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August 16, 2018 03:21
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GRE vocabulary map
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| repeated too often as to lose meaning | |
| - banal | |
| - trite | |
| - platitude (a trite remark) | |
| - hackneyed (lacking significance from overuse) | |
| - bromide (a trite or obvious remark) | |
| dull | |
| - insipid (lacking flavour or interest) | |
| - prosaic (dull and lacking imagination) | |
| - jejune (dull; lacking flavour; immature; childish) - jejunus means fasting | |
| - prolix (too verbose) | |
| - obtuse (of a person, slow to understand) - rounded or blunt; not sharp | |
| - vacuous (devoid of intelligence, matter, or significance) | |
| - fatuous (dumb) | |
| insignificant conversation | |
| - garrulous (full of trivial conversation) | |
| - palaver (to speak rapidly and incessantly about unimportant matters) | |
| favourable | |
| - fortuitous | |
| - propitious (indicating a good chance of success; favourable; auspicious) | |
| unfavourable | |
| - untoward (inconvenient) | |
| - portentous (ominously prophetic) | |
| happy | |
| - beatific (blissfully happy) | |
| - sanguine (cheerful; optimistic) | |
| - ebullient (overflowing with joy; exhuberant) | |
| - euphoria (a feeling of great elation) | |
| - effervescent (bubbly; ebulient) - effervescere in Latin means boiling (ferv means hot) | |
| sad | |
| - saturnine (morose or gloomy) | |
| - doleful (filled with or evoking sadness) | |
| - elegiac (expressing sorrow; as in an elegy) - elegos in Greek means a poem or song of lament | |
| - lachrymose (showing sorrow) | |
| - bereft (unhappy in love; suffering from unrequited love; sorrow from deprivation) - leave and left | |
| stubborn | |
| - obdurate | |
| - obstinate | |
| - refractory (not responsive) | |
| - recalcitrant (uncooperative towards authority) | |
| - incorrigible (not reformable through punishment, of a person) | |
| - intransigent (refusing to change views) | |
| - adamant | |
| - inveterate (habitually, unlikely to change) | |
| - inexorable (impossible to persuade, or just inevitable) | |
| - obstreperous (noisily and stubbornly defiant) | |
| - gumption (resourcefulness and determination) | |
| guileless | |
| - ingenuous | |
| - artless | |
| - winsome (charming in a childlike or naive manner) | |
| nervous | |
| - unnerve (to make nervous or upset) | |
| - restive (edgy or anxious) | |
| deceit | |
| - specious (appearing true but is not) | |
| - spurious (founded on illogical reasoning or false facts) | |
| - fallacious (founded on incorrect reasoning) | |
| - mendacious (given to lying) | |
| - perfidious (given to betrayal) | |
| - prevaricate (to purposely mislead with lies) | |
| - facetious (inappropriately humourous or sarcastic; flippant) | |
| - apocryphal (of a story or statement having questionable authenticity, although widely circulated as true) | |
| - dupe (to trick or swindle, or a person who is easily duped) | |
| - fleece (to deceive) | |
| - glib (speaking with ease but without sincerity) | |
| - mulct (to defraud or swindle) - milking you by taking your money; extorted | |
| - quisling (a traitor) - Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian politician, volunteered to help occupying Nazis rule Norway | |
| - charlatan (a flamboyant deceiver) | |
| - duplicity (deceitfulness) - du- means two or duo; Latin for twofold, having two parts | |
| - artifice (cunning tricks used to deceive others) - a skilled piece of workmanship | |
| corruption | |
| - venal (susceptible to bribes) | |
| - graft (corruption, usually through bribery) | |
| honest | |
| - forthright (direct in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion) | |
| - forthcoming (straightforward and free from deceit) | |
| - aboveboard (open and honest) | |
| stealth | |
| - surreptitious (stealthy) | |
| command | |
| - proscribe (command against) | |
| - sanction (either to authoritatively command against or allow) | |
| - enjoin (official demand or instruction) | |
| - adjure (official request) | |
| - peremptory (bossy and domineering) | |
| - countermand (to issue a command cancelling a previous one) | |
| quiet or lacking activity | |
| - quiescent | |
| - stolid (having little expression) | |
| - impassive (passive) | |
| - enervate (drin energy or vitality, especially mentally) | |
| - placid (not easily irritated) | |
| timid | |
| - diffident (timid) | |
