Magoosh GRE Vocabulary Advance 2

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Phantasmagorical: Adjective: illusive; unreal Those suffering from malaria fall into a feverish sleep, their world a whirligig of phantasmagoria; if they recover, they are unsure of what actually took place and what was simply a product of their febrile imaginations. adjcharacterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtapositions Synonyms: phantasmagoric, surreal, surrealistic unrealistic not realistic TTREM: Sounds like Fanta (Drink) Magic Or Real Curmudgeon: Old, cranky, and more than a little stubborn, a curmudgeon is the crusty grey haired neighbor who refuses to hand out candy at Halloween and shoos away holiday carolers with a "bah humbug!" As fickle and stubborn as the type of person it describes, curmudgeon comes to us without a history, its origins undisclosed. It was originally believed to have come from coeur mechant, the French phrase for ―evil heart,‖ but that theory has been long discarded. Don't worry though, you’ll know a curmudgeon when you see one: He’ll be ill-tempered and miserly, eager to shake his fist and spout disagreeable opinions. na crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas Type of: golden ager, old person, oldster, senior citizen an elderly person

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Magoosh GRE vocabulary words with mnemonics and picture. Easier process to remember words listed easily

Transcript of Magoosh GRE Vocabulary Advance 2

Page 1: Magoosh GRE Vocabulary Advance 2

Phantasmagorical:

Adjective: illusive; unreal

Those suffering from malaria fall into a feverish sleep, their

world a whirligig of phantasmagoria; if they recover, they are

unsure of what actually took place and what was simply a

product of their febrile imaginations.

adjcharacterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtapositions

Synonyms:

phantasmagoric, surreal, surrealistic

unrealistic

not realistic

TTREM: Sounds like Fanta (Drink) Magic Or Real

Curmudgeon:

Old, cranky, and more than a little stubborn, a

curmudgeon is the crusty grey haired neighbor who

refuses to hand out candy at Halloween and shoos

away holiday carolers with a "bah humbug!"

As fickle and stubborn as the type of person it describes,

curmudgeon comes to us without a history, its origins

undisclosed. It was originally believed to have come from

coeur mechant, the French phrase for ―evil heart,‖ but that

theory has been long discarded. Don't worry though, you’ll

know a curmudgeon when you see one: He’ll be ill-tempered

and miserly, eager to shake his fist and spout disagreeable

opinions.

na crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas

Type of:

golden ager, old person, oldster, senior citizen

an elderly person

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Protean:

When Picasso is described as a protean genius, it

means that not only was he brilliant, but he changed

the way he worked many times. Protean means able

to change shape.

Proteus was a Greek god who could tell the future, but when

he was asked a question he didn't want to answer, he would

change shapes. With someone or something protean, you get

all the power of shape-shifting, plus some of the menace of a

god you cannot control.

adjtaking on different forms

“eyes...of that baffling protean grey which is never twice the same”

Synonyms:

variable

liable to or capable of change

TTREM: 'protean' -- > sounds like protein as sm1 above had already said and we all have

learnt in organic chemistry that this protiens "can take many forms".

Gerrymander:

Some politicians change the boundaries of their

voting districts in order to benefit themselves or their

political party. To manipulate the boundaries like this

— often viewed as unfair — is to gerrymander.

The verb gerrymander first appeared in 1812 when

Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry redrew district

boundaries, hoping it would help his party in an upcoming

senate election. Then somebody noticed that the new district

looked like a salamander, so they combined Gerry and -

mander to create the new word gerrymander. And then a

newspaper printed a cartoon with a giant salamander making

fun of Gerry, which is what happens to politicians who don’t

behave.

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vdivide unfairly and to one's advantage; of voting districts

Type of:

divide, part, separate

come apart

nan act of gerrymandering (dividing a voting area so as to give your own party an

unfair advantage)

Type of:

cheat, cheating

a deception for profit to yourself

TTREM: Relate it with Jerry of 'Tom and Jerry' cartoon in which Jerry divided everything

partially with Tom and quarrels with him... so possessing a Jerry's mind - Gerrymander.

Expurgate:

To expurgate is to censor. Usually, people talk about

expurgating bad words from something written or on

TV.

On TV, if you hear some words bleeped out, those words have

been expurgated. In print, we can expurgate by using dashes (

— — ) or random characters like %&$#. Sometimes we can

expurgate just by rewriting something so that the entire

sentence with the naughty parts is gone, or by putting it into

mild words. When it comes to things children read or watch,

there's often the difficult question of what to expurgate and

what to leave alone.

vedit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate

Synonyms:

bowdlerise, bowdlerize, castrate, shorten

Type of:

abbreviate, abridge, contract, cut, foreshorten,reduce, shorten

reduce in scope while retaining essential elements

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TTREM: Expurgate - divide this word into (expel+ur+gate), you always expel the waste

from your gate to make your home 'clean' and 'purified'.

Parvenu:

A parvenu is an upstart, somebody who's suddenly

rich but doesn't fit into his new social status. If you're

a parvenu, people might also describe you as

"nouveau-riche" or an "arriviste." Maybe it's not quite

so insulting in French.

