- abate: lessen in intensity or degree
- aberrant: deviating from the norm
- abjure: renounce, reject, recant, avoid
- abrogate: abolish or annul by authority; put down
- abrogate: abolish or annul by authority
- abscission: the act of cutting off or removing
- abscond: depart clandestinely; steal off and hide
- abstain: refrain from an activity
- accolade: expression of praise; award
- accretion: growth, increase by successive addition, building up
- acerbic: having a sour or bitter taste or character
- acumen: quick, keen, accurate knowledge or insight
- admonish: reprove, express warning or disapproval
- adroit: adept, dextrous
- adulation: excessive praise; intense adoration
- adulterate: reduce purity by combining with inferior ingredients
- adumbrate: vaguely foreshadow, intimate, suggest, outline sketchily
- advocate: argue for or support a cause
- aesthetic: dealing with, appreciative of or responsive to art or the beautiful
- aggrandize: make appear greater; increase in intensity, power or prestige
- alacrity: eager and enthusiastic willingness
- alchemy: magical or wonderful transformation
- alloy: commingle; debase by mixing with something inferior
- amalgamate: combine several elements into a whole
- ambiguity: uncertainty in meaning
- ambivalence: quality of having opposing ideas or feelings
- ameliorate: make better or more tolerable
- amenable: agreeable, responsive to suggestion
- Amortize: to liquidate or extinguish (a mortgage, debt, or other obligation), esp. by periodic payments to the creditor or to a sinking fund
- anachronism: something or someone out of place in terms of historical or chronological context
- analgesia: absence of the sense of pain without loss of consciousness
- anathema: solemn, ecclesiastical curse; loathed or accursed person or thing
- anodyne: soothing; something that soothes
- anomaly: deviation from normal order or rule; abnormality
- antagonize: irritate or cause hostility
- antipathy: aversion, dislike
- antithetical: diametrically opposed
- apathy: lack of interest or feeling
- apocryphal: of dubious authenticity; spurious
- apogee: farthest or highest point, culmination, zenith
- apostate: one who abandons long help religious or political convictions; betrayer of a cause
- apotheosis: deification, glorification to godliness, the perfect example
- apposite: appropriate, pertinent, relevant, apropos
- apprise: give notice to, inform
- approbation: an expression of approval or praise
- appropriate: take for one's own use
- arabesque: complex, ornate design
- arcane: mysterious, abstruse, esoteric, knowable only to initiates
- archaic: outdated, associated with earlier, primitive time
- arrant: impudent; in every way, completely such, utter
- arrest: suspend, engage
- arrogate: make undue claims to having
- articulate: annunciate, pronounce clearly; express self clearly
- artifice: ingenious or skillful device or expedient; clever skill
- artless: completely without guile, natural, without artificiality
- ascetic: one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an act of religious devotion
- asperity: rigor, severity; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability
- aspersion: an act of defamation or maligning
- assiduous: hard-working, diligent
- assuage: ease, lessen; appease, pacify
- astringent: having a tightening effect on living tissue; harsh; severe
- attenuate: rarefy, weaken, make thinner, lessen
- audacious: daring and fearless; recklessly bold
- augury: omen, portent; the reading of omens
- august: majestic, venerable
- auspice: protection, support; patronage; (sign, portent)
- auspicious: favorable, propitious, successful, prosperous
- austere: without adornment; bare; severely simple; ascetic
- avarice: greed, esp. for wealth
- aver: state as a fact, confirm, support
- axiom: universally recognized principal; common saying
GRE: A