Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Hello friend, glad to know you are here again to read this informative post tagged: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples. It is good to know that proper planning prevents poor performance. If you wish to take the GRE examination or you have a friend who wants to, it is good you are all familiar with Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples. Take note that being an American examination, the spellings used are American spellings.

Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

You will get to know what GRE means, what it entails and the words you need to learn by heart to be successful in this international examination. Let us get to it!

What is GRE?

What is GRE? I am sure you must have heard about this international examination if you are a prospective graduate student and you wish to study in America. GRE is the abbreviation for Graduate Record Examinations. It is a computer-based examination required by many graduate schools for admission to a wide variety of programs at the graduate level. In this post, I present to you the Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples.

What GRE Entails

The GRE is designed to assess the readiness got a wide variety of graduate programs. Each section if the GRE is designed to assess general skills necessary for graduate school. Some of these skills include the ability to read complex information text and understand high-level vocabulary words in the Verbal Reasoning section, the ability to respond to an issue in the written form in the Analytical Writing section, and the ability to apply general mathematical concepts to a variety if problem types in the Quantitative Reasoning section.

Success in GRE

To be successful in the English aspect of GRE, you must have mastery of Parts of Speech and you must understand words in context. The candidate must have mastery of word groups (See groups in English, nominal group, verbal group, adverbial group). The post, Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples, offers basics of vocabulary building and words in context which are crucial to being successful in GRE.

Order of the Top GRE Words

GRE words occur in the order of importance. There is a set of top 12 words, then there is another set of 20 most popular words before the last set of 150 top GRE words. Let us see each of these sets of GRE words you must know to be successful in the examination…

The top 12 Most Popular GRE Words

The list below offers the 12 most popular GRE words; study them severally…

  1. Anomaly
  2. Assuage
  3. Enigma
  4. Equivocal
  5. Erudite
  6. Fervid
  7. Lucid
  8. Opaque
  9. Placate
  10. Precipitate
  11. Prodigal
  12. Zeal

The Next 20 Most Popular GRE Words

The list below offers the next 20 most popular GRE words; study them severally

  1. Abstain
  2. Adulterate
  3. Apathy
  4. Audacious
  5. Capricious
  6. Corroborate
  7. Desiccate
  8. Engender
  9. Ephemeral
  10. Gullible
  11. Homogenous
  12. Laconic
  13. Laudable
  14. Loquacious
  15. Mitigate
  16. Pedant
  17. Pragmatic
  18. Propriety
  19. Vacillate
  20. Volatile

This post reviews all these 32 words with their meanings and examples and the other top 150 words which a candidate of GRE must master and that is why this post it titled, Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples. You will find the meaning of each word and its usage in a sentence. Let us see these almost 200 top GRE words!

Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Abate: to reduce in amount, degree or severity

  • As the hurricane’s force abated, the winds dropped and the sea became calm.

Abscond: to leave secretly

  • The patron absconded from the restaurant without paying his bill by sneaking out the back door.

Abyss: an extremely deep hole

  • The submarine dove into the abyss to chart the previously unseen depths.

Adulterate: to make impure

  • The chef made his ketchup last longer by adulterating it with water.

Advocate: to speak in favor of

  • The vegetarian advocated a diet containing no meat.

Aesthetic: concerning the appreciation of beauty

  • Followers of the aesthetic Movement regarded the pursuit of beauty as the only true art.

Aggrandize: to increase in power, influence and reputation

  • The supervisor sought to aggrandize herself by claiming that the achievements of her staff were actually her own.

Alleviate: to make more bearable

  • Taking aspirin helps to alleviate a headache.

Amalgamate: to combine; to mix together

  • Giant industries amalgamated with. Mega products to form Giant-Mega. Products Incorporated.

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

  • The directions she gave were so ambiguous that we disagreed on which way to turn.

Ameliorate: to make better, to improve

  • The doctor was able to ameliorate the patient’s suffering using painkillers.

Anachronism: something out of place in time

  • The aged hippie used anachronistic phrases like groovy and far out that had not been popular for years.

A2: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Analogous: similar or alike in some way; equivalent to

  • In the Newtonian construct for explaining the existence of God, the universe is analogous to a mechanical timepiece, the creation is a divinely intelligent “clockmaker”.

Anomaly: deviation from what is normal

  • Albino animals may display too great an anomaly in their coloring to attract normally colored mates.

