GRE Vocabulary

Top 52 GRE Words by Kaplan

1.      Abstain – verb – to restrain oneself for doing or enjoying something

2.      Adulterate – verb – to make (something) impure or weaker by adding something of inferior quality

3.      Advocate – verb – publicly recommend or support

4.      Anomaly – noun – something that is unusual or unexpected

5.      Antipathy – noun – a strong feeling of dislike

6.      Apathy – noun – lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern

7.      Assuage – verb – to make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense

8.      Audacious – adj. – a willingness to take bold risks / adj. –  showing a lack of respect

9.      Bolster – verb – to support or strengthen

10.  Cacophony – noun – a harsh, unpleasant mixture of sounds

11.  Capricious – adj. – given to sudden changes of mood or behavior

12.  Corroborate – verb – to confirm or make more certain

13.  Deride – verb – to express contempt for; ridicule

14.  Desiccate – verb – remove the moisture from (something)

15.  Dissonance – noun – a lack of harmony or agreement

16.  Enervate – verb – cause (someone or something) to feel drained of energy; weaken

17.  Engender – verb – to produce, cause, or give rise to (something)

18.  Enigma – noun – a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand

19.  Ephemeral – adj. – lasting for a very short time

20.  Equivocal – adj. – not easily understood or explained

21.  Erudite – adj. – having or showing great knowledge

22.  Eulogy – noun – a speech that praises someone, typically some who has recently died

23.  Fervid – adj. – intensely enthusiastic or passionate

24.  Garrulous – adj. – excessively talkative

25.  Gullible – adj. – easily persuaded to believe something

26.  Homogenous – adj. – of the same or similar kind

27.  Ingenuous – adj. – innocent and unsuspecting

28.  Laconic – adj. – using few words

29.  Laudable – adj. – deserving praise and commendation

30.  Lethargic – adj. – lacking energy

31.  Loquacious – adj. – tending to talk a great deal

32.  Lucid – adj. – very clear and easy to understand

33.  Malleable – adj. – easily influenced; pliable

34.  Misanthrope – noun – a person who dislikes humankind

35.  Mitigate – verb – make less severe, serious, or painful

36.  Obdurate – adj. – stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion

37.  Opaque – adj. –  not able to be seen through; not easily understood

38.  Ostentation – noun – excessive display of wealth

39.  Paradox – noun – a statement that contradicts itself but might be true

40.  Pedant – noun – a person who makes an excessive display of learning

41.  Philanthropic – adj. – seeking to promote the welfare of others

42.  Placate – verb – to make (someone) less angry or hostile

43.  Pragmatic – adj. – dealing with the problems that exist in a reasonable and logical way instead of depending on theories

44.  Precipitate – verb – to cause (something) to happen quickly or suddenly

45.  Prevaricate – verb – avoid telling the truth by not directly answering a question

46.  Prodigal – adj. – wastefully extravagant

47.  Propriety – noun – the state or quality of being correct or proper

48.  Vacillate – verb – to waver between different opinions or actions

49.  Venerate – verb – regard with great respect

50.  Volatile – adj. – likely to change rapidly and unpredictably

51.  Waver – verb – to go back and forth between choices or opinions

52.  Zeal – noun – a strong feel of interest and enthusiasm that makes someone very eager or determined to do something 
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Kaplan's 175 High Frequency GRE Words

