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SAT Terms
A-Z (short list)
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| aberrant: | Markedly different from an accepted norm |
| aberration: | Deviation from a right, customary, or prescribed course |
| abet: | To aid, promote, or encourage the commission of (an offense) |
| abeyance: | A state of suspension or temporary inaction |
| abjure: | To recant, renounce, repudiate under oath |
| ablution: | A washing or cleansing, especially of the body |
| abrogate: | To abolish, repeal |
| abscond: | To depart suddenly and secretly, as for the purpose of escaping arrest |
| abstemious: | Characterized by self denial or abstinence, as in the use of drink, food |
| abstruse: | Dealing with matters difficult to be understood |
| abut: | To touch at the end or boundary line |
| accede: | To agree |
| acquiesce: | To comply; submit |
| acrid: | Harshly pungent or bitter |
| acumen: | Quickness of intellectual insight, or discernment; keenness of discrimination |
| adage: | An old saying |
| adamant: | Any substance of exceeding hardness or impenetrability |
| admonition: | Gentle reproof |
| adumbrate: | To represent beforehand in outline or by emblem |
| affable: | Easy to approach |
| aggrandize: | To cause to appear greatly |
| aggravate: | To make heavier, worse, or more burdensome |
| agile: | Able to move or act quickly, physically, or mentally |
| agog: | In eager desire |
| alacrity: | Cheerful willingness |
| alcove: | A covered recess connected with or at the side of a larger room |
| alleviate: | To make less burdensome or less hard to bear |
| aloof: | Not in sympathy with or desiring to associate with others |
| amalgamate: | To mix or blend together in a homogeneous body |
| ambidextrous: | Having the ability of using both hands with equal skill or ease |
| ambiguous: | Having a double meaning |
| ameliorate: | To relieve, as from pain or hardship |
| anathema: | Anything forbidden, as by social usage |
| animadversion: | The utterance of criticism or censure |
| animosity: | Hatred |
| antediluvian: | Of or pertaining to the times, things, events before the great flood in the days of Noah |
| antidote: | Anything that will counteract or remove the effects of poison, disease, or the like |
| aplomb: | Confidence; coolness |
| apocryphal : | Of doubtful authority or authenticity |
| apogee: | The climax |
| apostate: | False |
| apotheosis: | Deification |
| apparition: | Ghost |
| appease: | To soothe by quieting anger or indignation |
| apposite: | Appropriate |
| apprise: | To give notice to; to inform |
| approbation: | Sanction |
| arboreal: | Of or pertaining to a tree or trees |
| ardor: | Intensity of passion or affection |
| argot: | A specialized vocabulary peculiar to a particular group |
| arrant: | Notoriously bad |
| ascetic: | Given to severe self-denial and practicing excessive abstinence and devotion |
| ascribe: | To assign as a quality or attribute |
| asperity: | Harshness or roughness of temper |
| assiduous: | Unceasing; persistent |
| assuage: | To cause to be less harsh, violent, or severe, as excitement, appetite, pain, or disease |
| astringent: | Harsh in disposition or character |
| astute: | Keen in discernment |
| atonement: | Amends, reparation, or expiation made from wrong or injury |
| audacious: | Fearless |
| augury: | Omen |
| auspicious: | Favorable omen |
| austere: | Severely simple; unadorned |
| autocrat: | Any one who claims or wields unrestricted or undisputed authority or influence |
| auxiliary: | One who or that which aids or helps, especially when regarded as subsidiary or accessory |
| avarice: | Passion for getting and keeping riches |
| aver: | To avouch, justify or prove |
| aversion: | A mental condition of fixed opposition to or dislike of some particular thing |
| avow: | To declare openly |
| baleful: | Malignant |
| banal: | Commonplace |
| bask: | To make warm by genial heat |
| beatify: | To make supremely happy |
| bedaub: | To smear over, as with something oily or sticky |
| bellicose: | Warlike |
| belligerent: | Manifesting a warlike spirit |
| benefactor: | A doer of kindly and charitable acts |
| benevolence: | Any act of kindness or well-doing |
| benign: Good and kind of heart | |
| berate: To scold severely | |
| bewilder: To confuse the perceptions or judgment of | |
| blandishment: Flattery intended to persuade | |
| blatant: Noisily or offensively loud or clamorous | |
| blithe: Joyous | |
| boisterous: Unchecked merriment or animal spirits | |
| bolster: To support, as something wrong | |