The Beverly Hillbillies, a sitcom from the 1960s, featured the

Clampetts, classic parvenus, who struck oil on their

backwoods West Virginia swampland. They arrive at their

mansion in Beverly Hills, dressed in overalls, in their pick-up

truck, with their shabby furniture strapped on top. As

parvenus, they don’t fit in — to say the least. Parvenu is from

French, and it's the past participle of parvenir, "arrived."

na person who has suddenly risen to a higher economic status but has not gained

social acceptance of others in that class

Synonyms:

arriviste, nouveau-riche, upstart

Types:

climber, social climber

someone seeking social prominence by obsequious behavior

junior

term of address for a disrespectful and annoying male

lion-hunter

someone who tries to attract social lions as guests

Type of:

disagreeable person, unpleasant person

a person who is not pleasant or agreeable

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adjcharacteristic of someone who has risen economically or socially but lacks the

social skills appropriate for this new position

Synonyms:

nouveau-riche, parvenue, upstart

pretentious

making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction

adjof or characteristic of a parvenu

Synonyms:

parvenue

new

not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired

or discovered

TTREM: par(paar) means dur in hindi and venur means place.the one who has moves 'dur'

from his place to a high level is parvenue

Sybarite:

If you know someone who's totally addicted to

luxurious things and all of life's pleasures, call her a

sybarite. Unless she's inviting you over for

champagne brunches and showering you with gifts —

in which case you should keep your mouth shut.

Sybarite was first recorded in the 1600s, meaning a ―person

devoted to pleasure.‖ The literal translation of this noun is

―inhabitant of Sybaris,‖ which was an ancient Greek town full

of citizens who loved nice things. Today, the word still has the

same two meanings: it's either a person who could be

described as addicted to pleasures and luxury (like a hedonist),

or an actual person who lives in Sybaris.

na person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses

Synonyms:

voluptuary

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Type of:

sensualist

a person who enjoys sensuality

TTREM: who go bar every rite(night) is sybarite

Quisling:

A quisling is a traitor, especially one who

collaborates with an enemy occupying force for

personal gain.

The term arose because in World War II, Vidkun Quisling, a

Norwegian politician, volunteered to help the occupying Nazis

rule Norway for Germany. Quisling was tried for treason and

executed at the end of the war, and his name became

synonymous with traitor and collaborator. The word quisling

is not commonly used in the United States, however, probably

because the American term for a traitor is "Benedict Arnold,"

the name of a Revolutionary War turncoat.

nsomeone who collaborates with an enemy occupying force

Synonyms:

collaborationist, collaborator

Type of:

traitor, treasonist

someone who betrays his country by committing treason

TTREM: Quisling; split like QUIT+LINK means a culprit quits and collaborate (link)with

enemy

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Mettlesome:

Adjective: filled with courage or valor

adjhaving a proud and unbroken spirit

Synonyms:

spirited

displaying animation, vigor, or liveliness

adjwilling to face danger

Synonyms:

game, gamey, gamy, gritty, spirited, spunky

brave, courageous

possessing or displaying courage; able to face and deal with

danger or fear without flinching

For its raid on the Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Seal Team Six has become, for many

Americans, the embodiment of mettle.

TTREM: Those who win metals are courageous, proud & high-spirited.

Apotheosis:

If your teacher says the term paper you handed in last

week is a work of genius that sets a new gold standard

for the school, he's telling you your work is the

apotheosis of term papers. The epitome. Perfection.

Hidden in the middle of apotheosis you'll find the Greek theos,

meaning god. (Theology, the study of religion, has the same root.)

Combine theos with apo "from" and you get a person, place, or

thing that is so out-of-this-world amazing that it seems as if it's

"from God." It's divine. You could make the assertion that

Leonardo da Vinci was the apotheosis of genius and that the Mona

Lisa is the apotheosis of all his paintings.

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nmodel of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal

Synonyms:

ideal, nonesuch, nonpareil, nonsuch, paragon, saint

Types:

crackerjack, jimdandy, jimhickey

someone excellent of their kind

class act

someone who shows impressive and stylish excellence

humdinger

someone of remarkable excellence

Type of:

model, role model

someone worthy of imitation

nthe elevation of a person (as to the status of a god)

Synonyms:

deification, exaltation

Type of:

worship

the activity of worshipping

TTREM: theo- theological, somthing related to god. theology elevates oneself to god hood.

Invective:

Invective is harsh, abusive language, like, "you dirty

rotten scoundrel." I'm sure you can think of harsher

and more obscene examples, but we won't get into

them here.

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Invective comes from the Latin for "abusive." It kind of

sounds like a harsh word, actually, with those sharp, dagger-

like V's. People usually put a colorful verb or phrase before it.

Some examples: "She spewed invective," "She hurled

invective," "She burst forth into invective." You can follow it

with a phrase like, "picking up her plate and throwing it across

the room."

nabusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-

seated ill will

Synonyms:

vitriol, vituperation

Type of:

abuse, contumely, insult, revilement, vilification

a rude expression intended to offend or hurt

TTREM: ENVY + ACTIVE or Active jealousy can cause you to ABUSE the other person.

Blinkered:

Adjective: to have a limited outlook or understanding

na light that flashes on and off; used as a signal or to send messages

Synonyms:

flasher

Type of:

light, light source

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any device serving as a source of illumination

na blinking light on a motor vehicle that indicates the direction in which the vehicle is

about to turn

Synonyms:

trafficator, turn indicator, turn signal

Type of:

visual signal

a signal that involves visual communication

2 nblind consisting of a leather eyepatch sewn to the side of the halter that prevents a

horse from seeing something on either side

Synonyms:

blinder, winker

Type of:

blind, screen

a protective covering that keeps things out or hinders sight

vput blinders on (a horse)

Type of:

cover

provide with a covering or cause to be covered

In gambling, the addict is easily blinkered by past successes and/or past failures, forgetting that

the outcome of any one game is independent of the games that preceded it.

Mellifluous:

Use the adjective mellifluous to describe something

that sounds sweet and smooth, like the honeyed voice

of a late-night radio DJ.

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You might think that that mell in mellifluous has something to

do with mellow. Actually, it's related to Melissa. In Greek

mythology, Melissa was a nymph who discovered that you

could eat the smooth, sweet stuff that bees make. Honeybees

were named after her, and their tasty product was called meli.

