GRE

Mollify

verb make less rigid or softer; make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate; cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of

Idiosyncrasies

a mode of behavior or way of thought peculiar to an individual:

inauspicious

adj. not auspicious; boding ill; presaging ill fortune; contrary to your interests or welfare

prolific

adj. bearing in abundance especially offspring; intellectually productive

enigmatic

adj. resembling an oracle in obscurity of thought; not clear to the understanding

repudiates

refuse to accept or be associated with

Recapitulates

summarize and state again the main points of:

erudite

adj. having or showing profound knowledge

insular

adj. narrowly restricted in outlook or scope; suggestive of the isolated life of an island; relating to or characteristic of or situated on an island

cosmopolitan

adj. of worldwide scope or applicability; composed of people from or at home in many parts of the world; especially not provincial in attitudes or interests; growing or occurring in many parts of the world; noun a sophisticated person who has travelled in many countries

imperturbable

adj. not easily perturbed or excited or upset; marked by extreme calm and composure

fortuitous

adj. occurring by happy chance; having no cause or apparent cause

propitious

adj. giving or indicating a good chance of success; favorable:

impediment

noun any structure that makes progress difficult; something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress

superfluous

adj. more than is needed, desired, or required; serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being

maladroitness

noun unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training

beguile

verb attract; cause to be enamored; influence by slyness

conciliatory

adj. intended or likely to overcome animosity or hostility; making or willing to make concessions

divergent

adj. tending to move apart in different directions; diverging from another or from a standard

propitiate

verb make peace with

occlude

verb block passage through

presage

noun a foreboding about what is about to happen; a sign of something about to happen; verb indicate by signs

dilatory

adj. wasting time; inclined to waste time and lag behind; using cautious slow strategy to wear down opposition; avoiding direct confrontation

patent

adj. (of a bodily tube or passageway) open; affording free passage; clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment; noun a document granting an inventor sole rights to an invention; an official document granting a right or privilege; verb make open to sight or notice; obtain a patent for; grant rights to; grant a patent for

opaque

adj. not clear; not transmitting or reflecting light or radiant energy; not clearly understood or expressed

arcane

adj. requiring secret or mysterious knowledge

laudable

adj. worthy of high praise

exigent

adj. requiring precise accuracy; demanding attention

indefatigable

adj. showing sustained enthusiastic action with unflagging vitality

fastidious

adj. giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness; having complicated nutritional requirements; especially growing only in special artificial cultures

inscrutability

noun the quality of being impossible to investigate

immutable

adj. not subject or susceptible to change or variation in form or quality or nature

ubiquitous

adj. being present everywhere at once

interminable

adj. tiresomely long; seemingly without end

impugned

dispute the truth, validity, or honesty of (a statement or motive); call into question:

Extolled

praise enthusiastically:

prescient

adj. perceiving the significance of events before they occur

polemical

adj. of or involving dispute or controversy

venality

noun prostitution of talents or offices or services for reward

impudence

noun an impudent statement; the trait of being rude and impertinent; inclined to take liberties

brazen

adj. made of or resembling brass (as in color or hardness); unrestrained by convention or propriety; verb face with defiance or impudence

Nettle

irritate or annoy (someone):

objurgation

noun rebuking a person harshly

anomalous

adj. deviating from the general or common order or type

blighted

adj. affected by blight

raillery

noun light teasing repartee

inimical

adj. not friendly

affluence

noun abundant wealth

modish

adj. in the current fashion or style

sanguine

adj. confidently optimistic and cheerful; inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life; noun a blood

portentous

adj. of momentous or ominous significance; puffed up with vanity; ominously prophetic

dubious

adj. not convinced; fraught with uncertainty or doubt; open to doubt or suspicion

enfeeble

verb make weak

pejorative

adj. expressing disapproval

magnanimity

noun liberality in bestowing gifts; extremely liberal and generous of spirit

aplomb

noun great coolness and composure under strain

denigrate

verb charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone; cause to seem less serious; play down

germane

adj. having close kinship and appropriateness

dissembler

noun a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives

ascetic

adj. practicing great self

martinet

noun someone who demands exact conformity to rules and forms

sophist

noun any of a group of Greek philosophers and teachers in the 5th century BC who speculated on a wide range of subjects; someone whose reasoning is subtle and often specious

judicious

adj. marked by the exercise of good judgment or common sense in practical matters

acerbic

(especially of a comment or style of speaking) sharp and forthright:

prolix

adj. tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length

preternaturally

adv. in a supernatural manner

reticent

adj. reluctant to draw attention to yourself; temperamentally disinclined to talk; cool and formal in manner

blithely

adv. in a joyous manner

turgid

adj. abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas; ostentatiously lofty in style

truculent

adj. defiantly aggressive

torpid

adj. slow and apathetic; in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation

temerarious

adj. presumptuously daring

subsume

include or absorb (something) in something else:

debased

adj. lowered in value; ruined in character or quality; mixed with impurities

normative

adj. relating to or dealing with norms; pertaining to giving directives or rules

boon

adj. very close and convivial; noun a desirable state

repudiated

adj. any connection is denied

prevarication

noun the deliberate act of deviating from the truth; intentionally vague or ambiguous; a statement that deviates from or perverts the truth

affectation

noun a deliberate pretense or exaggerated display

indolence

noun inactivity resulting from a dislike of work

blighted

adj. affected by blight

shirk

verb avoid dealing with; avoid (one's assigned duties)

rapprochement

noun the reestablishing of cordial relations

solicitous

adj. showing hovering attentiveness; full of anxiety and concern

munificent

adj. very generous

irresolute

adj. uncertain how to act or proceed

laconic

adj. brief and to the point; effectively cut short

fastidious

adj. giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness; having complicated nutritional requirements; especially growing only in special artificial cultures

taciturn

adj. habitually reserved and uncommunicative

innocuous

adj. not injurious to physical or mental health; not causing disapproval; lacking intent or capacity to injure; unlikely to harm or disturb anyone

intractable

adj. not tractable; difficult to manage or mold

obviated

remove (a need or difficulty)

Forestalled

prevent or obstruct (an anticipated event or action) by taking action ahead of time:

inscrutable

adj. of an obscure nature

decorative

adj. serving an esthetic rather than a useful purpose

elucidation

noun an act of explaining that serves to clear up and cast light on; an interpretation that removes obstacles to understanding

retrenchment

noun the reduction of expenditures in order to become financial stable; entrenchment consisting of an additional interior fortification to prolong the defense

burgeoning

beginning to grow or increase rapidly; flourishing:

curtailment

noun the temporal property of being cut short; the reduction of expenditures in order to become financial stable; the act of withholding or withdrawing some book or writing from publication or circulation