SAT vocabulary

buffet

1. (v.) to strike with force (The strong winds buffeted the ships, threatening to capsize them.) 2. (n.) an arrangement of food set out on a table (Rather than sitting around a table, the guests took food from our buffet and ate standing up.)

buttress

1. (v.) to support, hold up (The column buttresses the roof above the statue.) 2. (n.) something that offers support (The buttress supports the roof above the statues.)

chary (of)

(adj.) not taking chances; cautious ( ...chary of offending others)

harangue

1. (n.) a ranting speech (Everyone had heard the teacher's harangue about gum chewing in class before.) 2. (v.) to give such a speech (But this time the teacher harangued the class about the importance of brushing your teeth after chewing gum.)

impinge

1. (v.) to impact, affect, make an impression (Sound waves impinge on the eardrums.)

2. (v.) to encroach, infringe ( ...parents sometimes impinge on their children's privacy.)

truckle (to)

(v.) to submit; to yield

ascendant

(n.) position of dominance and controlling influence; (v.) rising

inveigh (against)

(v.) to make bitter verbal attack

askance

(adv.) (preceded by to look) with suspicion, mistrust; sidewise

addled

(v.) confused (used with or without object); (adj.)confused or rotten (...addled eggs)

ambuscade

(n.) hidden or secret attack; (verb used without an object) to lie in ambush; (verb used with an object) to attack from a concealed position

chaff

(n.) worthless matter ("As for man, his days are like chaff, he flourishes like the flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more." Psalm 103:15

dither

(v.) to be indecisive (Not wanting to offend either friend, he dithered about which of the two birthday parties he should attend.); also, (v.) (preceded by in a ) nervously excited or confused (... in a dither about...)

docile

(adj.) obedient; easily managed (There were several cracks of laughter from the crowd when the undefeated prize rodeo bull was introduced to the Houston Rodeo crowd. His name?.... "Docile!"

excoriate

(v.) (two meanings) to scrape the skin off; to criticize sharply (As expected, the Boston media excoriated Logan Airport security for their inability to stop the terrorists from boarding three of the four planes involved in 9-11.)

imperturbable

(adj.) steady; calm (His gentle, imperturbable manner served him well during the often interminable, frequently confrontational meetings with the foreign officials.

manifold

(adj.) diverse, varied (The popularity of Dante's Inferno is partly due to the fact that the work allows for manifold interpretations.) ("...Join with all nature in manifold witness, to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love...")

phlegmatic

(adj.) unemotional; cool; not easily excited (The ever-phlegmatic Mr. Pibb, when told that he had just won the lottery, said, "really?," and barely cracked a smile on the left side of his face.

quiddity

(n.) essential quality; what makes something what it is (Mr. Kotya wasn't referring to the quiddity of holiday icons when he said to his teenage son Busted, who was arriving home smelling like a beer, "I know where you've been. You can't snow a snowman."

rarefy

(v.)(with or without an object) to make less dense; to refine (Heat rarefies moisture inside a test tube.)

redolent

(adj.) having a pleasant odor; suggestive (of) ("My weary soul they seem to soothe, And, redolent of joy and youth, To breathe a second spring." - Thomas Gray, poet, on healing)

slake

(v.) to lessen (thirst, desire, anger, etc.) by satisfying; to quench (Water has the power to slake thirst, quench fire and nourish - or destroy - life.)

sobriquet

(n.) an affectionate or humorous nickname; assumed name ("Maybe that's being unfair to Jerry Brown, whose previous (California) administrations in the 1970s, earned him the sobriquet Governor Moonbeam." - Richard Smith, on California Gov. Jerry Brown)

sublimate

(v.) to modify the natural expression of (a primitive, instinctual impulse) in a socially acceptable manner ("I used to sublimate my desire to kick puppies by kicking publishers, but I quit doing that because they are unteachable, and it does no good." - Roger Sutton)

temerity

(n.) audacity, recklessness ~~proper use ( vs. audacity) implies a difficult task or adventure involved ("With youthful temerity and hopeful ignorance Tom and Huck entered McDougal's cave..." - Mark Twain.)