| bombast: Inflated or extravagant language, especially on unimportant subjects | |
| boorish: Rude | |
| breach: The violation of official duty, lawful right, or a legal obligation | |
| brittle: Fragile | |
| broach: To mention, for the first time | |
| bumptious: Full of offensive and aggressive self-conceit | |
| buoyant: Having the power or tendency to float or keep afloat | |
| burnish: To make brilliant or shining | |
| cabal: A number of persons secretly united for effecting by intrigue some private purpose | |
| cacophony: A disagreeable, harsh, or discordant sound or combination of sounds or tones | |
| cajole: To impose on or dupe by flattering speech | |
| callow: Without experience of the world | |
| calumny: Slander | |
| candid: Straightforward | |
| cant: To talk in a singsong, preaching tone with affected solemnity | |
| capacious: Roomy | |
| capitulate: To surrender or stipulate terms | |
| captious: Hypercritical | |
| castigate: To punish | |
| cataract: Opacity of the lens of the eye resulting in complete or partial blindness | |
| caustic: Sarcastic and severe | |
| censure: To criticize severely; also, an expression of disapproval | |
| centurion: A captain of a company of one hundred infantry in the ancient Roman army | |
| chagrin: Keen vexation, annoyance, or mortification, as at one's failures or errors | |
| chary: Careful; wary; cautious | |
| chicanery: The use of trickery to deceive | |
| circumlocution: Indirect or roundabout expression | |
| coddle: To treat as a baby or an invalid | |
| coerce: To force | |
| coeval: Existing during the same period of time; also, a contemporary | |
| cogent: Appealing strongly to the reason or conscience | |
| cogitate: Consider carefully and deeply; ponder | |
| cognizant: Taking notice | |
| colloquial: Pertaining or peculiar to common speech as distinguished from literary | |
| collusion: A secret agreement for a wrongful purpose | |
| comestible: Fit to be eaten | |
| commemorate: To serve as a remembrance of | |
| complaisance: Politeness | |
| complement: To make complete | |
| comport: To conduct or behave (oneself) | |
| compunction: Remorseful feeling | |
| conceit: Self-flattering opinion | |
| conciliatory: Tending to reconcile | |
| concord: Harmony | |
| concur: To agree | |
| condense: To abridge | |
| conflagration: A great fire, as of many buildings, a forest, or the like | |
| confluence: The place where streams meet | |
| congeal: To coagulate | |
| conjoin: To unite | |
| connoisseur: A critical judge of art, especially one with thorough knowledge and sound judgment of art | |
| console: To comfort | |
| conspicuous: Clearly visible | |
| consternation: Panic | |
| constrict: To bind | |
| consummate: To bring to completion | |
| contiguous: Touching or joining at the edge or boundary | |
| contrite: Broken in spirit because of a sense of sin | |
| contumacious: Rebellious | |
| copious: Plenteous | |
| cornucopia: The horn of plenty, symbolizing peace and prosperity | |
| corporeal: Of a material nature; physical | |
| correlate: To put in some relation of connection or correspondence | |
| corroboration: Confirmation | |
| counterfeit: Made to resemble something else | |
| countervail: To offset | |
| covert: Concealed, especially for an evil purpose | |
| cower: To crouch down tremblingly, as through fear or shame | |
| crass: Coarse or thick in nature or structure, as opposed to thin or fine | |
| credulous: Easily deceived | |
| cupidity: Avarice | |
| cursory: Rapid and superficial | |
| curtail: To cut off or cut short | |
| cynosure: That to which general interest or attention is directed | |
| dearth: Scarcity, as of something customary, essential,or desirable | |
| defer: To delay or put off to some other time | |
| deign: To deem worthy of notice or account | |
| deleterious: Hurtful, morally or physically | |
| delineate: To represent by sketch or diagram | |
| deluge: To overwhelm with a flood of water | |
| demagogue: An unprincipled politician | |
| denizen: Inhabitant | |
| denouement: That part of a play or story in which the mystery is cleared up | |
| deplete: To reduce or lessen, as by use, exhaustion, or waste | |
| deposition: Testimony legally taken on interrogatories and reduced to writing, for use as evidence in court | |
| deprave: To render bad, especially morally bad | |
| deprecate: To express disapproval or regret for, with hope for the opposite | |
| deride: To ridicule | |
| derision: Ridicule | |
| derivative: Coming or acquired from some origin | |
| descry: To discern | |
