Hello folks! Welcome to the 9th blog of the GRE English Word List. This series of blogs is a weekly GRE Words List that helps GRE aspirants bolster their GRE English, and ace the GRE Verbal section.

If you haven’t already, check out our other blogs here.

Back at it with the white vans

We're back to themed lists, with today's themed GRE English Word List - BadJectives. Adjectives that have negative connotations, or in some cases, are straight-up vices.
This week's words are Narcissistic, Lackadaisical, Hedonistic, Irascible and Machiavellian.
Read on for some interesting word origins and trivia.

i. narcissistic

Part of Speech - adjective
Definition - having or showing an excessive interest in or admiration of oneself and one's physical appearance.
Word Origins - from the Greek name Narkissos/Narcissus + -ism.
Synonyms - vain, self-centred, egocentric.
Usage - He’s such a narcissist that his walls must be covered in mirrors.

Narc is sus

This Greek origin story is a twofer - Two mythical figures having a shared origin story. Seldom ends well, and this one isn't any different.
This is one version of the myth - Ovid's Metamorphoses - but is generally accepted to be true.

When Narcissus was born, a great seer made a prediction about Narcissus' life. He said that Narcissus would live long if he didn't discover himself (See the irony in that?).
Years later, Echo, a nymph became attracted to Narcissus and stalked him. Sensing that he was being followed, Narcissus asked, 'Who's there?' Echo repeated "Who's there?" and revealed herself.

A bit of context - Echo was a mountain nymph who was ordered by Zeus to distract Hera while he consorted with other nymphs. Echo was a fast-talker and managed to do so long enough for Zeus to escape. So, Echo incurred Hera's wrath and was cursed by Hera to be only able to repeat the last words spoken to her.

Back to Narcissus

Startled by her approach, Narcissus rebuffed her advances and left Echo heartbroken. Echo withdrew from society and became so lonely, that quite literally, only an echo of her remained. Yet, she still pined for Narcissus.

Nemesis, the Goddess of Revenge, wanted Narcissus to get his comeuppance.
She made him come across a body of water, in which he caught his reflection.
So taken by his own image, he fell in love with it, neither able to divert his gaze nor do anything about his love.
As he lay wasting away over his love, he uttered "Oh marvellous boy, I loved you in vain, farewell" and turned into a flower. Echo, who was watching, uttered "farewell" and faded away as well. Only her voice remained, destined to repeat what others say.

Sorry for ruining the fun of every Echo Point you visit henceforth.

[Fun Fact: The Portrait of Dorian Gray is based on the myth of Narcissus.]

ii. lackadaisical

Part of Speech - adjective
Definition - lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy.
Word Origins - mid 18th century (also in the sense ‘feebly sentimental’): from lackaday or its obsolete extended form lackadaisy.
Synonyms - careless, lazy, unenthusiastic.
Usage - His parents did not approve of his lackadaisical attitude towards his studies.

Upsy-Daisy

Unlike what the word seems to suggest, the origins of lackadaisical has nothing to do with daisies.
One story suggests that it originated from alas/alack and grew to 'alack the day' as referenced in Romeo and Juliet. In this context, the word suggests regret or disappointment.

The other variant is more in line with the modern usage (if any) of the word.
The phrase 'alack the day' was taken and made to sound whimsical, by apparently adding a 'sical' to the end, thus giving the word a slightly less sombre meaning.
To get a better account of how lackadaisical traces its origins, check this blog out.

iii. hedonistic

Part of Speech - adjective
Definition - engaged in the pursuit of pleasure; sensually self-indulgent.
Word Origins - from Greek hēdonē ‘pleasure’ + -ism.
Synonyms - self-indulgent, luxurious, excessive.
Usage - If you overcome your inhibitions, you’re free to express your hedonistic tendencies.

The Pleasure's All Mine

Hedonism as a concept has been part of most civilizations. The earliest instance of advocacy of hedonism is believed to be in the ancient Sumerian Civilization. Then on, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans seem to have taken it to heart. There's a reason 'Bacchanalian', a word derived from the Roman god Bacchus, has come to signify the most extravagant and wildest of parties/revelries.

However, as time went on, the ideology of conservatism and modesty started gaining traction.
Some religions started considering hedonism a sin, and either outright condemned it or advocated moderate measures of hedonism, asking practitioners to consider morality, responsibility, etc. as more important than seeking pleasure for its own sake.

