GRE Vocabulary Flashcards
Amalgamate
Blend merge or unite
Related Words: Agglomerate, Aggregate, Conglomerate
Adumbrate
Give a rough outline of; foreshadow; obscure
Adulterate
Make impure by adding inappropriate or inferior ingredients
Aceptic
Free from germ
Arrogate
Claim or take presumptuously or without the right to do so
Attuned
In harmony; in sympathetic relationship
Attenuate
Weaken or thin out
When you attenuate something, it becomes tenuous, which means thin or weak (a tenuous agreement)
Abasement
Degrade or humble; to lower in rank, status, or esteem
Apposite
Highly appropriate, suitable. or relevant
Antedate
=/= postdate
Aerie
Stronghold; Dwelling or fortress built on a high place
Accretion
Gradual increase; an added part or addition.
Bank accounts accure interest.. Good deeds, ideally, accure rewards.
Acerbic
Sour harsh or severe
Related Words: Caustic; Acrid; Astringent
Anodyne
Medicine that relieves pain; soothing, relieving pain (adj)
Asperity
Rigour, severity; harshness or sharpness of tone
Asperity describes a wide variety of unpleasant things: hardship, people speaking to us in an unnecessarily harsh way, or physical roughness.
Analgesia
Pain relief; inability to feel pain
Baying
Howling in a deep way, like a dog or wolf.
Bay comes from an Old French word meant to actually sound like the baying of an animal. In a related expression, when a person is at bay or brought to bay, that means that person is in captured position, powerless and unable to flee.
Bilk
Cheat or defraud
Related Words: Hoodwink, swindle, Con and Fleece.
Bifurcate
To fork into two branches or divide into two halves; split or forked
Bucolic
Suggesting a peaceful and pleasant view of rural life.
Bucolic
Suggesting a peaceful and pleasant view of rural life.
Pastoral, Idyllic, Georgic, Arcadian
Bombastic
far too showy or dramatic than is appropriate; pretentious
Connote
Suggest or imply in addition to the precise, literal meaning
A denotation is the literal meaning of a word; a connotation is the feeling that accompanies a word
Contrite
Remorseful; feeling sorry for one’s offenses or sins
Contumacious
Rebellious; stubbornly disobedient
Related Words: recalcitrant; Refractory
Cosset
Treat as a pet, pamper
Related Words: coddle
Coterie
close or exclusive group, clique
Related Words: Cabal; Entourage
Curmudgeon
Bad-tempered, difficult person; grouch
Curmudegon, like crotchety, is almost always used to describe old men
Circumscribe
strictly limit a role, range of activity, or area
Circumspect
Cautious, prudent; careful to consider the circumstances and consequences
Coagulate
cause a liquid to become solid or semisolid
Related Words: Curdle; Clot
Chicanery
Trickery, deception by knowing false arguments
Related Words: Quibbling (the use of ambiguous, petty, or irrelevant arguments, especially to evade the issue(, Sophistry (deliberately tricky argumentation)
Calumny
Malicious lie intended to hurt someone’s reputation; the act of telling such lies
Related Words: slander is a synonym. Libel is the written version of slander. Traduce, Vilify, and Defame are verbs meaning to slander, to damage a person’s reputation with lies.)
Dictum
Formal or authoritative pronouncement; saying or proverb
Think: aphorism
Diffident
Lacking confidence, shy
Diaphanous
Very sheer, fine, translucent
Diaphanous generally describes fabric or the (beautiful, translucent wings of certain insects)
Desultory
Lacking consistency or order, disconnected, sporaic, going off topic
Demur
Show reluctance or object for moral reasons
Balk
Delimit
Fix mark or define the boundaries of
Related Words: Demarcate; Delineate
Declaim
Speak in an impassioned, pompous, or oratorical manner; give a formal speech
Related Words: grandstand. Don’t confuse with disclaim, which simply means deny, repudiate.
Declivity
Downward slope
Not just any declivity can serve as a wheelchair ramp - I’m pretty sure this thing is too steep to pass regulations
Antithetical
Directly opposed, opposite; involving antithesis.
Partying all night, every night, is antithetical to one’s academic performance.
Deleterious, inimical
Appropriate
set side a authorise for a particular purpose; take for one’s own use.
Bane
Something that ruins or spoils
The opposite of bane is boon, a benefit or blessing. The words are often used together to ask a question, as in the ‘the new regulations: bane or boon)
Don’t confuse baneful with baleful, which means threatening