| desiccant: Any remedy which, when applied externally, dries up or absorbs moisture, as that of wounds | |
| desuetude: A state of disuse or inactivity | |
| desultory: Not connected with what precedes | |
| deter: To frighten away | |
| dexterity: Readiness, precision, efficiency, and ease in any physical activity or in any mechanical work | |
| diaphanous: Transparent | |
| diatribe: A bitter or malicious criticism | |
| didactic: Pertaining to teaching | |
| diffidence: Self-distrust | |
| diffident: Affected or possessed with self-distrust | |
| dilate: To enlarge in all directions | |
| dilatory: Tending to cause delay | |
| disallow: To withhold permission or sanction | |
| discomfit: To put to confusion | |
| disconcert: To disturb the composure of | |
| disconsolate : Hopelessly sad; also, saddening; cheerless | |
| discountenance: To look upon with disfavor | |
| discredit: To injure the reputation of | |
| discreet: Judicious | |
| disheveled: Disordered; disorderly; untidy | |
| dissemble: To hide by pretending something different | |
| disseminate: To sow or scatter abroad, as seed is sown | |
| dissent: Disagreement | |
| dissolution: A breaking up of a union of persons | |
| distraught: Bewildered | |
| divulge: To tell or make known, as something previously private or secret | |
| dogmatic: Making statements without argument or evidence | |
| dormant: Being in a state of or resembling sleep | |
| dubious: Doubtful | |
| duplicity: Double-dealing | |
| earthenware: Anything made of clay and baked in a kiln or dried in the sun | |
| ebullient: Showing enthusiasm or exhilaration of feeling | |
| edacious: Given to eating | |
| edible: Suitable to be eaten | |
| educe: To draw out | |
| effete: Exhausted, as having performed its functions | |
| efficacy: The power to produce an intended effect as shown in the production of it | |
| effrontery: Unblushing impudence | |
| effulgence: Splendor | |
| egregious: Extreme | |
| egress: Any place of exit | |
| elegy: A lyric poem lamenting the dead | |
| elicit: To educe or extract gradually or without violence | |
| elucidate: To bring out more clearly the facts concerning | |
| emaciate: To waste away in flesh | |
| embellish: To make beautiful or elegant by adding attractive or ornamental features | |
| embezzle: To misappropriate secretly | |
| emblazon: To set forth publicly or in glowing terms | |
| encomium: A formal or discriminating expression of praise | |
| encumbrance: A burdensome and troublesome load | |
| endemic: Peculiar to some specified country or people | |
| enervate: To render ineffective or inoperative | |
| engender: To produce | |
| engrave: To cut or carve in or upon some surface | |
| enigma: A riddle | |
| enmity: Hatred | |
| entangle: To involve in difficulties, confusion, or complications | |
| entreat: To ask for or request earnestly | |
| Epicurean: Indulging, ministering, or pertaining to daintiness of appetite | |
| epithet: Word used adjectivally to describe some quality or attribute of is objects, as in "Father Aeneas" | |
| epitome: A simplified representation | |
| equable: Equal and uniform; also, serene | |
| equanimity: Evenness of mind or temper | |
| equanimity : Calmness; composure | |
| equilibrium: A state of balance | |
| equivocal: Ambiguous | |
| equivocate: To use words of double meaning | |
| eradicate: To destroy thoroughly | |
| errant: Roving or wandering, as in search of adventure or opportunity for gallant deeds | |
| erratic: Irregular | |
| erroneous: Incorrect | |
| erudite: Very-learned | |
| eschew: To keep clear of | |
| espy: To keep close watch | |
| eulogy: A spoken or written laudation of a person's life or character | |
| euphonious: Characterized by agreeableness of sound | |
| evanescent: Fleeting | |
| evince: To make manifest or evident | |
| evoke: To call or summon forth | |
| exacerbate: To make more sharp, severe, or virulent | |
| exculpate: To relieve of blame | |
| exhaustive: Thorough and complete in execution | |
| exigency: A critical period or condition | |
| exigency : State of requiring immediate action; also, an urgent situation; also, that which is required in a | |
| exorbitant: Going beyond usual and proper limits | |
| expatiate: To speak or write at some length | |
| expedient: Contributing to personal advantage | |
| expiate: To make satisfaction or amends for | |
| explicate: To clear from involvement | |
| expostulate: To discuss | |
| expropriate: To deprive of possession; also, to transfer (another's property) to oneself | |
| extant: Still existing and known | |
| extempore: Without studied or special preparation | |
