My GRE Words
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383 terms
Latin | English |
|---|---|
| atavism |  recurrence |
| adumbrate | to foreshadow vaguely |
| abeyance | suspension |
| adjure | to command solemnly, to beseech |
| brazier | large metal container in which coal or charcoal is burned |
| aegis | auspices, protection; breastplate |
| chimerical | unreal, imaginary |
| attenuate | to weaken |
| bugaboo | imaginary monster, boogeyman |
| ablution | the ritual washing of a priest's hands or of sacred vessels |
| apothegm | a short, pithy, instructive saying, aphorism |
| caparison | horse decorative covering |
| andiron | metal support for fireplace logs |
| abnegate | to deny oneself |
| codicil | a supplement to a will |
| cozen | to be false to, to be dishonest with, to cheat |
| auscultation | the act of listening to sounds arising within organs (as the lungs) as an aid to diagnosis and treatment |
| abjure | to renounce, to disavow |
| aplomb | with great cool and composure |
| abrogate | to annul, to abolish by authoritative action |
| contumely | insult, rudeness compounded of haughtiness and contempt |
| captious | faultfinding |
| contemn | disdain, scorn |
| braggadocio | bluster, vain and empty boasting |
| bumptious | offensively self-assertive |
| circumspect | heedful of potential consequences, discreet |
| abut | to border on |
| afferent | a nerve carrying a message toward the central nervous system. |
| ecad | a plant which has supposedly adapted to its environment |
| avouch | to declare openly and bluntly, to affirm |
| adduce | to offer evidence for |
| arroyo | a watercourse in an arid region |
| acrid | sharp and harsh |
| animus | disposition; animosity, ill will |
| daud | to knock |
| casuistry | argumentation that is specious or excessively subtle and intended to be misleading; moral philosophy based on the application of general ethical principles to resolve moral dilemmas. |
| accede | to express approval or give consent, to give in |
| blandishment | cajolery, flattery intended to persuade |
| concordat | covenant, written agreement |
| astringent | sour or bitter, causing contraction |
| caduac | a casualty |
| acidulous | somewhat acid or harsh |
| cynosure | something that provides guidance; something that strongly attracts attention |
| apposite | apt |
| dastard | a despicable coward |
| deliquescent | becoming liquid by absorbing moisture from the air |
| demotic | common, pertaining to the people, an ancient Egyptian script |
| demur | a formal objection to an opponent's pleadings |
| denigrate | belittle; slander |
| denotation | indication |
| depredation | plundering, pillaging, ravaging |
| descant | a decorative musical accompaniment (often improvised) added above a basic melody |
| descry | spy, catch sight of |
| desideratum | requirement, necessity |
| desuetude | disuse, inactivity |
| desultory | purposeless |
| detraction | petty criticism |
| diaphanous | gauzy, sheer |
| disclaim | renounce a legal claim or title to |
| discursive | rambling, meandering; reaching a conclusion through reason instead of intuition |
| disquisition | elaborate or explanatory essay |
| dissemble | feign, pretend |
| doff | remove, take off |
| doggerel | a comic verse of irregular measure |
| dolorous | showing sorrow |
| dross | worthless or dangerous material, impurity |
| ebullient | exuberant |
| effulgent | beaming |
| egress | going out, exit, exodus, emergence |
| elegy | lament for the dead |
| emolument | compensation |
| encomium | formal expression of praise |
| endue | endow |
| enjoin | give instructions to |
| equable | temperate |
| equanimity | composure |
| evince | express |
| eviscerate | remove the contents of |
| exchequer | treasury |
| excoriate | condemn, decry |
| execrate | to loathe, to curse |
| exigency | crisis |
| exiguous | scanty |
| expatiate | elaborate |
| expiate | atone |
| expostulate | To reason earnestly with someone in an effort to dissuade or correct; remonstrate |
| expurgate | censor |
| extemporaneous | impromptu |
| extirpate | to eradicate |
| factious | dissenting with majority opinion |
| factitious | artificial, not produced naturally |
| factotum | servant |
| fain | disposed, inclined, prepared, gladly |
| fealty | allegiance, loyalty |
| febrile | feverish |
| fervid | intensely emotional, impassioned |
| fiat | court decree, edict |
| flotilla | US Navy fleet |
| foment | agitate, try to stir up public opinion |
| frieze | architectural ornament with all the people on it in a band |
| froward | headstrong |
| fructify | bear fruit |
| fulcrum | the pivot about which a lever turns |
