GRE High-Frequency Words 2
Terms
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- abate
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v. subside or moderate
(They wated for the storm to abate) - aberrant
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adj. abnormal or deviant
(Given the aberrant nature of the data, we came to doubt the validity...) - abeyance
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n. suspended action
(The deal was held in abeyance until her arrival) - abscond
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v. depart secretly and hide
(The teller who absconded with the bonds went uncaptured) - abstemious
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adj. sparing in eating and drinking; temperate
(Concerned whether her vegetarian son's abstemious diet provided him with sufficient protein...) - admonish
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v. warn; reprove
(He admonished his listeners to chainge their wicked ways)
admonition, n. - adulterate
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v. make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances
(It is a crime to adulterat foods without informing the buyer.) - aesthetic
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adj. artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful
(The beauty of the stained glass appealed to her aesthetic sense.)
aesthete, n. - aggregate
-
v. gather; accumulate
also adj.
aggregation, n. - alacrity
- n. cheerful promptness; eagerness
- alleviate
- v. relieve
- amalgamate
- v. combine; unite in one body
- ambiguous
- adj. unclear or doubtful in meaning
- ambivalence
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n. the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes
ambivalent, adj. - ameliorate
- v. improve
- anachronism
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n. something or someone misplaced in time
anachronistic, adj. - analogous
- adj. comparable
- anarchy
- n. absence of governing body; state of disorder
- anomalous
- adj. abnormal; irregular
- antipathy
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n. aversion; dislike
antipathetic, adj. - apathy
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n. lack of caring; indifference
apathetic, adj. - appease
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v. pacify or soothe; relieve
appeasement, n. - apprise
- v. inform
- approbation
- n. approval
- appropriate
- v. acquire; take possession of for one's own use
- arduous
- adj. hard, strenusous
- artless
- adj. without guile; open and honest
- ascetic
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adj. practicing self-denial; austere
asceticism, n. - assiduous
- adj. diligent
- assuage
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v. ease or lessen (pain); satisfy (hunger); soothe (anger)
assuagement, n. - banal
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adj. hackneyed; commonplace; trite; lacking originality
banality, n. - belie
- v. contradict; give a flase impression
- beneficent
- adj. kindly; doing good
- bolster
- v. support; reinforce
- bombastic
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adj. pompous; using inflated language
bombast, n. - boorish
- adj. rude; insensitive
- burgeon
- v. grow forth; send out buds
- burnish
- v. make shiny by rubbing; polish
- buttress
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v. support; prop up
also n. - cacophonous
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adj. discordant; inharmonious
cacophony, n. - capricious
- adj. unpredictable; fickle
- castigation
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n. punishment; severe criticism
castigate, v. - catalyst
- n. agent that brings about a chemical change while it remains unaffected and unchanged
- caustic
- adj. burning; sarcastically biting
- chicanery
- n. trickery; deception
- coagulate
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v. thicken; congeal; clot
coagulant, n. - coda
- n. concluding section of a musical or literary composition
- cogent
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adj. convincing
cogency, n. - commensurate
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adj. equal in extent
(Your reward will be commensurate with your effort) - compendium
- v. brief, comprehensive summary
- complaisant
- adj. trying to please; obliging
- compliant
- adj. yielding; confomring to requirements
- conciliatory
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adj. reconciling; soothing
conciliate, v. - condone
- v. overlook; forgive; give tacit approval; excuse
- confound
- v. confuse; puzzle
- connoisseur
- n. person competent to act as a judge of art, etc.; a lover of an art
- contention
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n. claim; thesis
contend, v. - contentious
- adj. quarrelsome
- contrite
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adj. penitent
contrition, n. - conundrum
- n. riddle; difficult problem
- converge
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v. approach; tend to meet; come together
convergence, n. - convoluted
- adj. coiled around; invovled; intricate
- craven
- adj. cowardly
- daunt
- v. intimidate, frighten
- decorum
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n. propriety; orderliness and good taste in manners
decorous, adj. - default
- n. failure to act
- deference
- n. courteous regard for another's wish
- delineate
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v. portray; depict; sketch
delineation, n. - denigrate
- v. blacken
- deride
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v. ridicule; make fun of
derisive, adj.
derision, n. - derivative
- adj. unoriginal; obtained from another source
- desiccate
- v. dry up
- desultory
- adj. aimless; haphazard; digressing at random
- deterrent
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n. something that discourages; hindrance
also adj. - diatribe
- n. bitter scolding, invective
- dichotomy
- n. split; branching into two parts (especially contradictory ones)
- diffidence
- n. shyness
- diffuse
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adj. wordy; rambling; spread out (like a gas)
also v.
