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Barron's New GRE
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| abate | subside; moderate; lessen in intensity; put an end to |
| aberrant | abnormal, deviant |
| abeyance | temporary inactivity; suspended action |
| abstemious | sparing in eating and drinking; temperate |
| adulterate | make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances; contaminate, debase |
| aggregate | sum total; gross amount; whole mass; materials used in making concrete |
| alacrity | promptness; cheerful willingness; eagerness; briskness |
| amalgamate | combine; unite in one body; blend; merge |
| ameliorate | improve; make better or more bearable; amend |
| anachronistic | chronologically out of place; out of its proper time period |
| anomaly | irregularity; abnormality; deviation from the norm; something difficult to classify |
| antipathy | habitual aversion; intense dislike; natural repugnance; hatred |
| apocryphal | spurious; not authentic; invented rather than true; mythical; uncanonical (not part of an accepted body of literary work) |
| apostate | one who abandons his religious faith or political beliefs; turncoat; deserter; defector; renegade; traitor; rebel |
| apprise | inform; make aware of; advise of; notify |
| approbation | approval; good opinion; commendation; praise |
| ascetic | one who practices self-denial; hermit; abstainer |
| asperity | sharpness of temper; harshness of manner; severity; acrimony; acerbity; roughness of surface |
| aspersion | slanderous remark; abusive attack; disparaging comment; slur; calumny |
| assiduous | diligent; industrious; unremitting; persistent |
| assuage | alleviate; mitigate; ease or lessen (pain); satisfy or appease (hunger); sooth or calm (anger) |
| astringent | harshly biting; sharp and penetrating; bitter in taste; caustic; causing contraction |
| attenuate | weaken or lessen (in density, force, or degree); make thinner or finer; become weak or fine; rarefy |
| autonomy | political or personal independence; self-governance; freedom |
| aver | assert confidently; affirm; declare; avow; profess; as used in law, state formally as a fact |
| baleful | deadly; having a malign influence; ominous; threatening harm or misfortune; menacing |
| banality | lack or originality; triteness; a commonplace expression |
| bane | cause of ruin or misery; blight; curse |
| beneficent | producing benefits; charitable; generous |
| blithe | carefree; happy; lighthearted |
| bolster | support; prop up; reinforce |
| bombastic | pretentious and long-winded; pompous; using inflated language |
| boor | someone who acts in a rude or insensitive way; lout; oaf |
| brook | allow; tolerate; put up with |
| burgeon | develop rapidly; flourish; send out new buds |
| burnish | make shiny by rubbing; polish |
| cacophonous | discordant; unpleasant-sounding; grating; strident |
| castigation | verbal punishment; scolding; severe criticism; public censure |
| catalyst | someone or something that precipitates an action or change; substance that initiates or speeds up a chemical reaction without itself being affected |
| caustic | able to burn, dissolve, or corrode by chemical action; bitingly sarcastic; stinging; harsh; corrosive |
| chicanery | trickery to deceive someone; deception; fraud; evasion |
| coagulate | thicken; congeal; clot |
| coda | concluding section of a musical or literary composition; something that rounds out, summarizes, or concludes |
| cogent | convincing; well-argued; powerfully persuasive |
| commensurate | corresponding in extent, degree, amount, etc.; proportionate; adequate |
| compendium | comprehensive though brief summary or a larger work; digest or abstract; inventory |
| complaisant | obliging; eager to please; overly polite |
| compliant (1) | submissive; yielding; willing to obey; acquiescent |
| compliant (2) | conforming to requirements; meeting official obligations |
| confound | confuse; mix up; puzzle; baffle; thwart; refute (an argument) |
