GRE Verbal Word List

GRE WORD DIATRIBE ENCOMIUM CONFLAGRATION BREACH

Meaning

a bitter abusive denunciation. a formal eulogy or speech of praise a great fire a lapse, gap or break, as in a fortress wall. To break or break through.ex: Unfortunately, the club members never forgot his breach of etiquette. a measure of length (six feet) used in nautical settings. to penetrate to the

FATHOM

depths of something in order to understand it: I couldnt fathom her reasoning on that issue. a person or artifact appearing after its own time or out of chronological

ANACHRONISM PECCADILLO EULOGY SAVANT PANEGYRIC TRACTABLE

order (adj: anachronistic) a small sin or fault a spoken or written tribute to the deceased (v. eulogize) a very knowledgeable person; a genius a writing or speech in praise of a person or thing ability to be easily managed or controlled: Her mother wished she were more tractable. (n: tractability) ambiguous; unclear; subject to more than one interpretation often

EQUIVOCAL

intentionally so: Republicans complained that Bill Clintons answers were equivocal. (v. equivocate) an absence of foresight; a failure to provide for future needs or events:

IMPROVIDENCE CATALYST

Their improvidence resulted in the loss of their home. an agent of change (adj: catalytic; v. catalyze)

TIRADE (DIATRIBE) an angry speech: His tirade had gone on long enough. ANTEDILUVIAN

ancient; outmoded; (literally,before the flood)

PULCHRITUDINOUS beautiful (n: pulchritude)

beginner; person lacking experience in a specific endeavor: They easily

TYRO

took advantage of the tyro.

DEPRECATION DISPARAGING DISPASSIONATE CAUSTIC

belittlement. (v. deprecate) belittling (n: disparagement. v. disparage) calm; objective; unbiased capable of dissolving by chemical action; highly critical: His caustic remarks spoiled the mood of the party. cheerful; confident: Her sanguine attitude put everyone at

SANGUINE

ease.(Sangfroid (noun) is a related French word meaning unflappability. Literally, it means cold blood)

LUCID INGENIOUS

clear; translucent: He made a lucid argument to support his theory. clever: She developed an ingenious method for testing her hypothesis.(n: ingenuity) cliff with a vertical or nearly vertical face; a dangerous place from which

PRECIPICE IMPERIOUS BANAL

one is likely to fall; metaphorically, a very risky circumstance commanding commonplace or trite (n: banality) concerned with facts; practical, as opposed to highly principled or

PRAGMATIC

traditional: His pragmatic approach often offended idealists. (n: pragmatism) cowardly, timid, or irresolute; petty: The pusillanimous leader soon lost

PUSILLANIMOUS CRAVEN VORACIOUS CHICANERY WORD PERFIDIOUS TURPITUDE CULPABLE ABERRANT SEDULOUS

the respect of his people. cowardly; a coward craving or devouring large quantities of food, drink, or other things. She is a voracious reader. deception by trickery Definitions, Other Forms, and Examples deliberately treacherous; dishonest (n: perfidy) depravity; baseness: Mr. Castor was fired for moral turpitude. deserving of blame (n: culpability) deviating from normal or correct. diligent; persevering; persistent: Her sedulous devotion to overcoming

her background impressed many. (n: sedulous; sedulousness; adv. sedulously) easily or frequently annoyed, especially over trivial matters; childishly
PETULANT EFFICACY VACUOUS

irritable effectiveness; capability to produce a desired effect empty; without contents; without ideas or intelligence:: She flashed a vacuous smile. enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal (n: zealot; zealotry. adj:

ZEAL

zealous) exceeding customary or normal limits, esp. in quantity or price: The cab

EXORBITANT

fare was exorbitant. excessively large quantity; overabundance: We received a plethora of

PLETHORA TEMPERATE VOLATILE AUDACIOUS WRETCHED AMBROSIAL

applications for the position. exercising moderation and self -denial; calm or mild (n: temperance) explosive; fickle (n: volatility). extremely bold; fearless, especially said of human behavior (n: audacity) extremely pitiful or unfortunate (n: wretch) extremely pleasing to the senses, divine (as related to the gods) or delicious (n: ambrosia) fine cobweb on foliage; fine gauzy fabric; very fine: She wore a

GOSSAMER

gossamer robe. flushed with a rosy color, as in complexion; very ornate and flowery:

FLORID EXPLICIT MAGNANIMITY LEVIATHAN

florid prose. fully and clearly expressed generosity and nobility. (adj: magnanimous) giant whale, therefore, something very large great respect or reverence: The Chinese traditionally venerated their

VENERATE

ancestors; ancestor worship is merely a popular misnomer for this tradition. (n: veneration, adj: venerable)

TACITURN

habitually untalkative or silent (n: taciturnity)

