Most Common GRE Words

Question 1

Alacrity

Answer 1

(n.) an eager willingness to do something.

The first three weeks at his new job, Mark worked with such alacrity that upper management knewthey would be giving him a promotion.

Question 2

Prosaic

Answer 2

(adj.) dull and lacking imagination

A good mnemonic: prose is the opposite of poetry. And where poetry bursts withimagination, prose (think of text-book writing), lacks imagination.

Unlike the talented artists in his workshop, Paul had no such bent for the visual medium, so when itwas time for him to make a stained glass painting, he ended up with a prosaic mosaic.

Question 3

Veracity

Answer 3

(n.) truthful

After years of political scandals, the congressman was hardly known for his veracity; yet despite thisdistrust, he was voted into yet another term.

Question 4

Paucity

Answer 4

(n.) lack of something. In honor of paucity, this entry will have a paucity of words.

There is a paucity of jobs hiring today that require menial skills, since most jobs have either beenautomated or outsourced.

Question 5

Contrite

Answer 5

(adj.) remorseful

Though he stole his little sister’s licorice stick with malevolent glee, Chucky soon became contritewhen his sister wouldn’t stop crying.

Question 6

Laconic

Answer 6

(adj.) saying very few words

While Martha always swooned over the hunky, laconic types in romantic comedies, her boyfriendsinevitably were very talkative—and not very hunky.

Question 7

Pugnacious

Answer 7

(adj. ) verbally combative

Much like a pug dog, which aggressively yaps at anything near it, a person who is pugnacious likes toaggressively argue about everything.

The comedian told one flat joke after another, and when the audience started booing, he pugnaciouslyspat back at them, “Hey, you think this is easy – why don’t you buffoons give it a shot?”

Question 8

Disparate

Answer 8

(adj.) fundamentally different

With the advent of machines capable of looking inside the brain, fields as disparate as religion andbiology have been brought together, as scientists try to understand what happens in the brain whenpeople have a religious experience.

Question 9

Egregious

Answer 9

(adj.) standing out in a bad way

The dictator’s abuse of human rights was so egregious that many world leaders asked that he be triedin an international court for genocide.

Question 10

Innocuous

Answer 10

(adj.) harmless, not producing ill effects

Everyone found Nancy’s banter innocuous—except for Mike, who felt like she was intentionally picking on him.

Question 11

Candid

Answer 11

(adj.) honest, straightforward

Even with a perfect stranger, Charles was always candid and would rarely hold anything back.

Question 12

Erratic

Answer 12

(adj.) wildly unpredictable; strange and unconventional

It came as no surprise to pundits that the President’s attempt at re-election floundered; even duringhis term, support for his policies was erratic, with an approval rating jumping anywhere from 30 to 60 percent.

Question 13

Bleak

Answer 13

(adj.) very depressing

Unremitting overcast skies tend to lead people to create bleak literature and lugubrious music—compare England’s band Radiohead to any band from Southern California.

Question 14

Profuse

Answer 14

(adj.) to have in abundance

During mile 20 of the Hawaii Marathon, Dwayne was sweating so profusely that he stopped to take offhis shirt, and ran the remaining six miles clad in nothing more than skimpy shorts.

Question 15

Extant

Answer 15

(adj.) still in existence; surviving

Despite many bookstores closing, experts predict that some form of book dealing will still be extantgenerations from now.

Question 16

Contentious

Answer 16

(adj.) prone to arguing; controversial

Since old grandpa Harry became very contentious during the summer when only reruns were on T.V.,the grandkids learned to hide from him at every opportunity.

Question 17

Auspicious

Answer 17

(adj.) favorable

Despite an auspicious beginning, Mike’s road trip became a series of mishaps, and he was soonstranded and penniless, leaning against his wrecked automobile.

Question 18

Enervate

Answer 18

(v.) to sap energy from

John preferred to avoid equatorial countries; the intense sun would always leave him enervated afterhe’d spent the day sightseeing.

Question 19

Equivocate

Answer 19

(v.) to speak vaguely with the intention of misleading or deceiving

The findings of the study were equivocal—the two researchers had divergent opinions on what theresults signified.

Question 20

Ambivalent

Answer 20

(adj.) have mixed or conflicting emotions aboutsomething.

Sam was ambivalent about studying for the GRE because it ate up a lot of his time, yet he learnedmany words and improved at reading comprehension.

Question 21

Sedulous

Answer 21

(adj.) showing dedication or diligence

An avid numismatist, Harold sedulously amassed a collection of coins from over 100 countries—anendeavor that took over fifteen years, and to five continents.

Question 22

Stem

Answer 22

(v.) means to hold back or limit the flow or growth of something

To stem the tide of applications, the prestigious Ivy requires that each applicant score at least 330 onthe Revised GRE.

Question 23

Blinkered

Answer 23

(adj.) to have a limited outlook or understanding.

The true etymology of the word actually comes from the blinkers that are put on racing horses toprevent them from becoming distracted.

In gambling, the addict is easily blinkered by past successes and/or past failures, forgetting that theoutcome of any one game is independent of the games that preceded it.

