SSAT / ISEE Vocabulary

SSAT/ISEE Vocabulary Flashcards

Foment

Instigate / provoke / stir up

Ameliorate

Make something unsatisfactory better / improve / enhance

Reticent

Not revealing one's thoughts or feelings readily / reserved / withdrawn

Congenial

Pleasant because of having a friendly, agreeable personality / likable / like-minded

Elusive

Difficult to catch, understand, or achieve / slippery / evasive

Admonish

Warn / caution / mildly scold / correct behavior

Pious

Deeply religious / showing strong devotion to religious duties or beliefs

Prosaic

Dull / ordinary / lacking imagination or excitement / boring / mundane

Antipathy

Deep-seated dislike or aversion / animosity / hostility / hatred

Fallacy

A mistaken belief / misconception / error / falsehood

Hackneyed

Lacking originality due to being overused / cliché / stale / banal

Laconic

Concise / succinct / brief

Threadbare

Very worn out / thin and shabby from too much use

Esoteric

Understood by only a few / obscure / secret / exclusive

Parsimonious

Extremely unwilling to spend money / stingy / miserly / cheap

Penurious

Very poor or extremely stingy / destitute / broke / miserly

Spendthrift

Someone who spends too much money / wasteful / extravagant / profligate

Gnarled

Twisted / rough / knotted / crooked

Benign

Harmless and kind / gentle / mild / (of a disease) not harmful

Succinct

Brief / concise / to the point

Abdicate

Give up power or responsibility / surrender / resign / step down

Bolster

Support / strengthen / boost / reinforce / help

Gregarious

Very social and outgoing / extroverted

Belligerence

Aggressive / war-like behavior / hostility / combativeness

Flotsam

Floating debris / useless stuff / junk / wreckage

Scant

Very little / barely enough / scarce / limited / tiny

Strewn

Scattered / spread across / tossed

Lingo

Special language of a group / jargon / dialect

Jargon

Specialized language of a profession / terminology / lingo

Adage

A well-known saying / proverb / saying / motto

Maxim

A short rule or truth about life / proverb / saying / principle

Jettison

Throw away / get rid of / discard / dump / abandon

Recalcitrant

Stubborn / refusing to obey / defiant / disobedient

Aberration

Something unusual or not normal / anomaly / oddity / deviation

Deciduous

Trees that lose leaves yearly / shedding / leaf-dropping

Derelict

Abandoned and in bad shape / ruined / neglected

Stymie

Block / stop progress / hinder / obstruct

Abashed

Embarrassed / ashamed / flustered / humiliated

Thesis

Statement / theory / paper / essay

Vapid

Offering nothing challenging / insipid / uninspiring

Gratuitous

Done without good reason / unjustified / free / complimentary

Chagrin

Annoyance / irritation / vexation

Bigoted

Prejudiced / intolerant / biased / dogmatic

Insolent

Rude / disrespectful / sassy / impudent

Veracious

Truthful / accurate / honest

Magligant

Malevolent / harmful / dangerous

Liberat

To set free / release / liberate

Sever

To cut off / divide / separate

Idiosyncratic

Peculiar / eccentric / quirky

Obscure

Not well-known / unclear / hidden

Abode

Home / residence / dwelling

Augury

Omen / prediction / prophecy

Herald

Messenger / sign / announcer

Penitent

Remorseful / regretful

Indefatigable

Persistently tireless / unwavering

Malady

Disease / illness

Bastion

A metaphorical fortress where an idea, philosophy, culture, etc. is protected

Avarice

Extreme greed for wealth or material gain

Domicile

A home or dwelling place where someone resides

Henchman

Supporter or follower willing to engage in crime by way of service

Fancier

One that has a special liking or interest / enthusiast

Suffuse

Gradually spread through or over / permeate

Dawdle

Waste time / be slow / move idly

Decongest

Unblock / unclog

Defoliate

Remove leaves from a tree, plant, or area of land

Aggrandizement

The act of making something larger / exaggeration

Restitution

Restoration of something lost or stolen to its proper owner / compensation for an injury or loss

Annulment

Cancellation / voiding / not legally bound

Inauspicious

Unpromising / unfavorable / unlucky

Culpable

Deserving blame / guilty

Unheralded

Unannounced / unexpected / unpredicted

Prudent

Acting with thought for the future / wise / well-judged

Lurid

Unpleasantly overly bright in color / vivid / presented in shocking terms / gruesome / graphic / gory

Indignant

Feeling anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatment / resentful / discontented