2000 SAT vocab

antediluvian

(adj.) ancient (The antediluvian man still believed that Eisenhower was president of the United States and that hot dogs cost a nickel.)

adverse

(adj.) antagonistic, unfavorable, dangerous (Because of adverse conditions, the hikers decided to give up trying to climb the mountain.)

aesthetic

(adj.) artistic, related to the appreciation of beauty (We hired Susan as our interior decorator because she has such a fine aesthetic sense.)

anachronistic

(adj.) being out of correct chronological order (In this book you're writing, you say that the Pyramids were built after the Titanic sank, which is anachronistic.)

anonymous

(adj.) being unknown, unrecognized (Mary received a love poem from an anonymous admirer.)

agnostic

(adj.) believing that the existence of God cannot be proven or disproven (Joey's parents are very religious, but he is agnostic.)

acerbic

(adj.) biting, bitter in tone or taste (Jill became extremely acerbic and began to cruelly make fun of all her friends.)

apocryphal

(adj.) fictitious, false, wrong (Because I am standing before you, it seems obvious that the stories circulating about my demise were apocryphal.)

abstruse

(adj.) hard to comprehend (Everyone else in the class understood geometry easily, but John found the subject abstruse.)

ambivalent

(adj.) having opposing feelings (My feelings about Calvin are ambivalent because on one hand he is a loyal friend, but on the other, he is a cruel and vicious thief.)

accommodating

(adj.) helpful, obliging, polite (Though the apartment was not big enough for three people, Arnold, Mark, and Zebulon were all friends and were accommodating to each other.)

appalling

(adj.) inspiring shock, horror, disgust (The judge found the murderer's crimes and lack of remorse appalling.)

apathetic

(adj.) lacking concern, emotion (Uninterested in politics, Bruno was apathetic about whether he lived under a capitalist or communist regime.)

animated

(adj.) lively (When he begins to talk about drama, which is his true passion, he becomes very animated.)

aloof

(adj.) reserved, distant (The scientist could sometimes seem aloof, as if he didn't care about his friends or family, but really he was just thinking about quantum mechanics.)

aerial

(adj.) somehow related to the air (We watched as the fighter planes conducted aerial maneuvers.)

amorphous

(adj.) without definite shape or type (The effort was doomed from the start, because the reasons behind it were so amorphous and hard to pin down.)

antipathy

(n.) a strong dislike, repugnance (I know you love me, but because you are a liar and a thief, I feel nothing but antipathy for you.)

accord

(n.) an agreement (After much negotiating, England and Iceland finally came to a mutually beneficial accord about fishing rights off the cost of Greenland.)

adulation

(n.) extreme praise (Though the book was pretty good, Marcy did not believe it deserved the adulation it received.)

anguish

(n.) extreme sadness, torment (Angelos suffered terrible anguish when he learned that Buffy had died while combating a strange mystical force of evil.)

absolution

(n.) freedom from blame, guilt, sin (Once all the facts were known, the jury gave Angela absolution by giving a verdict of not guilty.)

acclaim

(n.) high praise (Greg's excellent poem won the acclaim of his friends.)

accolade

(n.) high praise, special distinction (Everyone offered accolades to Sam after he won the Noble Prize.)

antagonism

(n.) hostility (Superman and Bizarro Superman shared a mutual antagonism, and often fought.)

anxiety

(n.) intense uneasiness (When he heard about the car crash, he felt anxiety because he knew that his girlfriend had been driving on the road where the accident occurred.)

anesthesia

(n.) loss of sensation (When the nerves in his spine were damaged, Mr. Hollins suffered anesthesia in his legs.)

accretion

(n.) slow growth in size or amount (Stalactites are formed by the accretion of minerals from the roofs of caves.)

antecedent

(n.) something that came before (The great tradition of Western culture had its antecedent in the culture of Ancient Greece.)

aberration

(n.) something that differs from the norm (In 1918, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and the Red Sox have not won a World Series since.)

analgesic

(n.) something that reduces pain (Put this analgesic on the wound so that the poor man at least feels a little better.)

agriculture

(n.)farming (It was a huge step in the progress of civilization when tribes left hunting and gathering and began to develop more sustainable methods of obtaining food, such as agriculture.)

acumen

(n.)keen insight (Because of his mathematical acumen, Larry was able to figure out in minutes problems that took other students hours.)

abet

(v.) to aid, help, encourage (The spy succeeded only because he had a friend on the inside to --------- him.)

allege

(v.) to assert, usually without proof (The policeman had alleged that Marshall committed the crime, but after the investigation turned up no evidence, Marshall was set free.)

appraise

(v.) to assess the worth or value of (A realtor will come over tonight to appraise our house.)

adorn

(v.) to decorate (We adorned the tree with ornaments.)

allocate

(v.) to distribute, set aside (The Mayor allocated 30 percent of the funds for improving the town's schools.)

abdicate

(v.) to give up a position, usually one of leadership (When he realized that the revolutionaries would surely win, the king abdicated his throne.)

abort

(v.) to give up on a half-finished project or effort (After they ran out of food, the men, attempting to jump rope around the world, had to abort and go home.)

abjure

(v.) to reject, renounce (To prove his honesty, the President abjured the evil policies of his wicked predecessor.)

allay

(v.) to soothe, ease (The chairman of the Federal Reserve gave a speech to try to allay investors' fears about an economic downturn.)

accost

(v.)to confront verbally (Though Antoinette was normally quite calm, when the waiter spilled soup on her for the fourth time in 15 minutes she stood up and accosted the man.)

acute

1. (adj.) sharp, severe (Arnold could not walk because the pain in his foot was so acute.) 2. (adj.) having keen insight (Because she was so acute, Libby instantly figured out how the magician pulled off his "magic.")

aggregate

1. (n.) a whole or total (The three branches of the U.S. Government form an aggregate much more powerful than its individual parts.) 2. (v.) to gather into a mass (The dictator tried to aggregate as many people into his army as he possibly could.)

adhere

1. (n.) to stick to something (We adhered the poster to the wall with tape.) 2. (n.) to follow devoutly (He adhered to the dictates of his religion without question.)

advocate

1. (v.) to argue in favor of something (Arnold advocated turning left at the stop sign, even though everyone else thought we should turn right.) 2. (n.) a person who argues in favor of something (In addition to wanting to turn left at every stop sign, Arnold was also a great advocate of increasing national defense spending.)

abridge

1. (v.) to cut down, shorten (The publisher thought the dictionary was too long and abridged it.) 2. (adj.) shortened (Moby-Dick is such a long book that even the ---------d version is longer than most normal books.)

annex

1. (v.) to incorporate territory or space (After defeating them in battle, the Russians annexed Poland.) 2. (n.) a room attached to a larger room or space (He likes to do his studying in a little annex attached to the main reading room in the library.)

abide

1. (v.) to put up with (Though he did not agree with the decision, Chuck decided to abide by it.) 2. (v.) to remain (Despite the beating they've taken from the weather throughout the millennia, the mountains abide.)

fraught

(adj.) (usually used with "with") filled or accompanied with (Her glances in his direction were fraught with meaning, though precisely what meaning remained unclear.)

palette

(adj.) a range of colors or qualities (The palette of colors utilized in the painting was equaled only by the range of intense emotions the piece evoked.)

derelict

(adj.) abandoned, run-down (Even though it was dangerous, the children enjoyed going to the deserted lot and playing in the derelict house.)

tenable

(adj.) able to be defended or maintained (The department heads tore down the arguments in other people's theses, but Johari's work proved to be quite tenable.)

audible

(adj.) able to be heard (The missing person's shouts were unfortunately not audible.)

mutable

(adj.) able to change (Because fashion is so mutable, what is trendy today will look outdated in five years.)

soluble

(adj.) able to dissolve (The plot of the spy film revolved around an untraceable and water-soluble poison.)

clairvoyant

(adj.) able to perceive things that normal people cannot (Zelda's uncanny ability to detect my lies was nothing short of clairvoyant.)

resilient

(adj.) able to recover from misfortune; able to withstand adversity (The resilient ballplayer quickly recovered from his wrist injury.)

curt

(adj.) abruptly and rudely short (Her curt reply to my question made me realize that she was upset at me.)

rife

(adj.) abundant (Surprisingly, the famous novelist's writing was rife with spelling errors.)

concomitant

(adj.) accompanying in a subordinate fashion (His dislike of hard work carried with it a concomitant lack of funds.)

dynamic

(adj.) actively changing (The parents found it hard to keep up with the dynamic music scene with which their children had become very familiar.)

precocious

(adj.) advanced, developing ahead of time (Derek was so academically precocious that by the time he was 10 years old, he was already in the ninth grade.)

expedient

(adj.) advisable, advantageous, serving one's self-interest (In his bid for reelection, the governor made an expedient move by tabling all controversial legislation.)

libertarian

(adj.) advocating principles of liberty and free will (The dissatisfied subjects overthrew the monarch and replaced him with a libertarian ruler who respected their democratic principles.)

dogmatic

(adj.) aggressively and arrogantly certain about unproved principles (His dogmatic claim that men were better than women at fixing appliances angered everyone.)

palatable

(adj.) agreeable to the taste or sensibilities (Despite the unpleasant smell, the exotic cheese was quite palatable.)

equivocal

(adj.) ambiguous, uncertain, undecided (His intentions were so equivocal that I didn't know whether he was being chivalrous or sleazy.)

insidious

(adj.) appealing but imperceptibly harmful, seductive (Lisa's insidious chocolate cake tastes so good but makes you feel so sick later on!)

ostensible

(adj.) appearing as such, seemingly (Jack's ostensible reason for driving was that airfare was too expensive, but in reality, he was afraid of flying.)

fervent

(adj.) ardent, passionate (The fervent protestors chained themselves to the building and shouted all night long.)

chronological

(adj.) arranged in order of time (Lionel carefully arranged the snapshots of his former girlfriends in chronological order, and then set fire to them.)

flabbergasted

(adj.) astounded (Whenever I read an Agatha Christie mystery novel, I am always flabbergasted when I learn the identity of the murderer.)

cognizant

(adj.) aware, mindful (Jake avoided speaking to women in bars because he was cognizant of the fact that drinking impairs his judgment.)

arbitrary

(adj.) based on factors that appear random (The boy's decision to choose one college over another seems arbitrary.)

complicit

(adj.) being an accomplice in a wrongful act (By keeping her daughter's affair a secret, Maddie became complicit in it.)

plausible

(adj.) believable, reasonable (He studied all the data and then came up with a plausible theory that took all factors into account.)

solipsistic

(adj.) believing that oneself is all that exists (Colette's solipsistic attitude completely ignored the plight of the homeless people on the street.)

caustic

(adj.) bitter, biting, acidic (The politicians exchanged caustic insults for over an hour during the debate.)

intrepid

(adj.) brave in the face of danger (After scaling a live volcano prior to its eruption, the explorer was praised for his intrepid attitude.)

concise

(adj.) brief and direct in expression (Gordon did not like to waste time, and his instructions to Brenda were nothing if not concise.)

cursory

(adj.) brief to the point of being superficial (Late for the meeting, she cast a cursory glance at the agenda.)

luminous

(adj.) brightly shining (The light of the luminous moon graced the shoulders of the beautiful maiden.)

effervescent

(adj.) bubbly, lively (My friend is so effervescent that she makes everyone smile.)

onerous

(adj.) burdensome (My parents lamented that the pleasures of living in a beautiful country estate no longer outweighed the onerous mortgage payments.)

tranquil

(adj.) calm (There is a time of night when nothing moves and everything is tranquil.)

placid

(adj.) calm, peaceful (The placid lake surface was as smooth as glass.)

serene

(adj.) calm, untroubled (Louise stood in front of the Mona Lisa, puzzling over the famous woman's serene smile.)

malleable

(adj.) capable of being shaped or transformed (Maximillian's political opinions were so malleable that anyone he talked to was able to change his mind instantly.)

impudent

(adj.) casually rude, insolent, impertinent (The impudent young man looked the princess up and down and told her she was hot even though she hadn't asked him.)

divisive

(adj.) causing dissent, discord (Her divisive tactics turned her two friends against each other.)

colloquial

(adj.) characteristic of informal conversation (Adam's essay on sexual response in primates was marked down because it contained too many colloquial expressions.)

convivial

(adj.) characterized by feasting, drinking, merriment (The restaurant's convivial atmosphere put me immediately at ease.)

mercurial

(adj.) characterized by rapid change or temperamentality (Though he was widely respected for his mathematical proofs, the mercurial genius was impossible to live with.)

opulent

(adj.) characterized by rich abundance verging on ostentation (The opulent furnishings of the dictator's private compound contrasted harshly with the meager accommodations of her subjects.)

mawkish

(adj.) characterized by sick sentimentality (Although some nineteenth-century critics viewed Dickens's writing as mawkish, contemporary readers have found great emotional depth in his works.)

philanthropic

(adj.) charitable, giving (Many people felt that the billionaire's decision to donate her fortune to house the homeless was the ultimate philanthropic act.)

winsome

(adj.) charming, pleasing (After such a long, frustrating day, I was grateful for Chris's winsome attitude and childish naivete.)

quaint

(adj.) charmingly old-fashioned (Hilda was delighted by the quaint bonnets she saw in Amish country.)

antiseptic

(adj.) clean, sterile (The antiseptic hospital was very bare, but its cleanliness helped to keep patients healthy.)

lucid

(adj.) clear, easily understandable (Because Guenevere's essay was so lucid, I only had to read it once to understand her reasoning.)

incisive

(adj.) clear, sharp, direct (The discussion wasn't going anywhere until her incisive comment allowed everyone to see what the true issues were.)

limpid

(adj.) clear, transparent (Mr. Johnson's limpid writing style greatly pleased readers who disliked complicated novels.)

ingenious

(adj.) clever, resourceful (Her ingenious use of walnuts instead of the peanuts called for by the recipe was lauded by the other garden club members who found her cake delicious.)

ribald

(adj.) coarsely, crudely humorous (While some giggled at the ribald joke involving a parson's daughter, most sighed and rolled their eyes.)

imperious

(adj.) commanding, domineering (The imperious nature of your manner led me to dislike you at once.)

elaborate

(adj.) complex, detailed, intricate (Dan always beats me at chess because he develops such an elaborate game plan that I can never predict his next move.)

mundane

(adj.) concerned with the world rather than with heaven, commonplace (He is more concerned with the mundane issues of day-to-day life than with spiritual topics.)

solicitous

(adj.) concerned, attentive (Jim, laid up in bed with a nasty virus, enjoyed the solicitous attentions of his mother, who brought him soup and extra blankets.)

pithy

(adj.) concisely meaningful (My father's long-winded explanation was a stark contrast to his usually pithy statements.)

eclectic

(adj.) consisting of a diverse variety of elements (That bar attracts an eclectic crowd: lawyers, artists, circus clowns, and investment bankers.)

myriad

(adj.) consisting of a very great number (It was difficult to decide what to do Friday night because the city presented us with myriad possibilities for fun.)

orthodox

(adj.) conventional, conforming to established protocol (The company's profits dwindled because the management pursued orthodox business policies that were incompatible with new industrial trends.)

commensurate

(adj.) corresponding in size or amount (Ahab selected a very long roll and proceeded to prepare a tuna salad sandwich commensurate with his enormous appetite.)

wily

(adj.) crafty, sly (Though they were not the strongest of the Thundercats, wily Kit and Kat were definitely the most clever and full of tricks.)

quotidian

(adj.) daily (Ambika's quotidian routines include drinking two cups of coffee in the morning.)

poignant

(adj.) deeply affecting, moving (My teacher actually cried after reading to us the poignant final chapter of the novel.)

recalcitrant

(adj.) defiant, unapologetic (Even when scolded, the recalcitrant young girl simply stomped her foot and refused to finish her lima beans.)

meager

(adj.) deficient in size or quality (My meager portion of food did nothing to satisfy my appetite.)

lenient

(adj.) demonstrating tolerance or gentleness (Because Professor Oglethorpe allowed his students to choose their final grades, the other teachers believed that he was excessively lenient.)

pejorative

(adj.) derogatory, uncomplimentary (The evening's headline news covered an international scandal caused by a pejorative statement the famous senator had made in reference to a foreign leader.)

desolate

(adj.) deserted, dreary, lifeless (She found the desolate landscape quite a contrast to the hustle and bustle of the overcrowded city.)

culpable

(adj.) deserving blame (He was culpable of the crime, and was sentenced to perform community service for 75 years.)

venerable

(adj.) deserving of respect because of age or achievement (The venerable Supreme Court justice had made several key rulings in landmark cases throughout the years.)

reprehensible

(adj.) deserving rebuke (Jean's cruel and reprehensible attempt to dump her boyfriend on his birthday led to tears and recriminations.)

bereft

(adj.) devoid of, without (His family was bereft of food and shelter following the tornado.)

intractable

(adj.) difficult to manipulate, unmanageable (There was no end in sight to the intractable conflict between the warring countries.)

haughty

(adj.) disdainfully proud (The superstar's haughty dismissal of her costars will backfire on her someday.)

perfidious

(adj.) disloyal, unfaithful (After the official was caught selling government secrets to enemy agents, he was executed for his perfidious ways.)

licentious

(adj.) displaying a lack of moral or legal restraints (Marilee has always been fascinated by the licentious private lives of politicians.)

presumptuous

(adj.) disrespectfully bold (The princess grew angry after the presumptuous noble tried to kiss her, even though he was far below her in social status.)

profligate

(adj.) dissolute, extravagant (The profligate gambler loved to drink, spend money, steal, cheat, and hang out with prostitutes.)

aggrieved

(adj.) distressed, wronged, injured (The foreman mercilessly overworked his aggrieved employees.)

oblique

(adj.) diverging from a straight line or course, not straightforward (Martin's oblique language confused those who listened to him.)

manifold

(adj.) diverse, varied (The popularity of Dante's Inferno is partly due to the fact that the work allows for manifold interpretations.)

variegated

(adj.) diversified, distinctly marked (Each wire in the engineering exam was variegated by color so that the students could figure out which one was which.)

dubious

(adj.) doubtful, of uncertain quality (Suspicious that he was only trying to get a raise, she found his praise dubious.)

gregarious

(adj.) drawn to the company of others, sociable (Well, if you're not gregarious, I don't know why you would want to go to a singles party!)

desiccated

(adj.) dried up, dehydrated (The skin of the desiccated mummy looked like old paper.)

wizened

(adj.) dry, shrunken, wrinkled (Agatha's grandmother, Stephanie, had the most wizened countenance, full of leathery wrinkles.)

tedious

(adj.) dull, boring (As time passed and the history professor continued to drone on and on, the lecture became increasingly tedious.)

insipid

(adj.) dull, boring (The play was so insipid, I fell asleep halfway through.)

banal

(adj.) dull, commonplace (The client rejected our proposal because they found our presentation banal and unimpressive.)

punctilious

(adj.) eager to follow rules or conventions (Punctilious Bobby, hall monitor extraordinaire, insisted that his peers follow the rules.)

irascible

(adj.) easily angered (At the smallest provocation, my irascible cat will begin scratching and clawing.)

tractable

(adj.) easily controlled (The horse was so tractable, Myra didn't even need abridle.)

pellucid

(adj.) easily intelligible, clear (Wishing his book to be pellucid to the common man, Albert Camus avoided using complicated grammar when composing The Stranger.)

docile

(adj.) easily taught or trained (She successfully taught the docile puppy several tricks.)

submissive

(adj.) easily yielding to authority (In some cultures, wives are supposed to be submissive and support their husbands in all matters.)

efficacious

(adj.) effective (My doctor promised me that the cold medicine was efficacious, but I'm still sniffling.)

euphoric

(adj.) elated, uplifted (I was euphoric when I found out that my sister had given birth to twins.)

prurient

(adj.) eliciting or possessing an extraordinary interest in sex (David's mother was shocked by the discovery of prurient reading material hidden beneath her son'smattress.)

tantamount

(adj.) equivalent in value or significance (When it comes to sports, fearing your opponent is tantamount to losing.)

reprobate

(adj.) evil, unprincipled (The reprobate criminal sat sneering in the cell.)

superfluous

(adj.) exceeding what is necessary (Tracy had already won the campaign so her constant flattery of others was superfluous.)

exorbitant

(adj.) excessive (Her exorbitant praise made me blush and squirm in my seat.)

audacious

(adj.) excessively bold (The security guard was shocked by the fan's audacious attempt to offer him a bribe.)

brazen

(adj.) excessively bold, brash (Critics condemned the novelist's brazen attempt to plagiarize Hemingway's story.)

obsequious

(adj.) excessively compliant or submissive (Mark acted like Janet's servant, obeying her every request in an obsequious manner.)

bombastic

(adj.) excessively confident, pompous (The singer's bombastic performance disgusted the crowd.)

arid

(adj.) excessively dry (Little other than palm trees and cacti grow successfully in arid environments.)

ostentatious

(adj.) excessively showy, glitzy (On the palace tour, the guide focused on the ostentatious decorations and spoke little of the royal family's history.)

idolatrous

(adj.) excessively worshipping one object or person (Xena's idolatrous fawning over the band—following them on tour, starting their fan club, filming their documentary—is really beginning to get on my nerves.)

contemporaneous

(adj.) existing during the same time (Though her novels do not feature the themes of Romanticism, Jane Austen's work was contemporaneous with that of Wordsworth and Byron.)

extant

(adj.) existing, not destroyed or lost (My mother's extant love letters to my father are in the attic trunk.)

vicarious

(adj.) experiencing through another (All of my lame friends learned to be social through vicarious involvement in my amazing experiences.)

tacit

(adj.) expressed without words (I interpreted my parents' refusal to talk as a tacit acceptance of my request.)

laudatory

(adj.) expressing admiration or praise (Such laudatory comments are unusual from someone who is usually so reserved in his opinions.)

stolid

(adj.) expressing little sensibility, unemotional (Charles's stolid reaction to his wife's funeral differed from the passion he showed at the time of her death.)

eloquent

(adj.) expressive, articulate, moving (The priest gave such an eloquent sermon that most churchgoers were crying.)

egregious

(adj.) extremely bad (The student who threw sloppy joes across the cafeteria was punished for his egregious behavior.)

meticulous

(adj.) extremely careful with details (The ornate needlework in the bride's gown was a product of meticulous handiwork.)

pernicious

(adj.) extremely destructive or harmful (The new government feared that the Communist sympathizers would have a pernicious influence on the nation's stability.)

jubilant

(adj.) extremely joyful, happy (The crowd was jubilant when the firefighter carried the woman from the flaming building.)

ebullient

(adj.) extremely lively, enthusiastic (She became ebullient upon receiving an acceptance letter from her first-choice college.)

adept

(adj.) extremely skilled (Tarzan was adept at jumping from tree to tree like a monkey.)

spurious

(adj.) false but designed to seem plausible (Using a spurious argument, John convinced the others that he had won the board game on a technicality.)

whimsical

(adj.) fanciful, full of whims (The whimsical little girl liked to pretend that she was an elvin princess.)

propitious

(adj.) favorable (The dark storm clouds visible on the horizon suggested that the weather would not be propitious for sailing.)

auspicious

(adj.) favorable, indicative of good things (The tennis player considered the sunny forecast an auspicious sign that she would win her match.)

benign

(adj.) favorable, not threatening, mild (We were all relieved to hear that the medical tests determined her tumor to be benign.)

tremulous

(adj.) fearful (I always feel a trifle tremulous when walking through a graveyard.)

disheartened

(adj.) feeling a loss of spirit or morale (The team was disheartened after losing in the finals of the tournament.)

despondent

(adj.) feeling depressed, discouraged, hopeless (Having failed the first math test, the despondent child saw no use in studying for the next and failed that one too.)

zealous

(adj.) fervent, filled with eagerness in pursuit of something (If he were any more zealous about getting his promotion, he'd practically live at the office.)

resolute

(adj.) firm, determined (With a resolute glint in her eye, Catherine announced that she was set on going to college in New York City even though she was a little frightened of tall buildings.)

evanescent

(adj.) fleeting, momentary (My joy at getting promoted was evanescent because I discovered that I would have to work much longer hours in a less friendly office.)

pliable

(adj.) flexible (Aircraft wings are designed to be somewhat pliable so they do not break in heavy turbulence.)

pert

(adj.) flippant, bold (My parents forgave Sandra's pert humor at the dinner table because it had been so long since they had last seen her.)

florid

(adj.) flowery, ornate (The writer's florid prose belongs on a sentimental Hallmark card.)

illicit

(adj.) forbidden, not permitted (The fourth-grader learned many illicit words from a pamphlet that was being passed around school.)

compelling

(adj.) forceful, demanding attention (Eliot's speech was so compelling that Lenore accepted his proposal on the spot.)

ominous

(adj.) foreboding or foreshadowing evil (The fortuneteller's ominous words flashed through my mind as the hooded figure approached me in the alley.)

frenetic

(adj.) frenzied, hectic, frantic (In the hours between night and morning, the frenetic pace of city life slows to a lull.)

amiable

(adj.) friendly (An amiable fellow, Harry got along with just about everyone.)

amicable

(adj.) friendly (Claudia and Jimmy got divorced, but amicably and without hard feelings.)

genial

(adj.) friendly, affable (Although he's been known to behave like a real jerk, I would say that my brother is an overall genial guy.)

conciliatory

(adj.) friendly, agreeable (I took Amanda's invitation to dinner as a very conciliatory gesture.)

affable

(adj.) friendly, amiable (People like to be around George because he is so affable and good-natured.)

fecund

(adj.) fruitful, fertile (The fecund tree bore enough apples to last us through the entire season.)

wistful

(adj.) full of yearning; musingly sad (Since her pet rabbit died, Edda missed it terribly and sat around wistful all day long.)

replete

(adj.) full, abundant (The unedited version was replete with naughty words.)

garish

(adj.) gaudy, in bad taste (Mrs. Watson has poor taste and covers every object in her house with a garish gold lamé.)

lurid

(adj.) ghastly, sensational (Gideon's story, in which he described a character torturing his sister's dolls, was judged too lurid to be printed in the school's literary magazine.)

sanctimonious

(adj.) giving a hypocritical appearance of piety (The sanctimonious Bertrand delivered stern lectures on the Ten Commandments to anyone who would listen, but thought nothing of stealing cars to make some cash on the side.)

torrid

(adj.) giving off intense heat, passionate (I didn't want to witness the neighbor's torrid affair through the window.)

morose

(adj.) gloomy or sullen (Jason's morose nature made him very unpleasant to talk to.)

divine

(adj.) godly, exceedingly wonderful (Terribly fond of desserts, she found the rich chocolate cake to be divine.)

lithe

(adj.) graceful, flexible, supple (Although the dancers were all outstanding, Jae Sun's control of her lithe body was particularly impressive.)

paramount

(adj.) greatest in importance, rank, character (It was paramount that the bomb squad disconnect the blue wire before removing the fuse.)

harrowing

(adj.) greatly distressing, vexing (The car crash was a harrowing experience, but I have a feeling that the increase in my insurance premiums will be even more upsetting.)

verdant

(adj.) green in tint or color (The verdant leaves on the trees made the world look emerald.)

negligent

(adj.) habitually careless, neglectful (Jessie's grandfather called me a negligent fool after I left the door to his apartment unlocked even though there had been a recent string of robberies.)

fortuitous

(adj.) happening by chance, often lucky or fortunate (After looking for Manuel and not finding him at home, Harriet had a fortuitous encounter with him at the post office.)

assiduous

(adj.) hard-working, diligent (The construction workers erected the skyscraper during two years of assiduous labor.)

deleterious

(adj.) harmful (She experienced the deleterious effects of running a marathon without stretching her muscles enough beforehand.)

defamatory

(adj.) harmful toward another's reputation (The defamatory gossip spreading about the actor made the public less willing to see the actor's new movie.)

noxious

(adj.) harmful, unwholesome (Environmentalists showed that the noxious weeds were destroying the insects' natural habitats.)

innocuous

(adj.) harmless, inoffensive (In spite of their innocuous appearance, these mushrooms are actually quite poisonous.)

callous

(adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling (The murderer's callous lack of remorse shocked the jury.)

strident

(adj.) harsh, loud (A strident man, Captain Von Trapp yelled at his daughter and made her cry.)

vitriolic

(adj.) having a caustic quality (When angry, the woman would spew vitriolic insults.)

fetid

(adj.) having a foul odor (I can tell from the fetid smell in your refrigerator that your milk has spoiled.)

nonchalant

(adj.) having a lack of concern, indifference (Although deep down she was very angry, Marsha acted in a nonchalant manner when she found out that her best friend had used her clothing without asking.)

pungent

(adj.) having a pointed, sharp quality—often used to describe smells (The pungent odor in the classroom made Joseph lose his concentration during the test.)

contentious

(adj.) having a tendency to quarrel or dispute (George's contentious personality made him unpopular with his classmates.)

rancid

(adj.) having a terrible taste or smell (Rob was double-dog-dared to eat the rancid egg salad sandwich.)

sovereign

(adj.) having absolute authority in a certain realm (The sovereign queen, with steely resolve, ordered that the traitorous nobleman be killed.)

multifarious

(adj.) having great diversity or variety (This Swiss Army knife has multifarious functions and capabilities. Among other things, it can act as a knife, a saw, a toothpick, and a slingshot.)

tenuous

(adj.) having little substance or strength (Your argument is very tenuous, since it relies so much on speculation and hearsay.)

judicious

(adj.) having or exercising sound judgment (When the judicious king decided to compromise rather than send his army to its certain death, he was applauded.)

corrosive

(adj.) having the tendency to erode or eat away (The effect of the chemical was highly corrosive.)

pervasive

(adj.) having the tendency to spread throughout (Stepping off the plane in Havana, I recognized the pervasive odor of sugar cane fields on fire.)

ethereal

(adj.) heavenly, exceptionally delicate or refined (In her flowing silk gown and lace veil, the bride looked ethereal.)

nefarious

(adj.) heinously villainous (Although Dr. Meanman's nefarious plot to melt the polar icecaps was terrifying, it was so impractical that nobody really worried about it.)

latent

(adj.) hidden, but capable of being exposed (Sigmund's dream represented his latent paranoid obsession with other people's shoes.)

ornate

(adj.) highly elaborate, excessively decorated (The ornate styling of the new model of luxury car could not compensate for the poor quality of its motor.)

sacrosanct

(adj.) holy, something that should not be criticized (In the United States, the Constitution is often thought of as a sacrosanct document.)

inextricable

(adj.) hopelessly tangled or entangled (Unless I look at the solution manual, I have no way of solving this inextricable problem.)

inimical

(adj.) hostile, enemylike (I don't see how I could ever work for a company that was so cold and inimical to me during my interviews.)

ignominious

(adj.) humiliating, disgracing (It was really ignominious to be kicked out of the dorm for having an illegal gas stove in my room.)

quixotic

(adj.) idealistic, impractical (Edward entertained a quixotic desire to fall in love at first sight in a laundromat.)

sophomoric

(adj.) immature, uninformed (The mature senior rolled her eyes at the sophomoric gross-out humor of the underclassman.)

impervious

(adj.) impenetrable, incapable of being affected (Because of their thick layer of fur, many seals are almost impervious to the cold.)

adamant

(adj.) impervious, immovable, unyielding (Though public pressure was intense, the President remained adamant about his proposal.)

destitute

(adj.) impoverished, utterly lacking (The hurricane destroyed many homes and left many families destitute.)

lethargic

(adj.) in a state of sluggishness or apathy (When Jean Claude explained to his boss that he was lethargic and didn't feel like working that day, the boss fired him.)

consonant

(adj.) in harmony (The singers' consonant voices were beautiful.)

nascent

(adj.) in the process of being born or coming into existence (Unfortunately, my brilliant paper was only in its nascent form on the morning that it was due.)

innate

(adj.) inborn, native, inherent (His incredible athletic talent is innate, he never trains, lifts weights, or practices.)

implacable

(adj.) incapable of being appeased or mitigated (Watch out: once you shun Grandma's cooking, she is totally implacable.)

inexorable

(adj.) incapable of being persuaded or placated (Although I begged for hours, Mom was inexorable and refused to let me stay out all night after the prom.)

insatiable

(adj.) incapable of being satisfied (My insatiable appetite for melons can be a real problem in the winter.)

irrevocable

(adj.) incapable of being taken back (The Bill of Rights is an irrevocable part of American law.)

incorrigible

(adj.) incapable of correction, delinquent (You can buy Grandma nicotine gum all you want, but I think that after sixty-five years of smoking she's incorrigible.)

inarticulate

(adj.) incapable of expressing oneself clearly through speech (Though he spoke for over an hour, the lecturer was completely inarticulate and the students had no idea what he was talking about.)

tangential

(adj.) incidental, peripheral, divergent (I tried to discuss my salary, but the boss kept veering off into tangential topics.)

comprehensive

(adj.) including everything (She sent me a comprehensive list of the ingredients needed to cook rabbit soufflé.)

fallacious

(adj.) incorrect, misleading (Emily offered me cigarettes on the fallacious assumption that I smoked.)

cumulative

(adj.) increasing, building upon itself (The cumulative effect of hours spent in the sun was a deep tan.)

incontrovertible

(adj.) indisputable (Only stubborn Tina would attempt to disprove the incontrovertible laws of physics.)

grievous

(adj.) injurious, hurtful; serious or grave in nature (Electrocuting the inmate without being sure of his guilt would be a truly grievous mistake.)

odious

(adj.) instilling hatred or intense displeasure (Mark was assigned the odious task of cleaning the cat's litter box.)

remedial

(adj.) intended to repair gaps in students' basic knowledge (After his teacher discovered he couldn't read, Alex was forced to enroll in remedial English.)

ecstatic

(adj.) intensely and overpoweringly happy (The couple was ecstatic when they learned that they had won the lottery.)

