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Vocabulary Builder 1
REA's New GRE book Vocabulary Builder appendix - most frequently tested words
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| aberrant | adj. abnormal; straying from the normal or usual path |
| abstemious | adj. sparing in the use of food or drinks |
| acerbic | 1. adj. tasting sour or bitter 2. n. harsh in language or temper |
| alacrity | n. cheerful promptness or speed |
| allude | v. to refer indirectly to something |
| allusion | n. an indirect reference, a hint |
| altruism | n. unselfish devotion to the welfare of others rather than self |
| amalgam | n. a mixture or combination |
| amalgamate | v. to mix, merge, combine |
| ameliorate | v. to improve or make better |
| anachronism | n. something out of place in time |
| anomaly | n. an oddity, inconsistency; a deviation from the norm |
| antipathy | n. a natural dislike or repugnance |
| apposite | adj. suitable; apt; relevant |
| arcane | adj. obscure; secret; mysterious |
| archetype | n. the first model from which others are copied; prototype |
| arduous | adj. laborious, difficult; strenuous |
| arid | adj. extremely dry, parched; barren, unimaginative |
| articulate | 1. adj. clear, distinct; expressed with clarity; skillful with words 2. v. to utter clearly and distinctly |
| ascetic | 1. n. one who leads a simple life of self-denial 2. adj. rigorously abstinent |
| aseptic | adj. germ free |
| aspersion | n. slanderous statement; a damaging or derogatory criticism |
| assiduous | adj. carefully attentive; industrious |
| assuage | v. to relieve; ease; make less severe |
| astringent | 1. n. a substance that contracts bodily tissues 2. adj. causing contraction; tightening; stern, austere |
| atrophy | v. to waste away, as from lack of use; to wither |
| attenuate | v. to make thin or slender; to weaken or dilute |
| autocracy | n. an absolute monarchy; government where one person holds power |
| autocrat | n. an absolute ruler |
| baleful | adj. harmful, malign, detrimental |
| banal | adj. trite; without freshness or originality |
| beneficent | adj. conferring benefits; kindly; doing good |
| bilateral | adj. pertaining to or affecting both or two sides; having two sides |
| bombast | n. pompous speech; pretentious words |
| burgeon | v. to grown or develop quickly |
| cacophony | n. a harsh, inharmonious collection of sounds; dissonance |
| cant | n. insincere or hypocritical statements of high ideals; the jargon of a particular group or occupation |
| caprice | n. a sudden, unpredictable, or whimsical change |
| catharsis | n. a purging or relieving of the body or soul |
| chicanery | n. trickery or deception |
| churlishness | n. crude or surly behavior; behavior of a peasant |
| circumlocution | n. a roundabout or indirect way of speaking; not to the point |
| cloture | n. a parliamentary procedure to end debate and begin to vote |
| cloying | adj. too sugary; too sentimental or flattering |
| coda | n. in music, a concluding passage |
| codify | v. to organize laws or rules into a systematic collection (code) |
| cogent | adj. to the point; clear; convincing in its clarity and presentation |
| cogitate | v. to think hard; ponder, meditate |
| cognitive | adj. possessing the power to think or meditate; meditative; capable of perception |
| cognizant | adj. aware of; perceptive |
| coherent | adj. sticking together; connected; logical; consistent |
| cohesion | n. the act or state of sticking together |
| comeliness | n. beauty; attractiveness in appearance or behavior |
| commodious | adj. spacious and convenient; roomy |
| complaisance | n. the quality of being agreeable or eager to please |
| compliant | adj. complying; obeying; yielding |
| connotative | adj. containing associated meanings in addition the primary one |
| constrain | v. to force, compel; to restrain |
| contentious | adj. quarrelsome |
| contiguous | adj. touching; or adjoining and close, but may not be touching |
| contravene | v. to act contrary to; to oppose or contradict |
| conundrum | n. a puzzle or riddle |
| converge | v. to move toward one point |
| coterie | n. a clique; a group who meets frequently, usually socially |
| crass | adj. stupid, unrefined; gross; materialistic |
| debacle | n. disaster; collapse; a rout |
| debilitate | v. to enfeeble; to wear out |
| decorous | adj. suitable; proper; seemly |
| deleterious | adj. harmful; hurtful; noxious |
| denigrate | v. to defame, to blacken or sully; to belittle |
| deprecate | v. to express disapproval of; to protest against |
| deride | v. to laugh at with contempt; to mock |
| derision | n. the act of mocking; ridicule, mockery |
| desiccate | v. to dry up |
| diatribe | n. a bitter or abusive speech |
| dichotomy | n. a division in two parts |
| diffident | adj. timid; lacking self-confidence |
| diffuse | adj. spread out; verbose; not focused |
| discourse | v. to converse; to communicate in orderly fashion |
| discrete | adj. separate; individually distinct; composed of distinct parts |
| disingenuous | adj. not frank or candid; deceivingly simple |
| disinterested | adj. neutral; unbiased |
| disparate | adj. unequal, dissimilar; different |
| disputatious | adj. argumentative; inclined to disputes |