Antagonize: to annoy or provoke to anger

  • The child discovered he could antagonize the cat by pulling its tail.

Antipathy: extreme dislike

  • The antipathy between the French and the English regularly erupted into open warfare.

Apathy: lack of interest or emotion

  • The apathy of voters is so great that less than half the people who ate eligible to vote actually bother to do so.

Arbitrate: to judge a dispute between two opposing parties

  • Since the couple could not come to agreement, a judge was forced to arbitrate their divorce.

Archaic: ancient, old-fashioned

  • Her archaic Commodore computer could not run the latest software.

Ardor: intense and passionate feeling

  • Bishop’s ardor for the landscape was evident when he passionately described the scenic Hudson Valley.

Articulate: able to speak clearly and expressively

  • She is such an articulate defender of labor that unions are among her strongest supporters.

Assuage: to make something unpleasant less severe

  • Serena used aspirin to assuage her pounding headache.

Attenuate: to reduce in force or degree; to weaken.

  • The Bill of Rights attenuated the traditional power of governments to change laws at will.

 

A-C: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Audacious: fearless and daring

  • Her audacious nature allowed her to fulfil her dream of skydiving.

Austere: severe or stern in appearance; undecorated

  • The lack of decoration makes military barracks seem austere to the civilian eye.

Banal: predictable, clichéd, boring

  • He used banal phrases like ‘Have a nice day’ or ‘another day,’ ‘another dollar’.

Bolster: to support, to prop up

  • The presence of giant footprints bolstered the argument that Sasquatch was in the area.

Bombastic: pompous in speech and manner

  • The ranting of the radio talk-show host was mostly bombastic; his boasting and outrageous claims had no basis in fact.

Cacophony: harsh, jarring noise

  • The junior orchestra created an almost unbearable cacophony as they tried to tune their instruments.

Candid: impartial and honest in speech

  • The observations of a child can be charming since they are candid and unpretentious.

Capricious: changing one’s mind quickly and often

  • Queen Elizabeth I was quite capricious; her courtiers could never be sure which of their number would catch her fancy.

Castigate: to punish or criticize harshly

  • Many Americans are amazed at how harshly the authorities in Singapore castigate perpetrators of what would be considered minor crimes in the United States.

Catalyst: something that brings about a change in something else

  • The imposition of harsh taxes was the catalyst that finally brought on the revolution.

Caustic: biting in wit

  • Dorothy Parker gained her reputation for caustic wit from her cutting, yet clever, insults.

 

C-D: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Chaos: great disorder or confusion

  • In many religious traditions, God created an ordered universe from chaos.

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

  • The attitude that men are inherently superior to women and therefore must be obeyed is common among male chauvinists.

Chicanery: deception by means of craft or guile

  • Dishonest used car sales people often use chicanery to sell their beat-up old cars.

Cogent: convincing and well-reasoned

  • Swayed by the cogent argument of the defence, the jury had no choice but to acquit the defendant.

Condone: to overlook, pardon, or disregard

  • Some theorists believe that failing to prosecute minor crimes is the same as condoning an air of lawlessness.

Convoluted: intricate and complicated

  • Although many people bought ‘A Brief History of Time’, few could follow its convoluted ideas and theories.

Corroborate: to provide supporting evidence

  • Fingerprints corroborated the witness’ testimony that he saw the defendant in the victim’s apartment.

Credulous: too trusting; gullible

  • Although some four-year-olds believe in the Easter Bunny, only the most credulous nine-year-olds also believe in him.

Crescendo: steadily increasing volume or force

  • The crescendo if tension became unbearable as Evel Knievel prepared to jump his motorcycle over the school buses.

Decorum: appropriateness of behavior or conduct; propriety

  • The countess complained that the vulgar peasants lacked the decorum appropriate for a visit to the palace.

Deference: respect, courtesy

  • The respectful young law clerk treated the Supreme Court Justice with the utmost deference.

 

D: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Deride: to speak of or treat with contempt to mock

  • The awkward child was often derided by his ‘cooler’ peers.

Desiccate: to dry out thoroughly

  • After a few weeks of lying on the desert’s baking sands, the cow’s carcass became completely desiccated.

Desultory: jumping from one thing to another; disconnected

  • Diane had a desultory academic record; she had changed major 12 times in three years.

Diatribe: an abusive, condemnatory speech

  • The trucker bellowed a diatribe at the Driver who had cut him off.

