Difficult Gre Vocab

Front 1

nebulous

Back 1

indistinct, vague

Front 2

fret (1)

Back 2

to eat away at, wear away

Front 3

ratiocinate

Back 3

to reason

Front 4

atelier

Back 4

an artist's or designer's studio

Front 5

mendacity

Back 5

untruthfulness; tendency to lie

Front 6

celerity

Back 6

rapidity of motion or action

Front 7

didactic

Back 7

designed or intended to teach; making moral observations

Front 8

cavil

Back 8

to raise trivial objections (to)

Front 9

abrogate

Back 9

to abolish by authoritative action; to treat as non-existent

Front 10

mealymouthed

Back 10

not plain and straightforward

Front 11

luminary

Back 11

a person of prominence or brilliant achievement

Front 12

nefarious

Back 12

flagrantly wicked or impious

Front 13

begrudge

Back 13

to give or concede reluctantly or with displeasure; to look upon with disapproval

Front 14

protract

Back 14

to prolong in time or space; to extend forward or outward

Front 15

fret (2)

Back 15

to decorate with interlaced designs; to form a pattern upon; to enrich with embossed or pierced carved patterns

Front 16

recalcitrant

Back 16

obstinately defiant of authority or restraint; difficult to manage or operate; not responsive to treatment

Front 17

splenetic

Back 17

given to melancholy; marked by bad temper, malevolence, or spite

Front 18

pulchritude

Back 18

physical beauty

Front 19

apotheosis

Back 19

elevation to divine status; perfect example

Front 20

obliquity (1)

Back 20

deviation from moral rectitude or sound thinking;
deviation from parallelism or perpendicularity; the angle between the planes of the earth's equator and orbit

Front 21

sumptuous

Back 21

extremely costly, rich, luxurious, or magnificent

Front 22

hedge

Back 22

a calculatedly noncommittal or evasive statement

Front 23

chary

Back 23

discreetly cautious; hesitant and vigilant about dangers and risks; slow to grant, accept, or expend

Front 24

bilk

Back 24

to block the free development of; to cheat out of something valuable; to evade payment of or to; to slip away from

Front 25

boggle

Back 25

to start with fright or amazement: be overwhelmed; to hesitate because of doubt, fear, or scruples

Front 26

seedy

Back 26

inferior in condition or quality; somewhat disreputable; slightly unwell

Front 27

hidebound

Back 27

having an inflexible or ultraconservative character

Front 28

high-handed

Back 28

having or showing no regard for the rights, concerns, or feelings of others

Front 29

vouchsafe

Back 29

to grant or furnish often in a gracious or condescending manner; to give by way of reply; to grant as a privilege or special favor

Front 30

obliquity (2)

Back 30

indirectness or deliberate obscurity of speech or conduct; an obscure or confusing statement

Front 31

raucous

Back 31

disagreeably harsh or strident; boisterously disorderly

Front 32

panegyric

Back 32

a eulogistic oration or writing; formal or elaborate praise

Front 33

auger

Back 33

any of various tools or devices having a helical shaft or member that are used for boring holes or moving loose material

Front 34

augury

Back 34

divination from auspices or omens

Front 35

philately

Back 35

stamp collecting

Front 36

numismatic

Back 36

of or relating to currency; the study or collection of coins, tokens, and paper money and sometimes related objects

Front 37

pseudopod(ium)

Back 37

a temporary protrusion or retractile process of the cytoplasm of a cell that functions (as in an amoeba) especially in a locomotor or food gathering capacity

Front 38

aphorism

Back 38

a concise statement of a principle; a terse formulation of a truth or sentiment: ADAGE

Front 39

encomium

Back 39

glowing and warmly enthusiastic praise

Front 40

elision

Back 40

the omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable in a verse to achieve a uniform metrical pattern; the act or an instance of omitting something

Front 41

descry

Back 41

to catch sight of; to make known; discovery or view from afar

Front 42

lachrymose

Back 42

given to tears or weeping; tending to cause tears

Front 43

blackguard

Back 43

the kitchen servants of a household; a rude or unscrupulous person; a person who uses foul or abusive language; to talk about or address in abusive terms

Front 44

pugnacious

Back 44

having a quarrelsome or combative nature

Front 45

perspicacious

Back 45

of acute mental vision or discernment

Front 46

epigram

Back 46

concise poem dealing pointedly and often satirically with a single thought or event and often ending with an ingenious turn of thought; a terse, sage, or witty and often paradoxical saying

Front 47

pithy

Back 47

having substance and point; tersely cogent - CONCISE

Front 48

suppliant

Back 48

humbly imploring; SUPPLICANT

Front 49

impanel

Back 49

to enroll in or on a panel

Front 50

peccadillo

Back 50

a slight offense (dim. of Spanish "pecado)

Front 51

calumny

Back 51

a misrepresentation intended to harm another's reputation

Front 52

precept

Back 52

a command or principle intended especially as a general rule of action

Front 53

acuity

Back 53

keenness of perception

Front 54

carom

Back 54

to strike and rebound; a rebounding especially at an angle (from billiards)

Front 55

juggernaut

Back 55

a massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes whatever is in its path

Front 56

inexorable

Back 56

not to be persuaded, moved, or stopped

Front 57

apocryphal

Back 57

of doubtful authenticity

Front 58

craven

Back 58

DEFEATED, VANQUISHED
lacking the least bit of courage; contemptibly fainthearted

Front 59

ingenue

Back 59

a naive girl or young woman