SSAT Vocab (S through Z)
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| saturate | To fill something to the point where it can hold no more; soak, fill, drench, permeate | Reading the entire encyclopedia will saturate your mind with facts.
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| saucy | Impudent, impertinent, flippant; pert, lively, rude, insolent | She always got in trouble with her parents for her saucy remarks.
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| savor | To enjoy something with relish or delight; taste, relish, enjoy, appreciate | I savored every bite of my father's chocolate cream pie.
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| scald | Burn with hot liquid or steam; scorch, boil | Sharon was scalded when she bumped into a pot of boiling water.
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| scarce | Rare, uncommon; sparse, infrequent | Water is scarce in the Sahara Desert.
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| scathing | Overly critical; searing, crushing, harmful | Walter was depressed by the scathing reviews that his play received.
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| schism | Division or separation between groups of members within an organization; disunity, break, division, conflict, clash | Because half of the student council wanted the jukebox in the cafeteria, and the other half wanted it in the library, the council suffered a schism.
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| scrupulous | Acting in accordance with a strict moral code; thorough in the performance of a task; moral, upstanding, virtuous, principled, ethical; careful, conscientious, thorough, diligent | David could not have stolen Sheila's money; he was too scrupulous to carry out the threat.
Roger is a scrupulous editor who checks every word his reporters write.
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| secure | (v) to fasten, make safe; bind, clamp (adj) well-fastened, safe, not likely to fall or come loose | I had secured my luggage in the overhead luggage rack a the beginning of the journey.
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| seethe | To heave or bubble from great inner turmoil, as a volcano; to boil; steam, foam, surge, swell | Immediately after learning about Roger's gossip about me, I began to boil with anger and by the time I reached his house I was seething.
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| sentry | Guard, sentinel, watchman, lookout | Mitchell stood as sentry while the other boys were in the room smoking.
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| sequel | Addition or result; story that continues a previous one; aftermath, outcome, continuation, consequence |
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| shrewd | Clever, keen-witted, cunning, sharp in practical affairs; astute, wily, discerning | She was a shrewd businesswoman and soon parlayed her meager savings into a fortune.
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| significant | Meaningful, important, relevant, consequential, momentous, weighty | A good detective knows that something that hardly seems worth noticing may be highly significant.
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| sinister | Threatening, evil, menacing, ominous, wicked | His friendly manner concealed sinister designs.
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| slack | (n) Lack of tautness or tension; a time of little activity or dullness; lull, relaxation (adj) Sluggish, idle, barely moving, loose, relaxed, lax, remiss, careless, inactive, slow | There was no wind; the sails hung slack and the boat was motionless.
The slack atmosphere made it unlikely that anyone would work efficiently.
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| sociable | Friendly, companionable, gregarious, affable, amiable | Although they maintain their independence, cats are sociable creatures.
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| solicit | To seek (something) from another; to make a request of someone; request, petition, beg | The tennis player disagreed with the first judge's decision, so she solicited the opinion of the second judge. I solicited my parents for money, but they said no.
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| specify | To mention, name or require specifically or exactly; detail, identify, stipulate, itemize, define | The report specified the steps to be taken in an emergency
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| splice | To join, bind, attach; in film editing, to join two pieces of film; connect, attach, link, unite | The editor removed all the scenes with the troublesome actress and spliced the remainder together.
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| spurn | Reject with scorn, turn away; refuse, snub | When Harvey proposed to Harriet, she spurned him because she loved another man.
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| squalid | Very dirty or foul; wretched; filthy, sordid, pour, foul | The squalid living conditions in the tenement building outraged the new tenants.
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| squander | To waste (often money) on some worthless purchase or practice; fritter away, consume, exhaust | While I have carefully saved money to buy the piano I have always wanted, my friend Sean has squandered his earnings on thousands of lottery tickets.
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| staunch | Steady, loyal; firm, sturdy, solid, established, substantial, steadfast, faithful, unfailing | My grandfather has always been my staunch supporter.
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| stealthy | Sneaky, secret, furtive, clandestine | The children made a stealthy raid on the refrigerator during the night.
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| suave | Smooth, polished and confident in speech and behavior (sometimes insincerely); smooth, worldly, sophisticated, urbane, cosmopolitan, cultivated, cultured, refined | James was a suave young man who knew exactly how to act in any situation.
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| suppress | Crush, hold in, hide; quell, contain |
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| surfeit | Overly abundant supply, an excess; glut | There certainly is no surfeit of gasoline this year.
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| surmise | (v) to guess, infer; speculate, hypothesize | From his torn pants and bloody nose I surmised that he had been in a fight.
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| surrogate | Person or thing substituted for another; proxy, substitute, alternate | When I was ill, my friend agreed to act as my surrogate and give my speech for me.
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| susceptible | Vulnerable, liable to be affected by something; open, exposed | Because of her weakened state, Valerie was susceptible to infection.
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| suspense | Fear or anticipation of waiting for something; something having to do with fear or mystery, as in a suspense novel; apprehension, anxiety | Carolyn was in an agony of suspense waiting to find out if she'd gotten the lead part in the school play.
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| synopsis | Short summary, outline | Owen wrote a one-page synopsis of a 55-page book.
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| taciturn | Quiet, tending not to speak; shy, reserved, guarded | Helen is a taciturn girl who plays by herself and rarely says a word.
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| tactful | Acting with sensitivity to others' feelings; diplomatic, discreet, Judicious, sensitive, considerate, thoughtful, politic, delicate | I sent Eva to explain our sudden departure to our smelly hosts, for she is the most tactful person I know.
