Webster Essential Vocabulary

apprehension(AP ri HEN shin) n. 1. arrest or capture; 2. mental grasp (of);

3. anxiety; dread; 4. judgment; opinion
   
   
   • The bank robber’s apprehensionwas the number one priority of the Boston
     police.
   
   
   • Carl had no apprehensionof the effort that had been put into writing the
     computer program.
   
   
   • Harvey looked forward to his day in court with considerable apprehension.
   
   
   • Apprehensionis a very strange word, in my apprehension.
     arabesque(a ruh BESK) n. 1. a complex decorative design found in Moorish
     architecture, with intertwined lines suggesting foliage, flowers, and so on; 2. a bal-
     let position in which one leg is extended straight back, one arm is stretched for-
     ward, and the other arm is stretched backward; 3. a light musical composition
   
   
   • Moorish architecture is distinguished by its arabesques,which might be
     carved into the stonework or might be in relief.
   
   
   • A ballet dancer’s arabesqueis a pose that I would not have attempted even
     when I was 17 years old.
   
   
   • Pianists are likely to have encountered the arabesquesof Robert Schumann.
     arboreal(ahr BAW re uhl) adj. having to do with trees; living in trees or
     designed for trees
   
   
   • Most botanical gardens have their arborealsections.
   
   
   • Tree sloths are among the arborealcreatures that like to just hang out.
     [-ly adv.]
     archaeology(ahr kee AHL ij ee) n. the scientific study of the past (especially of
     past civilizations and cultures through excavation of their cities, their artifacts, and
     so on)
   
   
   • Archaeologyis responsible for most of what we know about the pharoahs of
     Egypt.
   
   
   • Archaeologyis relatively new in America, and yet it is amazing what it can
     tell us about the early inhabitants of the western United States.
     [archaeological adj.]
     archaic(ahr KAY ik) adj. 1. belonging to an earlier period; antiquated; 2. old
     fashioned; 3. no longer in use, except for special occasions
   
   
   • Oar-powered galleys were in fashion in ancient times, but today would be
     thought of as archaic.
   
   
   • Some would say that wearing a tie and jacket in the workplace is an archaic
     custom.
   
   
   • The use of Latin in Catholic Church services has been ruled by Vatican II
     to be archaic.
     [-ly adv.] [Syn. old]
   
   
   
   

A: GRE Words 249