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GRE Verb

Term	Definition	Example
Differentiate	to be a distinctive feature or trait ; to evolve so as to lead to a new species or develop in a way most suited to the environment (sometimes in positive sense)	Mozart's long melodic lines differentiate his compositions from other works of late 18th century music. ; Animals on Madagascar differentiated from other similar animal species due to many years of isolation on the island.
Exemplify	to be characteristic of ; to clarify by giving an example	He leads a conference next month on civics studies because his country exemplifies the struggles of a fledgling democracy. ; Adel lucidly exemplifies her points about the beautiful of Indonesia cultures through her amazing ten days trip experiences
Prevail	to be widespread in a particular area at a particular time ; to prove superior	During the labor negotiations, an air of hostility prevailed in the office. ; Before the cricket match, Australia was heavily favored, but India prevailed.
Flounder	to behave awkwardly ; to have difficulties	(1) His campaign is floundering and so he does what he always does when he can't think of real solutions by attacking workers. ; (2) Sylvia has excelled at advanced calculus, but ironically, when she has to deal with taxes, she flounders.
Lavish	to bestow with profusion	She lavished her puppy with so many treats that it soon become overweight and spoiled. ; (2) Mr Erdogan's political opponents saw a lavish new presidential palace as a symbol of his alleged authoritarian tendencies.
Chagrin	to cause to feel shame	She never cared what others said about her appearance but was chagrined by the smallest comment from her mother.
Precipitate	to cause to happen	The government's mishandling of the hurricane's aftermath precipitated a widespread outbreak of looting and other criminal activity.
Derive	to come from ; to obtain or establish something by deduction	Many words in the English language are derived from Latin, including the word ""derive"". ; From the multiple set of footprints in the living room, the investigator derived an important clue: Sheila was not alone in the room at the time of the murder.
Implicate	to convey a meaning ; to indicate in wrongdoing usually a crime	By saying that some of the guests were uncomfortable, the manager implicated to the hotel staff that it needed to be more diligent. ; The crime boss was implicated for a long list of crimes, ranging from murder to disturbing the peace.
Debase	to destroy or corrupt the character, value, or reputation of someone ; to reduce the value of something (as by adding impurities)	For some Republicans, Jep Bush's virtues and achievements are vitiated by his positions on immigration and the Common Core education standards. ; The third-rate script so debased the film that not even the flawless acting could save it from being a flop.
Enumerate	to determine the number or amount of ; to specify individually one by one	The survey enumerates the number of happy workers and the number of unhappy workers. ; I sat and listened as she enumerated all of the things she did not like about the past three months.
Dissipate	to disperse or scatter ; to spend money wastefully	Kathleen's perfume was overwhelming in the cramped apartment, but once we stepped outside the smell dissipated and we could breathe once again. ; The recent graduates dissipated their earnings on trips to Las Vegas and cruises in Mexico.
Dispatch	to dispose of rapidly and without delay	As soon as the angry peasants stormed the castle, they caught the king and swiftly dispatched him.
Imbibe	to drink or absorb as if drinking ; receive into the mind and retain	Taha Ismail grew up in Casablanca, Morocco, a predominantly Muslim country where people imbibe soft drinks instead of alcohol. ; Plato imbibed Socrates’ teachings that he was able to write volumes of work that he directly attributed to Socrates.
Begrudge	to envy someone for possessing or enjoying something ; to give something in a reluctant or unwilling way	Sitting all alone in his room, Harvey begrudged the happiness of the other children playing outside his window. ; Nobody begrudges a single penny spent on health or education since they are indispensable to everybody's life.
Elaborate	to explain in more detail	Most high school physics teachers find themselves elaborating the same point over and over again, since many concepts confuse students.
Surfeit	to feed or supply excessively	Having surfeited themselves on raw oysters, they had to decline the rest of the restaurant's offerings.
Concede	to give over something ; to accept defeat ; to admit something	The Spanish were forced to concede much of the territory they had previously conquered. ; The candidate conceded after enough votes had come in to show that he would lose. ; After a long lecture from her father, Olivia conceded to having broken the car.
Sanction	to give permission or authority	The authorities have sanctioned the use of the wilderness reserve for public use; many expect to see hikers and campers enjoying the park in the coming months.
Devolve	to grow worse (devolve into) ; to delegate to another	The dialogue between the two academics devolved into a downright bitter argument. ; The company was full of managers known for devolving tasks to lower management, but never doing much work themselves.
Check	to hold back the growth of something	Deserted for six months, the property began to look more like a jungle and less like a residence: weeds grew unchecked in the front yard.
Subsume	to include or contain ; to consider	The rogue wave quickly subsumed the pier and boardwalk, destroying everything in its path. ; Don Quixote of La Mancha subsumes all other modern novels, demonstrating modern literary devices and predating even the idea of a postmodern, metanarrative.
Gall	to irritate	It galls me that such a small group of people can have so much power.
Guffaw	to laugh loudly and boisterously	Whenever the jester fell to the ground in mock pain, the king guffawed, exposing his yellow, fang-like teeth.
Harangue	to loudly and angrily deliver long pompous speech	Tired of his parents haranguing him about his laziness and lack of initiative, Tyler finally moved out of home at the age of thirty-five.
Quip	to make a witty remark	When an old English teacher criticized Churchill for ending a sentence with a preposition, he quipped, ""This is the kind of criticism up with which we will not put!