| - timorous | |
| - retiring (shy and fond of being on one's own) | |
| - docile | |
| - self-effacing (reluctant to draw attention to oneself; erasing self) | |
| calmness | |
| - equanimity (composure) | |
| - sangfroid (calmness or poise in difficult situations) - cold blood in French | |
| - unflappable (not easily perturbed; extremely calm) | |
| - aplomb (great coolness and composure under strain) - a plomb in French means poised upright, balanced | |
| - halcyon (idyllically calm and peaceful) - halcyon bird story in Greek mythology that has the power to calm ocean waves | |
| tired | |
| - languid (lacking spirit or liveliness) | |
| - languish (to become feeble) - languere in Latin means to be weak or faint | |
| - lassitude (weariness) | |
| - torpor | |
| - anemic (lacking energy and vigor) - anaimia in Greek means lack of blood | |
| - stultify (to cause, through routine, to lose energy and enthusiasm) - | |
| attribution and participation | |
| - impute (to attribute to) | |
| - complicit (associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of questionable nature) | |
| guilt | |
| - exculpate (officially find someone not guilty) | |
| - contrition (guilty feeling) | |
| - culpable (deserving blame) | |
| - indict (to formally accuse of wrong-doing) | |
| - impeach (to charge someone with doing something wrong, especially a high government official) | |
| likeable | |
| - amiable | |
| - affable | |
| - genial | |
| - convivial (describing a lively atmosphere) - convivium is Latin for a feast | |
| - expansive (communicative, and prone to talking in a sociable manner) | |
| negative | |
| - derisive (expressing contempt or ridicule; belittling) | |
| - derogative (expressed as worthless or in negative terms) | |
| harsh | |
| - acerbic (harsh in tone) | |
| - viriolic (caustic in tone) - vitriol means a metal sulphate | |
| - mordant (biting and caustic in manner; grim or dark) - mordere is Latin for to bite or sting | |
| - asperity (harshness of manner) | |
| hard to understand | |
| - recondite | |
| - abstruse | |
| - involved (complicated) | |
| - convoluted (mixed in a complicated manner) | |
| - cryptic (mysterious or vague, usually intentionally) | |
| - byzantine (intricate and complex) | |
| clear | |
| - lucid | |
| - pellucid | |
| approval | |
| - approbation (offical approval) | |
| - palatable (acceptable to the taste or mind) | |
| hostility | |
| - acrimony (bitterness and ill will) | |
| - askance (with an attitude or look of suspicion or disapproval) | |
| - decry (to express strong disapproval of) - descrier in Old French means to cry out or announce | |
| - enmity (a state of deep seated ill-will) - Latin root same as enemy, stronger than animosity | |
| - antipathy | |
| - animosity (intense hostility) | |
| scold or criticize | |
| - chastise | |
| - upbraid | |
| - reproach (mild criticism) | |
| - lambast (to criticize harshly) | |
| - polemic (a strong verbal or written attack) | |
| - rebuke (criticize severely) | |
| - censure | |
| - tirade (an angry speech) | |
| - screed (an abusive and often tedious rant) | |
| - carping (persistently petty and unjustified criticism; difficult to please) | |
| - diatribe (a strong verbal attack against a person or institution) | |
| - remonstrate (to make objections while pleading) - Latin root of "to show", meaning to make the injustice plain | |
| - excoriate (to criticize very harshly) - to tear skin off by chafing | |
| - objurgate (to express strong disapproval of) - obiurgare in Latin means to chide or rebuke | |
| attack | |
| - assail (attack in speech or writing) | |
| - impugn (to attack as false or wrong) - pugnare in Latin means to fight | |
| abuse | |
| - vituperative (bitter and abusive, as in an outburst) - usually adj form | |
| - invective (insulting, abusive, or highly critical language) - usually n form, Latin for abusive, sharp v's | |
| insult | |
| - demean (to insult) | |
| - execrate (to curse and hiss at) - means opposite of being sacred or devoted to (secr) | |
| to cause someone to lose dignity or respect | |
| - denigrate (charge falsely with malicious intent) | |
| - calumny (false statement meant to damage reputation) | |
| - vilify (to spread negative information about) - to turn into a villain | |
| - besmirch (damage the good name and reputation of someone) | |
| generosity | |
| - largess | |
| - munificent | |
| - magnanimous (forgiving especially towards a rival or less powerful person) | |
