GRE Vocabulary

VOCABULARY PREPARATION
1. Deferential (adj.): showing deference; respectful; Synonyms: obsequious, humble, respectful,

considerate, attentive, and thoughtful.
2. Intransigent (adj.): unwilling or refusing to change one’s view or to agree about something;
Synonyms: Uncompromising, inflexible, unbending, unyielding, unwavering, and resolute.
3. Lax (adj.): not sufficiently strict, sever or careful; Synonyms: neglectful, inattentive, slipshod,
inattentive, and slapdash.
4. Circumspect (adj.): wary and unwilling to take risks; Synonyms: careful, cautious, wary;
chary; and guarded.
5. Invigorating (adj.): making one feel strong, healthy, and full of energy.
6. Invigorate (verb): give strength or energy to; synonyms: revitalize, energize, motivate,
rejuvenate, and exhilarate.
7. Lurid (adj.): presented in vividly shocking or sensational terms; sensational, melodramatic,
and extravagant.
8. Copious (adj.): abundant in supply or quantity; Synonyms: abundant, ample, profuse,
substantial, and overflowing.
9. Understatement (noun): The presentation of something as being smaller or less good or
important than it really is. Synonym: euphemism
10. Euphemism (noun): A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to
be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. Synonym:
understatement; antonym: dysphemism.
11. Idyllic (adjective): like an idyll; extremely happy, peaceful or picturesque; synonyms: perfect,
ideal, halcyon, blissful, happy, and wonderful;
12. Notch (verb): score or achieve something; synonyms: record, measure, and register.
13. Ominous (adjective): giving the worrying impression that something bad is going to happen;
threateningly inauspicious. Synonyms: threatening, menacing, baleful, forbidding, sinister,
inauspicious, unpropitious, portentous, unfavorable, dire, unpromising.
14. Prejudice (adj.): (a) preconceived idea that is not based on reason or actual experience;
synonyms: preconception; (b) dislike, hostility, or unjust behavior from preconceived and
unfounded opinions; Synonyms: bigotry, bias, partisanship, partiality, intolerance, discrimination,
preference, inequality, and inequity. (Law) harm or injury that results or may result from some
action or judgment; synonyms: detriment, harm, disadvantage, damage, injury, hurt, impairment.
15. Dogged (adj.): having or showing tenacity or grim persistence; synonyms: tenacious,
determined, resolute, indefatigable, obdurate, and stout-hearted.
16. Ruse (noun): an action intended to deceive someone; a trick; synonyms: ploy, stratagem,
tactic, move, device, scheme, trick, gambit, maneuver, contrivance, expedient, dodge,
subterfuge, machination, smokescreen, and red herring.
17. Afoul (adverb): into conflict or difficulty with.
18. Allegory (noun): A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden
meaning, typically a moral or political one.
19. Irony (noun): incongruity between the actual results of a sequence of events and the normal
or expected result.
20. Probity (noun): adherence to the highest principles and ideas; uprightness; synonym:
honesty.
21. Disapprobation (noun): the act or state of disapproving; the state of being disapproved;
synonym: condemnation.
22. Profligate (adjective): (a) completely given up to dissipation and licentiousness; (b) wildly
extravagant; synonym: prodigal.
23. Acquisitive (adjective): strongly desirous of acquiring or possessing; covetous.
24. Illiberal (adj.): not broadminded; stingy; not generous.
25. Irony (noun): incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal
or expected results.
26. Tendentiousness (adjective): Marked by a tendency in favor of a particular point of view;
biased.
27. Complacency (noun): Self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of
actual dangers or deficiencies.
28. Fractiousness (adjective): tendency to be troublesome, unruly, quarrelsome, irritable.
29. Perfunctory (adjective): (a) characterized by routine or superficiality: mechanical; (b) lacking
in interest or enthusiasm.
30. Paradigm (noun): (a) example, pattern; especially: an outstanding clear of typical example
or archetype; (b) a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline
within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of
them are formulated; broadly: a philosophical or theoretical frameworks of any kind.
31. Misnomer (noun): a use of a wrong or inappropriate name.
32. Profundity (noun): (a) intellectual depth; something profound or abstruse; (b) the quality or
state of being profound or great.
33. Undermine (verb): (a) to subvert or weaken insidiously or secretly; (b) to weaken or ruin by
degree.
34. Underscore (verb): to make evident: emphasize, stress.
35. Inimical (adjective): hostile; unfriendly.
36. Suffrage (noun): the right of voting; franchise.
37. Pellucid (adjective): easy to understand; clear.