OBDURATE NOISOME INNOCUOUS SATURNINE SAGACIOUS HEADLONG

hardened against influence or feeling; intractable. harmful, offensive, destructive: The noisome odor of the dump carried for miles. harmless; having no adverse affect; not likely to provoke strong emotion having a gloomy or morose temperament having a sharp or powerful intellect or discernment. (n: sagacity). headfirst; impulsive; hasty. impulsively; hastily; without forethought: They rushed headlong into marriage. heavy; massive; awkward; dull: A ponderous book is better than a

PONDEROUS

sleeping pill. highly emotional; hot: The partisans displayed a fervent patriotism. (n:

FERVID, FERVENT GUILELESS ANTIPATHY CAPRICE INCHOATE EXTANT QUIESCENCE MISNOMER IMPLICATION ESOTERIC

fervor) honest; straightforward (n: guilelessness) hostility toward, objection, or aversion to impulse (adj: capricious) in an initial or early stage; incomplete; disorganized: The act of writing forces one to clarify inchoate thoughts. in existence, still existing: The only extant representative of that species. inactivity; stillness; dormancy (adj: quiescent) incorrect name or word for something insinuation or connotation (v. implicate) intended for or understood by only a few: The esoteric discussion confused some people. (n: esoterica) lack, scarcity: The prosecutor complained about the dearth of concrete

DEARTH DIFFIDENT INSIPID EPHEMERAL MALEVOLENT

evidence against the suspect. lacking self-confidence, modest (n: diffidence) lacking zest or excitement; dull lasting for only a brief time, fleeting (n: ephemera) malicious; evil; having or showing ill will: Some early American colonists saw the wilderness as malevolent and sought to control it.

not capable of being corrected: The school board finally decided the
INCORRIGIBLE PHLEGMATIC OPAQUE

James was incorrigible and expelled him from school. not easily excited; cool; sluggish not transparent or transluscent; dense; difficult to comprehend, as inopaque reasoning numb; unconscious: Wayne was rendered insensible by a blow to the

INSENSIBLE

head. unfeeling; insensitive: They were insensible to the suffering of others.: of or having to do with material, as opposed to spiritual; tangible. (In

CORPOREAL

older writings, corporeal could be a synonym for corporal. This usage is no longer common) of or pertaining to an island, thus, excessively exclusive: Newcomers

INSULAR

found it difficult to make friends in the insular community. of the body: corporal punishment. a non -commissioned officer ranked

CORPORAL

between a sergeant and a private. one who attacks traditional ideas or institutions or one who destroys

ICONOCLAST

sacred images (adj: iconoclastic) one who hates people: He was a true misanthrope and hated even

MISANTHROPE MISOGYNIST SUPERFICIAL ANOMALOUS IMPECUNIOUS INDELIBLE BOMBAST LAUDABLE LATENT ENDEMIC

himself. one who hates women only covering the surface: A superficial treatment of the topic was all they wanted. peculiar; unique, contrary to the norm (n: anomaly) penniless; poor permanent; unerasable; strong: The Queen made an indelible impression on her subjects. pompous speech (adj: bombastic) praiseworthy; commendable (v. laud) present or potential but not evident or active (n: latency) prevalent in or native to a certain region, locality, or people: The disease

was endemic to the region. Dont confuse this word with epidemic.
IRASCIBLE ENIGMA PRODIGAL

prone to outbursts of temper, easily angered puzzle; mystery: Math is an enigma to me. (adj: enigmatic) rashly wasteful: Americans prodigal devotion to the automobile is unique. related to being shaped or molded ; capable of being molded. (n: plasticity

PLASTIC DOGMATIC ERUDITE SPECIOUS

n: plastic) relying upon doctrine or dogma, as opposed to evidence scholarly; displaying deep intensive learning. (n: erudition) seemingly true but really false; deceptively convincing or attractive: Her argument, though specious, was readily accepted by many. selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources:

ECLECTIC

Many modern decorators prefer an eclectic style. (n: eclecticism) showing a narrow concern for rules or formal book learning; making an

PEDANTIC

excessive display of ones own learning: We quickly tired of his pedantic conversation. (n: pedant, pedantry).

HOMOGENOUS

similar in nature or kind; uniform: a homogeneous society. skillful deceit: He was well known for his guile. (v. bequile; adj: beguiling. Note, however, that these two words have an additional

GUILE

meaning: to charm (v.) or charming (adj:), while the word guile does not generally have any such positive connotations) slow moving; highly resistant to flow: Heintz commercials imply that

VISCOUS EMOLLIENT PRECURSOR BLANDISHMENT FLOUNDERING DOGGED

their catsup is more viscous than others. (n: viscosity) softening; something that softens something (or someone) that precedes another: The assassinati on of the Archduke was a precursor to the war. speech or action intended to coax someone into doing something struggling: We tried to save the floundering business. stubborn or determined: Her dogged pursuit of the degree eventually paid off.

