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GRE Words > 7/04 > Flashcards

7/04 Flashcards

1
Q

Abjure

A

v.
to solemnly renounce or reject
to recant; to avoid

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2
Q

Adumbrate

A

v.
to foreshadow vaguely or intimate;
to suggest or outline sketchily;
to obscure or overshadow

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3
Q

Anathema

A

n.
a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse;
accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing

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4
Q

Anodyne

A

adj. n.

soothing; something that assuages or allays pain or comforts

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5
Q

Apogee

A

n.
farthest or highest point;
culmination;
zenith

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6
Q

Apostate

A

n.

one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions

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7
Q

Apotheosis

A

n.

deification; glorification to godliness; an exalted example; a model of excellence or perfection

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8
Q

Asperity

A

n.

severity, rigor; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability

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9
Q

Asseverate

A

v.

to aver, allege, or assert

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10
Q

Assiduous

A

adj.

diligent, hard-working, sedulous

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11
Q

Augury

A

n.

omen, portent

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12
Q

Bellicose

A

adj.

belligerent, pugnacious, war like

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13
Q

Calumniate

A

v.
to slander, to make a false accusation

calumny means slander, aspersion

kelein (GK): to bewitch, cast a spell
holon (Gothic): to slander

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14
Q

Captious

A

adj.
disposed to point out trivial faults;
calculated to confuse or entrap in argument

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15
Q

Cavil

A

v.

to find fault without good reason

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16
Q

Celerity

A

n.

speed, alacrity; think accelerate

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17
Q

Chimera

A

n.

an illusion; originally, an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster

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18
Q

Contumacious

A

adj.
insubordinate, rebellious

contumely means insult, scorn, aspersion

con- (LT): with
tumere (LT): to swell

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19
Q

Debacle

A

n.

rout, fiasco, complete failure

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20
Q

Denouement

A

n.

an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot

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21
Q

Descry

A

v.

to discriminate or discern

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22
Q

Desuetude

A

n.

disuse

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23
Q

Desultory

A

adj.

random; aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose

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24
Q

Diaphanous

A

adj.

transparent, gauzy

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25
Q

Diffident

A

adj.

reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence

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26
Q

Dirge

A

n.

a song of grief or lamentation

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27
Q

Encomium

A

n.
glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy

en- (LT): in
komos (LT): banquet

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28
Q

Eschew

A

v.

to shun or avoid

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29
Q

Excoriate

A

v.
to censure scathingly, to upbraid

ex- (LT): out
corium (LT): hide, skin

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30
Q

Execrate

A

v.

to denounce, to feel loathing for, to curse, to declare to be evil

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31
Q

Exegesis

A

n.

critical examination, explication

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32
Q

Expiate

A

v.

to atone or make amends for

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33
Q

Extirpate

A

v.

to destroy, to exterminate, to cut out, to exscind

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34
Q

Fatuous

A

adj.

silly, inanely foolish

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35
Q

Fractious

A

adj.

quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable

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36
Q

Gainsay

A

v.
to deny, to dispute, to contradict, to oppose

gegn- (Old EN): against

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37
Q

Heterodox

A

adj.

unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic

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38
Q

Imbroglio

A

n.
difficult or embarrassing situation

in-: into
brouiller (IT): confuse

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39
Q

Indefatigable

A

adj.

not easily exhaustible; tireless, dogged

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40
Q

Ineluctable

A

adj.

certain, inevitable

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41
Q

Inimitable

A

adj.

one of a kind, peerless

42
Q

Insouciant

A

adj.

unconcerned, carefree, heedless

43
Q

Inveterate

A

adj.

deep rooted, ingrained, habitual

44
Q

Jejune

A

adj.

vapid, uninteresting, nugatory; childish, immature, puerile

45
Q

Lubricious

A

adj.

lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery

46
Q

Mendicant

A

n.

a beggar, supplicant

47
Q

Meretricious

A

adj.

cheap, gaudy, tawdry, flashy, showy; attracting by false show

48
Q

Minatory

A

adj.

menacing, threatening (Minotaur)

49
Q

Nadir

A

n.

low point, perigee

50
Q

Nonplussed

A

adj.

baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think

51
Q

Obstreperous

A

adj.

noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous

52
Q

Ossified

A

adj.

tending to become more rigid, conventional, sterile, and reactionary with age; literally, turned into bone

53
Q

Palliate

A

v.

to make something seem less serious, to gloss over, to make less severe or intense

54
Q

Panegyric

A

n.
formal praise, eulogy, encomium

panegyrical: expressing elaborate praise

55
Q

Parsimonious

A

adj.

cheap, miserly

56
Q

Pellucid

A

adj.

transparent, easy to understand, limpid

57
Q

Peroration

A

n.

the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech

58
Q

Plangent

A

adj.

pounding, thundering, resounding

59
Q

Prolix

A

adj.
long-winded, verbose;

prolixity: verbosity

60
Q

Propitiate

A

v.
to appease; to conciliate

propitious: auspicious, favorable

61
Q

Puerile

A

adj.

childish, immature, jejune, nugatory

62
Q

Puissance

A

n.
power, strength

puissant: powerful, strong

63
Q

Pusillanimous

A

adj.

cowardly, craven

64
Q

Remonstrate

A

v.

to protest, to object

65
Q

Sagacious

A

adj.

having sound judgment; perceptive, wise; like a sage

66
Q

Salacious

A

adj.

lustful, lascivious, bawdy

67
Q

Salutary

A

adj.

remedial, wholesome, causing improvement

68
Q

Sanguine

A

adj.

cheerful, confident, optimistic

69
Q

Saturnine

A

adj.

gloomy, dark, sullen, morose

70
Q

Sententious

A

adj.

aphoristic or moralistic; epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively

71
Q

Stentorian

A

adj.

extremely loud and powerful

72
Q

Stygian

A

adj.

gloomy, dark

73
Q

Sycophant

A

n.

toady, servile, self-seeking flatterer; parasite

74
Q

Tedentious

A

adj.

biased; showing marked tendencies

75
Q

Timorous

A

adj.

timid, fearful, diffident

76
Q

Tyro

A

n.

novice, greenhorn, rank amateur

77
Q

Vitiate

A

v.

to corrupt, to debase, to spoil, to make ineffective

78
Q

Voluble

A

adj.

fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language

79
Q

Qualify

A

v.

to limit

80
Q

Sap

A

v.
to enervate or weaken the vitality of

n. a fool or nitwit

81
Q

Scurvy

A

adj.

contemptible, despicable

82
Q

Singular

A

adj.

exceptional, unusual, odd

83
Q

Stand

A

n.

a group of trees

84
Q

Steep

A

v.

to saturate or completely soak, as in to let a tea bag steep

85
Q

Strut

A

n.

the supporting structual cross-part of a wing

86
Q

Table

A 
v.
to remove (as a parliamentary motion) from consideration
87
Q

Tender

A

v.

to proffer or offer

88
Q

Waffle

A

v.

to equivocate; to change one’s position

89
Q

Wag

A

n.

wit, joker

90
Q

Reprimand

A 
v.
to rebuke (someone), esp. officially
91
Q

Concession

A

n.
a thing that is granted, especially in response to demands; a thing conceded

syn. compromise

Latin
con-: with
cedere: to go, grant, give away

92
Q

Destitution

A

n.
poverty so extreme that one lacks the means to provide for oneself

Latin
de-: away
statuere: put, place

93
Q

Lavish

A

adj.

sumptuously rich, elaborate, or luxurious

94
Q

Revere

A

v.
feel deep respect or admiration for (something)

Latin
re-
vereri: to fear

95
Q

Gird

A

v.

encircle (a person or part of the body) with a belt or band

96
Q

Nonchalant

A

adj.
(of a person or manner) feeling or appearing casually calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety, interest, or enthusiasm

French
non-: not
chaloir: have concern for

97
Q

Vehement

A

adj.

showing strong feeling, forceful, passionate, or intense

98
Q

Permeate

A

v.
to spread throughout (something); pervade

Latin
per-: through
meare: pass, go

99
Q

Feign

A

v.
to pretend to be affected by (a feeling, state, or injury)

Latin
fingere: mold, contrive

100
Q

Tenable

A

adj.
able to be maintained or defended against attack or objection

Latin
tenere: to hold, keep

GRE Words (5 decks)

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