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SAT Vocabulary
A large compliation of SAT Reasoning Test words from Princeton Review
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Ingenuous | Lacking in cunning, guile, or worldliness |
| Subterfuge | A deceptive stratagem or device |
| Surreptitious | Secretive; sneaky |
| Dearth | Scarce supply; lack |
| Modicum | A small, moderate or token amount |
| Paucity | Smallness in number; scarcity |
| Squander | To spend wastefully |
| Temperate | Moderate; restrained |
| Tenuous | Having little substance or strength; shaky |
| Diligent | Marked by painstaking effort; hardworking |
| Maverick | One who is independent and resists adherence to a group |
| Mercenary | Motivated solely by a desire for money or material gain; a professional solider |
| Obstinate | Stubbornly attached to an opinion or a course of action |
| Proliferate | To grow or increase rapidly |
| Tenacity | Persistence |
| Vigilant | On the alert; watchful |
| Extraneous | Irrelevant; inessential |
| Juxtapose | To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast |
| Superfluous | Extra; unnecessary |
| Synergy | Combine action or operation |
| Tangential | Merely touching or slightly connect; only superficially relevant |
| Aural | Of or related to the ear or the sense of hearing |
| Cacophony | Discordant, unpleasant noise |
| Aesthetic | Having to do with the appreciation of beauty |
| Dirge | A funeral hymn or lament |
| Eclectic | Made up of a variety of sources or styles |
| Incongruous | Lacking in harmony; incompatible |
| Sonorous | Producing a deep or full sound |
| Strident | Loud, harsh, grating or shrill |
| Debacle | Disastrous or ludicrous defeat or failure; fiasco |
| Debilitate | Impair the strength of; weaken |
| Tumultuous | Noisy and disorderly |
| Anachronistic | The representation of something as existing or happening in the wrong time period |
| Archaic | Characteristic of an earlier time; antiquated; old |
| Dilatory | Habitually late |
| Ephemeral | Lasting for only a brief time |
| Redolent | Fragrant; aromatic; suggestive |
| Temporal | Of, relating to, or limited by time |
| Onerous | Troublesome or oppressive; burdensome |
| Portent | Indication of something important or calamitous about to occur; omen |
| Prescience | Knowledge of actions or events before they occur; foreknowledge; foresight |
| Austere | Without decoration; strict |
| Banal | Drearily commonplace; predictable; trite |
| Hackneyed | Worn out through overuse; trite |
| Insipid | Uninteresting; unchallenging; lacking taste or savor |
| Prosaic | Unimaginative; dull; opposite of poetic |
| Soporific | Inducing or tending to induce sleep |
| Vapid | Lacking liveliness, animation,or interest; dull |
| Brevity | The quality or state of being brief in duration |
| Expedient | Appropriate to a purpose; convenient; speedy |
| Transient | Passing quickly in time or space |
| Augment | To make greater, as in size, extent, or quantity; to supplement |
| Bolster | To hearten, support or prop up |
| Burgeon | To grow and flourish |
| Copious | Plentiful; having a large quantity |
| Distend | To swell out or expand from internal pressure, as when overly full |
| Grandiose | Great in scope or intent; grand |
| Prodigious | Enormous |
| Profundity | Great depth of intellect, feeling, or meaning |
| Redouble | To make twice as great; to double |
| Scintillating | Brilliant |
| Averse | Strongly disinclined |
| Conspicuous | East to notice; obvious |
| Demure | modest and reserved |
| Diffidence | Timidity or shyness |
| Docile | Submissive to instruction; willing to be taught |
| Innocuous | Having no adverse effect; harmless |
| Placid | Calm or quiet; undisturbed |
| Quiescent | Quiet, still, or at rest; inactive |
| Concord | Agreement |
| Concur | To agree |
| Dogmatic | Stubbornly attached to insufficiently proven beliefs |
| Fastidious | Carefully attentive to detail; difficult to please |
| Intransigence | Refusal to moderate a position or to compromise |
| Jocular | Characterized by or given to joking |
| Meticulous | Extremely careful and precise |
| Affable | Easygoing; friendly |
| Alacrity | Promptness in response; cheerful readiness; eagerness |
| Amiable | Friendly; agreeable; good-matured |
| Benign | Kind and gentle |
| Sanguine | Cheerfully confident; optimistic |
| Belligerent | Eager to fight; hostile or aggressive |
| Byzantine | Extremely complicated or devious |
| Cantankerous | Ill-tempered and quarrelsome; disagreeable |
