melissa's GRE words
Terms
undefined, object
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- cherubic
- innocent, sweet, beautiful, celestial person (often child).
- emissary
- an agent sent on a mission or errand
- divestiture
- an act or state of being that is stripped, deprived, or rid of rights or some object
- heedlessness
- careless; thoughtless; unmindful
- sedulous
- diligent, preserving in application (e.g. sedulous flattery)
- indelible
- something permanent that cannot be erased (object) or forgotten (memory)
- insular
- isolated; alone; narrow-minded thinking
- gossamer
- thin, light, very fine fabric or cobweb on foliage.
- taciturn
- habitually reserved/silent in conversation
- valorous
- having courage or bravery
- petulant
- showing extreme annoyance of something, especially of trivial manners; childlishly irritable
- dogmatic
- being opinionated in an arrogant manner
- dogma
- an authoritatively established belief, opinion, or principle (by government or church)
- concord
- an agreement, treaty, or compact between people, nations, or attitudes
- collusion
- a secret agreement among people for treacherous or conspiratory acts
- dissonance
- a conflict or disagreement of opinions (also sounds)
- ferment
- act of causing agitation, unrest, or excitement
- dearth
- lack in supply; scarcity
- abrogate
- to repeal officially, to put an end to something (law)
- amalgamate
- to combine, merge, blend, unite, make combination
- garner
- to gather, collect, hoard objects
- solder
- to unite, join objects, mend, repair, grow together
- extant
- to exist
- extricable
- capable of being released from entanglement or difficulty
- ephemeral
- short-lived, transitory
- corporeal
- material, physical in nature
- incursion
- aggressive, sudden entrance into foreign domain
- reparation
- making amends for wrongdoing through compensation, restoration
- tractable
- ease of controlling/managing, being shaped, or malleable
- aver
- to declare with confidence as a fact, to justify or prove
- placate
- to appease anger by making concessions; to please. "My professor placated our class by postponing our exam."
- lugubrious
- excessively mournful, dismal
- contentious
- a person, group, or issue known to be controversial or argumentative
- prodigious
- excessive in size, significance, wonder, degree
- audacious
- recklessly brave, fearless, bold; extremely inventive, original
- flange
- a projecting rim, collar of a shaft or pipe
- tare
- noxious weed
- mercenary
- working solely for extrinsic monetary reward
- gavel
- small mallet used by judge/officer during meeting
- lectern
- like a podium, used to hold a bible in church
- burnish
- to make smooth by filing, using friction
- lustrous
- to shine/have luster/be luminous, brilliant, splendid
- raucous
- harsh, rowdy, disorderly, boisterous
- odious
- highly repulsive, deserving hatred
- sinuous
- indirect, devious, having many curves/turns/bends
- braid
- intertwining weave
- exorbitant
- highly excessive, going beyond realm of custom, reason
- macabre
- gruesome, horrifying; having a representation of death
- perfidious
- deliberately deceitful, faithless, treacherous
- covetous
- to eagerly desire something, often inordinately or wrongly
- rapacious
- to be inordinately greedy, predatory; taking something by force
- ostentatious
- going to extremes to show off or impress, intending to attract noise or attention
- placid
- tranquil, peaceful, unruffled, undisturbed
- outmoded
- no longer accepted, in use, or in style
- panegyric
- formal, elaborate praise of something or someone
- treatise
- formal exposition of principles. very long.
- diatribe
- bitter criticism, denunciation
- invective
- denunciatory, abusive, violent, insulting language
- fervor
- intense heat or feeling of earnestness
- zeal
- enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal (n. zealot; zealoutry; adj. zealous)
- spendthrift
- person who spends money wastefully, excessively
- concision
- being of concise quality, brevity, terseness
- assuage
- to relieve severity; to appease, satisfy, calm
- perfunctorily
- performed disinterestedly, superficially, routinely, apathetically
- insolently
- boldly rude, disrespectful, insulting
- ardently
- something with intense feeling, devotion, passion, enthusiasm
- phlegmatic
- apathetic; not easily excited, emotional; calm
- surreptitiously
- acting secretly, stealthily to obtain something
- pragmatic
- practical point of view; concerned with facts; as opposed to being highly principled or traditional. "Your pragmatic approach offends me as an idealist."
