GRE 100 Flashcards
Alacrity
(uh-lak-ri-tee)
Adj. liveliness, cheerful, readiness
We accepted the invitation with alacrity.
Hubris
(hyoo-bris)
N. Excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance
His failure was brought on by his hubris.
Loquaciousness
(loh-kwey-shuhs)
Adj. Talkative, babbling
A loquacious dinner guest
Quiesence
(kwee-es-uhnt)
N. inactive or motionless; at rest, dormant
A quiescent mind.
Torpid
(tawr-pid)
Adj. inactive, sluggish, slow, lethargic
A mind grown torpid in old age
Discordant
(dis-kawr-dnt)
Adj. Disagreeable in sound; not in accord conflicting.
Discordant opinions
Obsequious
(uhb-see-kwee-uhs)
Adj. Submissive or compliant; obedient An obsequious bow. Obsequious servants.
Undulate
(UN dyoo layt)
V. to move in wavelike motion. to give wave like appearance; fluctuate
Adj. having a wavy or rippled appearance: leaves with undulate margins.
- Undulations* are the mostion something akes when it undulates.
- The audience was hypnotized by the belly dancer’s undulations.
Upbraid
(up BRAYD)
V. to scold, censure, rebuke, chastise
Nathan was thoroughly upbraided for having gone over his boss’s head with a proposal.
An upbraiding is a severe scolding.
Toady
(TOH dee)
N. A person who flatters or defers to others for self-serving reasons
flatterer, yes-man, sycophant
Lewis could always rely on his trusty toady to tell him what he wanted to hear.
Sycophant
(SIK uh funt)
N. someone who tries to flatter or please for personal gain, parasite
She hs been surrounded by sycophants her whole life, so she had never received any honest criticism of her behavior.
Quail
(kwayl)
V, to shrink back in fear, lose courage
The puppy quailed at the angry tone in Alicia’s voice.
Profligate
(PRAH fli get)
Adj. excessively wasteful; recklessly extravagant
The profligate ruler emptied the country’s treasury to build his many mansions.
Prodigious
(pro DI jus)
Adj. abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary
The prodigious weight of my backpack made me fall over backwards.
Odious
(OH dee us)
adj. hateful; arousing strong feelings of dislike
As a vegetarian, there are few things more odious to Mari than the smell of beef cooking.
Officious
(uh FISH us)
adj. meddlesome, pushy in offering on’es serivices where they are unwanted
The offisious busybody was constantly popping up to offer help when everyone just wished he would go away.
Nostrum
(NAH strum)
N. cure-all, placebo, questionable remedy
Any nostrum that clains to sure both a hangover and bunions is either americal or a fraud.
Noxious
(NAHK shus)
adj. harmful, injurious
That particularly noxious shade of pink is making my eye hurt.
Inveterate
(in VET ur ut)
adj. deep rooted, ingrained, habitual
Syn.inherent
Tim was such an inveterate lair that he lied even when he thought he was telling the truth.
Inveigh
(in VAY)
V. to attack verablly, denounce, deprecate
Inveighing against the government’s policies will do you no good it you don’t bother to vote as well.
Inimical
(i NIM i kul)
adj. damaging, harmful, injurious, hostile, unfriendly
Syn. pernicious
While the Anatarctic is inimical to most animal and plant life, some oraganism nevertheless manage to survive there.
Ingenuous
(in JEN yoo us)
adj. artless, frank and candid, lacking sophistication
Syn, naive
Heretical
(huh RET i kul)
adj. violating accepted conversion
unorthodox, heresy
The once heretical notion that computers would become more than calculating machines or toys is now so obvious that it’s hard to remeber when we ever thought differently.
Hackneyed
(HAK need)
adj. rendered trite or commonplace by frequent usage.
Despite the often hackneyed writing, some pulp fiction can still be fun to read.
Halcyon
(HAL see un)
adj. calm and peaceful, prosperous
I always hated when the halycon days of summer were interrupted by the start of school in the fall.
Prevarication
[prih-var-i-key-shuhn]
N. a false or deliberate misstatement; lie:
Her many prevarications had apparently paid off; she was free to go.
Deleterious
[del-i-teer-ee-uhs]
Adj. harmful; injurious to health
The deleterious effects of smoking.
