SAT words

abashed

to make ashamed; to embarrass

Meredith felt abashed by her inability to remember her lines in the school play.

abated

to reduce; become less intense

the storm suddenly abated

abdicated

to step down from a position of power or responsibility
The president abdicated when another president got elected.

aberration

something not typical
Emilia's painting was an aberration; it gathered dissimilar things into one painting.

abhorred

to hate very, very much
She abhorred every Sunday morning.

abject

extremely sad
Her mom stealing her phone put Sally into abject unhappiness.

abnegated

to deny oneself things; to deny

She abnegated the fact that she was in love with him.

abortive

unsuccessful
When everyone frowned after taking a bite of Sally's cookie, she immediately realized that her baking was abortive.

abridged

to shorten
Sally abridged the bio note she took; she deleted the unimportant parts.

absolute

total; unlimited

He was the absolute ruler; he made all the rules.

absolved

forgive or free from blame
She finally absolved him when he told her his alibi.

abstinent.

voluntarily not doing something, especialy something that is bad for you

When everyone called her the vape girl, she became an abstinent.

abstract

existing in thought but not having a physical existence

The abstract idea of love is portrayed in Titanic.

abstruse

hard to understand

Her writings were abstruse; it used many various kinds of vocabularies and unfamiliar topics.

abysmal

extremely hopeless

Her situtation became even more abysmal when her mom suddenly died.

accolades

an award; an honor

Emilia receieved many accolades when she participated in the Scholastic Art Competition.

accosted

speak to someone aggressively

Sally confronted and accosted to Snoopy when he stole her kite.

acerbic

sour; acid in temper, mood / tone

Crying, Sally ripped the acerbic response from her friend about the apology letter she sent earlier.

acquiesced

to obey passively

When her mom aggressively asked her to study, she acquiesced.

acrid

harshly bitter

When Sally grabbed Snoopy's food plate to wash, the acrid smell entered her nose.

acrimonious

full of bad feelings

She frowned when she heard the acrimonious conversation going on with the couple.

acument

the ability to make good judgement and quick decisions

Sally has a lot of acument when it comes to lightening up the mood; she quickly comes up with funny jokes.

acute

sharp in imaginative sense

Her english teacher's comments were always acute; it points out all her weaknesses.

adamant

refusing to be persuaded or change one's mind

Snoopy was completely adamant, claiming that his old house should never be changed.

addressed

speak in a formal way

Sally addressed her plans about her future to her parents.

adherents

follower; believer

When Sally claimed that she would get rid of homework when she became an officer of the school, she instantly gained a lot of adherents.

admonished

to scold gently; to warn

Charlie Brown admonished to Sally about the bad weather coming up.

adroit

skillful; clever

She was adroit when it came to convincing people.

adulation

too much admiration

The fan's adulation made the singer to become arrogant.

adulterated

to contaminate (오염되다)

Sally, who was a vegetarian, refused to eat the tomato that was adulterated by the meat placed next to it.

adverse

unfavorable (불리한); disadvantageous

Due to the opponent side having one more member than Sally's team, it was an adverse game for her.

aesthetic

having to do with artistic beauty; artistic

The art teacher immediately recognized Sally's talent for creating aesthetic compositions.

affable

easy to talk to; friendly

Sally liked spending time with him; he was a very affable person.

affectation

unnatural/artificial behavior, usually intended to impress

Hoping to impress her crush, Sally performed a lot affectation whenever she saw him.

affinity

sympathy (동정); natural liking

When Sally noticed that Lucy also liked ice skating, she developed a strong affinity towards her.

affluent

wealthy; rich; prosperous (번영하는)

Frieda's family was very affluent; they donated a lot of money every end of the month.

agenda

things to be done

aggregate

sum total; collection of seperate things mixed together

Sally's handmade drink was a aggregate of sugar and pumpkin spice.

agnostic

someone who believes that the existence of a god can be neither proven nor disproven

Sally was an agnostic; she was unsure whenever people asked whether she believed in god or not.

agrarian

relating to management or farming of land

Snoopy danced while Lucy cleaned the agrarian land in preparation for future farming.

alacrity

energetic and cheerful enthusiasm

Snoopy ran towards his food with alacrity.

alleged

to claim without proof

Lucy alleged that Snoopy ripped her dress.

alleviated

to relieve, usually temporarily or incompletely; to lessen the suffering

Lucy alleviated when Sally told her that she can try to sew the dress back together.

allocated

to distribute; to assign; to give a task

To prepare for the fall festival, Charlie Brown allocated different tasks to various people.

alloy

combination of two or more things, usually metals

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.

Allusion

indirect reference

ex. "I sometimes wonder to be not to be." -> allusion

"As Hamlet said, 'to be or not to be'"-> not an allusion

aloof

uninvolved; keeping one's distance

Charlie Brown had a hard time trusting people, so he was very aloof.

altruism

selflessness; generosity

Sally often donated handmade scarves to people in need, showing her altruism.

ambience

mood; feeling

The strange ambience surrounded the two as they were alone in the multipurpose room.

ambiguous

unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways

He showed an ambiguous smile. Sally did not like the smile, as she knew that the grin didn't mean what she wanted it to.

ambivalent

undecided; having mixed feelings about someone or something

Liz felt ambivalent towards Wes; she loved him and hated him at the same time.

ameliorate

to make better/more tolerable

When Liz wept over Michael, Wes tried to ameliorate her sadness by telling her jokes and making her smile."

amenable

obedient; willing to give in to the wishes of another

Wes was amenable when Liz asked him to bring her a glass of water.

amenities

pleasantness; attractive or comfortable feature usually in public spaces or hotels

There were a lot of amenities at the hotel, including golf courses and a buffet.

amiable

friendly; agreeable

Our amiable guide made us feel like we were at home.

