GRE Unit 9

taken for granted

... it was axiomatic that natural law and processes do not fundamentally change . . .

pertaining to riotous or drunken festivity, pertaining to revelry

For some people New Year's Eve is an occasion for bacchanalian revelry.

commonplace; trite

The writer has a gift for making even the most banal observation seem important and original.

playful conversation

poet

The great bards of English literature have all been masters of the techniques of verse.

obscene

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is the story of a group of Christian pilgrims who entertain one another with stories, ranging from the holy to the bawdy, on their journey to Canterbury Cathedral.

to sanctify; to bless; to ascribe a virtue to

In the year 2000 Pope John Paul II traveled to Fatima in Portugal to beatify two of the three children who said they saw the appearance of the Virgin Mary there in 1917.

to dress in vulgar, showy manner

Paul went to the costume party bedizened as a seventeenth century French aristocrat.

huge creature; anything very large or powerful

to contradict; misrepresent; give a false impression

The boxer's childlike face belies the ferocity with which he can attack opponents in the ring.