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Difficult GRE Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| prodigious | great in extent or abundance [do not confuse with prodigy or prodigal] |
| impecunious | lacking funds |
| contrite | regretful |
| execrate | express great loathing for |
| castigation | crticism, punishment |
| demur | to question or oppose |
| extirpate | to tear up by the roots |
| chary | cautiously or suspiciously reluctant to do something; wary |
| inveigle | to obtain by deception or flattery |
| solvent | debt free, financially stable |
| laconic | pithy |
| torpid | lethargic, slow-moving, sluggish |
| exculpate | exonerate; show or declare that (someone) is not guilty of wrongdoing |
| propitious | favorable |
| spurious | not genuine [do not confuse with sporadic or specious] |
| perspicacious | discerning, shrewd, perceptive [do not confuse with pertinacious] |
| harangue | pompous speech |
| sanguine | optimistic or positive, esp. in an apparently bad or difficult situation |
| fulminate | loudly attack |
| pilloried | attacked or publicly ridiculed |
| inchoate | just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary |
| turpitude | depravity, wickedness |
| torpid [torpor = n.] | mentally or physically inactive; lethargic [do not confuse with turgid or turbid] |
| turgid | swollen or bloated; (of language or style) excessively ornate, pompous or bombastic [do not confuse with torpid or turbid] |
| turbid | (of a liquid) cloudy, opaque, or thick with suspended matter; confused or obscure in meaning or effect [do not confuse with torpid or turgid] |
| soporific | inducing drowsiness or sleep [do not confuse with sophomoric] |
| hackneyed | rendered trite from overuse; unoriginal |
| ineluctable | unavoidable [do not confuse with intractable] |
| intractable | difficult; stubborn [do not confuse with ineluctable] |
| tractable | easy to deal with; malleable, amenable |
| chagrin | annoyance mixed with humiliation (at having failed) |
| disaffect | to estrange; to make unfriendly; to distance [do not confuse with disabuse] |
| disabuse | persuade (someone) that an idea or belief is mistaken; undeceive, set straight [do not confused with disaffect} |
| stilted | (of a manner of writing or speech) stiff, self-conscious, unnatural [do not confuse with stultify] |
| stultify | cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, to hamper; cause (someone) to appear foolish or absurd) [do not confuse with stilted] |
| alacrity | enthusiastic willingness; swiftness |
| vituperate | abusively scold, berate, revile [do not confuse with vitiate] |
| vitiate | spoil or impair the quality, efficiency, or legal validity of [do not confuse with vituperate] |
| debased | reduced in quality or value [do not confuse with basal] |
| basal | belonging or forming the bottom layer of a base [do not confuse with debased] |
| expedient | (of an action) convenient and practical, although possibly improper or immoral [do not confuse with expedite] |
| expedite (v.) | to speed up the progress of; to hasten [do not confuse with expedient] |
| imminent | about to happen [do not confuse with eminent or inimical] |
| eminent | famous, respected [do not confuse with imminent] |
| inimical | tending to obstruct or harm; unfriendly, hostile [do not confuse with imminent] |
| florid | elaborate or excessively intricate or complicate; ornate |
| calumnious | making false or defamatory statements; slanderous |
| jettison | to throw or discard |
| recrudescence | revival or reappearance in active existence |
| judicious | having, showing, or done with good judgement or sense |
| specious | plausible, but actually false [do not confuse with spurious] |
| phlegmatic | unflappable; calm and composed esp. in a difficult situation |
| profligate | spendthrift, wasteful, extravagant [do not confuse with proliferate] |
| proliferate | to reproduce or multiply rapidly [do not confuse with profligate] |
| perfunctory | cursory; carried out with minimal effort |
| protract | to prolong |
| grandiloquent | pompous; bombastic; using high-sounding language |
| founder (v.) | to fail completely; to sink (primary meaning = n. person who establishes an organization, business) |
| plebiscite | direct vote; referendum [do not confuse with plebeian] |
| obsequious | obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree |
| loath (adj.) | reluctant; disinclined [do not confuse with loathe] |
| vaunted | boasted, bragged, highly publicized |
| notwithstanding | in spite of; nevertheless |