tractable

(adj.) easily controlled; easily controllable ~~common use modifies inanimate object(s) (If you asked auto industry executives what two wishes they would like to make, more than likely they would be: tractable sales figures and tractable labor unions.)

turgid

(adj.) swollen, excessively embellished in style or language ~~the difference between florid and turgid is the difference between a multicolored flower arrangement (florid) and a multi-acre flower garden (turgid)

unassailable

(adj.) not open to attack by military force or argument; not subject to denial or dispute (...unassailable fortifications; ...unassailable logic) (Shakespeare's genius gives his works an unassailable position in world literature.)

vagrant

(n.) a homeless person (adj.) without a home; wandering ("There is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream, a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought - a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities." - Mark Twain, on loneliness)

vicarious

(adj.) experiencing through another (Deathly scared or riding the dreaded roller coaster (any one of them), Mrs. Trimble would settle for reading about them in books in order to experience vicarious thrills.)

vituperate

(v.) to berate or criticize harshly or abusively (For being found guilty of abusing his position in Congress to financially enrich himself, Congressman Rangel (NY) was publicly vituperated by Republicans and consequently removed from the headship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee.)

wheedle

(v.) to coax or to persuade (Using her Southern charm she was able to wheedle out information from the attacking Union troops to help the Confederate cause)

abeyance

(n.) a temporary postponement (The Judge held the court proceedings in abeyance until such time the defendant recovers from illness.)

abject

(n.) miserable; wretched; contemptible ( ... abject poverty; ... abject conditions; ... abject humor)

abjure

(v.) to reject, renounce (To prove his honesty, the president abjured the evil policies of his wicked predecessor.)

ablution

(n.) a washing; cleansing

abnegate

(v.) to deny; to reject

abrade

(v.) to wear away

abridge

(v. or adj.) to shorten; curtail (A pocket dictionary is an abridged form of the complete version.)

abrogate

(v.) to abolish, usually by authority (The Bill of Rights assures that the government cannot abrogate our right to a free press.)

abscond

(v.) to leave secretly; to flee

absolve

(v.) to free from responsibility (The court absolved the mother from guilt in her children's death.)

abstemious

(adj.) moderate or sparing in eating or drinking ~proper use implies abstinence (Practicing Catholics are overtly abstemious throughout lent.)

abstruse

(adj.) hard to understand ~proper use needs to imply complexity, intellectually demanding (Ms. Heitkamp began to connect with her students when she started to illustrate abstruse concepts on a diagram.)

accede

(v.) to agree to ~customary use implies agreements of an official nature (The Japanese Emperor acceded to the demands of surrender given by Gen. MacArthur.)

acclivity

(n.) upward slope of ground (The Parthenon sits atop a prominent acclivity in the middle of Athens.)

accost

(v.) to approach and speak to ~proper use implies intrusion with an unexpected demand or request (Philanthropists regularly get accosted by people asking for hand-outs.)

accoutrement

(n.) equipment; outfit

accretion

(n.) an increase by natural growth or gradual external addition (...accretion of matter onto black holes)

accrue

(v.) to gather as a result of external addition (...accrued interest)

acerbic

(adj.) biting, bitter in tone or taste (Nothing compares to the acerbic ruminations of a jilted bride.)

acquiesce

(v.) to agree, consent, submit, or comply silently ~~verb is used without an object ~used with preposition "in" or "to;" do not use with the preposition "...with."

acrid

(adj.) bitter to the taste or smell

acrimony

(n.) bitterness, discord (Though they vowed that no girl would ever come between them, Adam and Steve could not keep acrimony from overwhelming their friendship after they both fell in love with the lovely Eve.)

acrophobia

(n.) fear of heights

acumen

(n.) keen insight (Because of his mathematical acumen, Kyle was able to figure out in minutes problems that took other students hours.)