| connoisseur | person competent to act as a judge of art, etc.; person with discriminating taste |
| contention | claim or thesis; disagreement; debate; strife; conflict |
| contrite | penitent; remorseful; repentant; deeply sorry |
| conundrum | riddle, especially one involving a pun; puzzle; difficult problem; dilemma |
| converge | come together; approach an intersecting point, tend to meet |
| convoluted | intricate; highly complex, even devious; involved; coiled around |
| craven | cowardly; contemptibly timorous; spineless; pusillanimous |
| daunt | intimidate; frighten; dishearten |
| denigrate | blacken; belittle; defame; disparage |
| desiccate | dry up; preserve by removing moisture; dehydrate |
| desultory | aimless; haphazard; unfocused; disappointing in performance |
| diatribe | bitter, accusing criticism; tirade; sharp verbal attack; harangue |
| dichotomy | division; split; branching into two parts (especially contradictory ones); duality |
| diffidence | timidity; shyness; self-doubt; lack of self-confidence |
| diffuse | wordy; verbose; widely spread out (like a gas); scattered |
| dirge | lament, usually musical; funeral song or tune |
| disabuse | correct a false impression; free someone from an erroneous belief; undeceive |
| discrete | separate; unconnected; consisting of distinct parts; isolated; do not confuse with discreet, which means tactful |
| disingenuous | lacking candor; falsely pretending to be frank; insincere |
| disinterested | unbiased; impartial; neutral; dispassionate |
| disjointed | disconnected; incoherent; disorganized; taken apart at all the joints |
| disparate | fundamentally different; wholly dissimilar; unrelated; unlike |
| dissemble | feign; hide behind a false appearance; conceal one's motives; dissimulate |
| dissolution | disintegration; dissolving into parts; termination; indulgence in sensual pleasures; debauchery |
| dissonance | discord; inharmonious sound; cacophony; disagreement; incongruity |
| distend | expand; swell up; inflate |
| divest | strip; deprive; free from; take away; cease to hold (an investment) |
| ebullience | exuberance; overflowing enthusiasm; high-spirits; a boiling over |
| efficacy | effectiveness; power to bring about a desired effect; usefulness |
| effrontery | impudence; shameless boldness; sheer nerve; impertinence; insolence |
| elaboration | embellishment; amplification; refinement; addition of details; intricacy |
| elegy | mournful poem; lament for the dead; melancholy musical composition; the opposite of paean |
| elicit | draw forth; evoke; prompt; succeed in obtaining (information) from someone |
| empirical | based on experience; verifiable by experiment or observation; firsthand; pragmatic |
| encomium | eulogy; high praise; formal tribute; panagyric |
| endemic | native; indigenous; prevalent in a particular region or among a particular group |
| enervate | weaken; debilitate; render feeble; drain |
| engender | cause; produce; stir up; prompt; create; breed |
| equanimity | composure; equilibrium; calmness of temperament; self-posession |
| equivocate | lie; prevaricate; speak misleadingly; hedge |
| erudition | deep scholarly knowledge; scholarship; learning |
| eulogize | praise highly; extol; panegyrize; give or write a laudatory speech |
| euphemism | mild expression used in place of an unpleasant one; act of substituting an inoffensive term |
| exculpate | clear from blame; exonerate; vindicate; acquit |
| exigent | urgent; pressing; exacting; taxing; requiring immediate action |
| extrapolation | inference based on known facts; conjecture; estimate; projection |
| facetious | humorous; joking (often inappropriately); not seriously intended; flippant |
| fallacy | mistaken idea based on flawed reasoning; invalid argument; erroneousness |
| fatuous | brainless; inane; smugly foolish; asinine |
| fawning | obsequious; servile; sycophantic; bootlicking; toadying |
| felicitous | appropriate; apt; well-chosen; fortunate |
| flag | lose vigor; fade; wane; droop; grow feeble |
| fledgling | young; inexperienced; new; untried |
