GRE and SAT Vocabulary
Terms
undefined, object
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- involute
- intricate, complex
- importune
- ask incessantly, to beg, to nag
- precipitous
- rash, foolhardy; dropping sharply, dangerous
- mendacity
- dishonesty
- asperity
- roughness, harshness, ill temper, irritability (Don't confuse with "aspersion," which means slander)
- floridness
- ruddiness; heavily decorated; ornateness
- palliate
- to make something appear less serious, to alleviate, to gloss over, put a positive spin on
- sententious
- short and pithy, full of maxims/proverbs
- precipitate
- (v) to hurl down, to fall headlong (adj) speeding, acting recklessly
- grievous
- causing grief or pain; serious, dire, grave
- poseur
- someone taking on airs to impress others; a phony
- stentorian
- extremely loud and powerful
- contemn
- to scorn or despise
- vitiate
- to pervert, debase, make ineffective
- stanch
- to stop the flow of a fluid
- evince
- to show clearly, to indicate
- imperiousness
- arrogance, commanding presence, overbearingness
- suppliant
- asking humbly, beseeching
- tautology
- a repetition, a redundancy
- arduous
- steep, difficult ascent; laborious
- encomium
- warm or glowing praise; eulogy, panegyric; a tribute
- abjure
- recant solemnly, repudiate, renounce , give up
- ebullient
- enthusiastic; showing excitement; bubbling (or seemingly boiling)
- propitious
- auspicious, presenting favorable circumstances; gracious
- obtain
- to be established, accepted, or customary
- stint
- to be thrifty, to set limits, to restrict
- temerity
- boldness, brashness, intrepidness, recklessness
- prevaricate
- to equivocate, to stray from the truth
- surfeit
- satiate, feed to fullness or to excess
- scurvy
- mean, contemptible
- gregarious
- sociable, outgoing
- recondite
- profound, abstruse, obscure, concealed, hidden
- penury
- extreme poverty
- judicious
- sound in judgment; wise
- sinuous
- winding, undulating, serpentine
- undulate
- to move in wavelike fashion, fluctuate
- probity
- uprightness, incorruptibility, principle
- rubric
- heading, title, or category
- interdict
- prohibit, forbid
- harangue
- a long, passionate speech
- calumny
- slander, aspersion
- petrous
- like a rock, hard, stony
- petrify
- to make hard, rocklike
- conjoin
- to join together
- nexus
- a connection, tie, or link
- obstreperous
- noisy, loud
- contumacious
- insubordinate, rebellious
- mettlesome
- courageous, high-spirited. (Don't confuse with "meddlesome," meaning inclined to interfere.)
- cadge
- to beg, to get by begging
- remonstrate
- to protest, object
- veritable
- unquestionable, true.
- equivocate
- lie, mislead, conceal the truth
- assiduous
- diligent, hard-working, sedulous
- sycophant
- flatterer, parasite; a suck-up
- perfunctory
- superficial, listless, not thorough
- Quixotic
- extravagantly chivalrous, romantically idealistic, impractical
- picaresque
- involving clever rogues or adventurers. (Don't confuse with "picturesque," which means picture-like, charming, or quaint)
- lachrymose
- causing tears, tearful
- ossify
- to turn to bone; to settle rigidly into an idea or practice, become closed-minded
- gainsay
- deny
- saturnine
- gloomy, dark, sullen, morose
- imbroglio
- difficult or embarrassing situation
- exscind
- to cut out, cut away
- verisimilitude
- appearing true or real
- pusillanimous
- cowardly, craven
- ingenuous
- naive, young, artless, frank, honest, sincere. (Don't confuse with "ingenious"--very clever)
- august
- majestic, venerable. (Don't confuse with the month, "August," which is always capitalized)
- fetter
- to shackle, put in chains
- peremptory
- urgent, imperative, unchallengeable, ending debate
- froward
- Stubbornly contrary and disobedient; obstinate(NOT "forward")
- rapacious
- voracious, greedy, plundering
- propinquity
- nearness in time or place, affinity of nature
- succor
- assistance, relief in time of distress
- volatile
- changeable, inconstant, fickle, unstable, explosive
- effluvia
- outflow in a stream of particles; a noxious odor or vapor
- apotheosis
- deification, glorification to godliness
- enormity
- excessive wickedness; evilness (Don't confuse with "enormousness," which means great size)
- sophomoric
- self-assured though immature, affected, bombastic, overblown, lacking maturity
- torpor
- lethargy, sluggishness, dormancy
- feckless
- lacking purpose or vitality; ineffective; careless
- pith
- heart of the matter, basic trait. Also force, strength, or vigor
- penchant
- strong inclination, a liking
- enervate
- weaken, deprive of strength, attenuate
- qualify
- to limit
- reprobate
- person hardened in sin; one devoid of decency
- libertine
- immoral person
- nascent
- coming into existence, emerging
- phlegmatic
- calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional
- partisan
- one-sided, committed to a party, biased or prejudiced
- malinger
- to fake illness or injury, in order to shirk a duty
- decorum
- propriety, properness
- raffish
- low, vulgar, base, tawdry
- loquacious
- talkative, garrulous
- piquant
- agreeably pungent, stimulating
- beatify
- to bless, make happy, or ascribe a virtue to. Regard as saintly (Don't confuse with "beautify," which means to make beautiful)
- forbearance
- patience, willingness to wait
- truculence
- aggressiveness, ferocity
- mellifluous
- sweetly flowing; usually used to describe use of words (sweetly flowing words, as when the speech is characterized by high volubility
- pariah
- an outcast, a rejected and despised person
- desiccate
- to dry up, dehydrate
- taciturn
- untalkative, silent
- pillory
- to punish, hold up to public scorn
- imprecation
- an invocation of evil; a curse
- apostate
- one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions
- countenance
- (n) mien, face (v) approve of
- dogmatic
- positive, certain, arbitrary, without room for discussion
- felicitous
- apt; suitably expressed, well chosen, apropos
- vituperate
- berate, rail against, attack verbally
- indefatigability
- not easily exhaustible; tirelessness
- fatuous
- complacently stupid
- salubrious
- healthful
- tenuous
- unsubstantial, flimsy, weak
- odium
- contempt, dislike, aversion
- obdurate
- hardened and unrepentant; stubborn, inflexible
- incredulous
- skeptical, unwilling to believe (NOT "incredible," as many think)