Magoosh Gre Vocabulary Flashcards
Alacrity
An eager willingness to do something
Prosaic
Dull and lacking imagination (NOT used for people)
Veracity
Truthful; correctness; accuracy
Voracity
Full of hunger; eagerness
Paucity
A lack of something; scarcity; insufficiency of number
Maintain
To assert; affirm; declare
Contrite
To feel remorse; penitent
Laconic
Using few words, concise
Pugnacious
Belligerent; Quarrelsome; Inclined to argue
Disparate
Fundamentally different; Dissilimar; Distinct in kind
Egregious
Standing out in a bad way; Glaring; Flagrant
Innocuous
Harmless; Inoffensive; Pallid; Insipid
Candid
Staightforward; Honest; Frank; Impartial
Erractic
Unpredictable, often wildly so; Strange and unconventional; Eccentric
Bleak
Depressing; Dreary; Desolate;
Profuse
Abundant; In great amount, often to excess
Extant
Still in existence; Not destroyed or lost
Contentious
Tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome
Auspicious
Favorable; promising success; propitious; opportune
Inauspicious
Unfavorable; boding ill; ill-omened;
Enervate
Sap energy from; Weaken; Deprive of Force or Strength
Equivocate
Speak vaguely, often to mislead or deceive; hedge; Prevaricate
Unequivocal
Absolute; Clear; No room for doubt or confusion
Ambivalent
Having mixed or conflicting emotions about something
Sedulous
Diligent and careful in application or attention; Persevering; Assiduous
Stem
To hold back or limit the flow or growth of something
Blinkered
To have a limited outlook or understanding, Narrow-minded
Check
To stop or restrain growth
Checkered
Marked by numerous and various shifts; Variegated; marked by dubious events; suspect in character and quality
Raft
Large number of something
Involved
Complicated, and difficult to comprehend
Retiring
Reserved; shy; Withdrawing from contact with others
Expansive
Communicative; Person or Speech that is effusive, unrestrained, free, or open
Moment
Significant and important; consequence
Base
Morally low; ignoble; contemptible; abject
Imbibe
To take in knowledge, information or ideas
Inundate
To overwhelm
Scintillating
Brilliant; Witty; Vivacious; Effervescent:
Benighted
Fall into a state of ignorance; unenlightened
Galvanize
To excite to action or spur on; stimulate
Hedge
Play safely; Limit or qualify; Avoid making a direct statement
Flush
To turn red; To be in abundance; To spray or wash away with water; To drive out of hiding
Fell
To knock, strike, shoot, or cut down or otherwise cause something to fall; Fierce; cruel; deadly; destructive
Arch
Something bowed or curved; Mischievous; crafty; sly
Beg
To take for granted without basis or justification; To fail or refuse to come to grips with; avoid; evade
Tender
To offer or proffer something, usually formally
Intimate
To suggest something subtly
Wanting
Lacking or absent; Deficient in some way
Becoming
Suitable; appropriate; proper; matching nicely
Start
To suddenly move or dart in a particular direction
Fleece
Deceive; Swindle
Telling
Significant; Effective; Striking; Revealing
Wax
To increase in extent, quantity, intensity, power, etc; To grow or become
Wane
To decrease or decline in power, strength, importance, etc
Qualify
To limit (usually a statement or opinion)
Miserly
penny pincher; penurious; stingy; niggardly (negative)
Frugal
Spending money wisely; Not wasteful
Prevaricate
To speak in an evasive way
Variance
Divergent; different; anomalous; difference; discrepancy
Histrionic
Overly theatrical; dramatics; operatics
Demur
To object or show reluctance
Demure
Modest and shy; sober; sedate; coy
Beatific
Blissful; saintly; radiating bliss as if blessed
Perfunctory
Performed merely as a routine duty, hasty and superficial; Indifferent or apathetic
Preemptive
To act before someone else does
Peremptory
Bossy and domineering
Indigent
Poor; having very little means
Indigenous
Relating to a certain area.
