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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 |