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GRE Vocabulary
Vocabulary words useful for the GRE.
94
English
Professional
11/25/2012

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Term
Abjure
Definition
to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid
Term
Adumbrate
Definition
to foreshadow vaguely or intimate; to suggest or outline sketchily; to obscure or overshadow
Term
Anathema
Definition
a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse; accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing
Term
Anodyne
Definition
soothing; something that assuages or allays pain or comforts
Term
Apogee
Definition
one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions
Term
Apotheosis
Definition
deification; glorification to godliness; an exalted example; a model of excellence or perfection
Term
Asperity
Definition
severity; rigor; roughness; harshness; acrimony, irritability
Term
Asseverate
Definition
to aver, allege, or assert
Term
Assiduous
Definition
diligent, hard-working, sedulous
Term
Augury
Definition
omen, portent
Term
Bellicose
Definition
belligerent, pugnacious, warlike
Term
Calumniate
Definition
to slander, to make a false accusation
Term
Captious
Definition
disposed to point out trivial faults; calculated to confuse or entrap in argument
Term
Cavil
Definition
to find fault without good reason
Term
Celerity
Definition
speed, alacrity
Term
Chimera
Definition
an illusion; originally, an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster
Term
Contumacious
Definition
insubordinate, rebellious
Term
Debacle
Definition
rout, fiasco, complete failure
Term
Denoument
Definition
an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot
Term
Descry
Definition
to discriminate or discern
Term
Desuetude
Definition
disuse
Term
Desultory
Definition
random; aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose
Term
Diaphanous
Definition
transparent, gauzy
Term
Diffident
Definition
reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence
Term
Dirge
Definition
a song of grief or lamentation
Term
Encomium
Definition
glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy
Term
Eschew
Definition
to shun or avoid
Term
Excoriate
Definition
to censure scathingly, to upbraid
Term
Execrate
Definition
to denounce, to feel loathing for, to to curse, to declare to be evil
Term
Exegesis
Definition
critical examination, explication
Term
Expiate
Definition
to atone or make amends for
Term
Extirpate
Definition
to destroy; to exterminate, to cut out, to exscind
Term
Fatuous
Definition
silly, inanely foolish
Term
Fractious
Definition
quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable
Term
Gainsay
Definition
to deny, to dispute, to contradict, to oppose
Term
Heterodox
Definition
unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic
Term
Imbroglio
Definition
difficult or embarrassing situation
Term
Indefatigable
Definition
not easily exhaustible; tireless, dogged
Term
Ineluctable
Definition
certain, inevitable
Term
Inimitable
Definition
one of a kind, peerless
Term
Insouciant
Definition
unconcerned, carefree, heedless
Term
Inveterate
Definition
deep rooted, ingrained, habitual
Term
Jejune
Definition
vapid, uninteresting, nugatory; childish, immature, peurile
Term
Lubricious
Definition
lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery
Term
Mendicant
Definition
a beggar, supplicant
Term
Meretricious
Definition
cheap, gaudy, tawdry, flashy, showy; attracting by false show
Term
Minatory
Definition
menacing, threatening
Term
Nadir
Definition
low point, perigee
Term
Nonplussed
Definition
baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think
Term
Obstreperous
Definition
noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous
Term
Ossified
Definition
tending to become more rigid, conventional, sterile, and reactionary with age; literally, turned into bone
Term
Palliate
Definition
to make something seem less serious, to gloss over, to make less severe or intense
Term
Panegyric
Definition
formal praise, eulogy, encomium
Term
Parsimonious
Definition
cheap, miserly
Term
Pellucid
Definition
transparent, easy to understand, limpid
Term
Peroration
Definition
the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech
Term
Plangent
Definition
pounding, thundering, resounding
Term
Prolix
Definition
long-winded, verbose
Term
Propitiate
Definition
to appease, to conciliate
Term
Puerile
Definition
childish, immature, jejune, nugatory
Term
Puissance
Definition
power, strength
Term
Pusillanimous
Definition
cowardly, craven
Term
Remonstrate
Definition
to protest, to object
Term
Sagacious
Definition
having sound judgment; perceptive, wise; like a sage
Term
Salacious
Definition
lustful, lascivious, bawdy
Term
Salutary
Definition
remedial, wholesome, causing improvement
Term
Sanguine
Definition
cheerful, confident, optimistic
Term
Saturnine
Definition
gloomy, dark, sullen, morose
Term
Sententious
Definition
aphoristic or moralistic; epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively
Term
Stentorian
Definition
extremely loud and powerful
Term
Stygian
Definition
gloomy, dark
Term
Sycophant
Definition
toady; servile, self-seeking flatterer; parasite
Term
Tendentious
Definition
biased; showing marked tendencies
Term
Timorous
Definition
timid, fearful, diffident
Term
Tyro
Definition
novice, greenhorn, rank amateur
Term
Vitiate
Definition
to corrupt, to debase, to spoil, to make ineffective
Term
Voluble
Definition
fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language
Term
Acerbic
Definition
having a sour or bitter taste or character; sharp; biting
Term
Astringent
Definition
having a tightening effect on living tissue; harsh; severe
Term
Desiccate
Definition
to dry out or dehydrate; to make dry or dull
Term
Dilettante
Definition
one with an amateurish or superficial interest in the arts or a branch of knowledge
Term
Garrulous
Definition
pointlessly talkative; talking too much
Term
Immutable
Definition
not capable of change
Term
Inimical
Definition
damaging; harmful; injurious
Term
Laconic
Definition
using few words; terse
Term
Phlegmatic
Definition
calm; sluggish; unemotional
Term
Probity
Definition
adherence to highest principles; complete and confirmed integrity; uprightness
Term
Prosaic
Definition
dull; lacking in spirit or imagination
Term
Quotidian
Definition
occurring or recurring daily; commonplace
Term
Recondite
Definition
hidden; concealed; difficult to understand; obscure
Term
Refulgent
Definition
radiant; shiny; brilliant
Term
Sedulous
Definition
diligent; persistent; hard-working
Term
Soporific
Definition
causing drowsiness; tending to induce sleep
Term
Vituperate
Definition
to use harsh condemnatory language; to abuse or censure severely or abusively; to berate
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