Magoosh GRE词汇分类记忆.docx

Magoosh GRE词汇分类记忆.docx

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MagooshGRE词汇分类记忆

GREVocabList:

ReligiousWords

It’snotSunday–butitischurchday,atleastasfarasvocabularyisconcerned.Belowarewordsrelatingtothechurchorreligion.Afewofthewords–suchacardinal–haveasecondarydefinitionthat,whilederivedfromtheoriginalchurch-baseddefinition,isdifferentenoughfromtheoriginaltowarrantattention.

ItisofcoursetheseconddefinitionthatwearemoreconcernedwithontheGRE.

Cardinal

Whenitcomestimetoelectthepopewhogetstogether?

Thecardinals,ofcourse.Andwhenyou’rewatchingbaseballinSt.Louis,andtheplayersallofredbirdsontheiruniforms,whichteamareyouseeing?

Thecardinals,ofcourse.AndwhenyouareontheGREandyouseethewordcardinal?

Wellithasnothingtodowithbirds,baseballorpopes.

Cardinalmeansofprimaryimportance,fundamental.Thatmakessensewhenyouthinkofthecardinalsinthechurch–afteralltheydoelectthepope.Thebirdhappenstobethesamecolorasthecardinals’robesandSt.Louis…Ihavenoclue.

Asifyouneededanymoreassociations–theexpression,“cardinalsin”,retainstheGREdefinitionoftheword,andmeansprimary.Itdoesnotrefertonaughtychurchmen.

Syncretic

Thisisadifficultword,andnotonethatwouldgoonanytop1000wordsyouhavetoknowfortheGRE.Butforthosewitharobustvocabulary,payheed:

ifaIconcoctanewreligionanddecidetotakebitsandpiecesfromotherreligions（Idonacardinal’srobe,shavemyheadalaBuddha,anddisseminateglossypamphletsaboutthecomingapocalypse）thenIhavecreatedasyncreticreligion:

onethatcombineselementsofdifferentreligions.

YoucanprobablyseewherethisisgoingwiththeGREdefinition–whichtendstoofferalittlemorelatitude.Syncretic–moregenerallyspeaking–canrefertoanyamalgamofdifferentschoolsofthought.

Jerrytheshrinktakesasyncreticapproachtopsychotherapy–hemixestheGestaltschoolwithsomeJungandahealthy（orunhealthy）doseofFreud.

Ecclesiastical

Thisoneiseasy.Itmeansoforrelatingtothechurch.Outofallthewordsinthelist,ecclesiasticalistheonlyonethathasn’ttakenonamorebroad–orcompletelyunexpected–definition.Speakingofunexpected,lookatthewordbelow…

Parochial

Thiswordcomesfromparish,asmallecclesiasticaldistrict,usuallylocatedinthecountry.Thewordstillhasthismeaning,i.e.relatingtoachurchparish,butwearefarmoreconcernedwiththenegativeconnotationthathasemergedfromtherathersedateoriginalversion.

Tobeparochialistobenarrow-mindedinone’sview.Theideaisifyouarehangingoutinthecountry,youtendtobealittlecutofffromthings.Thepejorativeform–atleasttomyknowledge–isnotaknockatreligion.

Catholic

WehavemanyassociationswithCatholicism–fromcardinalstomass,tonunswieldingcrucifixesatfrothingdemons.Thus,itissomewhatsurprisingthataseconddefinitionofcatholic–theGREdefinition–isuniversal.

Ornot,consideringthatCatholicismhasauniversalreachand,moreimportantly,theCatholicChurchconductsmassinLatin.CatholiccomesfromtheLateLatincatholicus,whichmeans,asyoucanprobablyguess,universal.

Anathema

Afewhundredsyearsago,manyranafoulofthechurch,andexcommunications（andworse）weretypicalreprisals.Ifsuchwasthecase,thePopeactuallyutteredaformalcurseagainstaperson.Thiscursewascalledtheanathema.

Todaythisword,inadditiontoabroaderscope,hastakenatwist.Ifsomethingisanathema（n.）,he,she,oritisthesourceofsomebody’shate.

Theverbformoftheword,anathematize,stillcarriestheoldmeaningoftocurse.

Anathemathroughtheages:

 Galileowasanathematothechurch;RushLimbaughisanathematothoseontheLeft.

Desecrate

Ifapersonwillfullyviolatesordestroysanysacredplace,he（orshe）issaidtodesecrateit.Tombs,graves,churches,shrinesandthelikecanallbevictimsofdesecrations.One,however,cannotdesecrateaperson,regardlessofhowholythatpersonmaybe.

Thefelonhaddesecratedtheholysite,andwasonthechurch’sTop10AnathemaList.

Apostasy

Somebelieversturnagainsttheirfaithandrenounceit.Wecallthisactapostasy,andthosewhocommitit,apostates.Todaythewordcarriesaslightlybroaderconnotationinthatitcanapplytopoliticsaswell.

AnapostateoftheRepublicanParty,Sheldonhasyettobecomeaffiliatedwithanypartbutdubshimselfa“literalindependent.”

Sanctimonious

Thisisatrickyword,andthusyoucanbetitsoneofGRE’sfavorite.Sanctimoniousdoesnotmeanfilledwithsanctityorholiness.Insteaditreferstothatqualitythatcanovercomesomeonewhofeelsthattheyareholier（read:

morallysuperior）toeverybodyelse.