Consummate	to make perfect and complete in every aspect	The restoration of the ancient church was only consummated after a twenty years of labor.
Obscure	to make unclear	The Associated Press and other media, citing anonymous sources, have reported the payments were intended to obscure claims of sexual misconduct decades ago.
Retract	to pull inward or towards a center ; to formally reject or to disavow a formerly held belief	Corbyn’s supporters say the nuclear debate is a chance for Labour to embrace a new kind of radical politics that will retract disillusioned voters. ; That announcement was later retracted and bizarrely debunked as false, as more evidence surfaced.
Bridle	to put restriction on ; to react with anger or to take offense	Tuesday's announcement fits new President Muhammadu Buhari's plan to bridle corruption endemic in the industry. ; The hostess bridled at the tactless dinner guests who insisted on eating before everybody had gotten their food.
Lament	to regret strongly ; to express grief verbally	Just think how valuable that real estate would be to sponsors, he lamented later. ; The children continued to lament the death of the goldfish weeks after its demise.
Vituperate	to spread negative information about ; to criticize harshly	Idolized while victorious, he was vituperated with corresponding violence the instant fortune showed signs of wavering in her fidelity. ; Jason had dealt with drill sergeants who vituperated him due to forgetting to double knot the laces on his boots.
Start	to suddenly move in a particular direction	He started when I tapped him on the shoulder.
Glut	to supply with an excess of	The USA eventually glut the oil market as they pump up their national oil production through opening major shale oil fields.
Dupe	to trick or swindle	Shoppers are being duped into handing over thousands of pounds by to a gang of street vendors who claim to be collecting money for children's wheelchairs.
Savvy	to understand something	The student savvies the meaning of astrophysics with little effort.
Maunder	to wander aimlessly ; to speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly	Max liked to maunder down by the seaside and pick up whatever sea shells he would stumble upon. ; After drinking two espressos each, the animated couple would maunder loudly, annoying the other patrons in the coffee shop.
Desecrate	to willfully destroy a sacred place ; to remove the consecration from a person or object	After desecrating the pharaoh's tomb, the archaeologist soon fell victim to a horrible illness. ; Built 50 years ago, the structure was heralded as a modernist masterpiece of glass and concrete, but fell into disrepair after being desecrated in 1980.
Hail	to acclaim or celebrate something enthusiastically	Many college superstar athletes are hailed as the next big thing, but then flop at the professional level.
Finagle	to achieve something by means of trickery or devious methods	Steven was able to finagle one of the last seats on the train by convincing the conductor that his torn stub was actually a valid ticket.
Bumble	to act clumsily or awkwardly	Three bumbling French thieves with a history of botching jobs badly are given one last chance to make good with their boss.
Espouse	to adopt or support an idea or cause	Gore has said that his new network will not espouse any particular political beliefs.
Tout	to advertise or show off strongly in positive terms	At the conference, the CEO touted the extraordinary success of his company's Research & Development division.
Condone	to allow something (usually behavior that is considered morally wrong or offensive) to continue	We can’t find a productive way forward if attacks are happening against civilians, and no one should be condoning attacks against civilians.
Brook	to allow something unpleasant to happen or to tolerate someone who behaves unpleasantly	While she was at the chalkboard, the teacher did not brook any form of talking; even a tiny peep resulted in afternoon detention.
Harry	to annoy continually	She was harried to finish her novel and meet the deadline as her PC she used to work on was frequently crashed.
Badger	to annoy someone by many comments or questions as to ask someone persistently to do something	I have badgered him for months, if not years, to have lunch and he has finally given up ignoring me.
Adjudicate	to arrive at a judgment or conclusion or serve as a judge in a competition	Only those with the most refined palates were able to adjudicate during the barbeque competition.
Maintain	to assert or state clearly and firmly	The scientist maintained that the extinction of dinosaurs was most likely brought about by a drastic change in climate.
Lionize	to assign great social importance to	Students in the U.S. learn to lionize Jefferson, Franklin, and Washington because they are the founding fathers of the nation.
Relegate	to assign to a lower position	When Dexter was unable to fulfill his basic duties, instead of firing him, the boss relegated him to kitchen cleanup.
Posit	to assume as fact	Initially, Einstein posited a repulsive force to balance Gravity, but then rejected that idea as a blunder.
Beg	to assume something is true usually followed by "the question" meaning that you ask a question in which you assume something that hasn't been proven true	By assuming that Charlie was headed to college, which he was not, Maggie begged the question when she asked him to which school he was headed in the fall.
Impugn	to attack as false or wrong	Though many initially tried to impugn Darwin's theory, in scientific circles today, the idea is taken as truth.
Assail	to attack in speech or writing	Washington insiders assailed him for being out of touch with America, and the Tel Aviv branja, the intellectual elite, snubbed him for being too American.
Impute	to attribute or credit something to other things	He imputed his subpar performance on the test to a combination of stress and poor sleep.
Ascribe	to attribute or credit to	History ascribes The Odyssey and The Iliad to Homer, but scholars now debate whether he was a historical figure or a fictitious name.
Flummox	to be a mystery or bewildering to	Mary's behavior completely flummoxes me; I never have any idea what her motivations might be.
Sententious	to be moralizing usually in a pompous sense	The old man, casting his nose up in the air at the group of adolescents, intoned sententiously, “Youth is wasted on the young.”.
