GRE words

bravura \bruh-VYUR-uh; brah-; -VUR-\

noun:1. A florid, brilliant style of music that emphasizes the technical force and skill of a performer; virtuoso music. 2. A showy or brilliant display.

But it was not just the bravura of his self-expression that gave him such a hold on his contemporaries.-- Peter Ackroyd, "Oscar Wilde: Comedy as Tragedy,", New York Times, November 1, 1987

The straightforward narrative account is set down with old-fashioned punctilio in prose of classic distinction, singularly free of bravura, and marked by the hard clarity of outline that is one of Waugh's several manners.-- Charles A. Brady, "Figure of Grace", New York Times, January 24, 1960

With his customary display of dramatic bravura, Sir Alan Ayckbourn is giving us twin comedies about a village fete and staging them simultaneously in each of the National's big, adjacent auditoriums.-- Benedict Nightingale, "Witches of Updike Flying to London", New York Times, March 12, 2000

bravado \bruh-VAH-doh\, noun;

plural bravados or bravadoes \bruh-VAH-dohz\:

A real or pretended show of courage or boldness.

While the popular mood in Belgrade remains defiant, unease beneath the bravado is growing.-- "No end in sight", The Economist, April 15, 1999

His guerrilla operations, near Kabul, were known for their bravado and a level of organization unusual among the rather haphazard mujahedeen.-- Lisa Schiffren, "Remembering Abdul Haq: The Taliban executes an Afghan patriot", The Weekly Standard, November 12, 2001

The company's culture of swashbuckling bravado encouraged risk taking without accountability.-- Ram Charan and Jerry Useem, "Why Companies Fail", Fortune, May 27, 2002

His mom was a nurse, incredulous at his bravado. "Why would anybody want to go to war?" she asked.-- Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

The students often compared public schools to prisons, with fear in their voices mixing with bravado.-- Alissa Quart, "Classroom Consciousness", The Nation, June 10, 2002

braggadocio \brag-uh-DOH-see-oh; -shee-oh; -shoh\

noun:1. A braggart.2. Empty boasting.3. A swaggering, cocky manner.

. . .all charm and "aw shucks" humility one moment, full of braggadocio the next.-- David S. Broder, "An Opportunity Missed", Washington Post, January 26, 1995

David was charming, offsetting his usual braggadocio with vulnerability.-- Tom King, The Operator

She came storming out of east Texas like a whirlwind, a raw-boned tomboy with more than enough braggadocio to go with her matchless athleticism, commanding Olympian headlines in 1932 and holding the spotlight as the world's greatest female golfer for 25 years.-- Shav Glick, "Babe in the Woods", Los Angeles Times, December 29, 1999

bootless \BOOT-lis\, adjective:

Unavailing; useless; without advantage or benefit.

I have seen a swan
With bootless labour swim against the tide.-- Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part III

A noble intention, a decent attempt to bust bigger heads than their own with their best weapons, but bootless and, ultimately, senseless, too.-- Gordon Monson, "Ute Defense Headlines Bland Game", Salt Lake Tribune, September 1, 2002

A crew of divers was scheduled to start cleaning the seaweed off the net in preparation for winter, although now it seemed like a bootless task, given that Keiko might never come back.-- Susan Orlean, "Where's Willy?", The New Yorker, September 16, 2002

Late in the nineteenth century there had been a bootless competition between Munich and Berlin as to which was more modern, more civilized.-- Peter Gay, My German Question

Part of Speech: noun

Pronunciation: ['bi-gêt]

Definition: (1) A hypocrite, especially a superstitious religious hypocrite; (2) an extremely prejudiced fanatic obstinately wedded to a particular opinion or attitude and passionately intolerant of those who disagree.

Usage: We generally associate bigotry with socially incorrect behavior: "His divorces do not surprise me: Rollo is such a sexist bigot, I'm astonished that he found five women willing to marry him." Today's word does, however, fit correct types of prejudicial social behavior: "Charles is a bangers-and-mash bigot who won't let anything else be served for breakfast—though he might accept a toad in the hole on special occasion." ("Bangers" are what Australians call "snags" and Americans call "sausages." A "toad in the hole" is a banger baked in dough.)

