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All GRE Key Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| aberrant | deviating from the norm |
| abscond | to depart clandestinely |
| alacrity | enthusiastic willingness |
| anomaly | deviation from the normal order |
| approbation | expression of approval or praise |
| arduous | strenuous; taxing |
| assuage | to ease, lessen, or pacify |
| audacious | daring and fearless; bold |
| austere | simple; ascetic |
| axiomatic | taken as given; possessing self-evident truth |
| canonical | following traditional standards |
| capricious | inclined to change one's mind impulsively; erratic |
| censure | to criticize severely |
| chicanery | trickery or subterfuge |
| connoisseur | an astute judge in matters of taste; expert |
| convoluted | complex; difficult to follow |
| disabuse | to undeceive; to set right |
| discordant | conflicting; dissonant or harsh in sound |
| disparate | fundamentally distinct |
| effrontery | boldness; presumptuousness |
| eloquent | well-spoken; articulate |
| enervate | to weaken; to reduce in vitality |
| ennui | dissatisfaction and restlessness resulting from boredom |
| equivocate | to use ambiguous language with deceptive intent |
| erudite | learned; scholarly |
| exculpate | to exonerate, clear of blame |
| exigent | urgent |
| extemporaneous | improvised |
| filibuster | intentional obstruction |
| fulminate | to loudly attack or denounce |
| ingenuous | frank and candid; unpretentious |
| inured | accustomed to accepting something undesirable |
| irascible | easily angered |
| laud | to praise highly |
| lucid | clear; easily understood |
| magnanimity | generously noble in mind and heart, especially in forgiving |
| martial | associated with war and the armed forces |
| mundane | of the world; typical of the ordinary |
| nascent | coming into being; in early developmental stages |
| nebulous | vague; cloudy; lacking defined form |
| neologism | a new word, expression, or usage; the creation or use of new words or senses |
| noxious | harmful, injurious |
| obtuse | lacking sharpness of intellect; not clear or precise |
| obviate | to anticipate and make unnecessary; remove |
| onerous | burdensome |
| paean | a song or hymn of praise |
| parody | a humorous imitation intended for comic effect |
| perennial | happening repeatedly |
| perfidy | treachery |
| perfunctory | cursory; done without care or interest |
| perspicacious | acutely perceptive; wise |
| prattle | to yap meaninglessly |
| precipitate (adj.) | acting with excessive haste |
| precipitate (verb) | to cause or happen before required |
| predilection | preference |
| prescience | foreknowledge |
| qualms | misgivings; reservations |
| recant | to retract, especially a previously held belief |
| refute | to disprove; to successfully argue against |
| relegate | to forcibly assign, especially to a lower position |
| reticent | quiet; reserved; reluctant to express thoughts |
| solicitous | concerned and attentive; eager |
| sordid | characterized by filth; foul |
| sporadic | occurring only occasionally, or in scattered instances |
| squander | to waste |
| static | not moving |
| stupefy | to stun or amaze |
| stymie | to thwart |
| synthesis | the combination of parts to make a whole |
| torque | a force that causes rotation |
| tortuous | winding; excessively complicated |
| truculent | fierce; eager to fight |
| veracity | honesty |
| virulent | extremely harmful |
| voracious | having an insatiable appetite for a pursuit; ravenous |
| waver | to sway; to be unsettled in opinion |
| abate | to lessen in intensity or degree |
| accolade | an expression of praise |
| adulation | excessive praise; adoration |
| aesthetic | dealing with art or the beautiful |
| ameliorate | to make better |
| ascetic | practices rigid self-denial, especially as an act of devotion |
| avarice | greed |
| burgeon | flourish |
| bucolic | rustic and pastoral |
| cacophony | discordant sound; dissonance |
| canon | an established set of principles, often religious |
| castigation | severe criticism or punishment |
| catalyst | a person or thing that causes change |
| caustic | burning or stinging; causing corrosion |
| chary | wary |
| cogent | appealing forcibly to the mind; convincing |
| complaisance | willingness to please others |
| contentious | argumentative; causing controversy |
| contrite | regretful |
| culpable | deserving blame |
| dearth | scarcity |
| demur | to question or oppose |
| didactic | intended to teach or instruct |
| discretion | cautious reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions |
