GRE Saad Vocab - New Words List (Part 2) Flashcards
beset
(of a problem or difficulty) troubling (someone or something) persistently; bother
e.g. “he’s been beset by a lack of self confidence virtually his entire life”
Synonym: bedevil, beleaguer, invade, overrun, perplex, agonize
allay
to make more bearable or less severe
e.g. “a gentle breeze would allay the heat”
Synonym: reduce, assuage, palliate, mitigate, mollify
ascertain
find out; establish
e.g. “I was immediately able to ascertain that the girl was uncomfortable talking about her life at home”
Synonym: confirm, determine, discover
ostentatious
flashy; showy
e.g. “wears an ostentatious diamond ring on his little finger”
Synonym: extravagant, gaudy, excessive, swank
ethos
moral character; sentiment
e.g. “rigorous self-discipline was central to the ethos of the ancient Spartans”
Synonym: code, culture, habits, ideology
multifarious
having or occurring in great variety
e.g. “the multifarious interests and activities in which Benjamin Franklin immersed himself”
Synonym: myriad, manifold, diverse, multitudinous
expiation
the act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing; reparation
e.g. “The attempted assassination was an act both of expiation and of restitution.”
Synonym: atonement, reparation, absolution, forgiveness, pardon, indemnity, restitution
ebullient
cheerful; enthusiastic
e.g. “she sounded ebullient and happy”
Synonym: exuberant, buoyant, sanguine, jovial, jubilant
adduce
to cite as evidence or proof
e.g. “a number of factors are adduced to explain the situation”
Synonym: cite, illustrate, prove
ingenuity
clever; inventive
e.g. “considerable ingenuity must be employed in writing software”
Synonym: brilliance, dexterity, flair, genius, gumption, adroit
scruple
a feeling of doubt or hesitation about the morality or propriety of a course of action
e.g. “the survey showed that many students had few scruples about cheating on papers or exams”
Synonym: doubt, compunction, qualm, objection, regret
aped
imitate (someone or something), especially in an absurd or unthinking way
e.g. “He was caught aping the substitute teacher’s thick accent”
Synonym: emulated, mimicked, mocked, burlesque, caricatured
postulate
suggest or assume the existence, fact, or truth of (something) as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or belief
e.g. “his theory postulated a rotatory movement for hurricanes”
Synonym: posit, predicate, put forward
ramifications
a complex or unwelcome consequence of an action or event
e.g. “any change is bound to have legal ramifications”
Synonym: consequence, result, aftermath, outcome
posthumous
occurring or appearing after the death of the originator
e.g. “he was awarded a posthumous Military Cross”
Synonym: post-mortem, belated
incendiary
tending to stir up conflict
e.g. “incendiary rhetoric”
Synonym: inflammatory, provocative, subversive, treacherous
conduit
convey goods, information, or ideas
e.g. “a religious leader might be seen as a conduit who brings divine messages to the people.”
Synonym: purveyor (this can be a synonym)
noxious
harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant
e.g. “they were overcome by the noxious fumes”
Synonym: destructive, fetid, harmful, pernicious, poisonous, putrid, virulent
anodyne
not like to cause offense or disagreement/ dull
e.g. “the otherwise anodyne comments sounded quite inflammatory when taken out of context”
Synonym: harmless, benign, safe, innocent, innocuous
toothless
lacking genuine force or effectiveness
Synonym: harmless, benign, safe, innocent, innocuous, anodyne
premonition
a strong feeling that something is about to happen, especially something unpleasant
e.g. “she had a premonition that her cat would somehow get hurt that day”
Synonym: foreboding, hunch, portent, omen, apprehension
invocation
the action of invoking someone or something
e.g. “a Siberian shaman muttering mysterious invocations to ward off evil”
Synonym: spell, incantation, curse, enchantment, conjuration
contumacious
stubbornly or wilfully disobedient to authority
e.g. “the judge threatened to charge the contumacious witness with contempt of court”
Synonym: insurgent, obstreperous, recalcitrant
clannish
tending to exclude others outside the group
e.g. “they are a clannish lot with no time for foreigners”
Synonym: ostracize
solicitous
anxious or concerned
e.g. “she was always solicitous about the welfare of her students”
Synonym: concerned, caring, attentive, mindful
propound