Mellifluous means to "flow as if with honey."

adjpleasing to the ear

Synonyms:

dulcet, honeyed, mellisonant, sweet

melodic, melodious, musical

containing or constituting or characterized by pleasing melody

TTREM: the music played by a 'Flute' is mellifluous.

Sangfroid:

If you have sang-froid, you can keep your cool, even

under stress. Your feathers aren't easily ruffled.

This foreign-sounding word is another way of saying "poise

under pressure." We borrowed it from French, where it

literally means "cold blood." Great athletes who do well in the

last two minutes of a game have sang-froid. James Bond

definitely has sang-froid. You better have sang-froid when

you're taking the SATs. If you're worried, nervous and starting

to crack, you've pretty much lost your sang-froid.

ngreat coolness and composure under strain

Synonyms:

aplomb, assuredness, cool, poise

Type of:

calm, calmness, composure, equanimity

steadiness of mind under stress

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Juggernaut:

Juggernaut means a massive force. If the army

marching into your country is a juggernaut, you're

doomed. If you're trying to market a new Cola

product, you're up against corporate giant Coca-Cola,

a beverage juggernaut if ever there was one.

With its roots in Hindi, juggernaut originally referred to a

crude statue from which the Hindu god, Brahma, turned into

the living god, Krishna. There continues to be a festival in

honor of this miracle, in which a statue of Krishna is carted

through town. It is said that in times past, devotees would

throw themselves under the cart’s wheels.

na massive inexorable force that seems to crush everything in its way

Synonyms:

steamroller

Type of:

force, power

one possessing or exercising power or influence or authority

TTREM: remember indian god jagannath and his powers

Picayune:

The adjective picayune refers to those things that are

so small, trivial, and unimportant that they're not

worth getting into. Why focus on the picayune

details, when it's the larger ideas that are the real

problem?

There are several newspapers in America called the Picayune,

because they see it as their job to comb through even the

minor details of the story to get to the truth. Hear the word

"picky" in picayune (though they're not related)? That's one

way to remember it. A picky person is picayune. Airline

disaster investigators spend their lives rummaging through the

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debris, knowing that it might be the most picayune detail that

leads them to understand the cause of a crash.

adj(informal) small and of little importance

“giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be

a picayune infraction”

Synonyms:

fiddling, footling, lilliputian, little, niggling, petty,piddling, piffling, trivial

unimportant

not important

TTREM: picayune: relate it to pico, which means small. so picayune->pico->small or petty

things

Benighted:

Being called benighted is much like being called

naive. It means lacking in knowledge or

understanding—the kind you might have if you were

older or more sophisticated.

Although it sounds a lot like "being knighted", benighted has

nothing to do with knights and, in fact, includes the word

"night" (as in the opposite of day) and not "knight" (as in "of

the Round Table"). One way to remember what benighted

means is to think of a person "being nighted" or, put into the

dark. A benighted person is in the dark about things: they don't

know because they can't see. The Dark Ages are thought to

have been a benighted time, full of primitive ideas.

adjovertaken by night or darkness

“benighted (or nighted) travelers hurrying toward home”

Synonyms:

nighted

unpunctual

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not punctual; after the appointed time

adjlacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture

“this benighted country”

“benighted ages of barbarism and superstition”

Synonyms:

dark

unenlightened

not enlightened; ignorant

TTREM: NIGHT=DARK. The "Dark Ages" (a time period lacking in reason and progress)

was followed by the "Age of Enlightenment".

Peremptory:

Peremptory comments are like orders. If you say

something in a peremptory manner, you want people

to stop what they’re doing and do what you say.

Peremptory comments put an end to a discussion, and

that’s final!

The word peremptory comes from the Latin peremptorius for

―decisive, final.‖ Trace it further and find that peremptor

means "destroyer," from perimpere for "destroy, cut off.‖

Basically, peremptory commands destroy the conversation.

They are given with an air of authority, and they are often

barked. In the courtroom, peremptory orders are not open to

appeal; they’re final. Outside of the courtroom, a peremptory

manner is just plain rude.

adjputting an end to all debate or action

“a peremptory decree”

Synonyms:

decisive

determining or having the power to determine an outcome

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adjnot allowing contradiction or refusal

“spoke in peremptory tones”

“peremptory commands”

Synonyms:

imperative

requiring attention or action

adjoffensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power

“a swaggering peremptory manner”

Synonyms:

autocratic, bossy, dominating, high-and-mighty,magisterial

domineering

tending to domineer

TTREM: Remember it with pre-empty, i.e something which is already empty, needs to be

filled, it demands...

Arch:

An arch is a shape that resembles an upside down

"U." You may find this shape in a carefully tweezed

eyebrow or in the famous golden pair that make you

hunger for a Big Mac.

In architecture, an arch is an opening that is often found

supporting the weight of a something above it — like a bridge

or a wall. In downtown St. Louis, you can visit the Gateway

Arch — a freestanding catenary arch that is 630 feet tall and

630 feet wide. As a verb, arch means to make an arch-like

shape. "She stretched her back by arching it into a backbend."

As an adjective, arch can describe something mischievous or

sly: "He teased his friend with an arch comment about his

shyness around girls."