| disinterested | impartial |
| dogmatic | expressing rigid opinion based on unproved principles |
| ebulliance | 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; making less harsh |
| empirical | based on observation or experiment |
| enigmatic | mysterious |
| ephemeral | fleeting |
| esoteric | intended for a small, specific group |
| eulogy | a speech honoring the dead |
| exonerate | to remove blame |
| facetious | playful; humorous |
| fallacy | a mistaken belief |
| furtive | covert |
| gregarious | outgoing |
| harangue | ranting speech or writing |
| heretical | violating accepted convention |
| hyperbole | an exaggerated statement, often a figure of speech |
| impecunious | without money |
| incipient | beginning to come into being or to become apparent |
| inert | unmoving; lethargic |
| innocuous | harmless |
| intransigent | refusing to compromise |
| inveigle | to obtain by deception or flattery |
| morose | sullen |
| odious | evoking intense aversion |
| opaque | impenetrable by light |
| oscillation | the state of swinging back and forth with steady rhythm |
| penurious | ungenerous |
| pernicious | extremely harmful in a way that is unnoticed |
| peruse | to examine with great care |
| pious | extremely devout |
| precursor | one that precedes or announces another |
| preen | to groom with elaborate care |
| prodigious | abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary |
| prolific | producing large volumes |
| putrefy | to rot; to give off foul odor |
| quaff | to drink deeply |
| quiescence | stillness |
| redoubtable | awe-inspiring |
| sanction | authoritative permission; a penalty intended to enforce compliance |
| satire | a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision |
| squalid | sordid; dirty; neglected |
| stoic | unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast |
| supplant | to take the place of |
| torpid | lethargic |
| ubiquitous | constantly encountered; widespread |
| urbane | sophisticated |
| vilify | to defame |
| viscous | thick; sticky |
| acumen | keen, accurate judgement |
| adulterate | to reduce purity |
| amalgamate | to combine several elements into a whole |
| archaic | outdated; associated with a more primitive time |
| aver | to state as a fact |
| bolster | to provide reinforcement |
| bombastic | pompous |
| diatribe | a harsh denunciation |
| dissemble | to disguise; to mislead |
| eccentric | departing from norms |
| endemic | characteristic of a particular region |
| evanescent | tending to disappear like vapor; vanishing |
| exacerbate | to make worse |
| fervent | greatly emotional or zealous |
| germane | relevant to the subject at hand |
| grandiloquence | pompous speech or expression |
| hackneyed | rendered trite by frequent usage |
| halcyon | peaceful |
| hedonism | devotion to pleasure, especially of the senses |
| hegemony | the consistent dominance of one group over others |
| iconoclast | one who undermines traditional conventions |
| idolatrous | given to intense devotion to something |
| impassive | revealing no emotion |
| imperturbable | marked by extreme calm |
| implacable | not capable of being appeased or significantly changed |
| inchoate | not fully formed |
| infelicitous | unfortunate; inappropriate |
| insipid | lacking in qualities that interest |
| loquacious | extremely talkative |
| luminous | characterized by brightness |
| malevolent | having vicious ill will |
| malleable | capable of being shaped |
| mendacity, mendacious | dishonesty, dishonest |
| meticulous | precise |
| misanthrope | one who hates all other humans |
| mitigate | to make less severe |
| obdurate | unyielding |
| obsequious | exhibiting a fawning attentiveness |
| occlude | obstruct |
| opprobrium | contempt |
| pedagogy | the profession or principles of teaching |
| pedantic | overly concerned with the trivial details; showing off one's knowledge |
| penury | poverty |
| pervasive | having the tendency to penetrate |
| pirate | to illegally use or reproduce |
| pith | the essential part |
| pithy | precise and brief |
| placate | to appease, by making concessions |
| platitude | a superficial remark, especially one offered as meaningful |
| plummet | drop straight down |
| polemical | controversial; argumentative |
| prodigal | recklessly extravagant |
| profuse | given or coming forth abundantly |
| proliferate | to grow swiftly and abundantly |
| queries | questions; reservations |
| querulous | prone to grumbling |
| rancorous | characterized by bitter, long-lasting resentment |
| recalcitrant | obstinately defiant; difficult to manage |