| Contentious | Quarrelsome |
| Deleterious | Having a harmful effect |
| Exacerbate | To increase the severity, violence, or bitterness of; aggravate |
| Flippant | Disrespectfully humorous or casual |
| Insolent | Insulting in manner or speech |
| Nefarious | Flagrantly wicked; vicious |
| Pernicious | Extremely or irrevocably harmful; deadly |
| Rancorous | Marked by bitter, deep-seated ill-will |
| Repugnant | Arousing disgust or aversion; offensive or repulsive |
| Tawdry | Gaudy and cheap |
| Arboreal | Relating to or resembling a tree or trees |
| Invocation | A call (usually upon a higher power) for assistance, support or inspiration |
| Stratify | To layer or separate into layers |
| Variegated | Having streaks, marks, or patches of a different color or colors; varicolored |
| Verdant | Green with vegetation |
| Candid | Completely honest, straightforward |
| Conjecture | Inference; guesswork |
| Didactic | Instructive |
| Euphemism | A mild, indirect, or vague term substituting for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term |
| Extrapolate | To infer or estimate by extending or projecting known information |
| Incoherent | Lacking cohesion or connection |
| Insinuate | To introduce or communicate stealthily |
| Lucid | Easily understood; clear |
| Rhetoric | The art of using language effectively and persuasively |
| Acumen | Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight |
| Adroit | Dexterous; deft |
| Ascertain | To find out, as through investigation or experimentation |
| Astute | Shrewd; clever |
| Circumspect | Careful; prudent; discreet |
| Disseminate | To scatter widely, as in sowing seed |
| Erudition | Deep, extensive learning |
| Husbandry | The application of scientific principles to agriculture, especially to animal breeding |
| Pedantic | Excessively concerned with book learning and formal rules |
| Perspicacious | Shrewd; clear-sighted |
| Pragmatic | Practical |
| Precocious | Exhibiting unusually early intellectual aptitude or maturity |
| Prospectus | Formal proposal |
| Rudimentary | Basic; elementary; in the earliest stages of development |
| Abstruse | Difficult to understand |
| Callous | Emotionally hardened; unfeeling |
| Convoluted | Intricate; complex |
| Enigma | A puzzle, mystery, or riddle |
| Inscrutable | Difficult to fathom or understand; impenetrable |
| Reticent | Inclined to keep silent; reserved |
| Staid | Unemotional; serious |
| Arcane | Known or understood by only a few |
| Assimilate | To absorb or become absorbed; to make or become similar |
| Autonomy | Independence; self-determination |
| Cosmopolitan | Worldly; widely sophisticated |
| Derivative | Something that comes from another source |
| Entourage | A group of attendants or associates; a retinue |
| Esoteric | Intended for or understood by only a small group |
| Gaffe | A clumsy social error; a faux pas |
| Idiosyncrasy | Characteristic peculiar to an individual or group |
| Insular | Isolated; narrow or provincial |
| Orthodox | Adhering to the traditional and established; especially in religion |
| Potentate | One who has the power and position to rule over others; monarch |
| Castigate | To scold, rebuke, or harshly criticize |
| Censure | To issue official blame |
| Denounce | To condemn openly |
| Reclusive | Seeking or preferring seclusion or isolation |
| Relinquish | To retire from; give up or abandon |
| Renounce | To give up (a title, for example), especially by formal announcement |
| Vituperative | Marked by harshly abusive condemnation |
| Circumscribe | To draw a circle around; to restrict |
| Contiguous | Sharing an edge or boundary; touching |
| Conciliatory | Appeasing; soothing; showing willingness to reconcile |
| Credible | Capable of being believed; plausible |
| Exonerate | To free from blame |
| Incontrovertible | Indisputable; not open to question |
| Indict | To officially charge with wrongdoing or a crime |
| Litigious | Prone to engage in lawsuits |
| Partisan | Devoted to or biased in support of a party, group or cause |
| Parity | Equality, as in amount, status, or value |
| Rectitude | Moral uprightness; righteousness |
| Remiss | Lax in attending to duty; negligent |
| Repudiate | To reject the validity or authority of |
| Sanctimonious | Feigning piety or righteousness |
| Scrupulous | Principled, having a strong sense of right and wrong; conscientious and exacting |
| Solicitous | Concerned |
| Sophistry | Plausible but misleading or fallacious argument |
| Substantiate | To support with proof or evidence; verify |