Behoove	to be one's duty or obligation	The teacher looked down at the student and said, "It would behoove you to be in class on time and complete your homework, so that you don't repeat freshman English for a third straight year".
Waver	to be unsure in doing something as to choose between choices	She never wavered from living the kind of life she wanted to live and doing it freely.
Obtain	to be valid or applicable	The custom of waiting your turn in line does not obtain in some countries, in which many people try to rush to front of the line at the same time.
Inure	to become accustomed to especially something unpleasant	Three years of Manhattan living has inured her to the sound of wailing sirens; she could probably sleep through the apocalypse.
Flag	to become less intense or enthusiastic	After the three crushing defeats in the last three games, the team's enthusiasm began to flag.
Languish	to become weak or lacking strength	Stranded in the wilderness for four days, the hiker languished, eating protein bars and nuts.
Importune	to beg persistently and urgently	After weeks of importuning the star to meet for a five-minute interview, the journalist finally got what she wanted.
Occlude	to block passage through	A shadow is thrown across the Earth's surface during a solar eclipse,when the light from the sun is occluded by the moon.
Kowtow	to bow or act in a subservient manner	Paul kowtowed to his boss so often the boss herself became nauseated by his sycophancy.
Hector	to bully or intimidate	The boss’s hectoring manner put off many employees, some of whom quit as soon as they found new jobs.
Elicit	to call forth as emotions or responses	Just smiling even if you are depressed can elicit feelings of pleasure and happiness.
Countermand	to cancel an order or command especially by giving a new one	By the time the colonel countermanded his soldiers not to land in enemy territory, a few helicopters had already touched down amid heavy gunfire.
Rescind	to cancel officially	Though the club have met the personal agreement with Peter, they decided to rescind their bid because Peter's current club suddenly raised the transfer fee for him to the point they cannot afford.
Nettle	to cause annoyance in	Rosen said the rain didn’t nettle him, partly because the Bruins’ staff did a good job of keeping the game balls dry.
Rile	to cause annoyance in especially by minor irritations	Dan is usually calm and balanced, but it takes only one intense glare from Sabrina to rile him.
Confound	to cause confusion as to mistake one thing for another	The same unpredictability that confounds those who try to explain the game through statistical formulations is what makes it so enjoyable to follow.
Stultify	to cause one to lose energy and enthusiasm through routine	As an undergraduate Mark felt stultified by classes outside his area of study, only in grad school, in which he could focus solely on literary analysis, did he regain his scholarly edge.
Demean	to cause someone or something to lose dignity or respect	While comparing products, they were not allowed to degrade or demean the merchandise offered by competitors.
Disseminate	to cause something or someone to become widely known	Nowadays, one can easily become famous using internet e.g. you can post your cover video on Youtube and it will quickly disseminate yourself to the entire world.
Conciliate	to cause to be more favorably inclined	He exhibited in the hour of his triumph a moderation which conciliated many enemies, and prevented the anarchy that might naturally have been expected.
Placate	to cause to be more favorably inclined as to make someone less angry	I was able to placate the angry mob of students by promising to bring cookies on Monday.
Perturb	to cause to be worried or alarmed	Now that Henry is recovering from a major illnesses, he no longer lets the little trivialities, such as late mail, perturb him.
Perpetuate	to cause to continue	If you do not let him do things for himself, you are merely perpetuating bad habits that will be even harder to break in the future.
Besiege	to cause to fell distressed as with questions or requests	After discovering a priceless artifact in her backyard, Jane was besieged by phone calls, emails, and reporters all trying to buy, hold or see the rare piece of history.
Fete	to celebrate a person	After World War II, war heroes were feted at first but quickly forgotten.
Transmute	to change in form, appearance or nature	One of the goals of alchemy was to find the substance or process that would transmute lead into gold.
Abstain	to choose not to consume or take part in (particularly something enjoyable)	The dictionary definition of fasting is to abstain from all or some kinds of food or drink.
Expound	to clarify the meaning by adding details or explanations	The CEO refused to expound on the decision to merge our department with another one, and so I quit.
Dilate	to clarify the meaning of by adding details	Fox Business moderators asked candidates to describe their tax cuts in detail, and asked them to dilate.
Vindicate	to clear of accusation or blame with supporting arguments or proofs	Ms Hanley vowed to continue the fight to vindicate her late father's name and reputation.
Glean	to collect information bit by bit	Herb has given us no formal statement about his background, but from various hints, I have gleaned that he grew up in difficult circumstances.
Antedate	to come earlier in date or time	Harry was so unknowledgable that he was unaware the Egyptian pharaohs antedated the American Revolution.
Vanquish	to come out better in a competition, race or conflict	For years, Argentina would dominate in World Cup qualifying matches, only to be vanquished by one of the European countries during the late stages of the tournament.
Proscribe	to command against	My doctor proscribed my habit of eating donuts with chocolate sauce and hamburger patties for breakfast.
Vie	to compete for something	While the other teams in the division actively vie for the championship, this team seems content simply to go through the motions of playing.
Eradicate	to completely destroy	I tried eradicating the mosquitos in my apartment with a rolled up newspaper, but there were too many of them.
Dissemble	to conceal or hide one's true motives usually through deceit	To get close to the senator, the assassin dissembled his intentions, convincing many people that he was a reporter for a well-known newspaper.
