GRE word list - 100 most important GRE vocabulary words

Mastering GRE Vocabulary: A Roadmap for Success

Preparing for the GRE can feel like scaling an intellectual Everest, particularly when it comes to the formidable Verbal Reasoning section. Packed with words that seem to be pulled from an 18th-century novel, the GRE tests more than just rote memorization—it challenges your ability to comprehend, analyze, and apply vocabulary in context. But fear not! Mastering GRE vocabulary is less about cramming and more about strategy, creativity, and consistency.

Why Does GRE Vocabulary Matter?

The GRE isn’t interested in testing how many words you can recite—it’s a measure of your ability to navigate sophisticated language. Whether it’s deciphering a dense passage or choosing the best synonym, a robust vocabulary is key to success. Words like "obfuscate" (to obscure) or "perfunctory" (done without care) aren’t just GRE staples; they reflect the advanced language skills necessary for academic success.

100 most important GRE vocabulary words

Here is a list of the 100 most important GRE vocabulary words with definitions and example sentences:

	Word	Definition	Example
1	Abate	to reduce in intensity	The storm abated after several hours.
2	Aberrant	deviating from the norm	His aberrant behavior raised concerns among his peers.
3	Abstain	to choose not to do something	She abstained from eating sweets during Lent.
4	Adulterate	to make impure	The chef was accused of adulterating the recipe by using artificial ingredients.
5	Aesthetic	relating to beauty	The gallery was filled with works of great aesthetic appeal.
6	Amalgamate	to combine	The two companies amalgamated to form a larger corporation.
7	Ambiguous	open to more than one interpretation	The politician's statement was deliberately ambiguous.
8	Ambivalent	having mixed feelings	She felt ambivalent about her promotion.
9	Anachronism	something out of place in time	The film is full of anachronisms, like a digital watch in a medieval setting.
10	Analogous	similar in some way	The human brain is analogous to a supercomputer.
11	Anomaly	something that deviates from what is standard	The scientist was intrigued by the anomaly in the data.
12	Antipathy	strong dislike	She felt a deep antipathy towards dishonesty.
13	Apathy	lack of interest or emotion	His apathy towards the project frustrated his team.
14	Archaic	ancient; outdated	The museum displayed archaic tools from the Bronze Age.
15	Articulate	able to speak clearly and expressively	The speaker was articulate and captivating.
16	Assuage	to make less severe	The nurse assuaged the patient’s pain with medication.
17	Audacious	bold; daring	Her audacious plan surprised everyone.
18	Austere	severe or strict in manner	The monk’s lifestyle was austere, with no luxuries.
19	Banal	predictable; boring	The plot of the movie was banal and uninspired.
20	Cacophony	harsh, discordant sound	The construction site was a cacophony of noises.
21	Capricious	impulsive; unpredictable	Her capricious decisions often left her friends baffled.
22	Castigate	to criticize harshly	The teacher castigated the student for being late.
23	Catalyst	something that speeds up a process	The scientist’s discovery acted as a catalyst for further research.
24	Caustic	biting in wit	Her caustic remarks made the audience laugh nervously.
25	Chaos	complete disorder	The blackout caused chaos in the city.

26	Chauvinist	someone prejudiced in favor of their own group	He was labeled a chauvinist for dismissing opposing viewpoints.
27	Condone	to accept or allow behavior	The teacher refused to condone cheating.
28	Convoluted	complex or complicated	The directions were so convoluted that I got lost.
29	Corroborate	to confirm or support	The witness corroborated the suspect’s alibi.
30	Credulous	gullible	The credulous customer believed every claim in the advertisement.
31	Decorum	proper behavior	The event was marked by a sense of decorum.
32	Deference	respect; courtesy	He bowed in deference to the queen.
33	Deride	to mock or ridicule	The critics derided the movie for its weak storyline.
34	Desiccate	to dry out	The desert air desiccated the plants.
35	Desultory	lacking a plan or purpose	Her desultory studying resulted in poor test performance.
36	Diatribe	a harsh verbal attack	The politician launched into a diatribe against his opponents.
37	Diffident	lacking self-confidence	She was diffident about speaking in public.
38	Dilatory	intended to delay	His dilatory tactics frustrated the committee.
39	Dilettante	a person with superficial interest in an area	She’s a dilettante who dabbles in painting but never commits.
40	Dirge	a mournful song or poem	The funeral ended with a moving dirge.
41	Disparate	fundamentally different	The disparate cultures blended surprisingly well.
42	Dogma	a firmly held belief	He refused to question the dogma of his organization.
43	Eclectic	selecting from various sources	Her music taste is eclectic, ranging from jazz to hip-hop.
44	Efficacy	effectiveness	The efficacy of the new drug has been proven.
45	Eloquent	persuasive and moving in speech	The activist delivered an eloquent plea for justice.
46	Emulate	to imitate with intent to equal or surpass	She tried to emulate her mentor’s success.
47	Enervate	to weaken	The oppressive heat enervated the hikers.
48	Ephemeral	lasting a short time	The beauty of the sunset was ephemeral.
49	Equivocate	to speak ambiguously	The candidate equivocated when asked about their policies.
50	Erudite	scholarly	The professor’s lecture was erudite and informative.

