GRE Vocab (simplified)
| Abscond | To depart secretly |
| Aberrant | Deviating from the norm |
| Alacrity | Eager willingness |
| Anomaly | Abnormality |
| Approbation | Expression of approval |
| Arduous | Strenuous |
| Assuage | Ease or lessen |
| Audacious | Daring and fearless |
| Austere | Simple, bare |
| Axiomatic | Taken as a given |
| Canonical | Following accepted standards |
| Capricious | Inclined to change one’s mind |
| Censure | Criticize severely |
| Chicanery | Trickery |
| Connoisseur | Expert |
| Convoluted | Complex |
| Disabuse | To set right |
| Discordant | Conflicting |
| Disparate | Dissimilar |
| Effrontery | Extreme boldness |
| Eloquent | Articulate |
| Enervate | To weaken |
| Ennui | Dissatisfaction and restlessness |
| Equivocate | Use ambiguous language with deceptive intent |
| Erudite | Very learned, scholarly |
| Exculpate | Clear of blame |
| Exigent | Urgent |
| Extemporaneous | Improvised |
| Filibuster | Intentional obstruction (usually in speech) |
| Fulminate | To loudly attack |
| Ingenuous | Frank and candid |
| Inured | Accustomed to accepting something undesirable |
| Irascible | Easily angered |
| Laud | To praise highly |
| Lucid | clear |
| Magnanimity | Quality of being generous in mind and heart |
| Martial | Associated with war |
| Mundane | Typical |
| Nascent | Coming into being |
| Nebulous | Vague, cloudy |
| Neologism | A new word or expression |
| Noxious | Harmful |
| Obtuse | Lacking sharpness of intellect |
| Obviate | To anticipate and make unnecessary |
| Onerous | Troubling |
| Paean | Song or hymn in praise |
| Parody | Humorous imitation |
| Perennial | Recurrent throughout the year |
| Perfidy | Intentional breach |
| Perfunctory | Done with care or interest |
| Perspicacious | Acutely perceptive |
| Prattle | Babble meaninglessly |
| Precipitate | Acting with excessive haste (adj) |
| Precipitate | To cause to happen before required (v) |
| Prescience | Foreknowledge of events |
| Prevaricate | To deliberately avoid the truth |
| Qualms | Misgivings |
| Recant | To retract |
| Refute | To disprove |
| Relegate | To forcibly assign |
| Reticent | Quiet, reserved |
| Solicitous | Concerned or attentive |
| Sordid | Foul |
| Sporadic | Occurring only occasionally |
| Squander | To waste by spending |
| Static | Not moving |
| Stupefy | To stun |
| Stymie | To block |
| Synthesis | Combination of parts |
| Torque | Force that causes rotation |
| Tortuous | Winding, twisting |
| Truculent | Fierce and cruel |
| Veracity | Honesty |
| Virulent | Extremely harmful |
| Voracious | Ravenous |
| Waver | To move to and fro |
| Abate | To lessen in intensity |
| Accolade | Expression of praise |
| Adulation | Excessive praise |
| Aesthetic | Dealing with the beautiful |
| Ameliorate | To make better |
| Ascetic | One who practices rigid self-denial |
| Avarice | Greed |
| Axiom | Universally recognized principle |
| Burgeon | To grow rapidly |
| Bucolic | Rustic and pastoral |
| Cacophony | Harsh, jarring |
| Canon | Established set of principles |
| Castigation | Severe criticism |
| Catalyst | Substance or person that causes change |
| Caustic | Burning or stinging |
| Chary | Wary |
| Cogent | Convincing, appealing to reason |
| Complaisance | Willingness to comply with others’ wishes |
| Contentious | Argumentative |
| Contrite | Regretful, seeking forgiveness |
| Culpable | Deserving blame |
| Dearth | Smallness of quantity |
| Demur | To question or oppose |
| Didactic | Intended to teach |
| Discretion | Cautious reserve in speech |
| Disinterested | Impartial |
| Dogmatic | Expressing a rigid opinion |
| Ebullience | The quality of lively or enthusiastic expression |
| Eclectic | Composed of various sources |
| Elegy | Mournful poem |
| Emollient | Soothing |
| Empirical | Based on observation or experiment |
| Enigmatic | Mysterious or obscure |
| Ephemeral | Brief |
| Esoteric | Intended to be understood by a small group |
| Eulogy | Speech honoring the dead |
| Exonerate | To remove blame |
| Facetious | Playful, humorous |
| Fallacy | An invalid or incorrect notion |
| Furtive | Marked by stealth |