Modern philosophers looked at hedonism from the perspective of utilitarianism.
Utilitarians aim for the maximization of happiness for themselves as well as others affected.

Bentham and Mill, two English philosophers had two contrasting theories about pleasure.
Bentham stated that he could measure pleasure quantitatively. The value of pleasure is its intensity multiplied by its duration. In contrast, Mill believed that pleasure was purely qualitative - people could experience different intensities and layers of pleasure. He also said that lower beings (used pigs as an example) are content with lower forms of pleasure, whereas higher beings are in the pursuit of higher quality of pleasure, and often ignore what's easily available.

iv. irascible

Part of Speech - adjective
Definition - having or showing a tendency to be easily angered.
Word Origins - from late Latin irascibilis, from Latin irasci ‘grow angry’, from ira ‘anger’.
Synonyms - irritable, short-tempered, cranky.
Usage - The Hulk is irascible; he’s always angry.

v. Machiavellian

Part of Speech - adjective
Definition - cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics.
Word Origins - someone who schemes like Niccolo Machiavelli.
Synonyms - devious, sly, conniving.
Usage - His Machiavellian plan to usurp the king's throne was successful.

The Chanakya Of Florence

Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat and politician who lived during the Renaissance.
In his political treatise "Il Principe' or 'The Prince', he made clear his opinions and principles for politics.
He maintained that politics didn't need emotion. According to him, it was a chess game between opponents, not enemies.
He condoned and in fact, advocated the use of 'dishonest' and 'cruel' means by rulers to get what they wanted. This was as long as the intention behind the actions, and the ends were beneficial to the larger population.

He wasn't the first to advocate divorcing politics and emotion, however. Closer home, over a millennium ago, Chanakya had already advocated and executed his Arthashastra to great success and infamy. To read more about the legend of Chanakya across cultures, click here.

Machiavelli's works were so influential, they contributed to the negative connotations/perceptions people have of the words 'politics' and 'politicians'.
An apocryphal tale also claims it's because of him that The Devil has the nickname - 'Old Nick.'

Rapper Tupac was greatly influenced by Machiavelli's works, when in prison.
He changed his stage name to Makaveli when he got out; and the rest, as they say, is history.

That's all for this week's blog, folks.
If you want to step up your GRE English prep, check out our other blogs here.
To start your GRE Quant Prep, check out our course here.

Follow us on our Social Media handles for more GRE English Content!

Check us out on our Social Media Handles!

Newsletter Subscribe

Enter your email address below and subscribe to our newsletter

GRE Word List 2

GRE Word List #2 | Welcome to the blob!

GRE Word List 2
Master GRE Vocabulary the fun way

Yes, you read that right. It’s an example of the first word in this GRE Word List Blog. Read on to find out! 

We hope you liked our debut GRE Word List Blog last week, where we wrote about Latin loanwords.
 
Each week, we’ll post GRE Vocabulary Flashcards on our social media handles, and finish the set off with 2 extra words here, our GRE Blog, accompanied by stories, facts and some questions for you to answer. 

#1 – It’s all Greek and Latin!
#2 – Welcome to the Blob!
#3 – Must-Know GRE Words Set 1
#4 – GRE-Ology
#5 – Reading Apprehension

The words in our set this week are Malapropism, Aphorism, Hearsay, Soliloquy, and Lexicon. 

i. Malapropism  

Part Of Speech – noun 
 
Definition – the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with an amusing effect.  
E.g. saying ‘She’s the pineapple of patience’ instead of pinnacle. 
 
Word Origin: “malapropism” (and its earlier variant “malaprop”) comes from a character named “Mrs Malaprop” in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 play, The Rivals. 
 
In the play, she utters other malapropisms such as “illiterate him quite from your memory” (instead of “obliterate”), and “she’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile” (instead of alligator). 
 
Synonyms – solecism, misusage, error, slip of the tongue. 
 
Usage – In class, everyone laughed at Bill’s malapropism when he complained about electrical votes instead of electoral votes. 

Ore’s another hen

Another interesting form of speech errors is Spoonerism. 

Reverend Spooner was an Oxford don (a tutor of sorts) and tended to mix up the first syllables of adjacent words while speaking, often changing the meaning completely, and often to comedic effect. 

He was the quintessential ‘absent-minded professor.’ 

Do you think Spoonerism is the same as Malapropism? Or a variant? Express your opinion in the comments.

