GRE Vocabulary
Terms
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- abscond
- to depart clandestinely; to steal off and hide
- alacrity
- eager and enthusiastic willingness
- approbation
- an expression of approval or praise
- assuage
- to ease or lessen; to appease or pacify
- audacious
- daring and fearless; recklessly bold
- austere
- without adornment; bare; severely simple; ascetic
- canonical
- following or in agreement with accepted, traditional standards
- capricious
- inclined to change one's mind impulsively; erratic, unpredictable
- chicanery
- trickery or subterfuge
- disparate
- fundamentally distinct or dissimilar
- effrontery
- extreme boldness; presumptuousness
- enervate
- to weaken; to reduce in vitality
- equivocate
- to use ambiguous language with a deceptive intent
- erudite
- very learned; scholarly
- exculpate
- exonerate; to clear of blame
- exigent
- urgent, pressing; requiring immediate action or attention
- fulminate
- to loudly attack or denounce
- ingenuous
- artless; frank and candid; lacking in sophistication
- perspicacious
- acutely perceptive; having keen discernment
- inured
- accustomed to accepting something undesirable
- irascible
- easily angered; prone to temperamental outbursts
- martial
- associated with war and the armed forces
- noxious
- harmful; injurious
- obtuse
- lacking sharpness of intellect; not clear or precise in thought or expression
- paean
- a song or hymn of praise and thanksgiving
- perfidy
- intentional breach of faith; treachery
- perfunctory
- cursory; done without care or interest
- prattle
- to babble meaninglessly; to talk in an empty and idle manner
- prevaricate
- to deliberately avoid the truth; to mislead
- recant
- to retract, esp. a previously held belief
- relegate
- to forcibly assign, esp. to a lower position
- reticent
- quiet; reserved; reluctant to express thoughts and feelings
- solicitous
- concerned and attentive; eager
- truculent
- fierce and cruel; eager to fight
- virulent
- extremely harmful or poisonous; bitterly hostile or antagonistic
- abate
- to lessen in intensity or degree
- adulation
- excessive praise; intense adoration
- aesthetic
- dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful
- avarice
- greed, esp. for wealth
- burgeon
- to grow rapidly or flourish
- canon
- an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature
- chary
- wary; cautious; sparing
- cogent
- appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing
- complaisance
- the willingness to comply with the wishes of others
- contrite
- regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness
- demur
- to question or oppose
- didactic
- intended to teach or instruct
- disinterested
- free of bias or self-interest; impartial
- dogmatic
- expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or unprovable principles
- elegy
- a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead
- emollient
- soothing, esp. to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying; an agent that softens or smoothes the skin
- ephemeral
- brief; fleeting
- facetious
- playful; humorous
- harangue
- to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long, pompous speech
- impecunious
- lacking funds; without money
- incipient
- beginning to come into being or to become apparent
- inert
- unmoving; lethargic; sluggish
- intransigent
- refusing to compromise
- inveigle
- to obtain by deception or flattery
- penurious
- penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous
- preen
- to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care
- prodigious
- abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary
- quaff
- to drink deeply
- quiescence
- stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest
- redoubtable
- awe-inspiring; worthy of honor
- torpid
- lethargic; sluggish; dormant
- urbane
- sophisticated; refined; elegant
- vilify
- to defame; to characterize harshly
- adulterate
- to reduce purity by combining with inferior ingredients
- aver
- to state as a fact; to declare or assert
- bombastic
- pompous; grandiloquent
- dissemble
- to disguise or conceal; to mislead
- evanescent
- tending to disappear like vapor; vanishing
- grandiloquence
- pompous speech or expression
- hackneyed
- rendered trite or commonplace by frequent usage
- halcyon
- calm and peaceful
- hegemony
- the consistent dominance of one state or ideology over others
- iconoclast
- one who attacks or undermines traditional conventions or institutions
- impassive
- revealing no emotion
- implacable
- not capable of being appeased or significantly changed
- impunity
- immunity from punishment or penalty
- inchoate
- in an initial stage; not fully formed
- infelicitous
- unfortunate; inappropriate
- insipid
- without taste or flavor; lacking in spirit; bland
- mendacity
- the condition of being untruthful; dishonesty
- obdurate
- unyielding; hardhearted; intractable
- obsequious
- exhibiting a fawning attentiveness
- occlude
- to obstruct or block
- opprobrium
- disgrace; contempt; scorn
- pedantic
- overly concerned with the trivial details of learning or education; show-offish about one's knowledge
- penury
- poverty; destitution
- pith
- the central or essential part
- polemical
- controversial; argumentative
- prodigal
- recklessly wasteful; extravagant; profuse; lavish
- querulous
- prone to complaining or grumbling; peevish
- rancorous
- characterized by bitter, long-lasting resentment
- recalcitrant
- obstinately defiant of authority; difficult to manage
- repudiate
- to refuse to have anything to do with; disown
- salubrious
- promoting health or well-being
- specious
- seeming true, but actually being fallacious; misleadingly attractive; plausible but false
- surfeit
- an overabundant supply; excess; to feed or supply to excess
- astringent
- having a tightening effect on living tissue; harsh; severe; something with a tightening effect on tissue
- credulous
- tending to believe too readily; gullible
- desiccate
- to dry out or dehydrate; to make dry or dull
- flout
- to show comtempt for, as in a rule or convention
- garrulous
- pointlessly talkative, talking too much
- glib
- marked by ease or informality; nonchalant; lacking in depth; superficial
- impetuous
- hastily or rashly energetic; impulsive and vehement
- inimical
- damaging; harmful; injurious
- laconic
- using few words; terse
- mercurial
- characterized by rapid and unpredictable change in mood
- ostentatious
- characterized by or given to pretentious display; showy
- phlegmatic
- calm; sluggish; unemotional
- probity
- adherence to highest principles; complete and confirmed integrity; uprightness
- profligate
- excessively wasteful; recklessly extravagant
- prosaic
- dull; lacking in spirit or imagination
- quixotic
- foolishly impractival; marked by lofty romantic ideals
- quotidian
- occurring or recurring daily; commonplace
- recondite
- hidden; concealed; difficult to understand; obscure
- refulgent
- radiant; shiny; brilliant
- sedulous
- diligent; persistent; hard-working
- spendthrift
- one who spends money wastefully
- trenchant
- sharply perceptive; keen; penetrating
- vexation
- annoyance; irritation
- vituperate
- to use harsh, condemnatory language; to abuse ot censure severely or abusively; berate