click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
180 GRE Words
Kaplan's List of Most Common GRE words
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Abate | To reduce in amount, degree, or severity |
Abscond | To leave secretly |
Abstain | To choose not to do something |
Abyss | An extremely deep hole |
Adulterate | To make impure |
Advocate | To speak in favor of |
Aesthetic | Concerning the appreciation of beauty |
Aggrandize | To increase in power, influence, and reputation |
Alleviate | To make more bearable |
Amalgamate | To combine, mix together |
Ambiguous | Doubtful or uncertain; able to be interpreted in many ways |
Ameliorate | To make better; to improve |
Anachronism | Something out of place in time |
Analogous | Similar or alike in some way; equivalent to |
Anomaly | Deviation from what is normal |
Antagonize | To annoy or provoke to anger |
Antipathy | Extremely dislike |
Apathy | Lack of interest of emotion |
Arbitrate | To judge a dispute between opposing parties |
Archaic | Ancient, old fashioned |
Ardor | Intense and passionate feeling |
Articulate | Able to speak clearly and expressively |
Assuage | To make something unpleasant less severe |
Attenuate | To reduce in force or degree; to weaken |
Audacious | Fearless or daring, bold |
Austere | Severe or stern in appearance, undecorated |
Banal | Predictable, cliched, boring |
Bolster | To support; to prop up |
Bombastic | pompous in speech and manner |
Cacophony | Harsh, jarring noise |
Candid | Impartial and honest in speech |
Capricious | Changing one's mind quickly and often |
Castigate | To punish or criticize harshly |
Catalyst | Something that brings about a change in something else |
Caustic | biting in wit |
Chaos | great disorder and confusion |
Chauvinist | Someone prejudiced in favor of a group to which he or she belongs |
Chicanery | Deception by means of craft or guile |
Cogent | convincing and well reasoned |
Condone | To overlook, pardon, or disregard |
Convoluted | intricate and complicated |
Corroborate | to provide supporting evidence |
Credulous | Too trusting, gullible |
Crescendo | Steadily increasing volume, or force |
Decorum | Appropriateness of behavior or conduct, propriety |
Deference | Respect, courtesy |
Deride | To speak of or treat with contempt;to mock |
Desiccate | To dry out thoroughly |
Desultory | Jumping from one thing to another, disconnected |
Diatribe | An abusive, condemnatory speech |
Diffident | lacking self-confidence |
Dilate | To make large, to expand |
Dilatory | Intended to delay |
Dilettante | Someone who has amateurish and superficial interest in a topic |
Dirge | A funeral hymn or mournful speech |
Disabuse | To set right, to free from error |
Discern | To perceive, to recognize |
Disparate | Fundamentally different; entirely unlike |
Dissemble | To present a false appearance; To disguise one's real intentions or character |
Dissonance | A harsh and disagreeable combination; often of sounds |
Dogma | A firmly held opinion, often a religious belief |
Dogmatic | Dictatorial in one's opinions |
Dupe | To deceive; a person who is easily deceived |
Eclectic | Selecting from or made up from a variety of sources |
Efficacy | Effectiveness |
Elegy | A sorrowful poem or speech |
Eloquent | Persuasive and moving, especially in speech |
Emulate | To copy, or try to equal or excel |
Enervate | to reduce in strength |
Engender | to produce,cause or bring about |
Enigma | A puzzle, a mystery |
Enumerate | To count, list, or itemize |
Ephemeral | Lasting a short time |
Equivocate | To use expressions of double meaning in order to mislead |
Erratic | Wandering and unpredictable |
Erudite | Learned, scholarly, bookish |
Esoteric | Known or understood by only a few |
Estimable | Admirable |
Eulogy | Speech in praise of someone |
Euphemism | Use of an inoffensive word or phrase in place of a more distasteful one |
Exacerbate | To make worse |
Exculpate | Yo clear from blame; prove innocent |
Exigent | Urgent, requiring immediate action |
Exonerate | To clear of blame |
Explicit | Clearly stated or shown; forthright in expression |
