GRE Vocabulary List: 273 Words, A to C, With Definitions

By Vince Kotchian. Full-time GRE tutor since 2007, author of Barron's 6 GRE Practice Tests, three perfect 170 verbal scores on the real GRE, and moderator of r/GRE.

GRE Vocabulary List: A to C

This is the A to C section of the vocabulary list from GRE Vocab Capacity, the book I wrote with Brian McElroy. All 273 words are here, free, with pronunciation and a plain-English definition.

A word about what this list is not. It is not a "top words" list, because nobody outside ETS knows which words show up most, and anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing. These words come from released ETS material, which is the best available proxy and still only a proxy. Learn them because they are the kind of word the GRE likes, not because someone promised you they will appear.

Fifty of the entries below also show the mnemonic we wrote for them, and 46 of them show the cartoon too, so you can see how the method works. The other 1,000-odd words, all with mnemonics and cartoons, are in the app.

Word	Part of Speech	Pronunciation	Definition
abase	verb	uh BASE	to humiliate or degrade. Think: give up a base. When you're making out with someone, if you give up a base too quickly, then you just abase yourself.
abashed	adjective	uh BASHED	embarrassed. Think: Bashful. Bashful the dwarf was so abashed when Snow White kissed him that he blushed.
abate	verb	uh BATE	to reduce. Think: rebate. The mail-in rebate on my new mobile phone will abate the high cost.
aberration	noun	ah (rhymes with "nah") burr A shun	an exception or departure from the norm. Think: a bare Asian. A bare Asian would be an aberration; Asians usually wear clothes.
abeyance	noun	uh BAY ants	temporary inactivity; suspension.
abhor	verb	ab WHORE	to hate.
abject	adjective	ab-JEKT	miserable; wretched. Think: rejects. If she rejects my marriage proposal, I'll be abject, with nothing to live for.
abnegate	verb	ab nuh GATE	to give up something; to deny oneself something.
abomination	noun	uh BOM in A shun	something awful.
aboriginal	adjective	AB or IDGE in ul	existing since the beginning.
abort	verb	uh BORT	to end prematurely.
abound	verb	uh BOUND	to be numerous.
abrasive	adjective	Uh BRAY sive	causing irritation. Think: braying donkey. Adopting a homeless donkey seemed great until I realized it would wake me up every morning with its abrasive braying.
abridge	verb	uh BRIJ	to shorten.
abrogate	verb	AB roh gate	to get rid of; to abolish.
abscission	noun	ab SIZH un	the shedding of leaves, flowers, or fruits.
absolve	verb	ub SOLVE	to free from guilt; to forgive.
abstemious	adjective	ab STEM ee us	sparing; moderate.
abstruse	adjective	ab STROOS	hard to comprehend.
abysmal	adjective	uh BIZ mull	awful. Think: Pepto-Bismol. When I had food poisoning, my stomach felt so abysmal that I had to drink a bottle of Pepto-Bismol.