Corroborate	to confirm or lend support (in an idea or claim)	Her claim that frog populations were falling precipitously in Central America was corroborated by locals, who reported that many species of frogs had seemingly vanished overnight.
Gainsay	to contradict or deny	I can't gainsay a single piece of evidence James has presented, but I still don't trust his conclusion.
Belie	to contradict or give a false representation	The green hills and full fields around here belie an alarming fact: this is the worst drought Ethiopia has experienced in more than a decade.
Proselytize	to convert (someone) to another religion, philosophy or perspective	Lisa loves her Mac but says little about it; by contrast, Jake will proselytize, interrogating anyone with an Android about why she didn't purchase an iPhone.
Castigate	to criticize harshly	Drill sergeants are known to castigate new recruits so mercilessly that the latter often break down during their first week in training.
Chastise	to criticize harshly	Though chastised for eating the snacks for the party, Lawrence shrugged off his mother’s harsh words, and continued to plow through jars of cookies and boxes of donuts.
Lambaste	to criticize harshly or angrily	Showing no patience, the manager utterly lambasted the sales team that lost the big account.
Objurgate	to criticize severely	Trump has been objurgated for his call to block Muslims from entering the country in the aftermath of terror attacks at home and abroad.
Censure	to criticize severely and publicly	Recently, he was censured for dangling his baby son Bob near the open jaws of a crocodile and forced to make an apology to his millions of fans.
Rebuke	to criticize severely or angrily	Muslims all over the world rebuked Israel army for their audacious attacks to defenseless Palestinian woman who tried to guard Masjidil Aqsa.
Excoriate	to criticize very harshly	Entrusted with the prototype to his company’s latest smartphone, Larry, during a late night karaoke bout, let the prototype slip into the hands of a rival company - the next day Larry was excoriated, and then fired.
Execrate	to curse and hiss at	Though the new sitcom did decently in the ratings, Nelson railed against the show, saying that it was nothing more than an execrable pastiche of tired cliché’s and canned laughter.
Besmirch	to damage the good name and reputation of someone	The prince's distasteful choice of words besmirched not only his own name, but the reputation of the entire royal family.
Fleece	to deceive	Many people have been fleeced by Internet scams and never received their money back.
Hoodwink	to deceive or trick someone	Someone tried to hoodwink Marty with an email telling him that his uncle had just passed away, and to collect the inheritance he should send his credit card information.
Embroil	to deeply drag someone into difficult situation or course of action	These days we are never short of a D.C. politician embroiled in scandal - a welcome phenomenon for those who, having barely finished feasting on the sordid details of one imbroglio, can sink their teeth into a fresh one.
Delineate	to describe in detail	After a brief summary of proper swimming technique, the coach delineated the specifics of each stroke, spending 30 minutes alone on the backstroke.
Discern	to detect with the sense	An emerging field of science is dedicated to discern whether climate change is already having effects and what they might be.
Enjoin	to direct somebody to do something with authority	The government agency enjoined the chemical company to clean up the hazardous dump it had created over the years.
Deter	to discourage someone by persuasion	Police officers will also make regular checks to deter the sale and use of drugs in discos and pubs.
Browbeat	to discourage with threats or a domineering manner	During the interrogation, the suspect was browbeaten into signing a false confession.
Lacerate	to distress or deeply hurt the feelings of	The teacher was fired for lacerating a student who wrote a poor essay.
Deign	to do something that one considers to be below one's dignity	The master of the house never deigned to answer questions from the servants.
Quail	to draw back as with fear or pain	Craig always claimed to be a fearless outdoorsman, but when the thunderstorm engulfed the valley, he quailed at the thought of leaving the safety of his cabin.
Extrapolate	to draw from specific cases for more general cases	By extrapolating from the data on the past three months, we can predict a 5% increase in traffic to our website.
Bowdlerize	to edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate	To receive an R rating, the entire movie was bowdlerized because it contained so much violence and grotesque subject matter.
Expunge	to eliminate completely	When I turned 18, all of the shoplifting and jaywalking charges were expunged from my criminal record.
Immure	to enclose usually in walls	The modern supermarket experience makes many feel claustrophobic, as they are immured in walls upon walls of products.
Machinate	to engage in plotting something	The rebels met at night in an abandoned barn to machinate a rebellion right before the dawn.
Misattribute	to erroneously attribute or to falsely ascribe used especially of authorship	I made a mistake; I misattributed "Crime and Punishment" to Leo Tolstoy when it was actually written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Elude	to escape mentally or physically	Martha tried to understand chemistry, but the subject continued to elude her. ; He managed to elude his pursuers by escaping into an alley.
Galvanize	to excite or inspire to action	At mile 23 of his first marathon, Kyle had all but given up, until he noticed his friends and family holding a banner that read “Go Kyle”; galvanized, he broke into a gallop, finishing the last three miles in less than 20 minutes.
Ostracize	to exclude from a community or group	Later in his life, Leo Tolstoy was ostracized from the Russian Orthodox Church for his writings that contradicted church doctrine.
Banish	to expel from a community or residence	In a statement issued in Stockholm, the Swedish Foreign Ministry confirmed one of its high-ranking diplomats had been banished from the embassy in Moscow.
Debunk	to expose as false ideas and claims especially while ridiculing	Richard Dawkins tries to debunk religious belief, but his ridicule tends to push people away from his points rather than convince them.