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| taint | To poison, as a drink; to corrupt, as a person; poison, contaminate, infect, spoil, corrupt, debase, pervert, stain, blemish | "I have tainted the princess's wine with a potion that will age her horribly in a few short weeks!" the witch proclaimed gleefully.
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| tamper | Bother, interfere, meddle, tinker, manipulate | Dan tampered with the thermostat and raised the temperature in the room to 85 degrees.
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| tangible | Can be felt by touching; having an actual substance; material, real, touchable, palpable, concrete, perceptible | The storming of the castle didn't bring the soldiers tangible rewards, but it brought them great honor. They would have preferred the rewards.
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| taut | Stretched tightly; tense; tight, strained | The tightrope was taut.
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| temperate | Denying oneself too much pleasure; avoiding extreme positions; moderate, sensible; a mild climate; self-denying; sensible, level-headed, rational, moderate, restrained, mild | Carol is the most temperate student I have ever met; even on Friday night she goes to bed early.
The temperate weather of California is a welcome change from the harsh winters and muggy summers of New York.
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| tenacious | Steadily pursuing a goal, unwilling to give up; stubborn, persistent, persevering, untiring, tireless | For years, against all odds, women tenaciously fought for the right to vote.
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| tepid | Neither hot nor cold; lukewarm; lacking character or spirit, bland; mild, temperate; unenthusiastic, halfhearted, indifferent | Roxanne refused to take a bath in the tepid water, fearing that she would catch a cold. Neither liking nor disliking Finnegan's film, the critics gave it tepid reviews.
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| terminate | To stop, end; cease, finish, conclude | Amy and Zoe terminated their friendship and never spoke to each other again.
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| terse | Concise, brief, using few words; succinct, compact | Kate was noted for her terse replies, rarely going beyond "yes" or "no."
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| tether | (n) Chain or rope tied to an animal to keep it within specific bounds; (v) To fasten or confine; tie | The cheetah chewed through its tether and wandered off. I have to tether my dog to the fence to keep it out of the neighbor's yard.
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| token | (n) Sign or symbol; expression, representation; (adj) Existing in name or appearance only, without depth or significance; nominal, superficial, meaningless | I offered him a chocolate bar as a token of my gratitude for his help.
He offered me a token handshake, but I knew that we were in fact still enemies.
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| torrid | Extremely hot, scorching; parched, sizzling | The torrid weather destroyed the crops.
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| trepidation | Fear, apprehension; fright, anxiety, trembling, hesitation | Mike approached the door of the principal's office with trepidation.
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| trite | Lacking originality, inspiration and interest; tired, banal, unoriginal, common, stale, stock | Lindsay's graduation speech was the same trite nonsense we've heard a hundred times before.
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| tumult | Noise and confusion; racket, disorder | The tumult of the No Nukes demonstrators drowned out the president's speech.
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| tyranny | Harsh exercise of absolute power, as in the deadly dinosaur Tyrannosaurus Rex; oppression, repression | The students accused Mrs. Morgenstern of tyranny when she assigned seats instead of letting them choose their own.
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| ultimate | Marking the highest point; cannot be improved upon; final; maximum, remotest, conclusive, last, elemental, primary, fundamental | The new fashions from Paris are the ultimate in chic.
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| unanimous | Approved by everyone concerned; unchallenged, uncontested, unopposed, united, harmonious | The student council voted unanimously; not one person opposed the plan.
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| unkempt | Messy, sloppily maintained; sloppy, slovenly, ruffled, disheveled, untidy, ragged | Sam's long hair and wrinkled shirt seemed unkempt to his grandmother; she told him he looked like a bum.
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| usurp | To seize, take by force (most often used of abstract nouns like "power" rather than concrete nouns like "bathrobe"); grab, steal, snatch | The vice principal was power-hungry and tended to usurp the principal's authority.
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| vacate | Leave as in a vacation; depart, go | The police ordered the demonstrators to vacate the park.
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| vacuous | Silly, empty-headed, not serious; shallow, vapid | The book that Victor loved when he was six struck him as utterly vacuous when he was twenty, but he still liked the pictures.
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| vague | Not clear or certain; nebulous, imprecise | It took us a while to find Amanda's house because the directions were vague.
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| vehement | With deep feeling; passionate, earnest, fervent | Susanne responded to the accusation of cheating with a vehement denial
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| vend | To sell goods; peddle, merchandise | Every Saturday in the Summer, craftsmen vend their products in the park
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| vex | To irritate to a great degree, to annoy; tease, provoke, torment, pester, harass, bother, annoy | Your constant sniveling is beginning to vex me.
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| vitalize | To make something come alive; animate | The government's flagrant acts of injustice vitalized the opposition.
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| vivacious | Lively, full of spirit; animated, sprightly, spirited | Quiet and withdrawn at firs, Joan became iincreasingly vivacious.
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| wan | Unnaturally pale, lacking color; ashen, bloodless | The sick child had a wan face.
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| wantonly | Without a reason; randomly, indiscriminately | Instead of singling out appropriate targets for his anger, the crazed robot struck out wantonly.
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| wrath | Extreme anger; ire, fury, rage | He denounced the criminals in a speech filled with righteous wrath.
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| wretched | Miserable, pathetic; dejected, woebegone, forlorn | Steve felt wretched when he failed the test.
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| writhe | To squirm or twist as if in pain | After being hit by a car, the pedestrian was writhing in pain.
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| zealous | Enthusiastic, eager; fervent, fervid, intense, passionate | Heather was a zealous supporter of the cause who never missed a rally.
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| satellite | A small thing going around a bigger thing, for example the moon | A spy satellite can take pictures of the people and things it passes above as it circles the globe.
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Or sort by any of the columns using the down arrow next to any column heading.
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