| extenuate: To diminish the gravity or importance of | |
| extinct: Being no longer in existence | |
| extinguish: To render extinct | |
| extirpate: To root out; to eradicate | |
| extol: To praise in the highest terms | |
| extort: To obtain by violence, threats, compulsion, or the subjection of another to some necessity | |
| extraneous: Having no essential relation to a subject | |
| exuberance: Rich supply | |
| facetious: Amusing | |
| facile: Not difficult to do | |
| factious: Turbulent | |
| fallacious: Illogical | |
| fatuous: Idiotic | |
| fawn: A young deer | |
| feint: Any sham, pretense, or deceptive movement | |
| felon: A criminal or depraved person | |
| ferocity: Savageness | |
| fervid: Intense | |
| fervor: Ardor or intensity of feeling | |
| fidelity: Loyalty | |
| finesse: Subtle contrivance used to gain a point | |
| flamboyant: Characterized by extravagance and in general by want of good taste | |
| flippant: Having a light, pert, trifling disposition | |
| florid: Flushed with red | |
| flout: To treat with contempt | |
| foible: A personal weakness or failing | |
| foment: To nurse to life or activity; to encourage | |
| foppish: Characteristic of one who is unduly devoted to dress and the niceties of manners | |
| forbearance: Patient endurance or toleration of offenses | |
| forfeit: To lose possession of through failure to fulfill some obligation | |
| forgery: Counterfeiting | |
| forswear: To renounce upon oath | |
| fragile: Easily broken | |
| frantic: Frenzied | |
| frugal: Economical | |
| fugacious: Fleeting | |
| fulminate: To cause to explode | |
| fulsome: Offensive from excess of praise or commendation | |
| gainsay: To contradict; to deny | |
| gamut: The whole range or sequence | |
| garrulous: Given to constant trivial talking | |
| germane: Relevant | |
| gesticulate: To make gestures or motions, as in speaking, or in place of speech | |
| glimmer: A faint, wavering, unsteady light | |
| gossamer: Flimsy | |
| gourmand: A connoisseur in the delicacies of the table | |
| grandiloquent: Speaking in or characterized by a pompous or bombastic style | |
| gregarious: Sociable, outgoing | |
| grievous: Creating affliction | |
| guile: Duplicity | |
| gullible: Credulous | |
| halcyon: Calm | |
| harangue: A tirade | |
| harbinger: One who or that which foreruns and announces the coming of any person or thing | |
| head: Adv | Precipitately, as in diving |
| heinous: Odiously sinful | |
| heresy: An opinion or doctrine subversive of settled beliefs or accepted principles | |
| heterogeneous: Consisting of dissimilar elements or ingredients of different kinds | |
| hirsute: Having a hairy covering | |
| hoodwink: To deceive | |
| hospitable: Disposed to treat strangers or guests with generous kindness | |
| hypocrisy: Extreme insincerity | |
| iconoclast: An image-breaker | |
| idiosyncrasy: A mental quality or habit peculiar to an individual | |
| ignoble: Low in character or purpose | |
| ignominious: Shameful | |
| illicit: Unlawful | |
| imbroglio: A misunderstanding attended by ill feeling, perplexity, or strife | |
| imbue : To dye; to instill profoundly | |
| immaculate: Without spot or blemish | |
| imminent: Dangerous and close at hand | |
| immutable: Unchangeable | |
| impair: To cause to become less or worse | |
| impassive: Unmoved by or not exhibiting feeling | |
| impecunious: Having no money | |
| impede: To be an obstacle or to place obstacles in the way of | |
| imperative: Obligatory | |
| imperious: Insisting on obedience | |
| imperturbable: Calm | |
| impervious: Impenetrable | |
| impetuous: Impulsive | |
| impiety: Irreverence toward God | |
| implacable: Incapable of being pacified | |
| implicate: To show or prove to be involved in or concerned | |
| implicit: Implied | |
| importunate: Urgent in character, request, or demand | |
| importune: To harass with persistent demands or entreaties | |
| impromptu: Anything done or said on the impulse of the moment | |
| improvident: Lacking foresight or thrift | |
| impugn: To assail with arguments, insinuations, or accusations | |
| impute: To attribute | |
| inadvertent: Accidental | |
| inane: Silly | |
| incessant: Unceasing | |
| inchoate: Incipient | |
| incipient: Initial | |
| incite: To rouse to a particular action | |
| incongruous: Unsuitable for the time, place, or occasion | |
| inculcate: To teach by frequent repetitions | |
| indelible: That can not be blotted out, effaced, destroyed, or removed | |
| indigence: Poverty | |
| indigenous: Native | |
| indistinct: Vague | |