Diffident: lacking self-confidence

  • Steve’s diffident manner during the job interview stemmed from his nervous nature and lack of experience in the field.

Dilate: to make larger; to expand

  • When you enter a darkened room, the pupils of your eyes dilate to let in more light.

Dilatory: intended to delay

  • The congressman used Dilatory measures to delay the passage of the bill.

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

  • Jerry’s friends were such dilettantes that they seemed to have nee jobs and hobbies every week.

Dirge: a funeral hymn or mournful speech

  • Melville wrote the poem’s dirge for James McPherson’ for the funeral of a Union General who was killed in 1864.

Disabuse: to set right free from error

  • Galileo’s observations disabused scholars of the notion that the sun revolved around the earth.

Discern: to perceive; to recognize

  • It is easy to discern the difference between butter and butter-flavored topping.

 

D-E: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Disparate: fundamentally different; entirely unlike

  • Although the twins appear to be identical physically, their personalities are disparate.

Dissemble: to present a false appearance; to disguise one’s real intentions or character

  • The villain could dissemble to the police no longer – he admitted the deed and tore up the floor to reveal the body of the old man.

Dissonance: a harsh and disagreeable combination, often of sounds

  • Cognitive dissonance is the inner conflict produced when long-standing beliefs are contradicted by new evidence.

Dogma: a firmly held opinion, often a religious belief

  • Linus’s central dogma was that children who believed in the Great Pumpkin would be rewarded.

Dogmatic: dictatorial in one’s opinions

  • The dictator was dogmatic – he, and only he, was right.

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

  • Bugs Bunny was able to dupe Elmer Fudd by dressing up as a lady rabbit.

Eclectic: selecting from or made up from variety of sources

  • Budapest’s architecture is an eclectic mix of Eastern and Western styles.

Efficacy: effectiveness

  • The efficacy of penicillin was unsurpassed when it was first introduced; the drug completely eliminated almost all bacterial infections for which it was administered.

Elegy: a sorrowful poem or speech

  • Although Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ is about death and loss, it urges its readers to endure this life and to trust in spirituality.

Eloquent: persuasive and moving, especially in speech

  • The Gettysburg Address is moving not only because of its lofty sentiments but also because of its eloquent words.

 

E: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Emulate: to copy: to try to equal or excel

  • The graduate student sought to emulate his professor in every way, copying not only how she taught but also how she conducted herself outside of class.

Enervate: to reduce in strength

  • The guerillas hoped that a series of surprise attacks would enervate the regular army.

Engender: to produce, cause, or bring about

  • His fear and hatred of clowns was engendered when he witnessed the death of his father at the hands of a clown.

Enigma: a puzzle; a mystery

  • Speaking in riddles and dressed in old robes, the artist gained a reputation as something of an enigma.

Enumerate: to count, list, or itemize

  • Moses returned from the mountain with tablets on which the commandments were enumerated.

Ephemeral: lasting a short time

  • The lives of mayflies seem ephemeral to us, since the flies’ average lifespan is a matter of hours.

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

  • When faced with criticism of her policies, the politician equivocated and left all parties thinking she agreed with them.

Erratic: wandering and unpredictable

  • The plot seemed predictable until it suddenly took a series of erratic turns that surprised the audience.

Erudite: learned, scholarly, bookish

  • The annual meeting of philosophy professors was a gathering of the most erudite, well-published individuals in the field.

Esoteric: known or understood by only a few

  • Only a handful of experts are knowledgeable about the esoteric world of particle physics.

 

E-F: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Estimable: admirable

  • Most people consider it estimable that Mother Teresa spent her life helping the poor of India.

Eulogy: speech in praise of someone

  • His best friend gave the eulogy, outlining his many achievements and talents.

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

  • The funeral director preferred to use the euphemism ‘sleeping’ instead of the word ‘dead’.

Exacerbate: to make worse

  • It is unwise to take aspirin to try to relieve heartburn; instead of providing relief, the drug will only exacerbate the problem.

Exculpate: to clear from blame; prove innocent

  • The adversarial legal system is intended to convict those who are guilty and exculpate those who are innocent.

Exigent: urgent; requiring immediate action

  • The patient was losing blood so rapidly that it was exigent to stop the source of the bleeding.

Exonerate: to clear of blame

  • The fugitive wad exonerated when another criminal confessed to committing the crime.