| repudiate | refuse to have anything to do with |
| rescind | retract |
| reverent | marked by profound awe and respect |
| rhetoric | the art of effective use of language for communication |
| salubrious | promoting health |
| solvent | able to meet financial obligations |
| specious | plausible but false; misleadingly attractive |
| spurious | counterfeit |
| subpoena | a court order requiring appearance |
| succinct | brief |
| superfluous | exceeding what is necessary |
| surfeit | excess; to supply to excess |
| tenacity | persistence; determination |
| tenuous | having little substance; flimsy |
| tirade | a long and critical speech |
| transient | fleeting |
| zealous | devoted |
| acerbic | bitter taste or character; sharp; biting |
| aggrandize | to increase in intensity or power |
| alchemy | a medieval science aimed at the transmutation of metals |
| amenable | agreeable; responsive to suggestion |
| anachronism | something or someone out of place in terms of historical context |
| astringent | having a tightening effect on living tissue; harsh |
| contiguous | adjacent |
| convention | a generally agreed-upon practice |
| credulous | gullible |
| cynicism | an attitude that all people are motivated by selfishness |
| decorum | polite conduct |
| derision | ridicule |
| desiccate | to dehydrate; to make dull |
| dilettante | one with a superficial interest, amateur |
| disparage | to slight or belittle |
| divulge | to disclose something secret |
| fawn | to flatter excessively |
| flout | to show contempt for, as in a rule |
| garrulous | pointlessly talkative |
| glib | nonchalant; lacking in depth |
| hubris | arrogance |
| imminent | impending |
| immutable | incapable of change |
| impetuous | impulsive and vehement |
| indifferent | showing no interest or concern; showing no bias or prejudice |
| inimical | damaging; harmful; injurious; hostile |
| intractable | stubborn |
| intrepid | steadfast and courageous |
| laconic | using few words |
| maverick | an independent who does not go along with a group |
| mercurial | characterized by rapid and unpredictable change in mood |
| mollify | to soothe; to reduce in emotional intensity |
| neophyte | a recent convert; a novice |
| obfuscate | to deliberately obscure; to make confusing |
| obstinate | stubborn |
| ostentatious | showy |
| pervade | to penetrate throughout |
| phlegmatic | calm; sluggish; unemotional |
| plethora | surplus |
| pragmatic | practical rather than idealistic |
| presumptuous | overstepping due bounds; taking liberties |
| pristine | pure |
| probity | complete integrity |
| proclivity | a natural predisposition |
| profligate | excessively wasteful |
| propensity | a natural inclination |
| prosaic | dull; lacking in spirit or imagination |
| pungent | characterized by a strong, sharp smell or taste |
| quixotic | foolishly impractical; marked by lofty romantic ideals |
| quotidian | recurring daily; commonplace |
| rarefy | to make less dense; to refine |
| recondite | concealed; difficult to understand |
| refulgent | radiant |
| renege | to go back on a promise |
| sedulous | diligent; persistent |
| shard | a piece of broken pottery or glass |
| soporific | causing drowsiness |
| sparse | thin |
| spendthrift | one who spends money wastefully |
| subtle | not obvious |
| tacit, taciturn | implied |
| terse | brief |
| tout | to publicly promote |
| trenchant | perceptive |
| unfeigned | genuine |
| untenable | indefensible; not viable; uninhabitable |
| vacillate | to waver indecisively |
| variegated | multicolored |
| vexation | annoyance |
| vigilant | watchful |
| vituperate | to abuse with language |
| volatile | readily changing; fickle |
| alloy | to commingle; to debase by mixing with something inferior |
| appropriate | to take for one's own use; to confiscate |
| arrest | to suspend; to engage |
| august | majestic |
| bent | inclination |
| broach | to bring up |
| brook | to tolerate |
| cardinal | fundamental |
| chauvinist | a blindly devoted patriot |
| color | to change |
| consequential | pompous, self-important |
| damp | to diminish the intensity of |
| die | a tool used for shaping |
| essay | to attempt |
| exact | to demand; to take |
| fell (verb) | to cause to fall |
| fell (adj) | inhumanly cruel |
| flag | to sag; to become spiritless |
| flip | sarcastic, impertinent |
| ford | to wade across water |
| grouse | complain |
| guy | a brace or guide; to reinforce |
| intimate | to imply |
| list | to lean to one side |
| lumber | to move heavily and clumsily |
| meet | fitting, proper |
| milk | to exploit |
| mince | to pronounce affectedly; to euphemize; to speak carefully |