Bemoan	to express discontent or a strong regret	While the CFO carefully explained all the reasons for the cuts in benefits, after the meeting employees bemoaned the cuts as further evidence that management was against them.
Decry	to express strong disapproval of	The entire audience erupted in shouts and curses, decrying the penalty card issued by the referee.
Reproach	to express warning or criticism towards	At first, Sarah was going to yell at the boy, but she didn't want to reproach him for telling the truth about the situation.
Renege	to fail to fulfill a promise or obligation	Sarah couldn't discriminate between a good wine and a bad wine, so she avoided wine tastings.
Denigrate	to falsely attack good name or reputation of someone	Count Rumford denigrated the new theory of heat, demonstrating that it was wholly inadequate to explain the observations.
Champion	to fight for a cause	Martin Luther King Jr. championed civ.
Inundate	to flood or overwhelm	The newsroom was inundated with false reports that only made it more difficult for the newscasters to provide an objective account of the bank robbery.
Indict	to formally charge of a crime or wrong-doing	The county grand jury could still indict Angela Luke, but officials on Thursday had no more information about that possibility.
Abjure	to formally reject or give up (as a belief)	While the church believed that Galileo abjured the heliocentric theory under threat of torture, he later wrote a book clearly supporting the theory.
Disabuse	to free somebody from an erroneous belief	As a child, I was quickly disabused of the notion that Santa Claus was a rotund benefactor of infinite largess - one night I saw my mother diligently wrapping presents and storing them under our Christmas tree.
Satiate	to fully satisfy	His desire for power was so great that nothing less than complete control of the country could satiate it.
Coalesce	to fuse or cause to grow together	Over time, the various tribes coalesced into a single common culture with one universal language.
Ingratiate	to gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts or doing something they like	Even though Tom didn't like his new boss, he decided to ingratiate himself to her in order to advance his career.
Entice	to get someone to do something through (false or exaggerate) promises	When he refused, they then attempted to entice him to get in by offering him sweets.
Underscore	to give extra weight to	While the hiking instructor agreed that carrying a first aid kit could be a good idea under certain circumstances, he underscored the importance of carrying enough water.
Wax	to gradually increase in size or intensity	Her enthusiasm for the diva’s new album only waxed with each song; by the end of the album, it was her favorite CD yet.
Crescendo	to gradually increase the loudness	His speeches, often appearing to be delivered completely off-the-cuff, would crescendo wildly into loud, short jeremiads expressing indignation at whatever wrongs the rally was addressing.
Burgeon	to grow rapidly	The indigenuous culture in Indonesia is slowly dissipating as the Korean and other influences have been burgeoning since last decade.
Defray	to help pay the cost of (either in part or full)	In order for Sean to attend the prestigious college, his generous uncle helped defray the excessive tuition with a monthly donation.
Stymie	to hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of	The engineers found their plans stymied at every turn and were ultimately able to make almost no progress on the project.
Encumber	to hold back	The costume encumbered all my movements and caused me to sweat profusely.
Hobble	to hold back the progress of something	Bad weather has hobbled rescue efforts, making it difficult for crews to find bodies in the wreckage.
Mesmerize	to hold one’s attention entirely	The plot and the characters were so well developed that many viewers were mesmerized, unable to move their eyes from the screen for even a single second.
Enthrall	to hold the attention entirely	She was so enthralled by the movie that she never heard people screaming, "Fire! Fire!" in the neighboring theater.
Mulct	to illegally obtain money by deception	The so-called magical diet cure simply ended up mulcting Maria out of hundreds of dollars, but did nothing for her weight.
Aggrandize	to increase in power, reputation or influence	In attempting to aggrandize and inject some drama into the characters in this saga, however, Ward may have achieved some unintended results.
Misconstrue	to interpret in the wrong way	The politician never trusted journalists because he thought that they would misconstrue his words and misrepresent his positions.
Construe	to interpret or understand in a particular way	The author's inability to take a side on the issue was construed by both his opponents and supporters as a sign of weakness.
Cow	to intimidate	Do not be cowed by a 3000-word vocabulary list; turn that list into a deck of flashcards!
Exasperate	to irritate	As a child, I exasperated my mother with strings of never-ending questions.
Irk	to irritate	My little sister has a way of irking and annoying me like no other person.
Decimate	to kill in large numbers	They’ll be implanted with northern white rhino embryos in hopes of saving the subspecies, which has been decimated by poachers.
Chortle	to laugh happily in muffled way	Walking into the cafe, I could hear happy, chortling people and smell the rich aroma of roasted coffee beans.
Belittle	to lessen the importance, dignity or reputation of	A good teacher will never belittle his students, but will instead empower them.
Stem	to limit or hold back the flow or growth of something	To stem the tide of applications, the prestigious Ivy requires that each applicant score at least 330 on the Revised GRE.
Qualify	to limit or make more specific	In spite of criticism from the pulpits, he refused to qualify his equivocal statements which has led to cause turmoil in society
Hedge	to limit or qualify a statement and avoid making a direct statement	When asked why he had decided to buy millions of shares at the very moment the tech companies stock soared, the CEO hedged, mentioning something vague about gut instinct.
Circumscribe	to limit the size or amount	Their tour of South America was circumscribed so that they saw only popular destinations and avoided the dangerous parts of cities.
Extenuate	to make a guilt or offense less serious or more forgivable	Unless there is someone who could extenuate the circumstances, a person convicted of murder can expect no clemency until he or she has served an extremely lengthy sentence.
