GRE Vocab List 2
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Word
- Definition
- a, an
- NOT, WITHOUT (amoral, anarchy, anomalous, anonymous, aseptic, asexual, atheism, atrophy, averse)
- ab
- FROM, AWAY, APART (absent, abduct, abdicate, abject, abnormal, abrupt, abuse)
- abandon
- total lack of inhibition
- abase
- to humble, disgrace
- abash
- to embarrass
- abate
- to lessen in intensity or degree
- abdicate
- to give up a position, right or power
- aberrant
- deviating from the norm
- abeyance
- temporary suppression or suspension
- abhor
- to loathe, detest
- abjure
- to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid
- able, ible
- CAPABLE OF, WORTHY OF (changeable, durable, laudable, inevitable, infallible, irreducibile)
- abnegate
- to deny, renounce
- abrogate
- to abolish or annul by authority; put down
- abrupt
- sudden, unexpected
- abscission
- act of cutting off or removing
- abscond
- to depart clandestinely; to steal away and hide
- ac, acr
- SHARP, SOUR (acerbic, acetate, acid, acrid, acumen, acute)
- acclaim
- praise
- accolade
- an expression of praise
- accretion
- growth, increase by successive addition, building up
- acerbic
- having a sour or bitter taste or character
- acidulous
- sour in taste or manner
- acou
- HEARING (acoustic)
- acrimony
- bitterness, animosity
- acumen
- quick; keen; or accurate knowledge or insight
- ad, a
- TO (adapt, adequate, adumbrate, advocate, accede, adduce, affiliate, allocate, annunciation)
- admonish
- to reprove; to express warning or disapproval
- adroit
- adept, dexterous
- adulation
- excessive praise; intense adoration
- adulterate
- to reduce purity by combining with inferior ingredients
- adumbrate
- to foreshadow vaguely, intimate, suggest or outline sketchily
- adventitious
- accidental
- aesthetic
- dealing with; appreciative of; or responsive to art or the beautiful
- aggrandize
- to increase in intensity or power or prestige
- alacrity
- eager and enthusiastic willingness
- alchemy
- a medieval science aimed at the transmutation of metals esp. base metals into gold
- alloy
- to commingle; to debase by mixing with something inferior
- am, im
- love (amigo, amicable, enamored, inimical, paramour)
- amalgamate
- to combine several elements into a whole
- ambi, amphi
- BOTH, ON BOTH SIDES, AROUND (ambidextrous, ambient, ambiguous, ambition, ambivalent, amphibian, amphititheater)
- ambl, ambul
- WALK (amble, ambulance, ambulatory, perambulator, preamble)
- ameliorate
- to make better or more tolerable
- amenable
- agreeable; responsive to suggestion
- anachronism
- something or someone out of place in terms of its historical or chronological context
- anathema
- a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse; accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing
- ancillary
- accessory, subordinate, helping
- anim
- MIND, SPIRIT, BREATH (animadversion, animal, animate, animosity, equanimity, magnanimity)
- anodyne
- something that soothes or calms pain
- anomaly
- deviation from the normal order or form or rule; abnormality
- ant, ante
- BEFORE (antecedent, antechamber, antediluvian, anterior, anticipate, antiquity, ancient)
- anti, ant
- AGAINST, OPPOSITE (anticlimax, antidote, antipathy, antagonism, antipodes, antithesis)
- antipathy
- aversion, dislike
- antithetical
- diametrically opposed, as in antithesis
- apace
- done quickly
- apocryphal
- of dubious authenticity or origin, spurious
- apogee
- farthest or highest point; culmination; zenith
- apollonian
- harmonious, ordered, rational, calm (< Apollo god of sun, light & music; present sense from Nietzsche)
- apostate
- one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions, a betrayer of a cause
- apothegm
- a short, instructive saying
- apotheosis
- deification, glorification to godliness, the perfect example
- apposite
- appropriate, pertinent, relevant, apropos
- appraise
- to evaluate the value of something
- apprise
- to give notice to, inform
- approbation
- an expression of approval or praise
- appropriate
- to take for one's own use, confiscate
- aqua, aque
- WATER (aquamarine, aquarium, aquatic, aquatint, aqueduct, subaqueous)
- arabesque
- complex, ornate design
- arcana
- deep secrets (pl); sg form is arcanum
- arcane
- mysterious, abstruse, esoteric, knowable only to initiates
- archaic
- outdated; associated with an earlier & perhaps more primitive time
- ard
- BURN (ardent, ardor, arson)
- ardor
- passionate, fervent, enthusiastic
- arduous
- strenuous or taxing or requiring significant effort
- arrant
- impudent; in every way, being completely such, barefaced, utter
- arrest
- to suspend, engage
- artless
- completely without guile; natural without artificiality
- ascetic
- one who practices rigid self-denial esp. as an act of religious devotion
- askance
- scornfully
- asperity
- severity, rigor; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability
- aspersion
- an act of defamation or maligning
- assiduous
- diligent, hard-working
- assonance
- resemblance in sound, especially in vowel sounds; partial rhyme
- assuage
- to ease or lessen; to appease or pacify
- astringent
- having a tightening effect on living tissue; harsh; severe
- attenuate
- to rarefy, weaken or make thinner, lessen
- audacious
- daring and fearless; recklessly bold
- audacity
- the quality of being daring and fearless (or audacious)
- augury
- omen, portent, the reading of omens
- august
- majestic, venerable
- auspice
- protection or support, patronage; OR sign, portent
- auspicious
- favorable, propitious, successful, prosperous
- austere
- without adornment; bare; severely simple; ascetic
- auto, aut
- SELF (autobiography, autocracy, autograph, automaton, autonomous, autopsy, autism)
- avarice
- greed esp. for wealth
- aver
- to state as a fact; to confirm or support
- awry
- crooked, askew, amiss
- axiom
- a universally recognized principle
- axiomatic
- taken as a given; possessing self-evident truth
- bacchanalian
- drunkenly festive, frenzied, orgiastic (< Bacchus god of wine, drama & ecstasy; present sense from Nietzsche)
- baleful
- sinister, pernicious, ominous
- banal
- trite and overly common
- bane
- cause of injury, source of harm; source of persistent frustration
- barefaced
- audacious, impudent, shameless (of persons, actions, etc.)
