GRE Vocab Most Common Words Flashcards
Alacrity (n.)
an eager willingness to do something.
The first three weeks at his new job, Mark worked with such alacrity that upper management knew they would be
giving him a promotion.
Prosaic (adj.)
means dull and lacking imagination
Unlike the talented artists in his workshop, Paul had no such bent for the visual medium, so when it was time for
him to make a stained glass painting, he ended up with a prosaic mosaic.
Veracity (n.)
truthful
After years of political scandals, the congressman was hardly known for his veracity; yet despite this distrust, he
was voted into yet another term.
Paucity
lack of something; the presence of something only in small or insufficient quantities or amounts; scarcity
There is a paucity of jobs hiring today that require menial skills, since most jobs have either been automated or
outsourced.
maintain (v)
to assert.
The scientist maintained that the extinction of dinosaurs was most likely brought about by a drastic change in
climate.
Contrite (adj.)
be remorseful
Though he stole his little sister’s licorice stick with malevolent glee, Chucky soon became contrite when his sister wouldn’t stop crying.
Laconic (adj.)
when he/she says very few words
While Martha always swooned over the hunky, laconic types in romantic comedies, her boyfriends inevitably were very talkative—and not very hunky.
Pugnacious (adj.)
likes to aggressively argue about everything.
The comedian told one flat joke after another, and when the audience started booing, he pugnaciously spat back at them, “Hey, you think this is easy – why don’t you buffoons give it a shot?”
Disparate (adj.)
If two things are fundamentally different, they are disparate
With the advent of machines capable of looking inside the brain, fields as disparate as religion and biology have
been brought together, as scientists try to understand what happens in the brain when people have a religious
experience.
Egregious (adj.)
meant standing out in a bad way
The dictator’s abuse of human rights was so egregious that many world leaders asked that he be tried in an
international court for genocide
Extant (adj.)
still in existence; surviving
Despite many bookstores closing, experts predict that some form of book dealing will still be extant generations
from now.
Contentious (adj.)
causing or likely to cause an argument; controversial
Auspicious (adj)
conducive to success; favorable
Enervate (v.)
sap the energy from.
John preferred to avoid equatorial countries; the intense sun would always leave him enervated after he’d spent the day sightseeing.
Innocuous (adj.)
harmless and doesn’t produce any ill effects
Everyone found Nancy’s banter innocuous—except for Mike, who felt like she was intentionally picking on him.
