Week 1 SAT Vocab

Draconian

(adj) very strict laws, rules, and punishments. Think laws “written in blood”

Laconic

(adj) very concise. Think Spartans who didn’t have time for long speeches

Spartan

(adj) plain, simple, rigorous, austere. Think David Goggins

Halcyon

(adj) golden time of untroubled happiness & tranquility. Think a calm after a storm

Sophistry

(n) a plausible but deliberately misleading or false argument designed to deceive someone

Chimerical

(adj) scheme or claim that can only be fantastical (or product of unrestrained fantasy)

Test writers typically associate ______ with once-promising medical advances that were never fully realized and were thus chimerical.

Ostracize

(v) to deliberately exclude from a group. Think French citizens against Nazis

Impecunious

(adj) poor or not wealthy. Think Romans using cows (____) as currency - no ____ = no wealth

Nefarious

(adj) famous for being wicked; villainous. Think Dr. _____ from minions

Jovial, Jocular

(adj) good humored; cheerful. Think “____ old St. Nicholas”

Dirge

(n) a funeral hymn; a slow, mournful musical composition. Think medieval Christians paying respects

Maudlin

(adj) excessively sentimental behavior. Think Mary Magdalene weeping as Christ was taken down from the cross

Quixotic

(adj) foolish and impractical pursuit of noble but unattainable ideals.

Pandemonium

(adj) a wild uproar. Think 9/11

Martinet

(n) a strict disciplinarian; a person who demands absolute adherence to forms and rules. Think drill sergeant

Fiasco

(n) a complete failure. Think Fyre Festival