| fulminate | to explode with a loud noise; detonate; to issue denunciations or the like |
| fulsome | suck-uppy |
| functionary | a worker, official |
| gadfly | a persistently annoying person |
| gainsay | to challenge |
| gamester | a merry, frolicsome person |
| garrulous | chatty, gabby |
| gasconade | bragging, an instance of bragging |
| germinal | containing seeds of later development |
| gibbet | gallows |
| gloaming | dusk, twilight |
| harrow | cultivator, tiller, pulverizer of soil |
| hawser | large heavy rope for nautical use |
| hegira | a journey by a large group to escape from a hostile environment |
| hermitage | the abode of a hermit |
| hibernal | wintry |
| homily | a sermon |
| hoyden | tomboy |
| hummock | a small natural hill |
| hustings | the activities involved in political campaigning |
| hyperborean | of or pertaining to the region beyond the North wind, or to its inhabitants |
| hypothecate | to believe, especially on uncertain or tentative grounds |
| iconoclast | a destroyer of images used in religious worship |
| igneous | produced under conditions involving intense heat |
| ignominious | disgraceful |
| imbrue | drench |
| imbue | diffuse though, permeate |
| immolate | offer as a sacrifice by killing or giving up to destruction |
| impalpable | unfeelable |
| impecunious | not having enough money to pay for necessities |
| impenitent | unrepentant, unremorseful |
| imperious | domineering, overbearing, dictatorial |
| importune | beg persistently and urgently |
| imprecate | damn, wish harm upon |
| imprimatur | a license to print, formal and explicit approval |
| impute | attribute or credit to |
| incarnadine | flesh-colored, of a carnation or pale red color |
| inchoate, incipient | not fully formed; at an initial stage |
| inexorable | not to be persuaded or moved by entreaty |
| iniquitous | sinful, ungodly |
| insidious | beguiling but harmful, intended to entrap |
| insouciant | careless, heedless |
| insuperable | insurmountable |
| integument | an outer protective covering like skin or a rind |
| interment | burial |
| internecine | conflict within a group or organization, mutual slaughter |
| interstice | a small structural space between tissues or parts of an organ; small opening between things |
| intransigent | stubbornly refusing to compromise |
| inveigle | cajole, wheedle |
| inveterate | chronic, habitual |
| invidious | calculated to create ill will or resentment or give offense; hateful, offensively or unfairly discriminating |
| irrefragable | incontestable, unanswerable |
| jejune | lacking in nutritive value; juvenile |
| jeremiad | a long and mournful complaint |
| jingoism | an appeal intended to arouse patriotic emotions |
| junket | type of dessert, a journey taken for pleasure, banquet |
| ken | range of what one can know or understand, range of vision |
| laconic | brief and to the point, terse, curt |
| lagniappe | a small gift (especially one given by a merchant to a customer who makes a purchase) |
| lambent, lucent | softly bright or radiant, luminous |
| lave | wash or flow against, cleanse oneself |
| limn | trace the shape of, outline, make a portrait of |
| lissome | moving and bending with ease, lithe |
| lubricity | slipperiness, ability to lubricate, fleetingness, lewdness |
| lugubrious | excessively mournful |
| madrigal | a secular part song without instrumental accompaniment, usually for four to six voices |
| magniloquent | pompous; bombastic; boastful |
| martinet | a strict disciplinarian, esp. a military one |
| mawkish | characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin. |
| mendicant | begging; practicing begging; living on alms |
| mercurial | changeable; volatile; fickle, animated; lively; sprightly |
| meretricious | alluring by a show of flashy or vulgar attractions; based on pretense, deception, or insincerity |
| minaret | a lofty, often slender, tower or turret attached to a mosque, surrounded by or furnished with one or more balconies, from which the muezzin calls the people to prayer. |
| minatory | menacing; threatening |
| mugwump | a person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an issue, esp. in politics; a person who is neutral on a controversial issue |
| mulct | to swindle |
| neap | designating tides midway between spring tides that attain the least height |
| nugatory | worthless, ineffectual |
| numismatics | the study or collecting of coins, medals, paper money, etc |
| obdurate | unmoved by persuasion, pity, or tender feelings; stubborn; unyielding |
| oblation | the offering to God of the elements of bread and wine in the Eucharist |
| obloquy | censure, blame, or abusive language aimed at a person or thing, esp. by numerous persons or by the general public |