| indolence: Laziness | |
| indolent: Habitually inactive or idle | |
| indomitable: Unconquerable | |
| indulgent: Yielding to the desires or humor of oneself or those under one's care | |
| ineffable: Unutterable | |
| ineluctable: Impossible to avoid | |
| inept: Not fit or suitable | |
| inexorable: Unrelenting | |
| infuse: To instill, introduce, or inculcate, as principles or qualities | |
| ingenuous: Candid, frank, or open in character or quality | |
| inimical: Adverse | |
| innocuous: Harmless | |
| inscrutable: Impenetrably mysterious or profound | |
| insensible: Imperceptible | |
| insinuate: To imply | |
| insipid: Tasteless | |
| insouciant: Nonchalant | |
| insurrection: The state of being in active resistance to authority | |
| interdict: Authoritative act of prohibition | |
| interim: Time between acts or periods | |
| intransigent: Not capable of being swayed or diverted from a course | |
| intrepid: Fearless and bold | |
| introspection: The act of observing and analyzing one's own thoughts and feelings | |
| inundate: To fill with an overflowing abundance | |
| inure: To harden or toughen by use, exercise, or exposure | |
| invalid: One who is disabled by illness or injury | |
| invective: An utterance intended to cast censure, or reproach | |
| inveigh: To utter vehement censure or invective | |
| inveterate: Habitual | |
| invidious: Showing or feeling envy | |
| invincible: Not to be conquered, subdued, or overcome | |
| iota: A small or insignificant mark or part | |
| irascible: Prone to anger | |
| irate: Moved to anger | |
| ire: Wrath | |
| irksome: Wearisome | |
| itinerant: Wandering | |
| itinerate: To wander from place to place | |
| jocular: Inclined to joke | |
| jovial: Merry | |
| judicious: Prudent | |
| junta: A council or assembly that deliberates in secret upon the affairs of government | |
| lachrymose: Given to shedding tears | |
| lackadaisical: Listless | |
| languid: Relaxed | |
| lascivious: Lustful | |
| lassitude: Lack of vitality or energy | |
| latent: Dormant | |
| laudable: Praiseworthy | |
| laudatory: Pertaining to, expressing, or containing praise | |
| legacy: A bequest | |
| levee: An embankment beside a river or stream or an arm of the sea, to prevent overflow | |
| levity: Frivolity | |
| lexicon: A dictionary | |
| libel: Defamation | |
| licentious: Wanton | |
| lien: A legal claim or hold on property, as security for a debt or charge | |
| listless: Inattentive | |
| lithe: Supple | |
| loquacious: Talkative | |
| lugubrious: Indicating sorrow, often ridiculously | |
| luminary: One of the heavenly bodies as a source of light | |
| lustrous: Shining | |
| malaise: A condition of uneasiness or ill-being | |
| malcontent: One who is dissatisfied with the existing state of affairs | |
| malevolence: Ill will | |
| malign: To speak evil of, especially to do so falsely and severely | |
| malleable: Pliant | |
| massacre: The unnecessary and indiscriminate killing of human beings | |
| maudlin: Foolishly and tearfully affectionate | |
| mawkish: Sickening or insipid | |
| mellifluous: Sweetly or smoothly flowing | |
| mendacious: Untrue | |
| mendicant: A beggar | |
| meretricious: Alluring by false or gaudy show | |
| mesmerize: To hypnotize | |
| meticulous: Over-cautious | |
| mettle: Courage | |
| mettlesome: Having courage or spirit | |
| microcosm: The world or universe on a small scale | |
| mien: The external appearance or manner of a person | |
| mischievous: Fond of tricks | |
| miscreant: A villain | |
| miser: A person given to saving and hoarding unduly | |
| misnomer: A name wrongly or mistakenly applied | |
| moderation: Temperance | |
| modicum: A small or token amount | |
| mollify: To soothe | |
| molt: To cast off, as hair, feathers, etc | |
| monomania: The unreasonable pursuit of one idea | |
| morbid: Caused by or denoting a diseased or unsound condition of body or mind | |
| mordant: Biting | |
| moribund: On the point of dying | |
| morose: Gloomy | |
| multifarious: Having great diversity or variety | |
| mundane: Worldly, as opposed to spiritual or celestial | |
| munificent: Extraordinarily generous | |
| myriad: A vast indefinite number | |
| nadir: The lowest point | |
| nefarious: Wicked in the extreme | |
| negligent: Apt to omit what ought to be done | |
| neophyte: Having the character of a beginner | |
| noisome: Very offensive, particularly to the sense of smell | |
| nostrum: Any scheme or recipe of a charlatan character | |
| noxious: Hurtful | |
| nugatory: Having no power or force | |
| obdurate: Impassive to feelings of humanity or pity | |
