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Deck 1 Flashcards

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GRE® Vocabulary flashcards
1
Q

Fecund

A

(adjective): fruitful; inventive. Think: FECES UNDER. Spreading manure, i.e., FECES, UNDER your crops as fertilizer will make your harvest FECUND.

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2
Q

Fraternize

A

(verb): to be friendly with. Think: FRAT. We FRAT brothers FRATERNIZE with all the freshman chicks so they’ll come to our parties.

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3
Q

Plaudits

A

(noun): approval. Think: APPLAUD IT. If you want to give PLAUDITS to his work, APPLAUD IT.

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4
Q

Infinitesimal

A

(adjective): incredibly tiny. Think: INFINITELY SMALL. Electrons are pretty much INFINITELY SMALL - they’re so INFINITESIMAL that observing them changes them.

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5
Q

Apoplectic

A

(adjective): enraged. Think: APU EPILEPTIC. In The Simpsons, when Nelson robbed his Quickie Mart, Apu shook with APOPLECTIC rage as if he was having an EPILEPTIC seizure.

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6
Q

Vindictive

A

(adjective): wanting revenge. Think: VIN DIESEL. VIN DIESEL often plays VINDICTIVE characters since he has been typecast as a tough guy.

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7
Q

Decried

A

(verb): expressed strong disapproval about. Think: CRIED. After my boss DECRIED my work in front of everyone, I went home and CRIED.

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8
Q

Expedient

A

(adjective): helpful in a practical way. Think: SPEEDY. To be SPEEDY, I booked my flight on Expedia.com; it was more EXPEDIENT than calling the airline.

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9
Q

Emollient

A

(adjective): soothing. Think: EMO. Listening to EMO music has an EMOLLIENT effect on my emotions because it’s so sensitive.

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10
Q

Misnomer

A

(noun): a wrong or inappropriate name. Think: MIS-NAME. “The Battle of Bunker Hill” is a MISNOMER: it MIS-NAMES the battle, which was actually fought on the nearby Breed’s Hill.

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11
Q

Ashen

A

(adjective): very pale. Think: ASH. When he saw the ghost, his complexion became so ASHEN that his face was the color of ASH.

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12
Q

Outstrip

A

(verb): to outrun or to exceed. Think: OUT-STRIP. To be fair, that STRIPPER gets more tips than you because her pole-dancing skills OUTSTRIP yours.

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13
Q

Trepidation

A

(noun): fear. Think: TRAP. The haunted house filled me with TREPIDATION; I feared a TRAP would be sprung on me at any moment.

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14
Q

Entitlement

A

(noun): deserving or feeling as though one deserves something. Think: TITLE MEANT. I’m feeling ENTITLEMENT since I thought having “Emperor” as my TITLE MEANT I could have anything.

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15
Q

Paucity

A

(noun): lack of. Think: POOR CITY. In the POOR CITY, there was a PAUCITY of resources.

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16
Q

Abject

A

(adjective): miserable; wretched; hopeless. Think: REJECT. If she REJECTS my marriage proposal, I’ll be ABJECT, with nothing to live for.

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17
Q

Vituperated

A

(verb): criticized harshly. Think: VIPER. He was VITUPERATED so badly that he felt like he had been bitten by a VIPER.

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18
Q

Intrepid

A

(adjective): extremely brave. Think: ENTRAP IT. Instead of running from the attacking polar bear, our INTREPID guide handed us nets, shouting, “ENTRAP IT!”

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19
Q

Wan

A

(adjective): sick-looking. Think: old OBI-WAN. In Star Wars, Obi-WAN Kenobi looked WAN even though he was a Jedi master because he was old.

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20
Q

Marginal

A

(adjective): very limited. Think: MARGINS. I only had MARGINAL success in deciphering the ancient manuscript because the only legible parts were the MARGINS.

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21
Q

Proliferate

A

(verb): to grow or multiply quickly. Think: PRO-LIFE-RATE. The PRO-LIFE-RATE of births is higher than the pro-choice rate; pro-life people PROLIFERATE because they don’t get abortions.

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22
Q

Lachrymose

A

(adjective): tearful; mournful. Think: LACK CHRISTMAS. If you LACK CHRISTMAS presents, I don’t blame you for being LACHRYMOSE.

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23
Q

Choleric

A

(adjective): irritable. Think: CHOLERA. I’d be CHOLERIC too if someone’s fecal matter made me get CHOLERA.

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24
Q

Beatific

A

(adjective): extremely happy. Think: BEAUTIFUL! TERRIFIC! If you feel BEATIFIC, you probably walk around exclaiming, “BEAUTIFUL! TERRIFIC!” all day.

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25
Q

Remunerated

A

(verb): compensated or paid for. Think: RE-MONEYED. It cost me $00 to remove the rat from my apartment, but my landlord REMUNERATED / “RE-MONEYED” me.

