GRE Words 1 (Demarcate) (Xnegate) (Prodigious) (Congenial v Congenital) (Imbroglio) (Ineffable)

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Peculation

theft of public money or goods for personal use (Joshua4Congress/Santos)

kleptomania vs kleptocracy (bxld)

insane impulse to steal vs government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed (basically, government of corrupt thieves)

nymphomania vs satyromania

when a woman is horny af vs when a man is horny af

megalomania

hunger for power

equinox/equinoctial vs solstice

either of the two times each year (as about March 21 and September 23) when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are everywhere on earth of approximately equal length … aka sun closest to equator

(in contrast, a solstice is either of the two moments in the year when the sun's apparent path is farthest north or south from the equator aka longest/shortest day … aka sun furthest from equator)

nescience

ignorance

convalescent

recovering/recuperating

dipsomaniac

alcoholic

uxorious

adoring one's wife

patrimony vs patronym(ic)

heritage (aka anything derived from one's father or ancestors such as culture/tradition. patrimony and heritage do NOT mean “ancestry”, which only means bloodline/lineage) vs a name derived from that of the father or a paternal ancestor usually by the addition of an affix (such as Peterson from Peter)

diagnosis vs prognosis (think prognostication)

identification vs forecast/projection/prognostication

subjugate (1st meaning)

to conquer/vanquish/subdue/defeat

sojourn

a quick/temporary stay

quarry

prey

propinquity (2 meanings)

proximity/closeness (time or space) or kinship

progeny

posterity

perpetrate

to initiate/commit (usually negative connotation)

paroxysm (2 similar meanings) (bxld)

spasm or (out)burst

parable

fable/allegory

matron

a well-to-do mature woman

manifold

many

lucrative

profitable (good for business)

liquidate

to "get rid of" (can include kill)

jostle

to push or to elbow (think of a massive crowd)

gesticulate

Bernie

garbled

unclear/distorted (and 1 meaning of muddy)

gamut

spectrum

fray

fight/struggle/conflict/clash/battle

edifice

building

dregs (ok)

“the most undesirable part”

domicile

home

debacle/fiasco (bxld)

catastrophe/disaster/failure

commodious/capacious

roomy

bona fide

genuine/authentic

advent

arrival

abortive

unsuccessful/futile

repast (noun/verb)

(to) feast

cache (noun meaning)

stash

(en)shroud (v/n)

to cover/envelop or cover

efface/self-effacing (2 meanings)

erase or shyly hide/modest

peddle

to travel and sell/spread

outstrip

to surpass/exceed

ostensible/ostensive & putative (bxld)

apparent/seeming/supposed (alleged/purported/reputed)

apocryphal/spurious/specious

untrue/fabricated, unsubstantiated/illegitimate, doubtful/false (claims)

factitious

artificial/ersatz or not genuine

ersatz

artificial

dubious (1 meaning)

doubtful

simulacrum

imitation (not the real thing)

$ pretext vs pretense (2 meanings) vs pretension (3 meanings) (10) (ok)

excuse vs appearance/act or false excuse (like pretext) [thus, associate with artificial] vs pretentiousness/affectation (aka overly trying to impress), excuse/doubtful allegation (like pretext aka suggesting subterfuge), or goal/aspiration (that likely won’t be achieved)

guise/semblance

appearance (everything is not what it seems)

milieu

environment/atmosphere

zeitgeist

the spirit of the times

makeshift

crude substitute (inferior expedient adopted because of urgent need or allowed through indifference)

lurid (3) vs garish (1) and gaudy (2)

overly vivid and sensationalized/melodramatic (also associate with gruesome; horrible; revolting, shocking … also associate grisly with this!) vs overly vivid/tacky (ostentatious) (and gaudy can also be used like outlandish [similar to sensationalized] a la gaudy lies/claims)

lucid (3 meanings)

cogent/clear or bright/luminous or translucent

histrionic/melodrama

the state of being melodramatic - sensationalization/overexaggeration

lissome/limber/supple/lithe

agile, graceful

levy (noun/verb) (2 meanings) vs foist

tax/to impose vs to force/impose/thrust

larceny

theft

jettison (one meaning more figurative than the other)

to discard [including to throw or drop (something) from an aircraft or ship] or to omit/forgo

forgo

to omit/do without/renounce

inter

to bury

inquest/inquisition

inquiry/investigation

inordinate

excessive

incarnadine/vermillion

bloodred

hew/hewn (2 meanings)

to cut/chop or to conform/adhere (to) (status quo/tradition) (often said “hew/hewn to the line”)

glower

glare/scowl

gestate

to birth/develop

hark/harkens vs "harkens back" (also spelled hearkens)

listen vs recalls/reminiscent (reminds of)

frenetic

frantic/frenzied

ford

to cross a narrow body of water

epicure

gourmand aka food connoisseur

doff

the opposite of don

distaff

of or concerning women

declaim

to speak passionately (~preach)

dogmatic

fixed/inflexible conceptually (like doctrinaire) [not practical]

pompous (2 meanings)

over-the-top (aka bombastic) AND arrogant

tumid/turgid (2 meanings)

pompous/bombastic or distended

bombastic

pompous/over-the-top

counterpoint

opposite/antithesis (for contrasting purposes) ... also think dichotomy/juxtaposition

acclivity vs declivity

upward slope vs downward slope

physiognomy

face/facial expression/appearance

disposition vs demeanor/mien

temperament/mood vs outward behavior/appearance

coterie

exclusive clique (group of comrades)

cadre

group

cabal

elite coterie/faction/clique

convoke/convene

to call/get together

to clamber

to scramble (like a crab)

brandish (2 usages) (ok)

to wave around (such as a weapon) or, extremely similarly, to ostentatiously exhibit (aka not literally wave around) such as one’s intellect

thus, one literal meaning and one figurative meaning

bonhomie (noun)

friendliness/amiability/friendship

bevy

a large group, like legion

baying

howling/shouting

august

revered/eminent

aseptic (2 definitions)

"lacking vitality or emotion or warmth" and free of germs

arbiter/arbitrator

judge

amortize

to pay off

aerie

a nest/dwelling located high up in the hills

accede/assent

to agree/agreement

conversant (to be conversant with) & au courant (to be au courant with)

to be up-to-date with

abreast (2 definitions) (keep abreast of)

to keep up-to-date on and also alongside