| - unstinting (very generous) - not limited to a stint | |
| mundane | |
| - quotidian | |
| very concerned with details | |
| - meticulous | |
| - punctilious (marked by precise accordance with details) - puntiglio is Italian for fine point | |
| overly concerned with details; fussy | |
| - fastidious | |
| - pedantic (focusing on or displaying of trivial learnings) | |
| sophistication | |
| - gauche (lacking in social grace) | |
| - provincial (lacking sophistication) | |
| - urbane (refined from wide social experience) | |
| - boorish (ill-mannered and coarse in behaviour or appearance) | |
| - churlish (lacking manners or refinement) - deliberately rude | |
| a socially awkward act | |
| - gaffe | |
| - solecism | |
| scope | |
| - eclectic (derived from a range of styles) | |
| - parochial (narrowly restricted in scope or outlook) | |
| - catholic (of broad scope; universal) | |
| - blinkered (having limited outlook or understanding) | |
| - coterminous (of equal extent or scope or duration) - co - terminal = together ending | |
| relating to the countryside | |
| - pastoral (related to the contryside in a pleasant sense) | |
| - bucolic (related to the countryside in a pleasant sense) | |
| - rustic (related to the countryside) | |
| tendency or liking | |
| - predilection (a strong liking) | |
| - penchant | |
| prejudice | |
| - misogynist (someone who hates women in particular) | |
| - misanthrope (someone who hates humankind and society) | |
| - anathema (a detested person; the source of somebody's hate) | |
| - jaundiced (to be biased against due to envy or prejudice) | |
| - tendentious (bias favouring a controversial view) - root shard with tendency | |
| - invidious (full ill will and prejudice) - Latin root of hostile | |
| obsequience | |
| - sycophant (someone who acts obsequiously) | |
| - ingratiate (to gain favour deliberately, often obsequiously) | |
| - fawn (to gain favour by extreme flattery) | |
| - kowtow (to act in an excessively subservient manner) | |
| - hagiographic (like a hagiography, excessively idolizing someone's life or work) - hagio = holy, graphy = writing | |
| - complaisant (willing to please others, in a positive way) - don't confuse with complacent | |
| to make less severe | |
| - mitigate | |
| - ameliorate | |
| - mollify (appease the anger or anxiety; soothe) | |
| - appease | |
| - propitiate | |
| - assuage | |
| - extenuating (making less guilty or more forgivable) | |
| self denial and discipline | |
| - ascetic (practicing self-denial) | |
| - abstemious (self denial of food and drink) | |
| - martinet (a strict disciplinarian; a stickler for rules) - Jean Martinet, a legendary drillmaster for France during the reign of Louis XIV | |
| - spartan (unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgement) | |
| - dissolution (a living full of debauchery and indulgence in sensual pleasure) - dissolute means unrestrained | |
| harmful | |
| - insidious (proceeding in a gradual, subtle manner but with very harmful effects) | |
| - pernicious (subtly harmful) | |
| - inimical (harmful, especially of the environment) | |
| dishonour | |
| - ignoble (dishonourable) | |
| - opprobrium (public shame from shameful conduct, or harsh criticism) | |
| - sordid (involving ignoble actions and motives; foul and run-down and repulsive) | |
| to bring about | |
| - engender (give rise to) | |
| - elicit (evoke or draw out) | |
| to hinder | |
| - stymie (to hinder or prevent progress) | |
| encourage or urge on | |
| - exhort (to strongly urge on; encourage) | |
| - goad (urge with unpleasant comments) - a pointy stick used to prod something along, gad meant spearhead | |
| partial understanding | |
| - inchoate (just begun and so notfully formed or developed) | |
| - inkling (a slight or vague understanding) | |
| - embryonic | |
| plentiful | |
| - glut | |
| - profuse | |
| - raft (a large number of something) | |
| - replete (completely stocked with something) | |
| - flush | |
| - appreciable (large enough to be noticed; significant) | |
| - surfeit (an excessive amount of something) | |
| lacking | |
| - dearth (a lack or shortage) | |
| - paucity | |
| - smatternig (a slight or superficial understanding of a subject; a small amount of something) | |
| - exiguity (the quality of being meager) | |
| - modicum (a small or moderate or token amount) | |
| glowing | |
| - lambent (glowing or flickering with a soft radiance) | |
