GRE Vocab Set 24

Question 1

assail

Answer 1

make a concerted or violent attack on/ criticize harshly

Question 2

benevolent

Answer 2

well meaning and kindly/ serving a charitable rather than a profit-making purpose

Question 3

berate

Answer 3

scold and criticze angrily

Question 4

buoyant

Answer 4

1. able or tending to keep afloat or rise to the top of a liquid or gas
2. cheerful and optimistic
3. involving or engaged in much successful trade or activity

Question 5

buttress

Answer 5

increase the strength of or justification for; reinforce

Question 6

contravene

Answer 6

offend against the prohibition or order of/ conflict with

Question 7

denounce

Answer 7

publicly declare to be wrong/ inform against

Question 8

despotic

Answer 8

tyrannical

Question 9

deviate

Answer 9

depart from usual or accepted standards

Question 10

disinterested

Answer 10

1. not influenced by considerations or personal advantage

2. having or feeling no interest in something; uninterested; indifferent

Question 11

exorcise

Answer 11

1. completely remove from one’s mind and memory

2. rid of a supposed evil spirit

Question 12

inundate

Answer 12

1. overwhelm with things or people to be dealt with

2. flood

Question 13

ironclad

Answer 13

impossible to contradict, weaken, or change

Question 14

mercurial

Answer 14

1. subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind

Question 15

perpetrate

Answer 15

carry out or commit

Question 16

plaintive

Answer 16

sounding sad and mournful

Question 17

poignant

Answer 17

evoking a keen sense of sadness and regret

Question 18

quiescent

Answer 18

in a state or period of inactivity or dormany

Question 19

subsume

Answer 19

include or absorb in something else

Question 20

surmount

Answer 20

1. overcome

2. stand or be placed on top of

Question 21

tangential

Answer 21

1. diverging from a previous course or line; erratic

2. hardly touching a matter; peripheral