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Difficulty: MediumIdentifying Synonym and Near-Synonym Pairs

Associate each vocabulary term in Column A with its most precise semantic near-synonym in Column B.

  • garrulousloquacious
  • sanctimoniousself-righteous
  • reconditeabstruse
  • obsequioussycophantic

Answer

'garrulous' pairs with 'loquacious'; 'sanctimonious' pairs with 'self-righteous'; 'recondite' pairs with 'abstruse'; 'obsequious' pairs with 'sycophantic'.
Each vocabulary term in Column A shares an exact core semantic definition with its corresponding pair in Column B: 'garrulous' matches 'loquacious' (talkative), 'sanctimonious' matches 'self-righteous' (hypocritically pious), 'recondite' matches 'abstruse' (obscure/esoteric), and 'obsequious' matches 'sycophantic' (fawning/servile).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Define the core meaning and tone of each target term in Column A.
Garrulous means excessively talkative; sanctimonious means hypocritically pious or moralizing; recondite means little-known or abstruse; obsequious means overly submissive and flattering.
Establishing clear dictionary definitions enables accurate semantic alignment.
2
Evaluate the terms in Column B to find the closest semantic near-synonyms.
Loquacious corresponds to garrulous; self-righteous corresponds to sanctimonious; abstruse corresponds to recondite; sycophantic corresponds to obsequious.
Near-synonyms must share core denotations and appropriate academic register nuances.

Key Concept

Identifying semantic equivalences and near-synonym pairs among advanced GRE vocabulary terms.
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Topics

Identifying Synonym and Near-Synonym Pairs

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