Explicit: clearly stated or shown; forthright in expression

  • The owners of the house left a list of explicit instructions detailing their house-sitter’s duties, including a schedule for watering the house plants.

Fanatical: acting excessively enthusiastic; filled with extreme, unquestioned devotion

  • The stormtroopers were fanatical in their devotion to the emperor, readily sacrificing their lives for him.

Fawn: to grovel

  • The understudy fawned over the director in hopes of being cast in the part on a permanent basis.

 

F-I: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Fervid: intensely emotional; feverish

  • The fans of Maria Callas were unusually fervid, doing anything to catch a glimpse of the great opera singer.

Florid: excessively decorated or embellished

  • The palace had been decorated in a florid style, every surface had been carved and gilded.

Foment: to arouse or incite

  • The protesters tried to foment feeling against the war through their speeches and demonstrations.

Frugality: a tendency to be thrifty or cheap

  • Scrooge McDuck’s frugality was so great that he accumulated enough wealth to fill a giant storehouse with money.

Garrulous: tending to talk a lot

  • The garrulous parakeet distracted its owner with continuous talking.

Gregarious: outgoing, sociable

  • She was so gregarious that when she found herself alone, she felt quite sad.

Guile: deceit or trickery

  • Since he was not fast enough to catch the roadrunner on foot, the coyote resorted to guile in an effort to trap his enemy.

Gullible: easily deceived

  • The con man pretended to be a bank officer so as to fool gullible bank customers into giving him their account information.

Homogenous: of a similar kind

  • The class was fairly homogenous, since almost all of the students were senior journalism majors.

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

  • His lack of regard for traditional beliefs soon established him as an iconoclast.

Imperturbable: not capable of being disturbed

  • The counselor had so much experience dealing with distraught children that she seemed imperturbable, even when faced with the wildest tantrums.

 

I: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Impervious: impossible to penetrate; incapable of being affected

  • A good raincoat will be impervious to moisture.

Impetuous: quick to act without thinking

  • It is not good for an investment broker to be impetuous, since much thought should be given to all possible options.

Implacable: unable to be calmed down or made peaceful

  • His rage at the betrayal was so great that he remained implacable for weeks.

Inchoate: not fully formed; disorganized

  • The ideas expressed in Nietzsche’s mature work also appear in an inchoate form in his earliest writing.

Ingenuous: showing innocence or childlike simplicity

  • She was so ingenuous that her friends feared that her innocence and trustfulness would be exploited when she visited the big city.

Inimical: hostile, unfriendly

  • Even though the children had grown up together, they were inimical to each other at school.

Innocuous: harmless

  • Some snakes are poisonous, but most species are innocuous and pose no danger to humans.

Insipid: lacking interest or flavor

  • The critic claimed that the painting was insipid, containing no interesting qualities at all.

Intransigent: uncompromising; refusing to be reconciled

Inundate: to overwhelm; to cover with water

  • The tidal wave inundated Atlantis, which was lost beneath water.

Irascible: easily made angry

  • Attila the Hun’s irascible and violent nature made all who dealt with him fear for their lives.

 

L-M: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Laconic: using few words

  • She was a laconic port who built her reputation on using words as sparingly as possible.

Lament: to express sorrow; to grieve

  • The children continued to lament the death of the goldfish weeks after its demise.

Laud: to give praise; to glorify

  • Parades and fireworks were staged to laud the success of the rebels.

Lavish: to give unsparingly (verb); extremely generous or extravagant (adjective) (link)

  • She lavished the puppy with so many treats that it soon became overweight and spoiled.

Lethargic: acting in an indifferent or slow, sluggish manner

  • The clerk was so lethargic that, even when the store was slow, he always had a long line in front of him.

Loquacious: talkative

  • She was naturally loquacious, which was a problem in situations in which listening was more important than talking.

Lucid: clear and easily understood

  • The explanations were written in a simple and lucid manner so that students were immediately able to apply what they learned.

Luminous: bright, brilliant, glowing

  • The park was bathed in luminous sunshine, which warmed the bodies and the souls of the visitors.

Malinger: to evade responsibility by pretending to be ill

  • A common way to avoid the draft was by malingering – pretending to be mentally or physically ill so as to avoid being taken by the Army.

Malleable: capable of being shaped

  • Gold is the most malleable of Precious metals; it can easily be formed into almost any shape.

 

M-O: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

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

  • The metaphor ‘a sea of troubles’ suggests a lot of troubles by comparing their number to the vastness of the sea.