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n(architecture) a masonry construction (usually curved) for spanning an opening and

supporting the weight above it

Types:

abutment arch

an arch supported by an abutment

broken arch

an arch with a gap at the apex; the gap is usually filled with some decoration

camber arch

an arch with a straight horizontal extrados and a slightly arched intrados

corbel arch

(architecture) an arch constructed of masonry courses that are corbelled until they meet

flat arch, straight arch

an arch with mutually supporting voussoirs that has a straight horizontal extrados and intrados

pier arch

an arch supported on piers

pointed arch

an arch with a pointed apex; characteristic of Gothic architecture

proscenium arch

the arch over the opening in the proscenium wall

rampant arch

an arch whose support is higher on one side than on the other

round arch

an arch formed in a continuous curve; characteristic of Roman architecture

rowlock arch

an arch that is formed with more than one concentric row of voussoirs

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safety arch

an undecorated arch that is included in order to strengthen or support a construction

scoinson arch, sconcheon arch

an arch that supports part of the wall

segmental arch

a shallow arch; an arch that is less than a semicircle

shouldered arch

an arch consisting of a horizontal lintel supported at each end by corbels that project into the

aperture

diminished arch, scheme arch, skeen arch, skene arch

an arch whose height is less than half its width

skew arch

an arch whose jambs are not at right angles with the face

squinch

a small arch built across the interior angle of two walls (usually to support a spire)

trimmer arch

an arch built between trimmers in a floor (to support the weight of a hearth)

triumphal arch

a monumental archway; usually they are built to commemorate some notable victory

Tudor arch, four-centered arch

a low elliptical or pointed arch; usually drawn from four centers

bell arch

a round arch resting on corbels

drop arch

a blunt pointed arch drawn from two centers within the span

Gothic arch

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a pointed arch; usually has a joint (instead of a keystone) at the apex

Moorish arch, horseshoe arch

a round arch that widens before rounding off

keel arch, ogee arch

a pointed arch having an S-shape on both sides

Roman arch, semicircular arch

a round arch drawn from a single center

basket-handle arch, three-centered arch

a round arch whose inner curve is drawn with circles having three centers

trefoil arch

a pointed arch having cusps in the intrados on either side of the apex

trumpet arch

a conical squinch

Type of:

construction, structure

a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts

na passageway under a curved masonry construction

“they built a triumphal arch to memorialize their victory”

Synonyms:

archway

Type of:

entrance, entranceway, entree, entry, entryway

something that provides access (to get in or get out)

na curved shape in the vertical plane that spans an opening

Type of:

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curve, curved shape

the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes

na curved bony structure supporting or enclosing organs (especially the inner sides of

the feet)

Types:

metatarsal arch

the short lateral arch formed by the heads of the metatarsals

instep

the arch of the foot

pectoral arch, shoulder girdle

the bony arch formed by the collarbones and shoulder blades in humans

haemal arch, hemal arch

a structure arising ventrally from a vertebral centrum and enclosing the caudal blood vessels

neural arch, vertebral arch

a structure arising dorsally from a vertebral centrum and enclosing the spinal cord

fallen arch, sunken arch

an instep flattened so the entire sole rests on the ground

Type of:

skeletal structure

any structure created by the skeleton of an organism

vform an arch or curve

“her back arches”

Synonyms:

arc, curve

Types:

camber

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curve upward in the middle

Type of:

bend, flex

form a curve

2 adj(used of behavior or attitude) characteristic of those who treat others with

condescension

Synonyms:

condescending, patronising, patronizing

superior

of or characteristic of high rank or importance

adjnaughtily or annoyingly playful

Synonyms:

impish, implike, mischievous, pixilated, prankish,puckish, wicked

playful

full of fun and high spirits

adjexpert in skulduggery

“an arch criminal”

Synonyms:

skilled

having or showing or requiring special skill

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Excoriate:

When it comes to ―telling someone off,‖ excoriate is

reserved for the most severe cases. So, before you

excoriate your little sister for borrowing your favorite

jacket without permission, consider whether she truly

deserves such harsh treatment.

If you excoriate someone, you let that person know that you

really, really disagree with them. This verb goes beyond mere

criticism; it implies anger, a harsh and insulting tone, and even

a scathing attack. Synonyms of excoriate include denounce,

decry, and condemn. In a medical sense, excoriate means ―to

tear skin off by chafing.‖ A bad rug burn can excoriate your

skin. If someone excoriates you verbally, it might make you

feel like you’ve been physically excoriated.

vexpress strong disapproval of

Synonyms:

condemn, decry, objurgate, reprobate

Type of:

denounce

speak out against

vtear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading

Synonyms:

chafe

Type of:

abrade, abrase, corrade, rub down, rub off

wear away

TTREM: If you excrete on somebody, you will get excoriated.

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Hedge:

A hedge is a living fence made of closely planted

bushes, which, as they grow and get trimmed and

shaped, form a wall of green.

Hedge can also be used as a verb. If you someone asks you a

question and you hedge, you're avoiding a straight answer. If

you hedge your bets, you're trying to minimize risk or loss —

that is, you're trying to cover yourself no matter what happens.

If you're not sure, for instance, what your boss's political

views are, you can hedge your bets by not revealing yours.

na fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes

Synonyms:

hedgerow

Types:

privet hedge

hedge of privet plants

shelterbelt, windbreak

hedge or fence of trees designed to lessen the force of the wind and reduce erosion

Type of:

fence, fencing

a barrier that serves to enclose an area

venclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges

“hedge the property”

Synonyms:

hedge in

Type of:

close in, enclose, inclose, shut in

surround completely

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vhinder or restrict with or as if with a hedge

“The animals were hedged in”

Synonyms:

hedge in

enclose or bound in with or as it with a hedge or hedges

Type of:

hem in

surround in a restrictive manner

2 nany technique designed to reduce or eliminate financial risk; for example, taking two

positions that will offset each other if prices change

Synonyms:

hedging

Type of:

protection, security

defense against financial failure; financial independence

vminimize loss or risk

“diversify your financial portfolio to hedge price risks”

“hedge your bets”

Type of:

minimise, minimize

make small or insignificant

3 nan intentionally noncommittal or ambiguous statement

“when you say `maybe' you are just hedging”

Synonyms:

hedging

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Type of:

equivocation, evasion

a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth

vavoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

Synonyms:

circumvent, dodge, duck, elude, evade, fudge, parry,put off, sidestep, skirt

Types:

beg

dodge, avoid answering, or take for granted

quibble

evade the truth of a point or question by raising irrelevant objections

Type of:

avoid

stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something

TTREM: HEDGE,think of HEGDE,the politician who AVOIDS PERFORMING

DUTIES.No offence hegde supporters

Quixotic:

Use quixotic for someone or something that is

romantic and unrealistic, or possessed by almost

impossible hopes. Your quixotic task is easy to

understand, if difficult to achieve: establish world

peace.

