GRE Vocabulary 2 Flashcards
Odium (n)
Tedium, Dislike, Hatred.
He incurred widespread odium for military failures.
Officious (adj)
Tending to give advice.
An officious bystander.
Opaque (adj)
Not transparent.
Bottles filled with a pale opaque liquid.
Opportune (n)
Appropriate, Favorable, Suitable.
He couldn’t have arrived at a less opportune moment.
Superfluous (adj)
More than necessary, needless.
The purchaser should avoid asking for superfluous information.
Supersede (v)
To replace in authority by someone else.
The older models of car have now been superseded.
Supplant (v)
To replace with something else.
Domestic production has been supplanted by imports.
Supplicate (v)
Humble petition, beg or ask earnestly.
The plutocracy supplicated to be made peers.
Surmount (v)
Overcome hardship.
All manner of cultural differences were surmounted.
Surreptitious (adj)
In a hidden underhand manner .
Low wages were supplemented by surreptitious payments from tradesmen.
Symbiotic (adj)
Living off one another.
The reader can have a symbiotic relationship with the writer.
Synapse (n)
Gap between nerve endings.
Synchronous (adj)
Happening at the same time.
Glaciations were approximately synchronous in both hemispheres.
Tacit (adj)
Understood by not spoken.
Your silence may be taken to mean tacit agreement.
Taciturn (n)
Reserved in speech.
After such gatherings she would be taciturn and morose.
Exacerbate (v)
Worsen the condition of.
The exorbitant cost of land in urban areas only exacerbated the problem.
Exact (v)
Demand, extract, force or compel.
He exacted promises that another Watergate would never be allowed.
Exculpate (v)
Free from blame or charge.
The article exculpated the mayor.
Exhort (v)
To urge, advice or caution
The army did exhort soldiers to “take a stand.”
Exigent (n)
Requiring immediate attention.
The exigent demands of her contemporaries’ music took a toll on her voice
Exonerate (v)
Free from guilt or blame.
An inquiry exonerated those involved.
Expedient (n)
Fit or suitable to the purpose.
Either side could break the agreement if it were expedient to do so.
Expedite (v)
Hasten.
He promised to expedite economic reforms.
Expiate (v)
To atone or make amends.
Their sins must be expiated by sacrifice.
Extemporaneous (adj)
On the spot.
An extemporaneous prayer.
Extol (v)
Praise.
He extolled the virtues of the Russian peoples.
Extrapolate (v)
Infer from other events.
The results cannot be extrapolated to other patient groups
Extricate (v)
Remove from a difficult situation.
He was trying to extricate himself from official duties.
Churl (n)
A rude and mean-spirited person
This trio are used whenever some churl wants to have a pop at progressive rock.
Circuitous (adj)
Round about.
The canal followed a circuitous route.
Circumscribe (adj)
Draw a circle around or restrict.
The minister’s powers are circumscribed by tradition.
Circumspect (adj)
Watchful, well-considered.
The officials were very circumspect in their statements.
Cleave (v)
Hold on to dearly OR split or sever (something).
She cleaved on to her memories long after the event was over.
Cloister (n)
Monastery.
He was inclined more to the cloister than the sword.
Coagulate (v)
Solidify.
Blood had coagulated round the edges of the gash.
Coalesce (v)
Stick together.
The puddles had coalesced into shallow streams.
Cogent (adj)
Clear.
They put forward cogent arguments for British membership.
Intransigent (n)
Stubborn.
Her father had tried persuasion, but she was intransigent.
Cohere (v)
Stick together of form a unified whole.
He made the series of fictions cohere into a convincing sequence.
Intransigent (adj)
Stubborn.
Her father had tried persuasion, but she was intransigent.
Intrepid (adj)
Fearless.
Our intrepid reporter.
Instrinsic (adj)
Inherent quality
Inure (v)
Get accustomed to something unpleasant.
These children have been inured to violence.
Invective (n)
Harsh words.
He let out a stream of invective.
Irrevocable (adj)
That which cannot be reverted.
An irrevocable step.
Jocular (adj)
Joking, humorous.
She sounded in a jocular mood.
Kernel (n)
The heart of something.
The kernel of a walnut.
Lackluster (adj)
Unexciting, boring.