deliberate

(adj.) intentional, reflecting careful consideration (Though Mary was quite upset, her actions to resolve the dispute were deliberate.)

daunting

(adj.) intimidating, causing one to lose courage (He kept delaying the daunting act of asking for a promotion.)

convoluted

(adj.) intricate, complicated (Grace's story was so convoluted that I couldn't follow it.)

punitive

(adj.) involving punishment (If caught smoking in the boys' room, the punitive result is immediate expulsion from school.)

sensuous

(adj.) involving sensory gratification (Paul found drinking Coke, with all the little bubbles bursting on his tongue, a very sensuous experience.)

sensual

(adj.) involving sensory gratification, usually related to sex (With a coy smile, the guest on the blind-date show announced that he considered himself a very sensual person.)

extraneous

(adj.) irrelevant, extra, not necessary (Personal political ambitions should always remain extraneous to legislative policy, but, unfortunately, they rarely are.)

puerile

(adj.) juvenile, immature (The judge demanded order after the lawyer's puerile attempt to object by stomping his feet on the courtroom floor.)

vacuous

(adj.) lack of content or ideas, stupid (Beyonce realized that the lyrics she had just penned were completely vacuous and tried to add more substance.)

nondescript

(adj.) lacking a distinctive character (I was surprised when I saw the movie star in person because she looked nondescript.)

pallid

(adj.) lacking color (Dr. Van Helsing feared that Lucy's pallid complexion was due to an unexplained loss of blood.)

oblivious

(adj.) lacking consciousness or awareness of something (Oblivious to the burning smell emanating from the kitchen, my father did not notice that the rolls in the oven were burned until much too late.)

vapid

(adj.) lacking liveliness, dull (The professor's comments about the poem were surprisingly vapid and dull.)

obtuse

(adj.) lacking quickness of sensibility or intellect (Political opponents warned that the prime minister's obtuse approach to foreign policy would embroil the nation in mindless war.)

indolent

(adj.) lazy (Why should my indolent children, who can't even pick themselves up off the couch to pour their own juice, be rewarded with a trip to the mall?)

erudite

(adj.) learned (My Latin teacher is such an erudite scholar that he has translated some of the most difficult and abstruse ancient poetry.)

torpid

(adj.) lethargic, dormant, lacking motion (The torpid whale floated, wallowing in the water for hours.)

profane

(adj.) lewd, indecent (Jacob's profane act of dumping frogs in the holy water in the chapel at his boarding school resulted in his dismissal.)

diaphanous

(adj.) light, airy, transparent (Sunlight poured in through the diaphanous curtains, brightening the room.)

flaccid

(adj.) limp, not firm or strong (If a plant is not watered enough, its leaves become droopy and flaccid.)

sinuous

(adj.) lithe, serpentine (With the sinuous movements of her arms, the dancer mimicked the motion of a snake.)

vivacious

(adj.) lively, sprightly (The vivacious clown makes all of the children laugh and giggle with his friendly antics.)

execrable

(adj.) loathsome, detestable (Her pudding is so execrable that it makes me sick.)

sublime

(adj.) lofty, grand, exalted (The homeless man sadly pondered his former wealth and once sublime existence.)

coherent

(adj.) logically consistent, intelligible (Renee could not figure out what Monroe had seen because he was too distraught to deliver a coherent statement.)

forlorn

(adj.) lonely, abandoned, hopeless (Even though I had the flu, my family decided to go skiing for the weekend and leave me home alone, feeling feverish and forlorn.)

boisterous

(adj.) loud and full of energy (The candidate won the vote after giving several boisterous speeches on television.)

vociferous

(adj.) loud, boisterous (I'm tired of his vociferous whining so I'm breaking up with him.)

raucous

(adj.) loud, boisterous (Sarah's neighbors called the cops when her house party got too raucous.)

succinct

(adj.) marked by compact precision (The governor's succinct speech energized the crowd while the mayor's rambled on and on.)

benevolent

(adj.) marked by goodness or doing good (Police officers should be commended for their benevolent service to the community.)

circumscribed

(adj.) marked off, bounded (The children were permitted to play tag only within a carefully circumscribed area of the lawn.)

fastidious

(adj.) meticulous, demanding, having high and often unattainable standards (Mark is so fastidious that he is never able to finish a project because it always seems imperfect to him.)

penurious

(adj.) miserly, stingy (Stella complained that her husband's penurious ways made it impossible to live the lifestyle she felt she deserved.)

enigmatic

(adj.) mystifying, cryptic (That man wearing the dark suit and dark glasses is so enigmatic that no one even knows his name.)

integral

(adj.) necessary for completeness (Without the integral ingredient of flour, you wouldn't be able to make bread.)

remiss

(adj.) negligent, failing to take care (The burglar gained entrance because the security guard, remiss in his duties, forgot to lock the door.)

penultimate

(adj.) next to last (Having smoked the penultimate cigarette remaining in the pack, Cybil discarded the last cigarette and resolved to quit smoking.)

defunct

(adj.) no longer used or existing (They planned to turn the defunct schoolhouse into a community center.)

obsolete

(adj.) no longer used, out of date (With the inventions of tape decks and CDs, which both have better sound and are easier to use, eight-track players are now entirely obsolete.)

magnanimous

(adj.) noble, generous (Although I had already broken most of her dishes, Jacqueline was magnanimous enough to continue letting me use them.)

obstreperous

(adj.) noisy, unruly (Billy's obstreperous behavior prompted the librarian to ask him to leave the reading room.)

discordant

(adj.) not agreeing, not in harmony with (The girls' sobs were a discordant sound amid the general laughter that filled the restaurant.)

speculative

(adj.) not based in fact (Sadly, Tessa was convicted on merely speculative evidence.)

indomitable

(adj.) not capable of being conquered (To be honest, Jim, my indomitable nature means I could never take orders from anyone, and especially not from a jerk like you.)

immutable

(adj.) not changeable (The laws of physics are immutable and constant.)

ingenuous

(adj.) not devious; innocent and candid (He must have writers, but his speeches seem so ingenuous it's hard to believe he's not speaking from his own heart.)

viscous

(adj.) not free flowing, syrupy (The viscous syrup took three minutes to pour out of the bottle.)

stingy

(adj.) not generous, not inclined to spend or give (Scrooge's stingy habits did not fit with the generous, giving spirit of Christmas.)

taciturn

(adj.) not inclined to talk (Though Jane never seems to stop talking, her brother is quite taciturn.)

trite

(adj.) not original, overused (Keith thought of himself as being very learned, but everyone else thought he was trite because his observations about the world were always the same as David Letterman's.)

devious

(adj.) not straightforward, deceitful (Not wanting to be punished, the devious girl blamed the broken vase on the cat.)

inept

(adj.) not suitable or capable, unqualified (She proved how inept she was when she forgot three orders and spilled a beer in a customer's lap.)

atypical

(adj.) not typical, unusual (Screaming and crying is atypical adult behavior.)

obstinate

(adj.) not yielding easily, stubborn (The obstinate child refused to leave the store until his mother bought him a candy bar.)

arcane

(adj.) obscure, secret, known only by a few (The professor is an expert in arcane Lithuanian literature.)

accessible

(adj.) obtainable, reachable (After studying with SparkNotes and getting a great score on the SAT, Marlena happily realized that her goal of getting into an Ivy-League college was accessible.)

prepossessing

(adj.) occupying the mind to the exclusion of other thoughts or feelings (His prepossessing appearance made it impossible for me to think of anything else.)

swarthy

(adj.) of dark color or complexion (When he got drunk, Robinson's white skin became rather swarthy.)

reputable

(adj.) of good reputation (After the most reputable critic in the industry gave the novel a glowing review, sales took off.)

frivolous

(adj.) of little importance, trifling (Someday, all that anxiety about whether your zit will disappear before the prom will seem totally frivolous.)

archaic

(adj.) of or relating to an earlier period in time, outdated (In a few select regions of Western Mongolian, an archaic Chinese dialect is still spoken.)

arboreal

(adj.) of or relating to trees (Leaves, roots, and bark are a few arboreal traits.)

uncanny

(adj.) of supernatural character or origin (Luka had an uncanny ability to know exactly what other people were thinking. She also had an uncanny ability to shoot fireballs from her hands.)

flagrant

(adj.) offensive, egregious (The judge's decision to set the man free simply because that man was his brother was a flagrant abuse of power.)

officious

(adj.) offering one's services when they are neither wanted nor needed (Brenda resented Allan's officious behavior when he selected colors that might best improve her artwork.)

antiquated

(adj.) old, out of date (That antiquated car has none of the features, like power windows and steering, that make modern cars so great.)

grandiose

(adj.) on a magnificent or exaggerated scale (Margaret planned a grandiose party, replete with elephants, trapeze artists, and clowns.)

sanguine

(adj.) optimistic, cheery (Polly reacted to any bad news with a sanguine smile and the chirpy cry, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!")

primeval

(adj.) original, ancient (The first primates to walk on two legs, called Australopithecus, were the primeval descendants of modern man.)

seminal

(adj.) original, important, creating a field (Stephen Greenblatt's essays on Shakespeare proved to be seminal, because they initiated the critical school of New Historicism.)

indigenous

(adj.) originating in a region (Some fear that these plants, which are not indigenous to the region, may choke out the vegetation that is native to the area.)

elated

(adj.) overjoyed, thrilled (When she found out she had won the lottery, the writer was elated.)

scrupulous

(adj.) painstaking, careful (With scrupulous care, Sam cut a snowflake out of white paper.)

transient

(adj.) passing through briefly; passing into and out of existence (Because virtually everyone in Palm Beach is a tourist, the population of the town is quite transient.)

idiosyncratic

(adj.) peculiar to one person; highly individualized (I know you had trouble with the last test, but because your mistakes were highly idiosyncratic, I'm going to deny your request that the class be given a new test.)

contrite

(adj.) penitent, eager to be forgiven (Blake's contrite behavior made it impossible to stay angry at him.)

repentant

(adj.) penitent, sorry (The repentant Dennis apologized profusely for breaking his mother's vase.)

prosaic

(adj.) plain, lacking liveliness (Heather's prosaic recital of the poem bored the audience.)

congenial

(adj.) pleasantly agreeable (His congenial manner made him popular wherever he went.)

profuse

(adj.) plentiful, abundant (The fans were profuse in their cheers for the star basketball player.)

impecunious

(adj.) poor ("I fear he's too impecunious to take me out tonight," the bratty girl whined.)

pragmatic

(adj.) practical (The politician argued that while increased security measures might not fit with the lofty ideals of the nation, they were a pragmatic necessity to ensure everyone's safety.)

ascetic

(adj.) practicing restraint as a means of self-discipline, usually religious (The priest lives an ascetic life devoid of television, savory foods, and other pleasures.)

copious

(adj.) profuse, abundant (Copious amounts of Snapple were imbibed in the cafeteria.)

pugnacious

(adj.) quarrelsome, combative (Aaron's pugnacious nature led him to start several barroom brawls each month.)

agile

(adj.) quick, nimble (The dogs were too slow to catch the agile rabbit.)

demure

(adj.) quiet, modest, reserved (Though everyone else at the party was dancing and going crazy, she remained demure.)

effulgent

(adj.) radiant, splendorous (The golden palace was effulgent.)

discursive

(adj.) rambling, lacking order (The professor's discursive lectures seemed to be about every subject except the one initially described.)

impetuous

(adj.) rash; hastily done (Hilda's hasty slaying of the king was an impetuous, thoughtless action.)

patent

(adj.) readily seen or understood, clear (The reason for Jim's abdominal pain was made patent after the doctor performed a sonogram.)

compliant

(adj.) ready to adapt oneself to another's wishes (Sue had very strong opinions about what to do on a first date, and Ted was absolutely compliant.)

truculent

(adj.) ready to fight, cruel (This club doesn't really attract the dangerous types, so why was that bouncer being so truculent?)

disaffected

(adj.) rebellious, resentful of authority (Dismayed by Bobby's poor behavior, the parents sent their disaffected son to a military academy to be disciplined.)

intransigent

(adj.) refusing to compromise, often on an extreme opinion (The intransigent child said he would have 12 scoops of ice cream, or he would bang his head against the wall until his mother fainted from fear.)

cerebral

(adj.) related to the intellect (The books we read in this class are too cerebral— they don't engage my emotions at all.)

utilitarian

(adj.) relating to or aiming at usefulness (The beautiful, fragile vase couldn't hold flowers or serve any other utilitarian purpose.)

epistolary

(adj.) relating to or contained in letters (Some people call me "Auntie's boy," because my aunt and I have such a close epistolary relationship that we write each other every day.)

nocturnal

(adj.) relating to or occurring during the night (Jackie was a nocturnal person; she would study until dawn and sleep until the evening.)

terrestrial

(adj.) relating to the land (Elephants are terrestrial animals.)

aquatic

(adj.) relating to water (The marine biologist studies starfish and other aquatic creatures.)

penitent

(adj.) remorseful, regretful (The jury's verdict may have been more lenient if the criminal had appeared penitent for his gruesome crimes.

strenuous

(adj.) requiring tremendous energy or stamina (Running a marathon is quite a strenuous task. So is watching an entire Star Trek marathon.)

impregnable

(adj.) resistant to capture or penetration (Though the invaders used battering rams, catapults, and rain dances, the fortress proved impregnable and resisted all attacks.)

restive

(adj.) resistant, stubborn, impatient (The restive audience pelted the band with mud and yelled nasty comments.)

hallowed

(adj.) revered, consecrated (In the hallowed corridors of the cathedral, the disturbed professor felt himself to be at peace.)

affluent

(adj.) rich, wealthy (Mrs. Grebelski was affluent, owning a huge house, three cars, and an island near Maine.)

hardy

(adj.) robust, capable of surviving through adverse conditions (I too would have expected the plants to be dead by mid-November, but apparently they're very hardy.)

commodious

(adj.) roomy (Holden invited the three women to join him in the back seat of the taxicab, assuring them that the car was quite commodious.)

putrid

(adj.) rotten, foul (Those rotten eggs smell putrid.)

circuitous

(adj.) roundabout (The bus's circuitous route took us through numerous outlying suburbs.)

insolent

(adj.) rude, arrogant, overbearing (That celebrity is so insolent, making fun of his fans right to their faces.)

impertinent

(adj.) rude, insolent (Most of your comments are so impertinent that I don't wish to dignify them with an answer.)

clandestine

(adj.) secret (Announcing to her boyfriend that she was going to the gym, Sophie actually went to meet Joseph for a clandestine liaison.)

furtive

(adj.) secretive, sly (Jane's placement of her drugs in her sock drawer was not as furtive as she thought, as the sock drawer is the first place most parents look.)

covert

(adj.) secretly engaged in (Nerwin waged a covert campaign against his enemies, while outwardly appearing to remain friendly.)

inviolable

(adj.) secure from assault (Nobody was ever able to break into Batman's inviolable Batcave.)

staid

(adj.) sedate, serious, self-restrained (The staid butler never changed his expression no matter what happened.)

insular

(adj.) separated and narrow-minded; tight-knit, closed off (Because of the sensitive nature of their jobs, those who work for the CIA must remain insular and generally only spend time with each other.)

scathing

(adj.) sharp, critical, hurtful (Two hours after breaking up with Russell, Suzanne thought of the perfect scathing retort to his accusations.)

disparate

(adj.) sharply differing, containing sharply contrasting elements (Having widely varying interests, the students had disparate responses toward the novel.)

fickle

(adj.) shifting in character, inconstant (In Greek dramas, the fickle gods help Achilles one day, and then harm him the next.)

resplendent

(adj.) shiny, glowing (The partygoers were resplendent in diamonds and fancy dress.)

heinous

(adj.) shockingly wicked, repugnant (The killings were made all the more heinous by the fact that the murderer first tortured his victims for three days.)

brusque

(adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive (The captain's brusque manner offended the passengers.)

ephemeral

(adj.) short-lived, fleeting (She promised she'd love me forever, but her "forever" was only ephemeral: she left me after one week.)

diligent

(adj.) showing care in doing one's work (The diligent researcher made sure to check her measurements multiple times.)

perfunctory

(adj.) showing little interest or enthusiasm (The radio broadcaster announced the news of the massacre in a surprisingly perfunctory manner.)

amorous

(adj.) showing love, particularly sexual (Whenever Albert saw Mariah wear her slinky red dress, he began to feel quite amorous.)

iridescent

(adj.) showing rainbow colors (The bride's large diamond ring was iridescent in the afternoon sun.)

deferential

(adj.) showing respect for another's authority (His deferential attitude toward her made her more confident in her ability to run the company.)

canny

(adj.) shrewd, careful (The canny runner hung at the back of the pack through much of the race to watch the other runners, and then sprinted past them at the end.)

perspicacity

(adj.) shrewdness, perceptiveness (The detective was too humble to acknowledge that his perspicacity was the reason for his professional success.)

bashful

(adj.) shy, excessively timid (Frankie's mother told him not to be bashful when he refused to attend the birthday party.)

diffident

(adj.) shy, quiet, modest (While eating dinner with the adults, the diffident youth did not speak for fear of seeming presumptuous.)

cloying

(adj.) sickeningly sweet (Though Ronald was physically attractive, Maud found his constant compliments and solicitous remarks cloying.)

saccharine

(adj.) sickeningly sweet (Tom's saccharine manner, although intended to make him popular, actually repelled his classmates.)

salient

(adj.) significant, conspicuous (One of the salient differences between Alison and Nancy is that Alison is a foot taller.)

inane

(adj.) silly and meaningless (Some films are so inane that the psychology of the characters makes absolutely no sense.)

fatuous

(adj.) silly, foolish (He considers himself a serious poet, but in truth, he only writes fatuous limericks.)

analogous

(adj.) similar to, so that an analogy can be drawn (Though they are unrelated genetically, the bone structure of whales and fish is quite analogous.)

sedentary

(adj.) sitting, settled (The sedentary cat did little but loll in the sun.)

deft

(adj.) skillful, capable (Having worked in a bakery for many years, Marcus was a deft bread maker.)

adroit

(adj.) skillful, dexterous (The adroit thief could pick someone's pocket without attracting notice.)

dormant

(adj.) sleeping, temporarily inactive (Though she pretended everything was fine, her anger lay dormant throughout the dinner party and exploded in screams of rage after everyone had left.)

somnolent

(adj.) sleepy, drowsy (The somnolent student kept falling asleep and waking up with a jerk.)

languid

(adj.) sluggish from fatigue or weakness (In the summer months, the great heat makes people languid and lazy.)

cunning

(adj.) sly, clever at being deceitful (The general devised a cunning plan to surprise the enemy.)

paucity

(adj.) small in quantity (Gilbert lamented the paucity of twentieth century literature courses available at the college.)

diminutive

(adj.) small or miniature (The bullies, tall and strong, picked on the diminutive child.)

unctuous

(adj.) smooth or greasy in texture, appearance, manner (The unctuous receptionist seemed untrustworthy, as if she was only being helpful because she thought we might give her a big tip.)

decorous

(adj.) socially proper, appropriate (The appreciative guest displayed decorous behavior toward his host.)

reclusive

(adj.) solitary, shunning society (Reclusive authors such as J.D. Salinger do not relish media attention and sometimes even enjoy holing up in remote cabins in the woods.)

pacific

(adj.) soothing (The chemistry professor's pacific demeanor helped the class remain calm after the experiment exploded.)

emollient

(adj.) soothing (This emollient cream makes my skin very smooth.)

cosmopolitan

(adj.) sophisticated, worldly (Lloyd's education and upbringing were cosmopolitan, so he felt right at home among the powerful and learned.)

scintillating

(adj.) sparkling (The ice skater's scintillating rhinestone costume nearly blinded the judges.)

surreptitious

(adj.) stealthy (The surreptitious CIA agents were able to get in and out of the house without anyone noticing.)

impassive

(adj.) stoic, not susceptible to suffering (Stop being so impassive; it's healthy to cry every now and then.)

inveterate

(adj.) stubbornly established by habit (I'm the first to admit that I'm an inveterate coffee drinker—I drink four cups a day.)

pertinacious

(adj.) stubbornly persistent (Harry's parents were frustrated with his pertinacious insistence that a monster lived in his closet. Then they opened the closet door and were eaten.)

capricious

(adj.) subject to whim, fickle (The young girl's capricious tendencies made it difficult for her to focus on achieving her goals.)

servile

(adj.) subservient (The servile porter crept around the hotel lobby, bowing and quaking before the guests.)

potable

(adj.) suitable for drinking (During sea voyages it is essential that ships carry a supply of potable water because salty ocean water makes anyone who drinks it sick.)

arable

(adj.) suitable for growing crops (The farmer purchased a plot of arable land on which he will grow corn and sprouts.)

preponderance

(adj.) superiority in importance or quantity (Britain's preponderance of naval might secured the nation's role as a military power.)

hypothetical

(adj.) supposed or assumed true, but unproven (Even though it has been celebrated by seven major newspapers, that the drug will be a success when tested in humans is still hypothetical.)

turgid

(adj.) swollen, excessively embellished in style or language (The haughty writer did not realize how we all really felt about his turgid prose.)

figurative

(adj.) symbolic (Using figurative language, Jane likened the storm to an angry bull.)

derivative

(adj.) taken directly from a source, unoriginal (She was bored by his music because she felt that it was derivative and that she had heard it before.)

garrulous

(adj.) talkative, wordy (Some talk show hosts are so garrulous that their guests can't get a word in edgewise.)

dilatory

(adj.) tending to delay, causing delay (The general's dilatory strategy enabled the enemy to regroup.)

laconic

(adj.) terse in speech or writing (The author's laconic style has won him many followers who dislike wordiness.)

archetypal

(adj.) the most representative or typical example of something (Some believe George Washington, with his flowing white hair and commanding stature, was the archetypal politician.)

frugal

(adj.) thrifty, economical (Richard is so frugal that his diet consists almost exclusively of catfish and chicken liver—the two most inexpensive foods in the store.)

timorous

(adj.) timid, fearful (When dealing with the unknown, timorous Tallulah almost always broke into tears.)

prescient

(adj.) to have foreknowledge of events (Questioning the fortune cookie's prediction, Ray went in search of the old hermit who was rumored to be prescient.)

nominal

(adj.) trifling, insignificant (Because he was moving the following week and needed to get rid of his furniture more than he needed money, Jordan sold everything for a nominal fee.)

fractious

(adj.) troublesome or irritable (Although the child insisted he wasn't tired, his fractious behavior—especially his decision to crush his cheese and crackers all over the floor—convinced everyone present that it was time to put him to bed.)

stoic

(adj.) unaffected by passion or feeling (Penelope's faithfulness to Odysseus required that she be stoic and put off her many suitors.)

gratuitous

(adj.) uncalled for, unwarranted (Every morning the guy at the donut shop gives me a gratuitous helping of ketchup packets.)

ambiguous

(adj.) uncertain, variably interpretable (Some people think Caesar married Cleopatra for her power, others believe he was charmed by her beauty. His actual reasons are ambiguous.)

obscure

(adj.) unclear, partially hidden (Because he was standing in the shadows, his features were obscure.)

implicit

(adj.) understood but not outwardly obvious, implied (I know Professor Smith didn't actually say not to write from personal experience, but I think such a message was implicit in her instruction to use scholarly sources.)

esoteric

(adj.) understood by only a select few (Even the most advanced students cannot understand the physicist's esoteric theories.)

wanton

(adj.) undisciplined, lewd, lustful (Vicky's wanton demeanor often made the frat guys next door very excited.)

inchoate

(adj.) unformed or formless, in a beginning stage (The country's government is still inchoate and, because it has no great tradition, quite unstable.)

phlegmatic

(adj.) uninterested, unresponsive (Monique feared her dog was ill after the animal's phlegmatic response to his favorite chew toy.)

hapless

(adj.) unlucky (My poor, hapless family never seems to pick a sunny week to go on vacation.)

hackneyed

(adj.) unoriginal, trite (A girl can only hear "I love you" so many times before it begins to sound hackneyed and meaningless.)

noisome

(adj.) unpleasant, offensive, especially to the sense of smell (Nobody would enter the stalls until the horse's noisome leavings were taken away.)

ineffable

(adj.) unspeakable, incapable of being expressed through words (It is said that the experience of playing with a dolphin is ineffable and can only be understood through direct encounter.)

obdurate

(adj.) unyielding to persuasion or moral influences (The obdurate old man refused to take pity on the kittens.)

disgruntled

(adj.) upset, not content (The child believed that his parents had unjustly grounded him, and remained disgruntled for a week.)

exigent

(adj.) urgent, critical (The patient has an exigent need for medication, or else he will lose his sight.)

nebulous

(adj.) vaguely defined, cloudy (The transition between governments meant that who was actually in charge was a nebulous matter.)

heterogeneous

(adj.) varied, diverse in character (I hate having only one flavor so I always buy the swirled, or should I say heterogeneous, type of ice cream.)

vindictive

(adj.) vengeful (The vindictive madman seeks to exact vengeance for any insult that he perceives is directed at him, no matter how small.)

austere

(adj.) very bare, bleak (The austere furniture inside the abandoned house made the place feel haunted.)

astute

(adj.) very clever, crafty (Much of Roger's success in politics results from his ability to provide astute answers to reporters' questions.)

indigent

(adj.) very poor, impoverished (I would rather donate money to help the indigent population than to the park sculpture fund.)

capacious

(adj.) very spacious (The workers delighted in their new capacious office space.)

emaciated

(adj.) very thin, enfeebled looking (My sister eats a lot of pastries and chocolate but still looks emaciated.)

scurrilous

(adj.) vulgar, coarse (When Bruno heard the scurrilous accusation being made about him, he could not believe it because he always tried to be nice to everyone.)

nomadic

(adj.) wandering from place to place (In the first six months after college, Jose led a nomadic life, living in New York, California, and Idaho.)

cordial

(adj.) warm, affectionate (His cordial greeting melted my anger at once.)

vigilant

(adj.) watchful, alert (The guards remained vigilant throughout the night, but the enemy never launched the expected attack.)

maudlin

(adj.) weakly sentimental (Although many people enjoy romantic comedies, I usually find them maudlin and shallow.)

querulous

(adj.) whiny, complaining (If deprived of his pacifier, young Brendan becomes querulous.)

notorious

(adj.) widely and unfavorably known (Jacob was notorious for always arriving late at parties.)

feral

(adj.) wild, savage (That beast looks so feral that I would fear being alone with it.)

amenable

(adj.) willing, compliant (Our father was amenable when we asked him to drive us to the farm so we could go apple picking.)

tortuous

(adj.) winding (The scary thing about driving in mountains are the narrow, tortuous roads.)

interminable

(adj.) without possibility of end (The fact that biology lectures came just before lunch made them seem interminable.)

verbose

(adj.) wordy, impaired by wordiness (It took the verbose teacher two hours to explain the topic, while it should have taken only fifteen minutes.)

meritorious

(adj.) worthy of esteem or reward (Manfred was given the congressional medal of honor for his meritorious actions.)

abject

(adj.) wretched, pitiful (After losing all her money, falling into a puddle, and breaking her ankle, Eloise was abject.)

protean

(adj.)able to change shape; displaying great variety (Among Nigel's protean talents was his ability to touch the tip of his nose with his tongue.)

circumspect

(adj.)cautious (Though I promised Rachel's father I would bring her home promptly by midnight, it would have been more circumspect not to have specified a time.)

trenchant

(adj.)effective, articulate, clear-cut (The directions that accompanied my new cell phone were trenchant and easy to follow.)

impeccable

(adj.)exemplary, flawless (If your grades were as impeccable as your sister's, then you too would receive a car for a graduation present.)

ubiquitous

(adj.)existing everywhere, widespread (It seems that everyone in the United States has a television. The technology is ubiquitous here.)

corpulence

(adj.)extreme fatness (Henry's corpulence did not make him any less attractive to his charming, svelte wife.)

rash

(adj.)hasty, incautious (It's best to think things over calmly and thoroughly, rather than make rash decisions.)

mendacious

(adj.)having a lying, false character (The mendacious content of the tabloid magazines is at least entertaining.)

indefatigable

(adj.)incapable of defeat, failure, decay (Even after traveling 62 miles, the indefatigable runner kept on moving.)

cogent

(adj.)intellectually convincing (Irene's arguments in favor of abstinence were so cogent that I could not resist them.)

dour

(adj.)stern, joyless (The children feared their dour neighbor because the old man would take their toys if he believed they were being too loud.)

incessant

(adj.)unending (We wanted to go outside and play, but the incessant rain kept us indoors for two days.)

malevolent

(adj.)wanting harm to befall others (The malevolent old man sat in the park all day, tripping unsuspecting passersby with his cane.)

vehemently

(adv.) marked by intense force or emotion (The candidate vehemently opposed cutting back on Social Security funding.)

benign

(medicine) not dangerous to health; not recurrent or progressive. adjective The tumor located in your ear lobe seems to be benign and should not cause you any trouble.

novice

(n.) a beginner, someone without training or experience (Because we were all novices at yoga, our instructor decided to begin with the basics.)

hiatus

(n.) a break or gap in duration or continuity (The hiatus in service should last two or three months—until the cable lines are repaired .)

respite

(n.) a break, rest (Justin left the pub to gain a brief respite from the smoke and noise.)

bane

(n.) a burden (Advanced physics is the bane of many students' academic lives.)

perusal

(n.) a careful examination, review (The actor agreed to accept the role after a two-month perusal of the movie script.)

maxim

(n.) a common saying expressing a principle of conduct (Miss Manners's etiquette maxims are both entertaining and instructional.)

artisan

(n.) a craftsman (The artisan uses wood to make walking sticks.)

malediction

(n.) a curse (When I was arrested for speeding, I screamed maledictions against the policeman and the entire police department.)

aspersion

(n.) a curse, expression of ill-will (The rival politicians repeatedly cast aspersions on each others' integrity.)

anathema

(n.) a cursed, detested person (I never want to see that murderer. He is an anathema to me.)

laceration

(n.) a cut, tear (Because he fell off his bike into a rosebush, the paperboy's skin was covered with lacerations.)

requisition

(n.) a demand for goods, usually made by an authority (During the war, the government made a requisition of supplies.)

maelstrom

(n.) a destructive whirlpool which rapidly sucks in objects (Little did the explorers know that as they turned the next bend of the calm river a vicious maelstrom would catch their boat.)

pathology

(n.) a deviation from the normal (Dr. Hastings had difficulty identifying the precise nature of Brian's pathology.)

quagmire

(n.) a difficult situation (We'd all like to avoid the kind of military quagmire characterized by the Vietnam War.)

debacle

(n.) a disastrous failure, disruption (The elaborately designed fireworks show turned into a debacle when the fireworks started firing in random directions.)

altercation

(n.) a dispute, fight (Jason and Lionel blamed one another for the car accident, leading to an altercation.)

alias

(n.) a false name or identity (He snuck past the guards by using an alias and fake ID.)

congregation

(n.) a gathering of people, especially for religious services (The priest told the congregation that he would be retiring.)

confluence

(n.) a gathering together (A confluence of different factors made tonight the perfect night.)

zephyr

(n.) a gentle breeze (If not for the zephyrs that were blowing and cooling us, our room would've been unbearably hot.)

boon

(n.) a gift or blessing (The good weather has been a boon for many businesses located near the beach.)

colossus

(n.) a gigantic statue or thing (For 56 years, the ancient city of Rhodes featured a colossus standing astride its harbor.)

salutation

(n.) a greeting (Andrew regularly began letters with the bizarre salutation "Ahoy ahoy.")

travesty

(n.) a grossly inferior imitation (According to the school newspaper's merciless theater critic, Pacific Coast High's rendition of the musical Oklahoma was a travesty of the original.)

dearth

(n.) a lack, scarcity (An eager reader, she was dismayed by the dearth of classic books at the library.)

tome

(n.) a large book (In college, I used to carry around an anatomy book that was the heaviest tome in my bag.)

demagogue

(n.) a leader who appeals to a people's prejudices (The demagogue strengthened his hold over his people by blaming immigrants for the lack of jobs.)

tirade

(n.) a long speech marked by harsh or biting language (Every time Jessica was late, her boyfriend went into a long tirade about punctuality.)

ballad

(n.) a love song (Greta's boyfriend played her a ballad on the guitar during their walk through the dark woods.)

vestige

(n.) a mark or trace of something lost or vanished (Do you know if the Mexican tortilla is a vestige of some form of Aztec corn-based flat bread?)

forum

(n.) a medium for lecture or discussion (Some radio talk-shows provide a good forum for political debate.)

caucus

(n.) a meeting usually held by people working toward the same goal (The ironworkers held a caucus to determine how much of a pay increase they would request.)

bourgeois

(n.) a middle-class person, capitalist (Many businessmen receive criticism for their bourgeois approach to life.)

medley

(n.) a mixture of differing things (Susannah's wardrobe contained an astonishing medley of colors, from olive green to fluorescent pink.)

paragon

(n.) a model of excellence or perfection (The mythical Helen of Troy was considered a paragon of female beauty.)

dirge

(n.) a mournful song, especially for a funeral (The bagpipers played a dirge as the casket was carried to the cemetery.)

commendation

(n.) a notice of approval or recognition (Jared received a commendation from Linda, his supervisor, for his stellar performance.)

aversion

(n.) a particular dislike for something (Because he's from Hawaii, Ben has anaversion to autumn, winter, and cold climates in general.)

aisle

(n.) a passageway between rows of seats (Once we got inside the stadium we walked down the aisle to our seats.)

epitome

(n.) a perfect example, embodiment (My mother, the epitome of good taste, always dresses more elegantly than I do.)

quandary

(n.) a perplexed, unresolvable state (Carlos found himself in a quandary: should he choose mint chocolate chip or cookie dough?)