What a wonderful word quixotic is! While it is most often

used to mean equally impractical and idealistic, it also has the

sense of romantic nobility. Its source is from the great Spanish

novel "Don Quixote," whose title character is given to

unrealistic schemes and great chivalry. In the middle of a

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recession and high unemployment, it would be quixotic to

imagine that you could quit your job and find another easily.

adjnot sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic

“as quixotic as a restoration of medieval knighthood”

Synonyms:

romantic, wild-eyed

impractical

not practical; not workable or not given to practical matters

TTREM: quixotic== quick + exotic, if you desire something exotic to happen quickly in

your life it is just a daydream

Sartorial:

If it's the day before a big event and you have no idea

what to wear and nothing in your closet is going to

cut it, you are facing a sartorial dilemma — one that

pertains to clothing, fashion or dressing.

Sartorial comes from the Modern Latin word sartor which

means "tailor," literally "one who patches and mends." In

English the adjectives sartorial and sartorially are used to refer

to any matter pertaining to the consideration of clothing or

fashion. The root word sartor has also made its way into the

field of biology. The sartorius — a muscle in the leg and the

longest muscle in the human body — gets its name because it

is used when crossing the legs, also known as the ―tailor's

position."

Adjective: related to fashion or clothes

TTREM: sounds like sari tore and you need a tailor to fix it, thus sartorial pertains to

tailoring

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Malapropism:

A malapropism occurs when you say one word but

you mean another, like instead of saying a certain

restaurant is prosperous, you say it is preposterous.

As you can tell, malapropisms are often humorous,

though sometimes the joke is on the speaker. The word malapropism, pronounced "mah-luh-PRAH-pih-

zum," comes from the French phrase mal à propos, which

means "ill-suited." Playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan must

have been thinking of the French phrase when he created his

character Mrs. Malaprop, who made audiences howl with

laughter when she used the wrong word. Examples include

saying "allegory" instead of "alligator," and "illiterate him

from your memory" instead of "obliterate."

nthe unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar

Synonyms:

malaprop

Type of:

misstatement

a statement that contains a mistake

TTREM: mal (negative) + prop (proper usage) .. improper usage of words

Vituperate:

To vituperate is to speak or write in an extremely

negative way about someone.

Just as vituperation consists of negative, explosive, malicious

outbursts, to vituperate is to communicate in this way.

Negative political ads vituperate against opponents. When you

insult someone and swear at them, you vituperate. People with

a short temper tend to vituperate often — it's similar to railing,

vilifying, and reviling. The root word is the Latin

vituperationem, "blame or censuring," from vitium, "fault or

defect."

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vspread negative information about

Synonyms:

rail, revile, vilify

Type of:

abuse, blackguard, clapperclaw, shout

use foul or abusive language towards

vcensure severely or angrily

Synonyms:

bawl out, berate, call down, call on the carpet, chew out, chew up, chide, dress down, have words, jaw,lambast, lambaste, lecture, rag, rebuke, remonstrate,reprimand, reproof, scold, take to task, trounce

Types:

castigate, chasten, chastise, correct, objurgate

censure severely

brush down, tell off

reprimand

flame

criticize harshly, usually via an electronic medium

Type of:

criticise, criticize, knock, pick apart

find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws

TTREM: think of the word "berate" (to scold/rebuke)--- vitu(p)BERATE

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Venial:

Some crimes are unforgivable. Others are venial —

venial crimes and sins are excusable. They're not a

big deal.

In school, there are so many things that are against the rules:

talking during class, tossing spitballs, pulling the fire alarm,

stealing a basketball, etc. Something venial would be

something against the rules but forgivable. For example, if you

were late for school because your parents were in the hospital,

that lateness is venial. If you burned the gym down, that could

never be considered venial. When you see venial, think

"forgivable," "excusable," and "no biggie."

adjwarranting only temporal punishment

“venial sin”

Synonyms:

minor

pardonable

admitting of being pardoned

adjeasily excused or forgiven

“a venial error”

Synonyms:

excusable, forgivable

pardonable

admitting of being pardoned

TTREM: key word is menial. We forgive someone for menial mistakes.

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Pollyannaish:

Someone who is unfailingly cheerful — no matter

what — can be described as pollyannaish. If your

friend tells you some terribly bad news, it would be

pollyannaish to say, "Yes, but it's such a beautiful

day!" While the adjective pollyannaish describes an optimistic

outlook and a determined cheeriness, it also implies that this

attitude is taken too far. When you put a positive spin on

everything, even things that call for sadness or

discouragement, you're being pollyannaish. The word comes

from a 1913 children's book by Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna,

about a young girl who tries to find something positive in

every situation — a trick she calls "the Glad Game."

adjpleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic

Synonyms:

cheerful, upbeat

optimistic

expecting the best in this best of all possible worlds

TTREM: pollyannaish= polly (polythene) + annaish (nash > end). We hope one day jute

product will take place over polythene.

Maudlin:

You can use maudlin to describe something that

brings tears to your eyes, or makes you feel very

emotional. Tearjerkers like "Forrest Gump" and

"Titanic" can be described as maudlin.