No excuses were made for the team’s lacklustre performance.
Refactory (adj)
Stubborn, disobedient.
Regiment (n)
An army unit.
The Royal Highland Regiment
Remonstrate (v)
To object or protest
They will remonstrate, but they will not go to war with their own Colonies.
Remunerate (v)
Payment in service of.
They should be remunerated fairly for their work.
Render (v)
To cause to happen.
The rains rendered his escape impossible.
Repose (n)
Calm, collected state.
In repose her face looked relaxed.
Repudiate (v)
Disclaim the ownership of.
She has repudiated policies associated with previous party leaders.
Reticent (adj)
Sparing in words.
He was extremely reticent about his personal affairs.
Retiring (adj)
Withdraw from and fond of being on one’s own.
You have to be fairly resilient and not too much of a shy retiring type.
Revere (v)
Hold in high esteem.
Cézanne’s still lifes were revered by his contemporaries.
Platitude (n)
Dull commonplace trite remark.
She began uttering liberal platitudes.
Pliant (adj)
Agreeable, amenable.
Pliant willow stems.
Poignant (adj)
Keen, incisive.
A poignant reminder of the passing of time.
Polar (adj)
Diametrical opposite.
Depression and its polar opposite, mania.
Polemic (n)
Harsh criticisms.
His polemic against the cultural relativism of the Sixties.
Ponderous (adj)
Heavy burden.
A swarthy, ponderous giant of a man.
Portend (adj)
An indication of something to happen.
The eclipses portend some major events.
Posit (v)
Accept as true.
The Confucian view posits a perfectible human nature.
Postulate (v)
Assume the truth of (something) as a basis for reasoning.
His theory postulated a rotatory movement for hurricanes.
Bolster (v)
Support.
The fall in interest rates is starting to bolster confidence.
Bombastic (adj)
Big and bold.
Bombastic rhetoric.
Brood (v)
To think or worry over something.
A brood of chicks.
Burgeon (v)
Grow rapidly.
Manufacturers are keen to cash in on the burgeoning demand.
Exacting (adj)
Demanding.
The exacting standards laid down by the organic food industry.
Rebuke (v)
Criticize, censure.
She had rebuked him for drinking too much.
Dulcet (adj)
Sweet sounding.
Record the dulcet tones of your family and friend.
Toady (n)
Servile follower.
A person who behaves obsequiously to someone important.
Gall (n)
Impudence.
The bank had the gall to demand a fee.
Cloying (adj)
Sweeting.
A romantic, rather cloying story.
Sully (v)
To stain or tarnish.
They were outraged that anyone should sully their good name.
Defile (v)
Spoil.
The land was defiled by a previous owner.
Pithy (adj)
Brief or terse
Her comments were pithy and to the point.
Slovenly (adj)
Lazy.
A fat, slovenly ex-rock star.
Onerous (adj)
Heaven burden.
He found his duties increasingly onerous.
Scourge (n)
Curse.
The scourge of mass unemployment.
Candor (adj)
Frankness.
A man of refreshing candor.
Boor (n)
Churlish, rude.
A rough and bad-mannered person.
Moribund (adj)
In a death like state.
On examination she was moribund and dehydrated.
Pine (v)
Earning, longing for something or somebody.
She pined for him all day long.
Siren (n)
An attractive young woman.
Cache (n)
Temporary Store.
An arms cache.
Lionize (v)
Praise.
Modern sportsmen are lionized and feted.
Skulk (v)
Move around furtively.
Don’t skulk outside the door like a spy!
Emendation (n)
Correction to text.
Here are some suggested emendations.
Euphony (n)
Pleasing sound.
The poet put euphony before mere factuality.
Terse (adj)
Brief, laconic.
A terse statement.
Trite (adj)
Common place, hackneyed.
This point may now seem obvious and trite.
Malefactor (n)
A person who commits a crime or some other wrong.
Obtuse (adj)
Dull, stupid.
Some of the lyrics are a bit obtuse.
Ingratiate (v)
Get into someone’s favor by flattery.
A sycophantic attempt to ingratiate herself with the local aristocracy,
Travesty (n)
A false, absurd, or distorted representation of something.
The absurdly lenient sentence is a travesty of justice.
Philology (n)
Study of language.