| Gregarious | Sociable |
| Harangue | To deliver a pompous speech or tirade |
| Heretical | Violating accepted dogma |
| Hyperbole | An exaggerated statement |
| Impecunious | Lacking funds |
| Incipient | Beginning to come into being |
| Inert | Unmoving, lethargic |
| Innocuous | Harmless |
| Intransigent | Refusing to compromise |
| Inveigle | To obtain by deception |
| Morose | Sad, sullen |
| Odious | Evoking intense aversion |
| Opaque | Impenetrable by light |
| Oscillation | Act or state of swinging back and forth |
| Penurious | Penny-pushing |
| Pernicious | Extremely harmful |
| Peruse | To examine with great care |
| Pious | Extremely relevant or devout |
| Precursor | One that proceeds or announces another |
| Preen | To dress up |
| Prodigious | Abundant in size |
| Prolific | Producing large volumes or amounts |
| Putrefy | To rot |
| Quaff | To drink deeply |
| Quiescence | stillness |
| Redoubtable | Awe-inspiring |
| Sanction | Authoritative permission or approval |
| Satire | A literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice |
| Squalid | Sordid |
| Stoic | Indifferent to pleasure or pain |
| Supplant | To take the place of |
| Torpid | Lethargic |
| Ubiquitous | Existing everywhere at the same time |
| Urbane | Sophisticated |
| Vilify | To defame |
| Viscous | Think, sticky |
| Acumen | Accurate judgment or insight |
| Adulterate | To reduce purity by combining with inferior ingredients |
| Amalgamate | To combine several elements into one whole |
| Archaic | Outdated |
| Aver | To state as a fact |
| Bolster | To provide support |
| Bombastic | Pompous |
| Diatribe | A harsh denunciation |
| Dissemble | To disguise or conceal |
| Eccentric | Departing from norms |
| Endemic | Often found in a particular place or region |
| Evanescent | Tending to disappear like vapor |
| Exacerbate | To make worse |
| Fervent | Greatly emotional or zealous |
| Fortuitous | Happening by chance or accident |
| Germane | Relevant to the subject |
| Grandiloquence | Pompous speech |
| Hackneyed | Rendered trite or commonplace by frequent usage |
| Halcyon | Calm and peaceful |
| Hedonism | Devotion to pleasurable pursuits |
| Hegemony | The consistent dominance of one state or ideology over others |
| Iconoclast | One who attacks or undermines traditional conventions |
| Idolatrous | Given to intense or excessive devotion to something |
| Impassive | Revealing no emotion |
| Imperturbable | Marked by extreme calm |
| Implacable | Not capable of being appeased or changed |
| Impunity | Immunity of punishment or penalty |
| Inchoate | In an initial stage |
| Infelicitous | Unfortunate |
| Insipid | Without taste or flavor |
| Loquacious | Extremely talkative |
| Luminous | Characterized by brightness |
| Malevolent | Having or showing often vicious ill will |
| Malleable | Capable of being shaped or formed |
| Mendacity | The condition of being untruthful |
| Meticulous | Characterized by extreme care or precision |
| Misanthrope | One who hates all other humans |
| Mitigate | To make or become less severe |
| Obdurate | Unyielding |
| Obsequious | Exhibiting a fawning attentiveness |
| Occlude | To obstruct |
| Opprobrium | Disgrace, contempt, scorn |
| Pedagogy | The profession or principal of teaching |
| Pedantic | Overly concerned with trivial details of learning, show-offish |
| Pervasive | Having the tendency to spread throughout |
| Pine | To yearn intensely |
| Pirate | To illegally use or reproduce |
| Pith | The essential or central part |
| Pithy | Precise and brief |
| Placate | To appease |
| Platitude | A superficial remark |
| Plummet | To plunge or drop |
| Polemical | Controversial |
| Prodigal | Recklessly wasteful |
| Profuse | Given or coming forth abundantly |
| Proliferate | To grow or increase swiftly and abundantly |
| Queries | Questions |
| Querulous | Prone to complaining |
| Rancorous | Characterized by bitter, long-lasting resentment |
| Recalcitrant | Obstinately defiant |
| Repudiate | Disown |
| Rescind | To repeal |
| Reverent | Feeling or expressing a feeling of profound awe and respect |
| Rhetoric | The art or study of effective use of language |