Innocuous
[ih-nok-yoo-uhs]
Adj. 1) not harmful or injurious; harmless –
2) not interesting, stimulating, or significant; - Syn: pallid; insipid:
An innocuous novel.
Intrepid
[in-trep-id]
Adj. fearless; daring; bold
Syn: Brave
An intrepid explorer.
Bellicose
[bel-i-kohs]
Adj. Warlike or hostile, aggressive; ready to fight
Syn. belligerent
A bellicose nation.
Spurious
[spyoor-ee-uhs]
Adj. not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended, or proper source; counterfeit.
Synonyms
1. false, sham, bogus, mock, feigned, phony; meretricious, deceitful.
Scant
[skant]
Adj. barely sufficient, not abundant; limited; meager; not large:
a scant amount.
Laconic
[luh-kon-ik]
Adj. using few words; expressing much in few words;
Syn. concise
A laconic message to viewers.
Engender
[en-jen-der]
Adj. to produce, cause, or give rise to
to beget; procreate.
Hatred engenders violence.
Ennui
[ahn-wee]
N. dissatisfaction and restlessness resulting from boredom or apathy.
The endless lecture produced an unbearable ennui.
Apathy
[ap-uh-thee]
N. absence of emotion
Canon
(KA nun)
N. an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature
Adhering to the dictates of his religion’s canon meant the he couldn’t eat pork.
Chicanery
[shi-key-nuh-ree, chi-]
Adj. trickery or deception
He resorted to the worst flattery and chicanery to win the job.
I refuse to let such chicanery fo unpuchished!
Chary
[CHAR ee]
Adj. wary; cautious; sparing
She was chary with her praise for Dan lest it go to his head.
Desiccate
(DES u kayt)
V. to dry out or dehydrate; to make dry or dull
His skin was so desiccated by the cold, dry air.
Blithe
(blahyth)
Adj. carefree, merry
Everyone loved her for her blithe spirit.
Asperity
(uh SPER uh tee)
N. roughness, harshness, acrimony, irritability
The cause of her anger did not warrant such asperity.
Aspersion
(uh SPER zhun)
N. a damaging or derogatory remark or criticism; slander:
Syn. defamtion or maligning
Casting aspersions on a campaign rival.
Such vehement aspersions cannot be ignored.
Assuage
(uh SWAYJ)
V. to ease or lessen; relieve; ease; to appease
Syn. pacify
To assuage one’s grief.
To assuage one’s pain.
Bedizen
(bi DY zun)
V. tto dress or adorn in a showy, gaudy, or tasteless manner.
The speakeasy was bedizened with every manner of tawdry decoration.
Tawdry
[taw-dree]
Adj. gaudy; showy and cheap;
- low or mean; base: tawdry motives.
Benign
(buh NYN)
Adj. favorable, harmless
The tumor was benign. She is cancer free.
Blandish
(BLAND ish)
V. coax with flatery, toady or fawn
They blandished the guard into letting them through the gate.
Blandishment is flattery intenede to cajole or coax
Axiom
(AK see um)
N. a universally accepted principle or rule.; a self-evident truth that requires no proof; a generally accepted or common saying.
It is an axiom of the American legal system that one is innocent until proven guilty.
Choleric
(KAHL er ik)
Adj. tending toward anger
Choleric by nature, the boxer had no trouble mentally preparing to face his opponent.
Captious
[kap-shuhs]
Adj. disposed to point out trivial faults; to confuse or entrap in argument
Syn. Calculated
He could never praise without adding a captious remark.
Celerity
[suh-ler-i-tee]
N. speed, alacrity, swiftness
Desultory
(des-uhl-tawr-ee)
Adj. random, aimless; maked by a lack of plan or purpose
Even desultory presidential years bring more voters to the polls.
Diffident
[dif-i-duhnt]
Adj. reserved, shy , unassuming; lacking in self-confidence
Encomium
[en-koh-mee-uhm]
N. a formal expression of high praise; eulogy
An encomium by the President greeted the returning hero.
Excoriate
(ik-skawr-ee-eyt)
V. to denounce or berate severely, to upbraid
He was excoriated for his mistakes.
Nonplussed
(non-pluhs)
Adj. baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think
They seemed nonplussed by their temporary homelessness.
