: position without responsibility

secure: safe.

Root                Fid

Meaning         belief, faith

Illustration    fidelity: faithful

confide: to put faith

Root                Fin

Meaning          end limit

Illustration     confine: keep within limits

finite: having definite limits

Learn more on Root: http://learnwordlist.com/blog/word-formation-1/2010/06/gre-word-list-test-blog-barrons-vocabulary

Some words e.g. iPhone, iTunes ( I from internet)  ,e-commerce, e-learning ( e from electronic) these words are formed by  using abbreviated forms of words. These abbreviated forms can not be count as prefix regardless they are attach to the front of root word.

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Shipra srivastava

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