Indignant
To feel anger over a perceived injustice
Errant
Wandering, not sticking to a circumscribed path
Arrant
Complete and utter (usually negative)
Err
Make an error
Artless
Innocent; Guileless
Artful
Cunning and wily
Artifice
Trickery; guile; craftiness; cunning; ingenuity; inventiveness
Expurgate
To remove objectionable material
Expunge
To wipe out or remove any trace off
Censure
To express strong disapproval of that person
Censor
Expurgate; removing objectionable words and/or material
Ponderous
To be weighed-down, and to move slowly and in a labored fashion
Imponderable
Impossible to estimate, fathom or figure out
Kowtow
Acting in a subservient or sycophantic manner
Powwow
Any informal discussion or colloquy
Junta
The aggressive takeover by a group; Council or group in charge after a takeover
Imbroglio
A confusing, and potentially embarrassing, situation
Juggernaut
Any large force that cannot be stopped
Schadenfreude
Taking pleasure in the misfortune of others
Amuck
Run about frenzied
Pariah
Outcast
Nabob
A wealthy, influential person
Bwana
Master
Zeitgeist
Spirit of the times
Sangfroid
Calmness and poise, especially in trying situations
Parvenu
Nouveau-riche; a person who has risen socially or economically without refinement of their new level
Arriviste
Parvenu;
Melee
Wild, confusing fight or struggle
Lagniappe
Unexpected gift
Picayune
Amount that is trifling, trivial or meager; a petty person
Mesmerize
To hold spellbound
Gerrymander
Manipulation of boundaries to favor a certain group
Hector
To bully or intimidate
Pollyannaish
Extremely optimistic
Chauvinist
Anyone who thinks that their group is better than anybody else's group
Pyrrhic
Achieved at too great a cost
Kafkaesque
Absurdity we have to deal with living in a world of faceless bureaucracies
Quixotic
Wildly idealistic;
Maudlin
Tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental
Panglossian
Blind optimism, especially in the face of adversity
Malapropism
Mixing up words with similar sounds
Quisling
Traitor
Byzantine
Anything that is extremely intricate and complex (negative connotation)
Galvanize
To shock or urge somebody/something into action
Supercilious
Haughty and disdainful
Protean
Versatile
Sartorial
Pertaining to clothing or style or manner of dress
Saturnine
Morose
Mercurial
Anyone who easily changes his or her mood easily
Jaundice
To be biased against as a result of envy or prejudice
Jejune
Dull; insipid; juvenile; immature; childish
Bilious
Constantly irritable and ready to bite somebody's head off
Choleric
Extremely irritable or easily angered; irascible
Sanguine
Cheerful, optimistic
Martinet
Strict disciplinarian
Curmudgeon
A grouchy, surly person, one who is always sulking
Misanthrope
Hater of mankind
Reprobate
Someone you disapprove of, but one you have a fondness for
Reprove
To express disapproval of
Virago
Ill-tempered and sometimes violent woman
Cardinal
of primary importance, fundamental
Syncretic
any amalgam of different schools of thought
Ecclesiastical
of or relating to the church
Parochial
very limited or narrow in scope or outlook; provincial
Catholic
universal; broad-minded; liberal
Anathema
a person or thing detested or loathed
Anathematize
to curse
Desecrate
willfully violates or destroys any sacred place (not used with people)
Apostasy
departure from one's religion, principles, party, cause
Sanctimonious
Feeling that a person is morally superior to everybody else
Iconoclast
a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions
Malfeasance
Wrongdoing, usually by a public official
Lascivious
inclined to lustfulness; wanton; lewd
Embroiled
To become caught up in a scandal
Venality
openness to bribery or corruption.
Prevaricate
Lie, mislead or deliberately create a false impression
Turpitude
acts deemed to be downright wicked and immoral; depravity
Thrifty
Spends money wisely
Spendthrift
a person who spends extravagantly or wastefully; prodigal
Parsimonious
extremely frugal; miserly and stingy
Sybarite
a person devoted to luxury and pleasure.
Impecunious
not having any money
Penurious
Impecunious; extremely stingy or extremeley poor; destitute; indigent
Insolvent
Bankrupt; unable to pay debts and/or discharge liabilities
Affluent
Wealthy country, neighborhood or group of people
Profligate
utterly and shamelessly immoral spending
Prodigal
wastefully or recklessly extravagant; abundant or a spendthrift
Avarice
Greedy, but usually possessions and not food
Cupidity
Greedy for money
Mulct
To swindle oe defraud; to fine someone
Fleece
Swindle or dupe; to deprive of money or belongings by fraud, hoax
Pittance
An inadequate amount of money
Stipend
A regular allowance
Defray
To help pay the cost of, either in part of full
Dupe
to trick or swindle
Zenith
a highest point or state; culmination
Apex
Peak; Acme; Climax
Acme
the highest point; summit; peak
Summit
the highest point of attainment or aspiration
Pinnacle
the highest or culminating point
Apogee
the highest or most distant point
Apotheosis
the ideal example; epitome; quintessence; god-like
Nadir
lowest point
Untoward
not favorable, inconvenient, inauspicious
Upbraid
to scold or berate
Underwrite
To support financially
Overweening
Overconfident or conceited; arrogant, exaggerated, excessive
Bellicose
warlike, and inclined to quarrel; belligerent
Truculent
Having a fierce, savage nature
Jingoist
A person who thinks their country is best and should always be prepared for war; bellicose chauvanist or patriot
Hawkish
favoring conflict and war over compromise
Badger
to pester repeatedly
Hound
to pursue relentlessly; dog
Dog
to pursue relentlessly; hound
Cow
to use intimidation to make someone give in
Ferret
to search for something persistently
Mellifluous
Sweet-sounding
Palimpsest
anything that has been changed numerous times but which traces of former instantiations can still be seen
Serendipity
A pleasant, accidental discovery; luck
Invective
Reproach; Violent accusation of a crime; Inveigh or protest strongly
Inveigle
To entice or ensnare someone or acquire something through flattery; coax
Diatribe
a strong, angry verbal attack against someone or something
Screed
an abusive rant that has since become tedious and hackneyed
Tirade
a long angry, bitter speech or denunciation
Harangue
Tirade; diatribe
Vituperation
violently launch into an invective or tirade