1. Abate: to reduce in amount, degree or severity, moderate, subside, taper off.

2. Abscond: to leave secretly, run, escape.

3. Abstain: to choose not to do something, abjure.  

4. Abyss: an extremely deep hole, chasm, abysm.   

5. Adulterate: to make impure.      

6. Advocate: to speak in favor of, support, patronize.  

7. Aesthetic: concerning the appreciation of beauty, beauteous, comely.  

8. Aggrandize: to increase in power, influence, and reputation, elevate, glorify.

9. Alleviate: to make more bearable, allay, assuage, mollify, relieve, palliate.

10. Amalgamate: to combine; to mix together, merge, mingle, blend. 

11. Ambiguous: doubtful or uncertain; able to be interpreted several ways

12. Ameliorate: to make better; to improve, meliorate.        

13. Anachronism: errors in chronology.      

14. Analogous: similar or alike in some way; Equivalent to.   

15. Anomaly: deviation from what is normal.  

16. Antagonize: to make more hostile.  

17. Antipathy: extreme dislike, enmity, animus, animosity, hostility.  

18. Apathy: lack of interest or emotion, impassivity.  

19. Arbitrate: to judge a dispute between two opposing parties, adjudicate, adjudge.

20. Audacious: fearless and daring, dauntless, bold, intrepid, courageous, gutty, valorous, valiant.     

21. Austere: severe or stern in appearance; undecorated.   

22. Banal: predictable, clichéd, boring.      

23. Bolster: to support; to prop up    

24. Bombastic: pompous in speech and manner    

25. Cacophony: harsh, jarring noise, clamor.     

26. Candid: impartial and honest in speech.   

27. Capricious: changing one’s mind quickly and often, unpredictable, fickle, mercurial, volatile.   

28. Castigate: to punish or criticize harshly.    

29. Catalyst: something that brings about a change in something else.

30. Caustic: biting in wit.      

31. Chaos: great disorder.     

32. Chauvinist: someone prejudiced in favor of a group to which he or she belongs.

33. Chicanery: deception, trickery.  

34. Cogent: convincing and well reasoned.     

35. Condone: to overlook, pardon, or disregard.    

36. Convoluted: intricate and complicated, intricate, involved, byzantine, labyrinthine, baroque.        

37. Corroborate: to provide supporting evidence.     

38. Credulous: too trusting; gullible.      

39. Crescendo: steadily increasing volume or force.    

40. Decorum: appropriateness of behavior or conduct; propriety.   

41. Deference: respect, Courtesy.       

42. Deride: to Speak of or treat with contempt; to mock.

43. Desiccate: to dry out thoroughly.     

44. Desultory: jumping from one thing to another; disconnected.  

45. Diatribe: an abusive, condemnatory speech, harangue, tirade, jeremiad, rant, philippic.     

46. Diffident: lacking self-confidence, demure, bashful.       

47. Dilate: to make larger; to expand.    

48. Dilatory: intended to delay.      

49. Dilettante: someone with an amateurish and superficial interest in a topic.

50. Dirge: a funeral hymn or mournful speech, elegy, lament, requiem, threnody.   

51. Disabuse: to set right; to free from error. 

52. Discern: to perceive; to recognize.     

53. Disparate: fundamentally different; entirely unlike.     

54. Dissemble: to present a false appearance.    

55. Dissonance: a harsh and disagreeable combination, often of sounds 

56. Dogma: a firmly held opinion, often a religious belief. 

57. Dogmatic: dictatorial in one’s opinions.    

58. Dupe: to deceive; a person who is easily deceived 

59. Eclectic: selecting from or made up from a variety of sources

60. Efficacy: effectiveness        

61. Elegy: a sorrowful poem or speech    

62. Eloquent: persuasive and moving, especially in speech.   

63. Emulate: to copy; to try to equal or excel. 

64. Enervate: to reduce in strength.     

65. Engender: to produce, cause, or bring about.   

66. Enigma: a puzzle; a mystery.     

67. Enumerate: to count, list, or itemize.    

68. Ephemeral: lasting a short time.          

69. Equivocate: to use expressions of double meaning in order to mislead.    

70. Erratic: wandering and unpredictable.           

71. Erudite: learned, scholarly, bookish.           

72. Esoteric: known or understood by only a few.      

73. Estimable: admirable.             

74. Eulogy: speech in praise of someone.         

75. Euphemism: use of an inoffensive word or phrase in place of a more distasteful one.

76. Exacerbate: to make worse, aggravate.           

77. Exculpate: to prove innocent, absolve, acquit, exonerate, vindicate.        

78. Exigent: urgent.          

79. Exonerate: to clear of blame, exculpate, exonerate.            

80. Explicit: clearly stated or shown.       

81. Fanatical: excessively enthusiastic.      

82. Fawn: to flatter to win a favor.            

83. Fervid: intensely emotional; feverish.           

84. Florid: excessively decorated or embellished.          

85. Foment: to arouse or incite.          

86. Frugality: thrifty.       

87. Garrulous: talkative, loquacious.         

88. Gregarious: outgoing, sociable.            

89. Guile: deceit or trickery.           

