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GRE Vocab > List of Word C > Flashcards

List of Word C Flashcards

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0
Q

Cadence (KAYD uns)

A

Noun

Rhythm; the rise and fall of sounds

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1
Q

Cacophony ( kuh KAHF uh nee)

A

Noun

Harsh sounding mixture of words, voices, or sounds

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2
Q

Cajole (kuh JOHL)

A

V to persuade someone to do something he or she doesn’t want to do

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3
Q

Callow ( KAL oh)

A

Adjective

Immature

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4
Q

Candor (KAN dur)

A

Noun

Truthfulness; sincere honesty

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5
Q

Capitalism (KAP uh tuh Liz um)

A

Noun
An economic system in which businesses are owned by private citizens and in which the resulting products and services are sold with relatively government control

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6
Q

Capitulate (kuh PICH uh layt)

A

V

To surrender ; to give up or give in

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7
Q

Capricious (Kuh PRISH us)

A

Adjective
Unpredictable ; likely to change at any moment
i.e., capriciousness of history
Caprice (kuh PREES) is a whim

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8
Q

Caricature (KAR uh kuh chur)

A

Noun
A portrait or description that is purposely distorted or exaggerated, often to prove some point about its subject
To caricature some is to creat such a distorted portrait

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9
Q

Castigate (KAS tuh gayt)

A

V
To criticize severely ; to chastise
Jose’s mother in law castigated him for forgetting to pick her up at the airport

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10
Q

Catalyst (KAT uh list)

A

Anyone or anything that makes something happen without being directly involved in it

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11
Q

Catogerical (kat uh GOR uh kul)

A

Adjective

Unconditional ; absolute

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12
Q

Catharsis (kuh THAR sis)

A

N

Purification that brings emotional relief or renewal

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13
Q

Catholic (KATH lik)

A

Adjective
Universal ; embracing everything
Da Vinci was a catholic genius who excelled at everything he did
Parochial means narrow minded, so parochial and catholic are almost opposites!

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14
Q

Caustic (KAW stik)

A

Adjective
Like acid ; corrosive
The teacher’s caustic criticism of Sally’s term paper left her in tears

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15
Q

Celibacy ( SEL uh buh see)

A

Noun

Abstinence from sex

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16
Q

Censure ( SEN shur)

A

Verb
To condemn severely for doing something bad
The senate sometimes censures senators for breaking laws or engaging in behavior unbecoming to an elected official.

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17
Q

Cerebral (suh REE brul)

A

Adjective

Brainy ; intellectually refined

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18
Q

Chagrin (shuh GRIN)

A

Noun
Humiliation ; embarrassed disappointment
To be chagrined is to feel humiliated or mortified.

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19
Q

Charisma (kuh RIZ muh)

A

Noun

A magical seeming ability to attract followers or inspire loyalty

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20
Q

Charlatan ( SHAR luh tun)

A

Noun
Fraud ; quack ; con man
Buck was selling what he claimed was a cure for cancer, but he was just a charlatan.

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21
Q

Chasm ( KAZ um)

A

Noun

A deep, gaping hole ; a gorge

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22
Q

Chastise ( chas TYZE)

A

V
To inflict punishment on ; to discipline
Mother chastised us for firing our bottle rockets through the living room window.

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23
Q

Chicanery ( sahi KAY nuh ree)

A

N
Trickery ; deceitfulness ; artifice ; especially legal or political
Political news would be full were it not for the chicanery of our elected officials .

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24
Q

Chimera ( kye MEER uh)

A

Noun
An illusion ; a foolish fancy
Jie’s dream of becoming a movie star was just a chimera.

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25
Q

Choleric ( KHAL ur IK)

A

Adjective
Hot tempered; quick to anger
The choleric administration kept all the secretaries in a state of terror.

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26
Q

Chronic ( KRAHN ik)

A

Adjective
Constant; lasting a long time ; inveterate
DJ’s chronic back pains often kept him from football practice, but the post game internal bleeding lasted only a day.