confidant

(n.) a person entrusted with secrets (Shortly after we met, she became my chief confidant.)

cobbler

(n.) a person who makes or repairs shoes (I had my neighborhood cobbler replace my worn-out leather soles with new ones.)

conduit

(n.) a pipe or channel through which something passes (The water flowed through the conduit into the container.)

bard

(n.) a poet, often a singer as well (Shakespeare is often considered the greatest bard in the history of the English language.)

predilection

(n.) a preference or inclination for something (Francois has a predilection for eating scrambled eggs with ketchup, though I prefer to eat eggs without any condiments.)

artifact

(n.) a remaining piece from an extinct culture or place (The scientists spent all day searching the cave for artifacts from the ancient Mayan civilization.)

panacea

(n.) a remedy for all ills or difficulties (Doctors wish there was a single panacea for every disease, but sadly there is not.)

cadence

(n.) a rhythm, progression of sound (The pianist used the foot pedal to emphasize the cadence of the sonata.)

parody

(n.) a satirical imitation (A hush fell over the classroom when the teacher returned to find Deborah acting out a parody of his teaching style.)

anthology

(n.) a selected collection of writings, songs, etc. (The new anthology of Bob Dylan songs contains all his greatest hits and a few songs that you might never have heard before.)

anecdote

(n.) a short, humorous account (After dinner, Marlon told an anecdote about the time he got his nose stuck in a toaster.)

nuance

(n.) a slight variation in meaning, tone, expression (The nuances of the poem were not obvious to the casual reader, but the professor was able to point them out.)

modicum

(n.) a small amount of something (Refusing to display even a modicum of sensitivity, Henrietta announced her boss's affair in front of the entire office.)

salve

(n.) a soothing balm (After Tony applied a salve to his brilliant red sunburn, he soon felt a little better.)

oration

(n.) a speech delivered in a formal or ceremonious manner (The prime minister was visibly shaken when the unruly parliament interrupted his oration about failed domestic policies.)

elegy

(n.) a speech given in honor of a dead person (At the funeral, the widow gave a moving elegy describing her love for her husband.)

disrepute

(n.) a state of being held in low regard (The officer fell into disrepute after it was learned that he had disobeyed the orders he had given to his own soldiers.)

crescendo

(n.) a steady increase in intensity or volume (The crescendo of the brass instruments gave the piece a patriotic feel.)

proclivity

(n.) a strong inclination toward something (In a sick twist of fate, Harold's childhood proclivity for torturing small animals grew into a desire to become a surgeon.)

veneer

(n.) a superficial or deceptively attractive appearance, façade (Thanks to her Chanel makeup, Shannen was able to maintain a veneer of perfection that hid the flaws underneath.)

confection

(n.) a sweet, fancy food (We went to the mall food court and purchased a delicious confection.)

hierarchy

(n.) a system with ranked groups, usually according to social, economic, or professional class (Women found it very difficult to break into the upper ranks of the department's hierarchy.)

reprieve

(n.) a temporary delay of punishment (Because the governor woke up in a particularly good mood, he granted hundreds of reprieves to prisoners.)

bias

(n.) a tendency, inclination, prejudice (The judge's hidden bias against smokers led him to make an unfair decision.)

penchant

(n.) a tendency, partiality, preference (Jill's dinner parties quickly became monotonous on account of her penchant for Mexican dishes.)

ruse

(n.) a trick (Oliver concocted an elaborate ruse for sneaking out of the house to meet his girlfriend while simultaneously giving his mother the impression that he was asleep in bed.)

excursion

(n.) a trip or outing (After taking an excursion to the Bronx Zoo, I dreamed about pandas and monkeys.)

dialect

(n.) a variation of a language (In the country's remote, mountainous regions, the inhabitants spoke a dialect that the country's other inhabitants had difficulty understanding.)

pittance

(n.) a very small amount, especially relating to money (Josh complained that he was paid a pittance for the great amount of work he did at the firm.)

semaphore

(n.) a visual signal (Anne and Diana communicated with a semaphore involving candles and window shades.)

morass

(n.) a wet swampy bog; figuratively, something that traps and confuses (When Theresa lost her job, she could not get out of her financial morass.)

chaos

(n.) absolute disorder (Mr. Thornton's sudden departure for the lavatory plunged his classroom into chaos.)

plenitude

(n.) an abundance (My grandmother was overwhelmed by the plenitude of tomatoes her garden yielded this season.)

plethora

(n.) an abundance, excess (The wedding banquet included a plethora of oysters piled almost three feet high.)

consolation

(n.) an act of comforting (Darren found Alexandra's presence to be a consolation for his suffering.)

polemic

(n.) an aggressive argument against a specific opinion (My brother launched into a polemic against my arguments that capitalism was an unjust economic system.)

consensus

(n.) an agreement of opinion (The jury was able to reach a consensus only after days of deliberation.)

invective

(n.) an angry verbal attack (My mother's irrational invective against the way I dress only made me decide to dye my hair green.)

paradox

(n.) an apparently contradictory statement that is perhaps true (The diplomat refused to acknowledge the paradox that negotiating a peace treaty would demand more resources than waging war.)

calumny

(n.) an attempt to spoil someone else's reputation by spreading lies (The local official's calumny ended up ruining his opponent's prospect of winning the election.)

mandate

(n.) an authoritative command (In the Old Testament, God mandates that no one should steal.)

pathos

(n.) an emotion of sympathy (Martha filled with pathos upon discovering the scrawny, shivering kitten at her door.)

increment

(n.) an enlargement; the process of increasing(The workmen made the wall longer, increment by increment.)

constituent

(n.) an essential part (The most important constituent of her perfume is something called ambergris.)

calamity

(n.) an event with disastrous consequences (The earthquake in San Francisco was a calamity worse than any other natural disaster in history.)

paradigm

(n.) an example that is a perfect pattern or model (Because the new SUV was so popular, it became the paradigm upon which all others were modeled.)

compliment

(n.) an expression of esteem or approval (I blushed crimson when Emma gave me a compliment on my new haircut.)

condolence

(n.) an expression of sympathy in sorrow (Brian lamely offered his condolences on the loss of his sister's roommate's cat.)

utopia

(n.) an imaginary and remote place of perfection (Everyone in the world wants to live in a utopia, but no one can agree how to go about building one.)

blemish

(n.) an imperfection, flaw (The dealer agreed to lower the price because of the many blemishes on the surface of the wooden furniture.)

propensity

(n.) an inclination, preference (Dermit has a propensity for dangerous activities such as bungee jumping.)

maverick

(n.) an independent, nonconformist person (Andreas is a real maverick and always does things his own way.)

infusion

(n.) an injection of one substance into another; the permeation of one substance by another (The infusion of Eastern religion into Western philosophy created interesting new schools of thought.)

innuendo

(n.) an insinuation (During the debate, the politician made several innuendos about the sexual activities of his opponent.)

affront

(n.) an insult (Bernardo was very touchy, and took any slight as an affront to his honor.)

amenity

(n.) an item that increases comfort (Bill Gates's house is stocked with so many amenities, he never has to do anything for himself.)

portent

(n.) an omen (When a black cat crossed my sister's path while she was walking to school, she took it as a portent that she would do badly on her spelling test.)

presage

(n.) an omen (When my uncle's old war injury ached, he interpreted it as a presage of bad weather approaching.)

injunction

(n.) an order of official warning (After his house was toilet-papered for the fifth time, the mayor issued an injunction against anyone younger than 21 buying toilet paper.)

edict

(n.) an order, decree (The ruler issued an edict requiring all of his subjects to bow down before him.)

pariah

(n.) an outcast (Following the discovery of his plagiarism, Professor Hurley was made a pariah in all academic circles.)

surfeit

(n.) an overabundant supply or indulgence (After partaking of the surfeit of tacos and tamales at the All-You-Can-Eat Taco Tamale Lunch Special, Beth felt rather sick.)

platitude

(n.) an uninspired remark, cliché (After reading over her paper, Helene concluded that what she thought were profound insights were actually just platitudes.)

indignation

(n.) anger sparked by something unjust or unfair (I resigned from the sorority because of my indignation at its hazing of new members.)

temerity

(n.) audacity, recklessness (Tom and Huck entered the scary cave armed with nothing but their own temerity.)

acrimony

(n.) bitterness, discord (Though they vowed that no girl would ever come between them, Biff and Trevor could not keep acrimony from overwhelming their friendship after they both fell in love with the lovely Teresa.)

ennui

(n.) boredom, weariness (I feel such ennui that I don't look forward to anything, not even my birthday party.)

camaraderie

(n.) brotherhood, jovial unity (Camaraderie among employees usually leads to success in business.)

contusion

(n.) bruise, injury (The contusions on his face suggested he'd been in a fight.)

prudence

(n.) cautious, circumspect (After losing a fortune in a stock market crash, my father vowed to practice greater prudence in future investments.)

equanimity

(n.) composure (Even though he had just been fired, Mr. Simms showed great equanimity by neatly packing up his desk and wishing everyone in the office well.)

duplicity

(n.) crafty dishonesty (His duplicity involved convincing his employees to let him lower their salaries and increase their stock options, and then to steal the money he saved and run the company into the ground.)

guile

(n.) deceitful, cunning, sly behavior (Because of his great guile, the politician was able to survive scandal after scandal.)

legerdemain

(n.) deception, slight-of-hand (Smuggling the French plants through customs by claiming that they were fake was a remarkable bit of legerdemain.)

rancor

(n.) deep, bitter resentment (When Eileen challenged me to a fight, I could see the rancor in her eyes.)

abnegation

(n.) denial of comfort to oneself (The holy man slept on the floor, took only cold showers, and generally followed other practices of abnegation.)

turpitude

(n.) depravity, moral corruption (Sir Marcus's chivalry often contrasted with the turpitude he exhibited with the ladies at the tavern.)

discrepancy

(n.) difference, failure of things to correspond (He was troubled by the discrepancy between what he remembered paying for the appliance and what his receipt showed he paid for it.)

irreverence

(n.) disrespect (The irreverence displayed by the band that marched through the chapel disturbed many churchgoers.)

compunction

(n.) distress caused by feeling guilty (He felt compunction for the shabby way he'd treated her.)

hegemony

(n.) domination over others (Britain's hegemony over its colonies was threatened once nationalist sentiment began to spread around the world.)

alacrity

(n.) eagerness, speed (For some reason, Chuck loved to help his mother whenever he could, so when his mother asked him to set the table he did so with alacrity.)

plaudits

(n.) enthusiastic approval, applause (The controversial new film received plaudits from even the harshest critics.)

vicissitude

(n.) event that occurs by chance (The vicissitudes of daily life prevent me from predicting what might happen from one day to the next.)

avarice

(n.) excessive greed (The banker's avarice led him to amass a tremendous personal fortune.)

ostracism

(n.) exclusion from a group (Beth risked ostracism if her roommates discovered her flatulence.)

prowess

(n.) extraordinary ability (The musician had never taken a guitar lesson in his life, making his prowess with the instrument even more incredible.)

ardor

(n.) extreme vigor, energy, enthusiasm (The soldiers conveyed their ardor with impassioned battle cries.)

trepidation

(n.) fear, apprehension (Feeling great trepidation, Anya refused to jump into the pool because she thought she saw a shark in it.)

parsimony

(n.) frugality, stinginess (Many relatives believed that my aunt's wealth resulted from her parsimony.)

munificence

(n.) generosity in giving (The royal family's munificence made everyone else in their country rich.)

conflagration

(n.) great fire (The conflagration consumed the entire building.)

cupidity

(n.) greed, strong desire (His cupidity made him enter the abandoned gold mine despite the obvious dangers.)

duress

(n.) hardship, threat (It was only under intense duress that he, who was normally against killing, fired his gun.)

concord

(n.) harmonious agreement (Julie and Harold began the evening with a disagreement, but ended it in a state of perfect concord.)

candor

(n.) honesty, frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the mayor's speech because he is usually rather evasive.)

renown

(n.) honor, acclaim (The young writer earned international renown by winning the Pulitzer Prize.)

enmity

(n.) ill will, hatred, hostility (Mark and Andy have clearly not forgiven each other, because the enmity between them is obvious to anyone in their presence.)

effrontery

(n.) impudence, nerve, insolence (When I told my aunt that she was boring, my mother scolded me for my effrontery.)

circumlocution

(n.) indirect and wordy language (The professor's habit of speaking in circumlocutions made it difficult to follow his lectures.)

dissonance

(n.) lack of harmony or consistency (Though the president of the company often spoke of the company as reliant solely upon its workers, her decision to increase her own salary rather than reward her employees revealed a striking dissonance between her alleged beliefs and her actions.)

privation

(n.) lacking basic necessities (After decades of rule by an oppressive government that saw nothing wrong with stealing from its citizens, the recent drought only increased the people's privation.)

grandiloquence

(n.) lofty, pompous language (The student thought her grandiloquence would make her sound smart, but neither the class nor the teacher bought it.)

fidelity

(n.) loyalty, devotion (Guard dogs are known for the great fidelity they show toward their masters.)

serendipity

(n.) luck, finding good things without looking for them (In an amazing bit of serendipity, penniless Paula found a $20 bill in the subway station.)

clergy

(n.) members of Christian holy orders (Though the villagers viewed the church rectory as quaint and charming, the clergy who lived there regarded it as a mildewy and dusty place that aggravated their allergies.)

clemency

(n.) mercy (After he forgot their anniversary, Martin could only beg Maria for clemency.)

temperance

(n.) moderation in action or thought (Maintaining temperance will ensure that you are able to think rationally and objectively.)

rapport

(n.) mutual understanding and harmony (When Margaret met her paramour, they felt an instant rapport.)

infamy

(n.) notoriety, extreme ill repute (The infamy of his crime will not lessen as the decades pass.)

larceny

(n.) obtaining another's property by theft or trickery (When my car was not where I had left it, I realized that I was a victim of larceny.)

surrogate

(n.) one acting in place of another (The surrogate carried the child to term for its biological parents.)

iconoclast

(n.) one who attacks common beliefs or institutions (Jane goes to one protest after another, but she seems to be an iconoclast rather than an activist with a progressive agenda.)

conformist

(n.) one who behaves the same as others (Julian was such a conformist that he had to wait and see if his friends would do something before he would commit.)

hedonist

(n.) one who believes pleasure should be the primary pursuit of humans (Because he's such a hedonist, I knew Murray would appreciate the 11 cases of wine I bought him for his birthday.)

arbiter

(n.) one who can resolve a dispute, make a decision (The divorce court judge will serve as the arbiter between the estranged husband and wife.)

virtuoso

(n.) one who excels in an art; a highly skilled musical performer (Even thoughLydia has studied piano for many years, she's only average at it. She's no virtuoso,that's for sure.)

sycophant

(n.) one who flatters for self-gain (Some see the people in the cabinet as the president's closest advisors, but others see them as sycophants.)

toady

(n.) one who flatters in the hope of gaining favors (The other kids referred to the teacher's pet as the Tenth Grade Toady.)

potentate

(n.) one who has great power, a ruler (All the villagers stood along the town's main road to observe as the potentate's procession headed towards the capital.)

despot

(n.) one who has total power and rules brutally (The despot issued a death sentence for anyone who disobeyed his laws.)

inquisitor

(n.) one who inquires, especially in a hostile manner (The inquisitor was instructed to knock on every door in town in order to find the fugitive.)

insurgent

(n.) one who rebels (The insurgent snuck into and defaced a different classroom each night until the administration agreed to meet his demands.)

anarchist

(n.) one who wants to eliminate all government (An anarchist, Carmine wanted to dissolve every government everywhere.)

gluttony

(n.) overindulgence in food or drink (Ada's fried chicken tastes so divine, I don't know how anyone can call gluttony a sin.)

forbearance

(n.) patience, restraint, toleration (The doctor showed great forbearance in calming down the angry patient who shouted insults at him.)

pulchritude

(n.) physical beauty (Several of Shakespeare's sonnets explore the pulchritude of a lovely young man.)

approbation

(n.) praise (The crowd welcomed the heroes with approbation.)

kudos

(n.) praise for an achievement (After the performance, the reviewers gave the opera singer kudos for a job well done.)

hypocrisy

(n.) pretending to believe what one does not (Once the politician began passing legislation that contradicted his campaign promises, his hypocrisy became apparent.)

conundrum

(n.) puzzle, problem (Interpreting Jane's behavior was a constant conundrum.)

credulity

(n.) readiness to believe (His credulity made him an easy target for con men.)

umbrage

(n.) resentment, offense (He called me a lily-livered coward, and I took umbrage at the insult.)

restitution

(n.) restoration to the rightful owner (Many people feel that descendants of slaves should receive restitution for the sufferings of their ancestors.)

petulance

(n.) rudeness, irritability (The Nanny resigned after she could no longer tolerate the child's petulance.)

collusion

(n.) secret agreement, conspiracy (The three law students worked in collusion to steal the final exam.)

sobriety

(n.) sedate, calm (Jason believed that maintaining his sobriety in times of crisis was the key to success in life.)

complacency

(n.) self-satisfied ignorance of danger (Colin tried to shock his friends out of their complacency by painting a frightening picture of what might happen to them.)

empathy

(n.) sensitivity to another's feelings as if they were one's own (I feel such empathy for my sister when she's in pain that I cry too.)

litigant

(n.) someone engaged in a lawsuit (When the litigants began screaming at each other, Judge Koch ordered them to be silent.)

gourmand

(n.) someone fond of eating and drinking (My parents, who used to eat little more than crackers and salad, have become real gourmands in their old age.)

neophyte

(n.) someone who is young or inexperienced (As a neophyte in the literary world, Malik had trouble finding a publisher for his first novel.)

interlocutor

(n.) someone who participates in a dialogue or conversation (When the officials could not come to an agreement over the correct cover of the flags, the prime minister acted as an interlocutor.)

behemoth

(n.) something of tremendous power or size (The new aircraft carrier is among several behemoths that the Air Force has added to its fleet.)

anomaly

(n.) something that does not fit into the normal order ("That rip in the space- time continuum is certainly a spatial anomaly," said Spock to Captain Kirk.)

linchpin

(n.) something that holds separate parts together (The linchpin in the prosecution's case was the hair from the defendant's head, which was found at the scene of the crime.)

criteria

(n.) standards by which something is judged (Among Mrs. Fields's criteria for good cookies are that they be moist and chewy.)

fortitude

(n.) strength, guts (Achilles' fortitude in battle is legendary.)

antithesis

(n.) the absolute opposite (Your values, which hold war and violence in the highest esteem, are the antithesis of my pacifist beliefs.)

consumption

(n.) the act of consuming (Consumption of intoxicating beverages is not permitted on these premises.)

coronation

(n.) the act of crowning (The new king's coronation occurred the day after his father's death.)

juxtaposition

(n.) the act of placing two things next to each other for implicit comparison (The interior designer admired my juxtaposition of the yellow couch and green table.)

combustion

(n.) the act or process of burning (The unexpected combustion of the prosecution's evidence forced the judge to dismiss the case against Ramirez.)

choreography

(n.) the arrangement of dances (The plot of the musical was banal, but the choreography was stunning.)

encore

(n.) the audience's demand for a repeat performance; also the artist's performance in response to that demand (At the end of the concert, all the fans yelled, "Encore! Encore!" but the band did not come out to play again.)

metamorphosis

(n.) the change of form, shape, substance (Winnifred went to the gym every day for a year and underwent a metamorphosis from a waiflike girl to an athletic woman.)

culmination

(n.) the climax toward which something progresses (The culmination of the couple's argument was the decision to divorce.)

precipice

(n.) the face of a cliff, a steep or overhanging place (The mountain climber hung from a precipice before finding a handhold and pulling himself up.)

largess

(n.) the generous giving of lavish gifts (My boss demonstrated great largess by giving me a new car.)

pinnacle

(n.) the highest point (Book reviewers declared that the author's new novel was extraordinary and probably the pinnacle of Western literature.)

zenith

(n.) the highest point, culminating point (I was too nice to tell Nelly that she had reached the absolute zenith of her career with that one hit of hers.)

etymology

(n.) the history of words, their origin and development (From the study of etymology, I know that the word "quixotic" derives from Don Quixote and the word "gaudy" refers to the Spanish architect Gaudí.)

nadir

(n.) the lowest point of something (My day was boring, but the nadir came when I accidentally spilled a bowl of spaghetti on my head.)

demarcation

(n.) the marking of boundaries or categories (Different cultures have different demarcations of good and evil.)

mores

(n.) the moral attitudes and fixed customs of a group of people. (Mores change over time; many things that were tolerated in 1975 are no longer seen as being socially acceptable.)

arbitration

(n.) the process or act of resolving a dispute (The employee sought official arbitration when he could not resolve a disagreement with his supervisor.)

congruity

(n.) the quality of being in agreement (Bill and Veronica achieved a perfect congruity of opinion.)

discretion

(n.) the quality of being reserved in speech or action; good judgment (Not wanting her patient to get overly anxious, the doctor used discretion in deciding how much to tell the patient about his condition.)

propriety

(n.) the quality or state of being proper, decent (Erma's old-fashioned parents believed that her mini-skirt lacked the propriety expected of a "nice" girl.)

knell

(n.) the solemn sound of a bell, often indicating a death (Echoing throughout our village, the funeral knell made the stormy day even more grim.)

vocation

(n.) the work in which someone is employed, profession (After growing tired of the superficial world of high-fashion, Edwina decided to devote herself to a new vocation: social work.)

renunciation

(n.) to reject (Fiona's renunciation of red meat resulted in weight loss, but confused those people who thought she'd been a vegetarian for years.)

cacophony

(n.) tremendous noise, disharmonious sound (The elementary school orchestra created a cacophony at the recital.)

veracity

(n.) truthfulness, accuracy (With several agencies regulating the reports, it was difficult for Latifah to argue against its veracity.)

rectitude

(n.) uprightness, extreme morality (The priest's rectitude gave him the moral authority to counsel his parishioners.)

wrath

(n.) vengeful anger, punishment (Did you really want to incur her wrath when she is known for inflicting the worst punishments legally possible?)

probity

(n.) virtue, integrity (Because he was never viewed as a man of great probity, no one was surprised by Mr. Samson's immoral behavior.)

depravity

(n.) wickedness (Rumors of the ogre's depravity made the children afraid to enter the forest.)

iniquity

(n.) wickedness or sin ("Your iniquity," said the priest to the practical jokester, "will be forgiven.")

partisan

(n.)a follower, adherent (The king did not believe that his rival could round up enough partisans to overthrow the monarchy.)

affinity

(n.)a spontaneous feeling of closeness (Jerry didn't know why, but he felt an incredible affinity for Kramer the first time they met.)

inclination

(n.)a tendency, propensity (Sarah has an inclination to see every foreign film she hears about, even when she's sure that she won't like it.)

pretense

(n.)an appearance or action intended to deceive (Though he actually wanted to use his parents' car to go on a date, Nick borrowed his parents' car under the pretense of attending a group study session.)

intimation

(n.)an indirect suggestion (Mr. Brinford's intimation that he would soon pass away occurred when he began to discuss how to distribute his belongings among his children.)

sagacity

(n.)shrewdness, soundness of perspective (With remarkable sagacity, the wise old man predicted and thwarted his children's plan to ship him off to a nursing home.)

derelict

(of a building) abandoned. noun At one time the waterfront factories were busy and productive, but now they stand derelict and will be. torn down.

unpropitious

(of a circumstance) with little chance of success. adjective With only a bottle of water and a sandwich, the hikers faced an unpropitious task: ascending a huge mountain that took most two days to climb.

mercurial

(of a person) prone to unexpected and unpredictable changes in mood. adjective The fact that Ella's moods were as mercurial as the weather was problematic for her relationships--it didn't help that she lived in Chicago.

glib

(of a person) speaking with ease but without sincerity I have found that the more glib the salesman, the worse the product. adjective

internecine

(of conflict) within a group or organization. adjective The guerilla group, which had become so powerful as to own the state police, was finally destroyed by an internecine conflict.

discursive

(of e. adjective g. speech and writing) tending to depart from the main point. Many readers find it tough to read Moby Dick since the author is discursive, often cutting the action short to spend 20 pages on the history of a whale.

turgid

(of language) pompous and tedious. adjective The amount of GRE vocabulary he used increased with his years--by the time he was 60, his novels were so turgid that even his diehard fans refused to read them.

lucid

(of language) transparently clear; easily understandable. adjective Though Walters writes about physics and time travel, his writing is always lucid, so readers with little scientific training can understand difficult concepts.

plodding

(of movement) slow and laborious. adjective Charlie may seem to run at a plodding pace, but he is an ultramarathoner, meaning he runs distances of up to 100 miles, and can run for ten hours at a stretch.

unruly

(of persons) noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline; unwilling to submit to authority. adjective Walk in to any preschool and I am sure that you will find an unruly and chaotic scene--unless it's nap time.

untenable

(of theories etc) incapable of being defended or justified. adjective With the combination of Kepler's brilliant theories and Galileo's telescopic observations, the old geocentric theory became untenable to most of the educated people in Europe.

inclement

(of weather) unpleasant, stormy. adjective After a week of inclement weather, we finally are able to go outside and enjoy the sun.

derivative

(or a creative product, e. adjective g. music, writing, etc.) not original but drawing on the work of another person. Because the movies were utterly derivative of other popular movies, they did well at the box office. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

detrimental

(sometimes followed by "to") causing harm or injury. adjective Many know that smoking is detrimental to your health, but processed sugar in large quantities is equally bad.

ignominious

(used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame. adjective Since the politician preached ethics and morality, his texting of revealing photographs was ignominious, bringing shame on both himself and his party.

bilk

(v.) cheat, defraud (The lawyer discovered that this firm had bilked several clients out of thousands of dollars.)

abrogate

(v.) to abolish, usually by authority (The Bill of Rights assures that the government cannot abrogate our right to a free press.)

immerse

(v.) to absorb, deeply involve, engross (After breaking up with her boyfriend, Nancy decided to immerse herself in her work in order to avoid crying.)

concede

(v.) to accept as valid (Andrew had to concede that what his mother said about Diana made sense.)

attain

(v.) to achieve, arrive at (The athletes strived to attain their best times in competition.)

augment

(v.) to add to, expand (The eager student seeks to augment his knowledge of vFrench vocabulary by reading French literature.)

accede

(v.) to agree (When the class asked the teacher whether they could play baseball instead of learn grammar they expected him to refuse, but instead he acceded to their request.)

acquiesce

(v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Correlli wanted to stay outside and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner, he acquiesced to her demands.)

carp

(v.) to annoy, pester (The husband divorced his wife after listening to her carping voice for decades.)

compress

(v.) to apply pressure, squeeze together (Lynn compressed her lips into a frown.)

impute

(v.) to ascribe, blame (The CEO imputed the many typos in the letter to his lazy secretary.)

ascribe

(v.) to assign, credit, attribute to (Some ascribe the invention of fireworks and dynamite to the Chinese.)

stupefy

(v.) to astonish, make insensible (Veronica's audacity and ungratefulness stupefied her best friend, Heather.)

assail

(v.) to attack (At dawn, the war planes assailed the boats in the harbor.)

vindicate

(v.) to avenge; to free from allegation; to set free (The attorney had no chance of vindicating the defendant with all of the strong evidence presented by the state.)

dither

(v.) to be indecisive (Not wanting to offend either friend, he dithered about which of the two birthday parties he should attend.)

stagnate

(v.) to become or remain inactive, not develop, not flow (With no room for advancement, the waiter's career stagnated.)

beseech

(v.) to beg, plead, implore (The servant beseeched the king for food to feed his starving family.)

deprecate

(v.) to belittle, depreciate (Always over-modest, he deprecated his contribution to the local charity.)

denigrate

(v.) to belittle, diminish the opinion of (The company decided that its advertisements would no longer denigrate the company's competitors.)

vituperate

(v.) to berate (Jack ran away as soon as his father found out, knowing he would be vituperated for his unseemly behavior.)

engender

(v.) to bring about, create, generate (During the Olympics, the victories of U.S. athletes engender a patriotic spirit among Americans.)

induce

(v.) to bring about, stimulate (Who knew that our decision to boycott school lunch would induce a huge riot?)

elicit

(v.) to bring forth, draw out, evoke (Although I asked several times where the exit was, I elicited no response from the stone-faced policeman.)

amalgamate

(v.) to bring together, unite (Because of his great charisma, the presidential candidate was able to amalgamate all democrats and republicans under his banner.)

subjugate

(v.) to bring under control, subdue (The invading force captured and subjugated the natives of that place.)

convene

(v.) to call together (Jason convened his entire extended family for a discussion.)

appease

(v.) to calm, satisfy (When the child cries, the mother gives him candy to appease him.)

admonish

(v.) to caution, criticize, reprove (Joe's mother admonished him not to ruin his appetite by eating cookies before dinner.)

fetter

(v.) to chain, restrain (The dog was fettered to the parking meter.)

transmute

(v.) to change or alter in form (Ancient alchemists believed that it was possible to transmute lead into gold.)

catalyze

(v.) to charge, inspire (The president's speech catalyzed the nation and resuscitated the economy.)

enthrall

(v.) to charm, hold spellbound (The sailor's stories of fighting off sharks and finding ancient treasures enthralled his young son.)

elucidate

(v.) to clarify, explain (I didn't understand why my friend was so angry with me, so I asked Janine to elucidate her feelings.)

blandish

(v.) to coax by using flattery (Rachel's assistant tried to blandish her into accepting the deal.)

consummate

(v.) to complete a deal; to complete a marriage ceremony through sexual intercourse (Erica and Donald consummated their agreement in the executive boardroom.)

complement

(v.) to complete, make perfect (Ann's scarf complements her blouse beautifully, making her seem fully dressed even though she isn't wearing a coat.)

dissemble

(v.) to conceal, fake (Not wanting to appear heartlessly greedy, she dissembled and hid her intention to sell her ailing father's stamp collection.)

proscribe

(v.) to condemn, outlaw (The town council voted to proscribe the sale of alcohol on weekends.)

validate

(v.) to confirm, support, corroborate (Yoko's chemistry lab partner was asleep during the experiment and could not validate the accuracy of her methods.)

perplex

(v.) to confuse (Brad was perplexed by his girlfriend's suddenly distant manner.)

vex

(v.) to confuse or annoy (My little brother vexes me by poking me in the ribs for hours on end.)

ruminate

(v.) to contemplate, reflect (Terry liked to ruminate while sitting on the banks of the river, staring pensively into the water.)

contravene

(v.) to contradict, oppose, violate (Edwidge contravened his landlady's rule against overnight guests.)

quell

(v.) to control or diffuse a potentially explosive situation (The skilled leader deftly quelled the rebellion.)

emend

(v.) to correct or revise a written text (If my sentence is incorrect, the editor will emend what I have written.)

debauch

(v.) to corrupt by means of sensual pleasures (An endless amount of good wine and cheese debauched the traveler.)

decry

(v.) to criticize openly (The kind video rental clerk decried the policy of charging customers late fees.)

upbraid

(v.) to criticize or scold severely (The last thing Lindsay wanted was for Lisa to upbraid her again about missing the rent payment.)

disparage

(v.) to criticize or speak ill of (The saleswoman disparaged the competitor's products to persuade her customers to buy what she was selling.)

denounce

(v.) to criticize publicly (The senator denounced her opponent as a greedy politician.)

chastise

(v.) to criticize severely (After being chastised by her peers for mimicking Britney Spears, Miranda dyed her hair black and affected a Gothic style.)

wane

(v.) to decrease in size, dwindle (Don't be so afraid of his wrath because his influence with the president is already beginning to wane.)

consecrate

(v.) to dedicate something to a holy purpose (Arvin consecrated his spare bedroom as a shrine to Christina.)

raze

(v.) to demolish, level (The old tenement house was razed to make room for the large chain store.)

disavow

(v.) to deny knowledge of or responsibility for (Not wanting others to criticize her, she disavowed any involvement in the company's hiring scandal.)

delineate

(v.) to describe, outline, shed light on (She neatly delineated her reasons for canceling the project's funding.)

covet

(v.) to desire enviously (I coveted Moses's house, wife, and car.)

excavate

(v.) to dig out of the ground and remove (The pharaoh's treasures were excavated by archeologists in Egypt.)

deter

(v.) to discourage, prevent from doing (Bob's description of scary snakes couldn't deter Marcia from traveling in the rainforests.)

extricate

(v.) to disentangle (Instead of trying to mediate between my brother and sister, I extricated myself from the family tension entirely and left the house for the day.)

flout

(v.) to disregard or disobey openly (I flouted the school's dress code by wearing a tie-dyed tank top and a pair of cut-off jeans.)

refract

(v.) to distort, change (The light was refracted as it passed through the prism.)

innovate

(v.) to do something in an unprecedented way (Because of the stiff competition, the company knew it needed to pour a lot of energy into innovating new and better products.)

dispel

(v.) to drive away, scatter (She entered the office as usual on Monday, dispelling the rumor that she had been fired.)

placate

(v.) to ease the anger of, soothe (The man purchased a lollipop to placate his irritable son.)

assuage

(v.) to ease, pacify (The mother held the baby to assuage its fears.)

rhapsodize

(v.) to engage in excessive enthusiasm (The critic rhapsodized about the movie, calling it an instant classic.)

relish

(v.) to enjoy (Pete always relished his bedtime snack.)

revel

(v.) to enjoy intensely (Theodore reveled in his new status as Big Man on Campus.)

revere

(v.) to esteem, show deference, venerate (The doctor saved countless lives with his combination of expertise and kindness and became universally revered.)

elude

(v.) to evade, escape (Despite an intense search, the robber continues to elude the police.)

assess

(v.) to evaluate (A crew arrived to assess the damage after the crash.)

