Difficult GRE Vocabulary

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, only because many publishers continue using really difficult and obscure words that will not be tested: the new GRE is not a test of vocabulary; it is a test of context recognition. You will be rewarded for analytical skills, not so much for memorization.  Many of the really difficult words that students crammed (aleatory, bootless, etc.) are not going to be on the test.

At the same time, there will still be some difficult words on the test. But, if you are not confident that you are going to score in the higher range, i.e. move on to the difficult verbal section, then you shouldn’t really worry about the words below.

And I think it is important that I preface this – if you are looking for about a 600 on the verbal section (based on the old scale) then you will be squandering precious study time if you treat every word on the word list the same. Simply put, some words are more likely to show up than others. Again, the words below are more difficult GRE words. Every so often, I’ll include these posts, just so the higher verbal scorers will have some lexical food for thought.

Sententious 

This word looks like it would relate to a sentence. If you know the GRE, you will know this is probably not the case, as the GRE is likely to subvert people’s gut reaction. Sententious means to be moralizing, usually in a pompous sense.

The old man, casting his nose up in the air at the group of adolescents, intoned sententiously, “Youth is wasted on the young.”

Propitiate

If somebody is really angry, and you want to make them less angry, then you attempt to placate or appease them. Or, if you like really big GRE words, then you propitiate them.

The two sons, plying their angry father with cheesy neckties for Christmas, were hardly able to propitiate him – the father already had a drawer full of ones he had never worn before or ever planned to.

Feckless

Feck, probably for its phonetic similarity to another word, has been dropped from the language. That or the lexicographers have become feckless, which means that they lacked the drive or initiative to include feck in the dictionary. Feckless means lazy and irresponsible. So, don’t get feckless and drop the –less, lest somebody totally misinterprets you. In which case, you’ll have to do a fair amount of propitiating.

By the way, I’m feckless– I won’t an include an example sentence. 

Tendentious

If you are likely to espouse a controversial view, you are being tendentious. A good synonym for tendentious is biased, though biased doesn’t necessarily relate to a controversial view.

Because political mudslinging has become a staple of the 24-hour media cycle, most of us, despite proclamations to the contrary, are tendentious on many of today’s pressing issues.

Limpid

This word does not relate to limp, it relates to clarity in terms of expression. Limpid is typically used to describe writing or music.

Her limpid prose made even the most recondite subjects accessible to all.  

Takeaways

 Some GRE words, such as the ones above, will typically be found only on the most difficult of the Verbal sections. Unless you are aiming for this level, do not feel you have to learn these words. Spend time, instead, learning words that typically pop up in “essential GRE words” type lists.