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27
Q

Chronicle ( KRAHN uh Kul)

A

Noun and Verb

A record of events in order of time; a history

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28
Q

Circuitous ( sur KYOO uh tus)

A

Adjective
Roundabout ; not following a direct path
A circuitous argument is one that rambles around for a quite a while before making its point

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29
Q

Circumlocution ( sur kum loh KYOO shun)

A

Noun
An indirect expression; use of wordy or evasive language
To use a lot of big, vague words and to speak in a disorganized way is to be circumlocutory.

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30
Q

Circumscribe ( SUR kum skrybe)

A

V
To draw a line around ; to set the limits ; to define ; to restrict
The constitution clearly circumscribes the restrictions that can be placed on our personal freedoms

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31
Q

Circumspect ( SUR kum spekt)

A

Adjective
Cautious
As a public speaker, Nick was extremely circumspect; he always took great care not to say the wrong thing or give offense.

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32
Q

Circumvent ( sur kum VENT)

A

V
To frustrate as tough by surroundings
Our hopes for an early end of the meeting were circumvented by the chairperson’s refusal to deal with the items on agenda.

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33
Q

Civil

A

Adjective

Polite, civilized, courteous

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34
Q

Clemency ( KLEM un see)

A

Noun
Mercy ; forgiveness , mildness
Forgiveness is an act of clemency.

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35
Q

Cliche ( klee SHAY)

A

Noun
An overused saying or idea
The expression ‘ you can’t judge a book by its cover” is a cliche; it’s been used so many times, that freshness has been worn away.

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36
Q

Clique ( Kleek)

A

Noun

An exclusive group bound together by some shared quality or interest

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37
Q

Complacent (kum PLAY sunt)

A

Adjective
Self satisfied ; overly pleased with oneself ; contended to a fault
The football team won so many games that it became complacent, and the worst team in the league snuck up and beat it.

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38
Q

Complement (KAHM pluh munt)

A

V
To complete or fill up ; to be the perfect counterpart
This word is often confused with compliment, which means to praise,
Tea is a complement to the good food. She got compliments for her cooking!

39
Q

Complicity ( kum PLIS uh tee)

A

Noun
Participating in wrongdoing ; the act of being an accomplice
Complicity among the students made it impassible to find which of them had pulled the fire alarm!

40
Q

Comprehensive

A

Adjective

Covering or including everything

41
Q

Comprise

A

V
To consist of
A company comprises employees.

42
Q

Conciliatory ( kun Sil ee uh tor ee)

A

Adjective

Making peace ; attempting to resolve a dispute through good will

43
Q

Concise (kun SYSE)

A

Adjective

Brief and to the point; succinct

44
Q

Concord ( KAHN kord)

A

Noun
Harmony ; agreement
Concord means peaceful agreement.
Discord means the opposite of peace and harmony.
Accord means an agreement usually reached after a dispute.

45
Q

Concurrent (kun KUR unt)

A

Adjective
Happening at the same time; parallel
Concurrent list has been abolished through 18th amendment in Pakistan.
To concur means to agree!

46
Q

Condescend ( KAHN duh send)

A

V
To stoop to someone else’s level, usually in an offensive way ; to patronize
Many grown ups make the mistake of understanding to young children, who usually prefer to be treated as equals, or at least as rational beings!

47
Q

Condone ( kun DOHN)

A

V
To overlook; to permit to happen
To condone what someone dies is to look the other way while it happens or to permit it to happen by not doing anything about it!

48
Q

Conducive ( kun DOO siv)

A

Adjective
Promoting
The foul weather was not conducive to our having a picnic!

49
Q

Confluence ( KAHN floo uns)

A

N
A flowing together, especially if rivers; the place where they begin to flow together
There is a remarkable confluence in our thoughts: We think the same way about almost everything!