- beatify
- to bless, make happy, or ascribe a virtue to; to regard as saintly
- bedizen
- to adorn, especially in a cheap showy manner; festoon, caparison
- bel, bell
- BEAUTIFUL (belle, embellish)
- belabor
- to insist repeatedly or harp on
- belie
- to give a false impression of, to misrepresent
- belittle
- to represent as unimportant, make light of
- bell, belli
- WAR - Bellona the goddess of war was Mars' wife (antebellum, bellicose, belligerent, rebellion)
- bellicose
- belligerent, pugnacious, warlike
- bemuse
- to confuse, stupefy; plunge deep into thought
- ben
- WELL, GOOD (benediction, benefactor, benevolent, benign)
- benison
- blessing
- bent
- leaning, inclination, proclivity, tendency
- bi, bin
- TWO (bicameral, bicycle, bifocals, bifurcate, bilateral, binoculars, binomial, biped)
- bilious
- bad-natured
- blandish
- to coax with flattery, toady or fawn
- blandishment
- flattery intended to cajole or coax
- blithe
- carefree, merry
- boisterous
- loud, noisy, rough, lacking restraint
- bolster
- to provide support or reinforcement
- bombast
- self-evident or pompous writing or speech
- bombastic
- pompous; grandiloquent
- bon, boun
- GOOD, GENEROUS (bonus, bountiful, bounty, debonair)
- boor
- rude or insensitive person; lout; yokel
- brandish
- to shake or wave menacingly
- brew, brid
- SHORT, SMALL (abbreviate, abridge, brevet, breviary, breviloquent, brevity, brief)
- broach
- to bring up, announce, begin to talk about
- bromide
- a dull, commonplace person or idea
- brook
- to tolerate, endure, countenance
- bucolic
- rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants
- burgeon
- to grow rapidly; to flourish
- burnish
- to polish, rub to a shine
- burs
- PURSE, MONEY (bursar, bursary, disburse, reimburse)
- byzantine
- labyrinthine, complex
- cacophony
- harsh or jarring or discordant sound; dissonance
- cadge
- to sponge, beg or mooch
- cajole
- to inveigle, coax, wheedle, sweet-talk
- callow
- immature, lacking sophistication
- caluminante
- to slander, make a false accusation
- calumny
- slander, aspersion
- canard
- a lie
- candor
- honesty of expression
- canny
- smart; founded on common sense
- canon
- an established set of principles or code of laws; often religious in nature
- canonical
- following or in agreement with orthodox requirements
- capricious
- inclined to change one's mind impulsively; erratic; unpredictable
- cardinal
- of basic importance or consequence; primary
- careen
- to lean to one's side
- caret
- an insertion mark (^) used by editors and proofreaders
- carn
- FLESH (carnage, carnal, carnival, carnivorous, charnel, incarnate)
- carom
- to strike and rebound
- carpace
- turtle's shell
- castigate
- to punish, chastise, criticize severely
- castigation
- severe criticism or punishment
- catalyst
- a substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing; a person or thing that causes change
- caus, caut
- BURN (caustic, cauterize, cautery, encaustic, holocaust)
- caustic
- burning or stinging; causing corrosion
- cavil
- to raise trivial objections
- ced, cess
- YIELD, GO (abscess, accede, access, cession, concede, exceed, excess, intercede, precede, proceed, recede, secede)
- celer
- SPEED (accelerate, celerity, decelerate)
- censure
- to criticize severely; to officially rebuke
- cent
- HUNDRED,-TH (cent, centennial, centigrade, century, centipede)
- chary
- wary; cautious
- chasten
- to chastise or correct; subdue
- chauvinist
- one blindly devoted to a group of which one is a member
- chicanery
- trickery or subterfuge
- chimera
- an illusion; originally an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster
- chortle
- to chuckle
- chrom
- COLOR (chromatic, chrome, chromosome, monochromatic)
- chron
- TIME (anachronism, chronic, chronicle, chronometer, synchronize)
- churlish
- boorish, vulgar, loutish; difficult and intractable
- cicerone
- a tourist guide who explains sites to tourist (< Cicero whose oratory was long-winded & elegant)
- circuitous
- roundabout
- circum
- AROUND (circumference, circumlocution, circumspect, circumstance)
- circumlocution
- roundabout, lengthy way of saying something
- circumvent
- to go around, avoid
