Some GRE words
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- dolt
- idoit
- aberrant
- deviating from normal or correct.
- abscond
- to leave secretly and hide, often to avoid the law.
- advocate
- to speak, plead, or argue for a cause, or in another’s behalf. (n) -- one who advocates.
- aggrandize
- to make greater, to increase, thus, to exaggerate.
- amalgamate
- to unite or mix. (n) -- amalgamation.
- ambiguous
- vague; subject to more than one interpretation
- ambrosial
- extremely pleasing to the senses, divine (as related to the gods) or delicious (n: ambrosia)
- anachronism
- a person or artifact appearing after its own time or out of chronological order (adj: anachronistic)
- anomalous
- peculiar; unique, contrary to the norm (n: anomaly)
- antediluvian
- ancient; outmoded; (literally,before the flood)
- antipathy
- hostility toward, objection, or aversion to
- arbitrate
- to settle a dispute by impulse (n: arbitration)
- assuage
- to make less severe; to appease or satisfy
- attenuate
- weaken (adj: attenuated)
- audacious
- extremely bold; fearless, especially said of human behavior (n: audacity)
- aver
- to declare
- banal
- commonplace or trite (n: banality)
- barefaced
- unconcealed, shameless, or brazen
- blandishment
- speech or action intended to coax someone into doing something
- bombast
- pompous speech (adj: bombastic)
- breach
- a lapse, gap or break, as in a fortress wall. To break or break through.ex: Unfortunately, the club members never forgot his breach of ettiquette.
- burgeon
- to grow or flourish; a bud or new growth (adj: burgeoning )
- buttress
- to support. a support
- cadge
-
beg something from somebody
;to get something by taking advantage of someone - caprice
- impulse (adj: capricious)
- castigate
- to chastise or criticize severely
- catalyst
- an agent of change (adj: catalytic; v. catalyze)
- caustic
- capable of dissolving by chemical action; highly critical: "His caustic remarks spoiled the mood of the party."
- chicanery
- deception by trickery
- complaisant
- willingly compliant or accepting of the status quo (n: complaisance)
- conflagration
- a great fire
- corporeal
- of or having to do with material, as opposed to spiritual; tangible. (In older writings, coeporeal could be a synonym for corporal. This usage is no longer common)
- corporal
- of the body: "corporal punishment." a non-commissioned officer ranked between a sergeant and a private.
- corroborate
- to strengthen or support: "The witness corroborted his story." (n: corroboration)
- craven
- cowardly; a coward
- culpable
- deserving of blame (n: culpability)
- dearth
- lack, scarcity: "The prosecutor complained about the dearth of concrete evidence against the suspect."
- deference
- submission or courteous yielding: "He held his tongue in deference to his father." (n: deferential. v. defer)
- depict
- to show, create a picture of.
- deprecation
- condemn something or somebody; belittlement. (v. deprecate)
- depredation
- the act of preying upon or plundering: "The depredations of the invaders demoralized the population."
- descry
- to see; to discover; to make clear, to say
- desiccate
- to dry out thoroughly (adj: desiccated)
- diatribe
- a bitter abusive denunciation.
- diffident
- lacking self-confidence, modest (n: diffidence)
- disabuse
- to free a person from falsehood or error: "We had to disabuse her of the notion that she was invited."
- disparaging
- contemptuous or disapproving; belittling (n: disparagement. v. disparage)
- dispassionate
- calm; objective; unbiased
- dissemble
- to conceal one's real motive, to feign
- dogged
- stubborn or determined: "Her dogged pursuit of the degree eventually paid off."
- dogmatic
- relying upon doctrine or dogma, as opposed to evidence
- eclectic
- selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources: "Many modern decorators prefer an eclectic style." (n: eclecticism)
- efficacy
- effectiveness; capability to produce a desired effect
- effluent
- the quality of flowing out. something that flows out, such as a stream from a river (n: effluence)
- emollient
- softening; something that softens
- emulate
- to strive to equal or excel (n: emulation)
- encomium
- a formal eulogy or speech of praise
- endemic
- prevalent in or native to a certain region, locality, or people: "The disease was endemic to the region." Don't confuse this word with epidemic.
- enervate
- to weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of: "The heatenervated everyone." (adj: enervating)
- engender
- to give rise to, to propagate, to cause: "His slip of the toungue engendered much laughter."
- enigma
- puzzle; mystery: "Math is an enigma to me." (adj: enigmatic)
- ephemeral
- lasting for only a brief time, fleeting (n: ephemera)
- equivocal
- ambiguous; unclear; subject to more than one interpretation -- often intentionally so: "Republicans complained that Bill Clinton's answers were equivocal." (v. equivocate)
- erudite
- scholarly; displaying deep intensive learning. (n: erudition)
- esoteric
- intended for or understood by only a few: "The esoteric discussion confused some people." (n: esoterica)
- eulogy
- a spoken or written tribute to the deceased (v. eulogize)
- exacerbate
- to increase the bitterness or violence of; to aggravate: "The decision to fortify the border exacerbated tensions."