accede	verb	uh SEED	to express approval for; to give into.
accolade	noun	AK oh lade	an expression of praise.
accretion	noun	uh CREE shun	growth via a gradual buildup.
accumulate	verb	Ah KYOOM you late	to gradually increase.
acerbic	adjective	uh SIR bick	harsh; biting.
acidulous	adjective	uh SID you luss	somewhat harsh. Think: acid-ish. I like Sour Patch Kids because their acidulous taste is acid- ish without being too painful.
acme	noun	ACK me	the highest point of something.
acquisitive	adjective	uh QUIZ zit tive	eager to acquire and possess; greedy. Think: acquire. The acquisitive billionaire wanted to acquire every company he saw.
acrimonious	adjective	ak rih MOAN ee us	bitter.
acumen	noun	AK you min	insightfulness.
adamant	adjective	AD uh mint	stubborn; unyielding.
adept	adjective	uh DEPPED	very skilled.
adhere	verb	ad HERE	to stick to something.
admonished	verb	ad MON isht	warned to do what's best. Think: add Monistat. "Add Monistat to your body if you're suffering from a vaginal yeast infection," the ad admonished.
adorned	adjective	uh DORNED	decorated.
adroit	adjective	rhymes with "Detroit"	skillful. "uh DROIT".
adulation	noun	ad joo LAY shun	excessive admiration.
adulterate	verb	uh DULT er ate	to corrupt; to make impure.
adversary	noun	AD ver sare ee	an enemy or rival.
aegis	noun	EE gis	protection.
aesthetic	adjective	rhymes with "pathetic"	relating to beauty. "es THE tick".
affable	adjective	AFF uh bull	friendly. Think: laughable. Since they want tourists to feed them, zoo giraffes are so affable that it's laughable.
affectation	noun	aff eck TAY shun	an artificial way of behaving.
affiliated	adjective	uh FILL ee ate ed	related to, intertwined.
affront	noun	uh FRONT	an insult or offense.
aggrandized	verb	uh GRAND ized	made greater; enhanced.
aghast	adjective	uh GASSED	struck by fear or amazement.
alacrity	noun	uh LACK crih tee	cheerful promptness. Think: electricity. Electricity has alacrity, since it only takes a millisecond for the light to come on after I flip the switch.
algorithm	noun	AL guh rhythm	a mathematical formula or procedure.
alleviate	verb	uh LEAVE ee ate	to soothe or lessen the severity of.
allusion	noun	al LEW shun	an indirect reference.
altruistic	adjective	al true IST ick	unselfish concern for others.
amalgamate	verb	uh MAL gum ate	unify; join parts into a whole.
ambiguity	noun	am big YOU it ee	The state of being unclear or ambiguous.
ambivalence	noun	am BIV ull ents	contradictory feelings toward something. Think: valence electron. The valence electron was ambivalent about which electrons he wanted to pair off with. According to his mother, he was unsure and afraid of commitment.
ameliorated	verb	uh MEAL ee or ate id	made better.
amenable	adjective	uh MEN uh BULL	willing; cooperative.
amicable	adjective	AM ick uh bull	friendly.
amortize	verb	am MORT eyes	to gradually pay off or reduce.
ample	adjective	AM pull	enough or more than enough.