| obfuscate: To darken; to obscure | |
| oblique: Slanting; said of lines | |
| obsequious: Showing a servile readiness to fall in with the wishes or will of another | |
| obstreperous: Boisterous | |
| obtrude: To be pushed or to push oneself into undue prominence | |
| obtrusive: Tending to be pushed or to push oneself into undue prominence | |
| obviate: To clear away or provide for, as an objection or difficulty | |
| odious: Hateful | |
| odium: A feeling of extreme repugnance, or of dislike and disgust | |
| officious: Intermeddling with what is not one's concern | |
| ominous: Portentous | |
| onerous: Burdensome or oppressive | |
| onus: A burden or responsibility | |
| opprobrium: The state of being scornfully reproached or accused of evil | |
| ossify: To convert into bone | |
| ostentation: A display dictated by vanity and intended to invite applause or flattery | |
| ostracism: Exclusion from intercourse or favor, as in society or politics | |
| ostracize: To exclude from public or private favor | |
| palate: The roof of the mouth | |
| palatial: Magnificent | |
| palliate: To cause to appear less guilty | |
| palpable: Perceptible by feeling or touch | |
| panacea: A remedy or medicine proposed for or professing to cure all diseases | |
| panegyric: A formal and elaborate eulogy, written or spoken, of a person or of an act | |
| panoply: A full set of armor | |
| paragon: A model of excellence | |
| Pariah: A member of a degraded class; a social outcast | |
| paroxysm: A sudden outburst of any kind of activity | |
| parsimonious: Unduly sparing in the use or expenditure of money | |
| partisan: Characterized by or exhibiting undue or unreasoning devotion to a party | |
| pathos: The quality in any form of representation that rouses emotion or sympathy | |
| paucity: Fewness | |
| peccadillo: A small breach of propriety or principle | |
| pedestrian: One who journeys on foot | |
| pellucid: Translucent | |
| penchant: A bias in favor of something | |
| penurious: Excessively sparing in the use of money | |
| penury: Indigence | |
| peregrination: A wandering | |
| peremptory: Precluding question or appeal | |
| perfidy: Treachery | |
| perfunctory: Half-hearted | |
| peripatetic: Walking about | |
| perjury: A solemn assertion of a falsity | |
| permeate: To pervade | |
| pernicious: Tending to kill or hurt | |
| persiflage: Banter | |
| perspicacity: Acuteness or discernment | |
| perturbation: Mental excitement or confusion | |
| petrify: To convert into a substance of stony hardness and character | |
| petulant: Displaying impatience | |
| phlegmatic: Not easily roused to feeling or action | |
| physiognomy: The external appearance merely | |
| pious: Religious | |
| pique: To excite a slight degree of anger in | |
| placate: To bring from a state of angry or hostile feeling to one of patience or friendliness | |
| platitude: A written or spoken statement that is flat, dull, or commonplace | |
| plea: An argument to obtain some desired action | |
| plenary: Entire | |
| plethora: Excess; superabundance | |
| plumb: A weight suspended by a line to test the verticality of something | |
| plummet: A piece of lead for making soundings, adjusting walls to the vertical | |
| poignant: Severely painful or acute to the spirit | |
| polyglot: Speaking several tongues | |
| ponderous: Unusually weighty or forcible | |
| portend: To indicate as being about to happen, especially by previous signs | |
| portent: Anything that indicates what is to happen | |
| precarious: Perilous | |
| preclude: To prevent | |
| precocious: Having the mental faculties prematurely developed | |
| predominate: To be chief in importance, quantity, or degree | |
| premature: Coming too soon | |
| presage: To foretell | |
| prescience: Knowledge of events before they take place | |
| presumption: That which may be logically assumed to be true until disproved | |
| preternatural: Extraordinary | |
| prevalent: Of wide extent or frequent occurrence | |
| prevaricate: To use ambiguous or evasive language for the purpose of deceiving or diverting attention | |
| prim: Stiffly proper | |
| pristine: Primitive | |
| probity: Virtue or integrity tested and confirmed | |
| proclivity: A natural inclination | |
| procrastination: Delay | |
| prodigal: One wasteful or extravagant, especially in the use of money or property | |
| prodigious: Immense | |
| profligacy: Shameless viciousness | |
| profligate: Recklessly wasteful | |
| profuse: Produced or displayed in overabundance | |
| prolix: Verbose | |
| propinquity: Nearness | |
