Vocabulary Lesson

To better prepare myself for my inevitable failing of the GRE (Graduate Record Examination, for my Australian friends) I checked out a vocabulary book from my library.

But this book sucked. All it had was the word, the part of speech, and a brief, non-memorable sentence.
It didn't even have drawings.

'I can do better', I thought.

So I present to you, for educational purposes, my own list of GRE words, and memorable drawings and/or sentences to go along with them.

Craven: (kray-vuhn; adj) lacking courage; cowardly.
Ravens are rarely craven.


Numismatics: (nu miz maa tiks; noun) coin collecting
Growing up, my brother was a total geek because he participated in numismatics.


Potentate: (poh tehn tayt; noun) a monarch or a ruler with great power.



Diatribe: (die uh trieb; noun) an abusive, condemnatory speech
After listening to his bosses diatribe, Fred presented him with a well thought out rebuttal.



Palliate: (paa lee ayt; verb) to make less serious; ease
The presence of Bonkers the clown did little to palliate the mood at the funeral.



Occlude: (uh klood; verb) to stop; to prevent the passage of



Limpid: (lihm pihd; adj) clear; transparent.
This water is limpid.


Officious: (uh fihsh uhs; adj) too helpful; meddlesome.
One should never let too many cats in a kitchen, as they are notoriously officious.



Soporific: (sahp uhr ihf ihk; adj) causing sleep or lethargy.
I find reading Freud soporific.



Propriety: (pruh prie uhtee; noun) the quality of behaving in a proper manner; obey rules, customs and manners.
Bears have difficulty with propriety.




Aberrant: (uh ber unt; adj) Deviating from what is normal or expected.


Largess: (laar jehs; noun) Generous giving (as of money) to others who seem inferior.



Inculcate: (ihn kuhl kayt; verb) To teach, to impress upon the mind.





Frenetic: (fruh neht ihk; adj) frantic, frenzied.
If a giant apple attacked Seattle, our behavior would most likely be frenetic.


Sedition: (sih dih shuhn; noun) behavior that promotes rebellion or civil disorder against the state.
It would be considered sedition if I drew the above cartoon in an effort to inspire giant apples to attack major cities.