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B - WORDS
B - WORDS GMAT
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Baleful | (adj.) harmful, malign, detrimental | After she was fired, she realized it was a baleful move to point the blame at her superior. The strange liquid could be baleful if ingested. |
| Banal | (adj.) trite; without freshness or originality | Attending parties became trite after a few weeks. It was a banal suggestion to have the annual picnic in the park, since that was where it had been for the past five years. |
| Baneful | (adj.) deadly or causing distress, death | Not wearing a seat belt could be baneful. |
| Baroque | (adj.) extravagant; ornate; embellished | The baroque artwork was made up of intricate details which kept the museum-goers enthralled. The baroque furnishings did not fit in the plain, modest home. |
| Bastion | (n.) a fortified place or strong defense | The strength of the bastion saved the soldiers inside of it. |
| Batten | (v.) to gain | The team could only batten by drafting the top player. |
| Bauble | (n.) a showy yet useless thing | The woman had many baubles on her bookshelf. |
| Beget | (v.) to bring into being | The king wished to beget a new heir. |
| Beholden | (adj.) indebted to | The children were beholden to their parents for the car loan. |
| Behoove | (v.) to be advantageous; to be necessary | It will behoove the students to buy their textbooks early. |
| Belittle | (v.) to make small; to think lightly of | The unsympathetic friend belittled her friend's problems and spoke of her own as the most important. |
| Bellicose | (adj.) quarrelsome; warlike | The bellicose guest would not be invited back again. |
| Bemuse | (v.) to preoccupy in thought | The girl was bemused by her troubles. |
| Benefactor | (n.) one who helps others; a donor | An anonymous benefactor donated $10,000 to the children's hospital. |
| Beneficent | (adj.) conferring benefits; kindly; doing good | He is a beneficent person, always taking in stray animals and talking to people who need someone to listen. A beneficent donation helped the organization meet its goal. |
| Benevolent | (adj.) kind; generous | The professor proved a tough questioner, but a benevolent grader. The benevolent gentleman volunteered his services. |
| Benign | (adj.) mild; harmless | A lamb is a benign animal, especially when compared with a lion. |
| Berate | (v.) scold; reprove; reproach; criticize | The child was berated by her parents for breaking the china. |
| Bereft | (v.; adj.) to be deprived of; to be in a sad manner; hurt by someone's death | The loss of his job will leave the man bereft of many luxuries. The widower was bereft for many years after his wife's death. |
| Beseech | (v.) to ask earnestly | The soldiers beseeched the civilians for help. |
| Besmirch | (v.) to dirty or discolor | The soot from the chimney will besmirch clean curtains. |
| Bestial | (adj.) having the qualities of a beast; brutal | The bestial employer made his employees work in an unheated room. |
| Betroth | (v.) to promise or pledge in marriage | The man betrothed his daughter to the prince. |
| Biased | (adj.) prejudiced; influenced; not neutral | The vegetarian had a biased opinion regarding what should be ordered for dinner. |
| Biennial | (adj.; n.) happening every two years; a plant which blooms every two years | The biennial journal's influence seemed only magnified by its infrequent publication. She has lived here for four years and has seen the biennials bloom twice. |
| Bilateral | (adj.) pertaining to or affecting both sides or two sides; having two sides | A bilateral decision was made so that both partners reaped equal benefits from the same amount of work. The brain is a bilateral organ, consisting of a left and right hemisphere. |
| Blasphemous | (adj.) irreligious; away from acceptable standards; speaking ill of using profane language | The upper-class parents thought that it was blasphemous for their son to marry a waitress. His blasphemous outburst was heard throughout the room. |
| Blatant | (adj.) obvious; unmistakable; crude; vulgar | The blatant foul was reason for ejection. The defendant was blatant in his testimony. |
| Blighted | (adj.) causing frustration or destruction | The blighted tornado left only one building standing in its wake. |
| Blithe | (adj.) happy; cheery; merry; a cheerful disposition | The wedding was a blithe celebration. The blithe child was a pleasant surprise. |
| Bode | (v.) to foretell something | The storm bode that we would not reach our destination. |
| Bombast | (n.) pompous speech; pretentious words | After he delivered his bombast at the podium, he arrogantly left the meeting. The presenter ended his bombast with a prediction of his future success. |
| Bombastic | (adj.) pompous; wordy; turgid | The bombastic woman talks a lot about herself. |
| Boor | (n.) a rude person | The boor was not invited to the party, but he came anyway. |
| Breadth | (n.) the distance from one side to another | The table cloth was too small to cover the breadth of the table. |
| Brevity | (n.) briefness; shortness | On Top 40 AM radio, brevity was the coin of the realm. |
| Brindled | (adj.) mixed with a darker color | In order to get matching paint we made a brindled mixture. |
| Broach | (v.) to introduce into conversation | Broaching the touchy subject was difficult. |
| Brusque | (adj.) abrupt in manner or speech | His brusque answer was neither acceptable nor polite. |
| Bucolic | (adj.) having to do with shepherds or the country | The bucolic setting inspired the artist. |
| Bumptious | (adj.) arrogant | He was bumptious in manner as he approached the podium to accept his anticipated award. |
| Bungler | (n.) a clumsy person | The one who broke the crystal vase was a true bungler. |
| Burgeon | (v.) to grow or develop quickly | The tumor appeared to burgeon more quickly than normal. After the first punch was thrown, the dispute burgeoned into a brawl. |
| Burlesque | (v.; n.) to imitate in a non-serious manner; a comical imitation | His stump speeches were so hackneyed, he seemed to be burlesquing of his role as a congressman. George Burns was considered one of the great practitioners of burlesque. |
| Burly | (adj.) strong; bulky; stocky | The lumberjack was a burly man. |
| Burnish | (v.) to polish by rubbing | The vase needed to be burnished to restore its beauty. |
Created by:
Alex Moscow
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