Fanatical | Acting excessively enthusiastic; filled with extreme unquestioned devotion |
Fawn | To grovel |
Fervid | Intensely emotional; feverish |
Florid | Excessively decorated or embellished |
Foment | To arouse or incite |
Frugality | A tendency to be thrifty or cheap |
Garrulous | Tending to talk alot |
Gregarious | Outgoing, sociable |
Guile | Deceit of trickery |
Gullible | Easily Deceived |
Homogeneous | Of a similar kind |
Iconoclast | One who opposes established beliefs, customs, and institutions |
Imperturbable | Not capable of being disturbed |
Impervious | Impossible to penetrate; incapable of being affected |
Impetuous | Quick to act without thinking |
Implacable | Unable to be calmed down or made peaceful |
Inchoate | Not fully formed, disorganized |
Ingenuous | Showing innocence or childlike simplicity |
Inimical | Hostile, unfriendly |
Innocuous | Harmless |
Insipid | Lacking interest of flavor |
Intransigent | Uncompromising, refusing to be reconciled |
Inundate | To overwhelm to cover with water |
Irascible | Easily made angry |
Laconic | Using few words |
Lament | To express sorrow or grieve |
Laud | To give praise, to glorify |
Lavish | To give unsparingly; extremely generous or extravagant |
Lethargic | Acting in an indifferent or slow, sluggish manner |
Loquacious | Talkative |
Lucid | clear and easily understood |
Luminous | Bright, brilliant, glowing |
Malinger | To evade responsibility by pretending to be ill |
Malleable | capable of being shaped |
Metaphor | a figure of speech comparing two different things; a symbol |
Meticulous | Extremely careful about details |
Misanthrope | a person who dislikes others |
Mitigate | To soften, or lessen |
Mollify | to calm or make less severe |
Monotony | lack of variation |
Naive | Lacking sophistication or experience |
Obdurate | hardened in feeling, resistant to persuasion |
Obsequious | overly submissive and eager to please |
Obstinate | stubborn, unyielding |
Obviate | to prevent, to make unnecessary |
Occlude | To stop up; to prevent the passage of |
Onerous | troublesome and oppressive,; burdensome |
Opaque | Impossible to see through; preventing the passage of light |
Opprobrium | public disgrace |
Ostentation | excessive showiness |
Paradox | A contradiction or dilemma |
Paragon | model of excellence or perfection |
Pedant | Someone who shows off learning |
Perfidious | willing to betray one's trust |
Perfunctory | done in a routine day, indifferent |
Permeate | To penetrate |
Philanthropy | charity; a desire or effort to promote goodness |
Placate | to soothe or pacify |
Plastic | able to be molded, altered, or bent |
Plethora | Excess |
Pragmatic | practical as opposed to idealistic |
Precipitate | to throw violently or bring about abruptly lacking deliberation |
Prevaricate | to lie of deviate from the truth |
Pristine | fresh and clean; uncorrupted |
Prodigal | lavish, wasteful |
Proliferate | to increase in number quickly |
Propitiate | to conciliate; to appease |
Propriety | correct behavior; obedience to rules and customs |
Prudence | wisdom, caution, or restraint |
Pungent | Sharp and irritating to the senses |
Quiescent | motionless |
Rarefy | to make things thinner or sparser |
Repudiate | to reject the validity of |
Reticent | silent, reserved |
Rhetoric | Effective writing or speaking |
Satiate | to satisfy fully or overindulge |
Soporific | causing sleep or lethargy |
Specious | deceptively attractive; seemingly plausible but fallacious |
Stigma | a mark of shame or discredit |
Stolid | unemotional, lacking sensitivity |
Sublime | lofty or grand |
Tacit | Done without using words |
Taciturn | Silent, not talkative |
Tirade | long harsh speech or verbal attack |
Torpor | extreme mental of physical sluggishness |
Transitory | temporary, lasting a brief time |
Vacillate | to sway physically; to be indecisive |
Venerate | to respect deeply |
Veracity | filled with truth and accuracy |
Verbose | wordy |
Vex | to annoy |
Volatile | easily aroused or changeable;lively or explosive |
Waver | to fluctuate between choices |
Whimsical | acting in a fanciful or capricious manner; unpredictable |
Zeal | Passion, excitement |