- exculpate
- to demonstrate or prove to be blameless: "The evidence tended to exculpate the defendant."(adj: exculpatory)
- exorbitant
- exceeding customary or normal limits, esp. in quantity or price: "The cab fare was exorbitant."
- explicit
- fully and clearly expressed
- extant
- in existence, still existing: The only extant representative of that species."
- fathom
- comprehend something; a measure of length (six feet) used in nautical settings. to penetrate to the depths of something in order to understand it: "I couldn't fathom her reasoning on that issue."
- fawn
- to seek favor or attention; to act subserviantly (n, adj: fawning)
- feign
- to give false appearance or impression: "He feigned illness to avoid going to school." (adj: feigned)
- fervid, fervent
- highly emotional; hot: "The partisans displayed a fervent patriotism." (n: fervor)
- fledgling
- a baby bird; an inexperienced person; inexperienced.
- florid
- flushed with a rosy color, as in complexion; very ornate and flowery: "florid prose."
- floundering
- struggling: "We tried to save the floundering business."
- garrulous
- verbose; talkative; rambling: "We tried to avoid our garrulous neighbor."
- gossamer
- fine cobweb on foliage; fine gauzy fabric; very fine: "She wore a gossamer robe."
- guile
- skillful deceit: "He was well known for his guile." (v. bequile; adj: beguiling. Note, however, that these two words have an additional meaning: to charm (v.) or charming (adj:), while the word guile does not generally have any such positive connotations)
- guileless
- honest; straightforward (n: guilelessness)
- hapless
- unfortunate
- headlong
- headfirst; impulsive; hasty. impulsively; hastily; without forethought: "They rushed headlong into marriage."
- homogenous
- similar in nature or kind; uniform: "a homogeneous society."
- iconoclast
- one who attacks traditional ideas or institutions or one who destroys sacred images (adj: iconoclastic)
- impecunious
- penniless; poor
- imperious
- commanding
- implication
- indirect suggestion; involvement; implicit understanding; insinuation or connotation (v. implicate)
- imply
- to suggest indirectly; to entail: "She implied she didn't believe his story." (n: implication)
- improvidence
- an absence of foresight; a failure to provide for future needs or events: "Their improvidence resulted in the loss of their home."
- inchoate
- in an initial or early stage; incomplete; disorganized: "The act of writing forces one to clarify incohate thoughts."
- incorrigible
- not capable of being corrected: "The school board finally decided the James was incorrigible and expelled him from school."
- indelible
- permanent; unerasable; strong: "The Queen made an indelible impression on her subjects."
- ineffable
- undescribable; inexpressible in words; unspeakable
- infer
- to deduce: "New genetic evidence led some zoologists to infer that the red wolf is actually a hybrid of the coyote and the gray wolf."
- ingenious
- clever: "She developed an ingenious method for testing her hypothesis."(n: ingenuity)
- ingenuous
- unsophisticated; artless; straightforward; candid: "Wilson's ingenuous response to the controversial calmed the suspicious listeners."
- inhibit
- to hold back, prohibit, forbid, or restrain (n: inhibition, adj: inhibited)
- innocuous
- harmless; having no adverse affect; not likely to provoke strong emotion
- insensible
- numb; unconscious: "Wayne was rendered insensible by a blow to the head." unfeeling; insensitive: "They were insensibile to the suffering of others.:
- insipid
- lacking zest or excitement; dull
- insular
- of or pertaining to an island, thus, excessively exclusive: "Newcomers found it difficult to make friends in the insular community."
- intransigent
- stubborn; immovable; unwilling to change: "She was so intransigent we finally gave up trying to convince her." (n: intransigence)
- irascible
- prone to outbursts of temper, easily angered
- laconic
- using few words; terse: "a laconic reply."
- latent
- present or potential but not evident or active (n: latency)
- laudable
- praiseworthy; commendable (v. laud)
- leviathan
- giant whale, therefore, something very large
- loquacious
- talkative
- lucid
- clear; translucent: "He made a lucid argument to support his theory."
- lugubrious
- weighty, mournful, or gloomy, especially to an excessive degree: "Jake's lugubrious monologues depressed his friends."
- magnanimity
- generosity and nobility. (adj: magnanimous)
- malevolent
- malicious; evil; having or showing ill will: "Some early American colonists saw the wilderness as malevolent and sought to control it."
- misanthrope
- one who hates people: "He was a true misanthrope and hated even himself."
- misnomer
- incorrect name or word for something
- misogynist
- one who hates women
- mitigate
- to make less forceful; to become more moderate; to make less harsh or undesirable: "He was trying to mitigate the damage he had done." (n: mitigation)
- nefarious
- wicked, evil: "a nefarious plot."
- noisome
- harmful, offensive, destructive: "The noisome odor of the dump carried for miles."
- obdurate
- hardened against influence or feeling; intractable.