debunk

(v.) to expose the falseness of something (He debunked her claim to be the world's greatest chess player by defeating her in 18 consecutive matches.)

emote

(v.) to express emotion (The director told the actor he had to emote, or else the audience would have no idea what his character was going through.)

deplore

(v.) to feel or express sorrow, disapproval (We all deplored the miserable working conditions in the factory.)

cherish

(v.) to feel or show affection toward something (She continued to cherish her red plaid trousers, even though they had gone out of style and no longer fit her.)

enamor

(v.) to fill with love, fascinate, usually used in passive form followed by "of" or "with" (I grew enamored of that boy when he quoted my favorite love poem.)

inundate

(v.) to flood with abundance (Because I am the star of a new sitcom, my fans are sure to inundate me with fan mail and praise.)

vacillate

(v.) to fluctuate, hesitate (I prefer a definite answer, but my boss kept vacillating between the distinct options available to us.)

exonerate

(v.) to free from guilt or blame, exculpate (The true thief's confession exonerated the man who had been held in custody for the crime.)

exculpate

(v.) to free from guilt or blame, exonerate (My discovery of the ring behind the dresser exculpated me from the charge of having stolen it.)

abstain

(v.) to freely choose not to commit an action (Everyone demanded that Angus put on the kilt, but he did not want to do it and abstained.)

confound

(v.) to frustrate, confuse (MacGuyver confounded the policemen pursuing him by covering his tracks.)

coalesce

(v.) to fuse into a whole (Gordon's ensemble of thrift-shop garments coalesced into a surprisingly handsome outfit.)

circumvent

(v.) to get around (The school's dress code forbidding navel-baring jeans was circumvented by the determined students, who were careful to cover up with long coats when administrators were nearby.)

reciprocate

(v.) to give in return (When Steve gave Samantha a sweater for Christmas, she reciprocated by giving him a kiss.)

consign

(v.) to give something over to another's care (Unwillingly, he consigned his mother to a nursing home.)

forsake

(v.) to give up, renounce (My New Year's resolution is to forsake smoking and drinking.)

exalt

(v.) to glorify, praise (Michael Jordan is the figure in basketball we exalt the most.)

enfranchise

(v.) to grant the vote to (The Nineteenth Amendment enfranchised women.)

forage

(v.) to graze, rummage for food (When we got lost on our hiking trip, we foraged for berries and nuts in order to survive.)

delegate

(v.) to hand over responsibility for something (The dean delegated the task of finding a new professor to a special hiring committee.)

abhor

(v.) to hate, detest (Because he always wound up kicking himself in the head when he tried to play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.)

abase

(v.) to humiliate, degrade (After being overthrown and abased, the deposed leader offered to bow down to his conqueror.)

emulate

(v.) to imitate (I idolize Britney Spears so much that I emulate everything she does: I wear her outfits, sing along to her songs, and date a boy named Justin.)

ameliorate

(v.) to improve (The tense situation was ameliorated when Sam proposed a solution everyone could agree upon.)

entail

(v.) to include as a necessary step (Building a new fence entails tearing down the old one.)

aggrandize

(v.) to increase or make greater (Joseph always dropped the names of the famous people his father knew as a way to aggrandize his personal stature.)

surmise

(v.) to infer with little evidence (After speaking to only one of the students, the teacher was able to surmise what had caused the fight.)

interject

(v.) to insert between other things (During our conversation, the cab driver occasionally interjected his opinion.)

construe

(v.) to interpret (He construed her throwing his clothes out the window as a signal that she wanted him to leave.)

inoculate

(v.) to introduce a microorganism, serum, or vaccine into an organism in order to increase immunity to illness; to vaccinate (I've feared needles ever since I was inoculated against 37 diseases at age one; but I have also never been sick.)

implicate

(v.) to involve in an incriminating way, incriminate (Even though Tom wasn't present at the time of the shooting, he was implicated by the evidence suggesting that he had supplied the shooters with guns.)

exasperate

(v.) to irritate, irk (George's endless complaints exasperated his roomate.)

yoke

(v.) to join, link (We yoked together the logs by tying a string around them.)

abduct

(v.) to kidnap, take by force (The evildoers abducted the fairy princess from her happy home.)

deride

(v.) to laugh at mockingly, scorn (The bullies derided the foreign student's accent.)

prescribe

(v.) to lay down a rule (The duke prescribed that from this point further all of the peasants living on his lands would have to pay higher taxes.)

cavort

(v.) to leap about, behave boisterously (The adults ate their dinners on the patio, while the children cavorted around the pool.)

curtail

(v.) to lessen, reduce (Since losing his job, he had to curtail his spending.)

aspire

(v.) to long for, aim toward (The young poet aspires to publish a book of verse someday.)

debase

(v.) to lower the quality or esteem of something (The large raise that he gave himself debased his motives for running the charity.)

demean

(v.) to lower the status or stature of something (She refused to demean her secretary by making him order her lunch.)

expiate

(v.) to make amends for, atone (To expiate my selfishness, I gave all my profits to charity.)

compensate

(v.) to make an appropriate payment for something (Reginald bought Sharona a new dress to compensate her for the one he'd spilled his ice cream on.)

mitigate

(v.) to make less violent, alleviate (When I had an awful sore throat, only warm tea would mitigate the pain.)

exacerbate

(v.) to make more violent, intense (The gruesome and scary movie I saw last night exacerbated my fears of the dark.)

coerce

(v.) to make somebody do something by force or threat (The court decided that Vanilla Ice did not have to honor the contract because he had been coerced into signing it.)

defile

(v.) to make unclean, impure (She defiled the calm of the religious building by playing her banjo.)

fabricate

(v.) to make up, invent (When I arrived an hour late to class, I fabricated some excuse about my car breaking down on the way to school.)

annul

(v.) to make void or invalid (After seeing its unforeseen and catastrophic effects, Congress sought to annul the law.)

undulate

(v.) to move in waves (As the storm began to brew, the placid ocean began to undulate to an increasing degree.)

counteract

(v.) to neutralize, make ineffective (The antidote counteracted the effect of the poison.)

cultivate

(v.) to nurture, improve, refine (At the library, she cultivated her interest in spy novels.)

expunge

(v.) to obliterate, eradicate (Fearful of an IRS investigation, Paul tried to expunge all incriminating evidence from his tax files.)

procure

(v.) to obtain, acquire (The FBI was unable to procure sufficient evidence to charge the gangster with racketeering.)

condone

(v.) to pardon, deliberately overlook (He refused to condone his brother's crime.)

carouse

(v.) to party, celebrate (We caroused all night after getting married.)

modulate

(v.) to pass from one state to another, especially in music (The composer wrote a piece that modulated between minor and major keys.)

bequeath

(v.) to pass on, give (Jon's father bequeathed his entire estate to his mother.)

ascertain

(v.) to perceive, learn (With a bit of research, the student ascertained that some plants can live for weeks without water.)

dissuade

(v.) to persuade someone not to do something (Worried that he would catch a cold, she tried to dissuade him from going out on winter nights.)

connive

(v.) to plot, scheme (She connived to get me to give up my vacation plans.)

burnish

(v.) to polish, shine (His mother asked him to burnish the silverware before setting the table.)

extol

(v.) to praise, revere (Violet extolled the virtues of a vegetarian diet to her meat-loving brother.)

preclude

(v.) to prevent (My grandfather's large and vicious guard dog precluded anyone from entering the yard.)

inhibit

(v.) to prevent, restrain, stop (When I told you I needed the car last night, I certainly never meant to inhibit you from going out.)

forestall

(v.) to prevent, thwart, delay (I forestalled the cold I was getting by taking plenty of vitamin C pills and wearing a scarf.)

promulgate

(v.) to proclaim, make known (The film professor promulgated that both in terms of sex appeal and political intrigue, Sean Connery's James Bond was superior to Roger Moore's.)

refute

(v.) to prove wrong (Maria refuted the president's argument as she yelled and gesticulated at the TV.)

palliate

(v.) to reduce the severity of (The doctor trusted that the new medication would palliate her patient's discomfort.)

abate

(v.) to reduce, lessen (The rain poured down for a while, then abated.)

venerate

(v.) to regard with respect or to honor (The tribute to John Lennon sought to venerate his music, his words, and his legend.)

repudiate

(v.) to reject, refuse to accept (Kwame made a strong case for an extension of his curfew, but his mother repudiated it with a few biting words.)

exult

(v.) to rejoice (When she found out she won the literature prize, Mary exulted by dancing and singing through the school's halls.)

alleviate

(v.) to relieve, make more bearable (This drug will alleviate the symptoms of the terrible disease, but only for a while.)

expurgate

(v.) to remove offensive or incorrect parts, usually of a book (The history editors expurgated from the text all disparaging and inflammatory comments about the Republican Party.)

obfuscate

(v.) to render incomprehensible (The detective did want to answer the newspaperman's questions, so he obfuscated the truth.)

atone

(v.) to repent, make amends (The man atoned for forgetting his wife's birthday by buying her five dozen roses.)

repose

(v.) to rest, lie down (The cat, after eating an entire can of tuna fish, reposed in the sun and took a long nap.)

refurbish

(v.) to restore, clean up (The dingy old chair, after being refurbished, commanded the handsome price of $200.)

divulge

(v.) to reveal something secret (Pressured by the press, the government finally divulged the previously unknown information.)

disclose

(v.) to reveal, make public (The CEO disclosed to the press that the company would have to fire several employees.)

wallow

(v.) to roll oneself indolently; to become or remain helpless (My roommate can't get over her breakup with her boyfriend and now just wallows in self-pity.)

deface

(v.) to ruin or injure something's appearance (The brothers used eggs and shaving cream to deface their neighbor's mailbox.)

satiate

(v.) to satisfy excessively (Satiated after eating far too much turkey and stuffing, Liza lay on the couch watching football and suffering from stomach pains.)

disperse

(v.) to scatter, cause to scatter (When the rain began to pour, the crowd at the baseball game quickly dispersed.)

berate

(v.) to scold vehemently (The angry boss berated his employees for failing to meet their deadline.)

rebuke

(v.) to scold, criticize (When the cops showed up at Sarah's party, they rebuked her for disturbing the peace.)

reproach

(v.) to scold, disapprove (Brian reproached the customer for failing to rewind the video he had rented.)

rail

(v.) to scold, protest (The professor railed against the injustice of the college's tenure policy.)

reprove

(v.) to scold, rebuke (Lara reproved her son for sticking each and every one of his fingers into the strawberry pie.)

avenge

(v.) to seek revenge (The victims will take justice into their own hands and strive to avenge themselves against the men who robbed them.)

usurp

(v.) to seize by force, take possession of without right (The rogue army general tried to usurp control of the government, but he failed because most of the army backed the legally elected president.)

pillage

(v.) to seize or plunder, especially in war (Invading enemy soldiers pillaged the homes scattered along the country's border.)

dispatch

(v.) to send off to accomplish a duty (The carpenter dispatched his assistant to fetch wood.)

calibrate

(v.) to set, standardize (The mechanic calibrated the car's transmission to make the motor run most efficiently.)

truncate

(v.) to shorten by cutting off (After winning the derby, the jockey truncated the long speech he had planned and thanked only his mom and his horse.)

evince

(v.) to show, reveal (Christopher's hand-wringing and nail-biting evince how nervous he is about the upcoming English test.)

eschew

(v.) to shun, avoid (George hates the color green so much that he eschews all green food.)

adumbrate

(v.) to sketch out in a vague way (The coach adumbrated a game plan, but none of the players knew precisely what to do.)

abscond

(v.) to sneak away and hide (In the confusion, the super-spy absconded into the night with the secret plans.)

mollify

(v.) to soften in temper (The police officer mollified the angry woman by giving her a warning instead of a ticket.)

permeate

(v.) to spread throughout, saturate (Mrs. Huxtable was annoyed that the wet dog's odor had permeated the furniture's upholstery.)

disseminate

(v.) to spread widely (The politician disseminated his ideas across the town before the election.)

embezzle

(v.) to steal money by falsifying records (The accountant was fired for embezzling $10,000 of the company's funds.)

balk

(v.) to stop, block abruptly (Edna's boss balked at her request for another raise.)

accentuate

(v.) to stress, highlight (Psychologists agree that those people who are happiest accentuate the positive in life.)

insinuate

(v.) to suggest indirectly or subtly (I wish Luke and Spencer would stop insinuating that my perfect report card is the result of anything other than my superior intelligence and good work habits.)

recapitulate

(v.) to sum up, repeat (Before the final exam, the teacher recapitulated the semester's material.)

corroborate

(v.) to support with evidence (Luke's seemingly outrageous claim was corroborated by witnesses.)

capitulate

(v.) to surrender (The army finally capitulated after fighting a long costly battle.)

oscillate

(v.) to sway from one side to the other (My uncle oscillated between buying a station wagon to transport his family and buying a sports car to satisfy his boyhood fantasies.)

distend

(v.) to swell out (Years of drinking beer caused his stomach to distend.)

revoke

(v.) to take back (After missing the curfew set by the court for eight nights in a row, Marcel's freedom of movement was revoked.)

rescind

(v.) to take back, repeal (The company rescinded its offer of employment after discovering that Jane's resume was full of lies.)

espouse

(v.) to take up as a cause, support (I love animals so much that I espouse animal rights.)

arrogate

(v.) to take without justification (The king arrogated the right to order executions to himself exclusively.)

appropriate

(v.) to take, make use of (The government appropriated the farmer's land without justification.)

congeal

(v.) to thicken into a solid (The sauce had congealed into a thick paste.)

coagulate

(v.) to thicken, clot (The top layer of the pudding had coagulated into a thick skin.)

discomfit

(v.) to thwart, baffle (The normally cheery and playful children's sudden misery discomfited the teacher.)

beguile

(v.) to trick, deceive (The thief beguiled his partners into surrendering all of their money to him.)

fathom

(v.) to understand, comprehend (I cannot fathom why you like that crabby and mean-spirited neighbor of ours.)

cajole

(v.) to urge, coax (Fred's buddies cajoled him into attending the bachelor party.)

instigate

(v.) to urge, goad (The demagogue instigated the crowd into a fury by telling them that they had been cheated by the federal government.)

exhort

(v.) to urge, prod, spur (Henry exhorted his colleagues to join him in protesting against the university's hiring policies.)

goad

(v.) to urge, spur, incite to action (Jim may think he's not going to fight Billy, but Billy will goad Jim on with insults until he throws a punch.)

desecrate

(v.) to violate the sacredness of a thing or place (They feared that the construction of a golf course would desecrate the preserved wilderness.)

transgress

(v.) to violate, go over a limit (The criminal's actions transgressed morality and human decency.)

chide

(v.) to voice disapproval (Lucy chided Russell for his vulgar habits and sloppy appearance.)

enervate

(v.) to weaken, exhaust (Writing these sentences enervates me so much that I will have to take a nap after I finish.)

encumber

(v.) to weigh down, burden (At the airport, my friend was encumbered by her luggage, so I offered to carry two of her bags.)

efface

(v.) to wipe out, obliterate, rub away (The husband was so angry at his wife for leaving him that he effaced all evidence of her presence; he threw out pictures of her and gave away all her belongings.)

atrophy

(v.) to wither away, decay (If muscles do not receive enough blood, they will soon atrophy and die.)

retract

(v.) withdraw (As the media worked itself into a frenzy, the publicist hurriedly retracted his client's sexist statement.)

nurture

(v.)to assist the development of (Although Serena had never watered the plant, which was about to die, Javier was able to nurture it back to life.)

inure

(v.)to cause someone or something to become accustomed to a situation (Twenty years in the salt mines inured the man to the discomforts of dirt and grime.)

concoct

(v.)to fabricate, make up (She concocted the most ridiculous story to explain her absence.)

constrain

(v.)to forcibly restrict (His belief in nonviolence constrained him from taking revenge on his attackers.)

captivate

(v.)to get the attention of, hold (The fireworks captivated the young boy, who had never seen such things before.)

vilify

(v.)to lower in importance, defame (After the Watergate scandal, almost any story written about President Nixon sought to vilify him and criticize his behavior.)

propagate

(v.)to multiply, spread out (Rumors of Paul McCartney's demise propagated like wildfire throughout the world.)

discern

(v.)to perceive, detect (Though he hid his emotions, she discerned from his body language that he was angry.)

defer

(v.)to postpone something; to yield to another's wisdom (Ron deferred to Diane, the expert on musical instruments, when he was asked about buying a piano.)

foster

(v.)to stimulate, promote, encourage (To fostergood health in the city, the mayor started a "Get out and exercise!" campaign.)

foil

(v.)to thwart, frustrate, defeat (Inspector Wilkens foiled the thieves by locking them in the bank along with their stolen money.)

empirical

1. (adj.) based on observation or experience (The scientist gathered empirical data on the growth rate of dandelions by studying the dandelions behind his house.) 2. (adj.) capable of being proved or disproved by experiment (That all cats hate getting wet is an empirical statement: I can test it by bathing my cat, Trinket.)

eminent

1. (adj.) distinguished, prominent, famous (Mr. Phillips is such an eminent scholar that every professor on campus has come to hear him lecture.) 2. (adj.) conspicuous (There is an eminent stain on that shirt.)

manifest

1. (adj.) easily understandable, obvious (When I wrote the wrong sum on the chalkboard, my mistake was so manifest that the entire class burst into laughter.) 2. (v.) to show plainly (His illness first manifested itself with particularly violent hiccups.)

facile

1. (adj.) easy, requiring little effort (This game is so facile that even a four-year- old can master it.) 2. (adj.) superficial, achieved with minimal thought or care, insincere (The business was in such shambles that any solution seemed facile at best; nothing could really helpit in the long-run.)

incarnate

1. (adj.) existing in the flesh, embodied (In the church pageant, I play the role of greed incarnate.) 2. (v.) to give human form to (The alien evaded detection by incarnating himself in a human form.)

redoubtable

1. (adj.) formidable (The fortress looked redoubtable set against a stormy sky.) 2. (adj.) commanding respect (The audience greeted the redoubtable speaker with a standing ovation.)

lavish

1. (adj.) given without limits (Because they had worked very hard, the performers appreciated the critic's lavish praise.) 2. (v.) to give without limits (Because the performers had worked hard, they deserved the praise that the critic lavished on them.)

didactic

1. (adj.) intended to instruct (She wrote up a didactic document showing new employees how to handle the company's customers.) 2. (adj.) overly moralistic (His didactic style of teaching made it seem like he wanted to persuade his students not to understand history fully, but to understand it from only one point of view.)

imperative

1. (adj.) necessary, pressing (It is imperative that you have these folders organized by midday.) 2. (n.) a rule, command, or order (Her imperative to have the folders organized by midday was perceived as ridiculous by the others.)

moderate

1. (adj.) not extreme (Luckily, the restaurant we chose had moderate prices; none of us have any money.) 2. (n.) one who expresses moderate opinions (Because he found both the liberal and conservative proposals too excessive, Mr. Park sided with the moderates.)

collateral

1. (adj.) secondary (Divorcing my wife had the collateral effect of making me poor, as she was the only one of us with a job or money.) 2. (n.) security for a debt (Jacob left his watch as collateral for the $500 loan.)

felicitous

1. (adj.) well suited, apt (While his comments were idiotic and rambling, mine were felicitous and helpful.) 2. (adj.) delightful, pleasing (I spent a felicitous afternoon visiting old friends.)

coup

1. (n.) a brilliant, unexpected act (Alexander pulled off an amazing coup when he got a date with Cynthia by purposely getting hit by her car.) 2. (n.) the overthrow of a government and assumption of authority (In their coup attempt, the army officers stormed the Parliament and took all the legislators hostage.)

incendiary

1. (n.) a person who agitates (If we catch the incendiary who screamed "bomb" in the middle of the soccer match, we're going to put him in jail.) 2. (adj.) inflammatory, causing combustion (Gas and lighter fluid are incendiary materials that should be kept out of hot storage areas.)

canvas

1. (n.) a piece of cloth on which an artist paints (Picasso liked to work on canvas rather than on bare cement.) 2. (v.) to cover, inspect (We canvassed the neighborhood looking for clues.)

asylum

1. (n.) a place of refuge, protection, a sanctuary (For Thoreau, the forest served as an asylum from the pressures of urban life.) 2. (n.) an institution in which the insane are kept (Once diagnosed by a certified psychiatrist, the man was put in an asylum.)

blight

1. (n.) a plague, disease (The potato blight destroyed the harvest and bankrupted many families.) 2. (n.) something that destroys hope (His bad morale is a blight upon this entire operation.)

harangue

1. (n.) a ranting speech (Everyone had heard the teacher's harangue about gum chewing in class before.) 2. (v.) to give such a speech (But this time the teacher harangued the class about the importance of brushing your teeth after chewing gum.)

solvent

1. (n.) a substance that can dissolve other substances (Water is sometimes calledthe universal solvent because almost all other substances can dissolve into it.) 2. (adj.) able to pay debts (Upon receiving an unexpected check from her aunt, Annabelle found herself suddenly solvent.)

chronicle

1. (n.) a written history (The library featured the newly updated chronicle of World War II.) 2. (v.) to write a history (Albert's diary chronicled the day-to-day growth of his obsession with Cynthia.)

convention

1. (n.) an assembly of people (The hotel was full because of the cattle- ranchers' convention.) 2. (n.) a rule, custom (The cattle-ranchers have a convention that you take off your boots before entering their houses.)

implement

1. (n.) an instrument, utensil, tool (Do you have a knife or some other sort of implement that I could use to pry the lid off of this jar?) 2. (v.) to put into effect, to institute (After the first town curfew failed to stop the graffiti problem, the mayor implemented a new policy to use security cameras to catch perpetrators in the act.)

censure

1. (n.) harsh criticism (The frustrated teenager could not put up with anymore of her critical mother's censure.) 2. (v.) to rebuke formally (The principal censured the head of the English Department for forcing students to learn esoteric vocabulary.)

clamor

1. (n.) loud noise (Each morning the birds outside my window make such a clamor that they wake me up.) 2. (v.)to loudly insist (Neville's fans clamored for him to appear on stage, but he had passed out on the floor of his dressing room.)

incumbent

1. (n.) one who holds an office (The incumbent senator is already serving his fifth term.) 2. (adj.) obligatory (It is incumbent upon this organization to offer aid to all who seek it.)

reservoir

1. (n.) reserves, large supply (Igor the Indomitable had quite a reservoir of strengh and could lift ten tons, even after running 700 miles, jumping over three mountains, and swimming across an ocean.) 2. (n.) a body of water used for storing water (After graduation, the more rebellious members of the senior class jumped into the town reservoir used for drinking water.)

liability

1. (n.) something for which one is legally responsible, usually involving a disadvantage or risk (The bungee-jumping tower was a great liability for the owners of the carnival.) 2. (n.) a handicap, burden (Because she often lost her concentration and didn't play defense, Marcy was a liability to the team.)

façade

1. (n.) the wall of a building (Meet me in front of the museum's main façade.) 2. (n.) a deceptive appearance or attitude (Despite my smiling façade, I am feeling melancholy.)

renovate

1. (v.) restore, return to original state (The renovated antique candelabra looked as good as new.) 2. (v.) to enlarge and make prettier, especially a house (After getting renovated, the house was twice as big and much more attractive.)

relegate

1. (v.) to assign to the proper place (At the astrology conference, Simon was relegated to the Scorpio room.) 2. (v.) to assign to an inferior place (After spilling a drink on a customer's shirt, the waiter found himself relegated to the least lucrative shift.)

attribute

1. (v.) to credit, assign (He attributes all of his success to his mother's undying encouragement.) 2. (n.)a facet or trait (Among the beetle's most peculiar attributes is its thorny protruding eyes.)

embellish

1. (v.) to decorate, adorn (My mom embellished the living room by adding lace curtains.) 2. (v.)to add details to, enhance (When Harry told me that he had "done stuff" on his vacation, I asked him to embellish upon his account.)

dissent

1. (v.) to disagree (The principal argued that the child should repeat the fourth grade, but the unhappy parents dissented.) 2. (n.) the act of disagreeing (Unconvinced that the defendant was guilty, the last juror voiced his dissent with the rest of the jury.)

dissipate

1. (v.) to disappear, cause to disappear (The sun finally came out and dissipated the haze.) 2. (v.) to waste (She dissipated her fortune on a series of bad investments.)

repulse

1. (v.) to disgust (Antisocial Annie tried to repulse people by neglecting to brush her teeth.) 2. (v.) to push back (With a deft movement of her wrist and a punch to the stomach, Lacy repulsed Jack's attempt to kiss her.)

cleave

1. (v.) to divide into parts (Following the scandalous disgrace of their leader, the entire political party cleaved into warring factions.) 2. (v.) to stick together firmly (After resolving their marital problems, Junior and Rosa cleaved to one another all the more tightly.)

resolve

1. (v.) to find a solution (Sarah and Emma resolved their differences and shook hands.) 2. (v.) to firmly decide (Lady Macbeth resolved to whip her husband into shape.)

impinge

1. (v.) to impact, affect, make an impression (The hail impinged the roof, leaving large dents.) 2. (v.) to encroach, infringe (I apologize for impinging upon you like this, but I really need to use your bathroom. Now.)

catalog

1. (v.) to list, enter into a list (The judge cataloged the victim's injuries before calculating how much money he would award.) 2. (n.) a list or collection (We received a catalog from J. Crew that displayed all of their new items.)

reconcile

1. (v.) to return to harmony (The feuding neighbors finally reconciled when one brought the other a delicious tuna noodle casserole.) 2. (v.) to make consistent with existing ideas (Alou had to reconcile his skepticism about the existence of aliens with the fact that he was looking at a flying saucer.)

diffuse

1. (v.) to scatter, thin out, break up (He diffused the tension in the room by making in a joke.) 2. (adj.) not concentrated, scattered, disorganized (In her writings, she tried unsuccessfully to make others understand her diffuse thoughts.)

disdain

1. (v.) to scorn, hold in low esteem (Insecure about their jobs, the older employees disdained the recently hired ones, who were young and capable.) 2. (n.) scorn, low esteem (After learning of his immoral actions, Justine held Lawrence in disdain.)

apprehend

1. (v.) to seize, arrest (The criminal was apprehended at the scene.) 2. (v.) to perceive, understand, grasp (The student has trouble apprehending concepts in math and science.)

buffet

1. (v.) to strike with force (The strong winds buffeted the ships, threatening to capsize them.) 2. (n.) an arrangement of food set out on a table (Rather than sitting around a table, the guests took food from our buffet and ate standing up.)

buttress

1. (v.) to support, hold up (The column buttresses the roof above the statue.) 2. (n.) something that offers support (The buttress supports the roof above the statues.)

regurgitate

1. (v.) to vomit (Feeling sick, Chuck regurgitated his dinner.) 2. (v.) to throw back exactly (Margaret rushed through the test, regurgitating all of the facts she'd memorized an hour earlier.)

compound

1. (v.)to combine parts (The difficulty of finding a fire escape amid the smoke was compounded with the dangers posed by the panicking crowds.) 2. (n.) a combination of different parts (My attraction to Donna was a compound of curiosity about the unknown, physical desire, and intellectual admiration.) 3. (n.) a walled area containing a group of buildings (When the fighting started, Joseph rushed into the family compound because it was safe and well defended.)

battery

1.(n.) a device that supplies power (Most cars run on a combination of power from a battery and gasoline.) 2. (n.)assault, beating (Her husband was accused of assault and battery after he attacked a man on the sidewalk.)

hound

to pursue relentlessly. verb An implacable foe of corruption, Eliot Ness hounded out graft in all forms--he even helped nab Al Capone. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

dog

to pursue relentlessly; to hound. verb Throughout his life, he was dogged by insecurities that inhibited personal growth. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

peruse

to read very carefully. verb Instead of perusing important documents, people all too often rush to the bottom of the page and plaster their signatures at the bottom.

expurgate

to remove objectionable material. verb The censor expurgated every reference to sex and drugs, converting the rapper's raunchy flow into a series of bleeps.

castigate

to reprimand harshly. verb Drill sergeants are known to castigate new recruits so mercilessly that the latter often break down during their first week in training.

chastise

to reprimand harshly. verb Though chastised for his wanton abuse of the pantry, Lawrence shrugged off his mother's harsh words, and continued to plow through jars of cookies and boxes of donuts.

upbraid

to reproach; to scold. verb Bob took a risk walking into the "Students Barbershop"--in the end he had to upbraid the apparently drunk barber for giving him an uneven bowl cut.

betray

to reveal or make known something, usually unintentionally. verb With the gold medal at stake, the gymnast awaited his turn, his quivering lip betraying his intense emotions.

enervate

to sap energy from. verb John preferred to avoid equatorial countries; the intense sun would always leave him enervated after he'd spent the day sightseeing.

ferret

to search for something persistently. verb Ever the resourceful lexicographer, Fenton was able to ferret out the word origin of highly obscure words. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

adjudicate

to serve as a judge in a competition; to arrive at a judgment or conclusion. verb Only those with the most refined palates were able to adjudicate during the barbeque competition.

prevaricate

to speak in an evasive way. verb The cynic quipped, "There is not much variance in politicians; they all seem to prevaricate".

equivocate

to speak vaguely, usually with the intention to mislead or deceive. verb After Sharon brought the car home an hour after her curfew, she equivocated when her parents pointedly asked her where she had been.

mesmerize

to spellbind or enthrall. verb The plot and the characters were so well developed that many viewers were mesmerized, unable to move their eyes from the screen for even a single second.

exhort

to strongly urge on; encourage. verb Nelson's parents exhorted him to study medicine, urging him to choose a respectable profession; intransigent, Nelson left home to become a graffiti artist.

start

to suddenly move in a particular direction. verb All alone in the mansion, Henrietta started when she heard a sound. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

intimate

to suggest something subtly. verb At first Manfred's teachers intimated to his parents that he was not suited to skip a grade; when his parents protested, teachers explicitly told them that, notwithstanding the boy's precocity, he was simply too immature to jump to the 6th grade. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

underwrite

to support financially. verb The latest symphony broadcast was made possible with underwriting from the Carnegie Endowment.

capitulate

to surrender (usually under agreed conditions). noun Paul, losing 19-0 in a ping-pong match against his nimble friend, basically capitulated when he played the last two points with his eyes closed.

dupe

to trick or swindle. verb Once again a get-rich-fast Internt scheme had duped Harold into submitting a $5,000 check to a sham operation.

meander

to wander aimlessly. verb A casual observer might have thought that Peter was meandering through the city, but that day he was actually seeking out those places where he and his long lost love had once visited.

admonish

to warn strongly, even to the point of reprimanding. verb Before the concert began, security personel admonished the crowd not to come up on stage during the performance.

attenuate

to weaken (in terms of intensity); to taper off/become thinner. verb Her animosity towards Bob attenuated over the years, and she even went so far as to invite him to her party.

pine

to yearn for. verb Standing forlornly by the window, she pined for her lost love. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

ineffable

too sacred to be uttered; defying expression or description. adjective While art critics can occasionally pinpoint a work's greatness, much of why a piece captures our imaginations is completely ineffable.

inanity

total lack of meaning or ideas. noun Bill's poem was nothing more than a list of impressive sounding words, so there was no point in trying to take meaning from the inanity.

pellucid

transparently clear; easily understandable. adjective The professor had a remarkable ability make even the most difficult concepts seem pellucid.

peripatetic

traveling by foot. adjective Jim always preferred a peripatetic approach to discovering a city: he felt that he could see so many more details while walking.

itinerant

traveling from place to place to work Doctors used to be itinerant, traveling between patients' homes. adjective

deride

treat or speak of with contempt. verb The nun derided the students for trying to sneak insects and worms into the classroom.

cosseted

treat with excessive indulgence. verb The king and queen cosseted the young prince, giving him a prized miniature pony for his fifth birthday.

picayune

trifling or petty (a person). adjective English teachers are notorious for being picayune; however, the English language is so nuanced and sophisticated that often such teachers are not being contrary but are only adhering to the rules.

harried

troubled persistently especially with petty annoyances. adjective With a team of new hires to train, Martha was constantly harried with little questions and could not focus on her projects.

veracious

truthful. adjective While we elect our leaders in the hope that every word they speak will be veracious, history has shown that such a hope is naive.

veritable

truthfully, without a doubt. adjective Frank is a veritable life-saver -- last year, on two different occasions, he revived people using CPR.

fawn

try to gain favor by extreme flattery. verb The media fawned over the handsome new CEO, praising his impeccable sense of style instead of asking more pointed questions. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

deter

try to prevent; show opposition to. verb The government's primary job should invlove deterring paths to war, not finding ways to start them.

foment

try to stir up public opinion. verb After having his pay cut, Phil spread vicious rumors about his boss, hoping to foment a general feeling of discontent.

deter

turn away from by persuasion. verb His mother tried to deter him from joing the army, but he was too intoxicated with the idea of war to listen.

avert

turn away. verb Afraid to see the aftermath of the car crash, I averted my eyes as we drove by.

disparate

two things are fundamentally different. adjective With the advent of machines capable of looking inside the brain, fields as disparate as religion and biology have been brought together by scientists trying to understand what happens in the brain when people have a religious experience.

insolvent

unable to pay one's bills; bankrupt. adjective With credit card bills skyrocketing, a shockingly large number of Americans are truly insolvent.

austere

unadorned in style or appearance. adjective Late Soviet architecture, although remaining largely austere, moved into experimental territory that employed previously unused shapes and structures.

dispassionate

unaffected by strong emotion or prejudice. adjective A good scientist should be dispassionate, focusing purely on what the evidence says, without personal attachment.

disinterested

unbiased; neutral. adjective The potential juror knew the defendant, and therefore could not serve on the jury, which must consist only of disinterested members.