| nice | precise |
| occult | concealed, beyond comprehension |
| pedestrian | unremarkable |
| pied | multicolored |
| pine | to lose vigor (as through grief) |
| plastic | moldable |
| pluck | courage |
| prize | to pry; to force with a lever; something taken by force |
| rail | to complain about bitterly |
| rent | torn; an opening or tear |
| quail | to lose courage |
| qualify | to limit |
| sap (verb) | to weaken |
| sap (noun) | a fool |
| scurvy | despicable |
| singular | exceptional |
| stand | a group of trees |
| steep | to saturate |
| strut | the supporting structural cross-part of a wing |
| table | to remove from consideration |
| tender | to offer |
| waffle | to equivocate |
| wag | joker |
| abjure | to reject solemnly; to avoid |
| adumbrate | to foreshadow vaguely; to obscure |
| anathema | a solemn or ecclesiastical curse; accursed or loathed person or thing |
| anodyne | soothing |
| apogee | farthest or highest point |
| apostate | one who abandons long-held beliefs |
| apotheosis | deification; a model of excellence |
| asperity | severity; irritability |
| asseverate | to assert |
| assiduous | hard-working |
| augury | omen |
| bellicose | belligerent, warlike |
| calumniate | to slander |
| captious | disposed to point out trivial faults; calculated to confuse in argument |
| cavil | to find fault without good reason |
| celerity | speed (acceleration) |
| chimera | an illusion; imaginary monster |
| contumacious | insubordinate |
| debacle | complete failure |
| denouement | an outcome |
| descry | to catch sight of |
| desuetude | disuse |
| desultory | aimless; random |
| diaphanous | transparent |
| diffident | reserved, shy |
| dirge | a song of grief |
| encomium | glowing praise; tribute, elegy |
| eschew | to shun |
| excoriate | to censure scathingly |
| execrate | to denounce |
| exegesis | critical examination |
| expiate | to make amends for |
| extirpate | to destroy |
| fatuous | silly, inane |
| fractious | unruly |
| gainsay | to deny |
| heterodox | unorthodox |
| imbroglio | difficult or embarrassing situation |
| indefatigable | tireless |
| ineluctable | inevitable |
| inimitable | one-of-a-kind |
| insouciant | carefree |
| inveterate | ingrained |
| jejune | vapid; childish |
| lubricious | lewd, greasy |
| mendicant | a beggar, supplicant |
| meretricious | gaudy |
| minatory | menacing |
| nadir | low point |
| nonplussed | baffled |
| obstreperous | noisily defiant, to make noise against |
| ossified | becoming more rigid and conventional with age |
| palliate | to gloss over |
| panegyric | formal praise; eulogy |
| parsimonious | cheap, miserly |
| pellucid | transparent, easy to understand |
| peroration | the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech |
| plangent | thundering, resounding |
| prolix | verbose |
| propitiate | to appease |
| puerile | childish, unimportant |
| puissance | power |
| pusillanimous | cowardly |
| remonstrate | to protest |
| sagacious | wise |
| salacious | appealing to sexual desire |
| salutary | remedial, causing improvement |
| sanguine | cheerful; blood red |
| saturnine | gloomy |
| sententious | moralistic; epigrammatic |
| stentorian | extremely loud and powerful |
| stygian | dark |
| sycophant | servile; self-seeking flatterer |
| tendentious | biased |
| timorous | timid |
| tyro | novice |
| vitiate | to corrupt |
| voluble | fluent, talks incessantly |
| sidereal | of the distant stars |
| etiolated | pale from lack of light; feeble |
| stolidity | resigned; apathetic; dependability |
| commensurate | corresponding in size |
| beseech | implore |
| conduit | a channel for conveying a fluid |
| prerogative | a privilege of a certain individual or class |
| invidious | likely to cause anger in others |
| antediluvian | ridiculously old-fashioned |
| disencumber | to free from burden |
| apocryphal | doubtfully true, but circulated as such |
| senescence | deterioration with age |
| gauche | unsophisticated and awkward |
| prepossessing | attractive in appearance |
| facile | superficial |
| doughty | brave, persistent |
| countenance | facial expression; to admit as acceptable |
| cadge | ask for or obtain something that one isn't entitled to |
| edify | instruct morally or intellectually |
| pavonine | like a peacock |
| equanimity | mental calmness |
| thewy | brawny |
| flocculent | loosely clumped, like tufts of wool |
| capitulate | surrender |
| obloquy | public verbal abuse |
| evince | reveal the presence of; indicate |
| recreant | cowardly; unfaithful |
| redolent | strongly reminiscent of; fragrant |
