words from official sat study guide

Words from Official SAT Study Guide Test 1

Accolade praise

Allusion indirect reference

Ambivalence uncertainty; having 'mixed' feelings

Ambivalent unable to decide

Analogy comparison

Anecdote short account of something interesting; story

Anomalous odd; not fitting the pattern

Apparition ghost; something that 'appears'

Aspersion negative feeling; damaging remark

Belligerence aggression

Bombastic too elaborate; exaggerated

Candid truthful

Capricious changeable; fickle

Cherished cared for; firmly-held

Cliche over-used expression

Conception 1. idea; view. 2. beginning of pregnancy

Convoluted complicated or long-winded

Credence belief

Cryptic hidden

Currency 1. widespread acceptance, 2. money

Decorous good and correct (used of behavior)

Denunciation act of speaking out against

Derailed thrown off course

Derivative unoriginal

Despotic acting like a tyrant

Detritus rubbish

Diaphanous very thin and transparent

Dictum often-used saying

Dilettante person who dabbles in the arts

Disdained showed contempt for

Dispassionate unbiased; fair

Dowager an elderly woman of elevate social status

Dubious doubtful

Egalitarian equal; believer in equality

Elicit draw out (used mainly for information or feelings)

Elliptical 1. shaped like an ellipse, 2. indirect

Epitomizes acts as a typical example of

Equivocate speak ambiguously/vaguely

Evasiveness trying to avoid something

Explicitly very clear; nothing hidden

Foraging searching for food

Hypothetical based on guesswork; not proven

Iconoclast person who goes against accepted authority

Idiosyncratic quirky; unique to an individual

Imponderable cannot be understood

Indecorous not well-behaved; lacking in dignity

Indigence extreme poverty

Inept clumsy

Inherent inbuilt; genetic

Intricate complicated

Irrefutable cannot be proved wrong

Jingoism using words to stir up exaggerated patriotism

Jubilant joyful

Judicious fair and equal

Lament express regret over something

Loquacious talkative; using too many words

Mendicancy begging

Metaphorical not literal; figurative

Milieu environment; surroundings

Mitigated made less severe

Nascent just begun; in an early stage of development

Nostalgia longing for the past

Obtrusive easily seen

Orthographical concerned with writing and spelling

Ossified become fixed and rigid

Ostentatious showy

Palpable can be felt

Pastoral1. concerned with the countryside, 2. concerned with the care a pastor gives to someone

Pedestrian 1. boring (adj), 2. person who walks (n)

Perfidy treachery; betrayal

Profligacy wasteful and immoral behavior

Prohibitive very expensive

Prudence wisdom; caution

Pugnacious aggressive

Purveyor one who sells something or causes something to spread

Resonance echo

Respite break (from work etc.)

Resurgence revival

Sparse thin; not thick

Stringent strict

Succumbing giving in to; falling under the influence of

Supercilious arrogant

Tenacity firmness of purpose

Transcend go beyond a limit

Variegated multicolored

Venerable worthy of respect

Viable workable; able to live or grow

Visceral concerned with the 'guts'; physical rather than mental

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Ambivalent undecided; having 'mixed' feelings

Apathy lack of energy or interest

Autonomy self-government

Benevolent kindly

Blanched turned pale

Bolster give support to

Bucolic concerned with the countryside and farming

Callous cruel and unfeeling

Cantankerous bad tempered

Capricious changeable; fickle

Chicanery trickery; attempt to deceive

Churlish ill-mannered

Cohesive forming a whole; 'sticking' together

Concur agree

Cryptic hidden; obscure

Decimation extensive destruction

Deft skilful

Delinquency wrong-doing

Depravity moral corruption

Desolate lonely; devoid of life; feeling very sad and hopeless

Devoid of empty of

Didactic intending to teach or give instructions

Disingenuous crafty

Dispassionate unbiased

Disposition tendency; personality

Dissent disagreement

Effusive overly expressive of emotions; 'gushing'