90. Gullible: easily deceived,              

91. Homogenous: of a similar kind.          

92. Iconoclast: one who opposes established beliefs, customs, and institutions.      

93. Imperturbable: not capable of being disturbed.         

94. Impervious: impossible to penetrate; incapable of being affected.       

95. Impetuous: quick to act without thinking.         

96. Implacable: unable to be calmed down or made peaceful.      

97. Inchoate: not fully formed, incipient, incipient, nascent.          

98. Ingenuous: showing innocence or childlike simplicity.          

99. Inimical: hostile, unfriendly, antagonistic.            

100. Innocuous: harmless.             

101. Insipid: lacking interest or flavor, tasteless, unsavory.          

102. Intransigent: uncompromising; refusing to be reconciled.         

103. Inundate: to overwhelm; to cover with water.        

104. Irascible: easily made angry.           

105. Laconic: using few words, concise, succinct.           

106. Lament: to express sorrow; to grieve.         

107. Laud: to give praise; to glorify, acclaim, hail, praise, extol.            

108. Lavish: to give unsparingly, extravagant.     

109. Lethargic: acting in a slow, sluggish manner.     

110. Loquacious: talkative.             

111. Lucid: clear and easily understood.          

112. Luminous: bright, brilliant, glowing.           

113. Malinger: to evade responsibility by pretending to be ill.      

114. Malleable: capable of being shaped.          

115. Metaphor: a figure of speech comparing two different things; a symbol.    

116. Meticulous: extremely careful about details, painstaking.            

117. Misanthrope: a person who dislikes others.         

118. Mitigate: to soften; to lessen.           

119. Mollify: to calm or make less severe, pacify.        

120. Monotony: lack of variation.           

121. Naive: lacking experience.          

122. Obdurate: resistant, stubborn, adamant.        

123. Obsequious: overly submissive and eager to please.        

124. Obstinate: stubborn, unyielding, adamant.            

125. Obviate: to prevent; to make unnecessary.         

126. Occlude: to stop up; to prevent the passage of      

127. Onerous: troublesome.          

128. Opaque: impossible to see through, not clear, ambiguous, arcane cryptic, elliptical, enigmatic, equivocal, inscrutable, murky, nebulous, nebulous.     

129. Opprob0rium: public disgrace.            

130. Ostentation: excessive showiness.            

131. Paradox: a contradiction or dilemma.          

132. Paragon: perfect example, ideal, exemplar, nonpareil.         

133. Pedant: showing ones knowledge.         

134. Perfidious: willing to betray one’s trust, treacherous.           

135. Perfunctory: done in a routine way; indifferent        

136. Permeate: to penetrate, pass through.            

137. Philanthropy: effort to promote goodness.      

138. Placate: to soothe or pacify, appease, assuage, mollify, propitiate, conciliate.          

139. Plastic: able to be changed.       

140. Plethora: excess, abundance, plentitude.             

141. Pragmatic: practical.         

142. Precipitate: to throw violently or bring abruptly.     

143. Prevaricate: to lie, equivocate.       

144. Pristine: fresh and clean; uncorrupted.          

145. Prodigal: lavish, wasteful, squandering, extravagant, spendthrift, thriftless.            

146. Proliferate: to increase in number quickly.         

147. Propitiate: to conciliate; to appease, pacify.          

148. Propriety: correct behavior; decorum.       

149. Prudence: wisdom.            

150. Pungent: smelling bad.        

151. Quiescent: motionless, inactive.             

152. Rarefy: to make thinner or sparser.         

153. Repudiate: to reject the validity of.         

154. Reticent: silent, reserved,              

155. Rhetoric: effective writing or speaking.          

156. Satiate: to satisfy fully or overindulge.         

157. Soporific: causing sleep or lethargy.          

158. Specious: deceptive.        

159. Stigma: a mark of shame or discredit.        

160. Stolid: unemotional; lacking sensitivity.           

161. Sublime: lofty or grand.           

162. Tacit: done without using words.         

163. Taciturn: silent, not talkative, reticent.           

164. Tirade: long, harsh speech or verbal attack, jeremiad, rant.        

165. Torpor: extreme mental and physical sluggishness.         

166. Transitory: temporary, ephemeral, evanescent, momentary, fleeting, fugitive, fugacious.           

167. Vacillate: to move here and there, to be indecisive.       

168. Venerate: to respect deeply, adore, deify, glorify, revere.             

169. Veracity: filled with truth and accuracy.         

170. Verbose: wordy.             

171. Vex: to annoy.            

172. Volatile: changeable.       

173. Waver: to fluctuate between choices.          

174. Whimsical: acting in a capricious manner; unpredictable.      

175. Zeal: passion, excitement.            

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