stubborn; immovable; unwilling to change: She was so intransigent we

INTRANSIGENT

finally gave up trying to convince her. (n: intransigence) submission or courteous yielding: He held his tongue in deference to his

DEFERENCE LOQUACIOUS PHILANTHROPY REPROOF DEPREDATION

father. (n: deferential. v. defer) talkative tendency or action for the benefit of others, as in donating money or property to a charitable organization the act of censuring, scolding, or rebuking. (v. reprove). the act of preying upon or plundering: The depredations of the invaders demoralized the population. the quality of flowing out. something that flows out, such as a stream

EFFLUENT

from a river (n: effluence) to annoy; to bother; to perplex; to puzzle; to debate at length: Franklin

VEX

vexed his brother with his controversial writings. to calm or reduce anger by making concessions: The professor tried to

PLACATE CASTIGATE OCCLUDE DISSEMBLE PROPITIATE AVER INFER

placate his students by postponing the exam. to chastise or criticize severely to close or shut off; to obstruct (n: occlusion) to conceal ones real motive, to feign to conciliate; to appease: They made sacrifices to propitiate angry gods. to declare to deduce: New genetic evidence led some zoologists to infer that the red wolf is actually a hybrid of the coyote and the gray wolf. to demonstrate or prove to be blameless: The evidence tended to

EXCULPATE DESICCATE

exculpate the defendant.(adj: exculpatory) to dry out thoroughly (adj: desiccated) to fall; to fall downward suddenly and dramatically; to bring about or

PRECIPITATE

hasten the occurrence of something: Old World diseases precipitated a massive decline in the American Indian population.

DISABUSE

to free a person from falsehood or error: We had to disabuse her of the

notion that she was invited.

CADGE FEIGN

to get something by taking advantage of someone to give false appearance or impression: He feigned illness to avoid going to school. (adj: feigned) to give rise to, to propagate, to cause: His slip of the tounge engendered

ENGENDER BURGEON WAVER INHIBIT EXACERBATE ABSCOND DESCRY AGGRANDIZE MITIGATE ASSUAGE RAREFY OBVIATE RESCIND SATE FAWN ARBITRATE DEPICT ADVOCATE

much laughter. to grow or flourish; a bud or new growth (adj: burgeoning ) to hesitate or to tremble to hold back, prohibit, forbid, or restrain (n: inhibition, adj: inhibited) to increase the bitterness or violence of; to aggravate: to leave secretly and hide, often to avoid the law. to make clear, to say to make greater, to increase, thus, to exaggerate. to make less forceful; to become more moderate; to make less harsh or undesirable to make less severe; to appease or satisfy to make or become thin; to purify or refine (n: rarefaction, adj: rarefied) to prevent by anticipatory measures; to make unnecessary: to repeal or annul to satisfy fully or to excess to seek favor or attention; to act subserviently (n, adj: fawning) to settle a dispute by impulse (n: arbitration) to show, create a picture of. to speak, plead, or argue for a cause, or in anothers behalf. (n) one who advocates. to stray away from or evade the truth: When we asked him what his

PREVARICATE

intentions were, he prevaricated.(n: prevarication; prevaricator) to strengthen or support: The witness corroborted his story. (n:

CORROBORATE

corroboration)

EMULATE IMPLY BUTTRESS AMALGAMATE ENERVATE

to strive to equal or excel (n: emulation) to suggest indirectly; to entail: She implied she didnt believe his story. (n: implication) to support. a support to unite or mix. (n) amalgamation. to weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of: The heatenervated everyone. turned to bone; hardened like bone; Inflexible: The ossified culture failed

OSSIFIED

to adapt to new economic conditions and died out. twisted; excessively complicated: Despite public complaints, tax laws

TORTUOUS

and forms have become increasingly tortuous. Note: Dont confuse this with torturous.

BAREFACED INEFFABLE HAPLESS INGENUOUS

unconcealed, shameless, or brazen inexpressible in words; unspeakable unfortunate unsophisticated; artless; straightforward; candid: Wilsons ingenuous response to the controversial calmed the suspicious listeners. unspoken: Katie and carmella had a tacit agreement that they would not

TACIT LACONIC AMBIGUOUS GARRULOUS ATTENUATE LUGUBRIOUS NEFARIOUS COMPLAISANT VERBOSE

mention the dented fender to their parents. using few words; terse: a laconic reply. vague; subject to more than one interpretation verbose; talkative; rambling: We tried to avoid our garrulous neighbor. weaken (adj: attenuated) weighty, mournful, or gloomy, especially to an excessive degree: Jakes lugubrious monologues depressed his friends. wicked, evil: a nefarious plot. willingly compliant or accepting of the status quo (n: complaisance) wordy: The instructor asked her verbose student make her paper more concise. (n: verbosity)