- obviate
- to prevent by anticipatory measures; to make unnecessary:
- occlude
- to close or shut off; to obstruct (n: occlusion)
- opaque
- not transparent or transluscent; dense; difficult to comprehend, as inopaque reasoning
- ossified
- turned to bone; hardened like bone; Inflexible: "The ossified culture failed to adapt to new economic conditions and died out."
- panegyric
- a writing or speech in praise of a person or thing
- peccadillo
- a small sin or fault
- pedantic
- showing a narrow concern for rules or formal book learning; making an excessive display of one's own learning: "We quickly tired of his pedantic conversation." (n: pedant, pedantry).
- perfidious
- deliberately treacherous; dishonest (n: perfidy)
- petulant
- easily or frequently annoyed, especially over trivial matters; childishly irritable
- philanthropy
- tendency or action for the benefit of others, as in donating money or property to a charitible organization
- phlegmatic
- not easily excited; cool; sluggish
- placate
- to calm or reduce anger by making concessions: "The professor tried to placate his students by postponing the exam."
- plastic
- related to being shaped or molded; capable of being molded. (n: plasticity n: plastic)
- plethora
- excessively large quantity; overabundance: "We received a p lethora of applications for the position."
- ponderous
- heavy; massive; awkward; dull: "A ponderous book is better than a sleeping pill."
- pragmatic
- concerned with facts; practical, as opposed to highly principled or traditional: "His pragmatic approach often offended idealists." (n: pragmatism)
- precipice
- cliff with a vertical or nearly vertical face; a dangerous place from which one is likely to fall; metaphorically, a very risky circumstance
- precipitate
- to fall; to fall downward suddenly and dramatically; to bring about or hasten the occurrence of something: "Old World diseases precipitated a massive decline in the American Indian population."
- precursor
- something (or someone) that precedes another: "The assasination of the Archduke was a precursor to the war."
- prevaricate
- to stray away from or evade the truth: "When we asked him what his intentions were, he prevaricated."(n: prevarication; prevaricator)
- prodigal
- rashly wasteful: "Americans' prodigal devotion to the automobile is unique."
- propitiate
- to conciliate; to appease: "They made sacrifices to propitiate angry gods."
- Pulchritudinous
- beautiful (n: pulchritude)
- pusillanimous
- cowardly, timid, or irreselute; petty: "The pusillanimous leader soon lost the respect of his people."
- quiescence
- inactivity; stillness; dormancy (adj: quiescent)
- rarefy
- to make or become thin; to purify or refine (n: rarefaction, adj: rarefied)
- reproof
- the act of censuring, scolding, or rebuking. (v. reprove).
- rescind
- to repeal or annul
- sagacious
- having a sharp or powerful intellect or discernment. (n: sagacity).
- sanguine
- cheerful; confident: "Her sanguine attitude put everyone at ease."(Sangfroid (noun) is a related French word meaning unflappibility. Literally, it means cold blood)
- sate
- to satisfy fully or to excess
- saturnine
- melancholy; having a gloomy or morose temperament
- savant
- a very knowledgable person; a genious
- sedulous
- diligent; persevering; persistent: "Her sedulous devotion to overcoming her background impressed many." (n: sedulity; sedulousness; adv. sedulously)
- specious
- seemingly true but really false; deceptively convincing or attractive: "Her argument, though specious, was readily accepted by many."
- superficial
- only covering the surface: "A superficial treatment of the topic was all they wanted."
- tacit
- unspoken: "Katie and carmella had a tacit agreement that they would not mention the dented fender to their parents."
- taciturn
- habitually untalkative or silent (n: taciturnity)
- temperate
- exercising moderation and self-denial; calm or mild (n: temperance)
- tirade (diatribe)
- an angry speech: "His tirade had gone on long enough."
- tortuous
- twisted; excessively complicated: "Despite public complaints, tax laws and forms have become increasingly tortuous." Note: Don't confuse this with torturous.
- tractable
- ability to be easily managed or controlled: "Her mother wished she were more tractable." (n: tractibility)
- turpitude
- immortality; depravity; baseness: "Mr. Castor was fired for moral turpitude."
- tyro
- beginner; person lacking experience in a specific endeavor: "They easily took advantage of the tyro."
- vacuous
- empty; without contents; without ideas or intelligence:: "She flashed a vacuous smile."
- venerate
- great respect or reverence: "The Chinese traditionally venerated their ancestors; ancestor worship is merely a popular misnomer for this tradition." (n: veneration, adj: venerable)
- verbose
- wordy: "The instructor asked her verbose student make her paper more concise." (n: verbosity)
- vex
- to annoy; to bother; to perplex; to puzzle; to debate at length: "Franklin vexed his brother with his controversial writings."
- viscous
- slow moving; highly resistant to flow: "Heintz commercials imply that their catsup is more viscous than others'." (n: viscosity)
- volatile
- explosive; fickle (n: volatility).
- voracious
- craving or devouring large quantities of food, drink, or other things. She is a voracious reader.
- waver
- to hesitate or to tremble
- wretched
- unhappy or ill; extremely pitiful or unfortunate (n: wretch)
- zeal
- enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal (n: zealot; zealoutry. adj: zealous)