GRE Vocab 2
Terms
undefined, object
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- harangue
- a long, passionate speech
- pedestrian
- commonplace, trite, unremarkable
- rubric
- heading, title, or category
- probity
- uprightness, incorruptibility, principle
- exculpate
- to clear from a charge of guilt
- calumny
- slander, aspersion
- propinquity
- nearness in time or place, affinity of nature
- fulsome
- disgusting, offensive due to excessiveness
- interdict
- prohibit, forbid
- petrify
- to make hard, rocklike
- petrous
- like a rock, hard, stony
- pundit
- a learned scholar, an authority on a subject
- idyll
- a carefree episode or experience; a short poem describing a picturesque episode
- conjoin
- to join together
- penury
- extreme poverty
- nexus
- a connection, tie, or link
- quotidian
- daily; commonplace, pedestrian
- expurgate
- to remove obscenity, purify, censor
- malleable
- yielding; easily shaped; moldable; adapting
- eulogy
- formal praise; panegyric
- chauvinist
- a blindly devoted patriot
- itinerate
- to travel from place to place, to peregrinate
- veritably
- unquestionably, certainly
- rarefy
- to make thin, to make less dense, to purify or refine
- sagacious
- having sound judgment; perceptive, wise; like a sage
- lubricious
- lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery
- bilge
- bulge, the protuberance of a cask
- virago
- a loud, domineering woman; a scold or nag
- impecunious
- poor, penniless
- querulous
- complaining, peevish, discontented
- recondite
- profound, abstruse, obscure
- plaintive
- mournful, melancholy, sorrowful
- obviate
- to make unnecessary, get rid of
- excoriate
- to flay, strip off the skin; to denounce sharply
- extenuate
- reduce the strength of, lessen seriousness, partially excuse
- deprecate
- protest against, express disapproval of
- countenance
- to favor or approve of
- censure
- expression of blame or disapproval; a rebuke
- succor
- assistance, relief in time of distress
- opprobrious
- shameful, expressing disgrace
- obloquy
- abusively detractive language, sharp criticism, vituperation
- proscribe
- ostracize, banish, outlaw
- impetuous
- having sudden energy, impulsive, thrusting ahead, forceful
- platitude
- a trite or banal statement; unoriginality
- deposition
- accretion, depositing, building up layer by layer
- regale
- to delight or entertain; to feast
- timorous
- fearful, timid, afraid
- redoubtable
- formidable, causing fear
- debacle
- a breakup, overthrow, sudden disaster
- specious
- illogical, of questionable truth or merit
- effrontery
- boldness, impudence, arrogance
- inured
- accustomed to, adapted
- accretion
- growth, increase by successive addition, building up
- volatile
- changeable, inconstant, fickle, unstable, explosive
- pernicious
- deadly, very destructive
- blandishment
- flattery, enticement
- sanguine
- cheerful, confident, optimistic
- temerity
- boldness, brashness, intrepidness
- prevaricate
- to equivocate, to stray from the truth
- surfeit
- satiate, feed to fullness or to excess
- consternation
- sudden confusion or amazement
- scurvy
- mean, contemptible
- evince
- to show clearly, to indicate
- palliate
- to make something appear less serious, to alleviate, to gloss over, put a positive spin on
- ebullient
- overflowing with enthusiasm; showing excitement
- precipitous
- rash, foolhardy; dropping sharply, dangerous
- importune
- ask incessantly, to beg, to nag
- involute
- intricate, complex
- floridness
- ruddiness; heavily decorated; ornateness
- precipitate
- (v) to hurl down, to fall headlong (adj) speeding, acting recklessly
- stentorian
- extremely loud and powerful
- contemn
- to scorn or despise
- obtain
- to be established, accepted, or customary
- vitiate
- to pervert, debase, make ineffective
- poseur
- someone taking on airs to impress others; a phony
- stanch
- to stop the flow of a fluid
- grievous
- causing grief or pain; serious, dire, grave
- sententious
- short and pithy, full of maxims/proverbs
- tautology
- a repetition, a redundancy
- suppliant
- asking humbly, beseeching
- arduous
- steep, difficult ascent; laborious
- encomium
- warm or glowing praise; eulogy, panegyric
- abjure
- recant solemnly, repudiate, renounce
- stint
- to be thrifty, to set limits
- imperiousness
- arrogance, commanding presence, overbearingness
- propitious
- auspicious, presenting favorable circumstances
- petulant
- impatient, irritable
- exsert
- thrust out, push forth
- ramify
- to be divided or subdivided; to branch out
- prosaic
- everyday, mundane, commonplace, trite, pedestrian
- epitome
- brief summary or abstract; representative example; a typical model
- belie
- contradict, give a false impression
- venal
- corruptible, open to bribery
- dissemble
- to hide, conceal, disguise
- engender
- cause, produce, give rise to
- poignant
- physically painful, distressing, pertinent, touching, stimulating, emotional
- pugnacious
- contentious, quarrelsome, contumacious, given to fighting, belligerent
- inchoate
- not yet fully formed, rudimentary, elementary