51	Esoteric	intended for or understood by a small group	The philosopher’s ideas were highly esoteric.
52	Eulogy	a speech praising someone who has died	He gave a heartfelt eulogy at the funeral.
53	Exacerbate	to make worse	Her comments only exacerbated the situation.
54	Exculpate	to clear from blame	The new evidence exculpated the accused.
55	Exigent	urgent; requiring immediate action	The exigent circumstances demanded a quick decision.
56	Fervid	intensely enthusiastic	The fans were fervid in their support of the team.
57	Florid	excessively intricate or elaborate	The author’s florid prose made the novel hard to read.
58	Foment	to incite	The rebel leader fomented unrest among the population.
59	Frugal	thrifty	She is known for her frugal lifestyle.
60	Garrulous	excessively talkative	The garrulous man dominated the conversation.
61	Gregarious	sociable	Her gregarious personality made her popular.
62	Guile	deceit	He used guile to outsmart his opponents.
63	Imperturbable	not easily disturbed	The captain remained imperturbable under pressure.
64	Impervious	unable to be affected	The new material is impervious to water.
65	Impetuous	acting quickly without thought	Her impetuous actions often got her into trouble.
66	Inchoate	not fully formed	The project is still in an inchoate stage.
67	Ingenuous	innocent and naive	Her ingenuous questions revealed her lack of experience.
68	Insipid	dull	The soup was insipid and needed more seasoning.
69	Inundate	to overwhelm	The company was inundated with complaints.
70	Irascible	easily angered	His irascible temperament made him hard to work with.
71	Jabber	To talk rapidly and incoherently; to chatter nonsensically	The excited children began to jabber about their upcoming field trip, making it hard to understand them.
72	Jocular	Fond of joking; humorous or playful	His jocular remarks lightened the mood during the tense meeting.
73	Jagged	Having rough, sharp, or uneven edges	Be careful when climbing the jagged rocks along the coastline.
74	Keen	Highly developed; sharp or perceptive; enthusiastic or eager	Her keen sense of observation made her an excellent detective.
75	Kudos	Praise or acclaim for an achievement	The scientist received kudos from her peers for her groundbreaking research.

76	Laconic	using few words	His laconic replies frustrated the interviewers.
77	Laud	to praise	The scientist was lauded for her groundbreaking work.
78	Lethargic	sluggish	The heat made everyone feel lethargic.
79	Loquacious	talkative	Her loquacious nature often made meetings longer.
80	Misanthrope	someone who dislikes others	The misanthrope lived alone in the woods.
81	Mitigate	to make less severe	The lawyer tried to mitigate the punishment.
82	Mollify	to soothe	The mother mollified her crying baby.
83	Obdurate	stubborn	The leader remained obdurate despite the protests.
84	Obsequious	overly submissive	His obsequious behavior annoyed his colleagues.
85	Occlude	to block	The pipe was occluded by debris.
86	Opaque	not transparent	The windows were opaque with frost.
87	Opprobrium	public disgrace	The scandal brought opprobrium to the politician.
88	Ostentation	excessive showiness	The ostentation of the party was overwhelming.
89	Paragon	a model of excellence	She is a paragon of professionalism.
90	Perfunctory	done without care	His perfunctory apology felt insincere.
91	Permeate	to spread throughout	The smell of baking bread permeated the house.
92	Placate	to appease	She tried to placate the angry customer.
93	Precipitate	to cause something to happen quickly	The announcement precipitated a stock market crash.
94	Prodigal	wastefully extravagant	His prodigal spending led to financial ruin.
95	Proliferate	to increase rapidly	Cell phones have proliferated in the last decade.
96	Propitiate	to appease	He tried to propitiate the gods with offerings.
97	Reticent	reserved	She was reticent about sharing her thoughts.
98	Soporific	inducing sleep	The lecture was so soporific that half the audience dozed off.
99	Stolid	unemotional	The stolid guard showed no reaction to the news.
100	Vacillate	to waver between options	He vacillated between studying law and medicine.

How Do You Tackle GRE Vocabulary? A Strategic Approach

Effective vocabulary building combines traditional learning methods with modern hacks. Here’s a game plan to take your word bank from average to GRE-ready.

1. Learn Through Association

One of the most effective ways to memorize words is by creating vivid, sometimes absurd associations. The stranger the connection, the more likely you’ll remember it. Take the word acerbic (sharp or forthright): link it to Bic pens and imagine an overly critical pen writing a scathing review of Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest album. The mental image sticks, and so does the word.

2. Mnemonic Devices and Word Play

Memory tricks work wonders for tricky words. Mnemonics, rhymes, or acrostics can help you retain complex vocabulary. For instance:

Abasement (humiliation): "Happens in the Basement."
Pulchritude (beauty): Imagine pulling out an attitude when someone calls you beautiful.

This playful method injects humor into learning, making it less daunting and more engaging.

3. Repetition is Key

If you think back to learning multiplication tables as a child, repetition was the backbone of your success. The same principle applies to GRE vocabulary. Use flashcards to repeatedly expose yourself to words. Writing sentences with these words or reviewing them daily ensures they stick in your memory.

4. Break Words Down

Encounter an unfamiliar word? Deconstruct it! For example, if you stumble upon pyre on test day and have no clue what it means, think of related words like pyromaniac. You might deduce it has something to do with fire—and you’d be right: pyre means a heap of combustible material. This technique allows you to infer meanings, even when you’re guessing.

5. Visualize the Words

Sometimes, visual aids can cement a word in your memory. Take minion (a follower or underling). Picture the yellow, gibberish-speaking Minions from the animated films following you around everywhere. This not only makes the word fun but also hard to forget.

6. Learn Words in Context

Nothing beats encountering GRE vocabulary in its natural habitat. Reading materials like The New Yorker, The Economist, or even literary classics expose you to these words organically. For instance, you might stumble upon ostentatious (designed to impress) in an article on tech billionaires or pervasive (spreading widely) in a commentary on climate change. The more you see these words in action, the better you’ll grasp their meanings.

The GRE Vocabulary Mindset

The journey to mastering GRE vocabulary isn’t just about memorization - it’s about cultivating curiosity for language and its nuances. As you tackle high-frequency word lists, remember to pace yourself. Mix creative methods with traditional repetition, and don’t shy away from making mistakes - they’re part of the learning process.