10 Popular GRE Test Words

Anomaly: (n) something that is abnormal, unusual, or unexpected

“The word orange is an anomaly in that it doesn’t have a single rhyme.”

“Is there a pattern, or was this an anomaly?”

Mnemonic: Remember that “a” as a prefix often means “not.” Atypical means not typical.

Then, squint your eyes and change “nomal” to normal.” You’re left with “not normal,” which is the meaning of anomaly.

Assuage: (v) make an unpleasant feeling less intense; lessen the intensity of

“Assuage your guilt.” “Assuage an angry mob.”

Mnemonic: Focus on “sway” in the middle of the word.Swaying is a great way to remove unpleasant feelings.

Enervate: (v) to weaken, drain of energy

“The all-day conference was enervating.”

Mnemonic: This mnemonic requires a German accent.

When you hear the beginning of this word – ener – it sounds like “energy,” “energize,” or some sort of energy-related word. But “vait…” (wait in a German accent). It doesn’t mean energizing. It means energy-draining.

Enigma: (n) puzzle; something that is mysterious

“I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” – Winston Churchill

Mnemonic 1: The Riddler’s name in Batman is E. Nygma.

Mnemonic 2: Create a word puzzle out of the word enigma. Change the g to a question mark and put the dot of the “i” below it.

You: “How do you like my enigma?”

Friend: “Is this some kind of puzzle?”

You: “YES!”

Erudite: (adj) book smart; scholarly; having academic knowledge

“The erudite professor…” “The erudite young student was at the top of the class.”

Mnemonic: Look at “er” at the beginning of the word. “Err” means to make an error.

Imagine a teacher correcting an erudite student’s paper. She puts a big red checkmark and starts to write “er.” The student panics, thinking he’s made a mistake. But then, it turns out the teacher was writing “erudite!”

Because, after all, an erudite student would never err.

Loquacious: talkative; chattery; tending toward excess when it comes to talkativeness

“Matt is so loquacious Dr. Mom can hardly get a word in edge-wise”

Mnemonic: Take note of the “loq.” It refers to talking, as in “eloquent.”

Lucid: (adj) to be very clear and easy to understand

“I visited dad at the rest home yesterday.”

“How was he?”

“Surprisingly lucid!”

Mnemonic: To remember the meaning, picture your uncles Lou and Sid having a conversation at the old folks home. Normally, they’re unintelligible. Today they’re surprisingly lucid.

Alternatively, you can remember that “luc” means light. Think translucent. The Spanish word luz. Or the Luxor with its famous light. These all come from the same root.

This can help you remember that lucid means light/bright in a metaphorical sense.

Mitigate: (v) to lessen the harshness, forcefulness, painfulness, or severity of something

“The cad made no attempt to mitigate the damage he had done to his girlfriend’s reputation.”

Mnemonic: You have a gate that slams back really hard every time you let go of it. Your worried someone’s fingers will get smashed, so you put a baseball mitt across the latch so it doesn’t shut all the way.

Opaque: (adj) not able to be seen through; hard to understand

“An opaque window…” “The opaque accounting used by Enron…”

Mnemonic: Take the “O” at the beginning of the sentence. Stuff all the other letters into it. You can’t see through it because it’s now opaque.

Precipitate: (v) to cause something to happen quickly or suddenly

“The shoving match precipitated the brawl.”

“A big bet gone bad can precipitate bankruptcy.”

Mnemonic: Break the word down into four parts: pre-cip-it-ate

Think of giving your pet a bowl of stew. It doesn’t know if it wants to eat it or not. It takes a pre sip to decide. It liked it, so it ate.