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GRE Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| abate | to lessen in intensity or degree |
| accolade | an expression of praise |
| adulation | excessive praise; intense adoration |
| aesthetic | dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful |
| ameliorate | to make better or more tolerable |
| ascetic | one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as a act of religious devotion |
| avarice | greed, esp. for wealth |
| axiom | a universally recognized principle |
| burgeon | to grow rapidly or flourish |
| bucolic | rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants |
| cacophony | harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance |
| canon | an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature |
| 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 |
| caustic | burning or stinging; causing corrosion |
| chary | wary; cautious; sparing |
| cogent | appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing |
| complaisance | the willingness to comply with the wishes or others |
| contentious | argumentative; quarrelsome; causing controversy or disagreement |
| contrite | regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness |
| culpable | deserving blame |
| dearth | smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack |
| demur | to question or oppose |
| didactic | intended to teach or instruct |
| discretion | cautious reserve in speech; ability tot make responsible decisions |
| disinterested | free of bias or self interest; impartial |
| dogmatic | expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or improvable principles |
| ebullience | the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings |
| eclectic | composed of elements drawn from various sources |
| elegy | a mournful poem, especially one lamenting the dead |
| emollient | soothing especially to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying; an agent that softens or smooths the skin |
| empirical | based on observation or experiment |
| enigmatic | mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand |
| ephemeral | brief; fleeting |
| esoteric | intended for or understood by a small, specific group |
| eulogy | a speech honoring the dead |
| exonerate | to remove blame |
| facetious | playful; humorous |
| fallacy | an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief |
| furtive | marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious |
| gregarious | sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people |
| harangue | to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long, pompous speech |
| heretical | violating accepted dogma or convention |
| hyperbole | an exaggerated statement; often used as a figure of speech |
| impecunious | lacking funds; without money |
| incipient | beginning to come into being or to become apparent |
| inert | unmoving; lethargic; sluggish |
| innocuous | harmless; causing no damage |
| intransigent | refusing to compromise |
| inveigle | to obtain by deception or flattery |
| morose | sad; sullen; melancholy |
| odious | evoking intense aversion or dislike |
| opaque | impenetrable by light; not reflecting light |
| oscillation | the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm |
| penurious | penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous |
| pernicious | extremely harmful; potentially causing death |
| peruse | to examine with great care |
| pious | extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion |
| precursor | one that precedes and indicates or announces another |
| preen | to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care |
| prodigious | abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary |
| prolific | producing large volumes or amounts; productive |
| putrefy | to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor |
| quaff | to drink deeply |
| quiescence | stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest |
| redoubtable | awe-inspiring; worth of honor |
| sanction | authoritative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority |
| satire | a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision |
| squalid | sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect |
| stoic | indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast |
| supplant | to take the place of; to supersede |
| torpid | lethargic; sluggish; dormant |
| ubiquitous | existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; widespread |
| urbane | sophisticated; refined; elegant |
| vilify | to defame; to characterize harshly |
| viscous | thick; sticky |
| introspection | examining one's own thoughts and feelings |
| philanthropist | one who loves mankind |
| antidote | medicine used against a poison or a disease |
| strive | to make great efforts, to struggle |
| retrospective | Looking back on past |
| precursors | a person or thing that precedes, as in a process or job |
| introvert | one who turns towards himself |
| gerontocracy | government ruled by old people |
| ambiguous | doubtful; uncertain |
| braggart | boastful |
| aggravate | make worse; irritate |
| entice | attract, lure |
| alleviate | make (pain) easier to bear |
| adorn | add beauty; decorate |
| equilibrium | state of being balanced |
| abhor | to hate; to detest |
| connote | suggest or imply in addition to the precise, literal meaning |
| endeavor | to make an effort, to try very hard |
| agile | active; quick-moving |
| renovate | restore something to better condition |
| curriculum | course of study |
| malevolent | malicious; evil; having or showing ill will |
| amalgamate | mix; combine; unite societies |
| xenophile | a person who is attracted to foreign peoples, manners, or cultures |
| parochial | of or relating to a church parish; limited in range or scope |
| solipsistic | a theory in philosophy that your own existence is the only thing that is real or that can be known |
| ersatz | copied from something else and usually not as good as the original |
| hoi-polloi | ordinary people |
| facile | too simple; done or achieved in a way that is too easy, shallow, simplistic; working, moving, or performing well and very easily |
| dulcet | pleasant to hear |
| unavailing | no useful or successful |
| sidereal | of, relating to, or expressed in relation to stars or constellations; astral |
| dissolute | used to describe someone whose way of living is considered morally wrong |
| addlepated | being mixed up, confused; eccentric |
| turgid | excessively embellished in style or language; being in a state of distension |
| turbid | cloudy or muddy |
| mellifluous | having a smooth, flowing sound; filled with something that sweetens |
| syncopated | of, relating to, or having a rhythm that stress the weak beats instead of the strong beats; abbreviated |
| amortized | to pay off gradually by periodic payments of principal and interest; to gradually reduce or write off the cost or value of |
| agglomerated | to gather into a ball, mass, or cluster |
| autodidact | a self-taught person |
| moralists | a person who has strong feelings and opinions about what is right and who tries to control the moral behavior of other people |
| recidivists | one who continues to commit crimes after being caught and punished |
| utilitarianism | the belief that a morally good action is one that helps the greatest number of people |
| myrmidons | a loyal follower, especially a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously |
| presage | something that foreshadows or portends a future event; omen; an intuition or feeling of what is going to happen |
| consanguineous | of the same blood or origin |
| tremulous | shaking slightly especially because of nervousness, weakness, or illness; feeling or showing a lack of confidence or courage |
| coltish | not subjected to discipline; frisky, playful |
| conglomerate | made of up parts from various sources or kinds; to gather into a mass or coherent whole |
| sanguine | confident and hopeful; bloodred |
| puissant | having great power or influence |
| restive | unable to keep still/silent; becoming increasingly difficult to control |
| blithe | showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper; happy or joyous |
| artful | clever or skillful, typically in a crafty or cunning way; showing creative skill or taste |
| virescent | greenish |
| potable | safe to drink |
| risible | such as to provoke laughter |
| cursory | hasty and therefore not thorough or detailed |
| arch | having or showing an amused feeling of being superior or to knowing more than other people; principal, chief |
| verdant | green with grass; unripe in experience or judgment |
| banal | so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring |
| sagacious | having or showing keen mental discernment and good judgment; shrewd |
| deposed | remove from office suddenly and forcefully; dethrone |
| sanguinary | involving or causing much bloodshed |
| jejune | naive, simplistic, and superficial; dry and uninteresting |
| modish | fashionable or stylish in a modern way |
| convivial | friendly, lively, and enjoyable; cheerful and jovial |
| facetious | treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant |
Created by:
shmartin87
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