irresolute

uncertain how to act or proceed. adjective He stood irresolute at the split in the trail, not sure which route would lead back to the camp.

unforthcoming

uncooperative, not willing to give up information. adjective The teacher demanded to know who broke the window while he was out of the room, but the students understandably were unforthcoming.

provisional

under terms not final or fully worked out or agreed upon. adjective Until the corporate office hands down a definitive decision on use of the extra offices, we will share their use in a provisional arrangement.

qualm

uneasiness about the fitness of an action. noun While he could articulate no clear reason why Harkner's plan would fail, he neverless felt qualms about committing any resources to it.

bereft

unhappy in love; suffering from unrequited love. adjective After 64 years of marriage, William was bereft after the death of his wife.

desiccated

uninteresting, lacking vitality. adjective Few novelists over 80 are able to produce anything more than desiccated works--boring shadows of former books. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

incessant

uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing. adjective I don't mind small children in brief doses, but I think the incessant exposure that their parents have to them would quickly wear me down.

erratic

unpredictable; strange and unconventional. adjective It came as no surprise to pundits that the President's attempt at re-election floundered; even during his term, support for his policies was erratic, with an approval rating jumping anywhere from 30 to 60 percent.

unconscionable

unreasonable; unscrupulous; excessive. adjective The lawyer's demands were so unconscionable that rather than pay an exorbitant sum or submit himself to any other inconveniences, the defendant decided to find a new lawyer.

brazen

unrestrained by convention or propriety. adjective Their large "donations" to the local police department gave the drug cartel the brazen confidence to do their business out in the open.

spartan

unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment; practicing great self- denial. adjective After losing everything in a fire, Tim decided to live in spartan conditions, sleeping on the floor and owning as little furniture as a possible.

nonplussed

unsure how to act or respond. verb Shirley was totally nonplussed when the angry motorist cut her off and then stuck his finger out the window.

intransigent

unwilling to change one's beliefs or course of action. adjective Despite many calls for mercy, the judge remained intransigent, citing strict legal precedence.

loath

unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom (usually followed by 'to') I was loath to leave the concert before my favorite band finished playing. adjective

goad

urge on with unpleasant comments. verb Doug did not want to enter the race, but Jim, through a steady stream of taunts, goaded him into signing up for it.

travail

use of physical or mental energy; hard work; agony or anguish. noun While they experienced nothing but travails in refinishing the kitchen, they completed the master bedroom in less than a weekend.

taxing

use to the limit; exhaust. adjective The hike to the summit of Mt. Whitney was so taxing that I could barely speak or stand up. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

inclement

used of persons or behavior; showing no mercy. adjective Marcus Aurelius, though a fair man, was inclement to Christians during his reign, persecuting them violently.

boon

very close and convivial. adjective He was a boon companion to many, and will be sadly missed.

besotted

very drunk. adjective Never before have I seen my mom so besotted, and honestly, I hope it's the last time she drinks so much.

unstinting

very generous. adjective Helen is unstinting with her time, often spending hours at the house of a sick friend.

munificent

very generous. adjective Uncle Charley was known for his munificence, giving all seven of his nephews lavish Christmas presents each year.

voracious

very hungry; approaching an activity with gusto. adjective Steven was a voracious reader, sometimes finishing two novels in the same day.

splenetic

very irritable. adjective Ever since the car accident, Frank has been unable to walk without a cane, and so he has become splenetic and unpleasant to be around.

diminutive

very small. adjective When he put on his father's suit and shoes, his appearance was that of a diminutive youth.

avert

ward off or prevent. verb The struggling videogame company put all of its finances into one final, desperate project to avert bankrupcy.

bellicose

warlike; inclined to quarrel. adjective Known for their bellicose ways, the Spartans were once the most feared people from Peloponnesus to Persia.

dilatory

wasting time. adjective Lawyers use dilatory tactics so that it takes years before the case is actually decided.

opulence

wealth as evidenced by sumptuous living. noun Russian oligarchs are famous for their opulence, living in fancy homes and dining on expensive cavier.

ponderous

weighed-down; moving slowly. adjective Laden with 20 kilograms of college text books, the freshman moved ponderously across the campus.

cohesive

well integrated, forming a united whole. adjective A well-written, cohesive essay will keep on topic at all times, never losing sight of the main argument.

savvy

well-informed or perceptive. adjective With his savvy business partner, the company was able to turn a profit within a year.

illustrious

widely known and esteemed; having or conferring glory Einstein was possibly the most illustrious scientist in recent history. adjective

quixotic

wildly idealistic; impractical. adjective For every thousand startups with quixotic plans to be the next big name in e-commerce, only a handful ever become profitable.

audacious

willing to be bold in social situations or to take risks. adjective As all of the other campers cowered in their tents, Bill, armed only with a flashlight, audaciously tracked down the bear that had raided their food.

askance

with a look of suspicion or disapproval. adverb The old couple looked askance on the teenagers seated next to them, whispering to each other, "They've got rings through their noses and purple hair!".

assiduously

with care and persistence. adverb The top college football program recruits new talent assiduously, only choosing those who were the top in their county.

blatant

without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious Allen was often punished in school for blatantly disrespecting teachers. adjective

conspicuous

without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious. adjective American basketball players are always conspicuous when they go abroad--not only are they American, but some are over seven feet tall.

artless

without cunning or deceit. adjective Despite the president's seemingly artless speeches, he was a skilled and ruthless negotiator.

impeccable

without fault or error. adjective He was impeccably dressed in the latest fashion without a single crease or stain.

inarticulate

without or deprived of the use of speech or words. adjective Although a brilliant economist, Professor Black was completely inarticulate, a terrible lecturer.

evenhanded

without partiality. adjective Teachers often have trouble being evenhanded to all of their varied students.

unscrupulous

without scruples or principles. adjective In the courtroom, the lawyer was unscrupulous, using every manner of deceit and manipulation to secure a victory for himself.

insidious

working in a subtle but destructive way. adjective Plaque is insidious: we cannot see it, but each day it eats away at our enamel, causing cavities and other dental problems.

laudable

worthy of high praise. adjective To say that Gandhi's actions were laudable is the greatest understatement; he overthrew an empire without violence.

callow

young and inexperienced. adjective Both Los Angeles and New York are known for callow out-of-towners hoping to make it big.

fledgling

young and inexperienced; describing any new participant in some activity Murray has years of experience in family practice, but he is just a fledgling in surgery. adjective

complicit

Associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature. adjective While the grand jury cleared the senator of all criminal charges, in the public mind he was still complicit in the corruption.

pristine

Immaculately clean and unused. adjective Drill sergeants are known for demanding pristine cabinets, uniforms, and beds, and often make new recruits clean and clean and clean until they meet the expected high standards.

autonomously

In an autonomous or self-governing manner. adverb Many of the factory workers are worried about being replaced by machines and computers that will work completely autonomously.

misattribute

To erroneously attribute; to falsely ascribe; used especially of authorship. verb I made a mistake; I misattributed "Crime and Punishment" to Leo Tolstoy when it was actually written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

eke

To live off meager resources, to scrape by. verb Stranded in a cabin over the winter, Terry was able to eke out an existence on canned food.

morph

To undergo dramatic change in a seamless and barely noticeable fashion. verb The earnestness of the daytime talk shows of the 1970's has morphed into something far more sensational and vulgar: today guests actually standup and threaten to take swings at one another.

pristine

Unspoiled, untouched (usu. adjective of nature). The glacial lake was pristine and we filled our canteens to drink deeply.

simulacrum

a bad imitation. noun The early days of computer graphics made real people into a simalacrum that now seems comical.

idiosyncrasy

a behavioral attribute that is distinctive and peculiar to an individual. noun Peggy's numerous idiosyncrasies include wearing mismatched shoes, laughing loudly to herself, and. owning a pet aardvark.

foible

a behavioral attribute that is distinctive and peculiar to an individual. noun When their new roommate sat staring at an oak tree for an hour, Marcia thought it indicated a mental problem, but Jeff assured her it was a harmless foible.

jargon

a characteristic language of a particular group. noun To those with little training in medicine, the jargon of doctors can be very difficult to understand.

constituent

a citizen who is represented in a government by officials for whom he or she votes The mayor's constituents are no longer happy with her performance and plan to vote for another candidate in the upcoming election. noun

ploy

a clever plan to turn a situation to one's advantage. noun Dennis arranged an elaborate ploy, involving 14 different people lying for him in different situations, so that it could appear that he was meeting Mary completely by chance at the wedding reception.

egotist

a conceited and self-centered person. noun An egotist, Natasha had few friends because of her inability to talk about anything except her dream of becoming the next American Idol.

imbroglio

a confusing and potentially embarrassing situation. noun The chef cook-off featured one gourmand who had the unfortunate distinction of mixing the wrong broths, creating an imbroglio that diners would not soon forget.

despot

a cruel and oppressive dictator. noun The Emperor Claudius was regarded as a fair-minded leader; his successor, Nero, was an absolute despot.

melancholy

a deep, long-lasting sadness. noun Hamlet is a figure of tremendous melancholy: he doesn't have a truly cheerful scene throughout the entire play.

canard

a deliberately misleading fabrication The public will always be fooled by the media's canards. noun

boon

a desirable state. noun Modern technology has been a boon to the travel industry.

anathema

a detested person; the source of somebody's hate. noun Hundreds of years ago, Galileo was anathema to the church; today the church is anathema to some on the left side of the political spectrum.

aberration

a deviation from what is normal or expected. noun Aberrations in climate have become the norm: rarely a week goes by without some meteorological phenomenon making headlines.

conundrum

a difficult problem. noun Computers have helped solve some of the mathematical conundrums which have puzzled man for many centuries.

malady

a disease or sickness. noun The town was struck by a malady throughout the winter that left most people sick in bed for two weeks.

umbrage

a feeling of anger caused by being offended. noun Since he was so in love with her, he took umbrage at her comments, even though she had only meant to gently tease him.

presentiment

a feeling of evil to come. noun On the night that Lincoln would be fatally shot, his wife had a presentiment about going to Ford's Theater, but Lincoln persuaded her that everything would be fine.

solicitude

a feeling of excessive concern. noun I walked to his house in the rain to make sure he had enough to eat while he was sick, but he seemed not to appreciate my solicitude.

euphoria

a feeling of great (usually exaggerated) elation. noun The euphoria of winning her first gold medal in the 100 meter dash overwhelmed Shelly-Ann Fraser and she wept tears of immense joy.

charlatan

a flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokes. noun You may call him a "motivational speaker," but I call him a charlatan--he doesn't have any idea what he's really talking about.

juggernaut

a force that cannot be stopped. noun Napoleon was considered a juggernaut until he decided to invade Russia in winter; after which, his once indomitable army was decimated by cold and famine.

panegyric

a formal expression of praise. noun Dave asked Andrew to do just a simple toast, but Andrew launched into a full panegyric, enumerating a complete list of Dave's achievements and admirable qualities.

contingent

a gathering of persons representative of some larger group. noun A small contingent of those loyal to the king have gathered around the castle to defend it.

misanthrope

a hater of mankind. noun Hamilton had been deceived so many times in his life that he hid behind the gruff exterior of a. misanthrope, lambasting perfect strangers for no apparent reason.

paucity

a lack of something. noun There is a paucity of jobs hiring today that require menial skills, since most jobs have either been automated or outsourced.

dearth

a lack or shortage. noun I am surprised by the dearth of fast food chains; this is America and I assumed they were on every street.

myriad

a large indefinite number. noun There are a myriad of internet sites hawking pills that claim to boost energy for hours on end.

raft

a large number of something. noun Despite a raft of city ordinances passed by an overzealous council, noise pollution continued unabated in the megalopolis. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

sanction

a legal penalty for a forbidden action. noun International sanctions have been placed on certain shipping lanes that were thought to be involved in human trafficking.

harangue

a long pompous speech; a tirade. noun Dinner at Billy's was more a punishment than a reward, since anyone who sat at the dinner table would have to listen to Billy's father's interminable harangues against the government.

gambit

a manuveur or risk in a game or conversation, designed to secure an advantage. noun Randy played a gambit, telling his boss that he would leave at the end of the week if he didn't get a raise.

summit

a meeting of high-level leaders. noun Since climate change policy has been mired in congressional fighting, this summit should help set the goals for president's next term.

amalgam

a mixture of multiple things. noun The band's music was an amalgam of hip-hop, flamenco and jazz, blending the three styles with surprising results.

mendicant

a pauper who lives by begging. noun Tolstoy was an aristocrat, but he strove to understand the Christianity of the Russian peasants by wandering among them as a mendicant.

savvy

a perceptive understanding. noun Although a great CEO, he did not have the political savvy to win the election.

raconteur

a person skilled in telling anecdotes. noun Jude is entertaining, but he is no raconteur: beyond the handful of amusing stories he has memorized, he has absolutely no spontaneous story-telling ability.

chauvinist

a person who believes in the superiority of their group. noun The chauvinist lives on both sides of the political spectrum, outright shunning anybody whose ideas are not consistent with his own.

miscreant

a person who breaks the law. noun Come back you miscreant! yelled the woman who just had her purse stollen.

misogynist

a person who dislikes women in particular. noun Many have accused Hemingway of being a quiet misogynist, but recently unearthed letters argue against this belief.

miser

a person who doesn't like to spend money (because they are greedy) Monte was no miser, but was simply frugal, wisely spending the little that he earned. noun

apostate

a person who has abandoned a religious faith or cause. noun An apostate of the Republican Party, Sheldon has yet to become affiliated with any party and dubs himself an independent.

arriviste

a person who has recently reached a position of power; a social climber. noun The city center was aflutter with arrivistes who each tried to outdo one another with their ostentatious sports cars and chic evening dress.

parvenu

a person who has suddenly become wealthy, but not socially accepted as part of a higher class. noun The theater was full of parvenus who each thought that they were surrounded by true aristocrats.

heretic

a person who holds unorthodox opinions in any field (not merely religion). noun Though everybody at the gym told Mikey to do cardio before weights, Mikey was a heretic and always did the reverse.

sybarite

a person who indulges in luxury. noun Despite the fact that he'd maxed out fifteen credit cards, Max was still a sybarite at heart: when the police found him, he was at a $1,000 an hour spa in Manhattan, getting a facial treatment.

reprobate

a person who is disapproved of. noun Those old reprobates drinking all day down by the river--they are not going to amount to much.

dupe

a person who is easily tricked or swindled. noun The charlatan mistook the crowd for a bunch of dupes, but the crowd was quickly on to him and decried his bald-faced attempt to bilk them.

proponent

a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea. noun Ironically, the leading proponent of Flat-Earth Theory flies all over the world in an effort to win more adherents.

advocate

a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea. noun Martin Luther King Jr. was a tireless advocate for the rights of African-Americans in the United States. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

jingoist

a person who thinks that their country should be at war. noun In the days leading up to war, a nation typically breaks up into the two opposing camps: doves, who do their best to avoid war, and jingoists, who are only too eager to wave national flags from their vehicles and vehemently denounce those who do not do th.

sycophant

a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage The CEO was unaware of the damaging consequences of his choices, largely because he surrounded himself with sycophants who would never dare criticize him. noun

indigent

a poor or needy person. noun The indigents, huddled under the overpass, tried to start a small bonfire in the hope of staying warm.

corollary

a practical consequence that follows naturally. noun A corollary of Hurricane Sandy, which ravaged the east coast of the U.S., is a push to build higher sea walls to protect against future hurricanes.

atavism

a reappearance of an earlier characteristic; throwback. noun Much of the modern art movement was an atavism to a style of art found only in small villages through Africa and South America.

stipend

a regular allowance (of money). noun He was hoping for a monthly allowance loan from the government, but after no such stipend was forthcoming he realized he would have to seek other means of paying for his college tuition.

simulacrum

a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture). noun The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center showcases a simulacrum of all the present and approved buildings in the city of Shanghai.

reprisal

a retaliatory action against an enemy in wartime. noun The Old Testament doctrine of an eye for an eye is not the kind of retaliation practiced in war; rather, an. arm, a leg, and both ears are the reprisal for the smallest scratch.

perquisite

a right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group (especially a hereditary or official right). noun Even as the dishwasher at the French restaurant, Josh quickly learned that he had the perquisite of being able to eat terrific food for half the price diners would pay.

aesthetic

a set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement. noun The artist operated according to a peculiar aesthetic, not considering any photograph to be worth publishing unless it contained a marine mammal.

aphorism

a short instructive saying about a general truth. noun Nietzsche was known for using aphorisms, sometimes encapsulating a complex philosophical thought in a mere sentence.

maxim

a short saying expressing a general truth. noun Johnson initially suggests that the secret to business can be summarized in a single maxim but then requires a 300-page book to explain exactly what he means.

apothegm

a short, pithy instructive saying. noun Winston Churchill is famous for many apothegms, but this might be his most famous: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.".

smattering

a slight or superficial understanding of a subject; a small amount of something. noun I know only a smattering of German, but Helen is able to read German newspapers and converse with natives.

inkling

a slight suggestion or vague understanding. noun Lynne speaks four Romance languages, but she doesn't have an inkling about how East Asian languages are structured.

pittance

a small amount (of money). noun Vinny's uncle beamed smugly about how he'd offered his nephew fifty dollars for his Harvard tuition; even twice the amount would have been a mere pittance.

modicum

a small or moderate or token amount. noun If my sister had even a modicum of sense, she wouldn't be engaged to that barbarian.

gaffe

a socially awkward or tactless act. noun In a famous gaffe, Vice President Quayle attempted to correct the spelling of a grade school student, only to find that the child was correct.

solecism

a socially awkward or tactless act. noun Mother Anna was always on guard against any solecism from her children and scolded them immediately if any of them talked out of place in public. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

tumult

a state of chaos, noise and confusion. noun Riots broke out just in front of our apartment building, and the tumult continued late into the night.

enmity

a state of deep-seated ill-will. noun Charles rude remark toward Sarah yesterday was due to his illness, not due to any real enmity toward Sarah.

culpability

a state of guilt. noun Since John had left his banana peel at the top of the stairwell, he accepted culpability for Martha's broken leg.

flux

a state of uncertainty about what should be done (usually following some important event) Ever since Elvira resigned as the head of marketing, everything about our sales strategy has been in a state of flux. noun

prognostication

a statement made about the future. noun When the Senator was asked about where the negotiations would lead, he said that any guess he could make would be an unreliable prognostication.

candid

a straightforward and honest look at something. adjective Even with a perfect stranger, Charles was always candid and would rarely hold anything back.

martinet

a strict disciplinarian. noun The job seemed perfect to Rebecca, until she found out that her boss was a total martinet; after each project the boss would come by to scrutinize--and inevitably criticize--every little detail of the work Rebecca had done.

predilection

a strong liking. noun Monte had a predilection for the fine things in life: Cuban cigars, 200 dollar bottles of wine, and trips to the French Riviera.

diatribe

a strong verbal attack against a person or institution. noun Steve's mom launched into a diatribe during the PTA meeting, contending that the school was little more than a daycare in which students stare at the wall and teachers stare at the chalkboard.

broadside

a strong verbal attack. noun Political broadsides are usually strongest in the weeks leading up to a national election.

polemic

a strong verbal or written attack on someone or something. noun The professor launched into a polemic, claiming that Freudian theory was a pack of lies that absolutely destroyed European literary theory. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

nuance

a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude. noun Because of the nuances involved in this case, I hired an outside consultant to advice us and help.

epiphany

a sudden revelation or moment of insight. noun Gary one day had an epiphany that he was a people person; he prompty quit his factory job and began working as a salesman.

recapitulation

a summary (think of recap). noun Every point of the professors lesson was so clear that the students felt his concluding recapitulation was not necessary.

quisling

a traitor. noun History looks unfavorably upon quislings; indeed they are accorded about the same fondness as Nero--he who watched his city burn down while playing the violin.

banality

a trite or obvious remark. noun Herbert regarded the minister's remark as a mere banality until Sharon pointed out profound implications to the seemingly obvious words.

bromide

a trite or obvious remark. noun Instead of sharing his umbrella, the cheeky stranger offered Martha the following bromide: "Looks like it's raining.".

platitude

a trite or obvious remark. noun The professor argued that many statements regarded as wise in previous times, such as the Golden Rule, are now regarded as mere platitudes.

conflagration

a very intense and uncontrolled fire. noun In the summer months, conflagrations are not uncommon in the southwest, do to the heat and lack of rain.

melee

a wild, confusing fight or struggle. noun After enduring daily taunts about my name, I became enraged and pummeled the schoolyard bully and his sycophantic friends in a brutal melee.

quip

a witty saying or remark. noun In one of the most famous quips about classical music, Mark Twain said: "Wagner's music is better than it sounds.".

epigram

a witty saying. noun My favorite epigram from Mark Twain is "A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn no other way.".

derisive

abusing vocally; expressing contempt or ridicule. adjective I was surprised by her derisive tone; usually, she is sweet, soft spoken, and congenial.

invective

abusive or denunciatory language. noun The Internet has unleashed the invectives in many of us; many people post stinging criticism on the comments section underneath newspaper articles or YouTube videos.

vitriol

abusive or venomous language used to express blame or bitter deep-seated ill will His vitriol spewed forth from a deep-seated racisim that consumed his whole life. noun

palatable

acceptable to the taste or mind. adjective MIkey didn't partake much in his friends' conversations, but found their presence palatable. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

finagle

achieve something by means of trickery or devious methods. verb Steven was able to finagle one of the last seats on the train by convincing the conductor that his torn stub was actually a valid ticket.

concede

acknowledge defeat I concede. verb You win!.

perspicacious

acutely insightful and wise. adjective Many modern observers regard Eisenhower as perspicacious, particularly in his accurate prediction of the growth of the military.

expound

add details or explanation; clarify the meaning; state in depth. verb The CEO refused to expound on the decision to merge our department with another one, and so I quit.

concede

admit (to a wrongdoing). verb After a long, stern lecture from her father, Olivia conceded to having broken the window.

unequivocal

admitting of no doubt or misunderstanding; having only one meaning or interpretation and leading to only one conclusion. adjective The President's first statement on the subject was vague and open to competing interpretations, so when he spoke to Congress about the same subject later, he was cafeful to make his position completely unequivocal.

tout

advertize in strongly positive terms; show off. verb At the conference, the CEO touted the extraordinary success of his company's Research & Development division.

audacity

aggressive boldness in social situations. noun She surprised her colleagues by having the audacity to publically criticize the findings of an distinguished scientist.

genial

agreeable, conducive to comfort. adjective Betty is a genial young woman: everyone she meets is put at ease by her elegance and grace.

collusion

agreement on a secret plot. noun Many have argued that Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK's assassin, was in collusion with other criminals; others maintain that Oswald was a lone gunman.

apathy

an absence of emotion or enthusiasm. noun Widespread apathy among voters led to a very small turnout on election day.

constituent

an abstract part of something. noun The constituents of the metal alloy are nickle, copper, and tin.

travesty

an absurd presentation of something; a mockery. noun What I expected to be an intelligent, nuanced historical documentary turned out to be a poorly-produced travesty of the form.

cornucopia

an abundant supply of something good. noun The International Food Expo was a cornucopia of culinary delights: gourmet foods from every continent were under one roof.

screed

an abusive rant (often tedious). noun Joey had difficulty hanging out with his former best friend Perry, who, during his entire cup of coffee, enumerated all of the government's deficiencies--only to break ranks and launch into some screed against big business.

perfidy

an act of deliberate betrayal; a breach of a trust. noun The lowest circles in Dante's Inferno were for those who had practiced perfidy, and among these, the very lowest was for those, such as Judas, who had been treacherous to one of their benefactors.

enormity

an act of extreme wickedness. noun The enormity of Pol Pot's regime is hard to capture in words--within months hundreds of thousands of Cambodians lost their lives. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

redress

an act of making something right. noun Barry forgot his wife's birthday two years in a row, and was only able to redress his oversight by surprising his wife with a trip to Tahiti. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

junta

an aggressive takeover by a group (usually military). noun As dangerous of a threat as North Korea is, some analysts believe that were a junta suddenly to gain power, it could be even more unpredictable and bellicose than the current leadership.

dilettante

an amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge. noun Fred has no formal medical training; while he likes to claim authority on medical issues, he is little more than a dilettante.

row

an angry dispute. noun The Prime Minister looked very foolish after his row with the foreign dignitary was caught on video and posted on youtube. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

tirade

an angry speech. noun In terms of political change, a tirade oftentimes does little more than make the person speaking red in the face.

presumption

an assumption that is taken for granted. noun When Mr. Baker found out the family car was gone, he acted under the presumption that his rebellious son had taken the car, calling his son's phone and yelling at him; only later did Mr. Baker realize that Mrs. Baker had simply gone out to get her nails d.

alacrity

an eager willingness to do something. noun The first three weeks at his new job, Mark worked with such alacrity that upper management knew it would be giving him a promotion.

cataclysm

an event resulting in great loss and misfortune. noun The introduction of smallpox was a cataclysm for Native Americans, killing off more than half of their population.

surfeit

an excessive amount of something. noun There was no such thing as a surfeit of shopping for Nancy--she could stay at the outlet stores from opening to closing time.

glut

an excessive supply. noun The Internet offers such a glut of news related stories that many find it difficult to know which story to read first.

dispensation

an exemption from a rule or obligation. noun Since her father is a billionaire, she is given dispensation from many of the school's policies. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

paragon

an ideal instance; a perfect embodiment of a concept. noun Some say that Athens was the paragon of democracy, but these people often forget that slaves and women were still not allowed to vote.

virago

an ill-tempered or violent woman. noun Poor Billy was the victim of the virago's invective--she railed at him for a good 30-minutes about how he is the scum of the earth for speaking loudly on his cellphone in public.

intimation

an indirect suggestion. noun At first the hostess tried intimation, praising the benefits of cutlery; when Cecil continued eating with his hands, the hostess told him to use a fork at dinner.

powwow

an informal meeting or discussion. noun Before the team takes the field, the coach always calls for a powwow so that he can make sure all the players are mentally in the right place.

antipathy

an intense feeling of dislike or aversion. noun Maria had an antipathy for tour groups, often bolting to the other side of the museum as soon as she saw a chaperone leading a group of wide-eyed tourists.

sinecure

an office that involves minimal duties. noun The position of Research Director is a sinecure: the job entails almost no responsibilities, nor does the person in that position have to answer to anyone.

pariah

an outcast. noun The once eminent scientist, upon being found guilty of faking his data, has become a pariah in the research community.

semblance

an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading. noun While the banker maintained a semblance of respectability in public, those who knew him well were familiar with his many crimes.

reservation

an unstated doubt that prevents you from accepting something wholeheartedly. noun I was initially excited by the idea of a trip to Washington, D.C. but now that I have read about the high crime statistics there, I have some reservations. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

hoary

ancient. adjective Most workout gurus are young, fit people, whereas most yoga gurus are hoary men with long white beards.

bridle

anger or take offense. verb The hostess bridled at the tactless dinner guests who insisted on eating before everybody had gotten their food.

litany

any long and tedious account of something. noun Mr. Rogers spoke to a Senate committee and did not give a litany of reasons to keep funding the program, but instead, appealed to the basic human decency of all present.

empiricism

any method that derives knowledge from experience, used in experimental science as a way to gain insight and knowledge. noun Empiricism does not always lead to knowledge; an experience or experiment may raise more questions than it answers.

becoming

appropriate, and matches nicely. adjective Her dress was becoming and made her look even more beautiful. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

facile

arrived at without due care or effort; lacking depth. adjective Many news shows provide facile explanations to complex politics, so I prefer to read the in-depth reporting of The New York Times.

overweening

arrogant; presumptuous. adjective Mark was so convinced of his basketball skills that in his overweening pride he could not fathom that his name was not on the varsity list; he walked up to the basketball coach and told her she had forgotten to add his name.

factitious

artificial; not natural. adjective The defendant's story was largely factitious and did not accord with eyewitness testimonies.

tempestuous

as if driven by turbulent or conflicting emotions; highly energetic and wildly changing or fluctuating. adjective Chuck and Kathy had always been stable and agreeable people on their own, but when they got involved, it was a tempestuous relationship.

lionize

assign great social importance to. verb Students in the U.S. learn to lionize Jefferson, Franklin, and Washington because they are the founding fathers of the nation.

relegate

assign to a lower position. verb When Dexter was unable to fulfill his basic duties, instead of firing him, the boss relegated him to kitchen cleanup.

posit

assume as fact. verb Initially, Einstein posited a repulsive force to balance Gravity, but then rejected that idea as a blunder.

forthcoming

at ease in talking to others. adjective As a husband, Larry was not forthcoming: if Jill didn't demand to know details, Larry would never share them with her.

impugn

attack as false or wrong. verb Though many initially tried to impugn Darwin's theory, in scientific circles today, the is idea taken as truth.

assail

attack in speech or writing. verb In the weekly paper, the editor assailed the governor for wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars in public projects that quickly failed.

enamor

attraction or feeling of love. verb She is completely enamored with Justin Bieber, and goes to all his concerts on the East coast.

impute

attribute (responsibility or fault) to something. verb He imputed his subpar performance on the test to a combination of stress and poor sleep.

ascribe

attribute or credit to. verb History ascribes The Odyssey and The Illiad to Homer, but scholars now debate whether he was a. historical figure or a fictitious name.

presumption

audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to. noun The new neighbor quickly gained a reptuation for her presumption; she had invited herself to several of the neighbors homes, often stopping over at inopportune times and asking for a drink.

effrontery

audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to. noun The skateboarders acted with effrontery, skating through the church grounds and spray-painting signs warning trespassers.

forthcoming

available when required or as promised. adjective The President announced that the senators were about to reach a compromise, and that he was eager to read the forthcoming details of the bill.

eschew

avoid and stay away from deliberately; stay clear of. verb Politicians are the masters of eschewing morals; academics are the masters of eschewing clarity.

evasive

avoiding or escaping from difficulty or danger or commitment. adjective His responses were clearly evasive; he obviously did not want to take on any responsibility or any new work.

economical

avoiding waste, efficient. adjective Journalists favor an economical style of writing, in which no unnecessary words are used and every sentence is as short as possible.

arbitrary

based on a random, groundless decision. adjective One of the arbitrary decrees in place during the emperor's rule is that all citizens pay him weekly homage at his palace. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

specious

based on pretense; deceptively pleasing Almost every image on TV is specious and not to be trusted. adjective

differentiate

be a distinctive feature, attribute, or trait (sometimes in positive sense). verb Mozart's long melodic lines differentiate his compositions from other works of late 18th century music.

impede

be a hindrance or obstacle to. verb Since the police sergeant had to train the pair of new hires, progress in his own case was impeded.

flummox

be a mystery or bewildering to. verb Mary's behavoir completely flummoxes me: I never have any idea what her motivations might be.

denote

be a sign or indication of; have as a meaning. verb Even if the text is not visible, the red octagon denotes "stop" to all motorists in America.

browbeat

be bossy towards; discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner During the interrogation, the suspect was browbeaten into signing a false confession. verb

exemplify

be characteristic of. verb Lincoln exemplified the best of not only America, but also the potential greatness that exists within each person.

confound

be confusing or perplexing to. verb Though Harry loved numbers, he found calculus confounding.

vacillate

be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action. verb Some students vacillate between schools when deciding which to attend, while others focus only on one school. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

obtain

be valid, applicable, or true. adjective The custom of waiting your turn in line does not obtain in some countries, in which many people try to rush to front of the line at the same time. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

prevail

be widespread in a particular area at a particular time; be current: During the labor negotiations, an air of hostility prevailed in the office. verb

languish

become feeble. verb Stranded in the wilderness for four days, the hiker languished, eating protein bars and nuts.

importuned

beg persistently and urgently. verb After weeks of importuning the star to meet for a five-minute interview, the journalist finally got what she wanted.

flounder

behave awkwardly; have difficulties. verb Sylvia has excelled at advanced calculus, but ironically, when she has deal with taxes, she flounders.

chivalrous

being attentive to women like an ideal knight. adjective Marco's chivalrous ways, like opening doors and pulling out chairs, was much appreciated by his date.

impertinent

being disrespectful; improperly forward or bold. adjective Dexter, distraught over losing his pet dachshund, Madeline, found the police officer's questions impertinent--after all, he thought, did she have to pry into such details as to what Madeline's favorite snack was?.

tantamount

being essentially equal to something. adjective In many situations, remaining silent is tantamount to admitting guilt, so speak to prove your innocence.

rudimentary

being in the earliest stages of development; being or involving basic facts or principles. adjective I would love to be able to present a fully polished proposal to the board, but right now, our plans for the product are still in the most rudimentary stages.

coterminous

being of equal extent or scope or duration. adjective The border of the state is coterminous with geographic limits on travel; the east and north are surrounded by a nearly uncrossable river and the south by a desert.

apocryphal

being of questionable authenticity. adjective The web is notorious for sandwiching apocryphal stories between actual news.

moribund

being on the point of death; declining rapidly losing all momentum in progress Whether you like it or not, jazz as a genre is moribund at best, possibly already dead. adjective

credence

belief in something. noun He placed no credence in psychics, claiming that they offered no special powers beyond the ability to make people part with their money.

mordant

biting and caustic in thought, manner, or style. adjective While Phil frequently made mordant remarks about company policy overall, he always was considerably gentler in discussing any person in particular.

prolixity

boring verbosity. noun I loved my grandfather dearly, but his prolixity would put me to sleep, regardless of the topic.

peremptory

bossy and domineering. adjective My sister used to peremptorily tell me to do the dishes, a chore I would either do perfunctorily or avoid doing altogether.

doughty

brave; bold; courageous. adjective I enjoy films in which a doughty group comes together to battle a force of evil.

