I have listed down some GRE questions . They should be a good practice resource:
The questions are not in any specific order. Not organizing them makes the practice better!
ANGUINE
A. prone
B. pessimistic
C. hindmost
D. idyllic
E. sordid
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
Someone sanguine is cheerful and optimistic, and is therefore not pessimistic.
EXECRATE
A. hoist
B. engender
C. salute
D. deter
E. reek
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
To execrate is to vilify, whereas to salute is to prais
14. NOISOME
A. olfactory
B. proud
C. quiet
D. sufficient
E. innocuous
Correct Answer: E
Explanation:
Something noisome is disgusting, whereas something innocuous is harmless and inoffensive.
20. APPROPRIATE
A. furnish
B. deny
C. refract
D. rehash
E. report
Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
To appropriate means to take for one's own use; to furnish is to supply.
0. PECCADILLO
A. innocent mistake
B. venal sin
C. sliver
D. rational thought
E. misconception
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
A peccadillo is a minor crime or sin; a venal sin is a serious offence.
14. ARCHAISM
A. standpoint
B. expiation
C. neologism
D. plagiarism
E. platitude
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
An archaism is an outdated expression; a neologism is a newly coined expression.
6. AIL
A. ratify
B. contemplate
C. smolder
D. thrive
E. stifle
Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
To ail is to be ill and unhealthy; to thrive is to grow well and healthily.
17. PRONE
A. upright
B. rancid
C. pneumatic
D. purulent
E. slanting
Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
To be in a prone position is to be horizontal, and not upright or vertical.
19. UNQUALIFIED
A. putative
B. dubious
C. certain
D. distinctive
E. argumentative
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
An unqualified success would be a complete and certain success, and would not be dubious or doubtful.
7. INTENSIFY
A. devastate
B. cumulate
C. delineate
D. slake
E. exacerbate
Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
To intensify is to make tronger; to slake is to quench.
11. PREEMINENCE
A. monarchy
B. ingenuity
C. dismay
D. vanity
E. obscurity
Correct Answer: E
Explanation:
Preeminence is fame or prominence; obscurity is the opposite of fame. <-- sounds weird but one meaning of obscure is not prominent / well known
1. TENUOUS
A. flimsy
B. notorious
C. frivolous
D. ironclad
E. thoughtful
Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
Something tenuous is not firm; something ironclad is very firm.
(confused tenuous with tenacious0
2. QUAFF
A. pander
B. gulp
C. decimate
D. chew
E. sip
Correct Answer: E
Explanation:
To quaff is to gulp down a drink; to sip is to take small mouthfuls.
5. SHROUD
A. peak
B. veil
C. expose
D. eschew
E. unwind
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
To shroud is to cover, and is the opposite of expose.
. SPURN
A. convene
B. jeopardize
C. woo
D. shun
E. evade
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
To spurn is to shun, push aside; to woo is to make approaches to.
11. INDISPOSED
A. indigent
B. hale
C. jubilant
D. simpering
E. disinclined
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
Someone indisposed is ill, whereas someone hale is healthy.
17. DICHOTOMY
A. disparity
B. equivocation
C. monarchy
D. altercation
E. synthesis
Correct Answer: E
Explanation:
A dichotomy is a branching into two parts. The best opposite is synthesis which is joining.
19. ARCHETYPAL
A. generalized
B. idiosyncratic
C. salacious
D. apocryphal
E. consanguine
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
Something archetypal is typical, whereas something idiosyncratic is quirky.
BURLESQUE
A. pantomime
B. tragedy
C. stanza
D. musical
E. rhetoric
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
Burlesque is comic; whereas tragedy is serious.
6. STOMACH
A. inter
B. placate
C. repudiate
D. decant
E. eviscerate
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
To stomach something is to tolerate it; to repudiate something is to shun it.
8. BECLOUD
A. mandate
B. illuminate
C. emerge
D. dissipate
E. encumber
Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
To becloud is to obscure; to illuminate is to make clear.
11. CHAFF
A. raiment
B. nostrum
C. stalk
D. floret
E. kernel
Correct Answer: E
Explanation:
The chaff is the outer part of the grain (the aste); the kernel is the center part (the essential part).
12. LABORED
A. nuanced
B. jejune
C. fluent
D. amusing
E. gratis
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
Labored speech is not fluent (expressed with ease) because labored means something done with difficulty or something not subtle.
14. ABEYANCE
A. desuetude
B. cacophony
C. ascendancy
D. quiescence
E. rebellion
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
Something in abeyance is not in active use. Ascendancy is a suitable opposite because it means on the increase, or rising.
17. CHAMPION
A. usurp
B. eulogize
C. assert
D. fail
E. oppose
Correct Answer: E
Explanation:
To champion is to support, therefore, to oppose is the obvious opposite
Sentence Completion:
All European countries are seeking to diminish the check upon individual ____ which state examinations with their ____ growth have bought in their train.
A. rights - liberating
B. liberties - empowering
C. spontaneity - tyrannous
D. foibles - inevitable
E. creativity - soporific
Clue: The sentence means that the countries are seeking to diminish (reduce) the check on individual freedom which state examinations impose. This suggests that almost all of the word choices (except foibles) for the first blank might work. So we look at the second blank. If the examinations are opposing freedom, then we need a negative word.
