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Hit Parade 2010 # 2
Princeton Review GRE Vocab Set #2
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| abate | (verb) to lessen in intensity or degree |
| accolade | (noun) an expression of praise |
| adulation | (noun) excessive praise; intense adoration |
| aesthetic | (adjective) dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful |
| ameliorate | (verb) one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an act of religious devotion |
| avarice | (noun) greed, esp. for wealth (adj. form: avaricious) |
| axiom | (noun) a universally recognized principle (adj. form: axiomatic) |
| burgeon | (verb) to grow rapidly or flourish |
| bucolic | (Adjective) rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants |
| cacophony | (noun) harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance (adj. form: cacophonous) |
| canon | (noun) an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature (adj. form: canonical) |
| castigation | (noun) severe criticism or punishment (verb form: castigate) |
| catalyst | (noun) a substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing; a person or thing that causes change |
| caustic | (adjective) burning or stinging; causing corrosion |
| chary | (adjective) wary; cautious; sparing |
| cogent | appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing |
| complaisance | (noun) the willingness to comply with the wished of others (adj. form: complaisant) |
| contentious | (adjective) argumentative; quarrelsome;causing controversy or disagreement |
| contrite | (adjective) regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness (noun form: contrition) |
| culpable | (adjective) deserving blame (noun form: culpability) |
| dearth | (noun) smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack |
| demur | (verb) to question or oppose |
| didactic | (adjective) intended to teach or instruct |
| discretion | (noun) cautious reserve in speech;ability to make responsible decisions (adj. form: discreet) |
| disinterested | (adjective) free of bias or self-interest; impartial |
| dogmatic | (adjective) expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or unprovable principles (noun form: dogma) |
| ebullience | (noun) the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings (adjective form: ebullient) |
| eclectic | (adjective) composed of elements drawn from various sources |
| elegy | (noun) a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead (adj. form: elegiac) |
| emollient | (adjective/noun) soothing, esp. to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying; an agent that softens or smoothes the skin |
| empirical | (adjective) based on observation or experiment |
| enigmatic | (adjective) mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand (noun form: enigma) |
| ephemeral | (adjective) brief; fleeting |
| esoteric | (adjective) intended for or understood by a small, specific group |
| eulogy | (noun) a speech honoring the dead (verb form: eulogize) |
| exonerate | (verb) to remove blame |
| facetious | (adjective) playful; humorous |
| fallacy | (noun) an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief (adj. form: fallacious) |
| furtive | (adjective) marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious |
| gregarious | (adjective) sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people |
| harangue | (verb/noun) to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long, pompous speech |
| heretical | (adjective) violating accepted dogma or convention (noun form: heresy) |
| hyperbole | (noun) an exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech (adj. form: hyperbolic) |
| impecunious | (adjective) lacking funds; without money |
| incipient | (adjective) beginning to come into being or become apparent |
| inert | (adjective) unmoving; lethargic; sluggish |
| innocuous | (adjective) harmless; causing no damage |
| intransigent | (adjective) refusing to compromise (noun form: intransigence) |
| inveigle | (verb) to obtain by deception or flattery |
| morose | (adjective) sad; sullen; melancholy |
| odious | (adjective) evoking intense aversion or dislike |
| opaque | (adjective) impenetrable by light; not reflecting light |
| oscillation | (noun) the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm (verb form: oscillate) |
| penurious | (adjective) extremely harmful; potentially causing death |
| peruse | (verb) to examine with great care (noun form: perusal) |
| pious | (adjective) extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion (noun form: piety) |
| precursor | (noun) one that precedes and indicates or announces another |
| preen | (verb) to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care |
| prodigious | (adjective) abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary |
| prolific | (adjective) producing large volumes or amounts, productive |
| putrefy | (verb) to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor (adj. form: putrid) |
| quaff | (verb) to drink deeply |
| quiescence | (noun) stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest (adj. form: quiescent) |
| redoubtable | (adjective) awe-inspiring; worthy of honor |
| sanction | (noun/verb) authoritative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority to |
| satire | (noun) a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision (adj. form: satirical) |
| squalid | (adjective) sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect (noun form: squalor) |
| stoic | (adjective) indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast (noun form: stoicism) |
| supplant | (verb) to take the place of; supersede |
| torpid | (adjective) lethargic; sluggish; dormant (noun form: torpor) |
| ubiquitous | (adjective) existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; wide-spread |
| urbane | (adjective) sophisticated; redefined; elegant (noun form: urbanity) |
| vilify | (verb) to defame; to characterize harshly |
| viscous | (adjective) thick; sticky (noun form: viscosity) |