| obsidian | a volcanic glass similar in composition to granite, usually dark but transparent in thin pieces, and having a good conchoidal fracture |
| obstreperous | resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; unruly |
| obtrude | to thrust (something) forward or upon a person, esp. without warrant or invitation |
| opprobrious | outrageously disgraceful or shameful |
| orison | a prayer |
| ornithologist | one who studies birds |
| orotund | (of the voice or speech) characterized by strength, fullness, richness, and clearness |
| paean | any song of praise, joy, or triumph |
| palaver | a conference or discussion |
| palliate | to relieve or lessen without curing; mitigate; alleviate |
| panegyric | a lofty oration or writing in praise of a person or thing; eulogy; formal or elaborate praise |
| parapet | a defensive wall or elevation, as of earth or stone, in a fortification |
| pastiche | a hodgepodge |
| paucity | scarcity |
| peccadillo | a very minor or slight sin or offense |
| pecuniary | of or pertaining to money |
| pediment | a low gable, typically triangular with a horizontal cornice and raking cornices, surmounting a colonnade, an end wall, or a major division of a façade |
| pelf | money or wealth, esp. when regarded with contempt or acquired by reprehensible means |
| pellucid | allowing the maximum passage of light, as glass; translucent; limpid |
| pennate | winged, feathered |
| penury | extreme poverty; destitution |
| peregrination | travel from one place to another, esp. on foot |
| perforce | necessarily |
| perigee | the point in the orbit of a heavenly body, esp. the moon, or of an artificial satellite at which it is nearest to the earth |
| peripatetic | walking or traveling about; itinerant |
| peristyle | a colonnade surrounding a building or an open space |
| peroration | a long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language |
| perquisite | an incidental payment, benefit, privilege, or advantage over and above regular income, salary, or wages, gratuity or tip |
| persiflage | light, bantering talk or writing |
| perspicuous | clearly expressed or presented, lucid |
| pertinacious | holding tenaciously to a purpose, course of action, or opinion; resolute |
| pervious | admitting of passage or entrance; permeable |
| pharisaical | practicing or advocating strict observance of external forms and ceremonies of religion or conduct without regard to the spirit; self-righteous; hypocritical |
| philology | the study of literary texts and of written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning; linguistics, esp. historical and comparative linguistics |
| picaresque | of, pertaining to, or resembling rogues |
| piscatorial | of or pertaining to fishermen or fishing |
| plaintive | expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful |
| plangent | resounding loudly, esp. with a plaintive sound, as a bell |
| plebiscite | a direct vote of the qualified voters of a state in regard to some important public question; the vote by which the people of a political unit determine autonomy or affiliation with another country |
| plenary | full; complete; |
| polity | a particular form or system of government; government or administrative regulation |
| poltroon | a wretched coward |
| postulate | to ask, demand, or claim |
| potentate | a person who possesses great power, as a sovereign, monarch, or ruler |
| precept | an injunction as to moral conduct; maxim |
| preciosity | fastidious or carefully affected refinement, as in language, style, or taste. |
| premonitory | giving premonition |
| primogeniture | the state or fact of being the firstborn of children of the same parents, the system of inheritance or succession by the firstborn, specifically the eldest son. |
| proboscis | the trunk of an elephant |
| prodigious | extraordinary in size, amount, extent, degree, force, etc. |
| promontory | a bluff, or part of a plateau, overlooking a lowland |
| promulgate | publish; proclaim formally or put into operation |
| propagate | to reproduce, to pass on genes, to cause to increase |
| propitiate | appease, conciliate |
| propitious | auspicious |
| propound | set forth; propose |
| protract | to prolong |
| provenance | place or source of origin |
| provender | dry food, as hay or oats, for livestock or other domestic animals; fodder. |
| provident | having or showing foresight; economical; frugal; thrifty |
| prurient | having a restless desire or longing, lustful |
| pulchritude | physical beauty; comeliness |
| purport | to present, esp. deliberately, the appearance of being; profess or claim, often falsely, purpose; intention; object |