put forward (an idea or theory) for consideration by others
e.g. “he began to propound the idea of a ‘social monarchy’ as an alternative to Franco”
Synonym: broach, proffer, set forth, postulate
circuitous
indirect or roundabout
e.g. “the canal followed a circuitous route”
Synonym: devious, labyrinthine, meandering, rambling, tortuous
unpropitious
unfavorable
e.g. “his reports were submitted at a financially unpropitious time”
Synonym: unfavorable, sombre, hopeless, cheerless, dismal, gloomy, morbid, morose, forlorn
anathema
someone or something intensely disliked or loathed
e.g. “racial hatred was anathema to her”
Synonym: bane, pariah, abomination, bugbear, detestation
meretricious
deceptively attractive, but having no real value (judging a book by cover)
e.g. “meretricious souvenirs for the tourist trade”
Synonym: flashy, pretentious, gaudy, tawdry, garish
captious
tending to find fault or raise petty objection
e.g. “a captious and cranky eater who’s never met a vegetable he didn’t hate”
Synonym: hypercritical, fault-finding, quibbling, niggling
jubilant
feeling or expressing great happiness and triumph
e.g. “the nominee’s jubilant acceptance speech before the cheering crowd”
Synonym: elated, euphoric, excited, exuberant, exultant, jovial
forbearing
patient and restrained
e.g. “she was inspired by the forbearing patients of the intensive care unit”
Synonym: patient, enduring, tolerate
delimited
having fixed boundaries or limits
e.g. “they made agreements delimiting fishing zones”
Synonym: demarcate
fraught
filled with or likely to result in (something undesirable)
e.g. “marketing any new product is fraught with danger”
Synonym: charged, filled, replete, abound
waggish
humorous in a playful, mischievous, or facetious manner
e.g. “a waggish disposition that often got him into trouble as a child”
Synonym: frivolous, flippant, jocular, facetious, whimsical
reclusive
avoiding the company of other people; solitary
e.g. “he led a reclusive life”
Synonym: cloistered, isolated, sequestered
implicate
show (someone) to be involved in a crime
e.g. “he was implicated in a price-fixing scandal”
Synonym: incriminate, compromise, involve, connect, embroil, enmesh
belabouring
attack (someone) physically or verbally
e.g. “Bernard was belabouring Jed with his fists”
Synonym: batter, pummel, pound, denigrate, lambast
preponderance
the quality or fact of being greater in number, quantity, or importance; predominance
e.g. “the preponderance of women among older people”
Synonym: predominance, prevalence, extensiveness, superiority
parlous
precarious; full of danger or uncertainty
e.g. “the parlous state of the economy”
Synonym: treacherous, menacing, threatening
meddling
tampering; intrude in others affair
e.g. “the bride’s parents promised that they would never be meddling in-laws”
Synonym: officious, intrusive, annoying, obtrusive, prying
subterfuge
something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity
e.g. “he had to use subterfuge and bluff on many occasions”
Synonym: bluff, ploy, stratagem, artifice, hoax, trick
prolixity
long and wordy
e.g. “prolixity is one of the worst offenses that a writer of any age can commit”
Synonym: verbosity, repetitiveness, diffuseness, verbiage
patent
clearly visible; manifest; plain
e.g. “unfortunately, the patent stupidity of the proposal did not deter the city council from putting it up for a vote”
Synonym: flagrant, manifest, conspicuous, plain
untrammeled
free; unrestricted
e.g. “a mind untrammelled by convention”
Synonym: unfettered, unrestricted
offset
counteract or balance something by having an equal and opposite force or effect
e.g. “widow’s bereavement allowance is an offset against income”
Synonym: counteract, counterpoise, neutralize
recapitulate
summarize
e.g. “he began to recapitulate his argument with care”
Synonym: recap, rehash, epitomize, outline, restate
inexorable
not to be persuaded, moved or stopped
e.g. “the seemingly inexorable march of new technology”
Synonym: implacable, inescapable, merciless, relentless, adamant
exorable
susceptible of being persuaded or moved
Synonym: gullible, susceptible, impressionable
entreaty
earnest or humble request
e.g. “his supervisors have ignored his entreaties”
Synonym: imprecation, petition, supplication, obsecration, imploration
imperious
commanding or overbearing (imperial)
e.g. “an imperious little boy who liked to tell the other scouts what to do”
Synonym: authoritarian, domineering, arrogant, authoritative, autocratic, dictatorial, imperial