- clemency
- mild leniency
- cloying
- indulging to excess
- co, com, con
- WITH, TOGETHER (coeducation, coincide, communicate, compare, concernt, concubine, conflict)
- coalesce
- to come together; to fuse or unite
- coda
- concluding section of a musical or literary piece, something that concludes or completes
- cogent
- appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing
- cogn, conn
- KNOW (cognition, cognizance, incognito, recognize, reconnaissance, reconnoiter)
- color
- to change as if by dying, influence, distort or gloss over
- commensurate
- matching, corresponding or proportionate in degree, size, amount or other property
- compendious
- summarizing completely and briefly
- complacent
- self-satisfied
- complaisance
- the willingness to comply with the wishes of others
- compunction
- feeling of uneasiness caused by guilt or regret
- connoisseur
- an informed and astute judge in matters of taste; expert
- consanguine
- related by blood
- consequential
- pompous, self-important; usually means logical following; important
- contemn
- to scorn or despise; to express contempt
- contentious
- argumentative; quarrelsome; causing controversy or disagreement
- contiguous
- sharing a border; touching; adjacent
- contra, contro, counter
- AGAINST (contradict, contrary, controversy, counterattact, encounter)
- contrite
- regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness
- convention
- a generally agreed-upon practice or attitude
- convoluted
- complex or complicated
- cord, card
- HEART (accord, cardiac, concord, cardiology, cordial, discord, record)
- corp, cors
- BODY (corporate, corps, corpse, corpulent, corpus, corpuscle, corset, incorporation)
- corrigible
- capable of being set right, correctable, reparable
- corroborate
- to confirm, verify
- cosm
- ORDER, UNIVERSE, WORLD (cosmetic, cosmic, cosmology, cosmopolitan, microcosm)
- countenance
- to approve of or tolerate; brook
- cozen
- to deceive, beguile, hoodwink
- craven
- contemptibly fainthearted, pusillanimous, lacking any courage
- cred
- TRUST, BELIEVE (accredit, credentials, credible, credit, credo, credulity, creed, incredible)
- credulous
- tending to believe too readily; gullible
- crim
- crime, fault, accusation (criminology, decriminalize, incriminate, recrimination)
- crypt
- HIDE (crypt, cryptic, cryptography, apocryphal)
- culp
- FAULT, BLAME (culpable, culprit, inculpate, exculpate)
- culpable
- deserving blame
- cumb, cub
- LIE DOWN (concubine, cubicle, incubate, incubus, incumbent, recumbent, succubus, succumb)
- curmudgeon
- cranky person
- curt
- abrupt, blunt
- cygnet
- young swan
- cyn, can
- DOG (canine, cynic)
- cynicism
- an attitude or quality of belief that all people are motivated by selfishness
- daguerreotype
- precursor to photograph
- damp
- to diminish the intensity or check something, such as a sound or feeling
- daunt
- to intimidate or dismay
- daunting
- dismaying, disheartening
- dauntless
- fearless, undaunted, intrepid
- de
- DOWN, OUT, AWAY FROM, APART (dehydrate, deject, depress, deport, descend, describe, devalue)
- dearth
- smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack
- debacle
- rout, fiasco, complete failure
- decamp
- to leave suddenly
- decorum
- polite or appropriate conduct or behavior
- decry
- to belittle, openly condemn
- dele
- ERASE (delete, indelibile)
- deleterious
- harmful, destructive, detrimental
- delphic
- unclear, ambiguous or confusing (< oracle of Delphi whose epigrams were characterized this way)
- demur
- to question or oppose
- denigrate
- to blacken, belittle, sully, defame, disparage
- denouement
- an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot
- deprecate
- to disparage or belittle
- depredate
- to plunder, pillage, ravage or destroy; to exploit in a predatory manner
- deride
- to mock, ridicule, make fun of
- derision
- scorn; ridicule; contemptuous treatment
- derisive
- expressing ridicule or scorn
- derivative
- unoriginal, obtained from another source
- descry
- to discover or reveal
- desiccate
- to dry out; dehydrate; to make dry or dull
- desuetude
- disuse
- desultory
- random; thoughtless; marked by a lack of a plan or purpose