crestfallen

brought low in spirit. adjective I asked Maria on a date and she refused without a moment's thought; I was crestfallen.

elicit

call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses). verb Just smiling--even if you are depressed--can elicit feelings of pleasure and happiness.

serene

calm and peaceful. adjective I'd never seen him so serene; usually, he was a knot of stress and anxiety from hours of trading on the stock exchange.

rescind

cancel officially. verb The man's driver's license was rescinded after his tenth car accident, which meant he would never be allowed to legally drive again.

malleable

capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out. adjective The clay became malleable and easy to work with after a little water was added.

provident

careful in regard to your own interests; providing carefully for the future. adjective In a move that hardly could be described as provident, Bert spend his entire savings on a luxurious cruise, knowing that other bills would come due a couple months later.

discreet

careful to protect one's speech or actions in order to avoid offense or gain an advantage. adjective The professor thought that he was discreet, subtly wiping the stain off of his shirt, but as soon as he stepped off the podium a member of the audience pointed out the large ketchup stain.

slapdash

carelessly and hastily put together. adjective The office building had been constructed in a slapdash manner, so it did not surprise officials when, during a small earthquake, a large crack emerged on the façade of the building.

stultify

cause one, through routine, to lose energy and enthusiasm. verb As an undergraduate Mark felt stultified by classes outside his area of study; only in grad school, in which he could focus solely on literary analysis, did he regain his scholarly edge.

placate

cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of. verb I was able to placate the angry mob of students by promising to bring cookies on Monday.

disseminate

cause to become widely known. verb Before the effects of anaethesia were disseminated, patients had to experience the full pain of a surgery.

perpetuate

cause to continue. verb If you do not let him do things for himself, you are merely perpetuating bad habits that will be even harder to break in the future.

chagrin

cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of. verb She never cared what others said about her appearance but was chagrined by the smallest comment from her mother.

crystallize

cause to take on a definite and clear shape. verb Only after fifteen minutes of brainstorming did Samantha's ideas for the essay crystallize. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

nettlesome

causing irritation or annoyance. adjective Maria found her coworkers cell phone nettlesome, because every few minutes it would buzz to life with another text message.

chary

cautious. adjective Jack was wary of GRE words that looked similar, because they usually had different definitions; not so with chary, a word that he began to use interchangeably with wary.

vicissitude

change in one"s circumstances, usually for the worse. noun Even great rulers have their vicissitudes--massive kingdoms have diminished overnight, and once beloved kings have faced the scorn of angry masses.

transmute

change or alter in form, appearance, or nature. verb One of the goals of alchemy was to find the substance or process that would transmute lead into gold.

autocratic

characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule; having absolute sovereignty The last true autocratic country is certainly North Korea; nowhere does a leader exercise the absolute control over all aspects of a people the way that Kim Jong-un does. adjective

belligerent

characteristic of one eager to fight. adjective Tom said that he was arguing the matter purely for philosophical reasons, but his belligerent tone indicated an underlying anger about the issue.

rustic

characteristic of rural life; awkwardly simple and provincial. adjective The vacation cabin had no electricity and no indoor plumbing, but despite these inconveniences, Nigel adored its rustic charm.

provincial

characteristic of the a limited perspective; not fashionable or sophisticated Maggie's enthusiasm about her high school teams seemed provincial to her college classmates, all of whom were following a nationally ranked college team. adjective

diligent

characterized by care and perseverance in carrying out tasks. adjective Michael was a diligent gardener, never leaving a leaf on the ground and regularly watering each plant.

staid

characterized by dignity and propriety. adjective Frank came from a staid enviroment, so he was shocked that his college rooommate sold narcotics.

forthright

characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion. adjective I did not expect the insurance agent to give us any straight answers, but I was pleasent surprised by how forthright he was.

laborious

characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort The most laborious job I've had was working 20 hours a day as a fisherman in King Salmon, Alaska. adjective

scrupulous

characterized by extreme care and great effort. adjective Because of his scrupulous nature, Mary put him in charge of numbering and cataloging the entire collection of rare stamps.

decorous

characterized by good taste in manners and conduct. adjective Sally's parties are decorous affairs, and instead of the usual beer and music, there is tea and intellectual conversation.

industrious

characterized by hard work and perseverance. adjective Pete was an industrious student, completing every assignment thoroughly and on time.

jocular

characterized by jokes and good humor. adjective My uncle was always in a jocular mood at family gatherings, messing up people's hair and telling knock- knock jokes to anyone who would listen.

ethereal

characterized by lightness and insubstantiality. adjective Because she dances with an ethereal style, ballet critics have called her Madame Butterfly.

precocious

characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity (especially in mental aptitude). adjective Though only seven years old, she was a precocious chess prodigy, able to beat players twice her age.

trenchant

characterized by or full of force and vigor; having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression, or intellect. adjective Jill presented a rather superficial treatment of sales in Asia, but her trenchant analysis of sales in Europe inspired a number of insights into how to proceed in that market.

impetuous

characterized by undue haste and lack of thought or deliberation Herbert is rarely impetuous, but on the spur of the moment, he spent thousands of dollars on a motorcycle today. adjective

gossamer

characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy. adjective The gossamer wings of a butterfly, which allow it to fly, are also a curse, so delicate that they are often damaged.

denigrate

charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone. verb Count Rumford denigrated the new theory of heat, demonstrating that it was wholly inadequate to explain the observations.

sanguine

cheerful; optimistic. adjective With the prospect of having to learn 3,000 words during the course of the summer, Paul was anything but sanguine.

abstain

choose not to consume or take part in (particularly something enjoyable) Considered a health nut, Jessica abstained from anything containing sugar--even chocolate. verb

exemplify

clarify by giving an example of. verb Please present some case studies that exemplify the results that you claim in your paper.

limpid

clarity in terms of expression. adjective Her limpid prose made even the most recondite subjects accessible to all.

cogent

clear and persuasive. adjective A cogent argument will change the minds of even the most skeptical audience.

artful

clever in a cunning way. adjective Bernie Madoff's artful Ponzi scheme stole billions of dollars from investors and is considered the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.

facetious

cleverly amusing in tone. adjective Facetious behavior will not be tolerated during sex eduation class; it's time for all of you to treat these matters like mature adults.

circumvent

cleverly find a way out of one's duties or obligations. verb One way of circumventing the GRE is to apply to a grad school that does not require GRE scores.

impending

close in time; about to occur. adjective The impending doom of our world has been a discussed and debated for 2000 years--maybe even longer.

maladroit

clumsy. adjective As a child she was quite maladroit, but as an adult, she has become an adept dancer. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

glean

collect information bit by bit. verb Herb has given us no formal statement about his background, but from various hints, I have gleaned that he grew up in difficult circumstances.

derive

come from; be connected by a relationship of blood, for example. verb Many words in the English language are derived from Latin, including the word "derive.".

vanquish

come out better in a competition, race, or conflict. verb For years, Argentina would dominate in World Cup qualifying matches, only to be vanquished by one of the European countries during the late stages of the tournament.

nonchalant

coming across as cooly uninterested. adjective The twenty-somethings at the coffee shop always irked Sheldon, especially the way in which they acted nonchalantly towards everything, not even caring when Sheldon once spilled his mocha on them.

proscribe

command against. verb My doctor proscribes that I not eat donuts with chocolate sauce and hamburger patties for breakfast.

expansive

communicative, and prone to talking in a sociable manner. adjective After a few sips of cognac, the octogenarian shed his irascible demeanor and became expansive, speaking fondly of the "good old days". This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

vie

compete for something. verb While the other teams in the division actively vie for the championship, this team seems content simply to go through the motions of playing.

arrant

complete and wholly (usually modifying a noun with negative connotation). adjective An arrant fool, Lawrence surprised nobody when he lost all his money in a pyramid scheme that was every bit as transparent as it was corrupt.

destitute

completely wanting or lacking (usually "destitute of") Now that the mine is closed, the town is destitute of any economic activity. adjective

involved

complicated, and difficult to comprehend. adjective The physics lecture became so involved that the undergraduate's eyes glazed over.

eclectic

comprised of a variety of styles. adjective Joey was known for his eclectic tastes in music, one moment dancing to disco the next "air conducting" along to Beethoven's 9th symphony.

cosmopolitan

comprising many cultures; global in reach and outlook There are few cities in the world as diverse and cosmopolitan as New York. adjective

duress

compulsory force or threat. noun The witness said he signed the contract under duress and argued that the court should cancel the agreement.

dissemble

conceal one's true motives, usually through deceit. verb To get close to the senator, the assassin dissembled his intentions, convincing many people that he was a reporter for a well-known newspaper.

aesthetic

concerned with the appreciation of beauty. adjective The director, not known for his aesthetic sensibilities, decided not to use costumes at all, and put on the play in everyday clothing.

pithy

concise and full of meaning. adjective I enjoy reading the Daodejing for its pithy and insightful prose; it always gives me something to think about.

esoteric

confined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circle. adjective Map collecting is an esoteric hobby to most, but to geography geeks it is a highly enjoyable pasttime.

equivocal

confusing or ambiguous. adjective The findings of the study were equivocal--the two researchers had different opinions on what the results signified.

subsume

consider (an instance of something) as part of a general rule or principle. verb Don Quixote of La Mancha subsumes all other modern novels, demonstrating modern literary devices. and predating even the idea of a postmodern, metanarrative.

tact

consideration in dealing with others and avoiding giving offense. noun In a tremendous display of tact, Shelly was able to maintain a strong friendship with Marcia, even though Marcia's husband, Frank, confessed to finding Shelley more attractive than Marcia.

vociferous

conspicuously and offensively loud; given to vehement outcry. adjective In giving Marcia a particular vociferous response, Paul caused people at every other table in the restaurant to turn around an look at them angrily.

discrete

constituting a separate entity or part. adjective What was once known as Czechoslovakia has since split into two discrete, independent nations.

subsume

contain or include. verb The rogue wave quickly subsumed the pier and boardwalk, destroying everything in its path.

complacent

contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions. adjective After the water polo team won their sixth championship, they became complacent and didn't even make it to the playoffs the next year.

illicit

contrary to or forbidden by law. adjective Though Al Capone was engaged in many illicit activities, he was finally arrested for income tax evasion, a relatively minor offense.

proselytize

convert to another religion, philosophy, or perspective. verb Lisa loves her Mac but says little about it; by contrast, Jake will proselytize, interrogating anyone with an Android about why she didn't purchase an iPhone.

implicate

convey a meaning; imply. verb By saying that some of the guests were uncomfortable, the manager implicated to the hotel staff that it needed to be more dilligent.

graft

corruption, usually through bribery. noun In countries with rampant graft, getting a driver's license can require no more than paying an official. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

veneer

covering consisting of a thin superficial layer that hides the underlying substance Mark Twain referred to the Victorian Period in America as the "Gilded Age", implying the ample moral corruption that lay beneath a mere veneer of respectability. noun

unprepossessing

creating an unfavorable or neutral first impression. adjective World leaders coming to meet Gandhi would expect a towering sage, and often would be surprised by the unprepossessing little man dressed only in a loincloth and shawl.

exegesis

critical explanation or analysis, especially of a text. noun The Bible is fertile ground for exegesis--over the past five centuries there have been as many interpretations as there are pages in the Old Testament.

lambast

criticize severely or angrily. verb Showing no patience, the manager utterly lambasted the sales team that lost the big account.

rebuke

criticize severely or angrily; censure. verb The police chief rebuked the two officers whose irresponsible decisions almost led to the deaths of seven innocent by-standers.

artifice

cunning tricks used to deceive others. noun The mayoral candidates both spent much of the campaign accusing each other of artifices designed to mislead the voting public.

besmirch

damage the good name and reputation of someone. verb The prince's distasteful choice of words besmirched not only his own name, but the reputation of the entire royal family.

treacherous

dangerously unstable and unpredictable. adjective The bridge built from twine and vine is treacherous to walk across, and so I think I will stay put right here.

duplicity

deceitfulness, pretending to want one thing but interested in something else. noun A life of espionage is one of duplicity: an agent must pretend to be a totally different person than who she or he actually is.

lacerate

deeply hurt the feelings of; distress. verb The teacher was fired for lacerating a student who wrote a poor essay. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

truculence

defiant aggressiveness. noun When the boss confronted Aaron about his earlier remarks, Aaron responded with utter truculence, simply throwing a glass of water in the boss' face and walking away.

word

definition part of speech example

inimitable

defying imitation; matchless. adjective Mozart's music follows a clear pattern that, anyone could imitate, but his music gives an overall sense of effortlessness that is inimitable.

iconoclastic

defying tradition or convention. adjective Jackson Pollack was an iconoclastic artist, totally breaking with tradition by splashing paint on a blank canvas.

evasive

deliberately vague or ambiguous. adjective Every time I call the bank, I receive the same evasive answers about our mortgage and never get a clear response.

arduous

demanding considerable mental effort and skill; testing powers of endurance In order to deal with the arduous cross-country journey, truck drivers often survive on a string of caffeinated drinks, staying awake for up to 30 hours at a time. adjective

stringent

demanding strict attention to rules and procedures. adjective Most of the students disliked the teacher because of his stringent homework policy, but many students would later thank him for demanding so much from them.

gainsay

deny or contradict; speak against or oppose. verb I can't gainsay a single piece of evidence James has presented, but I still don't trust his conclusion.

stalwart

dependable; inured to fatigue or hardships. adjective Despite all the criticism directed at the President during this scandal, Lisa has remained his stalwart supporter.

turpitude

depravity; a depraved act. noun During his reign, Caligula indulged in unspeakable sexual practices, so it not surprising that he will forever be remembered for his turpitude.

disenfranchise

deprive of voting rights. verb The U.S. Constitution disenfranchised women until 1920 when they were given the right to vote.

delineate

describe in detail. verb After a brief summary of proper swimming technique, the coach delineated the specifics of each stroke, spending 30 minutes alone on the backstroke.

scintillating

describes someone who is brilliant and lively. adjective Richard Feynman was renowned for his scintillating lectures--the arcana of quantum physics was made lucid as he wrote animatedly on the chalkboard.

convivial

describing a lively atmosphere. adjective The wedding reception was convivial; friends who hadn't seen each other for ages drank and ate together before heading to the dance floor.

implausible

describing a statement that is not believable. adjective The teacher found it implausible that the student was late to school because he had been kidnapped by outlaws on horseback.

pyrrhic

describing a victory that comes at such a great cost that the victory is not worthwhile George W. adjective Bush's win in the 2000 election was in many ways a pyrrhic victory: the circumstances of his win alienated half of the U.S. population.

concomitant

describing an event or situation that happens at the same time as or in connection with another. adjective Concomitant with his desire for nature was a desire for the culture and energy of a big city.

estimable

deserving of esteem and respect. adjective After serving thirty years, in which he selflessly served the community, Judge Harper was one of the more estimable people in town.

creditable

deserving of praise but not that amazing. adjective Critics agreed the movie was creditable, but few gave it more than three out of five stars.

decimation

destroying or killing a large part of the population. noun The decimation after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is incomprehensible.

enumerate

determine the number or amount of. verb The survey enumerates the number of happy workers and the number of unhappy workers.

capricious

determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason Nearly every month our capricious CEO had a new plan to turn the company around, and none of them worked because we never gave them the time they needed to succeed. adjective

whimsical

determined by impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason. adjective Adults look to kids and envy their whimsical nature at times, wishing that they could act without reason and play without limitation.

elusive

difficult to capture or difficult to remember. adjective Many first time skydivers say that describing the act of falling from the sky is elusive.

cumbersome

difficult to handle or use especially because of size or weight. adjective Only ten years ago, being an avid reader and a traveler meant carrying a cumbersome backpack stuffed with books--these days we need only an e-reader.

recondite

difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge. adjective I found Ulysses recondite and never finished the book, waiting instead to read it with someone else so we could penetrate its meaning together.

abstruse

difficult to understand; incomprehensible. adjective Physics textbooks can seem so abstruse to the uninitiated that readers feel as though they are looking at hieroglyphics.

disaffected

discontented as toward authority. adjective After watching his superior take rations from the soliders, he quickly became disaffected and rebeled.

sardonic

disdainfully or ironically humorous; scornful and mocking. adjective A stand-up comedian walks a fine line when making jokes about members of the audience; such fun and joking can quickly become sardonic and cutting.

ignoble

dishonorable. adjective In the 1920s, the World Series was rigged--an ignoble act which baseball took decades to recover from.

dispatch

dispose of rapidly and without delay and efficiently. verb As soon as the angry peasants stormed the castle, they caught the king and swiftly dispatched him. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

panache

distinctive and stylish elegance. noun Jim, with his typical panache, came to the wedding reception with a top hat, a cane, and a long cape covered in sequins.

perturb

disturb in mind or cause to be worried or alarmed. verb Now that Henry is recovering from a major illnesses, he no longer lets the little trivialities, such as late mail, perturb him.

deign

do something that one considers to be below one's dignity. verb The master of the house never deigned to answer questions from the servants.

impermeable

does not allow fluids to pass through. adjective The sand bags placed on the river formed an impermeable barrier, protecting the town from flooding.

hegemony

dominance over a certain area. adjective Until the Spanish Armada was defeated in 1587, Spain had hegemony over the seas, controlling waters stretching as far as the Americas.

preemptive

done before someone else can do it. adjective Just as Martha was about to take the only cookie left on the table, Noah preemptively swiped it.

sedulous

done diligently and carefully. adjective An avid numismatist, Harold sedulously amassed a collection of coins from over 100 countries--an endeavor that took over fifteen years, and to five continents. self-

perfunctory

done routinely and with little interest or care. adjective The short film examines modern perfunctory cleaning rituals such as washing dishes, doing laundry and tooth-brushing.

precipitous

done with very great haste and without due deliberation. adjective He was expecting a precipitous rise in the value of a "hot" tech stock, so he was disappointed when it only inched up a dollar or two each day.

quail

draw back, as with fear or pain. verb Craig always claimed to be a fearless outdoorsman, but when the thunderstorm engulfed the valley, he quailed at the thought of leaving the safety of his cabin. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

extrapolate

draw from specific cases for more general cases. verb By extrapolating from the data on the past three months, we can predict a 5% increase in traffic to our website.

flag

droop, sink, or settle from or as if from pressure or loss of tautness; become less intense After the three crushing defeats in the last three games, the team's enthusiasm began to flag. verb This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

humdrum

dull and lacking excitement. adjective Having grown up in a humdrum suburb, Jacob relished life in New York City after moving.

prosaic

dull and lacking imagination. adjective Unlike the talented artists in his workshop, Paul had no such bent for the visual medium, so when it was time for him to make a stained glass painting, he ended up with a prosaic mosaic.

insipid

dull and uninteresting. adjective The movie director was known for hiring beautiful actors in order to deflect attention away from the insipid scripts he would typically use.

jejune

dull; lacking flavor. adjective Although many top chefs have secured culinary foam's popularity in haute cuisine, Waters criticizes it for being jejune and unfilling.

pugnacious

eager to fight or argue; verbally combative. adjective The comedian told one flat joke after another, and when the audience started booing, he pugnaciously back at them, "Hey, you think this is easy -- why don"t you buffoons give it a shot?".

venial

easily excused or forgiven; pardonable. adjective His traffic violations ran the gamut from the venial to the egregious--on one occasion he simply did not come to a complete stop; another time he tried to escape across state lines at speeds in excess of 140 mph.

docile

easily handled or managed; willing to be taught or led or supervised or directed Barnyard animals are considerably more docile than the wild animals. adjective

malleable

easily influenced. adjective My little brother is so malleable that I can convince him to sneak cookies from the cupboard for me.

peevish

easily irritated or annoyed. adjective Our office manager is peevish, so the rest of us tip-toe around him, hoping not to set off another one of his fits.

petulant

easily irritated or annoyed. adjective When Ed first met Ruth, he didn't realize she was so petulant, but now that they are three months into their relationship, Ed feels a day doesn't go by in which she isn't whining about some minor issue.

amenable

easily persuaded. adjective Even though she did not like the outdoors, Shirley was generally amenable and so her brother was able to persuade her to go camping.

bowdlerize

edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate. verb To recieve an R rating, the entire movie was bowdlerized because it contained so much violence and grotesque subject matter.

sentimental

effusively or insincerely emotional, especially in art, music, and literature. adjective I don't like romanticism for the same reason I don't like melodramatic acting and soap operas--overly sentimental.

cadaverous

emaciated; gaunt. adjective Some actors take challenging roles in which they have to lose so much weight that they appear cadaverous.

poignant

emotionally touching. adjective After the Montagues and Capulets discover the dead bodies of Romeo and Juliet, in the play's most poignant moment, the two griefstricken familes agree to end their feud once and for all. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

machinate

engage in plotting or enter into a conspiracy, swear together The rebels met at night in an abandoned barn to machinate. verb

complementary

enhancing each other's qualities (for two things or more). adjective The head waiter was careful to tell the amateur diners that red wine was complementary with beef, each bringing out subtle taste notes in the other.

augment

enlarge or increase; improve. verb Ideally, the restaurant's augmented menu will expand its clientele and increase its profits.

edifying

enlightening or uplifting so as to encourage intellectual or moral improvement. adjective I recently read an article in the Times about whether good literature is edifying or not; specifically, does reading more make a person more moral.

hail

enthusiastically acclaim or celebrate something. verb Many college superstar athletes are hailed as the next big thing, but then flop at the professional level. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

elude

escape understanding. verb Even a basic understanding of physics can elude most high schools students.

differentiate

evolve so as to lead to a new species or develop in a way most suited to the environment. verb Animals on Madagascar differentiated from other similar animal species due to many years of isolation on the island.

apotheosis

exaltation to divine status; the highest point of development. noun As difficult as it is to imagine, the apotheosis of Mark Zuckerberg's career, many believe, is yet to come.

hagiographic

excessively flattering toward someone's life or work. adjective Most accounts of Tiger Woods life were hagiographic, until, that is, his affairs made headlines.

presumptuous

excessively forward. adjective Many felt that Barney was presumptuous in moving into the large office before the management even made any official announcement of his promotion.

avaricious

excessively greedy. adjective Since avaricious desire is similar to gluttony or lust--sins of excess--it was listed as one of the seven deadly sins by the Catholic church.

lugubrious

excessively mournful. adjective At the funeral, lugubrious songs filled the small church.

ostracize

exclude from a community or group. verb Later in his life, Leo Tolstoy was ostracized from the Russian Orthodox Church for his writings that contradicted church doctrine.

artful

exhibiting artistic skill. adjective Picasso is generally considered the most artful member of the Cubist movement.

dictatorial

expecting unquestioning obedience; characteristic of an absolute ruler The coach was dictatorial in his approach: no players could ever argue or question his approach. adjective

banish

expel from a community, residence, or location; drive away The most difficult part of the fast was banishing thoughts of food. verb This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE

elaborate

explain in more detail. verb Most high school physics teachers find themselves elaborating the same point over and over again, since many concepts confuse students.

bemoan

express discontent or a stong regret. verb While the CFO carefully explained all the reasons for the cuts in benefits, after the meeting employees bemoaned the cuts as further evidence that management was against them.

decry

express strong disapproval of. verb The entire audience erupted in shouts and curses, decrying the penalty card issued by the referee.

objurgate

express strong disapproval of. verb The manager spent an hour objurgating the employee in the hopes that he would not make these mistakes again.

derogative

expressed as worthless or in negative terms. adjective Never before have we seen a debate between two political candidates that was so derogative and filthy.

pejorative

expressing disapproval (usu. adjective refers to a term). Most psychologists object to the pejorative term "shrink", believing that they expand the human mind, not limit it. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

approbatory

expressing praise or approval. adjective Although it might not be her best work, Hunter's new novel has received generally approbatory reviews.

elegiac

expressing sorrow. adjective Few can listen to the elegiac opening bars of the Moonlight sonata without feeling the urge to cry.

snide

expressive of contempt; derogatory or mocking in an indirect way. adjective The chairman interpreted Taylor's question about promotions as a snide remark, but in all innocence Taylor was trying to figure out the company's process.

largess

extreme generosity and giving. noun Uncle Frank was known for his largess, so his nephew was sad when he did not receive a present for his birthday.

abysmal

extremely bad. adjective Coach Ramsey took his newest player off the field after watching a few painful minutes of her abysmal performance.

inflammable

extremely controversial, incendiary. adjective It only takes one person to leave an inflammable comment on an Internet thread for that thread to blow up into pages upon pages of reader indignation.

parsimonious

extremely frugal; miserly. adjective Katie is so parsimonious that she only buys a pair of socks if all of her other socks have holes in them.

ravenous

extremely hungry; devouring or craving food in great quantities. adjective John didn't each much at all during the week he had the flu, so now that he is regaining his health, it's not surpring that he has a ravenous appetite.

excruciating

extremely painful. adjective After the boulder rolled a couple of feet, pinning my friend's arm, he experienced excruciating pain.

renege

fail to fulfill a promise or obligation. verb We will no longer work with that vendor since it has reneged on nearly every agreement.

equitable

fair to all parties as dictated by reason and conscience. adjective The equitable distribution of ice cream to a group of 5 year olds will ensure little to no fighting--at least until the ice cream is gone.

benighted

fallen into a state of ignorance. adjective Far from being a period of utter benightedness, The Medieval Ages produced some great works of theological speculation.

jingoism

fanatical patriotism. noun North Korea maintains intense control over its population through a combination of jingoism and cult of personality.

chauvinism

fanatical patriotism; belief that one's group/cause is superior to all other groups/causes. noun Vegetarians argue that man is chauvinistic in his belief that animals do not consciously feel the pain we humans do. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

auspicious

favorable, the opposite of sinister. adjective Despite an auspicious beginning, Mike's road trip became a series of mishaps, and he was soon stranded and penniless, leaning against his wrecked automobile.

apprehension

fearful expectation. noun Test day can be one of pure apprehension, as many students worry about their test scores.

temerity

fearless daring. noun No child has the temerity to go in the rundown house at the end of the street and see if it is haunted.

intrepid

fearless. adjective Captain Ahab was an intrepid captain whose reckless and fearless style ultimate leads to his downfall.

indignant

feeling anger over a perceived injustice. adjective When the cyclist swerved into traffic, it forced the driver to brake and elicited an indignant shout of "Hey, punk, watch where you're going!".

gall

feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will. noun In an act of gall, Leah sent compromising photos of her ex-boyfriend to all his co-workers and professional contacts.

vicarious

felt or undergone as if one were taking part in the experience or feelings of another. adjective The advent of twitter is a celebrity stalker's dream, as he or she can--through hundreds of intimate "tweets"--vicariously live the life of a famous person.

mettlesome

filled with courage or valor. adjective For its raid on the Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Seal Team Six has become, for many Americans, the embodiment of mettle.

doleful

filled with or evoking sadness. adjective No event is more doleful than the passing of my mother; she was a shining star in my life, and it brings me great sadness to think that she is now gone.

staunch

firm and dependable especially in loyalty. adjective No longer a staunch supporter of the movement, Todd now will openly question whether its goals are worthwhile.

dovetail

fit together tightly, as if by means of a interlocking joint. verb Although Darwin's evolution and Mendel's genetics were developed in isolation from one another, they dovetail each other very well. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

entrenched

fixed firmly or securely. adjective By the time we reach 60-years old, most of our habits are so entrenched that it is difficult for us to change.

abjure

formally reject or give up (as a belief). verb While the church believed that Galileo abjured the heliocentric theory under threat of torture, he later wrote a book clearly supporting the theory.

quotidian

found in the ordinary course of events. adjective Phil gets so involved thinking about Aristotle's arguments that he totally forgets quotidian concerns, such as exercising and eating regularly.

precarious

fraught with danger. adjective People smoke to relax and forget their cares, but ironically, in terms of health risks, smoking is far more precarious than either mountain-climbing or skydiving.

impartial

free from undue bias or preconceived opinions. adjective The judge was not impartial since he had been bribed by the witness's family.

guileless

free of deceit. adjective At first I thought my niece was guileless, but I then found myself buying her ice cream every time we passed a shop.

unimpeachable

free of guilt; not subject to blame; beyond doubt or reproach. adjective After his long and unimpeachable service to the company, Sharat felt that a gold watch was a slap in the face rather than an honor.

amiable

friendly. adjective Amy's name was very apt: she was so amiable that she was twice voted class president.

jubilant

full of high-spirited delight because of triumph or success My hardwork paid off, and I was jubilant to receive a perfect score on the GRE. adjective

jovial

full of or showing high-spirited merriment. adjective The political candidate and his supporters were jovial once it was clear that she had won.

garrulous

full of trivial conversation. adjective Lynne was garrulous: once, she had a fifteen minute conversation with a stranger before she realized the woman didn't speak English.

coalesce

fuse or cause to grow together. verb Over time, the various tribes coalesced into a single common culture with one universal language.

ingratiate

gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts. verb Even though Tom didn't like his new boss, he decided to ingratiate himself to her in order to advance his career.

entice

get someone to do something through (often false or exaggerated) promises. verb Harold enticed his wife, Maude, to go on a vacation to Hawaii, with promises of luaus on the beach and all-you-can-eat seafood buffets.

savvy

get the meaning of something. verb The student savvies the meaning of astrophysics with little effort.

delegate

give an assignment to (a person). verb Since the senior manager had to go on many international business trips, she was forced to delegate many of her responsibilities to two lower-level managers. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

underscore

give extra weight to (a communication). verb While the hiking instructor agreed that carrying a first aid kit could be a good idea under certain circumstances, he underscored the importance of carrying enough water.

enjoin

give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority. verb The government agency enjoined the chemical company to clean up the hazardous dump it had created over the years.

concede

give over; surrender or relinquish to the physical control of another. verb The Spanish were forced to concede much of the territory they had previously conquered.

engender

give rise to. verb The restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles were so severe that they engendered deep hatred and resentment in the German people.

cavalier

given to haughty disregard of others Percy dismissed the issue with a cavalier wave of his hand. adjective

demonstrative

given to or marked by the open expression of emotion. adjective When Sally told James that she wanted to break up with him, she expected he would react demonstratively, but he quietly nodded his head and left without saying a word.

patent

glaringly obvious. adjective Since the book had been through no fewer than six proof runs, the staff was shocked to see such a patent spelling mistake remaining, right in the middle of the front cover!.

rankle

gnaw into; make resentful or angry. verb His constant whistling would rankle her, sometimes causing her to leave in a huff.

aplomb

great coolness and composure under strain. noun Nancy acted with aplomb during dangerous situations--she once calmly climbed up an oak tree to save a. cat.

exorbitant

greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation. adjective Shelley made one exorbitant purchase after another, buying new clothes and taking vacations even though she earned a limited salary.

avarice

greed (one of the seven deadly sins). noun The Spanish conquistadors were known for their avarice, plundering Incan land and stealing Incan gold.

cupidity

greed for money. noun Some believe people that amassing as much wealth as possible is the meaning to life--yet they often realize that cupidity brings anything but happiness.

burgeon

grow and flourish. verb China's housing market is burgeoning, but some predict that the growth is merely a bubble and will burst much like the U.S. real estate bubble of 2008.

devolve

grow worse (usually "devolve into"). verb The dialogue between the two academics devolved into a downright bitter argument.

inveterate

habitual. adjective He is an inveterate smoker and has told his family and friends that there is no way he will ever quit.

querulous

habitually complaining. adjective The querulous old woman was begining to wear down even the happier members of the staff with her ceaseless complaining.

taciturn

habitually reserved and uncommunicative. adjective While the CEO enthusiastically shares his plans and agenda with all who will listen, the CFO is far more taciturn, rarely revealing his perspective.

inadvertent

happening by chance or unexpectedly or unintentionally. adjective Although Prohibition was rooted in noble ideals, the inadvertent and costly consequences of making alcohol illegal in the U.S. led its the repeal.

besiege

harass, as with questions or requests; cause to feel distressed or worried. verb After discovering a priceless artifact in her backyard, Jane was besieged by phone calls, emails, and reporters all trying to buy, hold or see the rare piece of history.

deleterious

harmful to living things. adjective The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was deleterious to the fishing industry in the southern states.

innocuous

harmless and doesn"t produce any ill effects. adjective Everyone found Nancy's banter innocuous--except for Mike, who felt like she was intentionally picking on him.

austere

harsh in manner of temperament. adjective The principal of my elementary school was a cold, austere woman; I could never understand why she chose to work with children.

vitriolic

harsh or corrosive in tone. adjective While the teacher was more moderate in her criticism of the other student's papers, she was vitriolic toward Peter's paper, casting every flaw in the harshest light.

asperity

harshness of manner. noun The editor was known for his asperity, often sending severe letters of rejection to amateur writers.

supercilious

haughty and disdainful; looking down on others. adjective Nelly felt the Quiz Bowl director acted superciliously towards the underclassmen; really, she fumed, must he act so preternaturally omniscient each time he intones some obscure fact--as though everybody knows that Mt. Aconcagua is the highest peak in Sout.

bleak

having a depressing or gloomy outlook. adjective Unremitting overcast skies tend to lead people to create bleak literature and lugubrious music -- compare England's band Radiohead to any band from Southern California.

truculent

having a fierce, savage nature. adjective Standing in line for six hours, she became progressively truculent, yelling at DMV employees and elbowing other people waiting in line.

scrupulous

having a sense of right and wrong; principled. adjective Everyone trusted what he said and followed his example because he was scrupulous and honest.

debonair

having a sophisticated charm. adjective James Bond is known for his good looks, high tech gadgets, and debonair manner.

piquant

having an agreeably pungent taste. adjective The chef, with a mere flick of the salt shaker, turned the bland tomato soup into a piquant meal.

noisome

having an extremely bad smell. adjective Each August, when the winds moved in a south easterly direction, the garbage dump would spread noisome vapors through the small town.