adamant

(n.) stubborn; unyielding

addendum

(n.) something added as a supplement

adduce

(v.) to give an example in proving something

adipose

(adj.) fatty

adjunct

(n.) a subordinate; an assistant

adroit

(adj.) skillful; clever ~customary use implies dexterity in the use of the hands or of logic in debate

adumbrate

(v.) to sketch out in a vague way (The leaders of the democratic party adumbrated a game plan after losing the midterm elections, but none of the rank-and-file knew precisely what to do.)

adventitious

(adj.) accidental; nonessential

aesthetic

(adj.) pertaining to the sense of the beautiful (Gracefulness and precision are the aesthetic qualities of the movement of a performing Prima ballerina.)

affable

(adj.) friendly; good natured ~proper use implies that the person is easy to talk to

affectation

(n.) a deliberate pretense or exaggerated display (Billy Bob's French accent is an affectation.)

agoraphobia

(n.) fear of open places

agrarian

(adj.) pertaining to farmers or agriculture

ague

(n.) a fever; a plague ; a fit of shivering

alacrity

(n.) eagerness, speed (Children, during playtime, are allowed to make the world into anything they wish, and they do so with alacrity.)

alimentary

(adj.) pertaining to nourishment or food

alluvial

(adj.) pertaining to a deposit of sand formed by flowing water

altruism

(n.) unselfish regard for the welfare of others ~proper use implies no requited act expected from the recipient (Donating blood is an act of pure altruism on the part of the donor.)

amalgamate

(v.) to combine; to unite; to blend ~proper use implies a purpose to create an organization or structure

ambient

(adj.) pertaining to the surrounding area or environment (...ambient temperature; ...ambient noises)

ambivalence

(n.) uncertainty or conflicting feelings toward something or someone (The runaway bride felt a moment of ambivalence when she heard the church organ play the bride march.)

ambrosial

(adj.) pleasing to the taste or smell

ameliorate

(v.) to make better ~proper use implies harm has already taken effect (Good early childhood programs in the inner city can ameliorate the effects of harmful social and psychological environments.)

amnesty

(n.) official pardon for an offense

amorphous

(adj.) shapeless

anachronism

(n.) something or someone that is not in its correct historical time (The Christmas school play featured an obvious anachronism - Scrooge's cell phone rang playing the disco hit, "We are family, I got all my sisters with me")

anathema

(n.) a cursed, detested person (When you are morbidly obese and become a contestant on "The biggest Loser," the person you are is anathema to the person you would like to be.)

ancillary

(adj.) helping, subordinate; auxiliary (...ancillary ground forces that follow the day after an invasion)

anhydrous

(adj.) without water (...the anhydrous lands of the Atacama desert in Chile)

anneal

(v.) to heat and then cool; to toughen

antediluvian

(n. or adj.) old fashioned; primitive; belonging to the period before Noah's flood

antipathy

(n.) a strong dislike, repugnance (The key to understanding her antipathy for car salesmen is found in the knowledge that every single one of her five ex-husbands worked as a car salesman.)

antithesis

(n.) exact opposite

aperture

(n.) an opening; a gap

aphasia

(n.) loss of ability to speak

aphorism

(n.) brief saying expressing a general truth (As expected, Mrs. Glass' favorite aphorism is "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.")

apiary

(n.) a place where bees are kept

aplomb

(n.) self-confidence; poise

apogee

(n.) farthest point away from the earth

apoplexy

(n.) sudden loss of consciousness; paralysis (With one more word to win the game, Oscar warned Erin that he would suffer an attack of apoplexy if Erin screwed up the final scrabble word.)

apothegm

(n.) a brief instructive saying ~the difference between this and an aphorism is that apothegms seem to give instruction ("In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock")

apotheosis

(n.) glorification of a person to the rank of God; quintessence (Bowlegged and gaunt, the cowboy stands as the apotheosis of manly perfection.)

appellation

(n.) a name ("Flower Belle! What a euphonious appellation! Easy on the ears and a banquet for the eyes!" - Mae West)