Maudlin was a form of the name Mary Magdalene, a character

from the Bible represented in paintings as a weeping sinner

asking forgiveness from Jesus. Maudlin is often paired with

sentimental, or even schlocky, to describe cry-fests, as in "I

can't watch another second of that overly-sentimental, maudlin

soap opera. Turn that schlock off."

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adjeffusively or insincerely emotional

“maudlin expressions of sympathy”

Synonyms:

bathetic, drippy, hokey, kitschy, mawkish, mushy,schmaltzy, schmalzy, sentimental, slushy, soppy,soupy

emotional

of more than usual emotion

TTREM; when she received a call from the MODELLING company for her appointment,

she became EFFUSIVELY SENTIMENTAL and wept a lot.Her dream had come true.

Pyrrhic:

Use the adjective pyrrhic to describe a victory that is

won, but at too great a cost. In this use as an

adjective, the word is often capitalized.

The word pyrrhic comes from the Greek general, Pyrrhus, who

defeated the Romans at the Battle of Asculum but lost so

many troops that he couldn't defeat Rome itself. If you are the

winner in an argument with your brother, but the fight ends up

ruining your relationship with him, it's a Pyrrhic victory. An

ancient Greek war dance is also called a pyrrhic.

adjof or relating to or resembling Pyrrhus or his exploits (especially his sustaining

staggering losses in order to defeat the Romans)

“a Pyrrhic victory”

adjof or relating to a war dance of ancient Greece

“pyrrhic dance movements”

nan ancient Greek dance imitating the motions of warfare

Type of:

ceremonial dance, ritual dance, ritual dancing

a dance that is part of a religious ritual

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2 adjof or relating to or containing a metrical foot of two unstressed syllables

“pyrrhic verses”

na metrical unit with unstressed-unstressed syllables

Synonyms:

dibrach

Type of:

foot, metrical foot, metrical unit

(prosody) a group of 2 or 3 syllables forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm

Limpid:

The adjective limpid describes something (often

liquid) that is clear, serene and bright. Nature

calendars often feature glamour shots of a limpid

stream or a limpid lake.

The adjective limpid may also describe language that is easily

understandable. Your teacher might ask you to give an answer

in a single limpid sentence. But he probably won't because

limpid is a word that's fallen out of use. Maybe because it

sounds too much like limp. Or maybe because it's associated

with the king of all clichés: "Her eyes were like limpid pools."

adjclear and bright

“limpid blue eyes”

Synonyms:

liquid

clear

allowing light to pass through

adjtransmitting light; able to be seen through with clarity

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“could see the sand on the bottom of the limpid pool”

Synonyms:

crystal clear, crystalline, lucid, pellucid, transparent

clear

allowing light to pass through

adj(of language) transparently clear; easily understandable

“writes in a limpid style”

Synonyms:

crystal clear, lucid, luculent, pellucid, perspicuous

clear

readily apparent to the mind

TTREM: limpid ..liquid...transparent...

Jejune:

Use the adjective jejune to describe something that is

uninteresting or insignificant. Many people claim to

find celebrity gossip jejune, but ask them about a

recent movie star scandal and chances are they know

all about it.

Jejune can also describe something that’s immature or

simplistic. All that actress could say about her latest movie

was that it was ―Super fun‖? That’s a pretty jejune comment.

Basically jejune means lacking substance. It originally comes

from the Latin word jejunus, which means ―fasting,‖ so when

something is jejune, it’s figuratively empty — devoid of

intellectual nourishment.

adjlacking interest or significance or impact

“jejune novel”

Synonyms:

Page 33: Magoosh GRE Vocabulary Advance 2

insipid

uninteresting

arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement

adjdisplaying or suggesting a lack of maturity

“jejune responses to our problems”

Synonyms:

adolescent, juvenile, puerile

immature

characteristic of a lack of maturity

adjlacking in nutritive value

“the jejune diets of the very poor”

Synonyms:

insubstantial

unwholesome

detrimental to physical or moral well-being

TTREM: think of june.. students feel dull as their summer holidays are about to end

Execrate:

Just when you thought you knew every word in the

book for hate, here's a new one: execrate. The word

means to despise or also to curse.

Broken down to its Latin root, the word execrate means the

opposite of being sacred or devoted to. When you execrate

something you, are cursing it instead of making it holy. The

word is not used all that often. If you say to someone, "I

execrate you!" they might think you're casting an evil spell on

them. Which in a way, by cursing them, you are.

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vcurse or declare to be evil or anathema or threaten with divine punishment

Synonyms:

accurse, anathematise, anathematize, anathemise,anathemize, comminate

Type of:

deplore

express strong disapproval of

vfind repugnant

Synonyms:

abhor, abominate, loathe

Type of:

detest, hate

dislike intensely; feel antipathy or aversion towards

TTREM: execrate = ex + secrate i.e say something non-sacred or curse.

Propitiate:

Verb: to placate or appease

The two sons, plying their angry father with cheesy neckties for Christmas, were hardly able to

propitiate him – the father already had a drawer full of ones he had never worn before or ever

planned to.

