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GRE Vocabulary Set 2
Frequently tested words on the GRE Set 2
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Abate (verb) | to lessen in intensity or degree |
| Accolade (noun) | an expression of praise |
| Adulation (noun) | excessive praise; intense adoration |
| Aesthetic (adj.) | dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful |
| Ameliorate (verb) | to make better or ore tolerable |
| Ascetic (noun) | one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as na act of religious devotion |
| Avarice (noun) | greed, esp. for wealth |
| Axiom (noun) | a universally recognized principle |
| Burgeon (verb) | to grow rapidly or flourish |
| Bucolic (adj.) | rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants |
| Cacophony (noun) | harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance |
| Canon (noun) | an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature |
| Castigation (noun) | severe criticism or punishment |
| Catalyst (noun) | 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; cautious; sparing |
| Cogent (adj.) | appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing |
| Complaisance (noun) | the willingness to comply with the wishes of others |
| Contentious (adj.) | argumentative; quarrelsome; causing controversy or disagreement |
| Contrite (adj.) | regretful; penitent; seeking forgivness |
| Culpable (adj.) | deserving blame |
| Dearth (noun) | smallness in quantity or number; scarcity; a lack |
| Demur (verb) | to question or oppose |
| Didactic (adj.) | intended to teach ot instruct |
| Discretion (noun) | cautious reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions |
| Disinterested (adj.) | free of bias or self-interest; impartial |
| Dogmatic (adj.) | expressing a ridged option based on unproven to improvable principles |
| Ebullience (noun) | the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings |
| Eclectic (adj.) | composed of elements drawn from various sources |
| Elegy (noun) | a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead |
| Emollient (adj.) / (noun) | soothing, esp. to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying an agent that softens or soothes the skin |
| Empirical (adj.) | based on observation or experiment |
| Enigmatic (adj.) | mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand |
| Ephemeral (adj.) | brief; fleeting |
| Esoteric (adj.) | intended of or understood by a small, specific group |
| Eulogy (noun) | a speech honoring the dead |
| Exonerate (verb) | to remove blame |
| Facetious (adj.) | playful; humorous |
| Fallacy (adj.) | an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief |
| Furtive (adj.) | marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious |
| Gregarious (adj.) | sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people |
| Harangue (verb) / (noun) | to deliver forcefull or angry speech; ranting speech or writing |
| Heretical (adj.) | violating accepted dogma to convention |
| Hyperbole (noun) | an exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech |
| Impecunious (adj.) | lacking funds; without money |
| Incipient (adj.) | beginning to come into being or to become apparent |
| Inert (adj.) | unmoving; lethargic; sluggish |
| Innocuous (adj.) | harmless; causing no damage |
| Intransigent (adj.) | refusing to compromise |
| Inveigle (verb) | 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 (noun) | 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 in a way that is not easily soon or noticed |
| Peruse (adj.) | to examine with great care |
| Pious (adj.) | extremely revert or devout; showing strong religious devotion |
| Precursor (noun) | one that precedes and indicates to announces another |
| Preen (verb) | to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care |
| Prodigious (adj.) | abundant in size, force to extent; extraordinary |
| Prolific (adj.) | producing large volume or amounts; productive |
| Putrefy (adj.) | to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor |
| Quaff (verb) | to drink deeply |
| Quiescence (noun) | stillness; motionless; quality of being at rest |
| Redoubtable (adj.) | awe-insipring; worthy of honor |
| Sanction (noun) / (verb) | authoritative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority |
| Satire (noun) | a literary worth that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision |
| Squalid (adj.) | sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect |
| Stoic (adj.) | indifferent to ot unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast |
| Supplant (verb) | to take the place of; to supersede |
| Torpid (adj.) | lethargic; sluggish; dormant |
| Ubiquitous (adj.) | existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; widespread |
| Urbane (adj.) | sophisticated; refined; elegant |
| Vilify (verb) | to defame; to characterize harshly |
| Viscous (adj.) | thick; sticky |