Meticulous: extremely careful about details

  • To find all the clues at the crime scene, the investigators meticulously examined every inch of the area.

Misanthrope: person who dislikes others

  • The character Scrooge in ‘A Christmas Carol’ is such a misanthrope that even the sight of children singing makes him angry.

Mitigate: to soften, to lessen

  • A judge may mitigate a sentence if she decides that a person committed crime out of need.

Mollify: to calm or make less severe

  • Their argument was so intense that it was difficult to believe any compromise would mollify them.

Monotony: lack of variation

  • The monotony of the sound of the dripping faucet almost drove the research assistant crazy.

Naive: lacking sophistication or experience

  • Having never traveled before, the elementary school students were more naive than their high school counterparts on the field trip.

Obdurate: hardened in feeling; resistant to persuasion

  • The president was completely obdurate on the issue, and no amount of persuasion would change his mind.

Obsequious: overly submissive and eager to please

  • The obsequious new associate made sure to compliment her supervisor’s tie and agree with him on every issue.

Obstinate: stubborn, unyielding

  • The obstinate child could not be made to eat any food that he disliked.

 

O-P: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Obviate: to prevent; to make unnecessary

  • The river was shallow enough to wade across at many points, which obviated the need for a bridge.

Occlude: to stop up; to prevent the passage of

  • A shadow is thrown across the earth surface during a solar eclipse, when the light from the sun is occluded by the moon.

Onerous: troublesome and oppressive; burdensome

  • The assignment was so extensive and difficult to manage that it proved onerous to the team in charge of it.

Opaque: impossible to see through; preventing the passage of light

  • The heavy buildup of dirt and grime on the windows almost made them opaque.

Opprobrium: public disgrace

  • After the scheme to embezzle the elderly as made public, the treasurer resigned in utter opprobrium.

Ostentation: excessive showiness

  • The ostentation of the Sun King’s court is evident in the lavish decoration and luxuriousness of his palace at Versailles.

Paradox: a contradiction or dilemma

  • It is a paradox that those most in need of medical attention are often those least able to obtain it.

Paragon: model of excellence or perfection

  • She is the paragon of what a judge should be: honest, intelligent, hardworking, and just.

Pedant: someone who shows off learning

  • The graduate instructor’s tedious and excessive commentary on the subject soon gained her a reputation as a pendant.

Perfidious: willing to betray one’s trust

  • The actress’s perfidious companion revealed all of her intimate secrets to the gossip columnist.

 

P: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Perfunctory: done in a routine way; indifferent

  • The machinelike bank teller processed the transaction and gave the waiting customer a perfunctory smile.

Permeate: to penetrate

  • This miraculous new cleaning fluid is able to permeate stains and dissolve them in minutes!

Philanthropy: charity; a desire or effort to promote goodness

  • New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Arts owes much of its collection to the philanthropy of private collectors who willed their estates to the museum.

Placate: to soothe or pacify

  • The burglar tried to placate the snarling dog by saying ‘Nice doggy’ and offering it a treat.

Plastic: able to be molded, altered or bent

  • The new material was very plastic and could be formed into products of vastly different shapes.

Plethora: excess

  • Assuming that more was better, the defendant offered the judge a plethora of excuses.

Pragmatic: practical as opposed to idealistic

  • While daydreaming gamblers think they can get rich by frequenting casinos, pragmatic gamblers realize that the odds are heavily stacked against them.

Precipitate: to throw violently or bring about abruptly; lacking deliberation

  • Upon learning that the couple married after knowing each other only two months, friends and family members expected such a precipitate marriage to end in divorce.

Prevaricate: to lie or deviate from the truth

  • Rather than admit that he had overslept again, the employee prevaricated and claimed that heavy traffic had prevented him from arriving at work on time.

 

P-R: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Pristine: fresh and clean; uncorrupted

  • Since concerted measures had been taken to prevent looting, the archeological site was still pristine when researches arrived.

Prodigal: lavish, wasteful

  • The prodigal son quickly wasted all of his inheritance on a lavish lifestyle devoted to pleasure.

Proliferate: to increase in number quickly

  • Although she only kept two guinea pigs initially, they proliferated to such an extent that she soon had dozens.

Propitiate: to conciliate, to appease

  • The management propitiated the irate union by agreeing to raise wages for its members.