Factitious

Adjective: artificial; not natural

The defendant’s story was largely factitious and did not accord with eyewitness testimonies

Page 35: Magoosh GRE Vocabulary Advance 2

Remonstrate:

Remonstrate means to call someone on something

that's wrong. If your mother yells at you in public,

you might call this getting chewed out. She might

call it remonstrating. Either way, it's embarrassing. Remonstrate has its roots in a Latin verb meaning "to show,"

and it used to mean "to make plain." Which is why

remonstrate is a word that puts the glow of respectability on

the action of yelling at someone or telling them that they're

wrong. The sense is that the person remonstrating is the victim

— they're just making the injustice plain.

vargue in protest or opposition

Type of:

object

express or raise an objection or protest or criticism or express dissent

vpresent and urge reasons in opposition

Synonyms:

point out

Types:

represent

point out or draw attention to in protest or remonstrance

Type of:

inform

impart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to

vcensure severely or angrily

Synonyms:

bawl out, berate, call down, call on the carpet, chew out, chew up, chide, dress down, have words, jaw,lambast, lambaste, lecture, rag, rebuke, reprimand,reproof, scold, take to task, trounce, vituperate

Page 36: Magoosh GRE Vocabulary Advance 2

Types:

castigate, chasten, chastise, correct, objurgate

censure severely

brush down, tell off

reprimand

flame

criticize harshly, usually via an electronic medium

Type of:

criticise, criticize, knock, pick apart

find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws

TTREM: Think RE as in Real and MONSTRATE as in Monster. I would remonstrate

(object) a claim that monsters are real.

Imbroglio:

An imbroglio is a complicated or confusing personal

situation. To rephrase the J. Geils band song, "Love

Stinks," if you love her and she loves him and he

loves somebody else, you've got quite an imbroglio.

Although an imbroglio is a tangled situation or a messy

complicated misunderstanding, its history is just the opposite,

clear as a bell. Imbroglio is just a borrowed word from Italian

meaning "entanglement." If something embarrassing happens

at a public event, such as a mishap during the musical

performances at the Super Bowl, it is sometimes called an

imbroglio.

nan intricate and confusing interpersonal or political situation

Synonyms:

embroilment

Type of:

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situation

a complex or critical or unusual difficulty

na very embarrassing misunderstanding

Type of:

misinterpretation, mistaking, misunderstanding

putting the wrong interpretation on

TTREM; Imbroglio = I+M+bro+gigolo = I am brother of a gigolo (male prostitute).. which

can be a very embarrassing or difficult situation.

Cupidity:

Remember the saying ―Greed is good‖? It could just

as easily be ―Cupidity is good,‖ though admittedly it

doesn’t roll off the tongue quite the same way.

Cupidity means a burning desire to have more wealth

than you need.

Though it sounds like it might have something to do with the

little winged figure who shoots arrows and makes folks fall in

love on Valentine’s Day, cupidity is all about the love of

money. It comes to us from Latin cupidus, which means

"desirous." It’s not a word that crops up a lot in conversation,

though you might run across it in newspapers and magazines,

particularly those blaming Wall Street’s unbridled cupidity for

America’s economic woes.

nextreme greed for material wealth

Synonyms:

avarice, avariciousness, covetousness

Type of:

greed

excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or

deserves

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Bilious:

If an unpleasant meal has left you feeling grumpy and

looking green, you're bilious in several senses of the

word. This adjective can mean both "troubled by

indigestion" and "irritable," and it can also be used to

suggest a sickly green shade.

The wonderfully descriptive word bilious comes from the root

bile, which is a foul green fluid made in the liver and stored in

the gall bladder — a fact that helps us picture something

described as bilious as being really foul. Because of the

connection with bile, we often refer to something that's an

ugly shade of green as being bilious. Of course, the word can

also be more kindly applied to someone who has a liver or gall

bladder disorder.

adjrelating to or containing bile

Synonyms:

biliary

adjsuffering from or suggesting a liver disorder or gastric distress

Synonyms:

liverish, livery

ill, sick

affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function

adjirritable as if suffering from indigestion

Synonyms:

atrabilious, dyspeptic, liverish

ill-natured

having an irritable and unpleasant disposition

TTREM: don’t bil bil in front of me, its disgusting.

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Impecunious:

If you are hard up, broke, penniless, or strapped for

cash, you could describe yourself as impecunious.

Then maybe you could make some money teaching

vocabulary words.

Impecunious comes from the old Latin word for money,

pecunia, combined with the prefix im, meaning not or without.

But impecunious doesn’t just mean having no money. It

means that you almost never have any money. If you go into

the arts, you are most likely facing an impecunious future. If

you gamble away your cash instead of saving it for rent, your

landlord might throw you out for being impecunious.

adjnot having enough money to pay for necessities

Synonyms:

hard up, in straitened circumstances, penniless,penurious, pinched

poor

having little money or few possessions

TTREM: im+pecunious: pecunious means rich, so impcunous memans without money

Jaundiced:

you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror. To your surprise, and horror,

instead of your usual rosy complexion, your skin is yellow and the whites of your

eyes are yellow, too! You, my friend, are jaundiced.

Jaundice is from the Greek, ikteros, which referred to both the disease and a rare, yellow bird. It

was thought that someone with jaundice could stare at this yellow bird, and the jaundice would

be magically transferred to the bird. Jaundiced can also refer to ideas or feelings being distorted

by negative views or qualities, since yellow has been associated with bitterness and envy. Too

bad there is no bird to get rid of that!

adjaffected by jaundice which causes yellowing of skin etc

Synonyms:

icteric, yellow

Page 40: Magoosh GRE Vocabulary Advance 2

unhealthy

not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind

adjshowing or affected by prejudice or envy or distaste

“looked with a jaundiced eye on the growth of regimentation”

“takes a jaundiced view of societies and clubs”

Synonyms:

discriminatory, prejudiced

being biased or having a belief or attitude formed beforehand

Sententious:

If you speak in sententious phrases, your listeners are probably

falling asleep, as your speech is pompous and pretentious, and

full of moralistic babble.

