The GRE Verbal Reasoning Test: Intermediate Words: Intermediate, List 10

This list of intermediate words features a mixture of easier and more difficult words that you may be less familiar with. Study these words and watch your GRE score grow.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. aggrandize
    embellish; increase the scope, power, or importance of
    “Impeachment is meant as a defense of the constitutional order, a defense of democracy against a president who would abuse his power to threaten the constitutional order to aggrandize power.” New York Times (Nov 30, 2018)
  2. amulet
    a trinket thought to be a magical protection against evil
    He fingered his amulet nervously, hoping it had protected him, but he knew it had no power over the Evil Eye. The Golden Goblet
  3. apropos
    of a suitable, fitting, or pertinent nature
    There are illuminations of Miss Havisham that may haunt you — apropos for one of Dickens' most haunting characters. Seattle Times (Feb 17, 2011)
  4. asperity
    harshness of manner
    In 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention agreed “to argue without asperity, and to endeavor to convince the judgment without hurting the feelings of each other.” The New Yorker (Sep 12, 2016)
  5. commensurate
    corresponding in size or degree or extent
    It had plenty of money and superb facilities, yet it was struggling to build a reputation for scholarship commensurate with its riches. Big Science
  6. demographic
    a statistic characterizing human populations
    In 2007, a survey by Nationwide Insurance found that 73 percent of people reported talking on a cell phone while driving, with teen drivers showing the highest use of any demographic. A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age
  7. errant
    straying from the right course or from accepted standards
    Instead, she scolds the coconuts one by one as if they were errant children. Dreaming in Cuban
  8. execrable
    unequivocally detestable
    The mere sound of that execrable, ugly name made his blood run cold and his breath come in labored gasps. Catch-22
  9. expatriate
    a person who is voluntarily absent from home or country
    Anaheim had been settled in the late nineteenth century by German immigrants hoping to create a local wine industry and by a group of Polish expatriates trying to establish a back-to-the-land artistic community. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
  10. forswear
    formally reject or disavow
    “I thought you did not want the crown! Only yesterday, before we wed, you said you would forswear Denmark’s throne.” Ophelia
  11. irascible
    quickly aroused to anger
    However, all writers about them, from Romans to modern zookeepers, decry their irascible temper and their nasty habit of biting people. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
  12. libertine
    unrestrained by convention or morality
    Rio is the cradle of samba and bossa nova music and home to libertine Carnival festivities that encourage costumes and clowning. Washington Times (Apr 13, 2021)
  13. pristine
    immaculately clean and unused
    The snow we stepped through on the road was pristine, our tracks the first. October Sky
  14. punctilious
    marked by precise accordance with details
    When the book opens the punctilious Phileas Fogg lives by the clock, his schedule never varying, each day passed almost entirely at London’s Reform Club, where he reads the newspapers, dines and plays whist. Washington Post (Dec 21, 2021)
  15. ramification
    a consequence, especially one that causes complications
    It's time to take seriously the mental health ramifications of student debt infecting almost every aspect of a borrower's life. Salon (May 8, 2021)
  16. sedulous
    marked by care and persistent effort
    It had been her care which provided me a companion in Clerval—and yet a man is blind to a thousand minute circumstances which call forth a woman’s sedulous attention. Frankenstein
  17. tirade
    a speech of violent denunciation
    He filled the car with a rant about his history teacher, followed by a tirade about his math teacher and a torrent about his biology teacher. George
  18. unfeigned
    not pretended; sincerely felt or expressed
    Their anguish is real and their struggles unfeigned. The Guardian (Jul 24, 2020)
  19. venal
    capable of being corrupted
    No politician shines as brightly or behaves at their most crass and venal as they do when they’re dancing for votes and money. Salon (Mar 30, 2019)
  20. vitiate
    make imperfect
    Quality has decreased over the years, vitiating the brand in one of the areas that matters most – reliability. Forbes (Jun 30, 2011)
Created on Wed Nov 30 17:09:27 EST 2022 (updated Thu Jan 12 15:05:06 EST 2023)

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