| propitious: Kindly disposed | |
| prosaic: Unimaginative | |
| proscribe: To reject, as a teaching or a practice, with condemnation or denunciation | |
| protuberant: Bulging | |
| provident: Anticipating and making ready for future wants or emergencies | |
| prudence: Caution | |
| puerile: Childish | |
| pugnacious: Quarrelsome | |
| punctilious: Strictly observant of the rules or forms prescribed by law or custom | |
| pungency: The quality of affecting the sense of smell | |
| pusillanimous: Without spirit or bravery | |
| pyre: A heap of combustibles arranged for burning a dead body | |
| qualm: A fit of nausea | |
| quandary: A puzzling predicament | |
| quibble: An utterly trivial distinction or objection | |
| quiescence: Being quiet, still, or at rest; inactive | |
| quiescent: Being in a state of repose or inaction | |
| Quixotic: Chivalrous or romantic to a ridiculous or extravagant degree | |
| quotidian: Of an everyday character; ordinary | |
| raconteur: A person skilled in telling stories | |
| ramify: To divide or subdivide into branches or subdivisions | |
| rapacious: Sieze by force, avaricious | |
| raucous: Harsh | |
| reactionary: Pertaining to, of the nature of, causing, or favoring reaction | |
| rebuff: A peremptory or unexpected rejection of advances or approaches | |
| recalcitrant: Marked by stubborn resistance | |
| recant: To withdraw formally one's belief (in something previously believed or maintained) | |
| reciprocity: Equal mutual rights and benefits granted and enjoyed | |
| recluse: One who lives in retirement or seclusion | |
| recondite: Incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding | |
| recrudescent: Becoming raw or sore again | |
| recuperate: To recover | |
| redoubtable: Formidable | |
| redress: To set right, as a wrong by compensation or the punishment of the wrong-doer | |
| refractory: Not amenable to control | |
| regale: To give unusual pleasure | |
| regicide: The killing of a king or sovereign | |
| reiterate: To say or do again and again | |
| relapse: To suffer a return of a disease after partial recovery | |
| remonstrate: To present a verbal or written protest to those who have power to right or prevent a wrong | |
| renovate: To restore after deterioration, as a building | |
| repast: A meal; figuratively, any refreshment | |
| repel: To force or keep back in a manner, physically or mentally | |
| repine: To indulge in fretfulness and faultfinding | |
| reprobate: One abandoned to depravity and sin | |
| repudiate: To refuse to have anything to do with | |
| repulsive: Grossly offensive | |
| requisite: Necessary | |
| requite: To repay either good or evil to, as to a person | |
| rescind: To make void, as an act, by the enacting authority or a superior authority | |
| resilience: The power of springing back to a former position | |
| resonance: Able to reinforce sound by sympathetic vibrations | |
| respite: Interval of rest | |
| restive: Resisting control | |
| retinue: The group of people who accompany an important person during travels | |
| revere: To regard with worshipful veneration | |
| reverent: Humble | |
| ribald: Indulging in or manifesting coarse indecency or obscenity | |
| risible: Capable of exciting laughter | |
| rotund: Round from fullness or plumpness | |
| ruffian: A lawless or recklessly brutal fellow | |
| ruminate: To chew over again, as food previously swallowed and regurgitated | |
| sagacious: Able to discern and distinguish with wise perception | |
| salacious: Having strong sexual desires | |
| salient: Standing out prominently | |
| salubrious: Healthful; promoting health | |
| salutary: Beneficial | |
| sanction: To approve authoritatively | |
| sanguine: Cheerfully confident; optimistic | |
| sardonic: Scornfully or bitterly sarcastic | |
| satiate: To satisfy fully the appetite or desire of | |
| satyr: A very lascivious person | |
| savor: To perceive by taste or smell | |
| scabbard: The sheath of a sword or similar bladed weapon | |
| scintilla: The faintest ray | |
| scribble: Hasty, careless writing | |
| sedulous: Persevering in effort or endeavor | |
| sequence: The order in which a number or persons, things, or events follow one another in space or time | |
| severance: Separation | |
| shrewd: Characterized by skill at understanding and profiting by circumstances | |
| sinecure: Any position having emoluments with few or no duties | |
| sinuous: Curving in and out | |
| skiff: Usually, a small light boat propelled by oars | |
| sluggard: A person habitually lazy or idle | |
| solace: Comfort in grief, trouble, or calamity | |