When sententious first appeared in English — back in the late

Middle Ages — it meant "full of wisdom," but now it usually

has a negative sense, meaning heavy handed and self-

important. The sententious blowhard makes people laugh, and

you can probably think of at least three cartoon characters who

fit the bill — often a politician or minister who drones on and

on, oblivious to the fact that his audience is snickering or

trying to sneak out.

adjconcise and full of meaning

“"the peculiarly sardonic and sententious style in which Don Luis composed his

epigrams"- Hervey Allen”

Synonyms:

pithy

concise

expressing much in few words

adjabounding in or given to pompous or aphoristic moralizing

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“"too often the significant episode deteriorates into sententiousconversation"-

Kathleen Barnes”

Synonyms:

pretentious

making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction

TTREM; Sentence+less - Someone who can concisely explain his views in just a few

sentences (less sentences used).

Fell:

Adjective: terribly evil

For fans of the Harry Potter series, the fell Lord Voldemort, who terrorized poor Harry for seven

lengthy installments, has finally been vanquished by the forces of good—unless, that is, JK

Rowling decides to come out of retirement.

TTREM: fell-hell;so cruel and deadly

Disabuse:

Disabuse means to free someone of a belief that is

not true. Many teachers of health find that when they

teach, they spend as much energy disabusing kids of

false beliefs as they do giving them the facts.

Disabuse is often connected to the word notion or idea. In

singing lessons, you must disabuse young singers of the idea

that they can sing better by singing louder. In the first year of

college, many people are disabused of the idea that the way

they are is "normal," by meeting so many people who

represent other ways to be.

vfree somebody (from an erroneous belief)

Type of:

inform

impart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to

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Histrionic:

Anything that has to do with actors or acting can be called histrionic, like a

Broadway actor's histrionic voice projection that would sound strange in everyday

life but is perfect for the stage.

The adjective histrionic, pronounced "his-tree-ON-ic," comes from the Latin words histrionicus

and histrio which mean ―actor.‖ It can describe things that have to do with acting on the stage,

but it can also describe a person who in regular life is a little too dramatic and even over-acts,

like your friend whose histrionic rantings make a trip to the grocery store seem like a matter of

life and death.

djcharacteristic of acting or a stage performance; often affected

“histrionic gestures”

Synonyms:

melodramatic

theatrical

suited to or characteristic of the stage or theater

TTREM: histrionic-- sounds like history. We find that most of the plays performed on stage

in the theatre are from history, hence the name histrionic, theatrical.

Martinet:

Noun: a strict disciplinarian

The job seemed perfect to Rebecca, until she found out that her boss was a total martinet; after

each project the boss would come by to scrutinize—and inevitably criticize—every little detail of

the work Rebecca had done.

Mulct:

The meaning of mulct is as nasty as it sounds; it

means to fine someone or the money you collect as a

result of a fine. No one wants to pay an extra mulct to

the city, when it's the city who mismanaged the

budget.

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Got mulct? Then somebody took your money. They "milked"

you by mulcting you. And the money that they took? That's

called mulct, too. Some people believe that there's no

difference between being mulcted by the state and being

shaken down by the mob. In fact, the word mulct is often used

to mean having your money taken unfairly or as a kind of

punishment or as extortion.

nmoney extracted as a penalty

Synonyms:

amercement, fine

Types:

library fine

fine imposed by a library on books that overdue when returned

Type of:

penalty

a payment required for not fulfilling a contract

vimpose a fine on

Type of:

impose, levy

impose and collect

vdeprive of by deceit

TTREM: mal+ act >>> -ve act...

Tendentious:

If you are writing a report on climate change, and ignore evidence that the earth is

warming, the paper might be called tendentious. Tendentious means promoting a

specific, and controversial, point of view.

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When something is tendentious, it shows a bias towards a particular point of view, especially one

that people disagree about. It shares a root with the word, tendency, which means leaning

towards acting a certain way. If you have the tendency to talk in a tendentious manner about

politics, people might tend to avoid you at parties.

adjhaving or marked by a strong tendency especially a controversial one

“a tendentious account of recent elections”

“distinguishing between verifiable fact and tendentiousassertion”

Synonyms:

tendencious

partisan, partizan

devoted to a cause or party

TTREM: Rearrange the words to make - Tend or Tendency + ious or bias. So,

TENDENTIOUS is a TENDENcy towards one viewpoint over another.

Schadenfreude:

When another person's bad luck secretly makes you

feel good, that's Schadenfreude. Your brother's

rejection from a college that also rejected you might

give you a twinge of Schadenfreude.

If you're fired from your difficult job, no one can blame you

for a bit of Schadenfreude as you watch your replacement

struggle with your old tasks. This German word perfectly

captures that satisfied feeling everyone gets at times when

someone else runs into misfortune. In German, Schadenfreude

literally means "damage-joy," and it's always spelled with a

capital S. The word came into English use in the 1920's, and

you can spell it with a small s if you prefer.

noun: joy from watching the suffering of others

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ndelight in another person's misfortune

Type of:

delectation, delight

a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction

From his warm apartment window, Stanley reveled in schadenfreude as he laughed at the figures

below, huddled together in the arctic chill.

Palimpsest:

If you are writing fast and hastily erase something not

quite all the way and continue writing right over the

smudgy bit, then you’ve created a palimpsest —

which means you can see traces of the earlier writing

mixed in with the new.

The noun palimpsest originally described a document, such as

a page from a manuscript written on parchment, that had been

rubbed smooth so it could be used again, with traces of the

original writing showing through. The word still carries that

meaning, but ancient manuscripts are rare these days, so

you’re more likely to hear palimpsest used to describe

something that has traces of early stages showing through, like

"the palimpsest of an urban neighborhood" — in which hints

of earlier styles and designs are still evident among the new

highrises.

na manuscript (usually written on papyrus or parchment) on which more than one

text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible

Type of:

holograph, manuscript

handwritten book or document

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Arriviste:

Noun: a person who has recently reached a position of power; a social climber

The city center was aflutter with arrivistes who tried to outdo one another with their ostentatious

sports cars and chic evening dress.