Barron's Essential Words for the GRE Part I
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194 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 atavism | in biology, the reappearance of a characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence |
| attenuate | to weaken |
| aver | to affirm; to declare to be true |
| avocation | secondary occupation |
| avuncular | like an uncle, benevolent and tolerant |
| axiomatic | taken for granted |
| banal | commonplace; trite |
| bedizen | to dress in a vulgar, showy manner |
| belie | to contradict; misrepresent; give a false impression |
| bifurcate | to divide into two parts |
| blandishment | flattery |
| blase | bored because of frequent indulgence; unconcerned |
| bombastic | pompous; using inflated language |
| broach | to mention for the first time |
| burgeon | to fluorish |
| buttress | to reinforce; support |
| cadge | to beg; sponge |
| calumny | false and malicious accusation; slander |
| canard | false, deliberately misleading story |
| canon | an established principle; a basis or standard for judgment; a group of literary works |
| captious | faultfinding; intended to entrap, as in an argument |
| cardinal | of foremost importance |
| categorical | absolute; without exception |
| caucus | smaller group within an organization |
| centrifugal | moving away from a center |
| centripetal | moving or directed toward a center |
| chicanery | trickery; fraud |
| coda | concluding part of a literary or musical composition; something that summarizes or concludes |
| codify | to systematize |
| commensurate | proportional |
| compendium | brief, comprehensive summary |
| complaisant | overly polite; willing to please; obliging |
| complement | something that completes or makes up a whole |
| compunction | uneasiness caused by guilt |
| concomitant | existing concurrently |
| congenial | similar in tastes and habits; friendly; suited to |
| connoisseur | a person possessing expert knowledge or training; a person of informed and discriminating taste |
| conscript | person compulsorily enrolled for military service |
| consecrate | to declare sacred |
| contentious | quarrelsome; causing quarrels |
| contiguous | touching; neighboring; connecting without a break |
| continence | self-control; abstention from sexual activity |
| contrite | very sorrowful for a wrong |
| contumacious | disobedient; rebellious |
| conundrum | riddle; puzzle with no solution |
| convivial | sociable; genial |
| coquette | a woman who flirts |
| cosmology | study of the universe as a totality; theory of the origin and structure of the universe |
| cozen | to mislead by trick or fraud; deceive |
| craven | cowardly |
| credence | acceptance of something as true |
| credo | statement of belief or principle; creed |
| dearth | scarcity |
| defame | to malign; harm someone's reputation |
| default | to fail to act |
| defunct | no longer existing |
| delineate | to represent or depict |
| demotic | pertaining to people |
| demur | to express doubt |
| denigrate | to slur someone's reputation |
| denizen | an inhabitant; a regular visitor |
| denouement | outcome; unraveling of the plot of a play or work of literature |
| desuetude | state of disuse |
| desultory | random; disconnected; rambling |
| diaphanous | transparent; fine-textured; insubstantial; vague |
| diatribe | bitter verbal attack |
| dichotomy | division into two usually contradictory parts |
| diffidence | shyness; lack of confidence |
| dirge | funeral hymn |
| disabuse | to free from a misconception |
| discomfit | to make uneasy; disconcert |
| disingenuous | not candid; crafty |
| disinterested | unprejudiced; objective |
| disparate | dissimilar |
| dissemble | to pretend; disguise one's motives |
| disseminate | to spread; scatter; disperse |
| dissident | person who disagrees about beliefs, etc. |
| dissolution | disintegration; debauchery |
| distill | extract the essential elements |
| distrait | inattentive; preoccupied |
| divest | to strip; deprive; rid |
| doctrinaire | relating to a person who cannot compromise about points of a theory or doctrine; dogmatic; unyielding |
| doggerel | poor verse |
| dogmatic | stating opinions without proof |
| ebullient | exhilarated; enthusiastic |
| effete | depleted of vitality; overrefined; decadent |
| egoism | the tendency to see things in relation to oneself; self-centeredness |
| egotistical | excessively self-centered; conceited |
| elegy | poem or song expressing lamentation |
| emollient | soothing; mollifying |
| encomium | formal expression of praise |
| endemic | inherent; belonging to an area |
| enervate | to weaken |
| engender | to cause; produce |
| entomology | the scientific study of insects |
| ephemeral | short-lived; fleeting |