| uninspired | lacking in originality or imagination |
| equivocal | open to more than one interpretation; ambiguous; wishy-washy |
| obstreperous | boisterous, defiant, noisy, and difficult to control |
| cogitation | thoughtful consideration; deep thinking; contemplation |
| reprisal | vengeance, retaliation |
| concomitant | accompanying or associated |
| augment | increase |
| fracas | noisy distrubanc or quarrel |
| peregrination | journey |
| cavalcade | ceremonial procession |
| umbrage | (to take) offense or annoyance |
| stipulation | contractual obligation |
| incendiary | inflammatory |
| lugubrious | depressive |
| ersatz | substitute |
| approbation | praise |
| aggrandize | increase the power, status, wealth of; enhance reputation of (someone) beyond what is justified by facts |
| vexation | annoyance, frustration, worry |
| intimate (v.) [intimations = n.] | to imply or hint |
| glib | (of a speaker or his/her words) fluent and voluble but insincere and shallow; slick; smooth-talking |
| aphorism | a pithy observation that contains a general truth, e.g., "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"; a concise statement of a scientific principle |
| evanesce | to disappear like vapor |
| circumvent | to get around by ingenuity |
| promulgation | announcement |
| promulgate | to promote or make widely known |
| exhortation [exhort = v.] | a persuasive speech, strongly encouraging or urging (someone) to do something |
| taciturn | uncommunicative (neg. conn.) [do not confuse with tacit] |
| extol | to praise enthusiastically |
| apocryphal | (of a story or statement) of doubtful authenticity; fictitious |
| finesse | artfulness, adeptness |
| felicitous | appropriately expressive, pleasing |
| poignant | causing strong feelings; melodramatic; expressive |
| censure | official reprimand [do not confuse with censor] |
| quittance | discharge from debt |
| warranted | justified; authorized |
| tenuous | thin; slim; weak or slight |
| tensile [tension = n.] | of or related to tension; capable of being drawn out or stretched |
| tangential | only slight connected; peripheral; digressing |
| stolid | unemotional; lacking sensitivity |
| subpoena | a writ summoning a witness to appear in court |
| stint (v.) | to set limits; to be frugal or thrifty [secondary meaning = (n.) an allotted amount of time or work] |
| stigma | a mark of shame or discredit |
| saturate | to fill completely; to imbue |
| satiate | to satisfy fully or overindulge |
| repudiate | reject the validity of |
| reproach | blame; express sad disappointment or disapproval of |
| refractory | unmanageable; disobedient and stubborn |
| recant | disclaim, disavow; to retract a previous statement |
| rarefy | to make thinner or sparser |
| quiescent | motionless [do not confuse with acquiescent] |
| acquiesce | to agree passively; to comply without protest; |
| propriety | correct behavior; obedience to rules and customs |
| propitiate | to conciliate; to appease |
| proscribe | to condemn as harmful or odious |
| probity | honesty, high-mindedness |
| opprobrium | disgrace due to shameful conduct; infamy |
| approbation | praise, consideration |
| prohibitive | so high or tending to limit the purchase or use of (something) |
| prevaricate | to lie or deviate from the truth |
| precipitate | to throw violently or bring about abruptly, hastily or rashly; to cause to happen sooner; lacking deliberation |
| porous | full of holes; like a sieve; permeable |
| pedant | someone who shows off learning |
| platitude [platitudinous = adj.] | trite remark; commonplace statement |
| pathological | pertaining to disease |
| occlude | to stop up; to prevent the passage of; to block |
| neophyte | recent convert; beginner |
| malinger | to evade responsibility by pretending to be ill [do not confuse with malign] |
| malign [adj. = malignant] | to speak about (someone) in a spitefully critical manner; to slander [primary meaning = evil in nature or effect; malevolent ] |
| irresolute | uncertain how to act; lacking resolution |
| inundate | to overwhelm; to flood with water |
| inured | accustomed; hardened from enduring much hardship |
| intransigent | uncompromising; refusing to be reconciled; strict; stubborn |
| impetuous | quick to act without thinking; rash [do not confuse with petulant] |
| petulant | ill-tempered; touchy; peevish [do not confused with impetuous] |
| insularity | narrow-mindedness; isolation |
| implacable | unable to be calmed down or made peaceful; unappeasable |
| imperturbable | not capable of being disturbed; unflappable; phlegmatic |
