A Last Ditch Gre Vocab Effort

Front 1

ingenuous

Back 1

artless; frank and candid; lacking in sophistication
"We were hesitant to approach her because we had heard she was a witch, but her ingenuous manner put us instantly at ease."

Front 2

capricious

Back 2

inclined to change one's mind impulsively; erratic, unpredictable
"My mother was capricious in her views about most things, including race."

Front 3

audacious

Back 3

daring and fearless; recklessly bold
"Lola had been audacious enough to call one of her classmates stupid on the first day of school."

Front 4

equivocate

Back 4

to use ambiguous language with a deceptive intent
"When asked directly for his position on disarmament, the candidate only equivocated."

Front 5

exigent

Back 5

urgent, pressing; requiring immediate action or attention
"The patient has an exigent need for medication, or else she will lose her sight."

Front 6

perspicacious

Back 6

acutely perceptive; having keen discernment
"He exhibited perspicacious judgment with regard to the vizier's malicious intent."

Front 7

elegy

Back 7

a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead
"At the funeral, the widow gave a moving elegy, lamenting the loss of her husband."

Front 8

inveigle

Back 8

to obtain by deception or flattery
"She was able to inveigle a free theatre pass from the unsuspecting boy who worked at the ticket booth."

Front 9

despoil

Back 9

to strip of possessions; rob; plunder; pillage
"The region was despoiled of its natural beauty by unchecked development."

Front 10

ennui

Back 10

dissatisfaction and restlessness resulting from boredom or apathy
"The unending lecture produced an unbearable ennui."

Front 11

redact

Back 11

to revise; edit; put into suitable literary form
"The military will redact the document before releasing it, blacking out sections that are classified."

Front 12

prodigal

Back 12

recklessly wasteful; extravagant; profuse; lavish
"How can you be so prodigal with money on such a tight budget?"

Front 13

surfeit

Back 13

an overabundant supply; excess; to feed or supply to excess
"There was a surfeit of speechmaking at the RNC."

Front 14

occlude

Back 14

to obstruct or block
"The party found the way to the orc chieftain's treasure occluded by a large troll."

Front 15

opprobrium

Back 15

disgrace; contempt; scorn
"He felt the opprobrium of his company after he fled from the battlefield."

Front 16

spurious

Back 16

lacking authenticity or validity; false; counterfeit
"When his wife died, he became the victim of spurious rumors, and it took him years to clear his name."

Front 17

dissemble

Back 17

to disguise or conceal; to mislead
"In a television interview the politician tended to dissemble rather than to answer questions truthfully and plainly."

Front 18

engender

Back 18

to produce, cause, or give rise to
"Hatred engenders violence."

Front 19

grievous

Back 19

flagrant; outrageous; atrocious; causing grief or great sorrow
"His actions represented a grievous offense against morality."

Front 20

precipitate, adj.

Back 20

acting with excessive haste or impulse
"The two young people entered into a precipitate marriage, as they had just met the night before."

Front 21

precipitate, v.

Back 21

to cause or happen before anticipated or required
"The invasion of the peaceful nation precipitated an international crisis."

Front 22

prolix

Back 22

long and wordy (noun form: prolixity)
"Her prolix acceptance speech caused a few older folks in the crowd to nod off."

Front 23

disabuse

Back 23

to undeceive; to set right
"It won't take them long to disabuse the newcomer of any notions of superiority."

Front 24

malinger

Back 24

to pretend illness, esp. in order to shirk one's duty or work
"It is not uncommon on exam days for several students to malinger rather than prepare themselves."

Front 25

sidereal

Back 25

determined by or from the stars; of or pertaining to the stars
"Few astronomers have witnessed the sidereal phenomenon of a supernova."

Front 26

refulgent

Back 26

radiant; shiny; brilliant
"Crystal chandeliers and gilded walls made the opera house a refulgent setting for the ball."

Front 27

phlegmatic

Back 27

calm; sluggish; unemotional
"The phlegmatic boy was not even excited about the Halloween party invite he had just received."

Front 28

recondite

Back 28

hidden; concealed; difficult to understand; obscure
"My professor's constant references to recondite sources made her extremely difficult to understand."

Front 29

vituperate

Back 29

to use harsh, condemnatory language; berate; to abuse or censure severely or abusively
"Jack ran away as soon as his father found out, knowing he would be vituperated for his unseemly behavior."

Front 30

volatile

Back 30

readily changing to a vapor; changeable; fickle; explosive
"Acetone is a volatile solvent, so be sure not to let too much of it escape."

Front 31

trenchant

Back 31

sharply perceptive; keen; penetrating
"Her trenchant wit kept everyone on their toes, for fear of becoming the butt of a joke."

Front 32

tacit

Back 32

implied; not explicitly stated
"Bob understood their tacit approval by the lack of objections."

Front 33

profligate

Back 33

excessively wasteful; recklessly extravagant
"The profligate young heir embarked on a life of depravity and riotous spending that soon eroded both his health and his fortune."

Front 34

quotidian

Back 34

occurring or recurring daily; commonplace
"The president received her quotidian report on financial affairs, as usual, over breakfast."

Front 35

probity

Back 35

adherence to highest principles; complete and confirmed integrity; uprightness
"The journalist was well-known for his probity: he never libeled for the sake of a story."

Front 36

vacillate

Back 36

to waver indecisively between one course of action or opinion and another; waver
"His tendency to vacillate makes him a poor leader."

Front 37

accretion

Back 37

an added part; addition; an increase by natural growth or by gradual external addition; growth in size or extent
"Stalactites are formed by the accretion of minerals from the roofs of caves."

Front 38

cadge

Back 38

to obtain by imposing on another's generosity or friendship; to beg
"He was able to cadge himself another cup of coffee from his friend the barista."

Front 39

specious

Back 39

apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible
"This idea that we must see through what we have started is specious, however good it may sound."

Front 40

abraded

Back 40

worn off or down by scraping or rubbing
"Her temporary tattoo abraded with time until it was no longer visible."

Front 41

scurvy

Back 41

contemptible; despicable
"The bandits continued their scurvy campaign of lawlessness and terror throughout the land."