38. Peculiarity (noun): (a) the quality or state of being peculiar; (b) a distinguishing
characteristic; (c) oddity, quirk.
39. Enigmatic (adjective): mysterious; obscure.
40. Virulence (noun): the quality or state of being virulent (a) extreme bitterness or malignity of
temper (rancor); (b) malignity, venomousness.
41. Immure (verb): to enclose within or as if within walls; imprison.
KAPLAN TOP 200 WORDS
1. ABATE: to reduce in amount, degree or severity (EBB, LAPSE, LET UP, MODERATE,
RELENT, SLACKEN, SUBSIDE, & WANE).
2. ABSCOND: to leave secretly (FLEE, DECAMP, & ESCAPE).
3. ABSTAIN: to choose not to do something (FORBEAR, REFRAIN, & WITHOLD).
4. ABYSS: an extremely deep hole (CHASM, VOID); ABYSSAL: pertaining to great depth;
Abysmal: extremely bad.
5. ADULTERATE: to make something impure (DOCTOR); UNADULTERATED: pure;
ADULTERY: an illicit relationship, an affair.
6. ADVOCATE: to speak in favor of; ADVOCACY: active support for (BACK, CHAMPION, &
SUPPORT).
7. AESTHETIC: concerning the appreciation of beauty; ASTHETE: someone usually sensitive to
beauty; AESTHETISM: concern with beauty (ARTISTIC, TASGTEFUL).
8. AGGRANDIZE: to increase in power, influence, and reputation (AMPLIFY, DIGNIFY,
ENNOBLE, MAGNIFY, WAX, APOTHEOSIZE, ELEVATE, EXALT, SWELL, AUGMENT,
ENLARGE, GLORIFY, UPLIFT).
9. ALLEVIATE: to make more bearable (ALLEVIATE, EASE, MITIGATE, ASSUAGE, LESSEN,
PALLIATE, COMFORT, LIGHTEN, & RELIEVE)
10. AMALGAMATE: to combine, mix together; AMALGAM: a mixture, especially, of two metals
(ADMIX, COMMINGLE, FUSE, MERGE, BLEND, COMMIX, INTERMINGLE, MINGLE,
COMBINE, COMPUND, INTERMIX, MIX)
WORD GROUPS
1. BOLD: audacious, courageous, & dauntless
2. HESITATE: dither, waver, vacillate, oscillate, & teeter
3. ACT QUICKLY: impetuous, precipitate, head-long, apace & abrupt.
4. INNOCENT/INEXPERIENCED: tyro, naiveté, gullible, naïve, novice, ingenuous, & credulous.
5. CHANGE QUICKLY: volatile, capricious, & mercurial.
6. DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND: abstruse, perplexing, esoteric, arcane, enigmatic, opaque,
paradoxical, obscure, bemusing, cryptic, recondite, turbid, & inscrutable.
7. EASY TO UNDERSTAND: pellucid, limpid, cogent, articulate, eloquent, lucid, & evident.
8. SMART/LEARNED: astute, canny, erudite, & perspicacious.
9. CRITICIZE/CRITICISM: aspersion, calumny, defamation, diatribe, gainsay, inveigh,
objurgate, remonstrate, reprove, vituperate, belittle, castigate, denounce, disparage, harangue,
lambaste, opprobrium, revile, berate, decry, deride, derisive, excoriate, impugn, obloquy, pillory,
reprehend, & tirade.
10. CAROUSAL: bacchanalian, iniquity, licentious, salacious, depraved, libertine, reprobate,
sordid, dissipating, libidinous, ribald, & turpitude.
11. TRUTH: indisputable, candor, candid, probity, verity, fealty, indubitable, sincere, frankness,
legitimate, & veracious.
12. FALSEHOOD: apocryphal, dissemble, erroneous, feigned, mendacity, specious, canard,
duplicity, ersatz, guile, perfidy, specious, chicanery, equivocate, fallacious, mendacity, &
prevaricate.
13. BITING (as in wit or temperament): acerbic, asperity, mordacious, acidulous, caustic,
trenchant, acrimonious, & mordant.
14. PRAISE: acclaim, encomium, fawn, accolade, eulogize, laud/laudatory, aggrandize, extol, &
venerate.
15. HARMFUL: baleful, inimical, minatory, baleful, injurious, perfidious, deleterious, insidious, &
pernicious.
16. TIMID/TIMIDITY: craven, recreant, diffident, timorous, pusillanimous, & trepidation.
17. BORING: banal, insipid, platitude, trite, fatuous, mundane, prosaic, hackneyed, pedestrian,
& quotidian.
18. WEAKEN: adulterate, inhibit, undermine, enervate, obviate, vitiate, exacerbate, & stultify.
19. ASSIST: abet, bolster, espouse, proponent, advocate, corroborate, mainstay, stalwart,
ancillary, countenance, munificent, & sustenance.
20. HOSTILE: antithetic, irascible, truculent, churlish, malevolent, vindictive, curmudgeon, &
misanthropic.
21. STUBBORN: implacable, intransigent, recalcitrant, untoward, inexorable, obdurate,
refractory, vexing, intractable, obstinate, & renitent.
22. BEGINNING/YOUNG: burgeoning, inchoate, callow, incipient, & nascent.
23. GENEROUS/KIND: altruistic, magnanimous, philanthropic, largess, unstinting, clement,
munificent, & beneficent.
24. GREEDY: avaricious, miserly, rapacious, covetous, penurious, mercenary, & venal.
25. TERSE: compendious, pithy, curt, succinct, laconic, & taciturn.
26. DICTATORIAL: dogmatic, hegemony, peremptory, authoritarian, dogmatic, tyrannical,
despotic, & imperious.
NONCHALANT (adjective): Having an air of easy unconcern or indifference (COOL).

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VOCABULARY PREPARATION

1. Deferential (adj.): showing deference; respectful; Synonyms: obsequious, humble, respectful,

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