| - scintillating (sparkingly or shining brightly) | |
| wandering | |
| - desultory (purposeless or lacking enthusiasm) | |
| - errant (deviating from accepted standards) | |
| - meander | |
| - maunder (to talk in a rambling mutter; to wander aimlessly) | |
| animal words... | |
| - badger (to pester) | |
| - ferret (to search) | |
| - dog (to hunt for persisently) | |
| - hound (to hunt for persistently) | |
| eager to fight | |
| - pugnacious (eager to fight or argue) | |
| - belligerent (hostile and aggressive) | |
| - truculent (aggressively defiant) | |
| - bellicose (warlike) | |
| - virago (an ill-tempered or violent woman) | |
| - surly (inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace) | |
| mix | |
| - hodgepodge (a confusing mixture or jumble) | |
| - welter (a messy pile) | |
| - imbroglio (a complicated or confusion personal situation) - Italian for entanglement | |
| - conflate (to mix together different elements or concepts, often in a confusing way) - conflare in Latin means to blow together | |
| highest point | |
| - heyday (pinnacle or top of a time period or career) | |
| - zenith | |
| - summit | |
| - apogee | |
| - apotheosis (exlatation to divine status; the highest point of development) - theos = god, apo = from -> from god | |
| lowest point | |
| - nadir | |
| peculiar behaviour | |
| - idiosyncratic (peculiar or individual) | |
| - foible (minor weakness or eccentricity) | |
| anger | |
| - irascible (quickly aroused to anger) - ire in Latin means anger | |
| - incense (to make furious) | |
| - choleric (prone to outbursts of temper; easily angered) | |
| - bilious (irritable; always angry) - bile | |
| - umbrage (anger from being offended) - umbra is Latin for shade, shadow; casting a shadow over the offending person | |
| - bristle (to react in an offended or angry manner) | |
| irritation and annoyance | |
| - irk | |
| - exasperate | |
| - petulant (easiliy irritable) | |
| - peevish (easily irritated or annoyed) | |
| - placid (not easily irritated) | |
| - rile (to cause annoyance; disturb via minor irritations) | |
| - fractious (irritable and is likely to cause disruption) | |
| - curmudgeon (a grouchy, surly person) - get off my lawn | |
| - nettlesome (causing irritation or annoyance) - barbed seed that gets stuck in clothing or hair | |
| - splenetic (very irritable) - related to spleen like how bile = anger | |
| plots | |
| - connive (take part in immoral and unethical plots) | |
| - contrive (to create a clever plot using skill and artifice) | |
| - finagle (to achieve something by trickery or devious methods) | |
| - machinate (to plot or enter a conspiracy) | |
| slightly disreptuable; dashing; jaunty | |
| - rakish | |
| - raffish (unconventional and slightly disreputable, especially in an attractive manner; dapper) | |
| - debonair (having a sophisticated charm) | |
| duty | |
| - incumbent (necessary for someone as a duty or responsibility) | |
| - behoove (to be one's duty or obligation) | |
| - desideratum (something must-have) - object of desire | |
| limitations | |
| - hamper (to prevent the progress or free movement of) | |
| - circumscribe (to restrict something within limits) | |
| - wanton (without check or limitation) - wan = lacking, togen = to train, discipline, lacking discipline | |
| - hobble (to hold back the progress of something) | |
| - immure (to confine, as in a jail) - -mur- is the root for wall | |
| - untrammeled (not confined or limited) - trammel means restriction, a type of fishing net, tremaculum is Latin for a net made of three layers | |
| - bridle (to restrain power or limiting excess) - bridel in Old English means rein, curb, restraint | |
| holiness | |
| - consecrate (to make holy or set apart for a high purpose) | |
| - desecrate (to treat with violent disrespect; defile) | |
| poor | |
| - penurious | |
| - indigent | |
| - impecunious (pecunia means money) | |
| - mendicant (someone who begs) | |
| arrogant | |
| - cavalier (snobby; regarding others as inferior) - caballus, Latin for horse, as sitting on a high horse | |
| - sanctimonious (making a show of being pious; holier-than-thou) | |
| - supercilious (haughty and disdainful) | |
| - overweening (arrogant; presumptuous) | |
| - sententious (moralizing, usually in a pompous sense) - used to mean full of wisedom, distilled down to a sentence | |
| - magisterial (offensively self-assured, or exercising unwarranted power) - like a magister | |
