GRE Vocabulary 7 Flashcards
Dissociate (v)
To withdraw from association
He tried to dissociate himself from the bigotry in his past.
Dissonant (adj)
Out of harmony; incongruous; at variance
It was something more than harsh and dissonant, and it betrayed no lack of skill
Distend (v)
To spread in all directions; expand; swell:
The sea distended about them.
Distill (v)
To extract the essential elements of; refine; abstract:
She managed to distill her ideas into one succinct article.
Divest (v)
To rid of or free from:
He divested himself of all responsibility for the decision.
Doctrinaire (n)
A person who tries to apply some doctrine or theory without sufficient regard for practical considerations; an impractical theorist.
Elate (v)
To make very happy or proud
News to elate the hearer.
Elegy (n)
A sad or mournful musical composition.
Then, as afterwards recorded by Robison, he turned towards his officers and repeated several stanzas of Gray’s elegy.
Elucidate (v)
To make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain:
An explanation that elucidated his recent strange behavior.
Emaciate (v)
To make abnormally lean or thin by a gradual wasting away of flesh.
Sickness diminished the ranks, and emaciate men, haggard and way-worn, tottered painfully along the rugged ways.
Emollient (n)(adj)
Having the power of softening or relaxing, as a medicinal substance;
Emollient lotions for the face.
Venal (adj)
Open to bribery; mercenary.
A venal judge.
Doggerel (n)
Comic or burlesque, and usually loose or irregular in measure.
I had the girls say that doggerel about the forty-nine blue bottles while we were stuck fast in the mud.
Manse (n)
The house and land occupied by a minister
Nexus (n)
A means of connection, tie, link.
The nexus between industry and political power.
Promulgate (v)
To make known by open declaration; publish;
The federal and state governments, at their core, establish laws and promulgate rules.
Dross (adj)
Waste matter, refuse.
Demur (v)
To make objection, especially on the grounds of scruples;
They wanted to make him the treasurer, but he demurred.
Felicitous (adj)
Well-suited for the occasion, as an action, manner
The chairman’s felicitous anecdote set everyone at ease.
Veritable (adj)
Being truly or very much so.
The early 1970s witnessed a veritable price explosion.
Impassive (adj)
Not feeling or showing emotion.
His cold, impassive face.
Hermetic (adj)
Made airtight by fusion or sealing.
A hermetic seal that ensures perfect waterproofing.
Fracas (n)
[frakɑ]
A noisy, disorderly disturbance or fight.
The fracas was broken up by stewards.
Eminence (n)
High station, rank, or repute.
Philosophers of eminence.
Epigram (n)
A pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way.
Oscar Wilde had a genius for epigram.
Epitome (n)
A person or thing that is a perfect example of a particular quality or type.
She looked the epitome of elegance and good taste.
Equanimity (n)
Mental or emotional stability or composure.
In person, Reagan was a great deal like Obama, in his self-confidence and his equanimity under pressure.
Equivocal (adj)
Deliberately ambiguous,allowing the possibility of several different meanings.
An equivocal answer.
Erudite (adj)
Characterized by great knowledge, learned or scholarly.
An erudite professor.
Espouse (v)
To make one’s own, adopt or embrace.
Mitt Romney agrees with nearly everything the Tea Party claims to espouse.
Eradicate (v)
Remove completely.
Estrange (v)
To turn away in feeling or affection; make unfriendly or hostile.
Their quarrel estranged the two friends.
Evanescent (adj)
[ev-uh-nes-uh nt]
Vanishing, fading away, fleeting.
The evanescent Arctic summer.
Extrinsic (adj)
Not essential or inherent; not a basic part or quality; extraneous
Facts that are extrinsic to the matter under discussion.
Exult (v)
To show or feel a lively or triumphant joy, rejoice exceedingly, be highly elated or jubilant.
They exulted over their victory.
Facetious (adj)
[fuh-see-shuh s]
Lacking serious intent, concerned with something nonessential.
A facetious remark.
Facile (adj)
[faas-il]
Easily done, performed OR superficial ignoring complexities.
A facile seven-lengths victory. .
Rectitude (n)
Rightness of principle or conduct, moral virtue.
The rectitude of her motives.
Crucible (n)
A container of metal or refractory material employed for heating substances to high temperatures.
Ingenue (n)
[an-zhuh-noo]
Artless, innocent, unworldly girl.
Cadge (v)
[kaj]
To beg or obtain by begging.
He cadged fivers off old school friends.
Flout (v)
To treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff at, mock.
To flout the rules of propriety.
Ennui (n)
[ahn-wee]
A feeling of utter weariness and discontent.
He succumbed to ennui and despair.
Urbanity (n)
The quality of being urbane, refined courtesy or politeness, suavity.
He was the last word in urbanity.
Vicissitude (n)
A change or variation occurring in the course of something.
The vicissitude of seasons and human fortunes.
Hubris (n)
Excessive pride or self-confidence.
The self-assured hubris among economists was shaken in the late 1980s.
Fallow (adj)
Not in use, inactive.
