GRE vocab (easier words)

abhor

detest, regard with disgust

abjure

give up, renounce; repudiate, recant

abrasive

rough, suitable for grinding or polishing; causing irritation

abreast

side-by-side

abscission

cutting off, sudden termination

aceede

agree, give consent

acerbic

sour; harsh or severe

like anaerobic bacteria

acidulous

acid or sour; sharp or caustic

acumen

keen, quick, accurate insight or judgement

admonish

mildly scold, caution

adulterate

decrease the quality of something by adding inferior ingredients; make impure

adumbrate

give a rough outline of; foreshadow; reveal only partially

dumb something down or foreshadow to kind of hint at something

aerie

dwelling or fortress built on high place

affable

warm and friendly; pleasant

affectation

fake behavior adopted to give a certain impression

aggrandize

make greater; exaggerate

anachronism

Something that is not in its correct historical time; a mistake in chronology, such as by assigning a person or event to the wrong time period

analgesia

pain relief ; inability to feel pain

anoint

make sacred, such as by a ceremony that includes applying oil to someone

antedate

Be older than, precede in time; assign to an earlier date

antithetical

Directly opposed, opposite

ardent

Very passionate, devoted, or enthusiastic

ascetic

abstinent or austere in lifestyle; simple life without material pleasures

aseptic

free from germs

assail

attack violently, assult

balk

refuse to proceed or to do something

like “block” and gawk-ish attitude

banal

lacking originality; cliché

like banana

base

morally low, mean, dishonorable, no value

belie

contradict or misrepresent

beneficient

doing good

bent

personal inclination or tendency to

besiege

attack, overwhlem, crowd in on or surround

be seiged

bifurcate

to fork into two branches or divide into two halves

blight

blithe

bonhonmie

boor

bucolic

bureaucracy

burnish

buttress

calumny

capricious

cardinal

castigate

catholic

chicanery

circumscribe

clamber

cloying/cloy

coalesce

coda

cogent

confer

confound

console

conundrum

corroborate

cosmopolitan

covert

craven

debased

decorous

deleterious

delimit