GRE Roots (Verbal)

Today's word list

Passage to read:

"Is the GRE important?", this is a very interesting question, and one with diametrically opposed answers, depending how one interprets the question. One common answer is that the GRE is not important at all, and it is an arbitrary test that purports to measure some elusive concept known as intelligence, or, more pejoratively, IQ. It is at best a rite of passage—much like ritual scarring—one must suffer if they are to ascend to the rarefied realm of grad school. 

Words to learn:

Diametrical  :  
(adjective) Exactly opposite; contrary.
(adverb) completely; utterly (esp in the phrase diametrically opposed)

Purport :  
(verb) to pretend to be or to do something, especially in a way that is not easy to believe  
Example sentences:

• They purport to represent the wishes of the majority of parents at the school.
• The study purports to show an increase in the incidence of the disease.
• The tape recording purports to be of a conversation between the princess and a secret admirer. 

 Elusive :
(adjective) difficult to describe, find, achieve or remember.
Example sentences:

 

• An elusive image (as above)
• The answers to these questions remain as elusive as ever.
• Success, however, remained elusive for her.
• Elusive memories  
• Failures are more finely etched in our minds than triumphs, and success is an elusive, if not mythic, goal in our demanding society - Hugh Drummond. [TFD]
  
• A haunting elusive odor - (difficult to describe, impossible to identify) [TFD] 

 Pejoratively :
(adjective)  

• disapproving or suggesting that something is not good or is of no importance  
• Tending to make or become worse.
  Disparaging; belittling.

(noun)

• A disparaging or belittling word or expression

 Example sentences:

• Make sure students realise that 'fat' is an unflattering or pejorative word.
• It comes as quite a shock to still hear a judge describing a child as 'illegitimate', with all the pejorative overtones of that word.