Endorse support

Enigma puzzle

Enumerate count out; list

Ephemeral short-lived

Erroneous wrong

Erudition great knowledge or learning

Esoteric obscure

Fabrication something made up; untrue

Facetious cheeky; not to be taken seriously

Factions sides in a dispute; groups with common interests

Flotsam floating rubbish

Fostered encouraged

Hackneyed stale and over-used

Harbored held [as in 'harbored and idea']

Hodgepodge strange mixture

Hypothetical not proven; based on guesswork

Impetuous impulsive

Implacable cannot be appeased; relentless

Impugned challenged; attacked in words

Incorrigible cannot be corrected (of behavior)

Indigenous native to a particular place

Ineffable cannot be expressed in words

Irascible easily angered

Ironic unexpected

Lament express regret

Languid having no energy or interest

Lassitude lack of energy

Lugubrious mournful; very sad

Mercurial rapidly changing

Misnomer wrong name for something

Mollified calmed; pacified

Multifaceted having many aspects

Mundane dull; ordinary

Nostalgic longing for the past

Obtrusive easily seen; 'sticking out'

Omnipotent all powerful

Pedagogy science of teaching

Phlegmatic calm

Plausible believable

Precursor fore-runner; earlier version

Preeminence fame; top position

Pretentious putting on an act

Prognosis outlook

Prolific producing a lot

Provocative provoking

Raiment clothes; garments

Reciprocate pay back

Reconcile bring disputing side together again

Remiss wrong

Remonstrance criticism

Resilient able to spring back; strong

Retrenchment reducing staff or forces; conserving resources

Robust firm and strong

Skeptical doubtful

Skewed distorted; bent

Stringent strict

Subtle not obvious

Succinct clear, short and well-expressed

Sundry miscellaneous

Sustenance support; food

Tenable can be held (of an opinion, for example)

Tenuous shaky; not firm

Torrid hot and steamy

Undermine attempt to overthrow; weaken

Underscore emphasize

Unequivocal clear; cannot be misunderstood

Vector carrier (of disease, for example)

Verbose wordy

Whimsical fickle; changeable

Wistful full of sadness and longing

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Abashed ashamed or sorry

Allusion indirect reference

Ambivalent undecided; unclear

Analogy comparison

Anecdote short account/story

Annihilated wiped out

Anomalies oddities; things that don't fit the pattern

Antipodes places on opposite sides of the globe

Apprehension worry; nervousness

Arduous hard and difficult

Articulate (adj.) able to express something well in words

Assuage to make less

Auspicious fortunate; indicative of a successful outcome

Avuncular acting like an uncle; kindly

Axiomsomething that is taken to be true; basic idea that can't be questioned

Banal dull; unoriginal

Bellicose aggressive

Benign kindly

Bereft of without; deprived of

Bifurcation division into two

Blatantly obviously

Cacophonous very noisy; unpleasant sounding

Cantankerous irritable and difficult to please

Captivating fascinating

Chided scolded

Clairvoyant able to see into the future/another dimension

Coddled over-protected; kept warm

Comely attractive

Complacent smug; over-confident

Conducive to suitable for; leading to

Convivial sociable and friendly

Cornucopia literally a horn filled with fruits etc; symbol of plenty

Cosmopolitan composed of varied nationalities

Counterfeiter faker; someone who makes fake money, for example

Decipher decode; work out meaning

Deferential showing respect

Deterrent something that puts one off; a preventive

Dichotomies divisions into two parts

Diffident shy; hesitant

Digression going off the point

Discriminating1. able to make fine distinctions between; having good taste, 2. favoring one side/group and acting against another