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Word	Part of Speech	Pronunciation	Definition
anachronism	noun	an NACK ron is im	something belonging to a different time period. Think: inaccurate chronology. The movie has something inaccurate about its chronology: a caveman wearing a watch - a huge anachronism.
analogue	noun	an al LOG	something similar.
anathema	noun	uh NATH em uh	something hated; a curse.
anile	adjective	rhymes with "dial"	senile. "ANN ile".
animosity	noun	an ih MOSS ih tee	hatred; hostility.
annotation	noun	ann oh TAY shun	a comment or note on a literary work.
annul	verb	ann ULL	to cancel. Think: null set. In mathematics, the null set means "a set that contains nothing." If you annul (cancel) your marriage, you end it.
anodyne	noun	ann oh DINE	a pain-reliever.
anomaly	noun	uh NOM uh lee	something unusual.
antedate	verb	AN tuh date	to come before.
antediluvian	adjective	ann tee die LOUVE ee in	ancient; primitive.
antipode	noun	ANN tih pode	the exact opposite.
antithesis	noun	ann TITH uh sis	opposite. Think: anti-thesis. You got a "D" on your essay because your examples argued for the antithesis of your introduction's thesis.
apace	adverb	uh PACE	quickly.
apartheid	noun	uh PAR thighed	the policy of separating groups based on race.
aplomb	noun	uh PLOM	confidence.
apocryphal	adjective	uh POCK rih full	of doubtful truthfulness.
apoplectic	adjective	ah puh PLEK tick	enraged.
apostle	noun	uh PAH sill	a supporter. Think: A posse. The famous rapper was known to roll deep with his many apostles - his posse, that is.
apothegm	noun	APP uh THEM	a short, wise remark.
apotheosis	noun	uh POTH ee oh sis	a perfect example.
appease	verb	uh PEAS	to soothe, satisfy or pacify.
apportion	verb	uh POOR shun	to divide and distribute.
apposite	adjective	APP uh sit	appropriate.
approbation	noun	app pro BAY shun	approval; praise. Think: approve probation. Maybe the best approbation I ever received was when the judge finally approved me for probation.
apropos	adjective	app pro POH	relevant.
arbitrary	adjective	ARE bit TRARE ee	done without reason; random.
arcane	adjective	are CANE	mysterious; known only to a few.
arch	adjective	arch	sassy.
archaic	adjective	are KAY ick	no longer current; outdated.
arduous	adjective	ARE joo us	strenuous; difficult. Think: hard for us. Clearing out that hoarder's house is arduous; it's hard for us because he kept every piece of junk mail he ever received.
arid	adjective	AIR rid	very dry.
arrogate	verb	ARE uh gate	to unrightfully take or claim.
articulate	adjective	are TICK you lit	using clear, expressive language.
artifice	noun	ART ih fiss	deception; trickery.
artless	adjective	ART less	simple; without cunning.
ascendancy	noun	Uh SEND and see	governing or controlling influence. Think: ascend and see. In battles, armies strive to take hills: ascending to higher ground makes it easier to see one's enemy and leads to tactical ascendancy.
ascetic	adjective	uh SET ick	practicing self-denial.
ashen	adjective	ASH in	very pale.
askew	adjective	uh SKEW	slanted to one side.
asperity	noun	ass PEAR it ee	bad temper.
aspersion	noun	ass SPUR shun	a false claim intended to harm.
aspiration	noun	asp ear A shun	a hope or ambition.
assail	verb	ass SALE	to attack violently. Think: ass sail. Come at me, bro: if I assail you, I'll make your ass sail out the window.
assiduous	adjective	ass SID you us	hardworking; dedicated.
astute	adjective	ass TOOT	clever.
attenuate	verb	at TEN you ate	to reduce.
audacious	adjective	awe DAY shus	fearlessly bold; arrogantly bold.
augment	verb	awwg MEANT	to increase the size of or to improve.
august	adjective	awe GUST	majestic.
auspicious	adjective	awe SPISH us	favorable. Think: suspicious I'm awesome. Dude, the chances she'll go out with me are auspicious or "awe-spicious" because I'm suspicious that I'm awesome.
austere	adjective	awe STEER	plain; strict; serious; cold.
authoritative	adjective	Auth OR it tay tive	having impressive knowledge about a subject; confident.
automaton	noun	rhymes with "on"	one who acts in a robotic way. "awe tah mah tahn".
autonomous	adjective	awe tahn nom us	operating independently.
avaricious	adjective	ave uh RISH us	greedy.
aver	verb	uh VAIR	to state confidently; to declare. Think: verify. After I verify that the blood sample from the crime scene matches your DNA, I'll aver that you are the killer.
aversion	noun	uh VER shun	A tendency to avoid or dislike.
avuncular	adjective	uh VUNK you lure	like an uncle.
badger	verb	BAD jur	to annoy or pester. Think: bad jerk. Good jerks can get laughs, but a bad jerk will just badger you with his attempts at humor.