| - hubris | |
| - imperious (arrogant superiority) | |
| - hauteur (overbearing pride evidenced by superior manner) | |
| - turgid (pompous and tedious; swollen) - turgidus in Latin means swollen, inflated | |
| - pontificate (talk in a condescending manner) | |
| pretentious | |
| - ostentatious | |
| - grandiloquent (pretentious or being fancy, usually referring to the way a person behaves or speaks) | |
| - tawdry (tastelessly showy; cheap and shoddy) | |
| cautious | |
| - leery (openly distrustful and unwilling to confide) | |
| - chary (cautious, suspiciously reluctant to do something) - cearig is Old English for sorrowful, careful | |
| intimidate | |
| - cow (to intimidate) | |
| - hector (to bully or intimidate) | |
| - browbeat (to be bossy twoards; discourage or frighten in a domineering manner) | |
| elaboration | |
| - exegesis (critical explanation or analysis, especially of a text) | |
| morality | |
| - base (without any moral principles) | |
| - turpitude (depravity; a depraved act) - turpitudo in Latin means repulsiveness | |
| idealistic | |
| - Pollyannaish (pleasantly, extremely optimistic) | |
| - quixotic (wildly unrealistic) | |
| insignificant | |
| - picayune (trifling or petty, as in a person) | |
| - venial (excusable; not a big deal) | |
| censor (removal of partial information) | |
| - censor (to remove questionable material) | |
| - expurgate (to remove objectionable material) | |
| - bowdlerize (to edit offensive parts out of something) - Dr. T. Bowdler published a version of Shakespeare without sexual references or double-entendres | |
| revoke | |
| - abjure (to formally reject or give up, as a belief) - ab = away, jurare = to swear | |
| - abrogate (revoke or relinquish formally) | |
| greed | |
| - avaricious (avere means to crave) | |
| - cupidity | |
| melodramatic | |
| - histrionic (to be overly theatric) | |
| - mawkish (disgustingly sentimental) | |
| - maudlin (overly emotional and sad) - from Mary Magdalene, a character from the Bible represented as a weeping sinner | |
| - lugubrious (excessively mournful) - lugere in Latin means to mourn | |
| new money | |
| - arriviste (a person who recently reached a position of power; a social climber) | |
| - parvenu (a person who has suddenly become wealthy, but not socially accepted as part of a higher class) - parvenir, French for arrived | |
| dilligent | |
| - assiduous | |
| - sedulous (done diligently and carefully, an uncommon word) | |
| foretelling | |
| - prescience (ability to tell the future) | |
| - prognostication (a statement made about the future) | |
| - provident (planning carefully for the future) - providere in Latin means to foresee, provide | |
| foreboding | |
| - presentiment (a feeling of evil to come) | |
| - baleful (threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments) | |
| impudence | |
| - audacity | |
| - temerity (fearless daring) - temeritas is from temere, which is Latin for by chance, rashly | |
| - impetuous (characterized by undue haste) | |
| wise | |
| - sage | |
| - precocious (maturity beyond one's years) | |
| - perspicacious (shrewd and wise) - perspicere in Latin means to look closely | |
| eagerness | |
| - alacrity (willing and eager) - alacritas in Latin | |
| - celerity (speed, rapidity) - celer in Latin means swift | |
| exemption | |
| - perquisite (an exclusive right reserved by a particular group) - perks | |
| - dispensation (dispensing; an exemption from a rule or obligation) | |
| appropriate | |
| - impertinent (disrespectful from improperly forward or bold) | |
| - germane (relevant) | |
| - apposite (remarkably appropriate) - appositus and apponere in Latin where ponere means to place, so apponere means well placed | |
| - flippant (showing inappropriate levity) | |
| - anachronism (misfitting the time) - ana- = against, chron- = time in Greek, meaning against time | |
| - infelicitous (not felicitous; inappropriate) | |
| carefree | |
| - insouciance (lack of concern) - in se soucier in French means not to care | |
| - nonchalant (uninsterested or unconcerned; overly casual) | |
| aphorism | |
| - pith (the essence of something) | |
| - pithy (brief but full of substance) - pith is the spongy tissue in plant stems | |
| - aphoristic (like an aphorism; concise and instructive of a general truth or principle) | |
| - apothegm (a short, pithy instructive saying) | |
| - epigram (a short, clever remark) | |
| support | |
| - buttress | |
