{"id":15123,"date":"2014-07-09T15:10:35","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T22:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/?p=15123"},"modified":"2014-07-09T15:10:35","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T22:10:35","slug":"gre-vocab-wednesday-a-day-of-idioms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-vocab-wednesday-a-day-of-idioms\/","title":{"rendered":"GRE Vocab Wednesday: A Day of Idioms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s installment of GRE Vocab Wednesday is a text-only post — but don’t worry! We’ll be back next Wednesday with another video for you. Stay tuned. \ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/p>\n

Typically speaking, an idiom is an expression peculiar to a certain language. When you translate it word-by-word you get some unintended\u2014and often very funny\u2014imagery. A few include the following: To get someone\u2019s goat; cat got your tongue?; a tempest in a teapot. <\/p>\n

However, I\u2019m not here to talk about these kinds of idioms. Rather, idioms in the test prep world refer to words that take specific prepositions. These can include phrasal verbs (a verb with a preposition) or an adjective followed by a preposition (amenable to). Sometimes, these words take more complicated structures, such as (verb) with impunity. The key is to be able to understand how these words function in context, as the GRE often likes to throw them in there.
\n <\/p>\n

Amenable to<\/h2>\n

Do you usually go along with the program? Are you open to new ideas? If so, you\u2019re probably amenable to<\/em> whatever is being proposed. A hot fudge sundae, perhaps? (Actually most are amenable to<\/em> the prospect of a hot fudge sundae). <\/p>\n

Of course many times we find ourselves not amenable to<\/em> something. Think about the first time you read about GRE vocabulary. You probably weren\u2019t very amenable to<\/em> the idea of studying a 3,000-word list (who is!). But many are amenable to<\/em> studying vocab when it\u2019s provided in a fun and witty weekly format. (Sorry: shameless plug for Vocab Wednesday. And \u201cwitty\u201d might be too much of a stretch!)
\n <\/p>\n

Reconcile with<\/h2>\n

On one level this phrase can mean to make peace with. However, the GRE usually opts for the second meaning, which is subtler: to make one thing consistent with another. Perhaps you can reconcile the fact that the U.S. didn\u2019t make it to the quarter finals based on the sheer talent of some of the other teams. But, like me, you are probably still trying to reconcile<\/em> the 7-1 Brazil (not Brazilian) blowout with<\/em> the fact that they were tournament favorites. For those of you not up to snuff on the World Cup, or who, like me wife, just aren\u2019t in to sports, here is another perhaps less male-centric example: <\/p>\n

Paula could reconcile<\/em> Judy\u2019s shopaholic tendencies with<\/em> the fact that she subscribed to most of the glam mags; what she could not reconcile was the fact that her so-called fashionista friend invariably favored pastels.
\n <\/p>\n

(Verb) with Impunity <\/h2>\n

To do something, no matter how egregious, and get away it is to act with impunity. Kings of yore, and indeed any tyrants of yore and now, often act with impunity<\/em>. That is they feel they can do anything and get away with it. Of course, you don\u2019t have to be invested with complete power to do something with impunity. <\/p>\n

The highway was rarely policed, so local residents, aware of this fact, routinely broke 100-miles-per-hour, whizzing<\/em> over the asphalt with impunity<\/em>.
\n <\/p>\n

Commensurate with<\/h2>\n

Mensurat- comes from the Latin for \u201cto measure\u201d; which makes sense with this word. Commensurate, in a sense, means to measure up to. That is, if one thing is commensurate with<\/em> another it is proportionate to it. Most people\u2019s vocabulary skills tend to be commensurate with<\/em> their GRE verbal score: the bigger the vocab, the higher the score. <\/p>\n

The intensified focus on \u201cteaching to the test\u201d has not met with the commensurate increase in test scores educated had hoped for. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s installment of GRE Vocab Wednesday is a text-only post — but don’t worry! We’ll be back next Wednesday with another video for you. Stay tuned. \ud83d\ude42 Typically speaking, an idiom is an expression peculiar to a certain language. When you translate it word-by-word you get some unintended\u2014and often very funny\u2014imagery. A few include the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[12264],"class_list":["post-15123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-verbal","category-vocabulary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGRE Vocab Wednesday: A Day of Idioms - Magoosh Blog \u2014 GRE\u00ae Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This installment of GRE Vocab Wednesday is dedicated to idioms on the GRE, and understanding how they function in context.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-vocab-wednesday-a-day-of-idioms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GRE Vocab Wednesday: A Day of Idioms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This installment of GRE Vocab Wednesday is dedicated to idioms on the GRE, and understanding how they function in context.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-vocab-wednesday-a-day-of-idioms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2014 GRE\u00ae Test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Magoosh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChrisLeleMagoosh1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-09T22:10:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/files\/2016\/09\/Magoosh-Facebook-Default-Pic.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Lele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@chrismagoosh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshGRE\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Lele\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-vocab-wednesday-a-day-of-idioms\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-vocab-wednesday-a-day-of-idioms\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Lele\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/#\/schema\/person\/3b6630b4f786513b81a860849cffd546\"},\"headline\":\"GRE Vocab Wednesday: A Day of Idioms\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-09T22:10:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-vocab-wednesday-a-day-of-idioms\/\"},\"wordCount\":599,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"GRE Verbal\",\"GRE Vocabulary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-vocab-wednesday-a-day-of-idioms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-vocab-wednesday-a-day-of-idioms\/\",\"name\":\"GRE Vocab Wednesday: A Day of Idioms - 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He's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including US News, GMAC, and Business Because.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChrisLeleMagoosh1\/","ttps:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chris-lele-095005a0","https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismagoosh","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCZ4sGYJ6l0cgnVNIHY8GY6w"],"knowsAbout":["GRE","GMAT","SAT","ACT","MCAT (CARS)","LSAT"],"jobTitle":"Principal Curriculum Manager","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/author\/chris\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":12264,"user_id":10,"is_guest":0,"slug":"chris","display_name":"Chris Lele","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39381a6b4ab74cd4c87c7e678683c33c3b18f1e14f6f0ac762a946185968952b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Lele","first_name":"Chris","description":"Chris graduated from UCLA with a BA in Psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. He's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/education\/best-colleges\/slideshows\/10-test-prep-tips-for-sat-and-act-takers\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> US News<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mba.com\/exams-and-exam-prep\/gmat-exam\/why-take-the-gmat-in-2021-when-many-schools-are-test-optional\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> GMAC<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessbecause.com\/news\/gmat\/3263\/mba-admissions-gre-challenges-gmat\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Business Because<\/a>.\r\n"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15123"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=15123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}