malodorous

having an unpleasant smell. adjective Some thermally active fountains spew sulfur fumes--the air around them is sometimes so malodorous that many have to plug their noses.

sagacious

having good judgement and acute insight. adjective Steve Jobs is surely one of the most sagacious CEOs, making Apple the most recognizable and valuable companies in the world.

unprecedented

having never been done or known before; novel. adjective When America first created its national parks, the idea of setting aside the most beautiful land in a country was unprecedented in the history of mankind.

incisive

having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions. adjective The lawyer had an incisive mind, able in a flash to dissect a hopelessly tangled issue and isolate the essential laws at play.

stolid

having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited Elephants may appear stolid to casual observers, but they actually have passionate emotional lives. adjective

consummate

having or revealing supreme mastery or skill. adjective Tyler was the consummate musician: he was able to play the guitar, harmonica, and the drum at the same time. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

imperious

having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy. adjective Children are imperious with each other before they learn that earning someone's respect is better than demanding.

haughty

having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy. adjective The haughty manager didn't believe that any of his subordinates could ever have an insight as brilliant his own.

erudite

having or showing profound knowledge. adjective Before the Internet, the library was typically were you would find erudite readers.

pertinent

having precise or logical relevance to the matter at hand. adjective While the salaries of the players might draw attention in the media, such monetary figures are not pertinent to the question of who plays the best on the field.

convoluted

highly complex or intricate. adjective Instead of solving the math problem in three simple steps, Kumar used a convoluted solution requiring fifteen steps.

dogmatic

highly opinionated, not accepting that your belief may not be correct. adjective Bryan is dogmatic in his belief that the earth is flat, claiming that all pictures of a spherical earth are computer generated.

vaunted

highly or widely praised or boasted about. adjective For years, they had heard of New York City's vaunted skyline, and when they finally saw it, the spectacular cityscape did not disappoint them in the least.

percipient

highly perceptive. adjective Even the most percipient editor will make an occasional error when proofreading.

eccentric

highly unconventional or usual (usually describes a person). adjective Mozart was well-known for his eccentricities, often speaking words backward to confuse those around him.

frustrate

hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of. verb I thought I would finish writing the paper by lunchtime, but a number of urgent interruptions served to frustrate my plan. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

thwart

hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of. verb I wanted to spend a week in New York this autumn, but the high costs of travel and lodging thwarted my plans.

stymie

hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of. verb The engineers found their plans stymied at every turn and were ultimately able to make amlost no progress on the project.

encumber

hold back. verb The costume encumbered all my movements and caused me to sweat profusely.

enthrall

hold spellbound. verb She was so enthralled by the movie that she never heard people screaming, "Fire! Fire!" in the neighboring theater.

ribald

humorously vulgar. adjective The speaker was famous for his ribald humor, but the high school principal asked him to keep the talk G- rated when he spoke to the student body.

panacea

hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; a universal solution. noun While the company credit card has made most large purchases easier, it is no panacea: some smaller basic transactions still must be conducted in cash.

halcyon

idyllically calm and peaceful; suggesting happy tranquillity; marked by peace and prosperity. adjective The first decade after WWI was a halcyon period in America with new-found wealth and rapidly improving technology.

morose

ill-tempered and not inclined to talk; gloomy. adjective After Stanley found out he was no longer able to go on vacation with his friends, he sat in his room morosely.

phantasmagorical

illusive; unreal. adjective Those suffering from malaria fall into a feverish sleep, their world a whirligig of phantasmagoria; if they recover, they are unsure of what actually took place and what was simply a product of their febrile imaginations.

jejune

immature; childish. adjective Her boss further cemented his reuptation for being jejune after throwing a fit when the water cooler wasn't refilled.

impregnable

immune to attack; incapable of being tampered with. adjective As a child, Amy would build pillow castles and pretend they were impregnable fotresses.

incorrigible

impervious to correction by punishment. adjective Tom Sawyer seems like an incorrigible youth until Huck Finn enters the novel; even Sawyer can't match. his fierce individual spirit.

ineluctable

impossible to avoid or evade:. adjective For those who smoke cigarettes for years, a major health crisis brought on by smoking is ineluctable.

irrefutable

impossible to deny or disprove. adjective The existence of life on earth is irrefutable; the existence of intelligent life on earth is still hotly debated.

imponderable

impossible to estimate or figure out. adjective According to many lawmakers, the huge variety of factors affecting society make devising an efficient healthcare system an imponderable task.

inexorable

impossible to stop or prevent. adjective The rise of the computer was an inexorable shift in technology and culture.

impudent

improperly forward or bold. adjective In an impudent move, the defendant spoke out of order to say terribly insulting things to the judge.

brusquely

in a blunt, direct manner. adverb Not one for social pleasantries, the Chief of Staff would brusquely ask his subordinates anything he wanted, even coffee.

amuck

in a frenzied or uncontrolled state. adverb Wherever the bowl haircut teen-idol went, his legions of screaming fans ran through the streets amuck, hoping for a glance at his boyish face.

copious

in abundant supply. adjective In midsummer, there are copious popiscle stands at the beach; in the winter, there are none.

embryonic

in an early stage of development. adjective The Board of Directors is hoping to launch a new product soon, but planning for the Z7 is in an embryonic stages. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

subversive

in opposition to a civil authority or government. adjective The ruling political party has begun a campaign to shut down subversive websites that it deems as a threat to "national safety.".

dilapidated

in terrible condition. adjective The main house has been restored but the gazebo is still dilapidated and unuseable.

torpor

inactivity resulting from lethargy and lack of vigor or energy. noun After work, I was expecting my colleagues to be enthusiastic about the outing, but I found them in a state of complete torpor.

infelicitous

inappropriate. adjective During the executive meeting, the marketing director continued to make infelicitous comments about the CEO's gambling habit.

irrevocable

incapable of being retracted or revoked. adjective Once you enter your plea to the court, it is irrevocable so think carefully about what you will say.

implacable

incapable of making less angry or hostile. adjective Win or lose, the coach was always implacable, never giving the athletes an easy practice or a break.

surly

inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace. adjective Every morning, Bhavin was a surly unhappy person, but once he ate breakfast, he became loving, laughing, and a joy to be around.

inequity

injustice by virtue of not conforming with rules or standards. noun After decades of racial inequity, the "separate but equal" doctrine was successfully overturned.

anodyne

inoffensive. adjective Wilbur enjoyed a spicy Mexican breakfast, but Jill prefered a far more anodyne meal in the mornings.

didactic

instructive (especially excessively). adjective Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Illyich is a didactic novel, instructing the reader on how to live a good life.

probity

integrity, strong moral principles. noun The ideal politician would have the probity to lead, but reality gravely falls short of the ideal of morally upright leaders.

prolific

intellectually productive. adjective Schubert was the most prolific composer, producing hundreds of hours of music before he died at the age of 31.

fecund

intellectually productive. adjective The artist had entered a fecund period, producing three masterpieces in the span of two months.

ostentatious

intended to attract notice and impress others; tawdry or vulgar. adjective Matt wanted to buy stone lions for front of the house, but Cynthia convinced him that such a display would be too ostentatious for a modest house in an unassuming neighborhood.

animosity

intense hostility. noun The governor's animosity toward his rival was only inflamed when the latter spread false lies regarding the governor's first term.

misconstrue

interpret in the wrong way. verb The politician never trusted journalists because he though that they misconstrue his words and misrepresent his positions.

construe

interpreted in a particular way. verb The author's inability to take a side on the issue was construed by both his opponents and supporters as a sign of weakness.

insufferable

intolerable, difficult to endure. adjective Chester always tried to find some area in which he excelled above others; unsurprisingly, his co-workers found him insufferable and chose to exclude him from daily luncheons out.

byzantine

intricate and complex. adjective Getting a driver's license is not simply a matter of taking a test; the regulations and procedures are so byzantine that many have found themselves at the mercy of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

officious

intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner. adjective The professor had trouble concentrating on her new theorem, because her officious secretary would barge in frequently reminding her of some trivial detail involving departmental paperwork.

embroiled

involved in argument or contention. adjective These days we are never short of a D.C. politician embroiled in scandal--a welcome phenomenon for those who, having barely finished feasting on the sordid details of one imbroglio, can sink their teeth into a fresh one.

sordid

involving ignoble actions and motives; arousing moral distaste and contempt; foul and run-down and repulsive. adjective The nightly news simply announced that the senator had had an affair, but the tabloid published all the sordid details of the interaction. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

cerebral

involving intelligence rather than emotions or instinct. adjective A cerebral analysis of most pop music finds it to be simple and childish, but that ignores the point--the music's effect on the listener. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

bilious

irritable; always angry. adjective Rex was bilious all morning, and his face would only take on a look of contentedness when he'd had his morning cup of coffee.

irk

irritate or vex. verb My little sister has a way of irking and annoying me like no other person.

schadenfreude

joy from watching the suffering of others. noun From his warm apartment window, Stanley reveled in schadenfreude as he laughed at the figures below, huddled together in the arctic chill.

ebullient

joyously unrestrained. adjective Can you blame him for his ebullient mood? He just graduated from medical school.

preclude

keep from happening or arising; make impossible. verb The manager specified that all other gates be locked, to preclude the possibility of persons without tickets entering the arena undetected.

benign

kind. adjective I remember my grandfather's face was wrinkled, benign, and calm.

obscure

known by only a few. adjective Many of the biggest movie stars were once obscure actors who got only bit roles in long forgotten films. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

discord

lack of agreement or harmony. noun Despite all their talented players, the team was filled with discord--some players refused to talk to others--and lost most of their games.

insouciance

lack of concern. noun Surprisingly, Hank had become a high-powered CEO; his high school friends remembered him as "Hanky Panky", who shrugged off each failed class with insouciance.

anemic

lacking energy and vigor. adjective After three straight shows, the lead actress gave an anemic performance the fourth night, barely speaking loudly enough for those in the back rows to hear.

lethargic

lacking energy. adjective Nothing can make a person more lethargic than a big turkey dinner.

myopic

lacking foresight or imagination. adjective The company ultimately went out of business because the myopic managers couldn't predict the changes in their industry. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

pedestrian

lacking imagination. adjective While Nan was always engaged in philosophical speculation, her brother was occupied with far more pedestrian concerns: how to earn a salary and run a household. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

incongruous

lacking in harmony or compatibility or appropriateness. adjective The vast economic inequality of modern society is incongruous with America's ideals.

churlish

lacking manners or refinement. adjective The manager was unnecessarily churlish to his subordinates, rarely deigning to say hello, but always quick with a sartorial jab if someone happened to be wearing anything even slightly mismatching.

impecunious

lacking money; poor. adjective In extremely trying times, even the moderately wealthy, after a few turns of ill-fortune, can become impecunious.

penurious

lacking money; poor. adjective Truly penurious, Mary had nothing more than a jar full of pennies.

hackneyed

lacking significance through having been overused. adjective Cheryl rolled her eyes when she heard the lecturer's hackneyed advice to "be true to yourself.".

gauche

lacking social polish. adjective Sylvester says the most gauche things, such as telling a girl he liked that she was much prettier when she wore makeup.

wanting

lacking. adjective She did not think her vocabulary was wanting, yet there were so many words that inevitably she found a few she didn't know.

appreciable

large enough to be noticed (usu. adjective refers to an amount). There is an appreciable difference between those who say they can get the job done and those who actually get the job done.

transitory

lasting a very short time. adjective If we lived forever and life was not transitory, do you think we would appreciate life less or more?.

ephemeral

lasting a very short time. adjective The lifespan of a mayfly is ephemeral, lasting from a few hours to a couple of days.

perennial

lasting an indefinitely long time; eternal; everlasting. adjective Even at the old-timers games, Stan Musial would get the loudest cheer: he was a perennial favorite of the fans there. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

guffaw

laugh boisterously. verb Whenever the jester fell to the ground in mock pain, the king guffawed, exposing his yellow, fang-like teeth.

feckless

lazy and irresponsible. adjective Two years after graduation, Charlie still lived with his parents and had no job, becoming more feckless with each passing day.

lascivious

lecherous; sexually perverted. adjective Lolita is a challenging novel for many, not necessarily because of the elevated prose style but because of the depravity of the main character, Humbert Humbert, who, as an old, lascivious man, falls in love with a girl.

clemency

leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice. noun In the final moments of the trial, during his closing speech, Phillips was nearly begging the judge for clemency.

belittle

lessen the importance, dignity, or reputation of. verb A good teacher will never belittle his students, but will instead empower them.

mitigate

lessen the severity of an offense. verb If it weren't for the mitigating circumstances, he would have certainly lost his job.

fickle

liable to sudden unpredictable change, esp. adjective in affections or attachments. She was so fickle in her politics, it was hard to pinpoint her beliefs; one week she would embrace a side, and the next week she would denounce it.

raillery

light teasing. noun The new recruit was not bothered by the raillery, finding most of it light-hearted and good-natured.

meteoric

like a meteor in speed or brilliance or transience. adjective The early spectacular successes propelled the pitcher to meteoric stardom, but a terribly injury tragically cut short his career.

affable

likeable; easy to talk to. adjective For all his surface affability, Marco was remarkably glum when he wasn't around other people.

contentious

likely to argue. adjective Since old grandpa Harry became very contentious during the summer when only reruns were on T.V., the grandkids learned to hide from him at every opportunity.

invidious

likely to cause resentment. adjective At a time when many others in the office were about to be laid off, many considered Cheryl's fine clothes that day an invidious display. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

tendentious

likely to lean towards a controversial view. adjective Because political mudslinging has become a staple of the 24-hour media cycle, most of us, despite protestations to the contrary, are tendentious on many of today's pressing issues.

antic

ludicrously odd. adjective The clown's antic act was too extreme for the youngest children, who left the room in tears. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

hamstrung

made ineffective or powerless. verb The FBI has made so many restriction on the local police that they are absolutely hamstrung, unable to accomplish anything.

disheartened

made less hopeful or enthusiastic. adjective After the visiting team scored nine times, the home team's fans were disheartened, some leaving the game early.

reconcile

make (one thing) compatible with (another). verb Peggy was unable to reconcile her kind friend Jane with the cruel and merciless character Jane played on television.

elucidate

make clearer and easier to understand. verb Youtube is great place to learn just about anything--an expert elucidates finer points so that even a complete novice can learn.

tarnish

make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically. verb Pete Rose was one of the best baseball players of his generation, but his involvement with gambling on baseball games has tarnished his image in the eyes of many.

incense

make furious. verb When Herb bought football tickets for a game on the day of their wedding anniversary, Jill was incensed. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

mitigate

make less severe or harsh. verb I can only spend so much time mitigating your disagreements with your wife, and at certain point, you need to do it on your own.

embellish

make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc. verb ; make more beautiful McCartney would write relatively straightforward lyrics, and Lennon would embellish them with puns and poetic images.

compound

make more intense, stronger, or more marked. verb Her headache was compounded by the construction crew outside, which had six jackhammers going at the same time. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

rarefied

make more subtle or refined. verb Jack's vulgar jokes were not so successful in the rarefied enviroment of college professors. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

ossify

make rigid and set into a conventional pattern. verb Even as a young man, Bob had some bias against poor people, but during his years in social services, his bad opinions ossified into unshiftable views. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

ameliorate

make something bad better. verb Three Cups of Tea tells the story of western man who hopes to ameliorate poverty and the lack of education in Afghanistan.

assuage

make something intense less severe. verb Her fear that the new college would be filled with unknown faces was assuaged when she recognized her childhood friend standing in line.

buttress

make stronger or defensible. verb China's economy has been buttressed by a global demand for the electronic parts the country manufactures.

obscure

make unclear. verb On the Smith's drive through the Grand Canyon, Mr. Smith's big head obscured much of Mrs. Robinson's view, so that she only saw momentary patches of red rock. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

sanctimonious

making a show of being pious; holier-than-thou. adjective Even during the quiet sanctity of evening prayer, she held her chin high, a sanctimonious sneer forming on her face as she eyed those who were attending church for the first time.

conducive

making a situation or outcome more likely to happen. adjective Studying in a quiet room is conducive to learning; studying in a noisy environment makes learning more difficult.

extenuating

making less guilty or more forgivable. adjective The jury was hardly moved by the man's plea that his loneliness was an extenuating factor in his crime of dognapping a prized pooch.

calumny

making of a false statement meant to injure a person"s reputation. noun With the presidential primaries well under way, the air is thick with calumny, and the mud already waist- high.

rakish

marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness. adjective As soon as he arrived in the city, the rakish young man bought some drugs and headed straight for the seedy parts of town.

raffish

marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness. adjective The men found him raffish, but the women adored his smart clothes and casual attitude.

apathetic

marked by a lack of interest. adjective Mr. Thompson was so talented at teaching math that even normally apathetic students took interest.

pedantic

marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning especially its trivial aspects Professor Thompson was regarded as an expert in his field, but his lectures were utterly pedantic, focused on rigorous details of the most trivial conventions in the field. adjective

avid

marked by active interest and enthusiasm. adjective Martin is an avid birdwatcher, often taking long hikes into remote mountains to see some rare eagle.

elaborate

marked by complexity and richness of detail. adjective Thomas, on returning from Morocco, replaced his dirty gray carpet with an elaborate one he'd brought back with him.

plucky

marked by courage and determination. adjective Some scouts initially doubted Pedroia because of his short stature, but he is a plucky player, surprising everyone with his boundless energy and fierce determination.

foolhardy

marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences. adjective The police regularly face dangerous situations, so for a police officer not to wear his bullet-proof vest is foolhardy.

rash

marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences; imprudently incurring risk Although Bruce was able to make the delivery in time with a nightime motorcycle ride in the rain, Susan. adjective criticized his actions as rash. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

ornate

marked by elaborate rhetoric and elaborated with decorative details. adjective The ornate Victorian and Edwardian homes spread throughout San Francisco are my favorite part of the city.

smug

marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction. adjective When Phil was dating the model, he had a smug attitude that annoyed his buddies.

meticulous

marked by extreme care in treatment of details. adjective The Japanese noodle maker was meticulous in making his noodles and would never let another person take over the task.

vehement

marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions. adjective While the other employees responded to the bad news in a measured way, Andrew responded in a vehement manner, tipping over his desk and shouting at the top of his lungs.

steadfast

marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable. adjective A good captain needs to be steadfast, continuing to hold the wheel and stay the course even during the most violent storm.

effervescent

marked by high spirits or excitement. adjective After the sales result, the manager was in an effervescent mood, letting several employees leave work early that day. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

punctilious

marked by precise accordance with details. adjective The colonel was so punctilious about enforcing regulations that men fell compelled to polish even the soles of their shoes.

furtive

marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed While at work, George and his boss Regina felt the need to be as furtive as possible about their romantic relationship. adjective

genteel

marked by refinement in taste and manners. adjective A live string quartet would provide a more genteel air to the wedding than would a folk singer.

tortuous

marked by repeated turns and bends; not straightforward. adjective Because the logic behind McMahon's side of the debate was so tortuous, his audience came out either completely confused or, worse, feeling they'd been tricked.

aberrant

markedly different from an accepted norm. adjective When the financial director started screaming and throwing food at his co-workers, the police had to come in to deal with his aberrant behavior.

malfeasance

misconduct or wrongdoing (especially by a public official). adjective Not even the mayor's trademark pearly-toothed grin could save him from charges of malfeasance: while in power, he'd been running an illegal gambling rink in the room behind his office.

penurious

miserly. adjective Warren Buffett, famous multi-billionaire, still drives a cheap sedan, not because he is penurious, but because luxury cars are gaudy and impractical.

confound

mistake one thing for another. verb Americans often confound sweet potatoes with yams, and refer to both vegetables by the same name.

conflate

mix together different elements or concepts. verb In her recent book, the author conflates several genres--the detective story, the teen thriller, and the vampire romance--to create a memorable read.

ambivalent

mixed or conflicting emotions about something. adjective Sam was ambivalent about studying for the exam because doing so ate up a lot of his time, yet he was able to improve his analytical skills.

paragon

model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal. noun Even with the rise of Kobe Bryant, many still believe that Michael Jordon is the paragon for basketball players.

tempered

moderated in effect. adjective The wide-eyed optimism of her youth was now tempered after she had worked many years in the criminal justice system.

amply

more than is adequate. adverb The boat was amply supplied for its year at sea--no man would go hungry or thirst.

superfluous

more than is needed, desired, or required Everything in this closet is superfluous and can be given to charity. adjective

saturnine

morose or gloomy. adjective Deprived of sunlight, humans become saturnine; that's why in very northerly territories people are encouraged to sit under an extremely powerful lamp, lest they become morose.

inviolate

must be kept sacred. adjective While the literary critic subjected most of the classics to the harshest reviews, he regarded Cervantes as inviolate, and had nothing but praise for him.

recrimination

mutual accusations. noun The two brothers sat and cried, pointing fingers and making elaborate recriminations of the other's guilt.

cryptic

mysterious or vague, usually intentionally. adjective Since Sarah did not want her husband to guess the Christmas present she had bought him, she only answered cryptically when he would ask her questions about it.

parochial

narrowly restricted in scope or outlook. adjective Jasmine was sad to admit it, but her fledgling relationship with Jacob did not work out because his culinary tastes were simply too parochial; "After all," she quipped on her blog, "he considered Chef Boyardee ethnic food.".

endemic

native; originating where it is found. adjective Irish cuisine makes great use of potatoes, but ironically, the potato is not endemic to Ireland.

incontrovertible

necessarily or demonstrably true; impossible to deny or disprove. adjective Unless you can provide incontrovertible evidence, I will remain skeptical.

incumbent

necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility. adjective Middle managers at times make important decisions, but real responsibility for the financial well-being of the corporation is ultimately incumbent on the CEO.

inviolable

never to be broken, infringed, or dishonored. adjective Too many the grass at Wimbledon is inviolable and only greater tennis players are able to enjoy a game there.

magnanimous

noble and generous in spirit, especially towards a rival or someone less powerful. adjective He was a great sportsman: in defeat he was complementary and in victory he was magnanimous.

obstreperous

noisily and stubbornly defiant; willfully difficult to control. adjective When the teacher asked the obstreperous student simply to bus his tray, the student threw the entire tray on the floor, shouted an epithet, and walked out.

immutable

not able to be changed. adjective Taxes are one of the immutable laws of the land, so there is no use arguing about paying them.

unviable

not able to work, survive, or succeed (also spelled inviable). adjective The plan was obviously unviable considering that it lead to complete environmental destruction in the river valley.

impervious

not admitting of passage or capable of being affected I am not impervious to your insults; they cause me great pain. adjective

opaque

not clearly understood or expressed. adjective The meaning of the professor's new research was opaque to most people, so no one asked any questions. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

untrammeled

not confined or limited. adjective The whole notion of living untrammeled inspired the American Revolution and was enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

placid

not easily irritated. adjective Doug is normally placid, so we were all shocked to see him yelling at the television when the Mets lost the game.

unflappable

not easily perturbed or excited or upset; marked by extreme calm and composure. adjective The house shook and the ground quaked, but my dad was unflappable and comforted the family.

inscrutable

not easily understood; unfathomable. adjective His speech was so dense and confusing that many in the audience found it inscrutable.

improvident

not given careful consideration. adjective Marty was improvident, never putting money aside for the future but spending it on decorating the interior of his home.

unseemly

not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society He acted in an unseemly manner, insulting the hostess and then speaking ill of her deceased husband. adjective

indecorous

not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society. adjective Eating with elbows on the table is considered indecorous in refined circles.

languid

not inclined towards physical exertion or effort; slow and relaxed. adjective As the sun beat down and the temperature climbed higher, we spent a languid week lying around the house.

uncompromising

not making concessions. adjective The relationship between Bart and Hilda ultimately failed because they were both so uncompromising, never wanting to change their opinions.

anomalous

not normal. adjective According to those who do not believe in climate change, the extreme weather over the last five years is simply anomalous--average temps should return to average, they believe.

ersatz

not real or genuine; phony. adjective The car dealer's ersatz laughter was immediately followed by a price quote, one that Shelley found highly inflated.

immaterial

not relevant. adjective The judge found the defendant's comments immaterial to the trial, and summarily dismissed him from the witness stand.

frivolous

not serious in content or attitude or behavior. adjective Compared to Juliet's passionate concern for human rights, Jake's non-stop concern about football seems somewhat frivolous.

frugal

not spending much money (but spending wisely). adjective Monte was no miser, but was simply frugal, wisely spending the little that he earned.

disingenuous

not straightforward; giving a false appearance of frankness. adjective Many adults think that they can lie to children, but kids are smart and know when people are disingenuous.

oblique

not straightforward; indirect. adjective Herbert never explicitly revealed anything negative about Tom's past, but at times he would obliquely suggest that Tom was not as innocent as he seemed. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

imprudent

not wise. adjective Hitler, like Napoleon, made the imprudent move of invading Russia in winter, suffering even more casualties than Napoleon had.

fortuitous

occurring by happy chance; having no cause or apparent cause. adjective While the real objects are vastly different sizes in space, the sun and the moon seem to have the same fortuitous size in the sky.

fallacious

of a belief that is based on faulty reasoning. adjective The widespread belief that Eskimos have forty different words for snow is fallacious, based on one false report.

catholic

of broad scope; universal. adjective Jonah's friends said that Jonah's taste in music was eclectic; Jonah was quick to point out that not only was his taste eclectic but it was also catholic: he enjoyed music from countries as far-flung as Mali and. Mongolia.

puerile

of or characteristic of a child; displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity. adjective Helen enjoyed blowing soap bubbles, but Jim regarded this as puerile, totally unworthy of a woman with a Ph.D.

cardinal

of primary importance; fundamental. adjective Most cultures consider gambling a cardinal sin and thus have outlawed its practice. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

magisterial

offensively self-assured or given to exercising unwarranted power. adjective Though she was only a third grade teacher, Ms. Martinet was magisterial in dealing with her class, lording over them like a queen. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

autocratic

offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power. adjective The manager was finally fired for his autocratic leadership, which often bordered on rude and offensive.

tender

offer up something formally. verb The government was loath to tender more money in the fear that it might set off inflation. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

antiquated

old-fashioned; belonging to an earlier period in time. adjective Aunt Betty had antiquated notions about marriage, believing that a man should court a woman for at least a year before receiving a kiss.

portentous

ominously prophetic. adjective When the captain and more than half the officers were sick on the very first night of the voyage, many of the passengers felt this was portentous, but the rest of the voyage continued without any problems.

checkered

one that is marked by disreputable happenings. adjective One by one, the presidential candidates dropped out of the race, their respective checkered pasts-- from embezzlement to infidelity--sabotaging their campaigns. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

ascetic

one who practices great self-denial. noun Historically, ascetics like Ghandi are often considered wise men partially because of their restraint.

aesthete

one who professes great sensitivity to the beauty of art and nature. noun A true aesthete, Marty would spend hours at the Guggenheim Museum, staring at the same Picasso.

spendthrift

one who spends money extravagantly. noun Taking weekly trips to Vegas, Megan was a spendthrift whose excesses eventually caught up to her.

inchoate

only partly in existence; imperfectly formed. adjective Inchoate ideas about the relation of humans to other animals had been discussed since the Middle Ages but the modern theory really began with Darwin.

aboveboard

open and honest. adjective The mayor, despite his avuncular face plastered about the city, was hardly aboveboard -- some concluded that it was his ingratiating smile that allowed him to engage in corrupt behavior and get away with it.

moot

open to argument or debate; undecidable in a meaningless or irrelevant way. adjective Since the Board just terminated Steve as the CEO, what the finance committe might have thought of his proposed marketing plan for next year is now a moot point. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

ambiguous

open to more than one interpretation. adjective The coach told his team, "Move towards that side of the field"; because he did not point, his directions were ambiguous, and the team had no idea to which side he was referring.

leery

openly distrustful and unwilling to confide. adjective Without checking his references and talking to previous employers, I am leery of hiring the candidate.

hauteur

overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors. noun As soon as she won the lottery, Alice begin displaying a hauteur to her friends, calling them dirty-clothed peasants behind their backs.

hubris

overbearing pride or presumption. noun Bill Clinton was criticized for his hubris, since he believed he could get away with anything once in the White House.

maudlin

overly emotional and sad. adjective Just as those who were alive during the 70's are mortified that they once cavorted about in bellbottoms, many who lived during the 80's are now aghast at the maudlin pop songs they used to enjoy--really, just what exactly is a total eclipse of the heart?.

mawkish

overly sentimental to the point that it is disgusting. adjective The film was incredibly mawkish, introducing highly likeable characters only to have them succumb to a devastating illnesses by the end of the movie.

appease

pacify by acceding to the demands of. verb Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister during WWII, tried to appease Hitler and in doing so sent a clear message: you can walk all over us.

devolve

pass on or delegate to another. verb The company was full of managers known for devolving tasks to lower management, but never doing much work themselves.

craven

pathetically cowardly. adjective Though the man could have at least alerted the police, he crouched cravenly in the corner as the old woman was mugged.

carping

persistently petty and unjustified criticism. adjective What seemed like incessant nagging and carping about my behavior from my mother turned out to be wise and useful advice that has served me well.

juxtapose

place side by side. verb The meaning of her paintings comes from a classical style which juxtaposes modern themes.

specious

plausible but false. adjective He made a career out of specious arguments and fictional lab results, but lost his job and reputation when his lies were exposed by an article in The New York Times.

spurious

plausible but false. adjective When listening to a politician speak, it is hard to distinguish the spurious claims from the authentic ones.

profuse

plentiful; pouring out in abundance. adjective During mile 20 of the Hawaii Marathon, Dwayne was sweating so profusely that he stopped to take off his shirt, and ran the remaining six miles wearing nothing more than skimpy shorts. Note:.

destitute

poor enough to need help from others. adjective Jean Valjean, is at first destitute, but through the grace of a priest, he makes something of his life.

indigent

poor; having very little. adjective In the so-called Third World, many are indigent and only a privileged few have the resources to enjoy material luxuries.

contingent

possible but not certain to occur. adjective Whether the former world champions can win again this year is contingent upon none of its star players getting injured.

puissant

powerful. adjective Over the years of service, and quite to his surprise, he became a puissant advisor to the community.

ascetic

practicing self-denial. adjective His ascetic life is the main reason he inspired so many followers, especially since he gave up wealth and power to live in poverty.

austere

practicing self-denial. adjective His lifestyle of revelry and luxurious excess could hardly be called austere.

exalt

praise or glorify. verb The teenagers exalted the rock star, covering their bedrooms with posters of him.

antedated

precede in time. verb Harry was so unknowledgable that he was unaware the Egyptian pharaohs antedated the American Revolution.

propitious

presenting favorable circumstances; likely to result in or show signs of success The child's heartbeat is still weak, but I am seeing many propitious signs and I think that she may be healing. adjective

hamper

prevent the progress or free movement of. verb As the rain water began to collect in pools on the highway, it began to hamper the flow of traffic. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

factious

produced by, or characterized by internal dissension. adjective The controversial bill proved factious, as dissension even within parties resulted.

futile

producing no result or effect; unproductive of success. adjective I thought I could repair the car myself, but after two days of work with no success, I have to admit that my efforts were futile.

choleric

prone to outbursts of temper; easily angered. adjective While a brilliant lecturer, Mr. Dawson came across as choleric and unapproachable--very rarely did students come to his office hours.

exonerate

pronounce not guilty of criminal charges. verb The document clearly indicated that Nick was out of the state at the time of the crime, and so served to exonerate him of any charges.

decorum

propriety in manners and conduct. noun You will obey the rules of decorum for this courtroom or spend the night in a jail cell, said the judge to the prosecutor.

champion

protect or fight for as a champion. verb Martin Luther King Jr. championed civil rights fiercely throughout his short life. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

prevail

prove superior. verb Before the cricket match, Australia was heavily favored, but India prevailed.

refute

prove to be false or incorrect. verb No one could refute his theories or propositions, and that is why he was esteemed by all his colleagues in the philosophy department.

afford

provide with an opportunity. verb The summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro affords a panoramic view that encompasses both Tanzania and Kenya. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

grandiloquent

puffed up with vanity. adjective The dictator was known for his grandiloquent speeches, puffing his chest out and using big, important- sounding words.

retract

pull inward or towards a center; formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure. verb Email is wonderfully efficient, but once something awkward or damaging has been sent, there is no way to retract it.

brook

put up with something or somebody unpleasant. verb While she was at the chalkboard, the teacher did not brook any form of talking--even a tiny peep resulted in afternoon detention. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

irascible

quickly aroused to anger. adjective If Arthur's dog is not fed adequately, he becames highly irascible, even growling at his own shadow.

prodigal

rashly or wastefully extravagant. adjective Successful professional athletes who do not fall prey to prodigality seem to be the exception--most live decadent lives.

resolve

reach a conclusion after a discussion or deliberation. verb After much thought, Ted resolved not to travel abroad this summer because he didn't have much money in his bank account. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

culminate

reach the highest or most decisive point. verb Beethoven's musical genius culminated in the 9th Symphony, which many consider his greatest work.

bristle

react in an offended or angry manner. verb As we discussed the painting, I noticed the artitst's wife bristling at our criticisms, ready to defend her husband's work.

tractable

readily reacting to suggestions and influences; easily managed (controlled or taught or molded). adjective Compared to middle school students, who have an untamed wildness about them, high school students are somewhat more tractable.

protean

readily taking on different roles; versatile. adjective Peter Sellers was truly a protean actor--in Doctor Strangelove he played three very different roles: a jingoist general, a sedate President and a deranged scientist.