- precarious
- being dependent on circumstances not in one's control, but at will of another
- anachronistic
- being completely out of order, place, or time
- anomalous
- incongruous, inconsistent; not fitting into common order
- venerate
- great respect, awe, reverence. "I venerate successful, beautiful people like Sarah Jessica Parker."
- imperiousness
- trait of being overbearing, domineering, dictatorial
- pundit
- a knowledgeable person; expert; authority; critic
- signatories
- signers of a document
- fresco
- painting on a fresh, moist plaster with pigments dissolving in water
- parquetry
- inlay of wood in a pattern or of different colors
- officious
- being meddlesome or interfering in nature; forward
- trepidation
- tremor; trembling, quivering movement
- intransigence
- act of being uncompromising, inflexible, unagreeable. "He was so intransigent that I finally just gave up."
- laconic
- succinct; expressing a lot using few words; terse; pithy
- volubility
- act of being fluent, glib, talkative, articulate
- garrulous
- rambling manner of talking (especially of trivial matters); babbling; wordy; "I try to avoid my garrulous coworkers."
- loquacious
- talkative; chatty; excessive talking
- cursory
- reviewing something superficially or acting hastily; quick; brief; haphazardly
- derisive
- expressing contempt; taunting or mocking something
- blandishment
- action or speech that are aimed to entice, coax, persuade
- inimical
- an adverse tendency or effect; unfavorable, hostile, harmful
- quixotic
- impulsive; rashly chivalrous, romantic; visionary; impractical
- enigmatic
- perplexing; mysterious
- enigma
- puzzling occurrence
- proprietary
- pertaining to property or ownership
- propitiatory
- intending to make appeasements or conciliations
- salutary
- promoting health, being conducive to a beneficial purpose
- superfluous
- excessive, unnecessary, extravagent
- intemperance
- lack of moderation, restraint in actions, speech
- diffident
- lacking self-confidence; modest
- prophetic
- pertaining to a divine state; ominous
- restitution
- reparations for loss or damage; restoration of original state
- edify
- to instruct or benefit morally or spiritually; to uplift
- aberrant
- deviating from normal or correct
- abscond
- to leave secretly and hide, often to avoid the law
- aggrandize
- to make greater, to increase, exaggerate
- ambrosial
- extremely pleasing to the senses, divine, delicious
- antediluvian
- ancient, outmoded
- antipathy
- hostility toward, objection, aversion to
- arbitrate
- to settle a dispute by impulse
- attenuate
- weaken
- banal
- commonplace or trite
- barefaced
- unconcealed, shameless, brazen
- bombast
- pompous speech
- burgeon
- to flourish, grow
- buttress
- a support
- cadge
- to get something by taking advantage of someone
- caprice
- impulse
- castigate
- to chastise/criticize severely
- chicanery
- deception by trickery
- conflagration
- large fire
- corroborate
- to strengthen/support "A few edits really corroborated my personal statement."
- craven
- cowardly
- culpable
- deserving of blame
- deference
- submission/courteous yielding "Sometimes in deference I quit while I'm ahead."
- depredation
- act of preying upon
- descry
- to make clear, say
- desiccate
- to dry out thoroughly
- disabuse
- to relieve falsehood or error "I had to disabuse him of the thought that everything was fine."
- disparaging
- belittling
- dissemble
- to conceal one's real motive; to feign
- encomium
- formal eulogy or speech of praise
- endemic
- prevalent in or native to a certain region, locality, people. "Complacency is endemic of suburbia."
- enervate
- to weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of people, nation, place. "My job enervates my intelligence."
- engender
- to give rise to, propagate, cause. "Her voice engenders annoyance."
- equivocal
- ambiguous, unclear, subject to more than one interpretation, often intentionally. "Weak personal statements are equivocal."
- erudite
- scholarly, displaying deep intensive learning. "I long for an erudite experience."
