The GRE Verbal Reasoning Test: Challenge Words: Challenge, List 9

This list of challenge words features some of the hardest words that you will encounter in the Verbal Reasoning section of the GRE. These are words that typically appear less frequently across different academic disciplines, so you are less likely to have encountered them before. Master these difficult words and watch your GRE score soar!
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. centripetal
    tending to move toward an area in the middle
    Traveling feet-first along the ladder, he soon had to grip it in earnest as the centripetal force of the rotating ship took hold. The Martian
  2. coda
    the closing section of a musical composition
    The massive, funereal finale and coda were symphonic in scope and bracing sound. Los Angeles Times (Apr 17, 2015)
  3. convoluted
    highly complex or intricate
    Other passages were so full of confusing, convoluted words that she ground her teeth at her own uselessness and skipped to something simpler. The Reader
  4. discrete
    constituting a separate entity or part
    My uncle had two discrete eyebrows—not a single connecting hair between them—which was deeply reassuring, because I had always worried about growing a Persian Unibrow. Darius the Great Is Not Okay
  5. explication
    a detailed discussion of the meaning of something
    Only scripture inspires this kind of extreme explication, the sense that every aspect of the text most certainly “means” something, even on the most meta levels. The New Yorker (Feb 9, 2015)
  6. extrinsic
    not forming an essential part of a thing
    Democracy has intrinsic value, but also offers extrinsic benefits: better education, more transparency, more public goods, lower emissions, less violent conflict, better health outcomes and superior economic growth. Salon (Apr 3, 2022)
  7. iconoclastic
    characterized by attack on established beliefs
    In 1794, in an iconoclastic frenzy, French revolutionaries took the host from its shrine and burned it. New York Times (Jul 4, 2013)
  8. implausible
    highly imaginative but unlikely
    Believing Diego liked me and wanted to be with me seemed more implausible than being abducted by aliens who wanted me to decide whether to save the world. We Are the Ants
  9. inchoate
    only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
    This requires us to squint back almost four billion years, to the time when life on Earth was just emerging from an inchoate cookery of long molecules, simpler organic compounds, and energy. National Geographic (Jan 14, 2021)
  10. jaundiced
    showing or affected by prejudice or envy or distaste
    Black men, white men, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Jews, Poles, whatever—all were inadequate and weak, all came under their jaundiced eyes and were the recipients of their disinterested wrath. The Bluest Eye
  11. kudos
    an expression of approval and commendation
    The World Dog Awards are the latest in a series of canine kudos weaving their way into Hollywood's human awards landscape. Chicago Tribune (Jan 14, 2015)
  12. lambaste
    censure severely or angrily
    Critics lambasted the new film, a shocking development given that they usually fall over themselves to praise Pixar movies. Reuters (Jun 26, 2011)
  13. Machiavellian
    of or relating to amoral or conniving political principles
    The film portrays the president's top adviser as a Machiavellian politician who orders the killings of those who get in his way. Seattle Times (Jun 14, 2012)
  14. mendacious
    given to lying
    “The tactic is not really to engage with the facts. It’s pushing a certain narrative, deflecting questions. It seems so mendacious in the face of the very real suffering and very real pain being caused.” Newsweek
  15. paleontologist
    a specialist in fossil organisms and related remains
    Finding the fossils of a large duck-billed dinosaur in southern Missouri is exciting enough, but a paleontologist who helped lead the dig thinks there are many more in the same area. Washington Post (Dec 1, 2021)
  16. permeable
    allowing fluids or gases to pass or diffuse through
    But they also need to stay alive, and that requires them to be permeable enough to absorb oxygen, nutrients from our tears, and other substance, while rejecting dust and bacteria. Scientific American (Sep 30, 2019)
  17. platonic
    free from physical desire
    For the most part, she was careful to keep her letters platonic, calling him a “dear good friend,” a “Dear boy,” and “one of the truest friends I’ve ever had.” The Woman All Spies Fear
  18. sidereal
    of or relating to the stars or constellations
    However, astronomers also use a sidereal day, which is defined in terms of the rotation period of Earth with respect to the stars. Astronomy
  19. soporific
    inducing sleep
    I discovered Emerson’s soporific qualities the hard way, by falling asleep with my face in the book, drooling all over an essay called “Self-Reliance” and having the vending-machine dream for the sixth time that week. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
  20. torque
    a twisting force
    My steps slowed down, and I came to a dead stop, frozen there like a windup toy that had run out of torque. Tangerine
Created on Wed Nov 30 17:51:43 EST 2022 (updated Thu Jan 12 15:09:02 EST 2023)

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