| - appurtenant (supplying added support) - pertinent can be used similarly | |
| tolerance | |
| - brook (to put up with something unpleasant) | |
| embarrassment | |
| - chagrin (storng feelings of embarrassment) - French for melancholy, anxiety, vexation | |
| praised | |
| - panegyric (a formal expression of praise) - panegyris meant a public gathering in honour of a Greek god | |
| - exalted | |
| - vaunted (highly or widely praised or boasted about) - vanus in Latin means vain or empty | |
| - estimable (deserving esteem and respect) | |
| - fete (to celebrate a person) | |
| newb / beginner | |
| - fledgling | |
| - tyro (someone new to a field or activity) | |
| - callow (young and inexperienced) | |
| productive | |
| - voluble (of writing or speaking easily and continuously) - volvere in Latin means to roll | |
| - fecud (intellectually productive; highly fertile) - fecundus in Latin means fruitful | |
| internal conflcit | |
| - factious (relating to internal dissension - factions) | |
| - internecine (of conflict within a group or organization) - inter = among, necare = to kill | |
| anounce | |
| - promulgate (to state or announce) | |
| imitation | |
| - ersatz (phony substitute) - ersetzen in German means to replace | |
| - simulacrum (fake version of something real) - simulare in Latin means to make like | |
| teasing | |
| - arch (deliberately teasing) | |
| - raillery (light teasing) - to rail is to complain, Middle French root of railler means to tease or joke | |
| inevitable | |
| - ineluctable (impossible to avoid or evade) | |
| humour | |
| - lampoon (to ridicule with satire) | |
| - sardonic (scornful and mocking in a humorous way) - Sardonios in Greek is a plant from Sardinia that contorted your face into a horrible grin before the poison killed you | |
| - ribald (humourously vulgar) - to indulge in licentious pleasure | |
| - dilatory (wasting time) | |
| - travesty (an absurd or mocking presentation of something) | |
| - voracious (hungry) | |
| - disaffected (discontented as toward authority) | |
| - underwrite (to support financially) | |
| - insolvent (unable to pay one's bills; bankrupt) | |
| - disparate (fundamentally different) | |
| - chauvinist (a person who believes in their group's superiority) | |
| - moment (significant and important value) | |
| - cadaverous (emaciated; gaunt; like a cadaver) | |
| - consummate (having or revelaing supreme mastery or skill; to make perfect) | |
| - disenfranchise (deprive of voting rights) | |
| - inclement (unpleasant weather, or of someone not showing mercy) | |
| - rankle (gnaw into; make resentful or angry) | |
| - buck (to resist) | |
| - hamstrung (made ineffective or powerless) | |
| - travail (use of physical or mental energy; hardwork; agony or anguish) | |
| - eke (to live off meager resources) | |
| - redress (an act of making something right) | |
| - glean (collect information bit by bit) - in The Bible, gathering seed kernels that have fallen on the ground was termed gleaning | |
| - piquant (having an agreeable pungent taste) | |
| - vie (to compete for something) | |
| - dispatch (prompt and efficient; to dispose of rapidly and without delay) | |
| - malodorous (mal-odorous; bad smelling) | |
| - snub (to refuse to acknowledge; reject outright and bluntly) | |
| - balk (to refuse to comply) - a donkey refusing to move forward is to balk | |
| - creditable (decent, but not amazing) | |
| - vicissitude (a change in one's circumstances, usually for the worse) - vicis is Latin for change | |
| - defray (to help pay the cost of) | |
| - arrant (complete and wholly, usually modifying a noun with a negative connotation) | |
| - zeitgeist (spirit of the times) | |
| - lascivious (lecherous; sexually perverted) - same roots with lust in las, Indo European for to be eager, wanton | |
| - apostate (a person who abandoned a religious faith or cause) | |
| - beg (to assume something is true, usually followed by "the question", meaning to ask a question in which you assumed something that hasn't been proven true) | |
| - precipitate (hasty or rash; to cause to happen) | |
| - feckless (lazy and irresponsible) - feck was a short form of effect in Scottish accent | |
| - malfeasance (misconduct or wrongdoing, especially by a public official) | |
| - sartorial (related to fashion or clothes) | |
| - protean (versatile) - Proteus was a shapeshifter in Greek mythology | |
