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