SAT Reading/Writing Vocab

still adding terms

exacerbating

to make worse

ostensibly

superficial (on the basis/appears as but really is…)

desolate

sad —> to describe person

nothing/nothingness —> a place/site

bleak

cold, bare, charmless, inhospitable, and dreary

wharves

location where ships can be loaded or unloaded

realize(d)

to understand

to attain/have

sycophant

a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage

defenestrated

throw some1 out a window

penultimate

2nd to last

dilapidated

falling apart

• building fell

infamy

well known for a bad reason

extricated

free (someone or something) from a constraint or difficulty

• physically or mentally or morally

burgeoning

beginning to grow or increase rapidly; flourishing

defraying

provide money to pay (a cost or expense)

to lessen

contingent

1. subject to chance.

   "the contingent nature of the job"

2. occurring or existing only if (certain circumstances) are the case; dependent on.

   "resolution of the conflict was contingent on the signing of a ceasefire agreement"

   or

1. a group of people united by some common feature, forming part of a larger group.

   "a contingent of Japanese businessmen attending a conference"

chiefly

above all/for the most part

disorienting

causing someone to lose their sense of direction or their ability to think clearly

• confusion

tenuous

very weak or slight; insubstantial

nuanced

characterized by subtle distinctions or variations in meaning or expression

ubiquity

the state of being everywhere at once or very common

• ex: ants

empirically

based on observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic; information obtained through experimentationor direct evidence.

peevishly

in a way that shows annoyance or irritation; often used to describe someone who is irritable or easily annoyed