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Word	Part of Speech	Pronunciation	Definition
baleful	adjective	BALE full	threatening harm. Think: Christian Bale. I’m not a big Christian Bale fan – he always has a baleful look on his face – like he wants to fight you.
banal	adjective	buh NALL	unoriginal.
base	adjective	rhymes with "face"	not honest or good; having low quality or value. Think: basement. I live in my mom's basement, but I don't list that on my OkCupid profile: there's an unfortunate stereotype that people who live in basements tend to be base.
battery	noun	BAT er ee	a large group of similar things.
bauble	noun	BAW bull	a small, inexpensive piece of jewelry or toy.
baying	verb	BAY ing	shouting.
beatific	adjective	bee TIH fick	extremely happy.
beatify	verb	BEE tih fie	to bless; to make happy.
becalm	verb	buh KAHM	to make motionless; to soothe.
bedlam	noun	BED lum	a state of uproar and confusion.
beguile	verb	rhymes with "dial"	to trick. "buh GILE". Think: be gullible. Be gullible, and you'll be easy to beguile.
behemoth	noun	buh HE mith	something huge. Think: beast mammoth. One really large beast was the woolly mammoth, a behemoth that lived during the ice age.
beleaguered	adjective	bee LEE gerd	weary, tired, bothered.
belied	verb	buh LIED	contradicted.
belittle	verb	bee LITTLE	to put down; to disparage.
bellicose	adjective	BELL ih kose	warlike; inclined to fight.
bemoan	verb	bee MOAN	to mourn over; to express grief for. Think: moan. I be moanin' about the new laws restricting what we can smoke - my friends bemoan the legislation, too.
beneficence	noun	buh NIF uh sense	the quality of being kind or charitable.
benign	adjective	Bee NINE	harmless.
bereft	adjective	bee REFT	deprived or robbed of something.
beseech	verb	bee SEACH	to beg or ask.
bifurcated	verb	BY fur kated	split in two.
bilious	adjective	BILL ee iss	bad-tempered. Think: bully us. We goth kids are only bilious because the jocks like to bully us.
blase	adjective	blah SAY	apathetic; unconcerned.
blithe	adjective	blythe	happy, casual, unconcerned.
bloviated	verb	BLOW vee ate ed	was wordy/windy when speaking.
bludgeon	verb	BLUJ in	to hit forcefully.
bonhomie	noun	bahn nom EE	a pleasant and friendly mood.
boon	noun	boon	a benefit. Think: booing. One boon of booing is that it unites an audience in mutual unappreciation.
boor	noun	boar	a crude person with rude, clumsy manners.
bootless	adjective	BOOT less	useless.
bowdlerize	verb	BOWED lure eyes	to cut out all the offensive parts of a book.
bravado	noun	bruh VAH doe	a false show of bravery; swagger.
brazen	adjective	BRAY zen	shamelessly bold.
brevity	noun	BREV it ee	shortness of duration. Think: abbreviate. I know your speech is brief but abbreviate it even more - this professor actually awards points for brevity.
bromide	noun	BRO myed	a cliché or tired saying.
brusque	adjective	brusk	abrupt; curt; harsh.
bucolic	adjective	byoo CAA lick	rustic; rural.
bugbear	noun	BUG bear	something to fear.
bulwark	adjective	BOOL work	a strong support or protection.
bumptious	adjective	BUMP shus	assertive in a loud, arrogant way. Think: bump us. You're the type of guy who would push past us in a crowd and bump us and not say you're sorry - you're bumptious.
bungle	verb	BUNG gull	to screw up.
buoyant	adjective	BOY ent	happy; confident.
burdensome	adjective	BIRD den sum	oppressive; causing difficulty or worry.
burgeoning	adjective	BURJ un ing	growing.
buttress	noun	BUT ress	a support.
bygone	adjective	BY gone	past.
byzantine	adjective	BIZ in teen	devious; complicated. Think: busy ant. Only the busy ant will be able to make its way through the byzantine maze you've created.
cache	noun	kah SHAY	a secure storage place or something in that place.
cacophony	noun	kuh KAW fun ee	a harsh, unharmonious sound. Think: cough. All the coughs from the tuberculosis ward formed a sickening cacophony.
cadge	verb	cadj	to beg or get via begging.
cajole	verb	ka JOLE	to coax.
calamitous	adjective	ka LAM it us	related to a terrible event.
callous	adjective	KAL us	unsympathetic; hard-hearted. Think: callus. The callous dictator thought nothing of executing his rivals; he must have had a callus on his soul.
callow	adjective	KAL owe	inexperienced; immature.
calumnious	adjective	kuh-LUM-nee-us	slanderous, defamatory, an untrue statement intended to injure one's reputation.
camaraderie	noun	com uh ROD er ee	togetherness.
canard	noun	cuh NARD	a false report or rumor.
canny	adjective	CAN knee	clever.
canonize	verb	CAN nun eyes	to make a saint (literal) or to put someone beyond reproach (figurative). Think: can on ice. In order to properly canonize St. Patrick, one must keep a beer can on ice at all times.

