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GRE Hit List 4
Hit Parade Group 4, Princeton Review
Question | Answer |
---|---|
acerbic | having a sour taste |
aggrandize | to increase in intensity, power, influence, or prestige |
alchemy | a medieval science aimed at the transmutation of metals (turning base metals to into gold) |
amenable | agreeable |
anachronism | something or someone out of place in terms of historical or chronological context |
astringent | having a tightening effect on living tissue; harsh |
contiguous | sharing a border; touching |
convention | a generally agreed-upon practice or attitude |
credulous | gullible |
cynicism | the belief that all people are motivated by selfishness |
decorum | polite behavior |
derision | scorn, ridicule |
desiccate | to dry out |
dilettante | one with an amateurish or superficial interest in the arts or a branch of knowledge |
disparage | to belittle or slight |
divulge | to reveal a secret |
fawn | to flatter or praise excessively |
flout | to show contempt for, as in a rule |
garrulous | talks too much |
glib | nonchalant, marked by ease or informality |
hubris | arrogance |
imminent | about to happen |
immutable | not capable of change |
impetuous | rashly energetic; impulsive and vehement |
indifferent | having no interest; showing no bias or prejudice |
inimical | damaging; harmful |
intractable | not easily managed; stubborn |
intrepid | courageous |
laconic | using few words |
maverick | an independent person who doesn't go along with group or party |
mercurial | characterized by rapid and unpredictable change in mood |
mollify | to calm/ soothe |
neophyte | a beginner |
obfuscate | to make confusing |
obstinate | stubborn |
ostentatious | showy; a pretentious display |
pervade | to permeate throughout |
phlegmatic | calm; sluggish; unemotional |
plethora | a surplus |
pragmatic | practical rather than idealistic |
presumptuous | overstepping due bounds; taking liberties |
pristine | pure; clean |
probity | follow the highest principles; uprightness |
proclivity | a natural predisposition |
profligate | very wasteful |
propensity | a natural inclination or tendency; penchant |
prosaic | dull |
pungent | characterized by a strong smell/taste |
quixotic | foolishly impractical; marked by lofty romance ideals |
quotidian | recurring daily; commonplace |
rarefy | to make or become thin, less dense; to refine |
recondite | hidden; difficult to understand; obscure |
refulgent | radiant |
renege | to fail to honor a commitment; to go back on a promise |
sedulous | diligent |
shard | a piece of broken pottery/glass |
soporific | causing drowsiness |
sparse | thin |
spendthrift | one who spends money wastefully |
subtle | not obvious; elusive |
tacit | implied |
terse | brief |
tout | to publicly praise or promote |
trenchant | very perceptive; keen; penetrating |
unfeigned | genuine |
untenable | indefensible; uninhabitable |
vacillate | to waver indecisively between one course of action or opinion and another |
variegated | multicolored |
vexation | annoyance |
vigilant | very watchful |
vituperate | to use harsh condemnatory language; to censure severely |
volatile | rapidly changing to a vapor; fickle; explosive |