Docile placid; easily lead

Elite the upper levels in a society; the privileged ones

Equitable fair and equal

Equivocalambiguous; something that can be interpreted in more than one way

Exhilarating exciting

Fathom 1. (v) work out; understand, 2. (n) measure of depth

Fervent passionate

Filial concerned with the relationship between child and parent

Foreboding sense of doom

Funerary concerned with funerals

Galvanized 1. stirred into action; stimulated, 2. coated with zinc

Grandiose exaggerated; too great; on a grand scale

Haughty arrogant

Hilarious very funny

Hyperbole over-exaggeration

Impetuous impulsive

Indecipherable cannot be decoded; cannot be worked out

Irresolute lacking firmness; inability to decide or commit

Levity lack of seriousness; humor

Loquacious talkative

Mediocre average

Mellifluous pleasant-sounding

Metaphor figurative speech; using implied comparisons

Miscreants wrong-doers

Mitigated made less severe

Naive unsophisticated; simple and inexperienced

Nonchalant assuming an appearance of not caring; indifferent

Obliterated wiped out

Ousted pushed out of a position

Pacifists people who oppose war

Panacea remedy for all ills

Paradoxically counter to what one would think; contradictory

Personification1. attributing human qualities to something non-human, 2. acting as an example of

Perusal careful reading

Placid calm and peaceful

Presumptuous assuming too much; arrogant

Profiteer someone who seeks to make unjustified profits

Propagandist someone who spreads ideas

Proximity closeness

Qualification something added to modify an opinion

Reconcile bring disputing sides together; overcome bad feeling

Respite break from work etc.

Reticent shy; unwilling to reveal information

Reverential showing respect

Revisionists people who revise; anti-revolutionaries

Sanctimonious hypocritically holy; making a pretense of religious feeling

Stoic brave; able to tolerate whatever life throws at you

Symbiotic mutually advantageous; close relationship

Syncopated with strongly accented rhythm

Tacit unspoken; understood even thought not expressed in words

Taunted teased; mocked

Temperate mild; moderate

Understatement making something seem less important than it is

Unqualified without hesitation; complete and total

Unrelenting never giving up; non-stop

Unwarranted unjustified

Watershed 1. area between two river basins, 2. turning point

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Advocate support

Ambiguous vague

Animosity hostility; hatred

Boorishness rudeness; ill-mannered behavior

Censure blame; criticize

Concord agreement

Conflagration big fire

Consecrated dedicated; made holy

Consummate supremely good

Contagious passed on through touch; infectious

Cursory superficial

Dalliance non-serious involvement; toying or playing with something

Deleterious harmful

Disparaging critical

Dubious doubtful

Equitable fair and equal

Eulogy praise

Fastidious very fussy; excessively concerned (esp. about cleanliness)

Fidelity faithfulness; loyalty

Formidable inspiring awe

Futile useless; waste of time and effort

Futility uselessness

Holistic whole; entire (Holistic viewpoint = seeing things as a whole)

Idiosyncratic quirky; eccentric; unique to an individual

Ineffable can’t be expressed in words

Infelicity unsuitability; inappropriateness

Integrity honor; honesty

Intermittent on and off; not continuous

Judicious fair; wise

Legitimate to make legal; give approval to

Mercenary seeking money above all else

Meticulous thorough; taking care of details

Petulant sulky

Polarized divided into two extremes

Pragmatism practicality

Presumptive presumed

Propensity tendency; leaning’ predilection

Prosaic ordinary

Quelled suppressed

Regressive moving backwards (literal or metaphoric)

Remiss neglectful

Rhetoric persuasive language

Sedulous thorough; eager

Sermonized gave moral lecture

Shroud 1. a cover for dead body, 2. to cover

Steadfastness loyalty; firmness of purpose

Temporize put off; procrastinate

Treacly too sweet; over sentimental

Vacillated wavered; hesitated

Vindication proving right

Vindictive seeking revenge

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Adroit skilful (Maladroit = clumsy)

Agnostic unsure of the existence of god

Ameliorating making better

Arboreal living in trees

Ascertain find out; make sure

Barrage bombardment; stream (of abuse etc.)