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Word	Part of Speech	Pronunciation	Definition
capacious	adjective	ka PAY shus	spacious.
capitulate	verb	ka PIT chew late	to surrender.
capricious	adjective	ka PRISH us	impulsive; done without forethought.
captious	adjective	CAP shus	overly critical.
cardinal	adjective	KAR din ull	of main importance.
caricatured	verb	Care ick cah chured	distorted, often comically. Think: cartoon character. Check out any political cartoon character and you'll see someone caricatured: any cartoon of Trump will have enormous hair.
castigate	verb	KAS tig ate	to criticize severely.
caterwaul	verb	CAT tur wall	to cry or to complain loudly.
causal	adjective	KAW zul	relating to the cause of something or causing something.
celerity	noun	suh lear it ee	quickness. Think: accelerate. After Cee Lo switched to an all-celery diet, he lost 30 lbs. His celerity increased as did his ability to accelerate.
censure	verb	SEN sure	to criticize harshly.
cerebral	adjective	suh REE brul	intellectual. Think: cerebrum. Einstein was so cerebral that they studied the cerebrum of his brain after he died.
chagrin	noun	shuh GRIN	distress caused by disappointment.
champion	verb	CHAM pee in	to fight for.
chary	adjective	cherry	very cautious.
chicanery	noun	shi CAN er ee	trickery.
choleric	adjective	CALL er ick	irritable.
chronological	adjective	kron oh LAH ji kull	ordered by time.
churlish	adjective	CHURL ish	rude; difficult. Think: church lush. The church lush usually showed up to mass stumbling drunk, inviting us to call him churlish.
cinematic	adjective	Sin im AT tick	suggestive of a movie.
circuitous	adjective	sir KYOO it us	roundabout; not direct.
circumscribed	adjective	SIR kum skribed	restricted.
circumspect	adjective	sir kum SPECT	cautious.
circumvents	verb	sir kum VENTS	avoids; gets around something.
clairvoyant	adjective	clare VOY int	able to see the future. Think: clear voyage. My trusted psychic, Miss Cleo, assured me that rowing a boat from California to Hawaii would work out just fine. "I see a clear voyage in your future," said the clairvoyant woman.
clandestine	adjective	klan DEST in	secret.
clangorous	adjective	KLAYNG er us	loud; noisy. Think: clang. I love my son, but his third-grade orchestra is so clangorous that it sounds like they’re all just clanging on their instruments instead of playing the music.
clemency	noun	KLEM in see	mercy.
climatic	adjective		pertaining to climate and weather.
climax	noun	CLY max	the most intense, exciting, or important part of something.
cloying	adjective	KLOY ing	gross because it's too much.
coalesce	verb	koh uh LESS	to unite into a whole. Think: coal essence. Coal, in essence, is just carbon - if you squeeze it hard enough it will coalesce into a diamond.
cocksure	adjective	KOCK (rhymes with "dock") sure	overconfident.
coddle	adjective	KOD ul	to treat with excessive care.
coerced	verb	co URSED	forced.
coeval	adjective	Coh EE vill	existing at the same time, contemporary.
cognizant	adjective	KOG nih zent	aware; informed.
coherence	noun	Co HERE ents	the quality of being understandable. Think: can hear it. Public Speaking 101 taught me that the first rule of coherence when giving a speech is speaking loudly - make sure your audience can hear it.
cohesive	adjective	co HEESE ive	holding together well.
cohort	noun	KOH hort (rhymes with "short")	a friend or companion.
coin	verb	KOIN	to invent a new word or phrase.
collusion	noun	cuh LUGE un	the process of working together to deceive, often illegally by businesses.
commensurate	adjective	kuh MEN sur it	equal or proportionate.
commiserate	verb	co MISS ur ate	to sympathize with. Think: misery loves company. Come commiserate with us - misery loves company.
companionable	adjective	kum PAN yin uh bull	sociable; friendly.
complicit	adjective	kum PLISS it	involved in a crime.
composure	noun	kum POSE ure	calmness.
compunction	noun	com PUNK shun	regret, remorse.
concession	noun	kuhn SESH in	admitting partial or total defeat.
concoct	verb	kuhn COCKED	to make; to invent to deceive.
concomitant	adjective	con COM it ent	accompanying, especially in a less important way. Think: can come with it. Drinking too much carries the concomitant risk of depression that can come with it.
concord	noun	CON kord	harmony.
concupiscence	noun	con KYOOP uh sense	strong desire, esp. sexual desire.
condign	adjective	con DINE	deserved; appropriate.
condones	verb	con DONES	allows something that is bad.
conferred	verb	kuhn FURD	given to.
confiscate	verb	KAHN fiss kate	to take something away. Think: can frisk. If I can frisk you and feel that you're carrying a weapon, then I'll confiscate it.
conflagration	noun	con FLUH gray shun	a fire.
conflate	verb	con FLATE	to confuse.
confound	verb	kun FOUND	to confuse (a person) or mix up (a thing), or as an exclamation ("confounded" only).

