GRE Vocabulary 1 Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in GRE Vocabulary 1 Deck (100)
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1
Q

Temerity (adj)

A

Bold recklessness OR audacity.

No one had the temerity to question his conclusions

2
Q

Depredate (v)

A

Plunder, loot.

Many types of predators depredate bird nests

3
Q

Genuflect (v)

A

Bow in obeisance.

Politicians had to genuflect to advance their careers.

4
Q

Wend (v)

A

Find you way through.

They wended their way across the city.

5
Q

Pelagic (adj)

A

Of the open seas.

There are very few pelagic fish to be seen.

6
Q

Froward (adj)

A

Stubborn, intractable, difficult to manage

7
Q

Punctilious (adj)

A

Paying attention to details, meticulous.

He was punctilious in providing every amenity for his guests.

8
Q

Aphorism (n)

A

Tersely worded saying.

The old aphorism ‘the child is father to the man’.

9
Q

Purloin (v)

A

Steal.

He must have managed to purloin a copy of the key.

10
Q

Esoteric (adj)

A

Difficult to understand.

Esoteric philosophical debates.

11
Q

Succor (n)

A

Aid, relief, rescue.

The wounded had little chance of succour.

12
Q

Protean (adj)

A

Versatile able to change quickly.

Shostakovich was a remarkably protean composer.

13
Q

Callous (adj)

A

Hard, unfeeling.and insensitve.

His callous comments about the murder made me shiver.

14
Q

Proscribe (v)

A

Forbidden by law.

Strikes remained proscribed in the armed forces.

15
Q

Denouement (n)

A

Conclusion of a series of events.

The film’s denouement was unsatisfying and ambiguous.

16
Q

Supercillious (adj)

A

Haughty, imperious.

17
Q

Parley (n)

A

Meeting between parties.

A parley is in progress and the invaders may withdraw.

18
Q

Apoplectic (adj)

A

Angry, infurious.

Mark was apoplectic with rage at the decision.

19
Q

Simper (v)

A

Say with a coy smile.

She simpered, looking pleased with herself.

20
Q

Miscegenation (n)

A

A mixture of different races.

They believe in miscegenation as the answer to world peace.

21
Q

Androgynous (adj)

A

Partly male and partly female.

A stunningly androgynous dancer.

22
Q

Covey (n)

A

A small group of people or things.

Coveys of actors rushed through the rooms.

23
Q

Supine (n)

A

Lying on your back.

24
Q

Cozen (v)

A

Cheat.

Do not think to cozen your contemporaries.

25
Q

Limpid (adj)

A

Calm, clear.

The limpid waters of the Caribbean.

26
Q

Refulgent (adj)

A

Shining very brightly.

Refulgent blue eyes.

27
Q

Phelgmatic (adj)

A

Calm

28
Q

Attenuate (adj)

A

Reduce the strength of.

Her intolerance was attenuated by an unexpected liberalism.

29
Q

Disingenuous (adj)

A

Dishonest not candid.

This journalist was being somewhat disingenuous as well as cynical.

30
Q

Epistle (n)

A

Short message.

Activists firing off angry epistles.

31
Q

Factitious (adj)

A

Fake, artificial.

A largely factitious national identity.

32
Q

Pied (adj)

A

Dappled colors.

The pied flycatcher.

33
Q

Militate (v)

A

Be a powerful or conclusive factor in preventing.

These fundamental differences will militate against the two communities.

34
Q

Stygian (adj)

A

Dark, gloomy.

The Stygian crypt.

35
Q

Gainsay (v)

A

Deny, contradict a fact.

The impact of the railways cannot be gainsaid.

36
Q

Palliate (v)

A

To lessen the suffering of.

Treatment works by palliating symptoms.

37
Q

Nostrum (n)

A

Fake medicine.

A charlatan who sells nostrums.

38
Q

Obstreperous (adj)

A

Stubborn and difficult to control.

The boy is cocky and obstreperous.

39
Q

Precocious (adj)

A

Well developed(of a child).

A precocious, solitary boy.

40
Q

Regale (v)

A

Entertain or amuse.

He regaled her with a colorful account of that afternoon’s meeting.

41
Q

Ambit (n)

A

Within the range or scope of.

A full discussion of this complex issue was beyond the ambit of one book.

42
Q

Apostate (n)

A

Disbeliever.

After fifty years as an apostate he returned to the faith.

43
Q

Sophistry (n)

A

The use of clever but false arguments.

Trying to argue that I had benefited in any way was pure sophistry.

44
Q

Perspicuity (adj)

A

Clarity.

45
Q

Enjoin (v)

A

Ordered to.

The code enjoined members to trade fairly.

46
Q

Fulsome (adj)

A

Copious, overdone in praise.

The press are embarrassingly fulsome in their appreciation

47
Q

Imprecation (n)

A

Curse.

I pushed my way through, screaming imprecations.

48
Q

Extenuate (v)

A

Reduce the strength of.

Hunger and poverty are not treated extenuating circumstances.

49
Q

Ineluctable (adj)

A

Unavoidable.

The ineluctable facts of history.