Suggested Usage: A bigot is bigoted (the adjective) and the nature of a bigot is his or her bigotry (the abstract noun).

Etymology: The origin of today's word is obscured by thick veils of history. We know it first emerged in the romantic biography of Girart de Roussillon written in the 12th century. It has no apparent connection with Spanish bigote "moustache." There is a story that the first Duke of Normandy, Rollo (Hrolf) the Walker (so called because he was too large for a horse), was ceded Normandy by Charles III, The Simple, on the condition that Rollo's fellow Vikings be kept out. To seal the deal, Rollo supposedly kissed the boot of Charles, muttering, "Ne se, bi got," which was taken to mean "No, by God!" in a combination of French and broken English. This curious story is too silly to even be called apocryphal. More interesting is the claim that the term Visigoth "West Goth" survived in the South of France and emerged as "bigot." It is true that the Northern Franks did not like the Visigoths of Toulouse and used several racial slurs in referring to them. However, the phonetic changes required for this derivation are none of those we know took place in other words, disallowing any provable connection. (We are also not sure how Lyn Laboriel keeps coming up with such interesting words to suggest for our series but we are happy that she does.)

bombast \BOM-bast\, noun:

Pompous or pretentious speech or writing.

A more serious difficulty, though, is that "love" has inspired a vast deal of high-toned rhetoric, and Ms. Ackerman seems determined to boost the bombast that already engulfs this troublesome word.-- "This Crazy Thing Called Love", New York Times, June 26, 1994

It was partly this gift for nuance that caused Kempton to notice, while reviewing the work of Whittaker Chambers, something undeniably authentic beneath the bombast and self-pity.-- "Age of Ideology: Murray Kempton on the 30's", New York Times, January 31, 1999

He especially loved pro wrestling shows, where he learned the importance of bombast, and how to immobilize a larger opponent.-- John Brady, Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater

blandish

Part of Speech: verb

Pronunciation: ['blæn-dish]

Definition: To flatter, to cajole or seduce with kind and ostensibly affectionate
words.

Usage: Blandishment is an every day occurrence: "He blandished me with every kind word in his vocabulary but I simply refused to surrender my Virginia tea to him." Not all blandishments fail, of course: "Sarah's subtle blandishments finally convinced Hardy to wear a shirt when her parents visit."

Suggested Usage: The activity of blandishing is "blandishment" and the person doing the blandishing is a "blandisher." Flattery may be sincere, as may be cajolery but blandishment is generally taken as insincere, beguiling flattery. "Wheedle" implies persistent flattery while cajolery implies flattery against the staunch resistance of the person being flattered.


blandishment \BLAN-dish-muhnt\, noun:

Speech or action that flatters and tends to coax, entice, or persuade; allurement -- often used in the plural.

But she had not risen at all to the law fellow's blandishments, his attempts to interest her in his ideas and persuade her to set forth her own.-- John Bayley, Elegy for Iris

And that my English-speaking victims find my blandishments so pretty, accented as they are, and yield to my soft lustrous Italian pronunciations, is a constant source of bliss for me.-- Anne Rice, Vittorio, the Vampire

Perfect, gentle reader: I will not begin this book with a tribute to your discernment, because a person of your obvious accomplishments would certainly be immune to such blandishments.-- Richard Stengel, You're Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery

bilk \bilk\

verb, noun: 1. to defraud; cheat 2. to frustrate 3. to escape from; elude

noun: 1. a trick; fraud; deceit. 2. a cheat, swindler

Stuart Levine is a guy who is accused of trying to bilk numerous state agencies - and people seeking help from government agencies - out of millions of dollars.-- Steve Brown

bilious \BIL-yuhs\, adjective:

1. Of or pertaining to bile.

2. Marked by an excess secretion of bile.

3. Pertaining to, characterized by, or affected by gastric distress caused by a disorder of the liver.

4. Appearing as if affected by such a disorder.

5. Resembling bile, especially in color.

6. Of a peevish disposition; ill-tempered.

Most arresting of all, his normally gray elephant hide has changed to a bilious shade of green.-- Ellen Handler Spitz, Inside Picture Books