My creative energies have laid fallow this year.
Fathom (v)
To penetrate to the truth of; comprehend understand.
To fathom someone’s motives.
Fatuous (adj)
[faach-oo-uh s]
Foolish or inane.
A fatuous comment.
Ferment (v)
To cause agitation or excitement in.
Reading fermented his active imagination.
Fervent (adj)
Having or showing great warmth or intensity of spirit.
A fervent admirer.
Fetter (n)
Anything that confines or restrains:
Boredom puts fetters upon the imagination.
Garrulous (adj)
[gar-uh-luh s]
Talkative.
A garrulous cab driver
Gauche (adj)
[gohsh]
Lacking social grace, tactless
Their exquisite manners always make me feel gauche.
Germane (adj)
Apt, to the point.
That is not germane to our theme.
Glib (adj)
Readily fluent
A glib talker.
Glutton (n)
A person who eats and drinks excessively OR excessively fond of something.
He’s a glutton for adventure.
Grandiloquent (adj)
Speaking or expressed in a lofty style.
A grandiloquent celebration of Spanish glory.
Gratuitous (adj)
[gruh-too-i-tuh s]
Given, done, bestowed, or obtained without charge or payment, free.
Solicitors provide a form of gratuitous legal advice.
Gregarious (adj)
Fond of the company of others, sociable.
He was a popular and gregarious man.
Guile (n)
Insidious cunning in attaining a goal, crafty or artful deception.
If that is the case, hats off to him for guile and deviousness
Hyperbole (n)
[hahy-pur-buh-lee]
Obvious and intentional exaggeration.
He vowed revenge with oaths and hyperbole.
Iconoclast (n)
A person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions.
Idiosyncrasy (n)
A characteristic, habit, mannerism, or the like, that is peculiar to an individual.
One of his little idiosyncrasies was always preferring to be in the car first.
Idyll (n)
A simple descriptive or narrative piece in verse or prose.
The rural idyll remains strongly evocative in most industrialized societies.
Immutable (adj)
Unchangeable.
Imperious (adj)
Haughty, arrogant.
His imperious demands.
Impetuous (adj)
Of, relating to, or characterized by sudden or rash action, emotion, etc. impulsive.
An impetuous decision.
Impetus (n)
A moving force, impulse, stimulus.
Implacable (adj)
Not to be appeased, mollified, or pacified, inexorable.
An implacable enemy.
Inert (adj)
Having no inherent power of action, motion.
Infallible (adj)
Absolutely trustworthy or sure
An infallible rule.
Ingenuous (adj)
Innocent; naive, candid or sincere.
He eyed her with wide, ingenuous eye.
Iniquitous (adj)
Characterized by injustice or wickedness.
We must pass hastily over the time during which this iniquitous treaty was in force.
Innocuous (adj)
Not harmful or injurious.
It was an innocuous question.
Inoculate (v)
To implant (a disease agent or antigen) in a person, animal, or plant to produce a disease for study or to stimulate disease resistance.
Insolence (n)
Contemptuously rude or impertinent behavior or speech.
It will be easy for me to make you repent any insolence to me or my friend.
Insular (adj)
Detached, standing alone, isolated.
A stubbornly insular farming people.
Intractable (adj)
Not easily controlled or directed, not docile or manageable.
The boy had an intractable disposition.
Laconic (adj)
Reserved in speech, terse
Lampoon (v)
A sharp, often virulent satire directed against an individual or institution.
To lampoon important leaders in the government.
Latent (n)
Present but not visible, apparent, or actualized; existing as potential
Lattice (n)
A structure of crossed wooden or metal strips usually arranged to form a diagonal pattern
Laud (v)
To praise, extol.
Leaven (n)
Any substance that produces fermentation in dough or batter, such as yeast, and causes it to rise
Lethargic (adj)
Lazy.
Levy (v)
An imposing or collecting, as of a tax, by authority or force.
Mien (n)
Air, bearing, or demeanor, as showing character.
A man of noble mien.
Meander (v)
To proceed by or take a winding or indirect course.
The stream meandered through the valley.
Medley (n)
A mixture, especially of heterogeneous elements.
An interesting medley of flavors.
Melancholy (adj) (n)
A gloomy state of mind, especially when habitual or prolonged; depression.
A melancholy mood.
Mercurial (adj)
Changeable, volatile, fickle.
Monotonous (adj)
Lacking in variety, tediously unvarying.
Monotonous activity.
Moratorium (n)
A suspension of activity.
A moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons.
Mores (n)
[mawr-eyz]
Customs, conventions, practices.
An offence against social mores.
Morphology (n)
The branch of biology dealing with the form and structure of organisms.
Muse (v) (n)
To think or meditate in silence, as on some subject OR a person who is the source of inspiration.
Readers are invited to muse about the parenting style of members
Nadir (n)
The lowest point, point of greatest adversity or despair.
Nascent (adj)
Beginning to exist or develop.
That nascent republic is holding its first election this month.
Nebulous (adj)
Hazy, vague, indistinct, or confused.
A nebulous recollection of the meeting.
