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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 |