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GRE Test Prep > Key Terms Group 6 > Flashcards

Key Terms Group 6 Flashcards

This is Group 6 of the GRE vocabulary key terms. (78 cards)

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1
Q

abjure (verb)

A

to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid

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2
Q

adumbrate (verb)

A

to foreshadow vaguely or intimate; to suggest or outline sketchily; to obscure or overshadow

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3
Q

anathema (noun)

A

a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse; accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing

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4
Q

anodyne (adjective/noun)

A

soothing; something that assuages or allays pain or comforts

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5
Q

apogee (noun)

A

farthest or highest point; culmination; zenith

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6
Q

apostate (noun)

A

one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions

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7
Q

apotheosis (noun)

A

deification; glorification to godliness; an exalted example; a model of excellence or perfection

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8
Q

asperity (noun)

A

severity, rigor; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability

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9
Q

asseverate (verb)

A

to aver, allege, or assert

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10
Q

assiduous (adjective)

A

diligent, hard-working, sedulous

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11
Q

augury (noun)

A

omen, portent

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12
Q

bellicose (adjective)

A

belligerent, pugnacious, warlike

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13
Q

calumniate (verb)

A

to slander, to make a false accusation; calumny means slander, aspersion

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14
Q

captious (adjective)

A

disposed to point out trivial faults; calculated to confuse or entrap in argument

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15
Q

cavil (verb)

A

to find fault without good reason

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16
Q

celerity (noun)

A

speed, alacrity; think accelerate

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17
Q

chimera (noun)

A

an illusion; originally, an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster

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18
Q

contumacious (adjective)

A

insubordinate, rebellious; contumely means insult, scorn, aspersion

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19
Q

debacle (noun)

A

rout, fiasco, complete failure

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20
Q

denouement (noun)

A

an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot

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21
Q

descry (verb)

A

to catch sight of

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22
Q

desuetude (noun)

A

disuse

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23
Q

desultory (adjective)

A

random; aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose

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24
Q

diaphanous (adjective)

A

transparent, gauzy

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25
diffident (adjective)
reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence
26
dirge (noun)
a song of grief or lamentation
27
encomium (noun)
glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy
28
eschew (verb)
to shun or avoid
29
excoriate (verb)
to censure scathingly, to upbraid
30
execrate (verb)
to denounce, to feel loathing for, to curse, to declare to be evil
31
exegesis (noun)
critical examination, explication
32
expiate (verb)
to atone or make amends for
33
extirpate (verb)
to destroy, to exterminate, to cut out, to exscind
34
fatuous (adjective)
silly, inanely foolish
35
fractious (adjective)
quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable
36
gainsay (verb)
to deny, to dispute, to contradict, to oppose
37
heterodox (adjective)
unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic
38
imbroglio (noun)
difficult or embarrassing situation
39
indefatigable (adjective)
not easily exhaustible; tireless, dogged
40
ineluctable (adjective)
certain, inevitable
41
inimitable (adjective)
one of a kind, peerless
42
insouciant (adjective)
unconcerned, carefree, heedless
43
inveterate (adjective)
deep rooted, ingrained, habitual
44
jejune (adjective)
vapid, uninteresting, nugatory; childish, immature, puerile
45
lubricious (adjective)
lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery
46
mendicant (noun)
a beggar, supplicant
47
meretricious (adjective)
cheap, gawdy, tawdry, flashy, showy; attracting by false show
48
minatory (adjective)
menacing, threatening
49
nadir (noun)
low point, perigee
50
nonplussed (adjective)
baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think
51
obstreperous (adjective)
noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous
52
ossified (adjective)
tending to become more rigid, conventional, sterile, and reactionary with age; literally, turned into bone
53
palliate (verb)
to make something seem less serious, to gloss over, to make less severe or intense
54
panegyric (noun)
formal praise, eulogy, encomium; panegyrical means expressing elaborate praise
55
parsimonious (adjective)
cheap, miserly
56
pellucid (adjective)
transparent, easy to understand, limpid
57
peroration (noun)
the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech
58
plangent (adjective)
pounding, thundering, resounding
59
prolix (adjective)
long-winded, verbose; prolixity means verbosity
60
propitiate (verb)
to appease; to conciliate; propitious means auspicious, favorable
61
puerile (adjective)
childish, immature, jejune, nugatory
62
puissance
power, strength; puissant means powerful, strong
63
pusillanimous (adjective)
cowardly, craven
64
remonstrate (verb)
to protest, to object
65
sagacious (adjective)
having sound judgement; perceptive; wise; like a sage
66
salacious (adjective)
lustful, lascivious; bawdy
67
salutary (adjective)
remedial, wholesome, causing imrpovement
68
sanguine (adjective)
cheerful, confident, optimistic
69
saturnine (adjective)
gloomy, dark, sullen, mororse
70
sententious (adjective)
aphoristic or moralistic; epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively
71
stentorian (adjective)
extremely loud and powerful
72
stygian (adjective)
gloomy, dark
73
sycophant (noun)
toady, servile, self-seeking flatterer; parasite
74
tendentious (adjective)
biased; showing marked tendencies
75
timorous (adjective)
timid, fearful, diffident
76
tyro (noun)
novice, greenhorn, rank amateur
77
vitiate (verb)
to corrupt, to debase, to spoil, to make ineffective
78
voluble (adjective)
fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language

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