Page 334 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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Q – R: GRE Words
receptor (ri SEP toer) n. 1. a receiver; 2. a sense organ; a group of nerve endings
specializing in receiving impulses
• A radar antenna is both a sender for putting out radio waves and a receptor
for receiving the signals when they bounce off something.
• The nose contains the receptors for smell, while the taste buds are receptors
on the tongue.
• Rods and cones are light receptors on the retina of the eye.
[Syn. receiver]
recitation (RES i TAY shin) n. 1. a public speaking of some memorized verse or
prose; 2. a gathering at which this occurs
• Memorization and recitation of the works of Homer were the main pillars of
a classical Greek education.
• Many tickets were sold for tonight’s Keats’ recitation at the Town Hall.
recluse (rik LOOS) n. one who lives a life of solitude and seclusion by choice
• Howard Hughes chose to spend the last years of his life as a recluse.
•A recluse can be considered an antisocial individual.
[reclusive adj., reclusively adv.] [Syn. hermit]
recondite (REK uhn dyt) adj. very profound; beyond the grasp of a normal
human mind; obscure; abstruse
• Rocket science is as recondite as, well, rocket science.
• Brain surgery is quite recondite but less so than rocket science.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. abstruse]
redemptive (ri DEMP tiv) adj. 1. serving to redeem or get back, as in trading
paper money for silver or gold, or trading stamps; 2. serving to save one’s life or
soul by the sacrifice of paying a ransom
• Richard made a redemptive effort with his silver certificates but was told the
time for cashing them in for metal had passed.
• In the biblical narrative of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac, God
provides a ram as a redemptive substitute for Isaac’s life.
[-ly adv., redemption n.]
refractory (ri FRAK toer ee) adj. 1. hard to handle; stubborn (said about an
animal or person); 2. heat resistant; hard to work or melt (said about metal ore);
3. resistant to disease
• A mule is a very refractory animal and must be handled with care.
• The iron age came about rather late in history because of the refractory
nature of the metal’s ore.
• Botanists have worked for decades to produce refractory strains of corn and
tomatoes.
[refractorily adv., refractoriness n.]