GRE备考资料：韦士GRE核心词汇整理(A-2)

GRE备考资料：韦士GRE核心词汇整理(A-2)

advocate (AD vuh KAYT for vt., AD vuh kit for n.) vt. to speak or write in favor of something —n. a person who pleads the case of another (for example, a lawyer) or who supports a specific action

• Fred wrote to advocate tax reform for the state.

• Marsha advocates freedom for all to enjoy ice cream without increasing in size or weight.

• Alice is Jose’s advocate in his suit against the city for overassessing the value of his property.

• Noreen is an advocate for the rights of homeless people.

[-d, advocating] [Syn. support]

affinity (uh FIN i tee) n. 1. close relationship; connection; 2. similarity of struc-ture; 3. affection; liking for

• Helen always felt a great affinity for

Al.

• Tuna and mayonnaise have a close affinity to one another.

• Though they are all Romance languages, Italian has a greater affinity to Spanish than to French.

affirm (uh FOERM) vt. 1. to declare to be true; assert the truth of; 2. to confirm; uphold; ratify

• Jerry came to Ann to affirm the validity of Laura’s tale.

• The Senate affirmed the nomination of the secretary of state.

[-ed, -ing, -ation n.] [Syn. assert]

aggrandize (uh GRAN dyz) vt. 1. to make greater, richer, more powerful; 2. to make seem richer

• By certifying the landfill as a suitable building site, the county helped to further aggrandize its owner.

• Although not earning a dollar from the transaction, its very happening aggrandized Otto’s reputation.

[-d, aggrandizing] [Syn. enrich]

agronomy (uh GRAHN uh mee) n. management of farmland; the science of producing crops

• For a farmer to get the most from his land, he needs to have some under-standing of agronomy.

• Agronomy teaches that rotating crops allows the land to replenish its essen-tial nutrients after they’ve been used.

allegory (AL ig AWR ee) n. a story in which people, things, and ideas have hid-den meanings, often used as a way of teaching values

• Aesop’s fables are probably the best-known allegories in all literature.

• An allegory always has a message apart from its obvious one, which in Aesop’s case is provided in the moral at the end.

[allegories pl.]

alleviate (uh LEEV ee AYT) vt. 1. to lighten; make less hard to bear; 2. to reduce or lessen pain

• Lloyd took one of the boxes of books from Arlene to alleviate the load that she was carrying.

• Tears often alleviate the burden of emotional stress.

[-d, alleviating] [Syn. reduce]

allocate (AL uh KAYT) vt. 1. to earmark or set aside for a specific purpose; 2. to distribute; mete out

• The city allocated $200 million to improve mass-transit facilities.

• Having collected hundreds of donated winter coats, it was now up to the lodge to allocate them among the less fortunate.

[-d, allocating] [Syn. allot]

alloy (uh LOY for vt., A loy for n.) vt. 1. to fuse two or more metals to form one that possesses new properties; 2. to reduce the pureness of a rare metal by fusing it with a less precious one —n. a metallic substance derived from the chemical fusion of two or more metals

• Wrapping a strip of copper arround tin does not make an alloy; the tin and copper must be smelted at high heat to form the new metal, bronze.

• Iron is alloyed with carbon and several other metals to produce steel.

• Fourteen-karat gold is produced by

alloying 24-karat pure gold with other metals.

[-ed, -ing]

amalgamate (uh MAL guh MAYT) vt. 1. to join together into one; to unite; to combine; 2. to alloy into an amalgam (an alloy of mercury and another metal, used by dentists in fillings)

• Many smaller companies were amalgamated to form some of today’s corpo-rate giants, such as General Electric and U.S. Steel.

• Mercury and silver are amalgamated to form the amalgam that is losing popularity with dentists as a filling material.

[-d, amalgamating]

ameliorate (uh MEEL ee uh RAYT) vt. to make or become better; to improve

• A visit by a professional cleaning service should ameliorate the mess in our living room.

• The automobile company recalled all 2004 model cars to ameliorate the problem with the steering pump.

[-d, ameliorating] [Syn. improve] QUICK REVIEW #88

Match the word from column 2 with the word from column 1 that means most nearly the same thing.

1. advocate (vt.) 2. advocate (n.) 3. affinity 4. affirm 5. aggrandize 6. agronomy 7. allegory 8. alleviate 9. allocate 10. alloy 11. amalgamate

12. ameliorate b. relieve c. improve d. symbolism e. distribute f. unite g. enrich h. fuse i. support

a. connection