Some examples of spoonerisms

You have hissed all my mystery lectures. (You have missed all my history lectures.) 

The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer. (The rate of wages will press hard upon the employer.) 

A fun word game

In the domain of Word Games, Spoonerisms are extremely popular and are seen in many competitions and forms. A phrase is given, containing synonyms for the Spoonerisms. The enumeration (number of letters) is also provided. 
 
An example of a clue : 
1. Pick on assembled lodestone. (3,3)(6) 
Ans. Nag met, Magnet. 

Here are a few spoonerisms for you to solve. Simply find a set of words, the meanings of which are altered when the first syllable of each word is interchanged. 
 
1. Cry a Spanish artist’s festival of lights. (4, 1, 4)(9) 
2. Crow’s call charge to shoot up. (3,4)(6) 
 
Leave your answers in the comments! 

For more Spoonerisms and other kinds of word games, check out IITM Word Games Club here.

(Back to the GRE Blog now!)

ii. Aphorism 

Part of Speech – noun 

Definition – a succinct observation which contains a general truth.  
E.g. A bad penny always turns up. 

Synonyms – maxim, adage, epigram. 

Usage – Bill began his speech with a humorous aphorism from one of his favorite authors. 

iii. Hearsay 

Part of Speech – noun 
 
Definition – information received from other people which cannot be substantiated. 
E.g. I heard Bill steals from the cash register. 
 
Synonyms – gossip, rumour, stories. 
 
Usage – You can’t judge someone solely on the basis of hearsay. 

Is it the same as heresy?

Hearsay is close to the word Heresy and can be easily mistaken for it. 
 
Heresy is having an opinion/belief that is contrarian to well-established / widely held opinions/beliefs. 
 
The strongest examples of heresy are in religion and politics. In medieval times, pagans, people of religious minorities were often branded heretics, and exiled/ostracized. 

Now, that takes us to Ancient Greece

Ostracism is a fascinating practice, originating from Ancient Greek times.

Athens is widely known as the first democracy. Common people, as a collective, held a lot of power over political and societal goings-on.

In an ostracism proceeding, people convened to vote/exile someone out of the city for a period of ten years, if said person had committed some grave wrongdoings. Sometimes, the ostracisms were preemptive (before committing any wrongdoing), if they were perceived as a potential threat to the state (city-states in Greece, not cities).


Contrary to modern trials, where juries are asked whether the accused is guilty or not, in an ostracism proceeding, the jury (comprising of a minimum of 6000 people) is asked if they want to find someone/anyone guilty or not, and then the subject is accused to stand judgement. 

The word ‘Ostracism’ itself comes from the voting procedure. Instead of paper, which was a luxurious resource, and had to be imported from Egypt (papyrus), the Greeks used shards of broken pottery, called ostraka 
(singular : ostrakon). 
 
People would write the names of the person who they wanted exiled, and scribes would tally up the shards. In certain cases, there’d be an ostracism to see which one of two selected people would be exiled. 

Assassins’ Creed : Odyssey depicts the attempted ostracism of Socrates. Worth a watch/play.

Ostracisms are present in other cultures too. Check out how it works in Iran here.

iv. Soliloquy

Part of Speech – noun 

Definition – an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play. 

E.g. O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? 

Synonyms – monologue, speech, sermon. 

Word Origins: Latin sōlus, alone; Latin loquī, to speak; 


Usage – “Edmund ends the scene as he had begun it, with a soliloquy” 

Question for you : What do you call someone who performs a soliloquy? 
(Hint: There’s more than one correct answer.) Leave your answer in a comment!

v. Lexicon 

Part of Speech – noun 
 
Definition – the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge. 
Also : a dictionary, especially of Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, or Arabic. 
 
Word Origins : early 17th century: modern Latin, from Greek lexikon (biblion) ‘(book) of words’, from lexis ‘word’, from legein ‘speak’. 
 
Synonyms – glossary, thesaurus. 
 
Usage – “It is difficult to understand what teenagers say because their lexicon is constantly changing.” 

Cheers, and see you next week! 

Start your GRE preparation in 3 quick steps. Sign up as a Free Trial User for Wizako’s Online GRE Course.

Share your love

Related Posts

4 Comments

  2. Spoonerism
    1. Weep , a , Dali – Deep a wali (deepawali)
    2. Caw, rate – rocket ( not too sure about this one!)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay informed about all things GRE, subscribe now!