the 15 GRE Words of the Day
- audacious (adjective) bold, daring, adventurous. Joan of Arc’s audacious plan to lead the Dauphin behind enemy lines of his coronation succeeded. audacity (noun).
- authoritarian (adjective) Favoring or demanding blind obediance to leaders. Ari Fleischer says, “If you’re not in favor of the USA becoming authoritarian, you’re helping the terrorists.” authoritarianism (noun)
- authoritative (adjective) Official, conclusive. The strong “buy” reccomendations in the boom years appeared to be authoritative, but were actually issued by individuals with conflicts of interest. authority (noun), authorize (verb).
- avenge (verb) To exact a punishment for or on behalf of someone. Some speculate that dubya’s proposed military adventure in Iraq is to avenge his father’s failure.
- aver (verb) to claim to be true; to avouch. Mitch will aver Dan’s claims of having burned a piano, because Mitch was a witness
- avow (verb) to declare bodly. Suddenly, in the midst of his sermon, the bishop avowed his queerness and shocked the congregation. avowal (noun), avowed (adjective).
- barren (adjective) Desolate; infertile. There are those who want to nuke third world countries into barren wastelands, but those people are stupid. Elizabeth was old and thought to be barren, but then Gabriel showed up and announced to Mary that Elizabeth was pregnant with a fetus that would grow up to become John the Baptist
- belligerent (adjective) Quarrelsome, combative. While some folks become belligerent when drunk. marijuana does not cause such behavior changes
- belligerent (noun) an opposing army. a party waging war. The USA is the most active belligerent in the world.
- benevolent (adjective) wishing or doing good. Nuns dedicate their whole lives to benevolent purposes. . . or sometimes they become grade school principals. . .. benevolence (noun).
- berate to scold or criticize harshly. dubya cried in the oval office after Ralph Nader berated him for his stupid policies.
- boggle (verb) to overwhelm with amazement. the complexity of musical structures developed by Serialism boggles the listeners’ minds, but often not their ears.
- bogus (adjective) phony, a sham the USA’s claim of Nicuragua posessing MIGS turned out to be bogus, something to consider while pondering claims of nukes in Iraq.
- bombastic (adjective) inflated or pompous in style. Some who profess not to like opera, describe it as bombastic. bombast (noun).
- boor (noun) Crude, insensitive and overbearing. Although delightful when sober, Ralph turned into a terrible boor when drunk and would insist on sharing all the details of his latest sexual exploit. boorish (adjective)