- esoteric
- intended for understanding by few. "I feel good when esoteric medical conversation makes sense to me."
- exculpate
- to demonstrate or prove to be blameless. "He finds ways to exculpate himself in every situation."
- fawn
- to seek favor or attention; to act subserviently/submissively. "It pains me to fawn over others."
- guile
- skillful deceit, often using charm. "He is known to attract women with his guile."
- hapless
- unfortunate
- headlong
- headfirst; impulsive; hasty. "I don't want to dive headlong into any career or life choices."
- iconoclast
- one who attacks traditional ideas or institutions or sacred images "Nicholas Cage portrays an iconoclast in National Treasure."
- impecunious
- poor "I have left my impecunious life behind."
- imperious
- commanding "He likes to think of himself as an imperious figure at Beaumont."
- inchoate
- initial, early, incomplete stage; disorganized; "I had to clean up the inchoate state of my position immediately."
- incorrigible
- incapable of being corrected. "Believing he always knows more and better, I gave up trying to mend his incorrigible nature."
- ineffable
- indescribable; inexpressible in words. "My ineffable time in Viet Nam will never be understood by my friends or family."
- ingenuous
- unsophisticated; artless; candid; straightforward. "As a physician, his ingenuous explanations are relieving."
- innocuous
- harmless; having no adverse affect; not likely to provoke any strong emotion. "He views his desire not to go with me as innocuous."
- insipid
- lacking zest, excitement; dull. "My worst fear is my life becoming insipid."
- laudable
- praiseworthy, commendable. "My efforts at the gym have been laudable lately."
- malevolent
- malicious, evil, showing ill will. "She acted malevolently by putting in more money than me."
- misanthrope
- one who hates people
- misogynist
- one who hates women
- misnomer
- incorrect name/word for something. "After learning all of these new words, I hope I don't embarrass myself with using misnomers in everyday conversation."
- mitigate
- to make less forceful, more moderate, less harsh or undesirable. "He put more milk in the muesli to mitigate its lack of flavor."
- nefarious
- wicked, evil. "Her nefarious nature was proved by the malevolent way she betrayed me."
- obdurate
- intractable; stubbornly unmoved by pity, persuasion, or tender feelings. "Despite his garrulous and pathetic e-mail, I remained obdurate."
- obviate
- to make unnecessary, prevent through anticipatory measures. "Despite obviating the risk of contracting a virus, he still got sick."
- occlude
- to close or shut off, obstruct. "When I get sad, I completely occlude myself physically and emotionally."
- pedantic
- making an excessive display of one's learning, being ostentatious of one's learning. "No one likes a pedantic classmate."
- ponderous
- heavy; massive; awkward; dull; labored. "I often found studying and reading quite ponderous during college."
- prevaricate
- to stray away from or evade truth. "I had to prevaricate to make up for my forgetting to call him."
- propitiate
- to conciliate, appease.
- pusillanimous
- cowardly, timid, irresolute; petty. "I was turned off by his pusillanimous actions standing up for me."
- quiescence
- inactivity; stillness; dormancy. "My quiescence makes him question my emotional state."
- sagacious
- having a sharp or powerful intellect. "He is impressed by my sagacity."
- sanguine
- cheerful, confident. "He is threatened by my rare sanguine attitude."
- sate
- to satisfy fully, or excessively. "I will fully sate my desire once I have New York pizza again."
- saturnine
- having a gloomy, morose temperament. "Going to work perpetuates my saturnine attitude."
- specious
- seemingly true but actually false; deceptively convincing, attractive. "He constantly tricks me with his specious stories."
- tacit
- unspoken. "I hope we have a tacit understanding of our feelings toward each other."
- tirade
- diatribe; angry speech. "That night I couldn't take any more of his tirade and just cried."
- verbose
- wordy. "I know that most programs don't want statements or interviews with verbose language."
- vex
- to annoy, bother, perplex, puzzle, debate at length. "He constantly vexes me with ridiculous ideas."
- voracious
- craving or devouring large quantities of food, drink, or other things (books). "I'd rather not be known as a voracious eater, but rather a voracious reader."