| pusillanimous | cowardly, faint of heart |
| querulous | complaining, full of complaints |
| quiescent | quiet, still, inactive |
| ramify | to divide or spread out into branches or branchlike parts; extend into subdivisions |
| rancor | bitter, rankling resentment or ill will; hatred; malice |
| rapprochement | an establishment or reestablishment of harmonious relations |
| rarefied | extremely high or elevated; lofty; exalted, relating to an exclusive group; select; esoteric |
| ratiocination | the process of logical reasoning |
| ravening | voracious |
| recalcitrant | resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant; refractory, hard to deal with, manage, or operate |
| recapitulate | to summarize |
| recondite | dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter, esoteric |
| recreant | cowardly or craven, unfaithful, disloyal, or traitorous |
| recrimination | to bring a countercharge against an accuser, to accuse in return |
| recrudescence | breaking out afresh or into renewed activity; revival or reappearance in active existence |
| rectitude | rightness of principle or conduct; moral virtue, correctness |
| recumbent | lying down; reclining; leaning , inactive, idle |
| redolent | having a pleasant odor; fragrant |
| redoubtable | that is to be feared; formidable, commanding or evoking respect, reverence, or the like |
| refectory | a dining hall in a religious house, a college, or other institution |
| regatta | a boat race, a strong, striped cotton fabric that is of twill weave |
| rescission | the act of rescinding |
| resplendent | shining brilliantly; gleaming |
| reticulated | netted; covered with a network |
| retinue | a body of retainers in attendance upon an important personage; suite |
| roseate | rosy, bright or promising, incautiously optimistic |
| rostrum | any platform, stage, or the like, for public speaking, a beaklike projection from the prow of a ship, esp. one on an ancient warship for ramming an enemy ship |
| rotunda | a round building, esp. one with a dome |
| rubicund | red or reddish; ruddy |
| rueful | causing sorrow or pity; pitiable; deplorable |
| rusticate | to go to the country |
| sacerdotal | of or relating to priests or the priesthood, priestly |
| sagacious | shrewd, showing sound judgment |
| salubrious | conducive to health or well-being |
| salver | a tray for serving food or drinks |
| sanguine | a healthy reddish color, cheerfully confident, optimistic |
| sapid | having flavor, savor |
| sapient | having great wisdom and discernment |
| sartorial | relating to a tailor or tailoring |
| satrap | a ruler, a subordinate bureaucrat or official |
| saturnine | melancholy or sullen, bitter or sardonic |
| scarify | to make shallow cuts in the skin, to break up the surface of |
| sciolism | a pretentious attitude of scholarship, superficial knowledge pretentiously revealed |
| scion | descendent or heir |
| scullion | a servant employed to do menial tasks in a kitchen |
| scurrilous | foul-mouthed |
| sebaceous | fatty |
| sedulous | persevering and constant in effort, assiduous, diligent |
| senescence | growing old, aging |
| sententious | trying to sound wise, making pompous remarks about morality |
| sequacious | intellectually servile, inclined to follow |
| serried | pressed or crowded together, especially in rows |
| simper | to smile in a silly manner |
| sluice | a floodgate, an artificial passage for water |
| solecism | an ungrammatical combination of words in a sentence, something deviating from the proper or normal, a breach of etiquette |
| sophist | philosopher |
| soporific | causing sleep, dulling awareness |
| splenetic | marked by bad temper, malevolence, or spite |
| spoliation | plundering |
| spume | foam, scum, frothy matter on liquids |
| staid | marked by settled sedateness and often prim self-restraint |
| stentorian | extremely loud |
| stertorous | characterized by a harsh snoring or gasping sound |
| stratum | a sheet of rock or earth, a layer of the sea or atmosphere |
| stricture | a constriction, narrowing |
| strident | characterized by harsh, insistent, and discordant sound, commanding attention by a loud or obtrusive quality |
| stultify | to cause to appear or be stupid, foolish, or absurdly illogical, To render useless or ineffectual; cripple |
| sub rosa | secret, private |
| subterfuge | a deceptive strategem |
| sudorific | causing or increasing sweat |
| sumptuary | relating to personal expenditures and especially to prevent extravagance and luxury, designed to regulate extravagant expenditures or habits especially on moral or religious grounds |
| supernal | celestial, heavenly |