| Salubrious | Promoting health or well-being |
| Solvent | Able to meet financial obligations, able to dissolve another substance |
| Specious | Seeming true but actually being false |
| Spurious | Lacking validity, false |
| Subpoena | A court order requiring appearance |
| Succinct | Brief, concise |
| Superfluous | Exceeding what is sufficient or necessary |
| Surfeit | An overabundant supply |
| Tenacity | The quality of persistence to something valued |
| Tenuous | Having little substance or strength |
| Tirade | Long an critical speech |
| Transient | Fleeting |
| Zealous | Devoted to a cause |
| Acerbic | Having a sour or bitter taste |
| Aggrandize | To increase in intensity |
| Alchemy | Medieval science (specifically towards transmutation of metals) |
| Amendable | Agreeable |
| Anachronism | Something or someone out of place |
| Astringent | Having a tightening effect on living tissue, harsh, severe |
| Contiguous | Sharing a border |
| Convention | A generally agreed upon attitude or practice |
| Credulous | Tending to believe too quickly, gullible |
| Cynicism | Belief that all people are driven by selfishness |
| Decorum | Polite or appropriate conduct |
| Derision | Scorn, ridicule |
| Desiccate | To dry out or dehydrate |
| Dilettante | One with amateurish or superficial interest in the arts |
| Disparage | To belittle |
| Divulge | To disclose something |
| Fawn | To flatter or praise excessively |
| Flout | To show contempt for |
| Garrulous | Pointlessly talkative |
| Glib | Ease or informality, nonchalant |
| Hubris | Pride |
| Imminent | About to happen |
| Immutable | Not capable of change |
| Impetuous | Hastily or rashly energetic |
| Indifferent | Having no interest or concern |
| Inimical | Damaging |
| Intractable | Not easily managed or directed |
| Intrepid | Steadfast and courageous |
| Laconic | Terse, using few words |
| Maverick | Independent individual who doesn’t go along with a group or party |
| Mercurial | Characterized by rapid and unpredictable change |
| Mollify | To calm or soothe |
| Neophyte | A recent convert, beginner, novice |
| Obfuscate | To deliberately obscure |
| Obstinate | Stubborn |
| Ostentatious | Characterized by or given to pretentious display |
| Pervade | To permeate throughout |
| Phlegmatic | Calm, sluggish, unemotional |
| Plethora | An overabundance, a surplus |
| Pragmatic | Practical rather than idealistic |
| Presumptuous | Overstepping due bounds |
| Pristine | Pure, uncorrupted, clean |
| Probity | Adherence to highest principles , integrity |
| Proclivity | A natural predisposition or inclination |
| Profligate | Excessively wasteful |
| Propensity | A natural inclination or tendency |
| Prosaic | dull |
| Pungent | Characterized by a strong, sharp smell or taste |
| Quixotic | Foolishly impractical |
| Quotidian | Occurring or reoccurring daily |
| Rarefy | To refine, to make or become thin |
| Recondite | Hidden, concealed |
| Refulgent | Radiant |
| Renege | To fail to honor a commitment |
| Sedulous | Diligent |
| Shard | A piece of broken pottery or glass |
| Soporific | Causing drowsiness |
| Sparse | Thin, not dense |
| Spendthrift | One who spends money wastefully |
| Subtle | Not obvious, elusive |
| Tacit | Implied, not explicitly stated |
| Terse | Brief and concise in wording |
| Tout | To publically praise or promote |
| Trenchant | Sharply perceptive |
| Unfeigned | Genuine |
| Untenable | Not viable |
| Vacillate | To waver indecisively between one course of action and another |
| Variegated | Multi-colored |
| Vexation | Annoyance |
| Vigilant | Alertly watchful |
| Vituperate | To use harsh condemnatory language |
| Volatile | Readily changing to a vapor, fickle |
| Alloy | To commingle |
| Appropriate | To confiscate |
| Arrest, arresting | To suspend or engage |
| August | Majestic |
| Bent | Leaning, inclination |
| Broach | Bring up, announce |
| Brook | To tolerate |
| Cardinal | Major |
| Chauvinist | A blindly devoted patriot |
| Color | To change as if by dyeing |
| Damper | To diminish the intensity |
| Die | A tool used for shaping |
| Essay | To test or try |