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Word	Part of Speech	Pronunciation	Definition
conglomerate	verb	kuhn GLAH merr it	to gather into a whole.
conniving	verb	cun NIVE ing	secretly plotting to do bad things.
connoisseur	noun	con iss URE	an expert; one who knows the subtleties of a subject. Think: can know sir. When it comes to breakdancing, call me "can know sir" because I'm a connoisseur of the art.
conscientious	adjective	con she ENT shus	driven by the urge to do what's right; careful.
conspicuous	adjective	kun SPICK you us	noticeable.
consternation	noun	con ster NAY shun	confusion; agitation; dismay.
contumacious	adjective	con too MAY shus	stubbornly disobedient; rebellious.
conundrum	noun	con NUN drum	a difficult problem.
conversant	adjective	con VERSE int	familiar with. Think: converse it. If you're conversant with something, you can converse about it intelligently.
copious	adjective	KOPE ee us	plentiful.
cordial	adjective	KORD jull	affectionate.
cordon	verb	KORD un	to enclose, either to restrict or to protect.
corroborate	verb	kuh ROB er ate	to support with evidence.
cosmopolitan	adjective	kos muh POL it in	sophisticated.
covert	adjective	co VIRT	not openly shown.
cowed	adjective	COWD	intimidated.
craven	adjective	KRAY vin	cowardly.
credence	adjective	KREED ints	belief.
credulous	adjective	KREDGE uh liss	too ready to believe things.
crepuscular	adjective	cru PUS q lur	related to twilight.
crestfallen	adjective	CREST fall en	dejected; depressed.
cryptic	adjective	KRYP tick	having an unclear or hidden meaning.
cull	verb	KUHL	to select; to get rid of what's unneeded.
culminate	verb	CULL min ate	to reach a point of highest development.
culpable	adjective	KULP uh bull	deserving blame.
cumbersome	adjective	KUM bir some	awkward due to large size.
cunning	adjective	KUN ing	cleverly forethought, often in a tricky or deceptive way.
cupidity	noun	cue PID it ee	greedy desire for.
curmudgeon	noun	kur MUDGE in	a grumpy old man.
cursory	adjective	CURSE uh ree	hasty; superficial.
curtail	verb	kur TAIL	to lessen.
cynical	adjective	SIN ick ull	believing that people are generally selfish and dishonest.
cynosure	noun	SINE uh sure	something that guides or stands out.

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GRE Vocabulary List FAQ

How many GRE vocabulary words should I learn?

About 1,000 is a practical target. Past that, the best new words come from ETS passages and questions and from real reading, not from another list.

Are 273 words enough?

No, and no list of 273 is. This is the A to C section of a 1,300-word list, and it is enough to tell you whether this approach works for you before you commit to the rest.

Why are there no mnemonics on most of these?

Because writing 1,300 of them took two people several years, and they are what you are paying for in the app and the book. Fifty are shown here so you can judge the quality before you buy anything.

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