| solvent: Having sufficient funds to pay all debts | |
| somniferous: Tending to produce sleep | |
| somnolent: Sleepy | |
| sonorous: Resonant | |
| sophistry: Reasoning sound in appearance only, especially when designedly deceptive | |
| soporific: Causing sleep; also, something that causes sleep | |
| sordid: Filthy, morally degraded | |
| specious: Plausible | |
| spurious: Not genuine | |
| squalid: Having a dirty, mean, poverty-stricken appearance | |
| stanch: To stop the flowing of; to check | |
| stigma: A mark of infamy or token of disgrace attaching to a person as the result of evil-doing | |
| stingy: Cheap, unwilling to spend money | |
| stolid: Expressing no power of feeling or perceiving | |
| submerge: To place or plunge under water | |
| subterfuge: Evasion | |
| succinct: Concise | |
| sumptuous: Rich and costly | |
| supercilious: Exhibiting haughty and careless contempt | |
| superfluous: Being more than is needed | |
| supernumerary: Superfluous | |
| supersede: To displace | |
| supine: Lying on the back | |
| supplicate: To beg | |
| suppress: To prevent from being disclosed or punished | |
| surcharge: An additional amount charged | |
| surfeit: To feed to fullness or to satiety | |
| susceptibility: A specific capability of feeling or emotion | |
| sybarite: A luxurious person | |
| sycophant: A servile flatterer, especially of those in authority or influence | |
| synopsis: A syllabus or summary | |
| taciturn: Disinclined to conversation | |
| taut: Stretched tight | |
| temerity: Foolhardy disregard of danger; recklessness | |
| terse: Pithy | |
| timorous: Lacking courage | |
| torpid: Dull; sluggish; inactive | |
| torrid: Excessively hot | |
| tortuous: Abounding in irregular bends or turns | |
| tractable: Easily led or controlled | |
| transgress: To break a law | |
| transient: One who or that which is only of temporary existence | |
| transitory: Existing for a short time only | |
| travail: Hard or agonizing labor | |
| travesty: A grotesque imitation | |
| trenchant: Cutting deeply and quickly | |
| trepidation: Nervous uncertainty of feeling | |
| trite: Made commonplace by frequent repetition | |
| truculence: Ferocity | |
| truculent: Having the character or the spirit of a savage | |
| turbid: In a state of turmoil; muddled | |
| turgid: Swollen | |
| turpitude: Depravity | |
| tutelage: The act of training or the state of being under instruction | |
| tyro: One slightly skilled in or acquainted with any trade or profession | |
| ubiquitous: Being present everywhere | |
| ulterior: Not so pertinent as something else to the matter spoken of | |
| umbrage: A sense of injury | |
| unctuous: Oily | |
| undermine: To subvert in an underhand way | |
| undulate: To move like a wave or in waves | |
| untoward: Causing annoyance or hindrance | |
| upbraid: To reproach as deserving blame | |
| vagary: A sudden desire or action | |
| vainglory: Excessive, pretentious, and demonstrative vanity | |
| valorous: Courageous | |
| vapid: Having lost sparkling quality and flavor | |
| variegated: Having marks or patches of different colors; also, varied | |
| vehement: Very eager or urgent | |
| venal: Mercenary, corrupt | |
| veneer: Outside show or elegance | |
| venial: That may be pardoned or forgiven, a forgivable sin | |
| veracious: Habitually disposed to speak the truth | |
| veracity: Truthfulness | |
| verbiage: Use of many words without necessity | |
| verbose: Wordy | |
| verdant: Green with vegetation | |
| veritable: Real; true; genuine | |
| vestige: A visible trace, mark, or impression, of something absent, lost, or gone | |
| vicissitude: A change, especially a complete change, of condition or circumstances, as of fortune | |
| vigilance: Alert and intent mental watchfulness in guarding against danger | |
| vigilant: Being on the alert to discover and ward off danger or insure safety | |
| virago: Loud talkative women, strong statured women | |
| virtu: Rare, curious, or beautiful quality | |
| visage: The face, countenance, or look of a person | |
| vitiate: To contaminate | |
| vituperate: To overwhelm with wordy abuse | |
| vivify: To endue with life | |
| vociferous: Making a loud outcry | |
| volatile: Changeable | |
| voluble: Having great fluency in speaking | |
| wean: To transfer (the young) from dependence on mother's milk to another form of nourishment | |
| whimsical: Capricious | |
| winsome: Attractive | |
| Zeitgeist: The intellectual and moral tendencies that characterize any age or epoch | |
Created by:
shaytheeintellect
Popular English Vocabulary sets