GRE Vocabulary Part 3

Bullshit Vocab

Buttress

to support something; to reinforce it and give it strength

Mercurial

someone who changes their mood/mind from second to second; someone who is indecisive

Scintilla

a bit of something; a little dash of something

Sagacity

a high elevated wisdom and judgement

Crepuscular

refers to twilight dusk outside weather condition; when the sun is just set but the rays still seen and little bit of light peers over the horizon

Umbrage

to feel that someone has insulted you; taking offense at something

Adumbrate

to outline something beforehand; to foreshadow something that’s about to happen

Obfuscatory

to make intentionally unclear; hiding the truth from someone

Calumniate

to slender someone or give aspersions to

Recriminate

coming up with counter accusations

Equivocate

to be vague; going around an issue instead of solving it

Vituperate

to criticize harshly and severely/relentlessly

Intelligentsia

people who are engaged with shaping opinion; smartness; highly intelligent people

Cognoscenti

being an expect at something; knowing all the history about something

Utilitarian

a belief that believes a task that is good is the thing that helps or benefits the greatest number of people

Hoi Polloi

a sort of rebel or common folk; not an intelligentsia; the peasants in medieval times

Phantasmagorical

magic lanterns that lit up with shapes/monsters inscribed into them for a spooky effect; rapidly changing a scene to another scene

Parsimonious

a very stingy; don’t want to spend money on anything; being overly frugal

Frugal

spending money wisely

Salacious

refers to obscene material; pictures of scantily clad human being; equated w/ pornography

Curmudgeon

a grouchy person who’s irritable and gets easily angered at stuff or situations

Salutatory

to be welcoming; greeting salutations

Valedictory

to be non-welcoming; to end engagement with others; opposite of SALUTATORY

Scintillating

to be speaking and giving off brilliance; somebody who themselves who is filled with brilliance, insight and intelligence

Skinflint

someone who does not want to spend any money; someone who is cheap

Susurrate

a rustle or flow a stream that make a calming whistling sound

Gauche

someone who is socially clumsy; being awkward

Gregarious

someone who is flocking and sociable; liking to hang out with other people

Garrulity

someone who talks a lot (mother)

Gravitas

a very serious bearing; a very solemn, respectable serious fellow; being authoritative

Soporific

anything that allows you to sleep or drowsiness; something that makes someone tired

Demure

to be modest, quiet, polite or reserved

Egregious

something that is bad; something that is outstandingly bad

Table

to put aside for a later time or another occasion

Extrapolation

taking from one situation and trying to apply there to a more general situation; to take something unknown specific situation and try to generalize it

Slight

to insult someone

Oppugn

to call into question the validity of something or someone’s character

Traduce

to sling mud at; to slender; to say nasty, degrading things to someone; to vilify someone with words

Assiduous

to work hard; doing persistent work; doing your best on something

Besmirch

to ruin, dirty or soil somebody reputation

Promulgate

to make something officially known

Rescind

to take something away; to revoke; to cancel something

Cachet

the connotation of the name; a distinguishing mark of excellence; something cool or hip or chic

Austere

something that can be far more serious; serious dressing attire such as slacks and button-up shirt; very serious looking architecture

Autocratic

someone who rules with an iron fist; synonym for DICTATORIAL

Wherewithal

money, funds or anything you need to get the job done

Brevity

if something is brief

Saturnine

to be morose, gloomy and depressed; never smiling

Commodious

to be large; big building; roomie space

Intransigent

to remain firm grip; will not yield or bend to someone’s will; someone who never gives in easily