- equanimity
- calmness of temperament
- salient
- prominent, protruding, conspicuous, highly relevant
- ameliorate
- improve, make better
- exigency
- emergency, an urgent situation
- peremptory
- urgent, imperative, unchallengeable, ending debate
- obtrusive
- projecting, prominent, undesirably noticeable
- hermetic
- sealed by fusion
- indomitable
- not easily discouraged or subdued
- slake
- to assuage, to satisfy, allay
- maladroit
- clumsy, bungling
- philistine
- a smug ignorant person; one who lacks knowledge
- reticent
- reserved, untalkative, silent, taciturn
- endemic
- prevailing in a specific area
- fervor
- zeal, ardor, intense emotion
- coeval
- of the same period, coexisting
- capricious
- fickle, whimsical, given to change, unpredictable
- rapacious
- voracious, greedy, plundering
- pristine
- primitive, unspoiled, pure, as in earlier times, unadulterated
- austere
- forbiddingly stern, simple, unadorned, very plain
- indolence
- laziness
- propitiate
- appease, mitigate
- facetious
- humorous, funny, jocular
- calumniate
- to slander, present false accusal
- stygian
- gloomy, dark
- detumescence
- diminishing or lessening of swelling
- irascible
- irritable, easily angered
- baneful
- causing harm or ruin, pernicious, destructive
- occult
- hidden, concealed, beyond comprehension
- forestall
- prevent by taking action in advance, preempt
- edifying
- enlightening
- expatiate
- to roam, wander freely
- trenchant
- forceful, effective, vigorous; extremely perceptive, incisive
- abstruse
- difficult to comprehend; obscure
- intransigence
- unwillingness to compromise, stubbornness, intractability
- mitigate
- appease, lessen, propitiate
- mundane
- worldly as opposed to spiritual; commonplace, everyday
- stymie
- to hinder, obstruct, or block
- desultory
- aimless, haphazard, digressing at random
- mercurial
- quick, changeable in character, fleeting
- sanctimony
- self-righteousness, hypocritical, with false piety
- inscrutable
- incapable of being discovered or understood
- sundry
- various, miscellaneous, separate
- contentious
- argumentative, pugnacious, combative, quarrelsome
- derivative
- unoriginal, obtained from another source
- elegy
- a lament, a melancholy composition
- supercilious
- disdainful; characterized by haughty scorn
- broach
- bring up, announce, begin to talk about
- detraction
- slandering, verbal attack, aspersion
- foment
- to stir up, arouse, incite
- turpitude
- wickedness, shamefulness
- paean
- a song of praise or triumph
- obfuscate
- to darken, make obscure, muddle
- flout
- reject, mock, to go against (as in going against tradition or conventions)
- splenetic
- bad-tempered, irritable
- alacrity
- cheerful promptness
- perverted
- twisted, corrupted, turned from normal course
- zenith
- top, the highest point
- untoward
- perverse, unruly, unseemly
- prolix
- long and wordy
- ignominious
- shameful, dishonorable, undignified, disgraceful
- chastened
- corrected, punished
- insularity
- narrow-mindedness, isolated
- abrogate
- abolish or annul by authority; put down
- bane
- cause of injury, poison, source of harm
- brook
- to tolerate, endure
- conciliatory
- reconciling, soothing, comforting, mollifying
- maverick
- rebel, nonconformist
- fatuous
- complacently stupid
- sophomoric
- self-assured though immature, affected, bombastic, overblown, lacking maturity
- dissolution
- disintegration, looseness in morals
- odium
- contempt, dislike, aversion
- effluvia
- outflow in a stream of particles; a noxious odor or vapor
- burnish
- to polish, rub to a shine
- denigrate
- blacken, belittle, sully, defame
- tenuous
- unsubstantial, flimsy, weak
- repudiate
- disown, disavow, reject as untrue
- nadir
- bottom, the lowest point
- panegyric
- formal praise, eulogy
- spurious
- false, counterfeit
- paradigm
- a model, example, or pattern
- cogent
- convincing
- officious
- meddlesome, pushy in one's services
- apotheosis
- deification, glorification to godliness
- alloy
- to debase by mixing with something inferior
- salubrious
- healthful
- bedizen
- to adorn, especially in a cheap, showy manner
- peregrination
- traveling about, wandering
- mollify
- to soothe
- acarpous
- effete, no longer fertile, worn out
- doggerel
- trivial, poorly constructed verse
- pedantic
- bookish, showing off learning
- fecund
- fertile
- propitiatory
- conciliatory, appeasing, mitigating
- mendicant
- a beggar
- peripatetic
- walking
- episodic
- loosely connected, not flowing logically
- ineluctable
- certain, inevitable
- inherent
- ingrained within one's nature; firmly established; a natural part of; definitionally so
- profligate
- wasteful, prodigal, licentious, extravagant
- recidivism
- relapse into antisocial or criminal behavior
- gainsay
- to deny, declare false, to oppose
- iconoclastic
- attacking cherished beliefs
- undulate
- to move in wavelike fashion, fluctuate
- sinuous
- winding, undulating, serpentine
- judicious
- sound in judgment; wise
- gregarious
- sociable, outgoing
- torpid
- sleeping, sluggish, lethargic, dormant