Propriety: correct behavior; obedience to rules and customs

  • The aristocracy maintained a high level of propriety, adhering to even the most minor social rules.

Prudence: wisdom, caution, or restraint

  • The college student exhibited prudence by obtaining practical experience along with her studies, which greatly strengthened her resume.

Pungent: sharp and irritating to the senses

  • The smoke from the burning tires was extremely pungent.

Quiescent: motionless

  • Many animals are quiescent over the winter months, minimizing activity in order to conserve energy.

Rarefy: to make thinner or sparser

  • Since the atmosphere rarefies as altitudes increase, the air at the top of very tall mountains is too thing to breathe.

Repudiate: to reject the validity of

  • The old woman’s claim that she was Russian royalty was repudiated when DNA tests showed she was of no relation to them.

Reticent: silent, reserved

  • Physically small and reticent in her speech, Joan Didion often went unnoticed by those upon whom she was reporting.

 

R-T: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Rhetoric: effective writing or speaking

  • Lincoln’s talent for rhetoric was evident in his beautifully expressed Gettysburg Address.

Satiate: to satisfy fully or overindulge

  • His desire for power was so great that nothing less than complete control of the country could satiate it.

Soporific: causing sleep or lethargy

  • The movie proved to be so soporific that soon loud snores were heard throughout the theater.

Specious: deceptively attractive; seemingly plausible but fallacious

  • The student’s specious excuse for being late sounded legitimate but was proved otherwise whet teacher called her home.

Stigma: a mark of shame or discredit

  • In ‘The Scarlet Letter’, Hester Prynne was required to wear the letter A on her clothes as a public stigma for her adultery.

Stolid: unemotional; lacking sensitivity

  • The prisoner appeared stolid and unaffected by the judge’s harsh sentence.

Sublime: lofty or grand

  • The music was so sublime that it transformed the rude surroundings into a special place.

Tacit: done without using words

  • Although not a word had been said, everyone in the room knew that a tacit agreement had been made about which course of action to take.

Taciturn: silent, not talkative

  • The clerk’s taciturn nature earned him the nickname ‘Silent Bob’.

Tirade: long, harsh speech or verbal attack

  • Observers were shocked at the manager’s tirade over such a minor mistake.

Torpor: extreme mental and physical sluggishness

  • After surgery, the patient experienced torpor until anesthesia wore off.

 

T-Z: Top GRE Words with Meanings and Examples

Transitory: temporary, lasting a brief time

  • The reporter lived a transitory life, staying in one place only long enough to cover the current story.

Vacillate: to sway physically; to be indecisive

  • The customer held up the line as he vacillated between ordering chocolate chip or rocky road ice cream.

Venerate: to respect deeply

  • In a traditional Confucian society, the young venerate their elders, deferring to the elders’ wisdom and experience.

Veracity: filled with truth and accuracy

  • She had a reputation for veracity, so everyone trusted her description of events.

Verbose: wordy

  • The professor’s answer was so verbose that his student forgot what the original question had been.

Vex: to annoy

  • The old man who loved his peace and quiet was vexed by his neighbor’s loud music.

Volatile: easily aroused or changeable; lively or explosive

  • His volatile personality made it difficult to predict his reaction to anything.

Waver: to fluctuate between choices

  • If you waver too long before making a decision about which testing site to register for, you may not get your first choice.

Whimsical: acting in a fanciful or capricious manner; unpredictable

  • The ballet was whimsical, delighting the children with its imaginative characters and unpredictable sets.

Zeal: passion, excitement

  • She brought her typical zeal to the project, sparking enthusiasm in the other team members.

Summary

For those who would like to take the GRE examination, it is important they learn these top words by heart in the order of their presentation such that they would be able to use them as the need may arise in the course of the examination. However, this post is not only beneficial to prospective GRE candidates; anyone who wishes to learn words and their meanings will find this post educative. See it as an avenue to learn some English words and their meanings. I am sure this post was of immense benefit to you. Share with your friends and send your comments. I am always glad and eager to hear from you. See some other educative posts on this site. See you around!

Reference

Kaplan, (2014) Graduate Record Examination. New York: Kaplan Publishing.

Author

  • Jaymz Boanerges

    I am a teacher of English. I have a passion is to impart the knowledge of the English language to the teeming populace in Nigeria and beyond, especially students at all levels of education, so that they can acquire both linguistic competence and linguistic performance in the language, gaining mastery of and comprehending the nitty-gritty of the language.

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