Page 340 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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S: GRE Words
• While a shard is the zoological term for a hard shell or scale, it is not often
used in this manner.
• In ancient Greece, shards of pottery were known as ostra, and if enough
people wrote a man’s name on ostra, he was ostracized—made to depart
from the city-state.
signatory (SIG nuh TAW ree) n. a signer; one who signed an agreement, treaty,
contract, and so on
• John Hancock was the first signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
•A signatory to a contract accepts responsibility for fulfilling that contract.
[signatories pl.] [Syn. endorser]
smelt (SMELT) vt. 1. to heat or fuse ore; to refine; 2. to separate impurities
from metal by heating it —n. small silver-colored food fish found in northern lakes
and seas
• When tin and copper are smelted together in the proper proportions,
bronze is the result.
• Steel is a product of smelting, where certain impurities are deliberately
added to give the finished product desirable qualities.
• I ate some delicious fried smelts with cocktail sauce last night as an
appetizer.
[-ed, -ing] [Syn. refine]
sobriety (suh BRY i tee) n. 1. the state of being temperate and not overindulging,
especially in alcoholic drinks; soberness; 2. seriousness
• If a car is being driven erratically, it might be pulled over and the driver
given a sobriety test.
• During the Cuban missile crisis of the early 1960s, the entire world recog-
nized the sobriety of the situation.
sordid (SAWR did) adj. dirty; filthy; wretched; base; ignoble; mean
• Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was sordid.
• Sordid behavior was customary in the cow towns of the Old West, where
debauchery was the norm.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. base]
splice (SPLYS) vt. to join pieces together by weaving or intertwining (as with
ropes, wires, and so on)
• In a pigtail splice, the bare ends of two wires are twisted together, and then
hot solder is applied.
• A Western Union splice is the most elegant as well as the strongest wire
splice.
• A square knot is a very effective way to splice two ropes together.
[-d, splicing] [Syn. join]