G – H
gargantuan(gahr GAN tyoo uhn) adj.huge; gigantic (from Rabelais’s 1552 satire,
Gargantua and Pantagruel)
- There was a gargantuantraffic jam at the in-bound George Washington
Bridge.
garish(GAI rish) adj.1. very showy; very bright and gaudy; 2. showily dressed,
written, or decorated - The outfit she chose, with the hot pink top and the chartreuse bottom, can
only be described as garish. - The decorations were a garishblend of Peter Max, Andy Warhol, and
Dollywood, with a liberal sprinkling of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
[-ly adv.]
genealogy(JEE nee AH li jee) n.1. a chart showing the ancestry of a person or
family; 2. the study of family descent - Gloria’s genealogywas spread out on the dining room table.
- Rick could trace his genealogyback to late-nineteenth-century Russia, but
no farther back than that.
[geneological adj., genealogically adv.]
generalize(JEN er il YZ) vt.to put into nonspecific terms; to infer from —vi.1.
to talk in generalities; 2. to create principles from known events; 3. to spread - It is easy to generalizeabout the benefits of voting for one over the other,
but a lot harder to get down to specifics. - Most politicians find it easier to generalizethan to take a fast stand for
which they might later be called to task. - Newton generalizedfrom the things he observed every day to ultimately
develop his laws of motion. - The local custom of buttering one’s plate and then rubbing bread on it is
unlikely to generalizeto the nation at large.
[-d, generalizing, generalization n.]
generation (JEN er AY shun) n.1. the act of producing something; 2. the spe-
cific act of producing offspring; procreation; 3. a single stage in the life cycle of a
species; time between birth and procreation (in humans about 25 years); 4. a group
of people born around the same time period - The generationof electricity is a high priority for western states, which are
growing in population density. - Henry VIII’s desire for the generationof a male heir was the main reason
the Church of England separated from Rome. - Fruit flies are much better subjects for studying genetics than humans
because there can be a new generationevery few days. - If you were born after 1970, you are part of the computer generation.
119