Eke Out	to make a living with difficulty as with insufficient resources	Stranded in a cabin over the winter, Terry was able to eke out an existence on canned food.
Prognosticate	to make a prediction about the future	I cannot prognosticate what will happen with the murder charge on which, with synergistic timing, Durst was arrested the day the finale aired.
Err	to make an error	He erred in thinking that "indigent" and "indignant" were synonyms.
Elucidate	to make clearer and easier to understand	Live-action movies elucidate concepts such as cloning, vaccination and forensics.
Tarnish	to make dirty or spotty	Pete Rose was one of the best baseball players of his generation, but his involvement with gambling on baseball games has tarnished his image in the eyes of many.
Alleviate	to make easier or relieve the intensity of	The technique, if it proves accurate and easy to repeat, could help alleviate the constant shortage of organ donors in the U.S.
Engender	to make exist or give rise to	People are already suffering severe deal fatigue about the L.A. situation, and waiting another year would engender more distrust of the NFL.
Crystallize	to make free from confusion or ambiguity	The strength of Snyder’s book lies in his crystallizing the importance of politics and the state in understanding the Holocaust.
Incense	to make furious	When Herb bought football tickets for a game on the day of their wedding anniversary, Jill was incensed.
Augment	to make greater or improved	Defense ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, meeting in Brussels, said Russia’s actions will only augment the chaos in Syria.
Adulterate	to make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance	Lightsey, 50, and Kilgore, 46, each pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and the sale of adulterated food.
Hamstrung	to make ineffective or powerless	The FBI has made so many restrictions on the local police that they are absolutely hamstrung, unable to accomplish anything.
Mitigate	to make less severe	I can only spend so much time mitigating your disagreements with your wife, and at certain point, you need to do it on your own.
Embellish	to make more attractive or beautiful by adding ornament or color	McCartney would write relatively straightforward lyrics, and Lennon would embellish them with puns and poetic images.
Compound	to make more intense or marked	Her headache was compounded by the construction crew outside, which had six jackhammers going at the same time.
Unnerve	to make nervous or upset	A series of attacks, mostly stabbings, have unnerved Israel, which has responded by beefing up security nationwide and imposing checkpoints in Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Remonstrate	to make objections while pleading	The mothers of the kidnapped victims remonstrated to the rogue government to release their children, claiming that the detention violated human rights.
Reconcile	to make one thing compatible with another	Compatibilist philosophies seek to reconcile free will and determinism in a modern time.
Abate	to make or become less in amount or intensity	When similar tensions erupted last year at the same site, Jordan briefly withdrew its ambassador from Israel and tensions subsequently abated.
Ossify	to make rigid and set into a conventional pattern	Even as a young man, Bob had some bias against poor people, but during his years in social services, his bad opinions ossified into unshiftable views.
Rankle	to make someone resentful or irritated	His constant whistling would rankle her, sometimes causing her to leave in a huff.
Enervate	to make someone tired or feel weak	The activity requires students to have superb stamina and concentration: otherwise, it will certainly enervate them within no time.
Ameliorate	to make something bad better	Neighbors, though, have complained about the noise, and the Cubs said Monday that they had run sound tests to ameliorate the issues.
Assuage	to make something intense less severe	She has tried to assuage American worries of cross-strait crisis by speaking of her desire to maintain stable, predictable relations with the mainland.
Buttress	to make stronger or defensible	China's economy has been buttressed by a global demand for the electronic parts the country manufactures.
Edify	to make understand	I recently read an article in the Times about whether good literature is edifying or not; specifically, does reading more make a person more moral.
Exacerbate	to make worse	Her sleeplessness exacerbated her cold: when she woke up the next day, her sinuses were completely blocked.
Gerrymander	to manipulate voting districts in order to favor a particular political party	Years ago, savvy politicians had gerrymandered the city center to ensure their re-election.
Conflate	to mix together different elements or concepts	In her recent book, the author conflates several genres: the detective story, the teen thriller, and the vampire romance: to create a memorable read.
Tender	to offer up something formally	The government was loath to tender more money in the fear that it might set off inflation.
Consecrate	to officially make someone or something holy	At the church of Notre Dame in France, the new High Altar was consecrated in 1182.
Carp	to persistently raise trivial objections	What seemed like incessant nagging and carping about my behavior from my mother turned out to be wise and useful advice that has served me well.
Propitiate	to placate or appease	The two sons, plying their angry father with cheesy neckties for Christmas, were hardly able to propitiate him – the father already had a drawer full of ones he had never worn before or ever planned to.
Juxtapose	to place side by side for contrast	The appeal of her paintings comes from a classical style which is juxtaposed with modern themes.
Appease	to please someone by doing something desired or giving something demanded	The passengers tried to appease the robber with cash instead and no one else lost their life.
Jeopardize	to pose a threat to or to put at risk	He charged that if people voted for the NLD, that would jeopardize Myanmar’s ethnic purity because the country would be overrun by Muslims.
Exalt	to praise or glorify	The teenagers exalted the rock star, covering their bedrooms with posters of him.
Preclude	to prevent from happening or araising	On geological timescales, such a sea would be a transient thing, thawing and freezing in cycles that could preclude the emergence of biology.
Frustrate	to prevent or hinder of	I thought I would finish writing the paper by lunchtime, but a number of urgent interruptions served to frustrate my plan.
