Manhattan GRE Advanced 500

abase

(v) Degrade or humble; to lower in rank, status, or esteem

abeyance

(n) temporary suspension, inactivit

yabreast

(adj) Side-by-side. The more common "abreast of" means keeping up with, staying aware of, or remaining equal in progress with.

abscission

(n) Cutting off; sudden termination; the separation of leaves, petals, or other parts from a plant or animal

abscond

(v) Depart suddenly and secretivel

yabyss

(n) A deep and vast space or cavity; anything profound or infinite

accede

(v) Agree, give consent; assume power (usually as "accede to")

accretion

(n) Gradual increase; an added part or addition

acerbic

(adj) Sour; harsh or severe

acidulous

(adj) Slightly acid or sour; sharp or caustic (acidulous comments)

acumen

(n) Keen, quick, accurate insight or judgment

adulterate

(v) Make impure by adding inappropriate or inferior ingredients (ex. some bars adulterate premium liquor by pouring cheap stuff into it)

adumbrate

(v) Give a rough outline of (2) foreshadow (3) reveal only partially; obscure

aerie

(n) Dwelling or fortress built on a high place; the nest of a bird of prey, such as an eagle or hawk, built on a mountain or cliff

albeit

(conj) Although, even though (ex. the trip was fun albeit brief)

aloof

(adj) Distant physically or emotionally; reserved; indifferent

amalgamate

(v) Blend, merge, or unite (ex. amalgamate red and yellow to make orange)

ameliorate

(v) Improve; make better or more bearable

amortize

(v) Gradually pay off a debt, or gradually write off an asset (ex. a mortgage is a common form of amortized debt, spreading the payment across 30 years)

anachronism

(n) 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

(n) Pain relief; inability to feel pain

annul

(v) Make void or null, cancel, abolish (usually of laws or other established rules)

anodyne

Medicine that relieves pain (noun); soothing, relieving pain (adj)

antedate

(v) Be older than, precede in time; assign to an earlier date; precede/predate (ex. dinosaurs antedate the first human beings by about 85 million years)

antithetical

(adj) Directly opposed, opposite; involving antithesis (the rhetorical act of placing two phrases opposite one another for contrast, as in love me or hate me)

apostate

(n, adj) Person who deserts a party, cause, religion, etc.

apostle

(n) Pioneer of a reform movement (originally, an early follower of Jesus)

apposite

(adj) Highly appropriate, suitable, or relevant

apprise

(v) Inform, give notice to (ex. I can't believe you failed to apprise me that my child is a alien from another planet!)

approbation

(n) Praise or approval, especially formal approval (ex. she won the approbation of her peers by bringing them coffee everyday)

appropriate

(v) Set aside or authorize (such as money) for a particular purpose; take for one's own use \---------the school appropriated money for another fountain/ she appropriate my bag to make her feel fancy)

arbiter

(n) Judge, umpire, person empowered to decide matters at hand

ardent

(adj) Very passionate, devoted, or enthusiastic

arrogate

(v) Claim or take presumptuously or without the right to do so \---- the government arrogated their land

ascribe

(v) Assign or credit to a certain cause or source; attribute \---- she ascribed her good grades to ephedrine

aseptic

(adj) Free from germs

asperity

(n) Rigor, severity (2) harshness or sharpness of tone/temper (3) roughness of surface

aspersions

(n) Damaging remarks, defamation, slander (ex. KA is the definition of duplicitous, complimenting you to your face and saying aspersions about you behind your back!)

assail

(v) Attack violently, assault

assiduous

(adj) Persevering, diligent, constant; hard-working

attenuate

(v) Weaken or thin out

attuned

(adj) In harmony; in sympathetic relationship (ex. mothers are attuned to their babies cries)

augury

(n) Telling the future, such as through supernatural means

august

(adj) Venerable, majestic; inspiring admiration (Harvard is an august institution)

avarice

(n) Insatiable greed; a miserly desire to hoard wealth

axiom

(n) Self-evident truth requiring no proof; universally or generally accepted principle

balloon

(v) Swell or puff out; increase rapidl

ybanal

(adj) Lacking freshness and originality; cliché; trite

bane

(n) Something that ruins or spoils

baying

(adj) Howling in a deep way, like a dog or wolf

beneficent (be-nef-i-cent)