discriminate

recognize or perceive the difference. verb Sarah couldn't discriminate between a good wine and a bad wine, so she avoided wine tastings. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

sporadic

recurring in scattered and irregular or unpredictable instances. adjective The signals were at first sporadic, but now we detect a clear, consistent pattern of electromagnetic radiation eminating from deep space.

degrade

reduce in worth or character, usually verbally. verb Jesse had mockingly pointed out all of Nancy's faults in front of their friends, publicly degrading the poor girl.

truncate

reduce the length of something. verb The soccer game was truncated when the monsoon rain began to fall.

debase

reduce the quality or value of something. verb The third-rate script so debased the film that not even the flawless acting could save it from being a flop.

snub

refuse to acknowledge; reject outright and bluntly. verb Wheeler was completely qualified for the committee, but the board snubbed him, choosing an obviously lesser qualified candidate instead.

balk

refuse to comply. verb The students were willing to clean up the broken glass, but when the teacher asked them to mop the entire floor, they balked, citing reasons why they needed to leave.

adamant

refusing to change one's mind. adjective Civil rights icon Rosa Parks will forever be remembered for adamantly refusing to give up her seat on a public bus--even after the bus driver insisted, she remained rooted in place.

repudiate

reject as untrue or unfounded. verb Many in the public believed the rumors of a UFO crash outside town, so the chief of police did everything he could to repudiate the rumors.

spurn

reject with contempt. verb She spurned all his flattery and proposals, and so he walked off embarrassed and sad.

sartorial

related to fashion or clothes. adjective Monte was astute at navigating the world of finance; sartorially, however, he was found wanting--he typically would attempt to complement his beige tie with a gray suit and white pants.

pecuniary

relating to or involving money. adjective The defendent was found guilty and had to serve a period of community service as well as pay pecuniary damages to the client.

pastoral

relating to the countryside in a pleasant sense. adjective Those who imagine America's countryside as a pastoral region are often disappointed to learn that much of rural U.S. is filled with cornfields extending as far as the eye can see.

mundane

relating to the ordinary world. adjective Though we think of the pope as someone always dealing in holy matters, he is also concerned with mundane events, such as deciding when to set his alarm each morning.

bucolic

relating to the pleasant aspects of the country. adjective The noble families of England once owned vast expanses of beautiful, bucolic land.

germane

relevant and appropriate. adjective The professor wanted to tell the jury in detail about his new book, but the lawyer said it wasn't germane to the charges in the cases.

cede

relinquish possession or control over. verb Eventually, all parents must cede control of their growing childrens' educations and allow their offspring some autonomy.

effacing

reluctant to draw attention to yourself. adjective The most admirable teachers and respected leaders are those who are self-effacing, directing attention and praise to their students and workers.

reticent

reluctant to draw attention to yourself; temperamentally disinclined to talk When asked about her father, Helen lost her outward enthusiasm and became rather reticent. adjective

trite

repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse. adjective Many style guides recommend not using idioms in writing because these trite expressions are uninteresting and show a lack of imagination on the part of the writer.

banal

repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse. adjective The professor used such banal expression that many students in the class either fell asleep from bordeom or stayed awake to complete his sentences and humor friends.

mundane

repetitive and boring; not spiritual. adjective Nancy found doing dishes a thorougly mundane task, although Peter found a kind of Zen pleasure in the chore.

exacting

requiring and demanding accuracy. adjective Though his childhood piano teacher was so exacting, Max is thankful now, as a professional pianist.

arcane

requiring secret or mysterious knowledge. adjective Most college fraternities are known for arcane rituals that those hoping to the join the fraterntiy must learn.

buck

resist. verb The profits at our firm bucked the general downturn that effected the real estate industry. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

obstinate

resistant to guidance or discipline; stubbornly persistent. adjective The coach suggested improvements Sarah might make on the balance beam, but she remained obstinate, unwilling to modify any of the habits that made her successful in the past.

gumption

resourcefulness and determination. noun Wallace Stegner lamented the lack of gumption in the U.S. during the sixties, claiming that no young person knew the value of work.

restive

restless. adjective The crowd grew restive as the comedian's opening jokes fell flat.

circumscribe

restrict or confine. verb Their tour of South America was circumscribed so that they saw only popular destinations and avoided the dangerous parts of cities. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

telltale

revealing. adjective The many telltale signs of chronic smoking include yellow teeth, and a persistent, hacking cough.

abrogate

revoke formally. verb As part of the agreement between the labor union and the company, the workers abrogated their right to strike for four years in exchange for better health insurance.

pillory

ridicule or expose to public scorn. verb After the candidate confessed, the press of the opposing party took the opportunity to pillory him, printing editorials with the most blatantly exaggerated accusations. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

lampoon

ridicule with satire. verb Mark Twain understood that lampooning a bad idea with humor was the most effective criticism.

resurgent

rising again as to new life and vigor. adjective The team sank to fourth place in June, but is now resurgent and about to win the division.

insolent

rude and arrogant. adjective Lilian could not help herself from being insolent, commenting that the Queen's shoes were showing too much toe.

contemptuous

scornful, looking down at others with a sneering attitude. adjective Always on the forefront of fashion, Vanessa looked contemptuously at anyone wearing dated clothing.

paradoxical

seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true. adjective That light could be both a particle and a wave seems paradoxical, but nonetheless, it is true.

arrogate

seize and control without authority. verb Arriving at the small town, the outlaw arrogated the privileges of a lord, asking the frightened citizens to provide food, drink, and entertainment.

superfluous

serving no useful purpose. adjective How can we hope to stay open if we don't eliminate all superfluous spending, like catered meetings and free acupucture Tuesday?.

admonitory

serving to warn; expressing reproof or reproach especially as a corrective. adjective At the assembly, the high school vice-principal gave the students an admonitory speech, warning them of the many risks and dangers of prom night.

amorphous

shapeless. adjective His study plan for the GRE was at best amorphous; he would do questions from random pages in any one of seven test prep books.

antithetical

sharply contrasted in character or purpose. adjective His deep emotional involvement with these ideas is, in fact, antithetical to the disattachment Buddhism preaches.

grovel

show submission or fear. verb Every time Susan comes to the office, Frank grovels as if she were about to fire.

sullen

showing a brooding ill humor. adjective Herbert took board games too seriously, often appearing sullen after losing.

obliging

showing a cheerful willingness to do favors for others. adjective Even after all his success, I found him to be accommodating and obliging, sharing with me his "secret tips" on how to gain wealth and make friends.

complaisant

showing a cheerful willingness to do favors for others. adjective On her first day at the job, Annie was complaisant, fulfilling every request of her new employee and. anticipating future requests.

urbane

showing a high degree of refinement and the assurance that comes from wide social experience. adjective Because of his service as an intelligence officer and his refined tastes, W. Somerset Maugham became the inspiration for the urbane and sophistcate spy James Bond.

solicitous

showing hovering attentiveness. adjective Our neighbors are constantly knocking on our door to make sure we are ok, and I don't know how to ask them to stop being so solicitous about our health. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

flippant

showing inappropriate levity. adjective Although Sam was trying to honor Mark's sense of humor, many found it quite flippant that he wore a comic nose and glasses mask to Mark's funeral.

phlegmatic

showing little emotion. adjective Arnold is truly noble, remaining reserved until an issue of significance arises, but Walter is simply phlegmatic: he doesn't have the energy or inclination to care about anything.

dolorous

showing sorrow. adjective Chopin's ballades are filled with sharp changes in moods--a dolorous melody can give way to a lighthearted tempo.

lachrymose

showing sorrow. adjective Lachrymose and depressed, Alexei Alexandrovich walked two miles home in the rain after learning that his wife was having an affair.

empathetic

showing understanding and ready comprehension of other peoples' states and emotions. adjective Most discrimination and hatred is based on a lack of empathetic awareness of people that have the same aspitations and fears.

moment

significant and important value. noun Despite the initial hullabaloo, the play was of no great moment in Hampton's writing career, and within a few years the public quickly forgot his foray into theater arts. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

telling

significant and revealing of another factor. adjective Her unbecoming dress was very telling when it came to her sense of fashion.

analogous

similar in some respects but otherwise different. adjective In many ways, the Internet's transformative effect on society has been analogous to that of the printing press.

obtuse

slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity; lacking in insight or discernment. adjective Jackson was the most obtuse member of the team: the manager's subtle ironies were always lost on him.

mellifluous

smooth and sweet-sounding. adjective Chelsea's grandmother thought Franz Schubert's music to be the most mellifluous ever written; Chelsea demurred, and to her grandmother's chagrin, would blast Rihanna on the home stereo speakers.

philistine

smug and ignorant towards artistic and cultural values. adjective Jane considered Al completely philistine, because he talked almost exclusive about video games; she was entirely unaware of how well read he really was. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

prodigious

so great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe. adjective After the relatively small homerun totals in the "dead ball" era, Babe Ruth's homerun totals were truly prodigious: every year, he set a new all-time record.

colossal

so great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe. adjective Few appreciate the colossal scale of the sun: if hollow, it could contain a million Earths.

archaic

so old as to appear to belong to a different period. adjective Hoping to sound intelligent, Mary spoke in archaic English that was right out of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice--needless to say, she didn't have many friends.

negligible

so small as to be meaningless; insignificant. adjective The GRE tests cumulative knowledge, so if you cram the night before it is, at best, likely to only have a negligible impact on your score.

muted

softened, subdued. adjective Helen preferred muted earth colors, such as green and brown, to the bright pinks and red her sister liked. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

iconoclast

somebody who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions. noun Lady Gaga, in challenging what it means to be clothed, is an iconoclast for wearing a "meat dress" to a prominent awards show.

tyro

someone new to a field or activity. noun All great writers, athletes, and artists were tyros at one time--unknown, clumsy, and unskilled with much to learn.

malingerer

someone shirking their duty by pretending to be sick or incapacitated. noun At one time, our country was full of hardworking respectful people, but now it seems that everyone is a malingerer with little inclination to work.

firebrand

someone who deliberately creates trouble. noun Freddie is a firebrand: every time he walks into the office, he winds up at the center of heated argument.

maverick

someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action. noun Officer Kelly was a maverick, rarely following police protocols or adopting the conventions for speech common among his fellow officers.

pundit

someone who has been admitted to membership in a scholarly field. noun Steven Pinker's credentials are unquestioned as a pundit; he has taught at MIT and Stanford, teaches at Harvard, and has published a number of influential books on cognition, language, and psychology.

profligate

someone who spends money recklessly or wastefully. noun Most lottery winners go from being conservative, frugal types to outright profligates who blow millions on fast cars, lavish homes, and giant yachts.

desideratum

something desired as a necessity. noun The desideratum of the environmental group is that motorists should rely on carpooling.

chimera

something desired or wished for but is only an illusion and impossible to achieve Many believe that a world free of war is a chimera--a dream that ignores humanity's violent tendancies. noun This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

subterfuge

something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity. noun Finally deciding to abandon all subterfuge, Arthur revealed to Cindy everything about his secret affair over the past two years.

palimpsest

something that has been changed numerous times but on which traces of former iterations can still be seen. noun The downtown was a palimpsest of the city's checkered past: a new Starbucks had opened up next to an abandoned, shuttered building, and a freshly asphalted road was inches away from a pothole large enough to swallow a small dog.

aphoristic

something that is a concise and instructive of a general truth or principle Sometimes I can't stand Nathan because he tries to impress everyone by being aphoristic, but he just states the obvious. adjective

anachronism

something that is inappropriate for the given time period (usually something old). noun Dressed in 15th century clothing each day, Edward was a walking anachronism.

anomaly

something that is not normal, standard, or expected. noun After finding an anomaly in the data, she knew that she would have to conduct her experiment again.

constraint

something that limits or restricts. noun He found pop music a constraint on his ability to learn and preferred to listen to classical musical while studying.

anodyne

something that soothes or relieves pain. noun Muzak, which is played in department stores, is intended to be an anodyne, but is often so cheesy and over-the-top that customers become irritated.

catalyst

something that speeds up an event. noun Rosa Park's refusal to give up her bus seat acted as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, setting into motion historic changes for African-Americans.

exemplar

something to be imitated. noun Lena's homework is on the wall because it is an exemplar of clean, neat, and thoughtful work.

tribulation

something, especially an event, that causes difficulty and suffering. noun As of 2013, nearly 1.5 million Syrians have fled their country hoping to escape the tribulations of a civil war tearing their country to pieces.

maunder

speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly. verb After drinking two expressos each, the animated couple would maunder loudly, annoying the other patrons in the coffee shop.

palaver

speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly. verb During the rain delay, many who had come to see the game palavered, probably hoping that idle chatter would make the time go by faster. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

advocate

speak, plead, or argue in favor of. verb While the senator privately approved of gay marriage, he was unwilling to advocate for the cause in a public venue. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

enumerate

specify individually, one by one. verb I sat and listened as she enumerated all of the things she did not like about the past three months.

celerity

speed, rapidity. noun We aim to respond to customers' questions with celerity and accuracy, with no longer than a 24 hour wait time.

squander

spend thoughtlessly; waste time, money, or an opportunity. verb Fearing his money would be squandered by his family, he gave all of it to charity when he died.

profligate

spending money recklessly or wastefully. adjective

thrifty

spending money wisely. adjective He was economical, spending his money thriftily and on items considered essential.

zeitgeist

spirit of the times. noun Each decade has its own zeitgeist--the 1990's was a prosperous time in which the promise of the American Dream never seemed more palpable.

vilify

spread negative information about. verb Todd was noble after the divorce, choosing to say only complimentary things about Barbara, but Barbara did not hesitate to vilify Todd.

dissipate

squander or spend money frivolously. verb The recent graduates dissipated their earnings on trips to Las Vegas and cruises in Mexico.

eminent

standing above others in quality or position. adjective Shakespeare is an eminent author in the English language, but I find his writing uninteresting and melodramatic.

egregious

standing out in negative way; shockingly bad. adjective The dictator's abuse of human rights was so egregious that many world leaders asked that he be tried in an international court for genocide.

quandary

state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options. noun Steve certainly is in a quandary: if he doesn't call Elaine, she will blame him for everything, but if he does call her, the evidence of where he currently is could cost him his job.

promulgate

state or announce. verb The President wanted to promulgate the success of the treaty negotiations, but he had to wait until Congress formally approved the agreement.

surreptitious

stealty, taking pains not to be caught or detected. adjective Since his mom was a light sleeper, Timmy had to tiptoe surreptitiously through the entire house, careful to not make the floors creak, until he at last was able to enjoy his plunder: a box of chocolate chip cookies.

intermittent

stopping and starting at irregular intervals. adjective The intermittent thunder continued and the night was punctuated by cracks of lightning--a surreal sleepless night.

emulate

strive to equal or match, especially by imitating; compete with successfully. verb To really become fluent in a new language, emulate the speech patterns and intonation of people who speak the language.

chagrin

strong feelings of embarrassment. noun Much to the the timid writer's chagrin, the audience chanted his name until he came back on the stage.

besotted

strongly affectionate towards. adjective Even though her father did not approve, Juliet became besotted with the young Romeo.

obdurate

stubbornly persistent in changing an opinion or action. adjective No number of pleas and bribes would get him to change his obdurate attitude.

refractory

stubbornly resistant to authority or control. adjective Used to studious high school students, Martha was unprepared for the refractory Kindgergarteners who neither sat still nor listened to a single word she said. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

tenacious

stubbornly unyielding. adjective Even the most tenacious advocates for gun ownership must admit some of the dangers that firearms present.

robust

sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction. adjective Chris preferred bland and mild beers, but Bhavin preferred a beer with more robust flavor.

macabre

suggesting the horror of death and decay; gruesome. adjective Edgar Allen Poe was considered the master of the macabre; his stories vividly describe the moment leading up to--and often those moments after--a grisly death.

uncanny

suggesting the operation of supernatural influences; surpassing the ordinary or normal. adjective Reggie has an uncanny ability to connect with animals: feral cats will readily approach him, and sometimes even wild birds will land on his finger.

appurtenant

supply added support. adjective In hiking Mt. Everest, sherpas are appurtenant, helping climbers both carry gear and navigate treacherous paths.

bolster

support and strengthen. verb The case for the suspect's innocence was bolstered considerably by the fact that neither fingerprints nor DNA were found at the scene. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

squelch

suppress or crush completely. verb After the dictator consolidated his power, he took steps to squelch all criticism, often arresting any journalist who said anything that could be interpreted as negative about his regime.

preempt

take the place of or have precedence over. verb A governmental warning about an imminent terrorist attack would preempt ordinary network programming on television.

supplant

take the place or move into the position of. verb For many, a cell phone has supplanted a traditional phone; in fact, most 20-somethings don't even have a traditional phone anymore.

conniving

taking part in immoral and unethical plots. verb The queen was so conniving that, with the help of the prince, she tried to overthrow the king.

pontificate

talk in a dogmatic and pompous manner. verb The vice-president would often pontificate about economic theory, as if no one else in the room were qualified to speak on the topic. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

tawdry

tastelessly showy; cheap and shoddy. adjective Carol expected to find New York City magical, the way so many movies had portrayed it, but she was. surprised how often tawdry displays took the place of genuine elegance.

credulity

tendency to believe readily. noun Virginia's wide-eyed credulity as a five-year old was replaced by suspicion after she learned that Santa Claus didn't really exist.

treacherous

tending to betray. adjective Even though Jesse James was an outlaw, his killer, Robert Ford, is remembered more for his treacherous actions than for eliminating a criminal and murder.

evanescent

tending to vanish like vapor. adjective The storm flashed into existence above us and lasted only a short time--an evanescent turbulence of wind and cloud.

fell

terribly evil. adjective For fans of the Harry Potter series, the fell Lord Voldemort, who terrorized poor Harry for seven lengthy installments, has finally been vanquished by the forces of good--unless, that is, JK Rowling decides to come out of retirement. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

resignation

the acceptance of something unpleasant that can't be avoided. noun Since Jack could not think of a convincing reason why he had to miss the seminar, he attended it with a sense of resignation. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

bridle

the act of restraining power or action or limiting excess New curfew laws have bridled people's tendency to go out at night. verb

verisimilitude

the appearance of truth. noun All bad novels are bad for numerous reasons; all good novels are good for their verisimilitude of reality, placing the readers in a world that resembles the one they know.

check

the condition of being held back or limited. noun When government abuses are not kept in check, that government is likely to become autocratic. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

venality

the condition of being susceptible to bribes or corruption. noun Even some of the most sacrosanct sporting events are not immune to venality, as many of the officials have received substantial bribes to make biased calls.

malapropism

the confusion of a word with another word that sounds similar. noun Whenever I looked glum, my mother would offer to share "an amusing antidote" with me--an endearing malapropism of "anecdote" that never failed to cheer me up.

contrition

the feeling of remorse or guilt that comes from doing something bad. noun Those who show contrition during their prison terms--especially when under review by a parole board-- often get shortened sentences.

denouement

the final resolution of the many strands of a literary or dramatic work; the outcome of a complex sequence of events. noun At the denouement of the movie, all questions were answered, and the true identity of the robber was revealed.

acme

the highest point of achievement. noun The new Cessna airplanes will be the acme of comfort, offering reclining seats and ample legroom.

pinnacle

the highest point. noun At its pinnacle, the Roman Empire extended across most of the landmass of Eurasia, a feat not paralleled to the rise of the British Empire in the 18th and 19th century.

apex

the highest point. noun The Ivy League is considered the apex of the secondary education system.

apogee

the highest point. noun The apogee of the Viennese style of music, Mozart's music continues to mesmerize audiences well into the 21st century.

zenith

the highest point; culmination. noun At the zenith of his artistic career, Elvis was outselling any other artist on the charts. Advanced Words.

serendipity

the instance in which an accidental, fortunate discovery is made. noun The invention of the 3M Post It Note was serendipitous, because the scientist who had come up with the. idea was looking for a strong adhesive; the weak adhesive he came up with was perfect for holding a piece of paper in place but made it very easy for so.

nadir

the lowest point. noun For many pop music fans, the rap and alternative-rock dominated 90s were the nadir of musical expression.

base

the lowest, class were without any moral principles. adjective She was not so base as to begrudge the beggar the unwanted crumbs from her dinner plate. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

pith

the most essential part of something. noun When Cynthia hears a speaker presenting a complex argument, she is always able to discard the irrelevant details and extract the pith of what the speaker is trying to convey. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

eponym

the name derived from a person (real or imaginary); the person for whom something is named. noun Alexandria, Egypt is an eponym because it is named after Alexander the Great.

extant

the opposite of extinct. adjective Despite many bookstores closing, experts predict that some form of book dealing will still be extant generations from now.

summit

the peak or highest point. noun After hiking for two days, the climbers finally reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

heyday

the pinnacle or top of a time period or career. noun During the heyday of Prohibition, bootlegging had become such a lucrative business that many who had been opposed to the 18th Amendment began to fear it would be repealed.

ingenuity

the power of creative imagination. noun Daedalus was famous for his ingenuity; he was able to fashion his son Icarus with a pair of wings, using wax to hold them together.

prescience

the power to foresee the future. noun Baxter's warnings about investing in technology stocks seemed like an act of prescience after the whole market declined significantly.

profusion

the property of being extremely abundant. noun When Maria reported that she had been visited by Jesus Christ and had proof, a profusion of reporters. and journalists descended on the town.

dispatch

the property of being prompt and efficient. noun She finished her thesis with dispatch, amazing her advisors who couldn't believe she hadn't written 60 scholarly pages so quickly. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

candidness

the quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech. noun Although I was unhappy that the relationship ended, I appreciated her candidness about why she was ready to move on from the relationship.

exiguity

the quality of being meager. noun After two months at sea, the exiguity of the ship's supplies forced them to search for fresh water and food.

artlessness

the quality of innocence. noun I, personally, found the artlessness of her speech charming.

volubility

the quality of talking or writing easily and continuously. noun The professor's volubility knows no bounds; he could talk through a hurricane and elaborate a point from one St. Patrick's Day to the next.

altruism

the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others. noun Albert Schweitzer spent most of his life doing missionary work as a doctor in Africa, seeking no reward, apparently motivated only by altruism.

variance

the quality of varying. noun The cynic quipped, "There is not much variance in politicians; they all seem to prevaricate".

rapprochement

the reestablishing of cordial relations. noun Although Ann hoped that her mother and her aunt would have a rapprochement, each one's bitter accusations against the other made any reconciliation unlikely.

primacy

the state of being first in importance. noun The primacy of Apple Computers is not guaranteed, as seen in the recent lawsuits and weak growth.

ascendancy

the state that exists when one person or group has power over another. noun The ascendancy of the Carlsbad water polo team is clear--they have a decade of championships behind them.

mendacity

the tendency to be untruthful. noun I can forgive her for her mendacity but only because she is a child and is seeing what she can get away with.

temperance

the trait of avoiding excesses. noun Welles wasn't known for his temperance--he usually ate enough for two and drank enough for three.

gall

the trait of being rude and impertinent. noun Even though Carly was only recently hired, she had the gall to question her boss's judgment in front of the office.

indifference

the trait of seeming not to care. noun In an effort to fight indifference, the president of the college introduced a new, stricter grading system.

deliberate

think about carefully; weigh the pros and cons of an issue. verb Emergency situations such as this call for immediate action and leave no room to deliberate over options. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

baleful

threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments. adjective Movies often use storms or rain clouds as a baleful omen of evil events that will soon befall the main character.

timorous

timid by nature or revealing fear and nervousness. adjective Since this was her first time debating on stage and before an audience, Di's voice was timorous and quiet for the first 10 minutes.

espouse

to adopt or support an idea or cause. verb As a college student, Charlie espoused Marxism, growing his beard out and railing against the evils of the free-market.

appropriate

to allocate. verb The committe appropriated the funds to its various members. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

maintain

to assert. verb The scientist maintained that the extinction of dinosaurs was most likely brought about by a drastic change in climate.

jaundice

to be biased against due to envy or prejudice. adjective Shelly was jaundiced towards Olivia; though the two had once been best friends, Olivia had become class president, prom queen, and, to make matters worse, the girlfriend of the one boy Shelly liked.

arch

to be deliberately teasing. adjective The baroness was arch, making playful asides to the townspeople; yet because they couldn't pick up on her dry humor, they thought her supercilious. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

diabolical

to be extremely wicked like the devil. adjective The conspirators, willing to dispatch anyone who stood in their way, hatched a diabolical plan to take over the city.

flush

to be in abundance. adjective The exam's passage is flush with difficult words, words that you may have learned only yesterday.

commensurate

to be in proportion or corresponding in degree or amount The convicted felon's life sentence was commensurate to the heinousness of his crime. adjective

qualify

to be legally competent or capable. adjective If James had made more than $50,000 last year, then he wouldn't have qualified for the low-income scholarship.

gregarious

to be likely to socialize with others. adjective Often we think that great leaders are those who are gregarious, always in the middle of a large group of people; yet, as Mahatma Gandhi and many others have shown us, leaders can also be introverted.

demure

to be modest and shy. adjective The portrait of her in a simple white blouse was sweet and demure.

sententious

to be moralizing, usually in a pompous sense. adjective The old man, casting his nose up in the air at the group of adolescents, intoned sententiously, "Youth is wasted on the young.".

ingenuous

to be naà ̄ve and innocent. adjective Two-years in Manhattan had changed Jenna from an ingenuous girl from the suburbs to a jaded urbanite, unlikely to fall for any ruse, regardless of how elaborate.

remiss

to be negligent in one"s duty. adjective Remiss in his duty to keep the school functioning efficiently, the principle was relieved of his position after only three months.

behooves

to be one's duty or obligation. verb The teacher looked down at the student and said, "It would behoove you to be in class on time and complete your homework, so that you don't repeat freshman English for a third straight year.".

histrionic

to be overly theatrical. adjective Though she received a B- on the test, she had such a histrionic outburst that one would have thought that she'd been handed a death sentence.

contrite

to be remorseful. adjective Though he stole his little sister's licorice stick with malevolent glee, Chucky soon became contrite when his sister wouldn't stop crying.

retiring

to be shy, and to be inclined to retract from company. adjective Nelson was always the first to leave soirees--rather than mill about with "fashionable" folk, he was retiring, and preferred the solitude of his garret.

errant

to be wandering; not sticking to a circumscribed path. adjective Unlike his peers, who spent their hours studying in the library, Matthew preferred errant walks through the university campus.

kowtow

to bow or act in a subservient manner. verb Paul kowtowed to his boss so often the boss herself became nauseated by his sycophancy.

recrudesce

to break out or happen again. verb After years of gamblers anonymous, Tony thought he'd broken his compulsive slot machine playing, but it took only one trip to the Atlantic City for a full recrudescence--he lost $5k on the one armed bandit.

hector

to bully or intimidate. verb The boss's hectoring manner put off many employees, some of whom quit as soon as they found new jobs.

precipitate

to cause to happen. verb The government's mishandling the hurricane's aftermath precipitated a widespread outbreak of looting and other criminal activity.

fete

to celebrate a person. verb After World War II, war heroes were feted at first but quickly forgotten.

chortle

to chuckle, laugh merrily. verb Walking past the bar, I could hear happy, chortling people and the blast of horns from a jazz band.

eradicate

to completely destroy. verb I tried eradicating the mosquitos in my apartment with a rolled up newspaper, but there were too many. of them.

corroborate

to confirm or lend support to (usually an idea or claim). verb Her claim that frog populations were falling precipitously in Central America was corroborated by locals, who reported that many species of frogs had seemingly vanished overnight.

vituperate

to criticize harshly; to berate. adjective Jason had dealt with disciplinarians before, but nothing prepared him for the first week of boot camp, as drill sergeants vituperated him for petty oversights such as forgetting to double knot the laces on his boots.

excoriate

to criticize very harshly. verb Entrusted with the prototype to his company's latest smartphone, Larry, during a late night karaoke bout, let the prototype slip into the hands of a rival company--the next day Larry was excoriated, and then fired.

execrate

to curse and hiss at. verb Though the new sitcom did decently in the ratings, Nelson railed against the show, saying that it was nothing more than an execrable pastiche of tired cliché's and canned laughter.

hoodwink

to deceive or trick someone. verb Someone tried to hoodwink Marty with an email telling him that his uncle had just passed away, and to collect the inheritance he should send his credit card information.

fleece

to deceive. verb Many people have been fleeced by Internet scams and never received their money back. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

mulct

to defraud or swindle. verb The so-called magical diet cure simply ended up mulcting Maria out of hundreds of dollars, but did nothing for her weight.

harangue

to deliver a long pompous speech or tirade. verb Tired of his parents haranguing him about his laziness and lack of initiative, Tyler finally moved out of home at the age of thirty-five.

imbibe

to drink or absorb as if drinking. verb Plato imbibed Socrates' teachings to such an extent that he was able to write volumes of work that he directly attributed, sometimes word for word, to Socrates.

expunge

to eliminate completely. verb When I turned 18, all of the shoplifting and jaywalking charges were expunged from my criminal record.

begrudge

to envy someone for possessing or enjoying something. verb Sitting all alone in his room, Harvey begrudged the happiness of the other children playing outside his window.

beg

to evade or dodge (a question). verb By assuming that Charlie was headed to college--which he was not--Maggie begged the question when she asked him to which school he was headed in the Fall. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

censor

to examine and remove objectionable material. verb Every fall, high school English teachers are inundated by requests to censor their curriculum by removing The Catcher in the Rye and Scarlet Letter from their reading lists.

galvanize

to excite or inspire (someone) to action. verb At mile 23 of his first marathon, Kyle had all but given up, until he noticed his friends and family holding a banner that read, "Go Kyle"; galvanized, he broke into a gallop, finishing the last three miles in less than 20 minutes.

reproach

to express criticism towards. verb At first, Sarah was going to yell at the boy, but she didn't want to reproach him for telling the truth about the situation.

censure

to express strong disapproval. verb After being caught in bed with a mistress, the mayor was quickly censured by the city council.

inundate

to flood or overwhelm. verb The newsroom was inundated with false reports that only made it more difficult for the newscasters to provide an objective account of the bank robbery.

indict

to formally charge or accuse of wrong-doing. verb The bankrobber was indicted on several major charges, including possession of a firearm.

belie

to give a false representation to; misrepresent. verb The smile on her face belies the pain she must feel after the death of her husband.

appropriate

to give or take something by force. verb The government appropriated land that was occupied by squatters, sending them scurrying for another place to live. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

begrudge

to give reluctantly. verb We never begrudge money spent on ourselves.

wax

to gradually increase in size or intensity. verb Her enthusiasm for the diva's new album only waxed with each song; by the end of the album, it was her favorite CD yet. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

blinkered

to have a limited outlook or understanding. adjective In gambling, the addict is easily blinkered by past successes and/or past failures, forgetting that the outcome of any one game is independent of the games that preceded it.

vindictive

to have a very strong desire for revenge. adjective Though the other girl had only lightly poked fun of Vanessa's choice in attire, Vanessa was so vindictive that she waited for an entire semester to get the perfect revenge.

defray

to help pay the cost of, either in part of full. verb In order for Sean to attend the prestigious college, his generous uncle helped defray the excessive tuition with a monthly donation.

stem

to hold back or limit the flow or growth of something. verb To stem the tide of applications, the prestigious Ivy requires that each applicant score at least 330 on the Revised GRE. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

hobble

to hold back the progress of something. verb Bad weather has hobbled rescue efforts, making it difficult for crews to find bodies in the wreckage.

implicate

to indicate in wrongdoing, usually a crime. verb The crime boss was implicated for a long list of crimes, ranging from murder to disturbing the peace.

diminutive

to indicate smallness. noun He prefers to be called a diminutive of his name: "Bill" instead of "John William.".

demean

to insult; to cause someone to lose dignity or respect. verb At first the soccer players bantered back and forth, but as soon as one of the players became demeaning, calling the other's mother a water buffalo, the ref whipped out a red card.

cow

to intimidate. verb Do not be cowed by a 3,000-word vocabulary list: turn that list into a deck of flashcards!. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

exasperate

to irritate intensely. verb As a child, I exasperated my mother with strings of never-ending questions.

check

to limit (usually modifying the growth of something). verb Deserted for six months, the property began to look more like a jungle and less like a residence--weeds grew unchecked in the front yard. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

hedge

to limit or qualify a statement; to avoid making a direct statement. verb When asked why he had decided to buy millions of shares at the very moment the tech companies stock soared, the CEO hedged, mentioning something vague about gut instinct. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

inure

to make accustomed to something unpleasant. verb Three years of Manhattan living has inured her to the sound of wailing sirens; she could probably sleep through the apocalypse.

err

to make an error. verb He erred in thinking that "indigent" and "indignant" were synonyms.

consecrate

to make holy or set apart for a high purpose. verb At the church of Notre Dame in France, the new High Altar was consecrated in 1182.

unnerve

to make nervous or upset. verb At one time unnerved by math problems, she began avidly "Magoosh-ing", and soon became adept at even combinations and permutations questions.

remonstrate

to make objections while pleading. verb The mothers of the kidnapped victims remonstrated to the rogue government to release their children, claiming that the detention violated human rights.

conciliate

to make peace with. verb His opponents believed his gesture to be conciliatory, yet as soon as they put down their weapons, he unsheathed a hidden sword.

consummate

to make perfect and complete in every respect. verb The restoration of the ancient church was only consummated after a twenty years of labor. This word has other definitions but this is the most important one for the GRE.

mollify

to make someone angry less angry; placate. verb In the morning, Harriat was unable to mollify Harry, if he happened to become angry, unless he had his cup of coffee.

gerrymander

to manipulate voting districts in order to favor a particular political party Years ago, savvy politicians had gerrymandered the city center to ensure their re-election. verb

demur

to object or show reluctance. verb Wallace disliked the cold, so he demurred when his friends suggested they going skiing in the Alps.

disabuse