| - syabrite (addicted to luxurious things and material pleasures) - inhabitant of Sybaris, an ancient Greek town full of citizens who loved nice things | |
| - malapropism (the confusion of a word with another that sounds similar) - mal a propos, French for meaning ill suited | |
| - palimpsest (something that's undergone numerous changes where traces of the former changes are still visible) - a documnet rubbed smooth so it can be reused | |
| - phantasmagorical (illusive; unreal) | |
| - factitious (artificial) - avoid confusion with facetious (trying to be funny) or fictitious (made up) | |
| - mellifluous (smooth and sweet sounding) - Melissa in Greek mythology was a nymph related to honey | |
| - benighted (fallen into ignorance) - being nighted, put into the dark | |
| - mettlesome (full of mettle, courage or valour) - mettle and metal were interchangeable to mean a solid material | |
| - recapitulation (a summary; recap) | |
| - flummox (to mystify and dumbfound, usually from something humorous or light) - flummock is old English for to make untidy or confuse | |
| - importune (to beg persistently and urgently) | |
| - anodyne (something soothing pain; inoffensive) | |
| - redoubtable (inspiring fear or awe in an honourable manner) - redute is French for to dread, re- adds emphasis and duter means to doubt; you doubt your ability to compete against them | |
| - sinecure (an office involving minimal duties) - sine cura in Latin means without care | |
| - litany (a long and tedious account of something) - Greek for entreaty or supplication | |
| - raconteur (someone skilled in telling anecdotes) - raconter in French means to recount | |
| - quail (to draw back as with fear or pain) | |
| - firebrand (troublemaker) - fire is their brand | |
| - inimitable (defying imitation; matchless) - in- = not, imitabilis = imitable, not imitable | |
| - incontrovertible (impossible to deny or raise controversy over) - no controversy | |
| - cosset (to treat with excessive indulgence; to spoil) | |
| - puerile (childish) | |
| - dovetail (to fit together tightly) | |
| - recrimination (mutual accusations) | |
| - peripatetic (travelling by foot) - peri is Greek for around, so this means someone who likes to walk around | |
| - puissant (powerful) | |
| - ossify (to make rigid and set into a conventional pattern) - to become bony | |
| - equitable (fair to all parties as dictacted by reason and conscience) | |
| - atavism (a throwback, usually with a negative connotation) - Latin for forefather | |
| - chimera (something desierd or wished for but is only an illusion and impossible to achieve) | |
| - recrudesce (to relapse into something negative) | |
| - ineffable (too sacred to be uttered; defying expression or description) | |
| - arrogate (to seize and control without authority) | |
| - unprepossessing (creating an unfavourable or neutral first impression) | |
| - hoary (ancient) | |
| - antic (ludicrously odd) | |
| - reprisal (an act of retalation, particularly in war) - French for taking back | |
| - rapproachement (the reestablishing of cordial relations) - French roots of reunion, rapprocher means to bring near | |
| - percipient (highly perceptive) | |
| - philistine (smugly against learning and the arts) - 17th century conflict in Jena, Germany, between townspeople and students where the townspeople were called Philistinese | |
| - besotted (strongly affectionate towards; very drunk) - to make dull or stupid with drunkenness or infatuation | |
| - discursive (of speech and writing, tending to depart from the main point; could also mean to reach a conclusion via reason or argument rather than intuition) | |
| - doughty (brave; bold; courageous) | |
| - noisome (having an extremely bad smell) | |
| - enormity (an act of extreme wickedness; different from enormous) | |
| - facile (arrived at without due care or effort; lacking depth) | |
| - concomitant (happening at the same time as or having a connection with another) | |
| - oblique (not straightforward; indirect) | |
| - officious (intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner) | |
| - trenchant (full of force and vigor; having keeness and forcefulness and penetration in though, expression, or intellect) - tranchant in French means sharp or cutting, related to trench which is a line carved in wood or ditch carved into earth | |
| - demonstrative (openly expressing emotions) - demonstrate, or showing | |
| - obtain (to be valid or applicable) |
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