The GRE Verbal Reasoning Test: Intermediate Words: Intermediate, List 8

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.
20 words 203 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. amenable
    disposed or willing to comply
    It is interesting to note that the lion that is the most amenable to the circus trainer’s tricks is the one with the lowest social standing in the pride, the omega animal. Life of Pi
  2. avocation
    an auxiliary activity
    American poet Phyllis McGinley once wrote, “The trouble with gardening is that it does not remain an avocation. It becomes an obsession.” Seattle Times (Nov 27, 2021)
  3. beneficence
    the quality of being kind or helpful or generous
    The foundations’ beneficence also helps shield them from criticism: the KAW, for instance, makes $250m of grants a year, notably to fund basic research and education. Economist (Mar 10, 2016)
  4. circuitous
    deviating from a straight course
    Sam took a circuitous route through the woods to the county road. Frightful's Mountain
  5. contrite
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    “I’m sorry you lost your rocket stuff,” he told me, truly contrite. October Sky
  6. convivial
    occupied with or fond of the pleasures of good company
    It was a lively group and the mood was convivial, with old friends greeting each other and catching up. Seattle Times (Nov 9, 2017)
  7. deterrent
    something immaterial that interferes with action or progress
    Elevators have been placed behind an opaque partition wall in the lobby, and the doors are timed to close slowly — a small psychological deterrent to their regular use by the able-bodied. Washington Post
  8. dirge
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    We heard the sounds of the traditional dirge grow louder, and so did the screams and wails coming from a memorial ceremony in a private room. Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution
  9. eclectic
    combining or composed of elements drawn from a variety of sources
    The idea was to teach leadership through an eclectic curriculum of classic texts, case-studies and crisis simulations, incorporating thinkers and topics from Thucydides, Sun Tzu, and Machiavelli to the Cold War. New York Times (Sep 30, 2021)
  10. effrontery
    audacious behavior that you have no right to
    He has the effrontery to tell me to my face that I'm too old to ride with him. A Clash of Kings
  11. ephemeral
    lasting a very short time
    Compared to a star, we are like mayflies, fleeting ephemeral creatures who live out their whole lives in the course of a single day. Cosmos
  12. homily
    a sermon on a moral or religious topic
    The homily at Sunday mass, intended to give parishioners basic religious instruction, has often been poorly prepared and aimed at a childish listener. Hunger of Memory
  13. insuperable
    incapable of being surpassed or excelled
    Back then she was regarded as the insuperable leader of her nation’s politics. Washington Post (Jul 10, 2018)
  14. itinerant
    traveling from place to place to work
    Dorothy, who knew the call of the open road so well, could certainly understand some of the appeal of Howard’s unusual and itinerant career, and she supported it as best she could. Hidden Figures
  15. opprobrium
    state of disgrace resulting from public abuse
    During the war he risked public opprobrium and a ban by the BBC for condemning the men of Allied Bomber Command as "bloodthirsty fools" and suggesting that British pilots should stand trial for war crimes. The Guardian (Dec 28, 2012)
  16. subversive
    in opposition to an established system or government
    In the wake of slave rebellions, several states passed laws fining those who might teach slaves to read and write, tacitly acknowledging the subversive potential of reading and writing. Salon (Aug 25, 2018)
  17. syllogism
    reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises
    The contention that fakes are the supreme modern art form rests on a false syllogism: modern art, Keats argues, intends to unsettle; fakes unsettle us; therefore fakes are great art. The Guardian (Jun 28, 2013)
  18. torpor
    inactivity resulting from lethargy and lack of energy
    Miss Avocet stayed on, emerging from her torpor now and then to wander the halls, calling out forlornly for her poor abandoned wards before slumping into someone’s arms to be taken back to bed. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
  19. untenable
    incapable of being defended or justified
    Many of their theoretical ideas were untenable, nay, even absurd, but yet they served to bind together into a formal law the mass of observations which their nightly industry collected. Nature (Nov 25, 2019)
  20. welter
    a confused multitude of things
    Before the Civil War, American currency was a confusing welter of notes issued by state banks. New York Times (Feb 23, 2017)
Created on Wed Nov 30 17:02:04 EST 2022 (updated Thu Jan 12 15:04:51 EST 2023)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.