Belabor over-emphasizing

Brevity briefness

Cacophony noise; din

Censured blamed

Circumvent avoid

Coerced forced

Condoning tolerating

Congenial friendly; sociable; suitable

Demagogues mob leaders; agitators

Disparaged criticized

Docile tame; subservient

Eclectic taking things from different sources

Elitist favoring top group; snob

Elusive difficult to pin down

Empiric found by experiment/practice

Endorsed supported

Envisioning imagining, predicting

Extolled praised

Foster support; encourage

Furtiveness secretiveness

Gluttonous greedy

Indictment charge; legal accusation

Indigenous native to a locality

Irreproachable cannot be criticized. (Reproach = criticize)

Knack trick; skill

Libelous open to prosecution for libel (Libel = written slander)

Naiveté innocence; lack of worldliness

Nihilism belief in nothing; anarchy

Paucity shortage

Penchant tendency; leaning toward

Perquisites ‘perks’

Phobic fearful

Pilfer steal

Pliant flexible

Predilection liking for; penchant

Presumption assuming too much

Profundity depth (of ideas)

Quixotic idealistic; impractical

Reclusive avoiding other people; solitary

Rehash revamp hurriedly/carelessly

Repertoire range; set of skills

Repertory story; stock; repertoire

Reprehensible very bad

Sarcasm sneering, bitter remarks; ironic or taunting

Supple flexible; pliant; lithe

Temperamental volatile; changeable

Transitory shot-lived

Tribulations troubles

Unwitting not deliberate

Venality corruption

Vulnerable open to attack; susceptible

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Aberration deviation; abnormality

Abstruse difficult to comprehend

Affability friendliness; cordiality

Affluence wealth and status

Alleviation making less severe

Amalgamation mixture or joining of different components

Amassed accumulated

Arcane esoteric

Augmenting increasing in size or number

Belied contradicted

Benevolent kindly

Callous cruel and unfeeling

Candid truthful; honest

Coalition a union of two parts

Concordance agreement

Conflagration big fire

Copious in large amounts

Dearth shortage

Debacle disaster

Disarming charming; unthreatening

Disillusioned freed from wrong ideas

Disparaging criticizing

Embellished decorated

Empathetic understanding in an insightful way

Encompassed included; surrounded

Endorsement support; approval

Entourage group of followers; retinue

Equanimity peace of mind; balance; calm

Eradicating wiping out; destroying

Esoteric obscure

Exacerbated made worse

Excised cut out

Exotic strange; foreign

Faction section; group with common interests

Finagle wheedle; wangle; trick

Grating harsh; rasping

Gratuitous free; unwarranted

Hackneyed commonplace; over-used

Insightful perceptive

Insolence rudeness

Intrigued interested and curious

Intuition sixth sense; ‘gut feeling’

Languid lacking energy; weak

Lobby 1. to try to persuade, 2. entrance hall

Lucid clear

Marred spoiled; ruined

Meager small; scanty

Monotonous dull; repetitive

Motley varied; miscellaneous

Opting choosing

Overhaul renovate

Preclude prevent

Precursors forerunners

Purportedly apparently claiming

Ratify give official approval to

Resilience strength; ability to withstand

Retraction removal; ‘taking back’

Sporadic intermittent; on and off

Spurned shunned; rejected

Substantiated backed up; given supporting evidence

Supplant replace

Truculence stubbornness

Unequivocal certain; cannot be disputed

Voluminous large; bulky; extensive

Winnow sift; separate good from bad

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SAT Vocabulary List


Alacrity speed and eagerness

Amiable friendly; lovable

Apathetic lacking energy or interest

Bypasses avoids; finds a way around

Capricious whimsical; changeable

Censures blames

Conciliatory seeking compromise

Convergence coming together

Cumulative building up

Deferment putting off

Deliberation careful thought

Delineates outlines

Derelict rundown; abandoned

Discrepancy inconsistency

Embittered full of bitter feelings

Encroaching trespassing

Eradicate wipe out

Exacerbates makes worse

Exasperation frustration and annoyance

Exorbitant excessive

Flabbergasted shocked; speechless

Foil for person that shows another to advantage

Frugal economical

Glacial icy; unfriendly

Grimy dirty

Inconsequential unimportant

Indiscernible not easy to see

Infusion influx

Integrity honesty

Jaded tired; bored

Juxtaposition placing two thing nest to each other

Lithe flexible

Miffed annoyed

Mitigator moderator

Modicum tiny amount

Negate wipe out

Nondescript having no special qualities; ordinary

Penurious miserly

Phlegmatic calm; imperturbable

Razing cutting down

Recrimination blame

Reprieve let off (at least temporarily)

