Additional Words to Know

Adept

skilled

Affinity / Orientation / Predilection

liking for

Assuage / Mollify / Placate

to calm; soothe

Authentic

genuine

Centrality

state of being central or essential

Comprehensive

thorough; complete; not to be confused with comprehensible which means understandable

Contingent

dependent upon

Credibility

the quality of being trustworthy

Cultivate

grow or raise; for example crops

Galvanize / Mobilize

to spur into action

Idealized

represented as better than reality

Infallible / Irreproachable

faultless; never wrong

Ingenious

extremely clever

Innocuous / Benign

harmless

Innovative

new and groundbreaking

Meticulous / Punctilious

extremely careful

Mitigate

make less severe

Multifaceted / Nuanced

detailed; involving or examining many aspects of a topic

Prescient

able to foresee or predict future events

Prevalent / Prevailing

widespread; generally accepted

Ambiguous

unclear; open to multiple interpretations

Antithetical

directly opposing

Conventional

traditional; what has usually been done; often carries a negative connotation on the SAT

Cursory

hasty and not thorough

Ephemeral / Transitory

very brief; lasting only a short time

Debacle

disastrous situation

Detrimental

harmful

Disparity / Disparate

difference or gap; disparate means markedly different

Equivocal

uncertain; refusing to give a clear answer

Exacerbate

make worse

Haphazard

careless; random

Immutable

unable to be changed

Hinder / Impede / Inhibit / Preclude

prevent or block

Impenetrable / Indecipherable

incomprehensible

Inconsequential / Peripheral / Trivial

unimportant

Misconstrue

misunderstand

Nebulous

unclear; literally cloudy

Obdurate / Obstinate

stubborn

Ominous

threatening

Orthodoxy

an accepted theory or way of doing things

Tenuous

weak

Thwart

block or prevent a plan or outcome

Vacillate / Waver

be indecisive; go back and forth

Acquisition

something received or purchased

Aesthetic

related to beauty

Austere / Spare

very plain; undecorated

Commonplace / Mundane

ordinary; everyday

Corollary

a statement or condition that logically results from a proven argument

Conspicuous / Distinctive

striking

Contemporary

current

Correlation

a relationship or association between two things

Contrive

think up

Disposition

personality

Disseminate

to spread

Diverse / Heterogeneous

varied; heterogeneous means consisting of different things

Homogeneous

consisting entirely of one kind or the same things

Engender

to give rise to

Epitome

the perfect example or essence of something

Evade

avoid capture

Evince

to make a thought or emotion clear

Evoke

to bring an event or emotion to mind

Excavate

dig up; unearth

Exploit

take advantage of

Ideology

belief system

Fluctuate

to go back and forth; be unstable

Hybrid

offspring or product of two different sources

Idiosyncratic

highly distinctive; unusual

Imminent / Impending

about to occur

Induce

bring about; cause to occur

Inextricable

completely joined; impossible to separate

Inherent / Innate / Intrinsic

inborn or existing in something by definition

Intuitive

without conscious thought; done instinctively

Laconic / Succinct / Terse

using few words

Lineage

a line of descent or ancestry

Magnitude

size or extent

Mercurial

changeable; constantly shifting

Monumental

immense

Mutable

changeable

Offhand

casual; done without thought

Outsized

disproportionate; exceptionally large

Pragmatic

practical

Precipitate

to set off or cause to occur

Preliminary

occurring before the main event

Reciprocate

to respond to an action or behavior with the same kind of action or behavior

Revenue

income from sales

Scheme

plot or plan

Scrutinize

to examine very closely; something impossible to understand is inscrutable

Successor

a person who inherits another's position

Supplement

verb: to add onto; noun: an addition