| supernumerary | exceeding a fixed number, exceeding the required amount |
| suppurate | to form or discharge pus |
| surfeit | overindulgence in food or drink, result of overindulgence |
| surreptitious | done in secret |
| syllogism | deductive reasoning, a deduction |
| tarn | A small mountain lake, especially one formed by glaciers |
| tatterdemalion | a ragged fellow, a ragamuffin, street urchin |
| teleology | a doctrine explaining phenomena by their ends or purposes |
| temerarious | recklessly daring |
| temerity | recklessness |
| temporize | To act evasively in order to gain time, avoid argument, or postpone a decision, to stall |
| tendentious | partisan |
| tergiversation | subterfuge; evasion, falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language |
| termagant | a violent, turbulent, or brawling woman, shrew |
| tessellated | like a mosaic |
| thaumaturgist | a worker of wonders or miracles; magician |
| thrall | slavery |
| threnody | a dirge, lamentation for the dead, funeral song |
| tipple | to drink intoxicating liquor, esp. habitually or to some excess |
| tonsure | ritual head shaving, being shorn |
| traduce | to speak maliciously and falsely of; slander; defame |
| treacle | contrived or unrestrained sentimentality, molasses |
| trencherman | a person who has a hearty appetite |
| triolet | a short poem of fixed form, having a rhyme scheme of ab, aa, abab, and having the first line repeated as the fourth and seventh lines, and the second line repeated as the eighth |
| truckle | to submit or yield in a servile/obsequious way, a pulley |
| truculent | fierce; cruel; savagely brutal |
| trumpery | something without use or value; rubbish; trash; worthless stuff |
| tumbrel | one of the carts used during the French Revolution to convey victims to the guillotine, a farmer's cart, esp. one for hauling manure, that can be tilted to discharge its load |
| turbid | not clear or transparent because of stirred-up sediment or the like; clouded; opaque; obscured |
| tureen | a large, deep, covered dish for serving soup, stew, or other foods |
| tutelary | of or pertaining to a guardian or guardianship |
| tyro | novice, beginner |
| ukase | any order or proclamation by an absolute or arbitrary authority |
| unction | something soothing or comforting |
| unctuous | characterized by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor, esp. in an affected manner; excessively smooth, suave, or smug |
| unguent | an ointment or salve, usually liquid or semiliquid, for application to wounds, sores, etc |
| untoward | unfavorable or unfortunate, improper |
| unwonted | not customary or usual; rare |
| uxorious | excessively submissive or devoted to one's wife |
| vagary | a wandering or strolling, hence, a wandering of the thoughts; a wild or fanciful freak; a whim; a whimsical purpose. |
| vainglorious | characterized by or exhibiting excessive vanity; boastful |
| valedictory | a closing or farewell statement or address, especially one delivered at graduation exercises |
| valetudinarian | chronically ailing; sickly |
| vanguard | the position of greatest importance or advancement; the leading position in any movement or field, the foremost position in an army or fleet advancing into battle |
| vassal | a person granted the use of land, in return for rendering homage, fealty, and usually military service or its equivalent to a lord or other superior; feudal tenant |
| venal | willing to be bribed |
| venial | able to be forgiven or pardoned; not seriously wrong, as a sin |
| verdigris | the green stuff on copper |
| vernal | relating to spring |
| virago | a loud-voiced, ill-tempered, scolding woman; shrew |
| viscid | sticky, viscous |
| vitiate | to spoil, to weaken the effectiveness of, to corrupt, to make invalid |
| vituperate | to use or address with harsh or abusive language |
| vociferous | crying out noisily; clamorous. |
| voluble | characterized by a ready and continuous flow of words; fluent; glib; talkative |
| votary | a devoted follower or admirer |
| vouchsafe | to grant or give, as by favor, graciousness, or condescension, to allow or permit, to deign |
| waggish | roguish in merriment and good humor; jocular |
| wastrel | a wasteful person; spendthrift |
| welter | to roll, toss, or heave, as waves or the sea, to lie bathed in or be drenched in something, to become deeply or extensively involved |
| yeoman | a petty officer in a navy, having chiefly clerical duties in the U.S. Navy, (British) a farmer who cultivates his own land. |
| perspicacious | having keen mental perception and understanding |
| prescience | foresight, knowledge of things before they happen |
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