Kaplan GRE Word Groups

Abbreviated Communication

compendium
syllabus
synopsis

Act Quickly
abrupt

apace
headlong
impetuous
precipitate

Assist

abet
ancillary
countenance
espouse
mainstay
munificent
stalwart
sustenance

Bad Mood

bilious
dudgeon
irascible
pettish
petulant
pique
querulous
umbrage
waspish

Beginner/Amateur

dilettante
neophyte
novitiate
proselyte
tryo

Beginning/Young

callow
engender
inchoate
incipient

Biting (as in wit or temperament)

acerbic
acidulous
acrimonious
asperity
caustic
mordacious
mordant
trenchant

Bold

intrepid

Boring

fatuous
hackneyed
insipid
prosaic
trite

Carousal

bacchanalian
debauchery
dissipated
iniquity
libertine
libidinous
licentious
reprobate
ribald
salacious
sordid
turpitude

Changing Quickly

capricious
mercurial
volatile

Copy

counterpart
facsimile
factitious
paradigm
precursor
vicarious

Criticize/Criticism

aspersion
calumny
castigate
decry
defamation
deride/derisive
diatribe
excoriate
gainsay
harangue
impugn
inveigh
lambaste
objurgate
obloquy
opprobrium
pillory
remonstrate
reprehend
reprove
revile
tirade
vituperate

Death/Mourning

bereave
cadaver
defunct
dolorous
elegy
knell
macabre
moribund
obsequies
sepulchral
wraith

Denying of Self

abnegate
ascetic
spartan
stoic
temperate

Dictatorial

dogmatic
hegemonic
imperious
peremptory

Difficult to Understand

abstruse
arcane
bemusing
recondite
turbid

Disgusting/Offensive

defile
invidious
noisome
odious
rebarbative

Easy to Understand

limpid
pellucid

Eccentric/Dissimilar

aberrant
iconoclast

Embarass

abash
chagrin
compunction
contrition
diffidence
expiate
foible
gaucherie
rue

Equal

tantamount

Falsehood

apocryphal
canard
chicanery
dissemble
equivocate
erroneous
ersatz
feigned
guile
mendacious/mendacity
perfidy
pervaricate
specious
spurious

Family

conjugal
consanguine
distaff
endogamous
filial
fratricide
progenitor
scion

Forgive

exculpate
exonerate
expiate
palliate
redress

Favoring/Not Impartial

ardor/ardent
doctrinaire
fervid
tendentious
zealot

Funny

chortle
facetious
flippant
give
jocular
levity
ludicrous
raillery
riposte
simper

Gaps/Openings

aperture
fissure
hiatus
interregnum
interstice
rent
respite

Generous/Kind

clement
largess
magnanimous
munificent
unstinting

Greedy

avaricious
covetous
mercenary
miserly
penurious
rapacious
venal

Hard-hearted

asperity
baleful
dour
fell
malevolent
mordant
sardonic
scathing
truculent
vitriolic
vituperation

Harmful

baleful
baneful
deleterious
inimical
insidious
minatory
perfidious
pernicious

Harsh Sounding

cacophony
din
dissonant
raucous
strident

Hatred

abhorrence
anathema
antipathy
detestation
enmity
odium
rancor

Healthy

salubrious
salutary

Hesitate

dither

Hostile

antithetic
churlish
curmudgeon
irascible
malevolent
misanthropic
truculent

Innocent/Inexperienced

credulous
gullible
ingenuous
naive
novitiate
tyro

Insincere

dissemble
fulsome
ostensible
unctuous

Investigate

appraise
assay
descry
peruse

Lazy/Sluggish

indolent
languid
lassitude
lethargic
phlegmatic
quiescent
slothful
torpid

Luck

adventitious
amulet
auspicious
kismet
optimum
portentous
propitiate
propitious
providential
talisman

Nag

admonish
belabor
cavil
enjoin
exhort
harangue
hector
martinet
remonstrate
reproof

Nasty

fetid
noisome
noxious

Not a Straight Line

askance
awry
careen
carom
circumvent
gyrate
labyrinth
meander
oblique
serrated
sidle
sinuous
undulating
vortex

Overblown/Wordy

bombastic
circumlocution
garrulous
grandiloquent
loquacious
periphrastic
prolix
turgid

Pacify/Satisfy

defer
mitigate
mollify
propitiate
slake

Pleasant Sounding

euphonious
sonorous

Poor

esurient
impecunious
indigent

Praise

encomium
eulogize

Predict

augur
auspice
fey
harbinger
portentous
presage
prescient

Prevent/Obstruct

forfend
occlude

Smart/Learned

erudite
perspicacious

Sorrow

disconsolate
elegiac
forlorn
lugubrious
morose
plaintive
threnody

Stubborn

implacable
inexorable
intractable
intransigent
obdurate
recalcitrant
refractory
renitent
untoward
vexing

Terse

compendious
laconic
pithy
taciturn

Time/Order/Duration

anachronism
antecede
antedate
anterior
archaic
diurnal
ephemeral
fortnight
millennium
penultimate
synchronous
temporal

Timid/Timidity

craven
diffident
pusillanimous
recreant
timorous
trepidation

Truth

fealty
indisputable
indubitable
legitimate
probity
veracious
verity

Unusual

aberration
iconoclast
idiosyncrasy

Walking About

ambulatory
itinerant
peripatetic

Wandering

discursive
expatiate
forage
itinerant
peregrination
peripatetic
sojourn

Weaken

adulterate
enervate
exacerbate
obviate
stultify
vitiate

Wisdom

adage
aphorism
apothegm
asiom
bromide
dictum
epigram
platitude
sententious

Withdrawal/Retreat

abeyance
abjure
abnegation
abortive
abrogate
decamp
demur
recant
recidivism
remission
retrograde