diffusion, n. - digression
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n. wandering away from the subject
digress, v. - dirge
- n. lament with music
- disabuse
- v. correct a false impression, undeceive
- discerning
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adj. mentally quick and observant; having insight
discern, v.
discernment, n. - discordant
- adj. not harmonious; conflicting
- discredit
- v. defame; destroy confidence in; disbelieve
- discrepancy
- n. lack of consistency; difference
- discrete
- adj. separate; unconnected
- disingenuous
- adj. not naive; sophisticated
- disinterested
- adj. unprejudiced
- disjointed
- adj. disconnected
- dismiss
- v. eliminate from consideration; reject
- disparage
- v. belittle
- disparate
- adj. basically different; unrelated
- dissemble
- v. disguise; pretend
- disseminate
- v. distribute; spread; scatter (like seeds)
- dissolution
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n. disintegration; looseness in morals
dissolute, adj. - dissonance
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n. discord; opposite of harmony
dissonant, adj. - distend
- v. expand; swell out
- distill
- v. purify; refine; concentrate
- diverge
- v. vary; go in different directions from the same point
- divest
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v. strip; deprive
divestiture, n. - document
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v. provide written evidence
also n. - dogmatic
- adj. opinionated; arbitrary; doctrinal
- dormant
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adj. sleeping; lethargic; latent
dormancy, n. - dupe
- n. someone easily fooled
- ebullient
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adj. showing excitement; overflowing with enthusiasm
ebullience, n. - eclectic
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adj. selective; composed of elements drawn from disparate sources
eclecticism, n. - efficacy
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n. power to produce desired effect
efficacious, adj. - effrontery
- n. shameless boldness
- elegy
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n. poem or song expressing lamentation
elegiacal, adj. - elicit
- v. draw out by discussion
- embellish
- v. adorn; ornament; enhance, as a story
- empirical
- adj. based on experience
- emulate
- v. irritate; rival
- endemic
- adj. prevailing among a specific group of people or in a specific area or country
- enervate
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v. weaken
enervation, n. - engender
- v. cause; produce
- enhance
- v. increase; improve
- ephemeral
- adj. short-livied; fleeting
- equanimity
- n. clamness of temperament; composure
- equivocate
- v. lie; mislead; attempt to conceal the truth
- erudite
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adj. learned; scholarly
erudition, n. - esoteric
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adj. hard to understand; known only to the chosen few
esoterica, n. - eulogy
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n. expression of praise, often on the occasion of someone's death
eulogize, v. - euphermism
- n. mild expression in place of an unpleasant one
- exacerbate
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v. worsen; embitter
exacerbation, n. - exculpate
- v. clear from blame
- exigency
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n. urgent situation
exigent, adj. - extrapolation
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n. projection; conjecture
extrapolate, v. - facetious
- adj. joking (often inappropriately); humorous
- facilitate
- v. help bring about; make less difficult
- fallacious
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adj. false; misleading
fallacy, n. - fatuous
- adj. foolish; inane
- fawning
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adj. courting favor by cringing and clattering
fawn, v. - felicitous
- adj. apt; suitably expressed; well chosen
- fervor
- n. glowing adorl intensity of feeling
- flag
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v. droop; grow feeble
flagging, adj. - fledgling
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adj. inexperienced
aslo n. - flout
- v. reject; mock
- foment
- v. stir up; instigate
- forestall
- v. prevent by taking action in advance
- frugality
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n. thirft; economy
frugal, adj. - futitle
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adj. useless; hopeless; ineffectual
futility, n. - gainsay
- v. deny
- garrulous
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adj. loquacious; wordy; talkative
garrulity, n. - goad
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v. urge on
also n. - gouge
- v. overcharge
- grandiloquent
- adj. pompous; bombastic; using highsounding language
- gregarious
- adj. sociable
- guileless
- adj. without deceit
- gullible
- adj. easily deceived
- harangue
- n. long, passionate, and vehement speech
- homogeneous
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adj. of the same kind
homogeneity, n. - hyperbole
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n. exaggeration; overstatement
hyperbolic, adj. - iconoclastic
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adj. attacking cherished traditions
iconoclasm, n. - idolatry
- n. worship of idols; excessive admiration
- immutable
- adj. unchnageable
- impair
- v. injure; hurt
- impassive
- adj. without feeling; imperturbable; stoical
- impede
- v. hinder; block
- impermeable
- adj. impervious; not permitting passage through its substance
- imperturbable
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adj. calm; placid
imperturbability, n. - impervious
- adj. impenetrable; incapable of being damanged or distressed
- implacable
- adj. incapable of being pacified
- implicit
- adj. understood but not stated
- implode
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v. burst inward