| droll | curious or unusual in a way that provokes dry amusement |
| limpid | completely clear |
| estimable | worthy of great respect |
| verisimilitude | the appearance of being real |
| beguiling | charming, often in a deceptive way |
| noisome | having an offensive smell; disagreeable |
| atavistic | characterized by reversion to something ancestral |
| mephitic | foul-smelling |
| munificent | overly generous |
| nugatory | useless, unimportant |
| ersatz | a substitute, fake |
| clandestine | kept secret |
| ingenuity | clever, inventive |
| solipsistic | self-centered |
| sophomoric | pretentious, juvenile |
| cabal | secret political faction |
| literati | people well-educated in literature |
| hoi polloi | the common people |
| parochial | related to a church parish; limited in scope |
| dulcet | sweet, soothing |
| officious | authoritative in an annoyingly domineering way |
| outstrip | move faster than, and overtake |
| poultice | soft moist mass to treat inflammation |
| foible | a minor weakness or eccentricity |
| mores | the customs of a community |
| peccadillo | a small offense or sin |
| lionize | treat as a celebrity |
| indemnify | compensate for harm (opposed: condemn) |
| posit | assume as fact |
| cajole | persuade by coaxing |
| coda | an ending that sums up what came before |
| providential | occurring at a good time; involving foresight |
| concomitant | naturally accompanying |
| dissipated | indulgent |
| canny | having good judgement |
| sangfroid | composure |
| expatiate | speak at length, in detail |
| cosmopolitan | familiar with many cultures; worldly |
| tony | fashionable |
| spartan | sparse; simple |
| licentious | promiscuous |
| whet | stimulate |
| paucity | littleness |
| punctilious | conscientious |
| puckish | playful |
| uncouth | lacking manners |
| wizened | old, withered |
| conciliatory | anti-war |
| unscrupulous | without moral principles |
| conspicuous | noticeable |
| proscribe | forbid |
| artful | clever, cunning |
| stipulate | demand, specify |
| callow | inexperienced, immature |
| appellation | name or title |
| pundit | expert |
| deleterious | causing harm |
| blithe | untroubled happiness |
| retrograde | reversion to an earlier state |
| transmogrify | transform, often magically |
| malign | slander |
| solecism | a grammatical error |
| red-blooded | vigorous |
| pell-mell | disorderly |
| effete | lacking vigor or energy |
| propound | set forward or lay out |
| scotch | decisively put an end to |
| bay | yell loudly |
| illiberal | narrow-minded |
| belie | to be at odds with |
| congenial | warm, cordial |
| erstwhile | former |
| fealty | loyalty |
| hinging on | dependent on |
| lassitude | tiredness |
| sartorial | relating to style of dress |
| feckless | incompetent, good for nothing |
| punctiliousness | strict in observance of formalities |
| plum | desirable |
| part and parcel | an essential piece of something |
| earthy | direct and uninhibited, perhaps about sex |
| genteel | polite |
| explicate | explain |
| heuristic | enabling someone to learn something themselves; loosely defined |
| antipathy | pure hatred |
| patent | obvious, evident |
| buttress | to support |
| balkanized | divided into hostile groups |
| denigrate | dismiss |
| besmirch | attack the honor of something |
| coalesce | combine distinct elements |
| sophistry | the use of fallacious arguments, often to deceive |
| dissolute | lax in morals |
| moribund | dying |
| plaudits | praise |
| artless | without deception; without pretension |
| surreptitious | kept secret |
| tractable | easily formed; pliable |
| peevish | easily irritated |
| vehement | passionate |
| fastidious | precise |
| proffer | offer |
| portent | an omen |
| pugnacious | eager to fight |
| rout | defeat, disorderly retreat |
| upbraid | to scold |
| refractory | stubborn |
| perigee | low point; orbit close to Earth |
| craven | cowardly |
| lascivious | lewd |
| aphorism | a general, witty truth |
| fettered | restrained |
| laconic | using few words |
| demagogic | intended to arouse negative sentiments |
| histrionic | overly theatrical |
| hermetic | protected from outside influence |
| precocious | advanced for ones age |
| immolate | burn as a sacrifice |
| mimetic | copying |
| boondoggle | wasteful project |
| mordant | sharp, discerning |
| synergetic | working together in a group |
| collusive | cooperate for illegal purposes |
| coup | successful move |
| rejoinder | witty comeback |
| dear | expensive |
| aggrieve | make resentful |
| hamstring | cripple |
Created by:
lilyamirzadeh
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