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180 GRE Words
Kaplan's List of Most Common GRE words
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Abate | To reduce in amount, degree, or severity |
| Abscond | To leave secretly |
| Abstain | To choose not to do something |
| Abyss | An extremely deep hole |
| Adulterate | To make impure |
| Advocate | To speak in favor of |
| Aesthetic | Concerning the appreciation of beauty |
| Aggrandize | To increase in power, influence, and reputation |
| Alleviate | To make more bearable |
| Amalgamate | To combine, mix together |
| Ambiguous | Doubtful or uncertain; able to be interpreted in many ways |
| Ameliorate | To make better; to improve |
| Anachronism | Something out of place in time |
| Analogous | Similar or alike in some way; equivalent to |
| Anomaly | Deviation from what is normal |
| Antagonize | To annoy or provoke to anger |
| Antipathy | Extremely dislike |
| Apathy | Lack of interest of emotion |
| Arbitrate | To judge a dispute between opposing parties |
| Archaic | Ancient, old fashioned |
| Ardor | Intense and passionate feeling |
| Articulate | Able to speak clearly and expressively |
| Assuage | To make something unpleasant less severe |
| Attenuate | To reduce in force or degree; to weaken |
| Audacious | Fearless or daring, bold |
| Austere | Severe or stern in appearance, undecorated |
| Banal | Predictable, cliched, boring |
| Bolster | To support; to prop up |
| Bombastic | pompous in speech and manner |
| Cacophony | Harsh, jarring noise |
| Candid | Impartial and honest in speech |
| Capricious | Changing one's mind quickly and often |
| Castigate | To punish or criticize harshly |
| Catalyst | Something that brings about a change in something else |
| Caustic | biting in wit |
| Chaos | great disorder and confusion |
| Chauvinist | Someone prejudiced in favor of a group to which he or she belongs |
| Chicanery | Deception by means of craft or guile |
| Cogent | convincing and well reasoned |
| Condone | To overlook, pardon, or disregard |
| Convoluted | intricate and complicated |
| Corroborate | to provide supporting evidence |
| Credulous | Too trusting, gullible |
| Crescendo | Steadily increasing volume, or force |
| Decorum | Appropriateness of behavior or conduct, propriety |
| Deference | Respect, courtesy |
| Deride | To speak of or treat with contempt;to mock |
| Desiccate | To dry out thoroughly |
| Desultory | Jumping from one thing to another, disconnected |
| Diatribe | An abusive, condemnatory speech |
| Diffident | lacking self-confidence |
| Dilate | To make large, to expand |
| Dilatory | Intended to delay |
| Dilettante | Someone who has amateurish and superficial interest in a topic |
| Dirge | A funeral hymn or mournful speech |
| Disabuse | To set right, to free from error |
| Discern | To perceive, to recognize |
| Disparate | Fundamentally different; entirely unlike |
| Dissemble | To present a false appearance; To disguise one's real intentions or character |
| Dissonance | A harsh and disagreeable combination; often of sounds |
| Dogma | A firmly held opinion, often a religious belief |
| Dogmatic | Dictatorial in one's opinions |
| Dupe | To deceive; a person who is easily deceived |
| Eclectic | Selecting from or made up from a variety of sources |
| Efficacy | Effectiveness |
| Elegy | A sorrowful poem or speech |
| Eloquent | Persuasive and moving, especially in speech |
| Emulate | To copy, or try to equal or excel |
| Enervate | to reduce in strength |
| Engender | to produce,cause or bring about |
| Enigma | A puzzle, a mystery |
| Enumerate | To count, list, or itemize |
| Ephemeral | Lasting a short time |
| Equivocate | To use expressions of double meaning in order to mislead |
| Erratic | Wandering and unpredictable |
| Erudite | Learned, scholarly, bookish |
| Esoteric | Known or understood by only a few |
| Estimable | Admirable |
| Eulogy | Speech in praise of someone |
| Euphemism | Use of an inoffensive word or phrase in place of a more distasteful one |
| Exacerbate | To make worse |
| Exculpate | Yo clear from blame; prove innocent |
| Exigent | Urgent, requiring immediate action |
| Exonerate | To clear of blame |
| Explicit | Clearly stated or shown; forthright in expression |
| Fanatical | Acting excessively enthusiastic; filled with extreme unquestioned devotion |