50
Q

Vitiate (v)

A

Spoil, tarnish.

Development programmes have been vitiated by the rise in population

51
Q

Turpitude (n)

A

Wickedness.

Acts of moral turpitude.

52
Q

Plaintive (adj)

A

Mournful.

A plaintive cry.

53
Q

Pertinacious (adj)

A

Unyielding holding firmly.

He worked with a pertinacious resistance to interruptions.

54
Q

Recreant (n)

A

Coward.

The recreant acted with outward boldness.

55
Q

Adduce (v)

A

Put forward or cite as evidence.

A number of factors are adduced to explain the situation.

56
Q

Traduce (v)

A

Speak malicious of.

It was regarded as respectable political tactics to traduce him.

57
Q

Apposite (adj)

A

Appropriate

His remarks seemed to be regarded as apposite.

58
Q

Discursive (adj)

A

Talking aimlessly or digressing.

Students often write dull, second-hand, discursive prose

59
Q

Avocation (n)

A

Side vocation.

They are basically doctors, and negotiators by avocation.

60
Q

Adumbrate (v)

A

To outline or sketch.

Hobhouse had already adumbrated the idea of a welfare state.

61
Q

Alchemy (n)

A

Conversion of lead to gold

62
Q

Allege (v)

A

Insinuate.

He alleged that he had been assaulted.

63
Q

Allude (v)

A

Refer to indirectly.

She had a way of alluding to Jean.

64
Q

Altruism (n)

A

Concern for others well being.

Some may choose to work with vulnerable elderly people out of altruism.

65
Q

Ambivalence (n)

A

Undecided

The law’s ambivalence about the importance of a victim’s identity.

66
Q

Amble (v)

A

Walk leisurely.

They ambled along the riverbank.

67
Q

Ameliorate (v)

A

Lessen the suffering of.

The reform did much to ameliorate living standards

68
Q

Amenable (adj)

A

Agreeable.

Parents who have amenable children.

69
Q

Analgesic (adj)

A

Pain reliever.

Acting to relieve pain.

70
Q

Anecdote (n)

A

Short incident.

He told anecdotes about his job.

71
Q

Annul (v)

A

Cancel or declare invalid.

The elections were annulled by the general amid renewed protest.

72
Q

Didactic (adj)

A

Inclined to teach or lecture others too much

A boring, didactic speaker.

73
Q

Diffident (adj)

A

Unwilling modest or shy.

A diffident youth.

74
Q

Diffuse (v)

A

Spread out.

Technologies diffuse rapidly.

75
Q

Dilapidated (adj)

A

Run down, broken.

Old, dilapidated building.

76
Q

Dilate (v)

A

Open, extend.

Her eyes dilated with horror.

77
Q

Dillettante (n)

A

Novice.

78
Q

Dirge (n)

A

Funeral song.

Singers chanted dirges.

79
Q

Disabuse (v)

A

Clear a misconception.

He quickly disabused me of my fanciful notions.

80
Q

Disaffect (adj)

A

To cause to loose affection.

The dictator’s policies had soon disaffected the people.

81
Q

Discern (v)

A

Understand clearly or recognize.

I can discern no difference between the two policies.

82
Q

Discomfit (v)

A

To confuse and deject

To be discomfited by a question.

83
Q

Hackneyed (adj)

A

Trite, commonplace.

Hackneyed old sayings.

84
Q

Hallmark (n)

A

The distinguishing character of.

The tiny bubbles are the hallmark of fine champagnes.

85
Q

Harangue (n)

A

Bitter diatribe.

They were subjected to a ten-minute harangue by two border guards.

86
Q

Hedonism (n)

A

Indulgence in sensual pleasure.

87
Q

Tan (v)

A

To convert (a hide) into leather.

88
Q

Heretical (adj)

A

Going against established doctrine.

This is a heretical view and if it were left at that, I don’t think much good would come of it.

89
Q

Hieroglyphic (adj)

[HI ro glyphic]

A

Egyptian symbolic script.

Writing in hieroglyphic script.

90
Q

Homogenous (adj)

A

Of the same composition.

91
Q

Hone (v)

A

Sharpen.

To hone one’s skills.

92
Q

Husband (v)

A

Conserve

To husband one’s resources.

93
Q

Nonplussed (adj)

A

To render utterly perplexed.

And she claims to be nonplussed by those presidential invitations.

94
Q

Noxious (adj)

A

Harmful or injurious to health.

Noxious vapors emanated from the chimney.

95
Q

Nuance (n)

A

Subtle difference in or shade of meaning.

He was familiar with the nuances of the local dialect.

96
Q

Obdurate (adj)

A

Stubborn.

I argued this point with him, but he was obdurate.

97
Q

Obsequious (adj)

A

Slavish insincere flattery.

They were served by obsequious waiters.

98
Q

Obstinate (adj)

A

Stubborn refusing to change opinion.

Her obstinate determination to pursue a career in radio.

99
Q

Obviate (v)

A

Get rid of, make unnecessary.

The internet has all but obviated the need for radios.

100
Q

Occlude (v)

A

Block off.

The entrance to the cave was occluded by the mount of fresh snow.