Avert	to prevent or turn away from	Afraid to see the aftermath of the car crash, I averted my eyes as we drove by.; The struggling video game company put all of its finances into one final, desperate project to avert bankruptcy.
Disenfranchise	to prevent someone or group of people from having right to vote	The U.S. Constitution disenfranchised women until 1920 when they were given the right to vote.
Thwart	to prevent the efforts or desires of	I wanted to spend a week in New York this autumn, but the high costs of travel and lodging thwarted my plans.
Obviate	to prevent the occurrence of	The river was shallow enough to wade across at many points, which obviated the need for a bridge.
Hamper	to prevent the progress or free movement of	As the rain water began to collect in pools on the highway, it began to hamper the flow of traffic.
Exculpate	to pronounce not guilty of criminal charges	Perhaps more than anything, Gaza gives Europeans a fraudulent but apparently satisfying way of exculpating their entire continent’s complicity in Hitler’s genocide.
Exonerate	to pronounce that someone is not guilty of a criminal charge	The document clearly indicated that Nick was out of the state at the time of the crime, and so served to exonerate him of any charges.
Refute	to prove that something is false or incorrect	No one could refute his theories or propositions, and that is why he was esteemed by all his colleagues in the philosophy department.
Afford	to provide with an opportunity	The summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro affords a panoramic view that encompasses both Tanzania and Kenya.
Antagonize	to provoke the hostility of	Ms. Park, who is playing host at this year’s forum, wants to avoid antagonizing China, an important player in maintaining peace in the Korean Peninsula.
Contrive	to pull off a scheme or plan in tricky or clever way	Despite a low GPA, he contrived to get into college, going so far as to write his own glowing letters of recommendation.
Dog	to pursue relentlessly	Throughout his life, he was dogged by insecurities that inhibited personal growth.
Hound	to pursue relentlessly	Liberal activists and politicians have been hounded by the security services, pilloried in the media and constrained by government restrictions on protests and NGOs.
Resolve	to reach a conclusion after a discussion or deliberation	After much thought, Ted resolved not to travel abroad this summer because he didn't have much money in his bank account.
Culminate	to reach the highest point or final result of something	Beethoven's musical genius culminated in the 9th Symphony, which many consider his greatest work.
Bristle	to react in an offended or angry manner	Many officials bristled at the wave of support for Charlie Hebdo in January, arguing that such cartoons could offend the faithful.
Peruse	to read very carefully	Instead of perusing important documents, people all too often rush to the bottom of the page and plaster their signatures at the bottom.
Discriminate	to recognize or perceive the difference	Sarah couldn't discriminate between a good wine and a bad wine, so she avoided wine tastings.
Degrade	to reduce in worth or character	Jesse had mockingly pointed out all of Nancy's faults in front of their friends, publicly degrading the poor girl.
Truncate	to reduce the length of something	The soccer game was truncated when the monsoon rain began to fall.
Snub	to refuse to acknowledge outright and bluntly	Wheeler was completely qualified for the committee, but the board snubbed him, choosing an obviously lesser qualified candidate instead.
Balk	to refuse to comply or do what someone else wants you to do	The students were willing to clean up the broken glass, but when the teacher asked them to mop the entire floor, they balked, citing reasons why they needed to leave.
Repudiate	to reject as untrue or unfounded	Many in the public believed the rumors of a UFO crash outside town, so the chief of police did everything he could to repudiate the rumors.
Spurn	to reject with contempt or a lack of respect	She spurned all his flattery and proposals, and so he walked off embarrassed and sad.
Cede	to relinquish possession or control over	Eventually, all parents must cede control of their growing childrens' educations and allow their offspring some autonomy.
Expurgate	to remove objectionable material	The censor expurgated every reference to sex and drugs, converting the rapper's raunchy flow into a series of bleeps.
Vacillate	to repeatedly change opinion or desire	Some students vacillate between schools when deciding which to attend, while others focus only on one school.
Buck	to resist	The profits at our firm bucked the general downturn that affected the real estate industry.
Venerate	to respect deeply	The professor, despite his sleep-inducing lectures, was venerated amongst his colleagues, publishing more papers yearly than all of his peers combined.
Betray	to reveal something unintentionally	She acted as if there were nothing happened, but her tears betrayed her lost of something precious.
Abrogate	to revoke formally	As part of the agreement between the labor union and the company, the workers abrogated their right to strike for four years in exchange for better health insurance.
Pillory	to ridicule or expose to public scorn	After the candidate confessed, the press of the opposing party took the opportunity to pillory him, printing editorials with the most blatantly exaggerated accusations.
Lampoon	to ridicule with satire	Mark Twain understood that lampooning a bad idea with humor was the most effective criticism.
Abscond	to run away usually includes taking something or somebody along	According to the police department, from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2014, more than 190 youths were arrested for absconding from custody.
Intimate	to say or suggest something in an indirect way	At first Manfred’s teachers intimated to his parents that he was not suited to skip a grade; when his parents protested, teachers explicitly told them that, notwithstanding the boy’s precocity, he was simply too immature to jump to the 6th grade.
Upbraid	to scold or criticize	I fled from the scene as fast as I could but nevertheless I could hear my father's voice as he continued to upbraid me until I was out of earshot.
Ferret	to search for something persistently	Ever the resourceful lexicographer, Fenton was able to ferret out the word origin of highly obscure words.