| dissemble | v. to pretend; to feign; to conceal by pretense |
| disoonance | n. musical discord; a mingling of inharmonious sounds; lack of harmony |
| dissonant | adj. not in harmony; in disagreement |
| ebullience | n. an overflowing of high spirits; effervescence |
| ellipsis | n. omission of words that would make the meaning clear |
| elucidate | v. to make clear, explain |
| emollient | adj. softening or soothing to the skin; having power to soften or relax living tissues |
| encomium | n. high praise |
| endemic | adj. native to a particular area or people |
| enervate | v. to weaken; to deprive of nerve or strength |
| engender | v. to bring about; beget; to bring forth |
| ephemeral | adj. very short-lived; lasting only a short time |
| eulogy | n. words of praise, especially for the dead |
| evanescent | adj. vanishing quickly; dissipating like a vapor |
| exigent | adj. requiring immediate action; urgent, pressing |
| extemporize | v. to improvise; to make it up as you go along |
| extrapolate | v. to estimate the value of something beyond the scale; to infer what is unknown from something known |
| facetious | adj. not meant to be taken seriously; humorous |
| feign | v. pretend |
| gainsay | v. to speak against; to contradict; to deny |
| garrulous | adj. extremely talkative or wordy |
| iconoclast | n. one who smashes revered images; an attacker of cherished beliefs |
| impassive | adj. showing no emotion |
| imperturbable | adj. calm; not easily excited |
| impervious | adj. impenetrable; not allowing anything to pass through; unaffected |
| implacable | adj. unwilling to be pacified or appeased |
| impugn | v. to attack with words; to question the truthfulness or integrity |
| inchoate | adj. not yet fully formed; rudimentary |
| incisive | adj. getting to the heart of things; to the point |
| incredulous | adj. skeptical |
| indigenous | adj. native to a region; inborn or innate |
| inept | adj. incompetent, clumsy |
| inert | adj. not reacting chemically; inactive |
| ingenuous | adj. noble; honorable; candid; naive |
| inherent | adj. part of the essential character; intrinsic |
| insipid | adj. uninsteresting, boring, flat, dull |
| intractable | adj. stubborn, obstinate; not easily taught or disciplined |
| intransigent | adj. uncompromising |
| intrepid | adj. fearless, bold |
| irascible | adj. prone to anger |
| laconic | adj. sparing of words; terse, pithy, concise |
| loquacious | adj. very talkative; garrulous |
| luminous | adj. emitting light; shining; also enlightened or intelligent |
| macerate | v. to soften by steeping in a liquid (including softening food by the action of a solvent) |
| maculate | 1. adj. spotted, blotched; hence defiled, impure 2. v. to stail, spot, defile |
| magnanimity | n. a quality of nobleness of mind, disdaining meanness or revenge |
| malevolent | adj. wishing evil |
| malign | 1. v. to speak evil of 2. adj. having an evil disposition toward others |
| malleable | adj. easy to shape or bend |
| misanthrope | n. a hater of mankind |
| obdurate | adj. stubborn |
| obsequious | adj. servilely attentive; fawning |
| obviate | v. to make unnecessary |
| ossify | v. to turn to bone; to harden |
| palpable | adj. touchable; clear, obvious |
| panegyric | n. high praise |
| paradigm | n. model, prototype; pattern |
| paradox | n. a tenet seemingly contradictory or false, but actually true |
| parsimonious | adj. very frugal; unwilling to spend |
| pedantic | adj. overly concerned with minute details, especially in teaching |
| penurious | adj. stingy, miserly |
| perfunctory | adj. done in a routine, mechanical way, without interest |
| petulant | adj. peevish or cranky; rude |
| placate | v. to appease or pacify |
| plethora | n. a superabundance |
| prevaricate | v. to speak equivocally or evasively, i.e., to lie |
| pristine | adj. primitive, pure, uncorrupted |
| propensity | n. an inclination; a natural tendency toward; a liking for |
| putrefaction | n. a smelly mass that is the decomposition of organic matter |
| putrefy | v. to decompose; to rot |
| quiescence | n. state of being at rest or without motion |
| rancor | n. strong ill will; enmity |
| recalcitrant | adj. stubbornly rebellious |
| recondite | adj. hard to understand; concealed; characterized by profound scholarship |
| redundant | adj. superfluous; exceeding what is needed |
| sagacious | adj. wise |
| salubrious | adj. promoting good health |
| sinuous | adj. full of curves; twisting and turning |
| specious | adj. plausible, but deceptive; apparently, but not actually, true |
| spurious | adj. not genuine, false; bogus |
| squalid | adj. filty; wretched |
| subjugate | v. to dominate or enslave |
| sycophant | n. a flatterer of important people |
| taciturn | adj. inclined to silence; speaking little; dour, stern |
| tenuous | adj. thin, slim, delicate; weak |
| tortuous | adj. full of twists and turns; not straightforward; possibly deceitful |
| tractable | adj. easily managed |
| truculent | adj. fierce, svage, cruel |
| ubiquitous | adj. omnipresent; present everywhere |
| vacuous | adj. dull, stupid; empty-headed |
| viscous | adj. thick and sticky |
| welter | n. a confused mass; turmoil |
Created by:
caseyalyssa
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