Question 24

Check

Answer 24

(n./v.) to stop its growth (similar to stem but with more of a focus on growth than flow

Deserted for six months, the property began to look more like a jungle and less like a residence—
weeds grew unchecked in the front yard.

Question 25

Checkered

Answer 25

(adj.) marked by periods of varied fortune or discreditable incidents.

A checkered past is one that is marked by disreputable happenings.

One by one, the presidential candidates dropped out of the race, their respective checkered pasts—from embezzlement to infidelity—sabotaging their campaigns.

Question 26

Raft

Answer 26

(n.) a large number of something; an inflatable boat

Mnemonic: imagine a large number of rafts and you have a raft ofrafts.

Despite a raft of city ordinances passed by an overzealous council, noise pollution continued unabatedin the megalopolis.

Question 27

Involved

Answer 27

(adj.) complicated and difficult to comprehend

The physics lecture became so involved that the undergraduate’s eyes glazed over.

Question 28

Retiring

Answer 28

(adj.) to be shy and inclined to retract from company

Nelson was always the first to leave soirees—rather than mill about with “fashionable” folk, he wasretiring, and preferred the solitude of his garret.

Question 29

Expansive

Answer 29

(adj.) communicative and prone to talking in a sociable manner; extensive

After a few sips of cognac, the octogenarian shed his irascible demeanor and became expansive,speaking fondly of the “good old days”.

Question 30

Moment

Answer 30

(n.) something of importance

Despite the initial hullabaloo, the play was of no great moment in Hampton’s writing career, and,within a few years, the public quickly forgot his foray into theater arts.

Question 31

Base

Answer 31

(adj.) without moral principles; ignoble; contemptible

She was not so base as to begrudge the beggar the unwanted crumbs from her dinner plate.

Question 32

Imbibe

Answer 32

(v.) to drink, usually copiously (figuratively: an intake of knowledge or information)

Plato imbibed Socrates’ teachings to such an extent that he was able to write volumes of work that he directly attributed, sometimes word for word, to Socrates.

Question 33

Inundate

Answer 33

(v.) to deluge, flood (figuratively: to be overwhelmed by too many people or things)

The newsroom was inundated with false reports that only made it more difficult for the newscasters to provide an objective account of the bank robbery.

Question 34

Scintillating

Answer 34

(adj.) to give off sparks, as when photons collide (figuratively: of someone who is brilliant and lively)

Richard Feynman was renowned for his scintillating lectures—the arcana of quantum physics was made lucid as he wrote animatedly on the chalkboard.

Question 35

Benighted

Answer 35

(adj.) of a group of people who fall in a state of intellectual or moral ignorance

Far from being a period of utter benightedness, The Medieval Ages produced some inestimable works of theological speculation.

Question 36

Galvanize

Answer 36

(v.) to excite to action; to spur on

At mile 23 of his first marathon, Kyle had all but given up, until he noticed his friends and family holding a banner that read, “Go Kyle”; galvanized, he broke into a gallop, finishing the last three miles in less than 20 minutes.

Question 37

Hedge

Answer 37

(n./v.) to play safely (e.g. hedge your bets)
to limit or qualify (e.g. hedge a statement)
to avoid making a direct statement; to equivocate

When asked why he had decided to buy millions of shares at the very moment the tech companies stock soared, the CEO hedged, mentioning something vague about gut instinct.

Question 38

Flush

Answer 38

(adj.) to be in abundance
to send down the toilet
to be in abundance
to drive out of hiding

The GRE Reading Comprehension passage is flush with difficult words, words that you may have learned only yesterday.

Question 39

Fell

Answer 39

(adj.) to cut down a tree; past tense of fall; evil

Imagine an evil person who cuts down trees, and then falls himself.

For fans of the Harry Potter series, the fell Lord Voldemort, who terrorized poor Harry for seven lengthy installments, has finally been vanquished by the forces of good—unless, that is, JK Rowling decides to come out of retirement.

Question 40

Arch

Answer 40

(adj.) to be deliberately teasing; to be chief or principal

The baroness was arch, making playful asides to the townspeople; yet because they couldn’t pick up on her dry humor, they thought her supercilious.

Question 41

Beg

Answer 41

(v.) to evade a question, invite an obvious question, to ask a question that itself makes unwarranted assumptions

By assuming that Charlie was headed to college—which he was not—Maggie begged the question when she asked him to which school he was headed in the Fall.

Question 42

Tender

Answer 42

(v.) to offer something up (e.g. tender your resignation)

The government was loath to tender more money in the fear that it might set off inflation.

Question 43

Intimate

Answer 43

(adj./v.) to suggest something subtly

At first Manfred’s teachers intimated to his parents that he was not suited to skip a grade; when his parents protested, teachers explicitly told them that, notwithstanding the boy’s precocity, he was simply too immature to jump to the 6th grade.

Question 44

Wanting

Answer 44

(adj.) lacking

She did not find her vocabulary wanting, yet there were so many GRE vocabulary words that inevitably she did not know a few.

Question 45

Becoming

Answer 45

(adj.) to be appropriate; to match nicely

Her dress was becoming and made her look even more beautiful.

