GRE words

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.”

Chaste (adjective)

Pronunciation: ['cheyst]

Definition: Morally pure, decent and modest; celibate, virginal; pure or austere in design.

Usage: Chaste has a verb form, as well: "to chasten." We often use the verb "chasten" to simply mean "punish." However, remember that it shares the last definition of today's word: in order to make a pure or simply designed work, one must chasten it, or refine excess from it. "Chastely" is the adverb and "chastity," the noun, a popular feminine name back in the days when the idea was popular. A chastener is someone who or something that chastens.

Suggested Usage: Although feminine chastity still plays an important role in some societies, the chastity of women is less remarkable today in the industrialized West. The new twist on today's word is "pure and simple in design," which we might use in: "Hector's chaste leadership model caused consternation among his subordinates for the security of their sinecures (for which see the Archives)." Purification is also a sense that has survived in today's word: "Hillbourne strove to chasten his mind with scotch and classical music when he sat down to work on his novel."

pinchbeck \PINCH-bek\, noun, adjective:

1. an alloy of zinc and copper used to imitate gold in jewelry-making; by
extension, something counterfeit; an imitation

2. not genuine; fake

Watch out for the pinchbeck on the auction site.

We laughed at the pinchbeck heroism in the movie.

myopia \mahy-OH-pee-uh\, noun:

1. an abnormal eye condition in which only closeup objects are seen clearly; nearsightedness

2. shortsightedness; lack of foresight

She wears contact lenses for myopia.

His myopia left him without supplies after the storm.

by 1727, medical Latin, from Late Greek myopia, from myops "near-sighted," from myein "to shut" + ops "eye"

myopia=my+opia(我的眼睛阿)

expurgate \EK-sper-geyt\, verb:

to remove objectionable words or passages from a document

Grimms(格林)' fairy tales have been expurgated for children.

Definition: (adjective) Having the feeling that one is about to vomit.

Synonyms: nauseated, nauseous, sick

Usage: Just the thought of being on a cruise ship makes me queasy.

Definition: (adverb) Into separate parts or pieces.

Synonyms: apart

Usage: The powerful wind tore the sails asunder, and the ship was nearly lost at sea.

Definition: (noun) A person appointed to settle a dispute that mediators have been unable to resolve.

Synonyms: arbiter, arbitrator

Usage: Who shall settle the terms of peace, and in case of disputes what umpire shall decide between them and compel acquiescence?

Obdurate (adjective)

Pronunciation: ['ahb-dyu-rêt]

Definition: Stubbornly wicked (impenitent) or wickedly stubborn (intractable). (带贬义)

Usage: Shelley wrote in 'Revolt of Islam' (iv.9) "Custom maketh blind and obdurate The loftiest hearts." The adverb is "obdurately" and the noun, "obduracy." They all come from the transitive and intransitive verb obdure "to harden."

Suggested Usage: The neutral sense can be used where you might otherwise use "dyed-in-the-wool," e.g. "His father was a union leader and he has been an obdurate Labourite since childhood." Of course, Tories might think this the pejorative usage. Here is a clearer example of that first meaning, "I. D. Nye was born to politics; his father was an obdurate card sharp until his death."

Sonsy (adjective)

Pronunciation: ['sahn-si or 'son-si]

Definition: Fortunate, lucky, having sonse (= good fortune); sensible, shrewd; (of girls) zaftig (zaftig definition) - (previous Word of the Day) (full-figured) and comely.

Usage: The noun is "sonse." There is no verb and it wouldn't be sensible—or sonsy—to say "sonsible." A rhyming antonym, donsy ['dahn-si] "unfortunate, unlucky" from Gaelic donas "bad luck," is available for lexical mischief if you are up to it. This latter adjective has no noun, though nothing prevents inventing "donsiness" if you wish to use it.

Suggested Usage: The first meaning of today's word is "lucky," "Fielding placed a sonsy bet at the track and won enough to pay for three-months of gamblers rehabilitation." It also means plump and pretty, "Matilda is a sonsy lass with a golden voice that brightens up evenings at the pub." Now for some mischief with the antonym: "I've had a sonsy-donsy day," would mean a day with ups and downs, with some good luck and some bad.

senescence 衰老