Lubricious
[loo-brish-uhs]
Adj. lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery
Obstreperous
[uhb-strep-er-uhs]
Adj. noisily and stubbornly, resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; unruly.
Ossified
[os-uh-fahyd]
Adj. hardened like or into bone.
Palliate
[pal-ee-eyt]
V. to relieve or lessen without curing; mitigate; alleviate.
Medicine’s goal is not only to cure or palliate disease.
Parsimonious
[pahr-suh-moh-nee-uhs]
Adj. cheap, frugal or stingy.
Pellucid
[puh-loo-sid]
Adj. transparent, easy to understand, limpid
a pellucid way of writing.
pellucid waters.
Peroration
[per-uh-rey-shuhn]
N. a long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language.
And the long-awaited peroration of the finale is overwhelming.
Prolix
(proh-liks)
Adj. long-winded, verbose
Though frequently prolix and rhetorical, he is never tedious or irrelevant.
Propitiate
[pruh-pish-ee-eyt]
V. to appease; to conciliate
prositious means asuspricious; favorable
Puissance
(pyoo-uh-suhns)
N. power, strength;
Pussiant means powerful, strong
Hegemony
(hi-jem-uh-nee)
N. The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.
Aghast
(uh-gast)
Adj. Struck by overwhelming shock, terror, or amazement.
They stood aghast at the sight of the plane crashing.
Incipient
[in-sip-ee-uhnt]
Adj. beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage:
An incipient cold.
Flippant
[flip-uhnt]
Adj. frivolously disrespectful, shallow, or lacking in seriousness or sincerity
Syn: glib, levity
The audience was shocked by his flippant remarks about patriotism.
Pastoral
(pas-ter-uhl)
Adj. Charmingly simple and serene; idyllic – pertaining to the country
Syn. Placid
pastoral poetry; a pastoral symphony.
Inclement
[in-klem-uhnt]
Adj. severe, rough, or harsh; stormy. not kind or merciful.
inclement weather.
Placate
(pley-keyt)
V. to appease or pacify, especially by concessions
to placate an outraged citizenry.
Convoluted
[kon-vuh-loo-tid]
Adj. Intricate; complicated
a convoluted way of describing a simple device.
Nominal
[nom-uh-nl]
Adj. 1) Existing in name only.
a nominal treaty; the nominal head of the country.
2) Insignificantly small; trifling
a nominal sum.
Intemperate
(in-tem-per-it)
Adj. unrestrained; unbridled.
Elucidate
[ih-loo-si-deyt]
V. To make clear or plain, especially by explanation; clarify.
an explanation that elucidated his recent strange behavior.
Euphemism
(Yoo-fuh-MIZ-um)
N. a nice way to say something offensive
Reprieve
(re-PREEV)
N. a temporary rest or relief (from trouble), a pardon
Tyro
(TY roh)
N. novice, beginner in learning
Syn. Neophyte
It became clear that he was a tryo when he showed the whole table hs cards.
Torrid
( TOR id)
Adj. scorching, ardent, passionate, hurried
Syn. feiry, sweltering
Chris was so engrossed in the torrid love affair unfolding in the novel that he didn’t event notice that he had missed his bus stop.
Everyone escaped the torrid heat of mid-afternoon by taking a siesta.
Tautology
(taw TAHL uh gee)
N. needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word
Syn. redundancy or pleonasm
Surfeit
(SUR fut)
V. to feed or supply in excess
Surfeit is also a noun, meanind excess, overindulgence
The girls surfeited themselves with candy.
Insouciant
(in-soo-see-uhnt)
Adj. free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant.
Superfluous
(soo PUR floo us)
Adj. unnecessary or needless.
He may have felt any extra knowledge was superfluous.
Sundry
(SUN dree)
Adj. various or diverse
a purse containing keys, wallet, and sundry items.
Splenetic
(spli NET ik)
Adj. bad-tempered, irratible
Syn. Petulent
Her boss became splentic whenever anyone asked him about a raise.
Sinecure
(sahy-ni-kyoor)
N. A position or office that requires little or no work but provides a salary.
Being bumped out of such a sinecure is cruel punishment.
Seminal
[sem-uh-nl]
Adj. highly original and influencing the development of future events:
a seminal artist; seminal ideas.