Warm and diplomatic in manner, devoted to his wife and sons, Rich at 52 fits the stereotype of the bilious, bitter critic in only one particular: He didn't have a happy childhood.-- Judith Newmark, "Theater Expert Fears 'The Bottom Will Drop
Out' For Broadway", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 25, 2001

The field here on my right belongs to Knemon,
a human lacking in humanity,
bilious toward everyone, detesting crowds.-- Menander, The Grouch (translated by Sheila D'Atri)

I know of friends and colleagues who have received death threats and bilious ventings from angry and sometimes deranged strangers.-- Peter Wood, "You've Got (Hate) Mail", National Review, July 30, 2001


Example Sentence
Molly’s bilious demeanor made her ill-suited for a job in customer service, and she was let go from the position after two weeks.

Did you know?
"Bilious" is one of several words whose origins trace to the old belief that four bodily humors (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood) control temperament. Just like "phlegmatic" (“of a slow and stolid phlegm-driven character”), “melancholy” (“experiencing dejection associated with black bile”), and the recent Word of the Day "sanguine" (“of a cheerful, blood-based disposition”), "bilious" suggests a personality associated with an excess of one of the humors — in this case, yellow bile. "Bilious," which first appeared in English in the mid-1500s, derives from the Middle French “bilieux,” which in turn traces to “bilis,” Latin for "bile." In the past, "bile" was also called "choler," which gives us "choleric,” a synonym of “bilious.”

bifurcate \BY-fur-kayt; by-FUR-kayt\

transitive verb: 1. To divide into two branches or parts.

intransitive verb: 1. To branch or separate into two parts.

adjective: 1. Divided into two branches or parts; forked.

There it was, a sliver of a million-dollar view: the red towers of the Golden Gate Bridge that bifurcated the waters, marking bay from ocean.-- Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter

They were strolling up the paved walk which bifurcated the rolling front lawn of her house.-- Erik Tarloff, The Man Who Wrote the Book

Increasingly, Canadian teachers are a bifurcated group -- either relative newcomers to the profession or experienced veterans.-- Heather-Jane Robertson, "The Devil's in the Demographics.", Phi Delta Kappan, January 1999

Peed Onk is bravura writing -- the narrative bifurcates, offering exterior realism and the interior torment of the Mother.-- Jon Saari, "Books", Antioch Review, Spring 1999

Riven continually confronts us with . . . visual echoes of its name, such as the giant dagger thrust into the landscape at one point, or the plate-tectonic fracturing of islands out of an implied unity, or even the bifurcate wing cases of the aptly named Riven beetles.-- Stuart Moulthrop, "Misadventure: Future Fiction and the New Networks", Style, Summer 1999


Part of Speech: verb

Pronunciation: ['bI-fêr-keyt]

Definition: To fork, to divide into two branches or prongs; to separate into two parts.

Usage: Today's word is golden in the garden: "Because the leaves of the iris don't bifurcate, they look like green spears rocketing from the ground." It also elevates the tone of directions you give to others: "Don't smash the chocolate bar into bits, Penelope, bifurcate it neatly and offer your brother a moiety!" Another delightful scene from the life of a happy Word-of-the-Day family, using two recent Words of the Day in one sentence!

Suggested Usage: The noun is "bifurcation" and the adjective, spelt the same as the verb but with displaced accent, ['bI-fêr-kêt], means "forked or divided into two parts."


Example Sentence
The proposed restructuring would bifurcate the company.

Did you know?
Yogi Berra, the baseball great who was noted for his head-scratching quotes, is purported to have said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi’s advice might not offer much help when making tough decisions in life, but perhaps it will help you remember today’s word, “bifurcate.” A road that bifurcates splits in two like the one in Yogi’s adage. Other things can bifurcate as well, such as an organization that splits into two factions. “Bifurcate” derives from the Latin “bifurcus,” meaning “two-pronged,” a combination of the prefix “bi-” (“two”) and the noun “furca” (“fork”). “Furca,” as you can probably tell, gave us our word “fork.”