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melissa's GRE words

Terms

undefined, object
copy deck
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."

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