50
Q

Congenial (kun JEEN yul)

A

Adjective
Agreeable suitable ; pleasant
Genial and congenial share similar meanings!

51
Q

Congenital ( kun JEN uh tul)

A

Adjective
Describing a trait or condition acquired between conception and birth; innate
A congenital liar is a natural liar, a person who can’t help but lie!

52
Q

Coalesce (koh uh LES)

A

V
To come together as one ; to fuse ; to unite
The people in our neighborhood coalesced into a powerful force for change in the community.

53
Q

Coerce (koh URS)

A

V
To force someone to do or not to do something
The noun is coercion

54
Q

Cogent (KOH junt)

A

Adjective
Powerfully convincing
Shaft was cogent in the exhaling why he needed the confidential files, so we have them to him.

55
Q

Cognitive ( KAHG nu tic)

A

Adjective
Dealing with how we know the world around us through our senses; mental

Cognition is knowing

56
Q

Cognizant ( KAHG nu zunt)

A

Adjective
Aware ; conscious
To be cognizant of your responsibilities is to know what your responsibilities are

57
Q

Coherent ( koh HEER unt)

A

Adjective
Holding together; making sense
A coherent wad of Cotton balls is one that holds together.

58
Q

Colloquial ( Kul OH kwee Ul)

A

Adjective

Conversational ; informal in language

59
Q

Collusion (kuh LOO zhun)

A

Noun
Conspiracy ; secret cooperation
The increase in oil prices was the result of collusion by the oil producing nations

60
Q

Commensurate (kuh MEN sur it)

A

Adjective
Equal ; proportionate
Ryan’s salary is commensurate with his ability; like his ability, his salary is small .

61
Q

Compelling (kum PEL ing)

A

Adjective
Forceful ; causing to yield
Compelling argument
Compelling reason

62
Q

Compendium (kum PEN dee um)

A

Noun
A summary; an abridgment
A yearbook often contains a compendium of the offenses, achievements, and future plans of the members of the senior class.

63
Q

Congregate ( KAHN grih gayt)

A

V
To come together
Protestors were granted permission to congregate peacefully on the plaza.

64
Q

Conjecture (kun JEK chur)

A

V
To guess ; to deduce or infer on slight evidence
If forced to conjecture, I would say the volcano will erupt in twenty four hours.

65
Q

Conjure ( KAHN jur)

A

V
To summon or bring into being as if by magic
The chef conjured a fabulous gourmet meal using nothing more than the meager ingredients in Lucy’s kitchen.

66
Q

Connoisseur ( kahn uh SUR)

A

Noun
An expert, particularly in matters of art or taste
The meal was exquisite enough to impress a connoisseur.

67
Q

Consecrate ( KHAN suh kryat)

A

V
To make or declared sacred
The priest consecrated the building by sprinkling holy water on it.
The opposite of consecrate is desecrate, which means to treat irrelevantly!

68
Q

Consensus ( kun SEN sus)

A

Noun

Unanimity of general agreement

69
Q

Consonant ( KAHN suh nunt)

A

Adjective
Harmonious ; in agreement
Our destines we’re consonant with theirs ; we all wanted the same thing.

70
Q

Construe ( kun STROO)

A

V
To interpret
The meaning of the poem, as I construed it, had to do with the love of a man for his dog.

71
Q

Consummate ( kun SUM it)

A

Adjective
Perfect ; complete ; supremely skillful
A consummate pianist is an extremely good one. Nothing is lacking in the way he or she plays.
Consummate ( KAHN suh mayt) verb
To consummate something is to finish it or make it complete!

72
Q

Contentious ( kun TEN shus)

A

Adjective
Argumentative; quarrelsome
To be contentious in a discussion is to make a lot of noisy objections!

73
Q

Contiguous (kun TIG yoo us)

A

Adjective
Side by side ; adjoining
Two countries that share a border are contiguous; so are two events that happened one right after the other!

