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SAT vocab
Words for the SAT
Word | Definition |
---|---|
Candid | comletely honest, straightforward |
Conjecture | inference; guesswork |
Didactic | instructive |
Effusive | showing excessive emotion; overflowing |
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 imply or communicate stealthily |
Loquacious | very talkative |
Lucid | easily understood; clear |
Rhetoric | the art of using language effectively and persuasively. |
Acumen | quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgement of insight. |
Adroit | dexterous; deft |
Ascertain | to find out, as through investigation or experimentation. |
Astute | to find out, as through investigation or experimentation |
Circumspect | careful; prudent; discreet |
Disseminate | to scatter widely, as in sowing seed |
Erudition | deep, extensive learning |
Pedantic | excessively concerned with book learning and formal rules |
Perspicacious | shrewd; clear-sighted |
Pragmatic | practical |
Precocious | exhibiting unusually early intellectual aptitude or maturity |
Prolific | very productive; producing great qualities |
Prospectus | formal proposal |
Rudimentary | basic; elementary; in the earliest stages of development |
Abstruse | difficult to understand |
Callous | emotionally hardened; unfeeling |
Convoluted | intricate; complex |
Disaffected | having lost faith or loyalty; discontent |
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 of become similar |
Autonomy | independence; self-determination |
Cosmopolitan | worldy; widely sophisticated |
Derivative | something that comes from another source |
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 (antonym: disparity) |
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 |
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 |
Empathy | identification 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 |
Quell | to put down forcibly; suppress |
Raze | to level to the ground; demolish |
Squelch | to crush as if by trampling; squash |
Supplant | to usurp to 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; presumptuousness |
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 |
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 feeling or 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 |
Beneficial | producing or promoting a favorable result; helpful |
Cathartic | relaxing after an emotional outburst |
Curative | able to heal or cure |
Palliative | reliving 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 | admirably suited; apt |
Belie | to misrepresent or disguise |
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 one interpretation |
Ambivalent | simultaneously feeling opposing feelings; uncertain |
Apathetic | feeling or showing little emotion |
Capricious | impulsive and unpredictable |
Equivocal | open to two or more interpretations and often intended to mislead; ambiguous (antonym: unequivocal) |
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 another; oscillate |
Whimsical | characterized by whim; unpredictable |
Flag | to decline in vigor or strength; to tire; to droop |
Jaded | worn out; wearied |
Clandestine | done secretively, especially to deceive; surreptitious |
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 (antonym: intemperate) |
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 |
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 |
Novel | fresh; original; new |
Superfluous | extra; unnecessary |
Synergy | combined action or operation |
Tangential | merely touching or slightly connected; only superficially relevant |
Aesthetic | having to do with the appreciation of beauty |
Aural | of or related to the ear or the sense of hearing |
Cacophony | discordant, unpleasant noise |
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 or 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; unchanllengin; lacking taste or savor |
Prosaic | unimaginative; dull (antonym: 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 |
Augement | to make greater, as in size, 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 or intellect, feeling, or meaning |
Redouble | to make twice as great; to double |
Scintillating | brilliant |
Averse | strongly disinclined |
Conspicuous | easy to notice; obvious (antonym: inconspicuous) |
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 (antonym: discord) |
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 | easy-going; friendly |
Alacrity | promptness in response; cheerful readiness; eagerness |
Amiable | friendly; agreeable; good-natured |
Benign | kind and gentle |
Sanguine | cheerfully confident; optimistic |
Belligerent | eager to fight; hostile or aggressive |
Cantankerous | ill-tempered and quarrelsome; disagreeable |
Contentious | quarrelsome |
Delenterious | 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 |
Supercilious | disdainful; haughty; arrogant |
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 |