| Exact | To demand, call for, require |
| Fell | To cause to fall by striking (v) |
| Fell | Inhumanly cruel (adj) |
| Flag | To sag or droop |
| Flip | Sarcastic |
| Ford | To wade across the shallow part of a river or stream |
| Grouse | To complain or grumble |
| Guy | A rope, cord…to steady or reinforce using a guy |
| Intimate | To imply or suggest |
| List | To tilt or lean to one side |
| Lumber | To move hastily and clumsily |
| Meet | Fitting, proper |
| Milk | To exploit |
| Mince | Pronounce or speak affectedly, speak too carefully |
| Nice | Exacting, extremely precise |
| Obtain | To be established or customary |
| Occult | Hidden, concealed |
| Pedestrian | Commonplace, trite |
| Pied | Multicolored |
| Pine | To lose vigor, to yearn |
| Plastic | Moldable, pliable |
| Pluck | Courage, spunk |
| Prize | To pry, press |
| Rail | To complain about bitterly |
| Rent | Torn, past of rend |
| Quail | To lose courage |
| Qualify | To limit |
| Sap | To enervate or weaken (v) |
| Sap | A fool or nitwit (n) |
| Scurvy | Contemptible |
| Singular | Exceptional, unusual |
| Stand | A group of trees |
| Steep | To saturate or completely soak |
| Strut | To supporting structural cross-part of a win |
| Table | To remove from consideration (as in parliament) |
| Tender | To proffer or offer |
| Waffle | To change one’s position |
| Wag | Wit, joker |
| Abjure | To renounce |
| Adumbrate | To foreshadow vaguely |
| Anathema | A solemn or ecclesiastical curse |
| Anodyne | Soothing |
| Apogee | Farthest or highest point |
| Apostate | One who abandons long-held religious or political convictions |
| Apotheosis | Deification, glorification to godliness |
| Asperity | Severity, vigor |
| Asseverate | To assert |
| Assiduous | Diligent |
| Augury | Omen, portent |
| Bellicose | Belligerent |
| Calumniate | To slander |
| Captious | Calculated to confuse or trap in argument |
| Cavil | To find fault without good reason |
| Celerity | Speed, alacrity |
| Chimera | An illusion, an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster |
| Contumacious | Insubordinate |
| Debacle | Rout, fiasco |
| Denouement | An outcome or solution |
| Descry | To discriminate or discern |
| Desuetude | Disuse |
| Desultory | Random, aimless |
| Diaphanous | Transparent |
| Diffident | Reserved, shy |
| Dirge | A song of grief |
| Encomium | Glowing and enthusiastic |
| Eschew | To shun or avoid |
| Excoriate | To censure scathingly |
| Execrate | Denounce |
| Exegesis | Critical examination |
| Expiate | To atone or make amends for |
| Extirpate | To destroy |
| Fatuous | Silly, inanely foolish |
| Fractious | Quarrelsome |
| Gainsay | To deny, dispute |
| Heterodox | Unorthodox, heretical |
| Imbroglio | Difficult or embarrassing situation |
| Indefatigable | Tireless |
| Ineluctable | Certain, inevitable |
| Inimitable | One of a kind |
| Insouciant | Unconcerned |
| Inveterate | Deep rooted |
| Jejune | Uninteresting, childish, immature |
| Lubricious | Lewd, slippery |
| Mendicant | A beggar |
| Meretricious | Cheap, gaudy |
| Minatory | Menacing, threatening |
| Nadir | Low point, perigee |
| Nonplussed | Baffled, bewildered |
| Obstreperous | Noisily and stubbornly defiant |
| Ossified | Tending to become more rigid |
| Palliate | To make less serious |
| Panegyric | Formal praise |
| Parsimonious | Cheap, miserly |
| Pellucid | Transparent |
| Peroration | The concluding part of a speech |
| Plangent | Pounding, thundering |
| Prolix | Long-winded |
| Propitiate | To appease |
| Puerile | Childish |
| Puissance | Power, strength |
| Pusillanimous | cowardly |
| Remonstrate | To protest, object |
| Sagacious | Having sound judgment |
| Salacious | Lustful |
| Salutary | Remedial, wholesome |
| Sanguine | Cheerful, confident, optimistic |
| Saturnine | Gloomy, dark, sullen |
| Sententious | Moralistic |
| Stentorian | Extremely loud and powerful |
| Stygian | Gloomy, dark |
| Sycophant | Toady, servile |
| Tendentious | Biased |
| Timorous | Timid, fearful |
| Tyro | Novice |
| Vitiate | To corrupt or spoil |
| Voluble |
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