GRE Power Vocab - V/W/Z

Question 1

Vacillate

Answer 1

v. to waver indecisively between one course of action or opinion and another, sway from one side to the other

Vacillation is what happens when you vacillate

Question 2

Variegated

Answer 2

adj. multicolored, characterized by a variety of patches of different color

Question 3

Vaunt

Answer 3

v. to brag or boast

Question 4

Venal

Answer 4

adj. capable of being bought or bribed, mercenary

Venality is the use of position for personal gain

venal and venality share a root with vendors and vending machines - all refer to people (or machines) to whom we give money in exchange for goods and servies. Venal, thoug, has a bad conotation - much worse than even a vending machine that eats your money and gives you nothing in return

Question 5

Venerate

Answer 5

v. to revere

Veneration is respect or reverence

Question 6

Veracity

Answer 6

n. truthfulness, honesty

be careful not to confuse veracity with voracity, which means ravenous or very eager. The root ver deals with truth, and is shared by aver, verisimilitude and veritable as well as very

Question 7

Verisimilitude

Answer 7

n. appearing true or real

Question 8

Veritable

Answer 8

adj. authentic, real, genuine

Question 9

Vestigial

Answer 9

adj. possessing a mark or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence; a very slight trace or amount of something

Question 10

Vexation

Answer 10

n. annoyance, irritation

Vexation is a multi-purpose word in that it can mean the act of causing irritation, the irritation itself or the state of being irritated. To vex is to annoy or puzzle

Question 11

Vigilant

Answer 11

adj. alertly watchful

Question 12

Vilify

Answer 12

v. to defame, characterize harshly

When you vilify someone, you are engaged in vilification

anyone who has heard of villian has a built-in association to vilify

Question 13

Virulent

Answer 13

adj. extremely harmful or poisonous, bitterly hostile or antagonistic

Virulence is extreme harmfulness or bitterness

Question 14

Viscous

Answer 14

adj. thick, sticky

Viscosity is the state of being viscous

Question 15

Vitiate

Answer 15

v. to reduce the value of, debase, spoil, make ineffective

Question 16

Vituperate

Answer 16

v. to use harsh condemnatory language; abuse or censure severely

Question 17

Vociferous

Answer 17

adj. crying out noisily

Question 18

Volatile

Answer 18

adj. readily changing to a vapor; changeable, fickle, explosive

Question 19

Voluble

Answer 19

adj. characterized by a ready and continuous flow of words; fluent; talkative

Question 20

Voracious

Answer 20

adj. having an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit, ravenous

Question 21

Waft

Answer 21

n. light breeze, a puff

Waft as a verb means to send floating through the air or over water

Question 22

Waver

Answer 22

to move to and fro, to sway; to be unsettled in opinion

Question 23

Welter

Answer 23

v. to writhe, to toss about, to be in turmoil

Welter is also a noun, meaning a state of turmoil or chaotic jumble

Question 24

Wend

Answer 24

v. to go, proceed, walk

Question 25

Whet

Answer 25

n. to sharpen or stimulate

whet is derived from a Germanic word meaning sharp. In literature, you may see whet as a noun (meaning something that has the effect of whetting), but that meaning is not prevalent in common speech today

Question 26

Whimsical

Answer 26

adj. imaginative; unpredictable

while you usually see this word in a fanciful, playful way, it can have a bad connotation

Whim and whimsy are related nouns

Question 27

Zealous

Answer 27

adj. fervent, ardent, impassioned

to be zealous is to be filled with zeal