Question 46

Start

Answer 46

(v.) to suddenly move or dart in a particular direction (think: to startle)

All alone in the mansion, Henrietta started when she heard a sound.

Question 47

Fleece

Answer 47

(v.) to deceive

Many have been fleeced by Internet scams and have never received their money back.

Question 48

Telling

Answer 48

(adj.) to be significant and revealing of another factor

Her unbecoming dress was very telling when it came to her sense of fashion.

Question 49

Wax

Answer 49

(n./v.) to increase

Her enthusiasm for the diva’s new album only waxed with each song; by the end of the album, it was her favorite CD yet.

Question 50

Check

Answer 50

(n./v.) to limit; to modify the growth of something

When government abuses are not kept in check, that government is likely to become autocratic.

Question 51

Qualify

Answer 51

(v.) to limit, usually in context of a statement or opinion

“I love San Francisco.
I love San Francisco, but it is always windy.
The first statement shows my unqualified love for San Francisco. In the second statement I qualify, or limit, my love for San Francisco.”

Question 52

Miserly (adj.) vs. Frugal (adj.)

Answer 52

Frugal has a positive connotation, i.e. you spend money wisely, and miserly has a negative connotation, i.e. you pinch every penny.

Monte was no miser, but was simply frugal, wisely spending the little that he earned.

Question 53

Prevaricate (v.) vs. Variance (n.)

Answer 53

To prevaricate is to speak in an evasive way. Prevaricate does not mean to vary before; indeed, it is totally unrelated to variance, which simply means the quality of varying. A good synonym for prevaricate is equivocate.

The cynic quipped, “There is not much variance in politicians; they all seem to prevaricate”.

Question 54

Histrionic (adj.) vs. History (n.)

Answer 54

Histrionic is totally unrelated to history. It comes from the Latin for actor. To be histrionic is not to have a penchant for bad Pacino or Brando imitations, but to be overly theatrical.

Though she received a B- on the test, she had such a histrionic outburst that one would have thought that she’d been handed a death sentence.

Question 55

Demur (v.) vs. Demure (adj.)

Answer 55

To demur is a verb meaning to object or show reluctance.
To be demure is to be modest and shy. This word is typically used to describe a woman, so don’t call a man demure, as they will surely demur.

Wallace dislike the cold, so he demurred when his friends suggested they going skiing in the Alps.

Question 56

Beatific (adj.) vs. Beautiful (adj.)

Answer 56

A beatific person is one who radiates bliss. This person is so happy, they almost seem blessed and holy (think of a saint, or the Buddha). As for beautiful, well you may be beatific if you are beautiful, or you may be totally unhappy.

Marred by the ravages of time, the idols were hardly beautiful, yet each seemed to emanate a beatific aura that not even 500 years could diminish.

Question 57

Perfunctory (adj.) vs. Preemptive (adj.) vs. Peremptory (adj.)

Answer 57

Perfunctory: carried out with minimum effort (carelessly)
Preemptively: to act before someone else
Peremptory: to be domineering, bossy

Just as Martha was about to
take the only cookie left on the table, Noah preemptively swiped it.
My sister used to peremptorily tell me to do the dishes, a chore I would either do perfunctorily or avoid doing altogether.

Question 58

Indigent (adj.) vs. Indigenous (adj.) vs. Indignant (adj.)

Answer 58

Indigent: poor, having little means
Indigenous: relating to a certain area
Indignant: to feel anger over a perceived injustice

In the so-called Third World, many are indigent and only a privileged few have the wherewithal to enjoy material luxuries.
The flora and fauna indigenous to Australia are notably different from those indigenous to the U.S— one look at a duckbill platypus and you know you’re not dealing with an opossum.

Question 59

Errant (adj.) vs. Arrant (adj.) vs. Errand (n.) vs. Err (v.)

Answer 59

Errant: to be wandering, not sticking to a circumscribed path; deviating from accepted behavior or standards
Arrant: complete and utter (negative connotation)
Errand: a small chore
Err: to make an error

Unlike his peers, who spent their hours studying in the library, Matthew preferred errant walks through the university campus to help his brain function.
An arrant fool, Lawrence surprised nobody when he lost all his money in a pyramid scheme that was every bit as transparent as it was corrupt.
He erred in thinking that errant and arrant were synonyms.

Question 60

Artless (adj.) vs. Artful (adj.) vs. Artifice (n.)

Answer 60

Artless: to be innocent, guileless
Artful: to be cunning and wily
Artifice: to be artful

Question 61

Expurgate (v.) vs. Expunge (v.)

Answer 61

Both mean to remove
Expurgate: to remove objectionable material (removal of F-words for prime time TV)
Expunge: to wipe out or remove any trace of
Many who commit petty crimes have those crimes expunged from their records.

Question 62

Censure (v.) vs. Censor (v.)

Answer 62

Censor: to expurgate
Censure: to express strong disapproval of

Question 63

Ponderous (adj.) vs. Imponderable (adj./n.)

Answer 63

Ponderous: to be weighed-down; to move slowly and laboriously (from ‘ponds’ - weight)
Imponderable: something impossible to estimate, fathom, or figure out