| florid | overly ornate; flowery; grandiloquent; ruddy; reddish |
| flout | reject mockingly; show contempt for; scoff at; disregard scornfully |
| foment | stir up; incite; instigate; stimulate; provoke |
| forestall | prevent by taking action in advance; hinder; preclude; avert |
| frenetic | frenzied; frantic; hectic; wildly agitated; uncontrolled |
| gainsay | contradict; take exception to; dispute; deny; oppose |
| garrulity | talkativeness; loquacity; volubility |
| grandiloquent | lofty in style; using inflated language; pompous; bombastic |
| harangue | intense verbal attack; passionate, vehement speech; diatribe; tirade |
| heterodox | unorthodox; unconventional; dissident; disagreeing with accepted beliefs |
| homogeneity | uniformity of structure of composition; formation out of similar elements |
| hyperbolic | excessively exaggerated; overstated; inflated beyond reason |
| iconoclastic | attacking cherished traditions; nonconformist; rebellious; dissident |
| idiosyncrasy | individual trait, usually odd in nature; eccentricity; quirk; foible |
| idolatrous | blindly devoted; excessively adoring; idol-worshipping; idolizing |
| idyllic | charmingly carefree and simple; unspoiled; serene; pastoral |
| illusory | deceptive; false; misleading; unreal |
| impassive | without feeling; imperturbable; stoical; phlegmatic; expressionless |
| imperiousness | overbearing manner; domineering attitude; arrogance; lordliness |
| impermeable | impervious; not permitting passage through its substance; impenetrable; waterproof |
| imperturbable | unflappable; unflustered; composed; calm |
| impervious | impenetrable; incapable of being damaged or distressed; invulnerable; incapable of being affected |
| implacable | unable to be appeased; inexorable; unbending; merciless; relentless |
| implicit | understood, but not directly stated; implied; unquestioning |
| impregnable | invulnerable; invincible; difficult to refute; capable of conceiving |
| inchoate | not fully formed; incipient; rudimentary; undeveloped; lacking order |
| inconsequential | insignificant; unimportant; trivial; illogical |
| indeterminate | uncertain; not clearly fixed; undefined; unsettled; vague |
| indigent | extremely poor; penurious; destitute; impecunious |
| inert | inactive; motionless; immobile; incapable of reacting chemically |
| ingenuous | naive and trusting; artless; unsophisticated; innocent |
| innocuousness | harmlessness; inoffensiveness; insipidity; innocence |
| insensible | incapable of feeling; unresponsive; emotionless; unfeeling; unaware |
| insularity | narrow-mindedness; provinciality; parochialism; isolation |
| intractable | stubborn; unyielding; obstinate; obdurate; unruly; pigheaded |
| intransigence | stubbornness; refusal of any compromise; obstinacy; obduracy; extreme firmness |
| inundate | overwhelm; flood; submerge; deluge; swamp |
| inured | accustomed; hardened; toughened; habituated |
| invective | abuse; verbal attack; vituperation; violent censure |
| irascible | irritable; touchy; testy; quick-tempered |
| irresolute | uncertain how to act; unsure; weak; indecisive; vacillating |
| lachrymose | tearful; weeping; sorrowful; melancholy; dolorous |
| lassitude | languor; weariness; lack of energy |
| latent | potential but undeveloped; dormant; hidden |
| loquacious | talkative; voluble; garrulous; gabby; long-winded |
| lumber | move heavily; shamble; plod |
| luminous | shining; issuing light; glowing; gleaming |
| magnanimity | generosity; greatness of spirit; nobility; high-mindedness |
| malinger | shirk; feign illness to evade work |
| malleable | capable of being shaped by pounding; soft and pliable; impressionable |
| maverick | rebel; nonconformist; eccentric; oddball |
| mendacious | untruthful; lying; habitually dishonest; deceitful |
| mercurial | capricious; unpredictable; inconstant; fickle; volatile; lively |
| metamorphosis | change of form; transformation; total alteration; transfiguration |
| misanthrope | one who hates or distrusts people |
