Vocab Cartoons: SAT Word Power

Learn hundreds of SAT words with easy memory techiques

abhor

to hate very much, to detest utterly

Link: chore

The Booker boys abhorred doing chores.

• To abhor insects is to find them abhorrent.

• It is generally believed that most women have an abhorrence of mice.

• It is a fact that most people abhor the thought of public speaking.

abominate

to dislike strongly, to regard with

intense aversion or loathing

Link: a bomb hate

I abominate bombs.

• David abominates vegetables, he doesn’t even want them on his dinner plate.

• Sylvia abominated her relatives when they came to visit and tracked mud on hr new white carpet.

• Sam loves traveling with his family to the mountains for vacation each year, but he abominates the twelve hour drive.

abridge

to shorten; to condense; to diminish; to curtail

Link: bridge

An abridged bridge.

• If you don’t want to read an entire newspaper to learn the latest daily news, there are clipping services that will abridge news stories to your specifications.

• An abridged dictionary is one that has been shortened. (adj.)

• We saw an abridgement of the movie Gone With the Wind on TV last night; it only lasted two hours whereas the original lasted four. (n.)

abstruse

hard to understand

Link: moose

His friends consider Mike, the moose, to be very abstruse.

• Chemistry is an abstruse subject of study for many students.

• The scientists had many abstruse theories about atomic interactions.

• Elizabeth’s directions to the party were very abstruse.

abut

to border upon; to adjoin

Link: butt

abutting butts

• In Hong Kong the skyscrapers so closely abut each other, in some cases they touch sides.

• Texas abuts Mexico on its southern border.

• The abutting rocks formed a perfect wall for riflemen to defend the castle. (adj.)

abyss

bottomless pit; a yawning gulf; a profound depth or void

Link: miss

The diver missed the ledge and sank deep into the abyss.

• The lost spaceship wandered endlessly in the vast abyss of the galaxy.

• After the rescuers dug without success for three days through the snow of the avalanche in search of the missing skier, they were disheartened and faced an emotional abyss of despair.

• Staring down the abyss of the mine shaft we where uncertain of how deep it really was.

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