| indigence [adj. = indigent] | poverty [do not confuse with indignant] |
| indignant [n. = indignation] | angry with injustice [do not confuse with indigence] |
| impassive | without feeling; expressionless; imperturbable; stoical |
| goad | to urge on; to provoke or annoy to elicit a certain action or reaction |
| gainsay | to deny; to dispute or contradict |
| frugality | tendency to be thrift or cheap |
| foment | to arouse or incite; to instigate |
| flag [v.] | to droop; to decline in vigor or strength [secondary meaning = to signal] |
| fatuous | foolish; stupid |
| facilitate | help bring about; make less difficult |
| facetious | inappropriately joking; unserious; humorous; flippant |
| exigent [n. = exigency] | urgent; requiring immediate action |
| exclupate | to clear from blame or culpability; prove innocent |
| estimable | admirable [do not confuse with estimate] |
| equivocate | to mislead; to use ambiguous language to conceal the truth |
| equivocal | open to more than one interpretation; misleading |
| esoteric | little known; understood by only a few |
| eclectic | selecting from or made up from a variety of sources |
| equanimity | calmness of temperament; composure |
| endemic | pertaining to a particular group or type |
| ebullient | showing excitement and enthusiasm |
| divest [n. = divestment] | (of clothes) to strip; (of rights) to deprive; to disposess |
| distend | expand; swell out |
| dissolution [adj. = dissolute] | disintegration; looseness (in morals), sensual indulgence, debauchery, lack of moral restraint |
| dissemble | to present a false appearance; to disguise one's real intentions or character |
| dilettante | someone with an amatuerish and superficial interest in a topic |
| disparage | belittle |
| discredit | defame; disgrace; destroy confidence in |
| diffident | lacking self-confidence |
| dilatory | intended to delay [do not confuse with dilate] |
| dilate | to make large; to expand |
| diatribe | an abusive, condemnatory speech; a tirade |
| desultory | jumping from one thing to another; disconnected |
| denigrate | blacken; defame |
| deride | to speak of or treat with contempt; to mock [do not confuse with derive] |
| decorum | good manners, behavior or conduct; propriety |
| daunt | intimidate; frighten; discourage |
| caustic | biting in wit; cutting yet clever |
| compendium | brief, comprehensive summary |
| confound (v.) | to confuse; to puzzle |
| buttress | to support; to prop up; to bolster [n. = stationary supporting structure, brace] |
| burnish | make shiny by rubbing; to polish |
| bombastic | pompous in speech and manner |
| bolster | to support; to prop up |
| beneficent | kindly; doing good |
| attenuate | to reduce in force or degree; to weaken |
| assuage | to make something (unpleasant) less severe |
| aver | state confidently; declare as truth |
| apprise | to inform |
| arbitrate | to judge a dispute between two opposing parties |
| apathy | lack of interest or emotion [do not confuse with antipathy] |
| antipathy | extreme dislike [do not confuse with apathy] |
| adulterate | to make impure |
| abstemious | sparing in eating or drinking; abnegating, abstaining |
| abeyance | suspended action; a postponed state |
| abate | to reduce in amount, degree or severity |
| compendium | a publication containing a variety of works |
| pettish | ill-tempered; peevish |
| pique | vexation due to indignation or wounded pride |
| mordant | bitingly sarcastic or satirical [do not confuse with moribund; secondary meaning: (to imbue with) a substance the facilitates dyeing] |
| mordacious | biting, caustic, sarcastic |
| factitious | counterfeit; fabricate; artificial |
| obsequy [pl. = obsequies] | funeral rites [do not confuse with obsequious] |
| fetid | foul-smelling |
| compunction | prickly feeling of guilt or an uneasy conscious |
| foible | weakness; failing of character; strange quirk or idiosyncracy |
| expiate | make amends for |
| expurgate | to remove objectionable material; to censor; to purify |
| wizened | withered, dried, shriveled, shrunken from age or illness |
| cosset | to pamper; to treat like a pet; to overly indulge |
| dandle | to pamper; to treat with fondness; to move up and down on one's knee in affectionate play, as an infant |
| abhor | to regard with horror; to detest; to protest or reject |
| parochial | narrow in scope; provincial |
| canard | unfounded or deliberately misleading story |
| conjugal | pertaining to marriage |
| consanguine | related by blood |