| morose | melancholy; dejected; gloomy; sullen |
| neophyte | novice; tyro; beginner; tenderfoot |
| obduracy | stubbornness; obstinacy; inflexibility; intransigence |
| obsequious | servile; sycophantic; fawning; slavishly attentive |
| obviate | prevent (problems); preclude; make unnecessary |
| occlude | shut; close; clog; obstruct; block |
| officious | meddlesome; interfering; excessively push in offering one's services |
| onerous | burdensome; heavy; oppressive |
| opprobrium | ignominy; disgrace caused y shameful behavior; state of dishonor; obloquy |
| oscillate | swing to and fro like a pendulum; vacillate; waver |
| ostentation | pretentious show - of wealth; gaudy display - often vulgar; excessive showiness; pretentiousness |
| palpable | tangible; perceptible by touch; touchable; easily perceived; obvious |
| panegyric | eulogistic oration; encomium; tribute; formal expression of praise |
| paragon | model of perfection; pattern of excellence; peerless example; ideal instance |
| parsimony | excessive frugality; stinginess; meanness |
| pathological | relating to the study of disease; caused by disease; manifesting compulsive behavior; abnormal |
| paucity | scarcity; dearth; scantiness; insufficiency of number; fewness |
| peccadillo | minor sin; slight offense; trifling fault; slip |
| pedantic | showing off one's learning; overly fussy about minute details; didactic; bookish; nitpicking |
| penchant | strong inclination; decided taste; definite liking; predilection |
| penury | extreme poverty; destitution; indigence; pennilessness; impecuniousness |
| perennial | lasting many years; enduring; recurring again and again; continuing |
| perfidious | disloyal; treacherous; faithless; deceitful; traitorous |
| perfunctory | superficial; cursory; not thorough; indifferent; negligent |
| permeable | penetrable; porous; allowing liquids or gas to pass through |
| phlegmatic | not easily disturbed or excited; calm; composed; unruffled; sluggish |
| plasticity | physical malleability; ability to be shaped without breaking; capability of being molded |
| platitude | trite remark; commonplace statement; banal comment; cliché; bromide |
| plethora | superabundance; excess; glut; surfeit |
| plummet | plunge; drop sharply; fall swiftly; decline steeply |
| porous | sievelike; permeable; allowing passage of air or liquids |
| preamble | preface; introduction; foreword; prologue; preliminary circumstance |
| precarious | dangerous; risky; perilous; uncertain; insecure; unreliable |
| precipitate | hasty; rash; sudden; abrupt; headlong; impetuous; rapid |
| precursor | forerunner; predecessor; herald; harbinger; biochemical substance that gives rise to another substance, as in a chemical reaction |
| prevaricate | lie; speak misleadingly; intentionally misstate; equivocate; fib |
| pristine | unspoiled; unsullied; unpolluted; undefiled; pure; immaculately clean; primitive |
| probity | integrity; uprightness; rectitude; incorruptibility; honesty; righteousness |
| problematic | doubtful; unsettled; unresolved; uncertain baffling; debatable; unsure |
| prodigality | wasteful extravagance; recklessness with money; uncontrolled spending; lavishness |
| profligacy | dissipation; dissoluteness; licentiousness; debauchery; depravity; wasteful extravagance |
| prohibitive | tending to prevent or discourage something's purchase or use; inclined to prevent or forbid |
| proliferate | increase in number; spread rapidly; multiply |
| propensity | innate inclination; bent; natural tendency; proclivity; penchant; predisposition |
| propitiate | appease; conciliate; mollify; placate; sooth; pacify |
| propriety | fitness; appropriateness; correctness of behavior; conformity to conventional standards; decorum; seemliness; decency |
| proscribe | denounce; condemn; prohibit; forbid; ostracize; banish; outlaw; ban |
| pundit | learned authority; authoritative critic or commentator; scholarly expert; expert analyst |
| pungent | acrid-tasting; strong-smelling; stinging; caustic; bitter; mordant; penetrating; mentally keen |