Amnesty

official forgiveness for a group of ppl who have violated a law

Amnesty was given to the murderer.

amoral

lacking a sense of right and wrong; neither good nor bad; without moral feelings

Sally was a moral girl; she always did the right thing. Snoopy was amoral; he just simply did anything his heart told him to.

amorphous

shapeless; without a regular shape

The reflection of the moon was amorphous.

anachronism

something out of place in time or history

The man in the movie having a cell phone was an anachronism; the movie was set in the 1920s.

analogy

comparison of one thing to another; similarity

There was an analogy between the two twins; they both liked to play sports.

anarchy

absence of government or control; lawlessness

When the president was kidnapped, the town fell into a state of anarchy.

anecdote

short humorous or revealing accident

Sally told an anecdote about the time Snoopy ate the toilet water.

anguish

physical or mental pain

Sally experienced a huge anguish after being hit by Snoopy.

animosity

strong unfriendliness

Sally felt a great animosity towards Snoopy after having a fight with him.

anomaly

out of usual

The snowy July day was an anomaly.

antecedent

thing or event that existed before

The grandmother is Sally’s antecedent.

antipathy

hard dislike

I feel antipathy towards my sister asking me to borrow my clothes.

antithesis

direct opposite

Sally is the antithesis of Snoopy; she is pretty and clean while Snoopy is lazy and dirty.

apartheid

former policy of racial segregation and oppression in the republic of South Africa

Some people criticized public schools that practiced apartheid by providing less opportunities to black students.

apathetic

lack of interest; lack of feeling

Realizing that her ex was apathetic towards her, she cried a million rivers.

aphorism

brief, educational saying; proverb (속담)

Erica likes Woolf’s aphorism, “One cannot think well, love well, or sleep well, if one has not dined well“

apocalypse

prediction about concerning, especially concern about the end of the world

Erica declared her apocalypse; Korea will break out in war.

apocryphal

fake; ficitious; false

Everything he said sounded like an apocryphal to her; there was no way he pulled out 3 girls at the same time.

apotheosis

perfect example of something

Sally is the apotheosis of pretty girls; her beauty was undeniable.

appeased

to soothe, to make happy

Erica appeased her angry mother by promising to wear a shirt under her thin hoodie.

appreciated

to increase in value

The Browns bought their house twenty years ago for a hundred thousand dollars, but it has appreciated considerably since then; today it’s worth almost two million dollars.

apprehensive

worried; anxious

Rhea was apprehensive about the exam because she had forgotten to go to class for several months

misapprehension

misunderstanding

She begged, “there must be an misapprehension, I didn’t cheat on the test.“

approbation

approval; praise

Mother finally showed her approbation, saying that her daughter might get accepted to Harvard.

appropriated

to take without permission; to take it for a particular use

Nick appropriated my lunch; he grabbed it out of my hands and ate it.

aptitude

natural ability

I tried to repair my car, but as I sat on the floor of my garage I realized that I had no aptitude for automobile repair.

arbiter

one who decides; judge

An arbiter of fashion determines what other people will wear.

arbitrary

random

The grades Mr. Simone gave his English students appeared to be arbitrary; they didn’t seem related to the work the students had done in class.

arcane

mysterious; known only to a few

The arcane formula for the cocktail was wrote on a scrap of paper.

archaic

extremely old; ancient

The tribe’s traditions are archaic. They have been in force for thousands of years.

archetype

an original model or pattern

Plato (person’s name) is the archetype of all philosophers.

ardent

passionate; enthusiastic

Blanche happily made cakes from morning to night. She was an ardent baker

arduous

hard; difficult

Climbing the mountain was arduous.

aristocratic

nobiliary (귀족의, 귀족적인)

Prince Charles is aristocratic. He is a member of the British aristocracy

artful

crafy; sly (꾀가 많은, not honest)

After dinner, the artful counselor told the campers that there was a monster in the woods, thus causing them to lie quietly in the tent.

artifice

clever trick; 교활

The Trojan Horse was an artifice designed to get the soldiers inside the walls.

ascendancy

supremacy (주권)

Handheld gadgets have been in ascendancy for the past few years.

ascetic

practicing self denial

In his effort to save money, Roy led an ascetic existence: he never went out, never ate anything but soup, and never had any fun.

assiduous

hardworking; busy; diligent (성실한)

Wendell was the only assiduous student in the entire math class.

assimilation

to take in; to absorb; to learn completely

Margaret didn’t have any friends when she first went to the new school, but when she was chosen for the cheerleading, her assimilation was complete

assuaged

to ease the pain; to relieve

Beth was extremely angry, but I assuaged her by promising to leave the house and never return.

astute

sharp in judgement; quick witted (눈치가 빠르다)

Morris was an astute person; he was very good at seeing what people were really like despite what they pretended to be.

atheist

one who does not believe in the existence of any god or divine being

Hadley had always imagined a big religious wedding, but Emma, a lifelong atheist, did not.

attrition

decrease

Due to the attrition of the budget, the school wasn’t able to purchase new lockers.

audacity

boldness

She never knew that her sister had the audacity to sing in front of the whole class.