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26
Q

Treacly

A

(adjective): overly sweet or sentimental. Think: TRICKLE-Y tears. The scene with a homeless puppy is so TREACLY it seems designed to make tears TRICKLE down one’s face.

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27
Q

Ingratiate

A

(verb): to make someone like you. Think: GRATITUDE GRATED. The new guy’s excessive GRATITUDE GRATED and seemed like an attempt to INGRATIATE himself to us.

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28
Q

Belied

A

(verb): contradicted. Think: LIED. The used car salesman’s smooth manner was BELIED by his sweaty handshake and made me think, “He LIED!”

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29
Q

Censure

A

(verb): to criticize harshly. Think: CENSOR. If you really wanted to CENSURE your rival’s editorial you could just CENSOR it completely.

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30
Q

Resplendent

A

(adjective): shining brilliantly. Think: SPLENDID. Cinderella was RESPLENDENT in a sequined, white ball gown; she looked absolutely SPLENDID.

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31
Q

Esoteric

A

(adjective): known by only a few people. Think: ISOLATED TERRIFIC. Einstein’s ESOTERIC knowledge ISOLATED him from most of his peers since his acumen was so TERRIFIC.

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32
Q

Reverberate

A

(verb): to echo. Think: RE-VIBRATE. I yodeled in the empty concert hall, and the echoes REVERBERATED and RE-VIBRATED as they bounced off the walls.

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33
Q

Anachronism

A

(noun): something belonging to a different time period. Think: INACCURATE CHRONOLOGY. The movie has something INACCURATE about its CHRONOLOGY: a caveman wearing a watch - a huge ANACHRONISM.

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34
Q

Poseur

A

(noun): one who pretends to be something he is not. Think: POSER. The POSEUR pretended to be interested in literature to impress girls, but he was exposed as a POSER who didn’t even know who Shakespeare was.

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35
Q

Cerebral

A

(adjective): intellectual. Think: CEREBRUM. Einstein was so CEREBRAL that they studied the CEREBRUM of his brain after he died.

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36
Q

Buttress

A

(noun): a support. Think: BUTT REST. The stone column is both a BUTTRESS and a BUTT REST for tired people to lean against.

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37
Q

Riposte

A

(noun): a comeback. Think: RIP POST. After being mocked, the blogger would RIP into his critic’s POST with a brutal RIPOSTE.

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38
Q

Indomitable

A

(adjective): unconquerable. Think: IN-DOMINATE-ABLE. Spain’s national soccer team is so good that they’re INDOMITABLE or “IN-DOMINATE-ABLE” - they’re unable to be dominated.

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39
Q

Exacting

A

(adjective): requiring strict attention to detail. Think: EXACT. Our EXACTING architecture professor demanded that our model be drawn EXACTLY to scale.

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40
Q

Humbuggery

A

(noun): nonsense; rubbish. Think: BAH, HUMBUG! Ebenezer Scrooge said, “BAH, HUMBUG!” so much because he thought Christmas was HUMBUGGERY.

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41
Q

Reverent

A

(adjective): having deep respect for. Think: REVEREND. During church, the REVEREND reminded them to be REVERENT to Jesus.

42
Q

Peons

A

(noun): lower-class workers used by someone of a superior class. Think: PEE-ONS. The nobleman so little respected his PEONS that he would PEE ON them.

43
Q

Lurid

A

(adjective): sensational; shocking. Think: LURE IN. The strip club’s LURID neon silhouette of a naked woman was designed to LURE IN lonely gentlemen.

44
Q

Lugubrious

A

(adjective): mournful or gloomy. Think: LUG BRIAN. I became LUGUBRIOUS when I realized I would have to LUG the unconscious BRIAN up the stairs.

45
Q

Prevaricate

A

(verb): to lie. Think: PREVENT VERIFY. To cover for you, your friend will PREVARICATE and PREVENT the cop from VERIFYING what really happened.

46
Q

Bedlam

A

(noun): a state of uproar and confusion. Think: BED LAMB. It was complete BEDLAM when I entered my hotel room and saw that the BED had a LAMB sleeping in it.

47
Q

Redundant

A

(adjective): needlessly repetitive. Think: RE-DONE. Duh… that has already been done well - it will be REDUNDANT if you decide it needs to be REDONE.

48
Q

Meretricious

A

(adjective): falsely attractive. Think: MERIT TRICKS US. The sparkle of pyrite, or fool’s gold, is MERETRICIOUS because its MERIT TRICKS US into thinking it’s a precious metal.

49
Q

Incisive

A

(adjective): sharp; direct. Think: INCISION. Luckily, the surgeon was INCISIVE - she only had seconds to make an INCISION before the patient’s appendix burst.

