Magoosh GRE Vocabulary EBook 5 Commonly Confused Sets

Beatific (adj.) vs. Beautiful (adj.)

A beatific person is one who radiates bliss. This person is so happy, they almost seem blessed and holy (think of a saint, or the Buddha). As for beautiful, well you may be beatific if you are beautiful, or you may be totally unhappy. The two words are totally unrelated. Marred by the ravages of time, the idols were hardly beautiful, yet each seemed to emanate a beatific aura that not even 500 years could diminish.

Perfunctory (adj.) vs. Preemptive (adj.) vs. Peremptory (adj.)

Ever done dishes before? As far as daily experiences go, this one represents the nadir for most. As a result, when we do dishes, we do them in a routine way. We are hardly inspired. To do something in such a manner is to be perfunctory. The word also carries with it the connotation of carelessness. That is, if you do something in which you are merely going through the motions, you are probably not doing your best (as far as my perfunctory dish-cleaning goes, my wife can attest to this). To act before someone else does is to act preemptively. Just as Martha was about to take the only cookie left on the table, Noah preemptively swiped it. Preemptive is often times heard in a political context. A country that strikes before another country can do so is launching a preemptive strike. If you are peremptory you are bossy and domineering. My sister used to peremptorily tell me to do the dishes, a chore I would either do perfunctorily or avoid doing altogether.

Histrionic (adj.) vs. History (n.)

Histrionic is totally unrelated to history. It comes from the Latin for actor. To be histrionic is not to have a penchant for bad Pacino or Brando imitations, but to be overly theatrical. 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.

Indigent (adj.) vs. Indigenous (adj.) vs. Indignant (adj.)

Indigent word means poor, having very little means. In the so-called Third World, many are indigent and only a privileged few have the wherewithal to enjoy material luxuries. Indigenous means relating to a certain area. Plants and animals are often indigenous, as are people. The flora and fauna indigenous to Australia are notably different from those indigenous to the U.S—one look at a duckbill platypus and you know you're not dealing with an opossum. Imagine you are waiting in line to order your morning coffee. Right as you are about to ask for a nice steaming cup, someone cuts in front of you and places an order for six people. How would you feel? Indignant. Indignant means to feel anger over a perceived injustice. And you don't want to be indignant the day of the test, when ETS just happens to pick that one word you always end up confusing with another word.

Ponderous (adj.) vs. Imponderable (adj./n.)

Ponder means to think over. So, ponderous must mean thinking. However, this is not the case. Ponderous is derived from 'pondus', which means weight (think of a pound). So, to be ponderous means to be weighed-down, and to move slowly and in a labored fashion. Imponderable is not the opposite of ponderous. It actually relates to thinking. An imponderable is something that is impossible to estimate, fathom or figure out. Say a child was to ask, "How long would it take driving in a car to go from one end of the universe to the other?" Unless you have a really big calculator—and a very fast car—the answer to this question would be imponderable.

Censure (v.) vs. Censor (v.)

Speaking of beeping out the F-word, we have a synonym for expurgate: censor. Censure, the much more common GRE word, has nothing to do with removing objectionable words and/or material. However, if you decide to start dropping the F-bomb in public—and I don't mean facetious—then you can easily expect someone to censure you. To censure someone is to express strong disapproval of that person.

Expurgate (v.) vs. Expunge (v.)

They both mean to remove, but in different ways. To expurgate means to remove objectionable material. If you've ever watched a rated-R film that has been adapted for prime time, you'll probably note that all those F-words—factitious, facetious, and fatuous—have been removed. That's expurgation (think of the "beep"). To expunge simply means to wipe out or remove any trace off. Many people who commit petty crimes have those crimes expunged from their records, given that person doesn't decide to start running every other red light. So, if you've been a good driver over the last 10 years, then that one incident when 85 became the new 65...well, that's probably been expunged from your record.

Miserly (adj.) vs. Frugal (adj.)

This is one of the most commonly confused pairs. These words, despite popular opinion, are not the same. Frugal has a positive connotation, i.e. you spend money wisely, and miserly has a negative connotation, i.e. you pinch every penny. Monte was no miser, but was simply frugal, wisely spending the little that he earned.

Errant (adj.) vs. Arrant (adj.) vs. Errand (n.) vs. Err (v.)

To be errant is to be wandering, not sticking to a circumscribed path. It can also connote deviating from accepted behavior or standards. Unlike his peers, who spent their hours studying in the library, Matthew preferred errant walks through the university campus to help his brain function. Arrant means complete and utter. It usually modifies a noun with a negative connotation, e.g. liar, fool, etc. 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. An errand is a small chore. Maria carried out her errands with dispatch, completing most before noon. To err is (surprise!) to make an error. He erred in thinking that errant and arrant were synonyms.

Demur (v.) vs. Demure (adj.)

To demur is a verb meaning to object or show reluctance. Wallace dislike the cold, so he demurred when his friends suggested they going skiing in the Alps. To be demure is to be modest and shy. This word is typically used to describe a woman, so don't call a man demure, as they will surely demur.

Prevaricate (v.) vs. Variance (n.)

To prevaricate is to speak in an evasive way. Prevaricate does not mean to vary before; indeed, it is totally unrelated to variance, which simply means the quality of varying. A good synonym for prevaricate is equivocate. And that's no lie. The cynic quipped, "There is not much variance in politicians; they all seem to prevaricate".

Artless (adj.) vs. Artful (adj.) vs. Artifice (n.)

Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet...surely they relate to the second word, and definitely not the first, which would be reserved for people like me who reached their artistic apotheosis with the drawing of stick-figures. Well, as far as the GRE is concerned, neither word relates to art (both in the lower case and upper case sense). To be artful means to be cunning and wily. To have artifice is to be artful. Perhaps you've read Dickens, and remember The Artful Dodger. The titular artful dodger did not have a penchant for watercolors, but was instead a devious, wily lad. This trait, presumably, allowed him to dodge tricky situations. If somebody is artless, on the other hand, that person is innocent, guileless. It should come as little surprise, then, that the literary canon is absent an artless dodger, as he would be too innocent and naive to dodge much of anything. Finally, artful and artless can refer back to the original usage of art. Therefore, Picasso is artful and I am artless. However, the GRE rarely, if ever, tests these definitions.