Rousing stirring

Salvageable can be saved

Scouring cleaning thoroughly; thorough searching

Secluded lonely; isolated

Solace comfort

Squelch suppress; crush

Stifling suppressing

Surfeit excess

Tangential off the point; irrelevant

Temper moderate

Tremulous hesitant

Unyielding not giving up

Vigilant wary; watchful

Waning declining

Warped twisted; distorted

Wary cautious

Wrath anger

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Alleviate make less severe

Amalgam mixture

Astute wise; mentally sharp

Autonomous self-governing

Belied contradicted

Callousness cruelty; unfeeling behavior

Circumstantial accidental; indirect (as in circumstantial evidence)

Corroborated supported; given supporting evidence

Credulity belief

Debilitated weakened

Deliberation careful thought

http://majortests.com/sat/wordlist-23#top

Denuded stripped

Derided mocked

Despoiled spoiled

Dilatory slow; sluggish

Dispatch speed and eagerness

Empathetic exhibiting deep emotional understanding

Eradicate wipe out

Estrangement separation

Expeditious speedy

Extant still in existence

Flag 1. to lose energy, 2. to signal

Foundered sank

Fraudulent crooked; intending to cheat

Hubris excessive pride

Idiosyncratic eccentric

Impetuosity impulsiveness

Impudent cheeky

Indomitable unshakeable; fearless

Innocuous harmless

Insolvent bankrupt

Irresolute lacking firmness of purpose; hesitant

Irreverent lacking respect

Manipulative deceptive; skilful at handling people

Morbidity concern with death and disease

Myopic short-sighted (literal or metaphoric)

Occlusion shutting out

Officious interfering

Peevishness childish sullenness; irritability

Placid peaceful

Prudent wise; cautious

Punctilious meticulous

Rambunctious boisterous

Rancor bitterness and bad feeling

Scrutinize examine carefully

Scuttled sunk

Sedate calm; placid

Serene peaceful

Squander waste

Validated proved right

Valor bravery

Vulnerable open to attack; susceptible

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Adroitness skill

Altruism self-sacrifice

Arbitration mediating between disputing sides

Archaic old-fashioned

Aural through the sense of hearing

Cognitions mental knowledge

Discernment judgment;

Disingenuous crafty

Distension swelling

Egotists selfish people

Emancipators those who set others free

Enigmas puzzles

Erudition learning; scholarly knowledge

Exemplars excellent examples of

Exonerated proved not guilty

Extirpation destruction

Fawning groveling; ‘sucking up’ to people

Finesse skill

Fitful intermittent; on and off; not continuous

Gestures signals

Hilarity great laughter

Husbandry careful management of resources

Ignominy shame

Ineptitude lack of ability

Insipid flavorless; bland

Intuitions gut feelings

Invocation prayer

Irony something unexpected; use of words to convey opposite meaning

Lackadaisical lazy

Lamentable regrettable

Mandate permission

Manifesto statement of values

Modicum tiny amount

Notoriety infamy

Obsequious groveling

Opulence lavish display of wealth

Pathos sadness; stirring the emotions

Plaudits praise

Prospectus brochure

Raze knock down

Rectitude uprightness

Reprimanded scolded

Rudimentary elementary; basic

Sarcasm mockery

Soporific sleep-inducing

Stipulated insisted

Tactile through the sense of touch

Tenacity firmness of purpose

Versatility ability to do many things

Vicarious experienced indirectly; at secondhand

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words from official sat study guide

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