50
Q

Motley

A

(adjective): made up of several different parts. Think: MOTLEY CRUE. The band MOTLEY CRUE has a MOTLEY history of parties, drugs, and other types of craziness.

51
Q

Doggerel

A

(noun): poorly written verse. Think: DOG VERSE. Most Valentine’s Day card poems are such DOGGEREL that it seems as though DOGS wrote the VERSE.

52
Q

Rejuvenated

A

(verb): gave new life to. Think: RE-JUVENILE. His plans for the new year REJUVENATED the middle-aged man so much that he felt like a JUVENILE again.

53
Q

Surmise

A

(verb): to guess. Think: SUMMARIZE. Since a police report will only SUMMARIZE what happened, one usually has to SURMISE the actual events of a crime.

54
Q

Aboriginal

A

(adjective): existing since the beginning. Think: ORIGINAL. In Australia, the ORIGINAL natives are the Aborigines - they are ABORIGINAL since they were its first inhabitants.

55
Q

Disseminated

A

(verb): spread out. Think: DISS ‘EM, NATE. His dad advised to “DISS ‘EM, NATE”, so Nate DISSEMINATED flyers all over the school that criticized his opponents in the election.

56
Q

Rudimentary

A

(adjective): basic; primitive. Think: RUDE ELEMENTARY. RUDE ELEMENTARY school kids are impolite only because their knowledge of social graces is RUDIMENTARY.

57
Q

Scurrilous

A

(adjective): obscenely abusive. Think: SCURVY CURSES. After the pirate developed SCURVY, his CURSES became even more SCURRILOUS.

58
Q

Fortuitous

A

(adjective): lucky. Think: FORTUNATE for US. It was FORTUITOUS and FORTUNATE for us that the polar bear we encountered had just eaten a seal and was too full to eat us.

59
Q

Extenuating

A

(adjective): less serious due to a partial excuse. Think: EXTENSION. I got an EXTENSION on my paper because there were EXTENUATING circumstances - I got trampled by an elephant.

60
Q

Fatuous

A

(adjective): lazily foolish. Think: ** **. If you’re FATUOUS about nutrition, you might end up with a ** **.

61
Q

Abrogate

A

(verb): to get rid of; to abolish. Think: A BROKEN GATE. After my 0 lb. mastiff decided to ABROGATE the barrier to the kitchen and eat from the garbage, we were left with A BROKEN GATE.

62
Q

Burgeoning

A

(adjective): growing. Think: BURGERS. If you eat too many BURGERS, your waistline will be BURGEONING.

63
Q

Pittance

A

(noun): a very small amount. Think: PIT ANTS. PIT ANTS are known for eating even the PITTANCE of fruit that clings to discarded peach pits.

64
Q

Admonished

A

(verb): warned to do what’s best. Think: ADD MONISTAT. “ADD MONISTAT to your body if you’re suffering from a vaginal yeast infection,” the ad

65
Q

Commiserate

A

(verb): to sympathize with. Think: MISERY loves COMPANY. Come COMMISERATE with us - MISERY loves COMPANY.

66
Q

Sublime

A

(adjective): awesome. Think: The band “SUBLIME”. The band SUBLIME has spawned several cover bands, a good sign that it made SUBLIME music.

67
Q

Scotch

A

(verb): to put a sudden end to; to injure. Think: SCRATCH. Well, the boss just SCOTCHED our plan to bring our cats to work, so SCRATCH that idea.

68
Q

Acquisitive

A

(adjective): eager to acquire and possess; greedy. Think: ACQUIRE. The ACQUISITIVE billionaire wanted to ACQUIRE every company he saw.

69
Q

Salutary

A

(adjective): beneficial. Think: SALUTE. Sal’s cooking has such a SALUTARY effect on me that I SALUTE him.

70
Q

August

A

(adjective): majestic. Think: AUGUSTUS Caesar. AUGUSTUS Caesar, the first Roman emperor, was so AUGUST that they named a month after him.

71
Q

Magnanimous

A

(adjective): generous. Think: MAGNET for ANIMALS. The “feed the birds” lady in Mary Poppins was a MAGNET for ANIMALS because she was so MAGNANIMOUS to them.

72
Q

Sinuous

A

(adjective): having many curves. Think: SINE WAVE. Unsurprisingly, if you graph a SINE wave on your calculator it’s going to look SINUOUS.

73
Q

Cowed

A

(adjective): intimidated. Think: COWARD. The bully was at heart a COWARD: as soon as I stood up to him he was COWED into silence.

74
Q

Glancing

A

(adjective): indirect. Think: GLANCE (verb). The knight only GLANCED sideways at his opponent; as a result, his lance’s blow was GLANCING and didn’t inflict any damage.

75
Q

Skittish

A

(adjective): restless; easily frightened. Think: SKITTLES. After I ate a 5 oz. bag of SKITTLES by myself, the sugar high made me SKITTISH.