| epistemology | the branch of philosophy that examines the nature of knowledge |
| equable | steady; unvarying; serene |
| equanimity | composure; calmness |
| equivocate | to intentionally use vague language |
| errant | mistaken; straying from the proper course |
| erudite | learned; scholarly |
| essay | to make an attempt; to subject to a test |
| ethnocentric | based on the attitude that one's group is superior |
| etiology | causes or origins |
| etymology | origin and history of a word |
| eugenics | study of factors that influence the hereditary qualities of the human race and ways to improve these qualities |
| eulogy | high praise, especially of a person who has recently died |
| euphemism | use of agreeable or inoffensive language in place of unpleasant or offensive language |
| evince | to show plainly; be an indication of |
| exact | to force the payment of; demand and obtain by authority |
| exculpate | to clear of blame; to vindicate |
| execrable | detestable; abhorrent |
| exhort | to urge by strong appeals |
| exigency | crisis; urgent requirements |
| existential | having to do with existence; based on experience; having to do with the philosophy of existentialism |
| expatiate | to speak or write at length |
| expatriate | to send into exile; a person living outside his or her own land |
| expiate | to atone for |
| explicate | to explain; interpret; clarify |
| expository | explanatory |
| extant | in existence; not lost |
| extemporaneous | not rehearsed |
| extirpate | to root up; to destroy |
| extraneous | not essential |
| extrinsic | not inherent or essential |
| facetious | humorous |
| factotum | a person who does all sorts of work; a handyman |
| fallacious | based on a false idea or fact; misleading |
| fallow | plowed but not sowed; uncultivated |
| fatuous | foolishly self-satisfied |
| fauna | animals of a period or region |
| felicitous | suitably expressed; appropriate; well-chosen |
| fervor | warmth and intensity of emotion |
| fetid | having a bad smell |
| fetter | to bind; confine |
| fiat | arbitrary order; authorization |
| fidelity | loyalty; exact correspondence |
| finesse | to handle with a deceptive or evasive strategy; to use refinement in performance |
| flag | to droop; to grow weak |
| fledgling | beginner; novice |
| flora | plants of a region or era |
| florid | ruddy; reddish; flowery |
| flout | to treat scornfully |
| flux | flowing; a continuous moving |
| foment | to incite; arouse |
| forbearance | patience |
| forestall | to prevent; delay |
| forswear | to renounce; to repudiate |
| founder | to sink; to fail; to collapse |
| fracas | a loud quarrel; a brawl |
| fractious | quarrelsome; unruly; rebellious |
| fresco | a painting done on plaster |
| frieze | ornamental band on a wall |
| froward | stubbornly contrary; obstinately disobedient |
| frugality | thrift |
| fulminate | to attack loudly; denounce |
| fulsome | so excessive as to be disgusting |
| fusion | union; synthesis |
| gainsay | to deny; dispute; oppose |
| gambol | to frolic; leap playfully |
| garrulous | very talkative; wordy |
| gauche | coarse and uncouth; clumsy |
| geniality | cheerfulness; kindliness; sociability |
| glib | fluent in an insincere way; offhand |
| gossamer | sheer; light and delicate, like cobwebs |
| gouge | to tear out; scoop out; overcharge |
| grandiloquent | pompous; bombastic |
| gregarious | sociable |
| grouse | to complain |
| guileless | free of cunning or deceit; artless |
| gustatory | affecting the sense of taste |
| halcyon | calm and peaceful; happy; golden; prosperous |
| harangue | long, pompous speech; tirade |
| hermetic | tightly sealed; magical |
| heterodox | unorthodox; not widely accepted |
| hirsute | covered with hair |
| histrionic | relating to exaggerated emotional behavior calculated for effect; theatrical arts or performances |
| homeostasis | automatic maintenance by an organism of normal temperature, chemical balance, etc., within itself |
| homily | sermon; tedious moralizing lecture; platitude |
| iconoclastic | attacking cherished traditions |
| imbroglio | complicated situation; an entanglement |
| immutable | unchangeable |
| impassive | showing no emotion |
| impecunious | poor; having no money |
| impinge | to strike; encroach |
| implacable | inflexible; incapable of being pleased |
| imprecation | curse |
| impute | to relate to a particular cause or source; attribute the fault to; assign as a characteristic |
| apogee | point in an orbit most distant from center |
| capitulate | to give in on one's demands |
| acrimony | bitter feelings, animosity |
| duress | compulsion by threat or force; coercion; constraint |
| chariness | the state of being cautious, careful, wary, shy, timid |
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