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Vocabulary GRE

Terms

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Chattel
an item of personal, movable property; slave.

Do not order me around, I am neither your servant nor your chattel. And I sure ain't your bitch.

The ________ belonging to Herodotos were 16 slaves, seven horses, six hunting dogs, and three midgets.
Austere
stern, as in manner; without excess, severely simple and plain.

The _______ of life in the village was understandable. Many were jobless and evidence of poverty was everywhere.

Rob, with his ______ personality didn't make many friends. Most people were too intimidated by him to even bother saying hello.
Lament
to express sorrow or regret; mourn.

It is _________ that Rozzy quit college in his freshman week; his professors thought he was the brightest engineering student in the class.
Aloof
distant, keeping distance, reserved in manner; uninvolved.

Julio is not aloof and recalcitrant, he's just shy.
Bulwark
a defensive wall; something serving as a principle of defense.

Mom was a bulwark against bad times; no matter how bad things became she always smiled and had a cheerful word.
Trenchant
cutting, incisive, having a sharp point; caustic, sarcastic.

Fran had a trenchant tongue and was always putting her coworkers down behind their backs.
Impede
to obstruct or interfere with; delay.

Don't let anyone impede your ambition to go to graduate school.
Forbear
to refrain from; to abstain; to be patient or tolerant.

To forbear your opinion on any controversial matter until you have first heard all the facts is generally the wisest course of action.

At Amco, it is best to forbear asking for a raise because they will only punish you by cutting other benefits.
Evade
to elude or avoid by cunning; to flee from a pursuer.

Their romance never blossomed because she was the pursuer and he was the intentional evader.

Jesse was so pushy and clingy, that his girlfriend evaded him for months. She always found a good excuse not to see him.
Quixotic
idealistic and totally impractical; to be foolish or impractical in pursuing an ideal.

Gary's ideas were not idiotic, they were just a little quixotic.
Beleaguer
besiege; beset, surround, harass.

No one could enter or exit the beleaguered Iraq; the United States military closed all the entrances and exits to the country.

Patrick felt beleaguered at work. Everyone added to his workload while the secretaries made his life impossible.
Milieu
environment, surroundings

Amco's management create a milieu where it is impossible for the majority to achieve success.

A caring and involved community is the proper milieu for raising a family.
Histrionic
overly dramatic, theatrical.

Fran's histrionics with every little thing she had to do disgusted those that worked with her.
Bludgeon
short heavy, thick club that has one end thicker than the other.

The lawyer bludgeoned the jury with all the details of Michael's sexcapades with the children.
Arduous
hard, difficult, tiresome

After he was released from one month of being in the hospital, even just walking up the stairs was an arduous task.

Studying vocabulary and math for the GRE can be more arduous then it seems at first.
Oppurtune
occurring or coming at a good time.

The weekend is an oppurtune time for studying for exams.
Prodigious
so great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe
laconic
brief and to the point; effectively cut short

a response so curt as to be almost rude

short and terse and easy to understand
inveterate
Firmly and long established; deep-rooted: inveterate preferences

Persisting in an ingrained habit; habitual

Franks smoking habit was so inveterate that we were all shocked when he decided to quit smoking.
Creditable
Deserving of often limited praise or commendation.

The student made a creditable effort on the essay.
Obstreperous
Noisily and stubbornly defiant

Aggressively boisterous
Lassitude
listlessness, torpor, weariness.

The senior management of Amco are so strict that prevent any employee from having any lassitude.
Proficient
skillful, to be very good at something
Harangue
to lecture; berate; a long bombastic speech
Muster
to collect or gather
the act of inspection or critical examination
Beget
to give birth to; create

Before industrialization, farmers would beget large families to help them run the farms.
Craven
cowardly

Although he walked around with his chest out and head up, he was a craven foreman.
Obtuse
Insensitive; blockheaded, slow in comprehension.

We are fast to judge many friends as being obtuse before we really know them. Get to know someone before judging them.
Doldrums
A period of depression or inactivity.

Many people fall into the doldrums, not even realizing that others live and die to have what they do.
blather
talk nonsensically

After 8 beers, Frank has a tendency to blather and repeat himself.
Resurgent
a rise after defeat.

The resurgent little boy was determined to ride his bike without training wheels. He wasn't going to let a broken leg slow him down.
Draconian
hard, severe, cruel

Mark's attitude is draconian once he has a negative point of view about an employee.
Guise
Appearance.

The soldiers put on a false guise. They seem proud to conquer other lands but deep down they know that they are worse than the terrorists that they are fighting.
Gird
To encircle, as with a belt;
To prepare as for action

Men still spoke of peace but girded more sternly for war
Dissolution
the breaking up into parts; termination of a legal bond or contract.

Nothing prevented the dissolution of Len's fraternity even though it was the worst on campus.
Also-ran
A loser in a competition, as in an election
Elfin
Small and sprightly or mischievous.

Having a magical quality or charm; fairylike
Wane
To decrease gradually in size, amount, intensity, or degree; decline

Snowmen wane in the rain.

Motivation can wane if you do not see some kind of progress in your studies.

Jack panicked because of the waning of air in his tank. He hurriedly returned to the surface.
Fraught
Filled with a specified element,

emotional distress as in a fraught mother daughter relationship.

an incident fraught with danger; an evening fraught with high drama.

Mark Twain's books were fraught with humor and they also gave good advice to young readers.
Erudite
having or showing profound knowledge; deeply learned, scholarly.

Milton accused the professore of being rude and stupid even though she was quite erudite.
Docile
Ready and willing to be taught; teachable
Hovel
A small, miserable dwelling.
An open, low shed
Divine
To foretell through or as if through the art of divination; something pleasing
Countenance
Expression on a person's face. Also to tolerate or approve of.

The question left him with a puzzled countenance.

The coach countenanced their horseplay even though he didn't approve of it.
Noisome
Stinking, Offensive, Disgusting

People didn't spend much time with him because of his noisome smoking and drinking habits.
Languish
become weak or feeble; lose strength or vigor.

The fish in the aquarium moved languidly through the fish tank. It was almost impossible to tell if they were sleeping.
Indolent
Disinclined to exert oneself; habitually lazy.
Causing little or no pain, as a tumor.
Slow to heal, as an ulcer

Frank was on the borderline of being indolent; he only did the bare minimum necessary.
Bane
Fatal injury or ruin
Disquieted
afflicted with or marked by anxious uneasiness or trouble or grief
Rapacious
Taking by force, plundering
Heathen
One who is regarded as irreligious, uncivilized, or unenlightened
Contrive
To plan with cleverness or ingenuity
Grandiloquent
puffed up with vanity; "a grandiloquent and boastful manner"
Ostensible
appearing as such but not necessarily so;

"for all his apparent wealth he had no money to pay the rent"
Sardonic
Scornfully or cynically mocking.
Visceral
The soft internal organs of the body, especially those contained within the abdominal and thoracic cavities.
Repine
To be discontented or low in spirits; complain or fret.
To yearn after something:

Immigrants who repined for their homeland
Undermine
To weaken by wearing away a base or foundation:

Water has undermined the stone foundations
Undergird
To support or strengthen from beneath

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