Tyrannous fits the bill.
(
empowering = giving power; spontaneity = impulsiveness, freedom from restraint; tyrannous = harsh, repressive; foibles = quirks; inevitable = cannot be avoided; soporific = sleep inducing)
If there is nothing to absorb the energy of sound waves, they travel on ____ , but their intensity ____ as they travel further from their source.
A. erratically - mitigates
B. eternally - alleviates
C. forever - increases
D. steadily - stabilizes
E. indefinitely - diminishes
indefinitely - diminishes
1. The conclusion of his argument, while ____ , is far from ____ .
A. stimulating - interesting
B. worthwhile - valueless
C. esoteric - obscure
D. germane - relevant
E. abstruse - incomprehensible
abstruse - incomprehensible
Antonym:
1. TILE : MOSAIC
a. wood : totem
b. stich : sampler
c. ink : scorll
d. pedestal : column
e. tapestry : rug
2. EUPHEMISM : OFFENSE
a. rhetoric : persuation
b. prevarication : truth
c. metaphor : description
d. repetition : boredom
e. conciliation : appeasement
3. CONTRACT : IMPLODE
a. expand : swell
b. descend : plummet
c. add : accelerate
d. cool : solidify
e. strech : flex
4.COHABIT : RESIDE
a. conspire : plot
b. coincide : contradict
c. secrete : conceal
d. infiltrate : influence
e. sentence : prosecute
5. ATTACK : VANQUISHED
A. woo :adored
b. smother : choked
c. spy : investigated
d. goad : provoked
e. guess: calculated
Answers
1) B ( got it wrong...but it was easy )
2) B (bridge nahin bana paya...guessed :C )
3) B
4) A
5) its D.......i was confused between C & D...dint find explanation for this convincing...with the bridge meantion C also goes fine.
1. TILE : MOSAIC
a. wood : totem
b. stich : sampler
c. ink : scorll
d. pedestal : column
e. tapestry : rug
Answer: B
Bridge: X is a small part of Y, the whole (or, in other words: many Xs make up a Y). So just as many small tiles make up a mosaic, many small stitches make up a sampler. Answer E doesn't work, because a tapestry, as a decorated and woven piece of fabric, is more of a synonym for rug - many tapestries do not make up a rug.
2. EUPHEMISM : OFFENSE
a. rhetoric : persuation
b. prevarication : truth
c. metaphor : description
d. repetition : boredom
e. conciliation : appeasement
Answer: I'd say B.
Bridge: X is used to avoid Y. So the aim of a euphemism (like 'pass away' instead of 'die') is to avoid causing offense, and prevarication is used to avoid telling the truth. As for the other answers, A, C and E don't have Xs which are used to *avoid* the Ys (rhetoric is often used to persuade, metaphors are used to describe, conciliation is used to appease), while in D, the X *causes* Y.
3. CONTRACT : IMPLODE
a. expand : swell
b. descend : plummet
c. add : accelerate
d. cool : solidify
e. strech : flex
Answer: B
Bridge: Y is a more extreme form of X. When an object contracts, it's made smaller and/or tighter; when it implodes, it becomes so small and/or tight that it collapses in on itself completely. (Hope you like my very scientific explanation 
) In the same way, to 'descend' is just to 'move downwards', whereas to 'plummet' is to fall headlong downwards - quickly. I think I see why you wanted to choose D - were you thinking of 'solidify' as a more extreme form of 'cool' (i.e. 'frozen solid' = solidified?). For that answer, I'd say the bridge isn't quite right - cooling doesn't necessarily have anything to do with solidification. When you're hot and cooled by a fan or air conditioning, you don't turn solid. As for the other answers, A and E have X and Ys that are more or less synonymous (expand = swell, stretch = flex), and C doesn't make much sense (adding doesn't have anything to do with accelerating - unless maybe adding speed?)
4.COHABIT : RESIDE
a. conspire : plot
b. coincide : contradict
c. secrete : conceal
d. infiltrate : influence
e. sentence : prosecute
This one is a bit fiendish . I like it. At first I thought the bridge was just: X is synonymous with Y. But that means that both A and C would fit, so the bridge needs tightening. So:
Answer: A
Bridge: X is Y, done jointly. One person can 'reside', but 'cohabitation' involves (at least) two. One person can 'plot', but to 'conspire' needs at least two. The trick to this question is in the 'co' prefix - it means 'together' (and 'con' means 'together with'). So: COhabit - to live together; CONspire - to plot together. The evil testmakers have tried to throw you with trick answer B - COincide (which does indeed mean to 'occur together'), but you know it can't be right because the bridge doesn't work: 'coincide' doesn't mean two people 'contradicting' together.
5. ATTACK : VANQUISHED
A. woo :adored
b. smother : choked
c. spy : investigated
d. goad : provoked
e. guess: calculated
Answer: D
Bridge: X is done with a view to Y. You attack someone with a view to vanquishing (defeating) them; you goad someone with a view to provoking them. B doesn't quite work because of a technicality: you don't smother with a view to choking, you smother with a view to suffocating (as far as I know - not having had personal experience of this! )