76
Q

Desiccated

A

(adjective): dried out. Think: DESERT SICK. The DESERT made me SICK because the dry heat DESICCATED my body.

77
Q

Brusque

A

(adjective): abrupt; curt; harsh. Think: BRUSHED OFF. I tried to make friends with the club’s bouncer, but he was BRUSQUE and BRUSHED me off.

78
Q

Frugal

A

(adjective): thrifty; inclined to save money. Think: FREE GAL. I’m a FRUGAL FREE GAL - my lunch usually consists of the free samples at supermarkets.

79
Q

Denizen

A

(noun): inhabitant; one who is often at a place. Think: DEN CITIZEN. One of the DENIZENS of the caves in my woods is a black bear - he’s a bear DEN CITIZEN.

80
Q

Affectation

A

(noun): an artificial way of behaving. Think: A FAKE FICTION. Madonna’s phony English accent is an AFFECTATION; it is A FAKE FICTION.

81
Q

Viscous

A

(adjective): syrupy. Think: STICKS TO US. The VISCOUS BISQUICK pancake batter STICKS to US.

82
Q

Palliate

A

(verb): to reduce the severity of. Think: PILL I ATE. The prescription PILL I ATE should PALLIATE my depression.

83
Q

Slapdash

A

(adjective): quick and careless. Think: SLAP and DASH. This SLAPDASH sandwich looks like someone just SLAPPED a piece of cheese on the bread then DASHED off.

84
Q

Decimate

A

(verb): to destroy a large part of. Think: DECIMAL REMAINS. At the start of our campaign, all of our soldiers were healthy, but attacks and disease have DECIMATED the ranks so that only a DECIMAL REMAINS.

85
Q

Saccharine

A

(adjective): sweet in a fake way. Think: SACCHARIN. The beauty contestant’s personality was so SACCHARINE that there must have been Sweet and Low (SACCHARIN) in her veins.

86
Q

Connoisseur

A

(noun): an expert; one who knows the subtleties of a subject. Think: CAN KNOW SIR. When it comes to breakdancing, call me “CAN KNOW SIR” because I’m a CONNOISSEUR of the art.

87
Q

Babel

A

(noun): a jumble of sounds. Think: BABBLE. When all the Kardashians get together and start to BABBLE, it creates a confusing BABEL of voices.

88
Q

Inordinate

A

(adjective): exceeding reasonable limits. Think: NOT ORDINARY. Joey Chestnut consumed an INORDINATE number of hot dogs; it’s NOT ORDINARY that he ATE 6 of them.

89
Q

Acerbic

A

(adjective): harsh; biting. Think: ACIDIC. On American Idol, Simon Cowell’s criticism was ACERBIC to the point of being ACIDIC.

90
Q

Mephitic

A

(adjective): foul-smelling. Think: METH BREATH. I bet the devil Mephistopheles has MEPHITIC breath, like that of a METH user.

91
Q

Ruminate

A

(verb): to carefully reflect on. Think: RAMEN MARINATE. To RUMINATE means to think about something for at least as long as it takes your Top RAMEN to MARINATE.

92
Q

Kowtow

A

(verb): to kiss up to. Think: COW TOES. If you want to KOWTOW to a farmer, BOW and offer to give a pedicure to his COW’s TOEs.

93
Q

Evanescent

A

(adjective): fleeting; lasting only briefly. Think: VANISH SCENT. The cologne’s fragrance will VANISH soon; its SCENT is EVANESCENT.

94
Q

Stricture

A

(noun): a restraint; a criticism. Think: RESTRICT. The tourniquet around my arm stopped me from bleeding to death, but the STRICTURE RESTRICTED any circulation and they almost had to amputate my limb.

95
Q

Ebullient

A

(adjective): excitedly enthusiastic. Think: RED BULL. After I chugged a giant RED BULL, I felt extremely EBULLIENT.

96
Q

Adulterate

A

(verb): to corrupt; to make impure. Think: ADULTERY. In The Bible, God said, “Thou shalt not commit ADULTERY” because an affair will ADULTERATE a marriage.

97
Q

Revile

A

(verb): to abuse verbally. Think: EVIL, VILE. My disillusionment with the army began when I tripped, causing the drill sergeant to REVILE me with the most EVIL, VILE insults I’ve ever heard.

98
Q

Succumb

A

(verb): to give in to a superior force. Think: SUCK UNDER. Do not SUCCUMB to the deadly pull of the quicksand or it will SUCK you UNDER.

99
Q

Decrepit

A

(adjective): worn-out; run-down. Think: SCRAP IT. Your DECREPIT old car looks like crap; you should SCRAP IT.

100
Q

Gregarious

A

(adjective): social. Think: CONGREGATE. If you’re GREGARIOUS, you like to CONGREGATE with others whenever possible.

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