| quiescent | at rest; still; dormant; temporarily inactive; quiet; motionless |
| rarefied | made less dense (of a gas); elevated in nature; lofty; refined; select; esoteric |
| recalcitrant | obstinately stubborn; determined to resist authority; unruly; intractable; refractory; fractious |
| recant | disclaim; disavow; retract a previous statement; repudiate; openly confess error |
| reclusive | solitary; seeking isolation; withdrawn from society; providing seclusion; cloistered |
| recondite | difficult to understand; profound; abstruse; esoteric; obscure; mysterious; secret |
| redoubtable | formidable; causing fear or awe; commanding respect |
| refractory | intractable; unruly; fractious; recalcitrant; obstinately stubborn; resistant to treatment |
| reprobate | unprincipled or evil person; depraved individual; person hardened by sin; scoundrel; wastrel; miscreant |
| rescind | revoke; repeal; annul; abrogate; cancel; nullify; withdraw; countermand |
| salubrious | conducive to good health; healthful; beneficial |
| sanction | officially authorize; approve; allow; encourage; permit; agree to |
| satiate | surfeit; satisfy fully, or excessively; glut; gore; sate |
| secrete | hide away; conceal; cache; produce and release a bodily substance (digestive juices, hormones, etc.) |
| shard | broken piece, generally of pottery; fragment of earthenware |
| solicitous | anxious; worried; apprehensive; concerned; mindful; eager; extremely careful |
| speciousness | seeming plausibility; superficial but misleading appearance of correctness; fallaciousness; deceptiveness |
| stigma | mark of disgrace; stain; blot; blemish; badge of infamy; taint |
| stint | be frugal; set limit; be thrifty; restrict; be sparing; scrimp |
| stipulate | make express conditions; specify; arrange specifically; require; expressly demand; insist on |
| stolid | impassive; unemotional; not easily excited; indifferent; phlegmatic; dull |
| striated | marked with parallel bands; grooved; furrowed; ridged; striped |
| supposition | assumption; surmise; hypothesis; presupposition |
| tacit | understood without being put into words; unspoken; silent; unvoiced; implied without being openly stated; unexpressed; implicit |
| tangential | peripheral; digressive; divergent; only superficially pertinent; off on a tangent |
| tenuous | thin; threadlike; attenuated; unsubstantiated; weak; flimsy; insignificant; unimportant; vague |
| tirade | bitter outburst; vehement denunciation; extended scolding; harangue; diatribe |
| torpor | apathy; sluggishness; listless indifference; lethargy; stolidity; inertia; dormancy |
| tortuous | full of twists and turns; winding; curvy; crooked; misleadingly indirect; circuitous; roundabout; serpentine; intricate |
| tout | solicit support, business; publicize; promote; advertise; praise excessively |
| tractable | docile; amenable; yielding; submissive; readily compliant; complaisant; malleable |
| transgression | violation of a law; sin; infraction; exceeding of bounds; wrongdoing; breach |
| truculence | belligerence; aggressiveness; hostility; ferocity; pugnacity; fierceness; being disposed to fight |
| veneration | profound respect; reverence; awe |
| veracious | truthful; honest; accurate in content; precise |
| viable | practical; workable; feasible; capable of maintaining life; capable of growth and expansion; capable of success |
| virtuosity | extreme ability in an artistic form; masterly skill or technique |
| viscous | sticky; thick; adhesive; gluey; syrupy |
| vituperative | abusive; scathing; venomous; scolding; denunciatory; censorious; defamatory; vilifying; insulting |
| warranted | justified; authorized; sanctioned; defensible; guaranteed |
| welter | bewildering jumble; muddle; clutter; confusion; turmoil; tumult |
| zealotry | fanaticism intolerance of conflicting beliefs, undue enthusiasm |
| zenith | highest point; point directly overhead in the sky (nadir is the opposite); summit; apex; peak; culmination |
Created by:
Pulle003
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