GRE Top vocab Flashcards
corroborate
to provide supporting evidence
-Fingerprints corroborated the witness’s testimony that he saw the defendant in the victim’s apartment.
capricious
changing one’s mind quickly and often
-Queen Elizabeth I was quite capricious; her courtiers could never be sure which of their number would catch her fancy.
propriety
correct behavior, obedience to rules and customs
-The aristocracy maintained a high level of propriety, adhering to even the most minor social rules.
ephemeral
lasting a short time
-The lives of mayflies seem ephemeral to us, since the flies’ average life span is a matter of hours.
laudable
worthy of praise
-improving the schools is a laudable goal.
pedant
someone who shows off learning
-The graduate instructors’ tedious and excessive commentary on the subject soon gained her a reputation as a pedant.
laconic
using few words
-She was a laconic poet who built her reputation on using words as sparingly as possible.
volatile
easily aroused or changeable; lively or explosive
-His volatile personality made it difficult to predict his reaction to anything.
homogenous
of a similar kind -The class was fairly homogenous, since almost all of the students were senior journalism majors.
pragmatic
practical as opposed to idealistic
-While daydreaming gamblers think they can get rich by frequently casinos, pragmatic gamblers realize that the odds are heavily stacked against them.
abstain
to choose not to do something
-She abstained from choosing a mouthwatering dessert from the tray.
audacious
fearless and daring
-Her audacious nature allowed her to fulfill her dream of skydiving.
loquacious
talkative
-She was naturally loquacious, which was a problem in situations in which listening was more important than talking.
gullible
easily deceived
-The con man pretended to be a bank officer so as to fool gullible bank customers into giving him their account information.
adulterate
to make impure
-The chef made his ketchup last longer by adulterating it with water.
engender
to produce, cause, or bring about
-His fear and hatred of clowns was engendered when he witnessed the death of his father at the hands of a clown.
apathy
lack of interest or emotion
-The apathy of voters is so great that less than half the people who are eligible to vote actually bother to do so.
mitigate
to soften, to lessen
-a judge may mitigate a sentence if she decides that a person committed a crime out of need.
desiccate
to dry out thoroughly
-After a few weeks of lying on the desert’s baking sands, the cow’s carcass became completely desiccated.
vacillate
to sway physically; to be indecisive
-The customer held up the line as he vacillated between ordering chocolate chip or rocky road ice cream.
precipitate
to throw violently or bring about abruptly; lacking deliberation
-upon learning that the couple married after knowing each other only 2 months, friends and family members expected such a precipitate marriage to end in divorce.
lucid
clear and easily understood
-The explanations were written in a simple and lucid manner so that students were immediately able to apply what they learned.
zeal
passion, excitement
-She brought her typical zeal to the project, sparking enthusiasm in the other team members.
fervid
intensely emotional, feverish
-The fans of Maria Callas were unusually fervid, doing anything to catch a glimpse of the great opera singer.
enigma
a puzzle, a mystery
-Speaking in riddles and dressed in old robes, the artist gained a reputation as something of an enigma.
equivocal
having 2 or more possible meanings, not easily understood or explained.
-The experiment produced equivocal results.
prodigal
lavish, wasteful
-The prodigal son quickly wasted all of his inheritance on a lavish lifestyle devoted to pleasure.
anomaly
deviation from what is normal
-Albino animals may display too great an anomaly in their coloring to attract normally colored mates.
opaque
impossible to see through; preventing the passage of light
-The heavy build up of dirt and grime on the windows almost made them opaque.
erudite
learned, scholarly, bookish
-The annual meeting of philosophy professors was a gathering of the most erudite, well-published individuals in the field.
assuage
to make something unpleasant less severe
-Serena used aspirin to assuage her pounding headache.
placate
to soothe or pacify
-The burglar tried to placate the snarling dog by saying “nice doggy” and offering it a treat.