(adj) Doing or producing good: especially performing acts of kindness and charity (syn. goodhearted/kindhearted)

bent

(n) Personal inclination or tendenc

ybesiege

(v) Attack, overwhelm, crowd in on or surround (ex. I cannot go out this weekend, I'm besieged by homework)

bevy

(n) Group of birds or other animals that stay close together; any large group (Arts is just a bevy a retards)

bifurcate

(v,adj) To fork into two branches or divide into two halves

bilk

(v) Cheat or defraud (ex. she was bilked out of her money)

blight

Disease that kills plants rapidly, or any cause of decay or destruction (noun); ruin or cause to wither (verb)

blithe

(adj) Joyous, merry; (2) excessively carefree (so as to ignore more important concerns) (happy, cheerful is dated or literary)

bombastic

(adj) (Of speech or writing) far too showy or dramatic than is appropriate; pretentious; inflated/high-sounding but with little meaning

bonhomie

(n) Friendliness, open and simple good heartedness

brandish

(v) Shake, wave, or flourish, as a weapon

brook

(v) Suffer or tolerate

bucolic

(adj) Pertaining to shepherds; suggesting a peaceful and pleasant view of rural life

burnish

(v) Polish, make smooth and lustrous

calumny

(n) Malicious lie intended to hurt someone's reputation (ex. she uttered calumnies against her); the act of telling such lies; slander (ex. he was the target of calumny because everyone disliked him)

canard

(n) Rumor, a false or baseless stor

ycardinal

(a) Chief, most important

catholic

(adj) Universal, broad-minded, comprehensive (covering completely or broadly, inclusive) (ex. a catholic bathroom policy allowing any gender to enter)

chicanery

(n) Trickery, deception by knowingly false arguments

circumscribe

(v) Strictly limit a role, range of activity, or area; in math, to be constructed around so as to touch as many points as possible

circumspect

(adj) Cautious, prudent; careful to consider the circumstances and consequences

clamber

(v) Climb awkwardly or with difficulty, scramble

cloying

(adj) Disgustingly or distastefully sweet (or sentimental)

coagulate

(v) Cause a liquid to become solid or semisolid

coda

(n) Final part of a musical composition (2) an ending, esp. one that sums up what has come before (ex. falling into mud was the perfect coda to a horrible day)

coffer

(n) Chest for storing valuables; financial resources (funds), a treasur

ycollude

(v) Conspire; cooperate for illegal or fraudulent purposes

compendium

(n) Concise but complete summary (2) a list or collection

complaisant (NOT COMPLACENT)

(adj) Eager to please; cheerfully complying

confound

(v) Confuse, frustrate; (2)mix up; fail to distinguish (3)make worse (she was confounded by the sign that said starbucks but the inside was a bookstore/don't confound fact and fiction/yelling only confounded the argument)

connote

(v) Suggest or imply in addition to the precise, literal meaning (ex. "titanic" has a negative connotation)

contraries

(n) Things that are opposing/something that is opposite; either of two opposite things

contrite

(adj) Remorseful; feeling sorry for one's offenses or sins

contumacious

(adj) Rebellious; stubbornly disobedient (ex. contumacious teenager)

convoke

(v) Call together, as to a meeting

cosset

(v) Treat as a pet, pamper(to treat with extreme or excessive care and attention)

coterie

(n) Close or exclusive group, clique

cupidity

(n) Greed, great or excessive desire (excessive desire, esp. for wealth)

curmudgeon (CUR-MU-JEN)

(n) Bad-tempered, difficult person; grouch

declaim

(v) Speak in an impassioned, pompous, or oratorical manner; give a formal speech

declivity

(n) Downward slope

delimit

(v) Fix, mark, or define the boundaries of

demagogue

(n) A leader who lies and gains power by arousing the passions and especially prejudices of the people

demur

(v) Show reluctance or object (to express disapproval or disagreement), especially for moral reasons

desultory

(adj) Lacking consistency or order, disconnected, sporadic (2) going off topic; digression

diaphanous

(adj) Very sheer, fine, translucent

dichotomy

(n) Division into two parts or into two contradictory groups

dictum

(n) Formal or authoritative pronouncement(anouncement or declaration); saying or proverb

diffident

(adj) Lacking confidence, sh

ydiffuse

Spread widely, disseminate (verb); dispersed, widely spread out (2) long-winded, wordy (adj)