implosion, n. - inadvertently
- adv. unintentionally; by oversight; carelessly
- inchoate
- adj. recently begun; rudimentary; elementary
- incongruity
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n. lack of harmony; absurdity
incongruous, adj. - inconsequential
- adj. insignificant; unimportant
- incorporate
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v. introduce something into a larger whole; combine; unite
also adj. - indeterminate
- adj. uncertain; not clearly fixed; indefinite
- indigence
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n. poverty
indigent, adj., n. - indolent
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adj. lazy
indolence, n. - inert
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adj. inactive; lacking power to move
inertia, n. - ingenuous
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adj. naive and trusting; young; unsophisticated
ingenue, n. - inherent
- adj. firmly established by nature or habit
- innocuous
- adj. harmless
- insensible
- adj. unconscious; unresponsive
- insinuate
- v. hint; imply; creep in
- insipid
- adj. lacking in flavor; dull
- insularity
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n. narrow-mindedness; isolation
insular, adj. - intractable
- adj. unruly; stubborn; unyielding
- intransigence
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n. refusal of any compromise; stubbornness
intransigent, adj. - inundate
- v. overwhelm; flood; sumerge
- inured
- adj. accustomed; hardened
- invective
- n. abuse
- irascible
- adj. irritable; easily angered
- irresolute
- adj. uncertain how to act; weak
- itinerary
- n. plan of a trip
- laconic
- adj. brief and to the point
- lassitude
- n. langour; weariness
- latent
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adj. portential but undeveloped; dormant; hidden
latency, n. - laud
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v. praise
also n.
laudable, laudatory, adj. - lethargic
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adj. drowsy; dull
lethargy, n. - levee
- n. earthen or stone embankment to prevent flooding
- levity
- n. lack of seriousness or steadiness; frivolity
- log
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n. record of a voyage or flight; record of day-to-day activities
also v. - loquacious
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adj. talkative
loquacity, n. - lucid
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adj. easily understood; clear; intelligible
lucidity, n. - luminous
- adj. shining; issuing light
- magnanimity
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n. generosity
magnanimous, adj. - malingerer
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n. one who feigns illness to escape duty
malinger, v. - malleable
- adj. capable of being shaped by pouding; impressionable
- maverick
- n. rebel; nonconformist
- mendacious
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adj. lying; habitually dishonest
mendacity, n. - metamophosis
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n. change of form
metamorphose, v. - meticulous
- adj. excessively careful; painstaking; scrupulous
- misanthrope
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n. one who hates mankind
misanthropic, adj. - mitigate
- v. appease; moderate
- mollify
- v. soothe
- morose
- adj. ill-humored; sullen; melancholy
- mundane
- adj. wordly as opposed to spiritual; everyday
- negate
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v. cancel out; nullify; deny
negation, n. - neophyte
- n. recent convert; beginner
- obdurate
- adj. stubborn
- obsequious
- adj. slavishly attentive; servile; sycophantic
- obviate
- v. make unnecessary; get rid of
- occulde
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v. shut; close
occlusion, n. - officious
- adj. meddlesome; excessively pushy in offering one's services
- onerous
- adj. burdensome
- opprobrium
- n. infancy; vilification
- oscillate
- v. vibrate pendulumlike; waver
- ostentatious
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adj. showy; pretentious; trying to attract attention
ostentation, n. - paragon
- n. model of perfection
- partisan
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adj. one-sided; prejudiced; committed to a party
also n. - pathological
- adj. pertaining to disease
- paucity
- n. scarcity
- pedantic
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adj. showing off learning; bookish
pedantry, n. - penchant
- n. strong inclination; liking
- penury
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n. severe poverty; stinginess
penurious, adj. - perennial
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n. something long-lasting
also adj. - perfidious
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adj. trecherous; disloyal
perfidy, n. - perfunctory
- adj. superficial; not thorough; lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm
- permeable
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adj. penetrable; porous; allowing liquids or gas to pass through
permeate, v. - pervasive
-
adj. spread throughout
pervade, v. - phlegmatic
- adj. calm, not easily disturbed
- piety
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n. devoutness; reverence for God
pious, adj. - placate
- v. pacify; conciliate
- plasticity
- n. ability to be molded
- platitude
- n. trite remark; commonplace statement
- plethora
- n. excess; overabundance
- plumment
- v. fall sharply
- porous
- adj. full of pores; like a sieve
- pragmatic
- adj. practical (as opposed to idealistic); concerned with the practical worth or impact of something
- preamble
- n. intoductory statement
- precarious
- adj. uncertain; risky
- precipitate
- adj. rash; premature; hasty; sudden
- precursor
- n. forerunner
- presumptuous
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adj. arrogant; taking liberties
presumption, n. - prevaricate
- v. lie