| Veracity | adherence to the truth; truthfulness |
| Vindicate | To free from blame |
| Cajole | To urge with repeated appeals, teasing, or flattery |
| Chicanery | Trickery |
| Obsequious | Fawning and servile |
| Sycophant | Insincere, obsequious flatterer. |
| Altruism | Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness |
| Eminent | Distinguished; prominent |
| Empathetic | Identifying with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives |
| Extol | To praise highly |
| Laudatory | Full of praise |
| Magnanimous | Courageously or generously noble in mind and heart |
| Philanthropic | Humanitarian; benevolent; relating to monetary generosity |
| Reciprocate | To mutually take or give; to respond in kind |
| Defunct | No longer existing or functioning |
| Eradicate | To get rid of as if by tearing it up by the roots; abolish |
| Expurgate | To remove objectionable content before publication or release |
| Extirpate | To destroy |
| Quell | To put down forcibly; suppress |
| Raze | To level to the ground; demolish |
| Squelch | To crush as if trampling; squash |
| Supplant | To usurp the place of, especially through intrigue or underhanded tactics |
| Stymie | To thwart or stump |
| Abase | To lower in rank, prestige or esteem |
| Deride | To mock contemptuously |
| Derogatory | Insulting or intended to insult |
| Disparage | To speak of negatively; to belittle |
| Effrontery | Brazen boldness; presumptuous |
| Ignominy | Great personal dishonor or humiliation; disgraceful conduct |
| Impugn | To attack as false or questionable |
| Mar | To damage, especially in a disfiguring way |
| Pejorative | Disparaging, belittling, insulting |
| Vex | To annoy or bother; to perplex |
| Vindictive | Disposed to seek revenge; revengeful; spiteful |
| Bombastic | Given to pompous speech or writing |
| Ebullience | Intense enthusiasm |
| Exorbitant | Exceeding all bounds, as of custom or fairness |
| Exuberant | Full of unrestrained enthusiasm or joy |
| Embellish | To ornament or decorate; to exaggerate |
| Flagrant | Extremely or deliberately shocking or noticeable |
| Gratuitous | Given freely; unearned; unnecessary |
| Lavish | Extravagant |
| Lugubrious | Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree |
| Opulent | Displaying great wealth |
| Ornate | Elaborately decorated |
| Penchant | A strong inclination or liking |
| Redundant | Needlessly repetitive |
| Ubiquitous | Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time; omnipresent |
| Vicarious | Felt or undergone as if one were taking part in the experience or feelings of another |
| Vignette | A short scene or story |
| Amalgam | A combination of diverse elements; a mixture |
| Inundate | To overwhelm as if with a flood; to swamp |
| Multifarious | Diverse; various |
| Multiplicity | State of being various or manifold; a great number |
| Alleviate | To ease a pain or burden |
| Ameliorate | To make something better; improve |
| Beneficial | Producing or prompting a favorable result; helpful |
| Curative | Able to heal or cure |
| Palliative | Relieving or soothing the symptoms of a disease or disorder without effecting a cure |
| Therapeutic | Having or exhibiting healing powers |
| Complement | Something that completes, goes with, or brings to perfection |
| Epitome | A representative or example of a type |
| Felicitous | Admirable suited; apt |
| Belie | To misrepresent |
| debunk | To expose untruths, shams, or exaggerated claims |
| Dubious | Doubtful; of unlikely authenticity |
| Duplicitous | Deliberately deceptive |
| Fabricate | To make up in order to deceive |
| Fallacy | A false notion |
| Mendacious | Lying; untruthful |
| Specious | Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually false |
| Ambiguous | Open to more than interpretation |
| Ambivalent | Simultaneously feeling opposing feelings; uncertain |
| Apathetic | Feeling or sowing little emotion |
| Capricious | Impulsive and unpredictable |
| Equivocal | Open to two or more interpretations and often intended to mislead; ambiguous |
| Erratic | Markedly inconsistent |
| Impetuous | Suddenly and forcefully energetic or emotional; impulsive and passionate |
| Impetus | An impelling force or stimulus |
| Sporadic | Occurring at irregular intervals; having no pattern or order in time |
| Vacillate | To sway from one side to the other; oscillate |
| Whimsical | Characterized by whim; unpredictable |
| Flag | To decline in vigor or strength; to tire; to droop |
| Jaded | Worn out; wearied |