| Fawn | To grovel |
| Fervid | Intensely emotional; feverish |
| Florid | Excessively decorated or embellished |
| Foment | To arouse or incite |
| Frugality | A tendency to be thrifty or cheap |
| Garrulous | Tending to talk alot |
| Gregarious | Outgoing, sociable |
| Guile | Deceit of trickery |
| Gullible | Easily Deceived |
| Homogeneous | Of a similar kind |
| Iconoclast | One who opposes established beliefs, customs, and institutions |
| Imperturbable | Not capable of being disturbed |
| Impervious | Impossible to penetrate; incapable of being affected |
| Impetuous | Quick to act without thinking |
| Implacable | Unable to be calmed down or made peaceful |
| Inchoate | Not fully formed, disorganized |
| Ingenuous | Showing innocence or childlike simplicity |
| Inimical | Hostile, unfriendly |
| Innocuous | Harmless |
| Insipid | Lacking interest of flavor |
| Intransigent | Uncompromising, refusing to be reconciled |
| Inundate | To overwhelm to cover with water |
| Irascible | Easily made angry |
| Laconic | Using few words |
| Lament | To express sorrow or grieve |
| Laud | To give praise, to glorify |
| Lavish | To give unsparingly; extremely generous or extravagant |
| Lethargic | Acting in an indifferent or slow, sluggish manner |
| Loquacious | Talkative |
| Lucid | clear and easily understood |
| Luminous | Bright, brilliant, glowing |
| Malinger | To evade responsibility by pretending to be ill |
| Malleable | capable of being shaped |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech comparing two different things; a symbol |
| Meticulous | Extremely careful about details |
| Misanthrope | a person who dislikes others |
| Mitigate | To soften, or lessen |
| Mollify | to calm or make less severe |
| Monotony | lack of variation |
| Naive | Lacking sophistication or experience |
| Obdurate | hardened in feeling, resistant to persuasion |
| Obsequious | overly submissive and eager to please |
| Obstinate | stubborn, unyielding |
| Obviate | to prevent, to make unnecessary |
| Occlude | To stop up; to prevent the passage of |
| Onerous | troublesome and oppressive,; burdensome |
| Opaque | Impossible to see through; preventing the passage of light |
| Opprobrium | public disgrace |
| Ostentation | excessive showiness |
| Paradox | A contradiction or dilemma |
| Paragon | model of excellence or perfection |
| Pedant | Someone who shows off learning |
| Perfidious | willing to betray one's trust |
| Perfunctory | done in a routine day, indifferent |
| Permeate | To penetrate |
| Philanthropy | charity; a desire or effort to promote goodness |
| Placate | to soothe or pacify |
| Plastic | able to be molded, altered, or bent |
| Plethora | Excess |
| Pragmatic | practical as opposed to idealistic |
| Precipitate | to throw violently or bring about abruptly lacking deliberation |
| Prevaricate | to lie of deviate from the truth |
| Pristine | fresh and clean; uncorrupted |
| Prodigal | lavish, wasteful |
| Proliferate | to increase in number quickly |
| Propitiate | to conciliate; to appease |
| Propriety | correct behavior; obedience to rules and customs |
| Prudence | wisdom, caution, or restraint |
| Pungent | Sharp and irritating to the senses |
| Quiescent | motionless |
| Rarefy | to make things thinner or sparser |
| Repudiate | to reject the validity of |
| Reticent | silent, reserved |
| Rhetoric | Effective writing or speaking |
| Satiate | to satisfy fully or overindulge |
| Soporific | causing sleep or lethargy |
| Specious | deceptively attractive; seemingly plausible but fallacious |
| Stigma | a mark of shame or discredit |
| Stolid | unemotional, lacking sensitivity |
| Sublime | lofty or grand |
| Tacit | Done without using words |
| Taciturn | Silent, not talkative |
| Tirade | long harsh speech or verbal attack |
| Torpor | extreme mental of physical sluggishness |
| Transitory | temporary, lasting a brief time |
| Vacillate | to sway physically; to be indecisive |
| Venerate | to respect deeply |
| Veracity | filled with truth and accuracy |
| Verbose | wordy |
| Vex | to annoy |
| Volatile | easily aroused or changeable;lively or explosive |
| Waver | to fluctuate between choices |
| Whimsical | acting in a fanciful or capricious manner; unpredictable |
| Zeal | Passion, excitement |