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

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 190 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. amenities
    things that make you comfortable and at ease
    We are very modern—our bathroom is equipped with amenities such as a flushing toilet, an iron bathtub, and running water. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
  2. anachronism
    an artifact that belongs to another time
    The big thing back then was something called “desktop publishing” and now the very idea of printing anything seems like an anachronism. Forbes (Jan 24, 2014)
  3. anomalous
    deviating from the general or common order or type
    These alterations don’t make him appear more normal, however, but more anomalous, like a creature from an alien planet disguised in human clothing. Cat's Eye
  4. autonomous
    free from external control and constraint
    The whole dear notion of one’s own Self—marvelous old free-willed, free-enterprising, autonomous, independent, isolated island of a Self—is a myth. The Lives of a Cell
  5. defunct
    no longer in force or use; inactive
    The satellites met up in what’s called a “graveyard orbit,” which is a place where defunct satellites are put so that they won’t interfere with active satellites. The Verge (Feb 26, 2020)
  6. distend
    cause to expand as if by internal pressure
    In contrast, food that distends the stomach initiates short reflexes that cause cells in the stomach wall to increase their secretion of digestive juices. Anatomy and Physiology
  7. elixir
    a substance believed to cure all ills
    Magazines called his culture medium “an elixir of youth” and claimed that bathing in it might make a person live forever. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
  8. expatiate
    add details to clarify an idea
    It was suddenly cool to know stuff, to expatiate on the causes of the Spanish Civil War. Middlesex: A Novel
  9. guileless
    innocent and free of deceit
    Hodor blinked at him with guileless brown eyes, eyes innocent of understanding. A Clash of Kings
  10. nostalgia
    a longing for something past
    The scent of burning wood reminded everyone of land so far away, and sunk many of the men into nostalgia and fresh pangs of homesickness. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World
  11. premonition
    an early warning about a future event
    When someone dies, people always say they had some sort of premonition, a sinking feeling that something awful was right around the corner. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
  12. preternatural
    existing outside of or not in accordance with nature
    It felt wrong, preternatural; it shouldn’t have gotten so cold so quickly. Beasts of Prey
  13. puissant
    powerful
    His black sorcerer was more puissant than all of Euron’s three, even if you threw them in a pot and boiled them down to one. A Dance with Dragons
  14. quibble
    argue over petty things
    The fact that the Japanese had attacked Hawaii rather than invaded the continental United States was a distinction that neither of us bothered to quibble over. Jacob Have I Loved
  15. rationale
    an explanation of the fundamental reasons
    What possible rationale could exist for a large American land force, since the conflict with France was occurring on the high seas? Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
  16. recant
    formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief
    He had refused to recant his heresies, including his belief in other inhabited worlds. The Invention of Science
  17. redoubtable
    inspiring fear
    He never was to them the mean whining deity of the Iliad, but magnificent in shining armor, redoubtable, invincible. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
  18. sinuous
    curved or curving in and out
    The black-and-scarlet beast was draped across her shoulders, its long sinuous neck coiled under her chin. A Game of Thrones
  19. spendthrift
    someone who spends money freely or wastefully
    Maybe you grew up poor, so now you’re a spendthrift, but your spending frustrates your frugal spouse, so you think winning the lottery will fix the issue. Washington Post (Oct 23, 2018)
  20. strident
    unpleasantly loud and harsh
    Suddenly his voice was so strident that I looked up startled. Invisible Man
Created on Wed Nov 30 17:05:12 EST 2022 (updated Thu Jan 12 15:04:58 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.