The 15 GRE Words of the Day

16. affected (adjective) false, artificial. 80's radio djs used to speak in an affected british accent. affect (verb), affectation (noun)

17. affinity (noun) A feeling of shared attraction, kinship, a similarity. When Christi and I feel in love, we marvled over our affinity for John Cage, Riot Grrl and our RA.

18. aggrandize (verb) To make bigger or greater; to inflate. When he was mayor of New York, Ed Kotch was renowned for aggrandizing his accomplishments and stroling through city events shouting "How'm I doing?" aggrandizement (noun)

19. agitation (noun) A disturbance; a disturbig feeling of upheavel and excitement. The campus took away the microphones from the radical groups because they feared student agitation. agitated (adjective), agitate (verb)

20. alias (noun) An assumed name. Don't reveal my identity to the spies! Call me by my alias, "sloshie."

21. allegiance (noun) Loyalty or devotion shown to one's government or to a s person, group or cause. I pledge allegiance to my christi and to the sidewalk on which she stands...

22. allocate (verb) to apportion for a specific purpose, to distribute. If you want to buy a fabcy new RAID array, you're going to have to allocate some funds out of your general budget. allocation (noun)

23. amalgamate (verb) to blend thoroughly. The reason the white south wanted to maintain segregation, especially in schools, was because they feared amalgamation. Intermarriage would destroy their very wonderful paleness for future generations. amalgamation (noun)

24. ameliorate (verb) to make something better or more tolerable. Perhaps we can ameliorate the condition of Vanessa's Tofu Suprise through the juditious addition of soy sauce. amelioration (noun)

25. amortize (verb) to pay off or reduce a debt gradually throught periodic payments. In the interest rate is low, it might be a good idea to amortize our morgage instead of paying it off as fast as we can.

26. amplify (verb) to enlarge, expand or increase. When you asked me to amplify the music, i wrote a second movement, not knowing you just wanted me to make it louder. oops. amplification (noun)

27. anachronistic (adjective) out of the proper time. The knight at the ren-faire was wearing keds, which is totally an anachronism, cuz it's not like keds were invented yet when there were knights. of course, somebody running around now dressed in armor is kind of anachronistic anyway. Maybe he belongs to the society for creative anachronisms. anachronism (noun)

28. anarchy (noun) abscence of law or order. anarchists are kind of silly, because they don't want chaos or actual anarchy, they want people to form allegiances voluntarily. anarchic (adjective)

29. animosity (noun) hostility, resentment. Roz could no longer contain her animosity towards Xena and so after a minute of sniffing noses, she returned to growling obnoxiously.

30. anomaly (noun) something different or irregular. we noticed an anomoly on the scan, so we're going to have to do a biopsy to make sure it's not cancer. anomalous (adjective)