GRE 2026 Princeton Review Vocab Group 3

Acumen

Keen, accurate judgment or insight.

Adulterate

To reduce purity by combining with inferior ingredients.

Amalgamate

To combine several elements into a whole.

Archaic

Outdated; associated with an earlier time.

Aver

To state as a fact; to declare or assert.

Bolster

To provide support or reinforcement.

Bombastic

Pompous; grandiloquent.

Diatribe

A harsh denunciation.

Dissemble

To disguise or conceal; to mislead.

Eccentric

Departing from norms or conventions.

Pedantic

Overly concerned with trivial details or show-offish with knowledge.

Penury

Poverty; destitution.

Pervasive

Having the tendency to permeate or spread throughout.

Pine

To yearn intensely; to languish or lose vigor.

Pirate

To illegally use or reproduce.

Pith

The essential or central part.

Pithy

Precise and brief.

Placate

To appease; to calm by making concessions.

Platitude

A superficial remark offered as meaningful.

Plummet

To plunge or drop straight down.

Polemical

Controversial; argumentative.

Prodigal

Recklessly wasteful; extravagant; profuse.

Profuse

Given or coming forth abundantly; extravagant.

Proliferate

To grow or increase swiftly and abundantly.

Queries

Questions; inquiries; doubts in mind.

Querulous

Prone to complaining or grumbling; peevish.

Rancorous

Characterized by bitter, long-lasting resentment.

Recalcitrant

Obstinately defiant of authority; difficult to manage.

Repudiate

To refuse to have anything to do with; to disown.

Rescind

To invalidate; to repeal; to retract.

Reverent

Marked by or feeling profound awe and respect.

Rhetoric

The art of effective language for persuasion.

Salubrious

Promoting health or well-being.

Solvent

Able to meet financial obligations or dissolve substances.

Specious

Seeming true, but actually fallacious; misleadingly attractive.

Spurious

Lacking authenticity or validity; false; counterfeit.

Subpoena

A court order requiring appearance or testimony.

Succinct

Brief; concise.

Superfluous

Exceeding what is sufficient or necessary.

Surfeit

An overabundant supply; to feed to excess.

Tenacity

Persistent determination; quality of adherence.

Tenuous

Having little substance or strength; flimsy; weak.

Tirade

A long and extremely critical speech.

Transient

Fleeting; passing quickly; brief.

Endemic

Characteristic of or found in a particular locality or people.

Evanescent

Tending to disappear like vapor; vanishing.

Exacerbate

To make worse or more severe.

Fervent

Greatly emotional or zealous.

Fortuitous

Happening by accident or chance.

Germane

Relevant to the subject at hand; appropriate.

Grandiloquence

Pompous speech or expression.

Hackneyed

Rendered trite or commonplace by frequent usage.

Halcyon

Calm and peaceful.

Hedonism

Devotion to pleasurable pursuits.

Hegemony

The consistent dominance of one group over others.

Iconoclast

One who attacks traditional conventions or institutions.

Idolatrous

Given to intense or excessive devotion to something.

Impassive

Revealing no emotion.

Imperturbable

Marked by extreme calm and steadiness.

Implacable

Not capable of being appeased or changed.

Impunity

Immunity from punishment or penalty.

Inchoate

In an initial stage; not fully formed.

Infelicitous

Unfortunate; inappropriate.

Insipid

Lacking qualities that interest, stimulate, or challenge.

Loquacious

Extremely talkative.

Luminous

Characterized by brightness and emission of light.

Malevolent

Showing vicious ill will, spite, or hatred.

Malleable

Capable of being shaped or formed; tractable.

Mendacity

The condition of being untruthful; dishonesty.

Meticulous

Characterized by extreme care and precision.

Misanthrope

One who hates all other humans.

Mitigate

To make less severe or intense; to moderate.

Obdurate

Unyielding; hardhearted; intractable.

Obsequious

Exhibiting fawning attentiveness.

Occlude

To obstruct or block.

Opprobrium

Disgrace; contempt; scorn.

Pedagogy

The profession or principles of teaching.

zealous

eager, earnest, devoted to a cause