Colloquially,wehearthetermholier-than-thou.Thatisaveryaptwaytodescribetheattitudeofasanctimoniousperson.

Evenduringthequietsanctityofeveningprayer,sheheldherchinhigh,asanctimonioussneerformingonherface. 

Iconoclast

Thisisaninterestingword.Thedefinitionthatrelatestothechurchisclearlynegative,i.e.aniconoclastisonewhodestroysreligiousimages.Basically,thisdefinitionappliestothederangeddrunkwhogoesarounddesecratingiconsoftheVirginMary.

TheapplicabilityofthisdefinitiontoGREisclearlysuspect.TheseconddefinitionhoweverhappenstobeoneoftheGRE’stop100words.Aniconoclast—morebroadlyspeaking—issomebodywhoattackscherishedbeliefsorinstitutions.Thisuseofthewordisnotnecessarilynegative:

Accordingtosomescholars,artduringthe19th centuryhadstagnatedintoworksaimedtopleasefustyArtAcademies–ittooktheiconoclasmofVincentVanGoghtoinjectfreshlifeintotheeffeteworldofpainting. 

TrickyGREWords

ThefollowingGREvocabularywordsallhavecommondefinitions,butthey’retrickybecausetheyalsohavesomenot-so-commondefinitions.TheRevisedGREcaresaboutthelatter,ofcourse.Makesureyouknowtheseconddefinitionofthesewords.Betteryet,feelfreetopepper（seconddefinition）yourconversationwiththesewords.

Stem

Tostemmeanstoholdbackorlimitthefloworgrowthofsomething.Youcanstembleeding,youstemthetide（oratleastattemptto）.Donotstemtheflowofvocabularycoursingthroughyourbrains.Makesuretousethesewordswheneveryoucan.

Tostemthetideofapplications,theprestigiousIvyrequiresthateachapplicantscoreatleast330ontherevisedGRE.

Blinkered

Ifyoublinkalotyouarelikelytomisssomething.Indeedyourviewwouldbeverylimited.Extendingthismeaning,wegetthedefinitionofblinkered:

meanstohavealimitedoutlookorunderstanding.

Ingambling,theaddictiseasilyblinkeredbypastsuccessesand/orpastfailures,forgettingthattheoutcomeofanyonegameisindependentofthegamesthatprecededit.

Check

Tochecksomethingistostopitsgrowth（similartostembutwithmoreofafocusongrowththanflow）.Ifsomethingisleftunchecked,thenitgrowsfreely.

Desertedforsixmonths,thepropertybegantolookmorelikeajungleandlesslikearesidence–weedsgrewuncheckedinthefrontyard.

Checkered

Themeaningofcheckerediscompletelyunrelatedtothemeaningofcheckabove–verytricky,sobesuretoknowthedifferencebetweenthetwo.Acheckeredpastisonethatismarkedbydisreputablehappenings.

Onebyone,thepresidentialcandidatesdroppedoutoftherace,theirrespectivecheckeredpasts–fromembezzlementtoinfidelity–sabotagingtheircampaigns. 

Raft

Araftisaninflatableboat.Itcanalsomeanalargenumberofsomething.Iknow–itdoesn’treallymakemuchsense.Butagoodmnemonic–imaginealargenumberofraftsandyouhavearaftofrafts.

Despitearaftofcityordinancespassedbyanoverzealouscouncil,noisepollutioncontinuedunabatedinthemegalopolis.

VocabularyDoubleMeanings

Asthispastweekwasvocabulary,Iwouldberemissinnotincludingavocabularywordpost.But,insteadofarandomlist,Iwanttotouchonaveryimportantclassofwords–doublemeaningsbasedoncommonwords.Whilewordslikepenuriousandausterehavedoublemeanings,thesewordsarealreadyvocabularywordsinthemselves.Mostofthetime,whentheGREtestsdoublemeanings,ittakescommonwordsthathaveasecondary,orwhatIliketocallhidden,definition.

Involved

Weareinvolvedinmanythings,fromstudyingtosocializing.Forsomethingtobeinvolved,intermsoftheGREdefinition,meansitiscomplicated,anddifficulttocomprehend.

Thephysicslecturebecamesoinvolvedthattheundergraduate’seyesglazedover.

Retiring

Sure,manydreamofthedaywhentheycanberetiring（preferablytosomepalatialestatewithabeachfrontview）.Theseconddefinitiondoesnotnecessarilyapplytomost.Toberetiringistobeshy,andhavetheinclinationtoretractfromcompany.

Nelsonalwayswasthefirsttoleavesoirees–ratherthanmillaboutwith“fashionable”folk,hewasretiring,andpreferredthesolitudeofhisgarret.

Expansive

Yes,expansivemeansexpansive.Italsomeanscommunicative,andpronetotalkinginasociablemanner.

Afterafewsipsofcognac,theoctogenarianshedhisirascibledemeanorandbecameexpansive,speakingfondlyofthe“goodolddays”.

Moment

Amomentisapointintime.Weallknowthatdefinition.Ifsomethingisofmoment,itissignificantandimportant（thinkofthewordmomentous）.

Despitetheinitialhullabaloo,theplaywasofnogreatmomentinHampton’swritingcareer,and,withinafewyears,thepublicquicklyforgothisforayintotheaterarts.

Base

Whenthedefinitionofthiswordcameintoexistence,thereweresomeobviousbiasesagainstthelowercl