74
Q

Contingent (kun TIN junt)

A

Adjective
Dependent ; possible
My happiness is contingent on yours; if you are unhappy, I am unhappy.

75
Q

Contrite ( kun TRYTE)

A

Adjective
Admitting guilt ; especially feeling remorseful
Mira was contrite about her mistakes, so we forgave her.

76
Q

Contrived ( kun TRYVED)

A

Adjective
Artificial ; labored
No one laughed at Mark’s contrived attempt at humor.
A contrivance is a mechanical device, usually something rigged up.

77
Q

Conventional ( kun VEN shun nul)

A

Adjective

Common; customary, unexceptional

78
Q

Convivial ( kun VIV ee Ul)

A

Adjective
Fond of partying ; festive
A convivial gathering is one in which the people present enjoy eating, drinking, and being together.

79
Q

Copious ( KOH pee us)

A

Adjective
Abundant, plentiful
Phil ate copiously at the banquet and went home feeling quite sick.

80
Q

Corollary ( KOR uh ler ee)

A

Noun
Something that follows ; a natural consequence
Bloodshed and death are corollaries of any declaration of war.

81
Q

Corroborate (kuh ROB uh rayt)

A

Verb
To confirm ; to back up with evidence
The police could find no evidence of theft and thus could not corroborate Greg’s claim that he had been robbed.

82
Q

Cosmopolitan ( kahz muh PAHL uh tun)

A

At home in many places or situations; internationally sophisticated
A truly cosmopolitan traveler never feels like a foreigner any where on Earth.

83
Q

Countenance ( KOWN tuh nuns)

A

Noun
Face ; facial expression, especially an encouraging one
His father’s confident countenance gave Lou the courage to preserve.
Countenance can also be a verb and it means to condone it or tolerate it.

84
Q

Coup (koo)

A

Noun
A brilliant victory or accomplishment; the violent overthrow of a government by a small internal group
Coup d’‘etat ( koo day TAH). Coup de grace ( koo duh GRAHS) is a final blow or concluding event.

85
Q

Covenant ( KUV uh nunt)

A

Noun
A solemn agreement; a contract ; a pledge
The warring tribe made a covenant not to fight each other anymore.

86
Q

Covert (KOV urt)

A

Adjective
Secret; hidden
To be covert is to be covered.

87
Q

Covet (KUV it)

A

Verb
To wish for enviously
Any job at MTV is a highly coveted job.
To be covetous is to be envious!

88
Q

Credulous (KREJ uh lus)

A

Adjective
Eager to believe ; gullible
Credible is to be believable
Credence which means belief or intellectual acceptance

89
Q

Criterion (krye TEER ee un)

A

N
Standard ; basis for judgement
There is no such thing as criterions and no such thing as a criteria.

90
Q

Cryptic (KRIP tik)

A

Adjective
Mysterious; mystifying
A cryptic statement is one which something important remains hidden.

91
Q

Culinary (KYOO luh ner ee)

A

Adjective
Relating to cooking or the kitchen
A cooking school is sometimes called a culinary institute.

92
Q

Culminate (KUL muh nayt)

A

V
To climax ; to reach full effect
The masquerade ball was the culmination of our fund raising efforts.

93
Q

Culpable ( KUL puh bul)

A

Adjective
Deserving blame ; guilty
The accountant’s failure to spot the errors made him culpable in the tax fraud case.
To decide that a person is not culpable after all is to exculpate (EK skul payt) that person.

94
Q

Cursory ( KUR suh ree)

A

Adjective
Hasty ; superficial
To give a book a cursory reading is to skim it quickly without comprehending much.

95
Q

Curtail (kur TAYL)

A

V
To shorten ; to cut short
To curtail a tale is to cut it short.

96
Q

Cynic (SIN ik)

A

Noun
One who deeply distrusts human nature; one who believes humans are motivated only by selfishness.
Cynicism is general grumpiness and pessimism about human nature.

GRE Vocab (23 decks)

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