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GRE vocabulary
Hit Parade 2
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| abate | v. to lessen in intensity or degree |
| accolade | n. an expression of praise |
| adulation | n. excessive praise; intense adoration |
| aesthetic | adj. dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful |
| ameliorate | v. to make better or more tolerable |
| ascetic | n. one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an act of religious devotion |
| avarice | n. greed, esp. for wealth |
| axiom | n. a universally recognized principle |
| burgeon | v. to grow rapidly or flourish |
| bucolic | adj. rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants |
| cacophony | n. harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance |
| canon | n. an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature |
| castigation | n. severe criticism or punishment |
| catalyst | n. a substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing; a person or thing that causes change |
| caustic | adj. burning or stinging; causing corrosion |
| chary | adj. wary; caution; sparing |
| cogent | adj. appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing |
| complaisance | n. the willingness to comply with the wishes of others |
| contentious | adj. argumentative; quarrelsome; causing controversy or disagreement |
| contrite | adj. regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness |
| culpable | adj. deserving blame |
| dearth | n. smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack |
| demur | v. to question or oppose |
| didactic | adj. intended to teach or instruct |
| discretion | n. caution reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions |
| disinterested | adj. free of bias or self-interest; impartial |
| dogmatic | adj. expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or improvable principles |
| ebullience | n. the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings |
| eclectic | adj. composed of elements drawn from various sources |
| elegy | n. a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead |
| emollient | adj./n. soothing, esp. to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying; an agent that softens or smooths the skin |
| empirical | adj. based on observation or experiment |
| enigmatic | adj. mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand |
| ephemeral | adj. brief; fleeting |
| esoteric | adj. intended for or understood by a small, specific group |
| eulogy | n. a speech honoring the dead |
| exonerate | v. to remove blame |
| facetious | adj. playful; humorous |
| fallacy | n. an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistake belief |
| furtive | adj. marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious |
| gregarious | adj. sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people |
| harangue | v./n. to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long, pompous speech |
| heretical | adj. violating accepted dogma or convention |
| hyperbole | n. an exaggerated statement, often used a s a figure of speech. |
| impecunious | adj. lacking funds; without money |
| incipient | adj. beginning to come into being or to become apparent *inception* |
| inert | adj. unmoving; lethargic; sluggish |
| innocuous | adj. harmless; causing no damage |
| intransigent | adj. refusing to compormise |
| inveigle | v. to obtain by deception or flattery |
| morose | adj. sad; sullen; melancholy |
| odious | adj. evoking intense aversion or dislike |
| opaque | adj. impenetrable by light; not reflecting light |
| oscillation | n. the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm |
| penurious | adj. penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous |
| pernicious | adj. extremely harmful; potentially causing death |
| peruse | v. to examine with great care |
| pious | adj. extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion |
| precursor | n. one that precedes and indicates or announces another |
| preen | v. to dress up; to primp; to groom one-self with elaborate care |
| prodigious | adj. abundant in size; force or extent; extraordinary |
| prolific | adj. producing large volumes or amounts; productive |
| putrefy | v. to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor |
| quaff | v. to drink deeply |
| quiescence | n. stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest |
| redoubtable | adj. awe-inspiring; worthy of honor |
| sanction | n/v. authoritative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority to |
| satire | n. a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision |
| squalid | adj. sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect (from squalor) |
| stoic | adj. indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast |
| supplant | v. to take the place of; supersede |
| torpid | adj. lethargic; sluggish; dormant (n. torpor) |
| ubiquitous | adj. existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; widespread |
| urbane | adj. sophisticated; refined; elegant (n. urbanity) |
| vilify | v. to defame; to characterize harshly |
| viscous | adj. thick; sticky |
Created by:
ksyvarth