12 Common GRE words with Mnemonics

A slower-paced, more in-depth look at 12 common GRE words and how to memorise them. This GRE vocab list is brought to us by Manhattan and the link below:

Imminent: Something that’s imminent is about to happen in the near future. You might have heard the phrase “imminent danger”: it refers to danger that’s immediately present, as opposed to danger that might cause problems in the future. An approaching tidal wave is an imminent danger, while rising sea levels are less imminent.

Extraneous: A long, dull textbook might contain a lot of extraneous information: information that’s not really relevant to the topic. Extraneous means irrelevant or unrelated.

Erroneous: This word is related to the word error. In fact, it means “wrong.” One common phrase is “erroneous judgment”: an erroneous judgment is an incorrect one. For instance, you might make an erroneous judgment of someone’s character based on their appearance.

Insular: This GRE vocabulary word generally refers to a group of people, such as a community or a family. An insular group is one that doesn’t welcome people or ideas from the outside. The word comes from the same root as island and peninsula: think of an insular group as being similar to an island, where it’s difficult for new people and ideas to come in and out.

Prosaic: Something that’s prosaic is ordinary and everyday. This word is the opposite of glamorous or exciting, and it could be a synonym of quotidian or humdrum. It comes from the same root as the word prose: prose is ordinary, everyday writing, as opposed to poetry.

Partial: This looks like a straightforward word, but it’s on this list because of its second definition. Partial can refer to a part of a whole, but it can also serve as the opposite of the word impartial. In that sense, partial means ‘biased’ or ‘favoring one side over the other.’ Judges are supposed to be impartial; a partial judge would probably do a poor job. You can associate this word with the words partisan and prejudiced, which are near-synonyms.

Ubiquitous: A ubiquitous thing is something that shows up frequently and is all over the place. For instance, coffee shops and rain are both ubiquitous in Seattle. Smartphones and the internet are ubiquitous. An experience or a phenomenon can also be described as ubiquitous: a ubiquitous danger is one that’s always lurking around the corner no matter what you’re doing.

Propagate: This word literally refers to breeding something, such as an animal or plant. However, the GRE often uses it in a more metaphorical sense. To propagate an idea or a belief is to spread it widely around to other people. In this sense, propagate is a synonym of disseminate and promulgate.

Quotidian: This word is the big brother of prosaic, which we saw earlier in the list. Literally, it refers to something that happens every day. However, it is typically used to describe something as mundane, ordinary, or unglamorous.

Restive: Restive tricks a lot of GRE test-takers because of its resemblance to words like rest and restful. However, restive is actually related to restless! It refers to something or someone that’s fidgety, on edge, tense, or unable to keep still. You may see this word used to refer to a restive crowd, which is a crowd that’s starting to lose its cool and become confrontational.

Pernicious: This word means harmful. However, it’s worth your while to learn exactly how it’s used. Something that’s pernicious isn’t just harmful; it’s typically harmful in a particular way. It’s not outright dangerous or violent, but rather, it causes a subtle or gradual type of harm. A blow to the head isn’t pernicious, but something like heart disease or the influence of social media might be. A good synonym for pernicious is insidious.

Diffident: This word refers to a type of personality. A diffident person rarely speaks up; he might be described as timid or reluctant.

The GRE and GMAT are two of most used graduate exams for those seeking to study a Masters Degree or Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree. The Graduate Record Exam and Graduate Management Admissions Test have been taken for over 50 years and are taken by approximately 600,000 and 300,000 people worldwide annually, respectively. These exams are typically taken between the ages of 18-40, by those who have completed, or are about to complete, their Bachelors Degree.

[VinHua]

thank you!
Basic words:
1. imminent
2. extraneous
3. erroneous
4. insular
Medium words:
1. prosaic
2. partial
3. ubiquitous
4. propagate
Tricky words:
1. quotidian
2. restive
3. pernicious
4. diffident

[veronicaspagna]

Extremely useful! Thank you! Amazing explanations with the perfect pace. I love your suggestions for remembering each word. It’s also really cool how you first explain each word before also reading the given explanation. It makes the explanation more raw and allows for way more context on each word, which in turn helps with remembering the word. This makes learning the words way more fun! Definitely need more of these videos

[sidharthsaholiya]

The propagate explanation was prosaic 😂

[fatmanurozay]

Great work. I have learned all the word's definitions. It is not like other extraneous videos. GRE is an imminent danger for me.

[Tatiana-vwyh]

Propaganda ia an idea propagating widely in the country.

[abigail]

Rest-ive = Festive (sounds like that).
John was RESTIVE (not calm) with festive preparations.

[vats]

Thank you for this video! So helpful. Really liked how you explained the word diffident. I am giving my GRE in less than a month and your videos are really helpful in prep! Any tips on how to plan prep for GRE in the few weeks of the exam?

[catherinehooten]

Propagate
Prop rhymes with crop
Agate can be related to gait (walk)
So back before tractors they would walk to spread the seeds of their crop

[pratikadibatla]

Great work and very instructive video Philip.

[crueltyfreebeauty]

Can you please do more of these videos?!

[susheelgounder]

Great I follow your videos thoroughly .. I am planning to give GRE in march 2021. Can you tell me the exact count of words I will need to learn, so that I reach 160+ milestone in verbal section and 5 in AW

[antoniaangelopoulou]

Huge amount of ads considering the length of the video

[monika_inorganic]

I want more videos like this....i loved it❤️