| distaff | referring to the maternal side of a family; a group of women; work traditionally considered important to women; the staff of a spinning wheel |
| endogamous | within the same social group; marrying within the same tribe |
| fratricide | killing one's brother or sister |
| progenitor | ancestor; precursor |
| scion | a descendent or heir; a guardian; shoot, twig, or branch of a tree or plant |
| palliate | to make an offense or crime less serious; to extenuate; to mitigate; to cloak or cover |
| redress | to set right; to remedy; to rectify |
| vindicate | to clear of blame; to avenge |
| gibe | to taunt, heckle or jeer; a derisive or sarcastic remark |
| jocular | humorous, amusing, or joking; sportive and merry |
| raillery | good-natured ridicule, jest, humor, or banter |
| riposte | to retort quickly; (of sports; in fencing) a quick thrust after parrying an opponent's lunge |
| simper | silly, self-conscious, often coy smile; to glimmer, to twinkle |
| interregnum | the period between reigns, governments, etc.; a gap in continuity |
| interstice | a small opening between objects; (Roman Catholic church) time between attaining different degrees of an order; interval of time spent on activities other than one's primary goal |
| orifice | an opening, aperture, mouth, or cavity, as of the body, a tube, or a pipe |
| rent | a tear or rip; a division, schism or rift [primary meaning = payment for or occupying another's home] |
| largess | liberal bestowing of gifts or money, often ostentatiously |
| unstinting | generously and tirelessly contributing |
| dereliction | willful neglect |
| miscegengtum | mixing or blending; interracial marraige |
| provenance | place of origin; history of ownership of work of art |
| assail | assault; to attack violently |
| asperity | rough, harsh, severe; ill-tempered and irritable |
| assay | to evaluate, assess; to analyze; to try or test |
| expatiate | to wander freely; to speak or write at length; to expand |
| bromide | a conventional or trite saying; a platitude; a dull person with conventional thoughts |
| abrogate | to annul or abolish |
| vagary | an extravagant or erratic notion or action; a whim |
| histrionic | of or related to action; melodramatic or excessively emotional |
| mirth | gladness, merriment, joy |
| stringent | strict, constricted, severe |
| outlandish | bizarre, strange |
| anodyne | capable of relieving or soothing pain; relaxing |
| vertiginous | affected by vertigo; dizzying |
| giddy | lightheaded, dizzy; frivolous and lighthearted |
| exploit | to explore; to make use of; to take advantage of |
| hortatory | giving strong encouragement |
| obfuscate | to deliberately make more confusing to conceal the truth; to make dark; to shadow |
| effluvium | a gaseous or vaporous emission, esp. a foul-smelling one; a condition causing hair loss |
| blithe | carefree, happy, lighthearted |
| espouse | to marry; to give loyalty or one's support to a cause or idea |
| occult | concealed; hidden; difficult to see |
| sententious | pithy, but tending to use trite aphorisms and to pompous moralizing |
| jaundice | morbid state characterized by yellowing of the skin and eyes; a rough and bitter manner; (v.) to color with prejudice |
| rubicund | inclined to healthy rosiness; ruddy |
| in light of | given, considering [likely indicate synonyms] |
| opine | to state as an opinion; to think; to suppose |
| winsome | charming, often in child-like or naive way |
| cagey | cautious, noncommittal, crafty |
| surreptitious | furtive, stealthy, secret, clandestine |
| mercurial | volatile; changing quickly |
| declaim | to speak loudly and vehemently; to inveigh; to recite in a theatrical way |
| inveigh | to protest vehemently; to verbally attack |
| ossify | to change into bone; to set in a rigid, conventional pattern |
| discursive | digressing; rambling: using reason and argument rather than intuition |
| redoubtable | formidable; evoking fear or awe |
| burnish | to polish and make shiny |
| bellicose | warlike, aggressive, hostile |
| scourge | causing widespread dreadful affliction or disease |
| premonitory | giving prior warning or notice |
| stanch | to stop the flow of; strong and tight; firm |
| devlove | to delegate to someone else; to be inherited by someone; to slowly degrade |
| sycophant | a servile self-seeker |
| recidivate | to relapse; to return to bad or criminal behavior |
| anterior [ant. = posterior] | before in place or time |
| mercenary (adj.) | motivated solely by monetary or material gain; venal |
Created by:
sjaewonlee
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