Arrogate	to seize and control without authority	Arriving at the small town, the outlaw arrogated the privileges of a lord, asking the frightened citizens to provide food, drink, and entertainment.
Vaunt	to show off	The Iran’s nuclear program and vaunting ambitions have made the world a more dangerous place.
Demur	to show reluctance or disagreement or refusal	‘I'm not a very good close reader of my own work,’ she demurs when asked to explain the meaning of an incident near the end of The Namesake.
Impede	to slow the movement or progress as to be a hindrance or obstacle to	Since the police sergeant had to train the pair of new hires, progress in his own case was impeded.
Palaver	to speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly	During the rain delay, many who had come to see the game palavered, probably hoping that idle chatter would make the time go by faster.
Prevaricate	to speak in an evasive way	The cynic quipped, “There is not much variance in politicians; they all seem to prevaricate”.
Equivocate	to speak vaguely usually with the intention to mislead or deceive	After Sharon brought the car home an hour after her curfew, she equivocated when her parents pointedly asked her where she had been.
Squander	to spend thoughtlessly	Fearing his money would be squandered by his family, he gave all of it to charity when he died.
Vilify	to spread negative information about	Todd was noble after the divorce, choosing to say only complimentary things about Barbara, but Barbara did not hesitate to vilify Todd.
Promulgate	to state or announce	The President wanted to promulgate the success of the treaty negotiations, but he had to wait until Congress formally approved the agreement.
Eschew	to stay away from or stay clear of	Mr. Cangemi eschews any ingredient that will make the aperitif overly sweet, such as muddled berries or too much fruit juice or simple syrup.
Emulate	to strive to equal or match especially by imitating	To really become fluent in a new language, emulate the speech patterns of people who speak the language.
Exhort	to strongly urge on or encourage	Short, squat and strident, Nikos Michaloliakos draws thunderous applause as he exhorts the crowd to stand up and say “No!”.
Admonish	to strongly warn	Rather than admonish Rubio for his impatience and rudeness, his father politely asked if the waitress could hurry it up.
Bolster	to support and strengthen	The case for the suspect's innocence was bolstered considerably by the fact that neither fingerprints nor DNA were found at the scene.
Underwrite	to support financially	The latest symphony broadcast was made possible with underwriting from the Carnegie Endowment.
Squelch	to suppress or crush completely	After the dictator consolidated his power, he took steps to squelch all criticism, often arresting any journalist who said anything that could be interpreted as negative about his regime.
Capitulate	to surrender usually under agreed conditions	Paul, losing 19-0 in a ping-pong match against his nimble friend, basically capitulated when he played the last two points with his eyes closed.
Connive	to take part in immoral and unethical plots	The king's throne was taken down after he surprisingly connived in the assassination of his daughter.
Preempt	to take place or acquire before others can do so	A governmental warning about an imminent terrorist attack would preempt ordinary network programming on television.
Supplant	to take place or move into the position of	For many, a cell phone has supplanted a traditional phone; in fact, most 20-somethings don't even have a traditional phone anymore.
Appropriate	to take something by force	The government appropriated land that was occupied by squatters, sending them scurrying for another place to live.
Pontificate	to talk in a dogmatic and pompous manner	The vice-president would often pontificate about economic theory, as if no one else in the room were qualified to speak on the topic.
Patronize	to talk to someone in a way that shows that you believe you are more intelligent or better than other people	She says she genuinely wanted to help me, but instead she patronized me, constantly pointing out how I was inferior to her.
Deliberate	to think about carefully by weighing the pros and cons of an issue	Emergency situations such as this call for immediate action and leave no room to deliberate over options.
Dovetail	to tightly fit together as if by means of an interlocking joint	Although Darwin's evolution and Mendel's genetics were developed in isolation from one another, they dovetail very well.
Deride	to treat or speak of with contempt	Critics have long derided Trump as a lightweight buffoon who would be laughed out of town.
Grovel	to treat someone with too much fear	Every time Susan comes to the office, Frank grovels as if she were about to fire.
Cosset	to treat with excessive indulgence	The king and queen cosseted the young prince; giving him a prized miniature pony for his fifth birthday.
Circumvent	to try to avoid fulfilling duties	One way of circumventing the GRE is to apply to a grad school that does not require GRE scores.
Fawn	to try to gain favor by extreme flattery	The media fawned over the handsome new CEO, praising his impeccable sense of style instead of asking more pointed questions.
Foment	to try to stir up public opinion	After having his pay cut, Phil spread vicious rumors about his boss, hoping to foment a general feeling of discontent.
Morph	to undergo dramatic change in a seamless and barely noticeable fashion	The earnestness of the daytime talk shows of the 1970's has morphed into something far more sensational and vulgar; today guests actually stand up and threaten to take swings at one another.
Goad	to urge on with unpleasant comments	Doug did not want to enter the race, but Jim, through a steady stream of taunts, goaded him into signing up for it.
Meander	to wander aimlessly	A casual observer might have thought that Peter was meandering through the city, but that day he was actually seeking out those places where he and his long lost love had once visited.
Undermine	to weaken	The student undermined the teacher’s authority by questioning the teacher’s judgment on numerous occasions.
Attenuate	to weaken or become weaker	Her animosity towards Bob attenuated over the years, and she even went so far as to invite him to her party.
Pine	to yearn for	Standing forlornly by the window, she pined for her lost love.

Created by: chaedarkeju

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