SAT Vocabulary

benevolent

(adj.) marked by goodness or doing good (Police officers should be commended for their benevolent service to the community.)

benign

(adj.) favorable, not threatening, mild (We were all relieved to hear that the medical tests determined her tumor to be benign.)

bequeath

(v.) to pass on, give (Jon's father bequeathed his entire estate to his mother.)

berate

(v.) to scold vehemently (The angry boss berated his employees for failing to meet their deadline.)

bereft

(adj.) devoid of, without (His family was bereft of food and shelter following the tornado.)

beseech

(v.) to beg, plead, implore (The servant beseeched the king for food to feed his starving family.)

bias

(n.) a tendency, inclination, prejudice (The judge's hidden bias against smokers led him to make an unfair decision.)

bilk

(v.) cheat, defraud (The lawyer discovered that this firm had bilked several clients out of thousands of dollars.)

blandish

(v.) to coax by using flattery (Rachel's assistant tried to blandish her into accepting the deal.)

blemish

(n.) an imperfection, flaw (The dealer agreed to lower the price because of the many blemishes on the surface of the wooden furniture.)

blight

1. (n.) a plague, disease (The potato blight destroyed the harvest and bankrupted many families.)

2. (n.) something that destroys hope (His bad morale is a blight upon this entire operation.)

boisterous

(adj.) loud and full of energy (The candidate won the vote after giving several boisterous speeches on television.)

bombastic

(adj.) excessively confident, pompous (The singer's bombastic performance disgusted the crowd.)

boon

(n.) a gift or blessing (The good weather has been a boon for many businesses located near the beach.)

bourgeois

(n.) a middle-class person, capitalist (Many businessmen receive criticism for their bourgeois approach to life.)

brazen

(adj.) excessively bold, brash (Critics condemned the novelist's brazen attempt to plagiarize Hemingway's story.)

brusque

(adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive (The captain's brusque manner offended the passengers.)

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.)

burnish

(v.) to polish, shine (His mother asked him to burnish the silverware before setting the table.)

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.)

cacophony

(n.) tremendous noise, disharmonious sound (The elementary school orchestra created a cacophony at the recital.)

cadence

(n.) a rhythm, progression of sound (The pianist used the foot pedal to emphasize the cadence of the sonata.)

cajole

(v.) to urge, coax (Fred's buddies cajoled him into attending the bachelor party.)

calamity

(n.) an event with disastrous consequences (The earthquake in San Francisco was a calamity worse than any other natural disaster in history.)

calibrate

(v.) to set, standardize (The mechanic calibrated the car's transmission to make the motor run most efficiently.)

callous

(adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling (The murderer's callous lack of remorse shocked the jury.)

calumny

(n.) an attempt to spoil someone else's reputation by spreading lies (The local official's calumny ended up ruining his opponent's prospect of winning the election.)

camaraderie

(n.) brotherhood, jovial unity (Camaraderie among employees usually leads to success in business.)

candor

(n.) honesty, frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the mayor's speech because he is usually rather evasive.)

canny

(adj.) shrewd, careful (The canny runner hung at the back of the pack through much of the race to watch the other runners, and then sprinted past them at the end.)

canvas

1. (n.) a piece of cloth on which an artist paints (Picasso liked to work on canvas rather than on bare cement.)

2. (v.) to cover, inspect (We canvassed the neighborhood looking for clues.)

capacious

(adj.) very spacious (The workers delighted in their new capacious office space.)

capitulate

(v.) to surrender (The army finally capitulated after fighting a long costly battle.)

capricious

(adj.) subject to whim, fickle (The young girl's capricious tendencies made it difficult for her to focus on achieving her goals.)

captivate

(v.) to get the attention of, hold (The fireworks captivated the young boy, who had never seen such things before.)

carouse

(v.) to party, celebrate (We caroused all night after getting married.)

carp

(v.) to annoy, pester (The husband divorced his wife after listening to her carping voice for decades.)

catalog

1. (v.) to list, enter into a list (The judge cataloged the victim's injuries before calculating how much money he would award.)

2. (n.) a list or collection (We received a catalog from J. Crew that displayed all of their new items.)

catalyze

(v.) to charge, inspire (The president's speech catalyzed the nation and resuscitated the economy.)

caucus

(n.) a meeting usually held by people working toward the same goal (The ironworkers held a caucus to determine how much of a pay increase they would request.)

caustic

(adj.) bitter, biting, acidic (The politicians exchanged caustic insults for over an hour during the debate.)

cavort

(v.) to leap about, behave boisterously (The adults ate their dinners on the patio, while the children cavorted around the pool.)

censure

1. (n.) harsh criticism (The frustrated teenager could not put up with anymore of her critical mother's censure.)

2. (v.) to rebuke formally (The principal censured the head of the English Department for forcing students to learn esoteric vocabulary.)

cerebral

(adj.) related to the intellect (The books we read in this class are too cerebral— they don't engage my emotions at all.)

chaos

(n.) absolute disorder (Mr. Thornton's sudden departure for the lavatory plunged his classroom into chaos.)

chastise

(v.) to criticize severely (After being chastised by her peers for mimicking Britney Spears, Miranda dyed her hair black and affected a Gothic style.)

cherish

(v.) to feel or show affection toward something (She continued to cherish her red plaid trousers, even though they had gone out of style and no longer fit her.)

chide

(v.) to voice disapproval (Lucy chided Russell for his vulgar habits and sloppy appearance.)

choreography

(n.) the arrangement of dances (The plot of the musical was banal, but the choreography was stunning.)

chronicle

1. (n.) a written history (The library featured the newly updated chronicle of World War II.)

2. (v.) to write a history (Albert's diary chronicled the day-to-day growth of his obsession with Cynthia.)

abase

(v.) to humiliate, degrade (After being overthrown and abased, the deposed leader offered to bow down to his conqueror.)

adroit

(adj.) skillful, dexterous (The adroit thief could pick someone's pocket without attracting notice.)

alacrity

(n.) eagerness, speed (For some reason, Chuck loved to help his mother whenever he could, so when his mother asked him to set the table he did so with alacrity.)

arrogate

(v.) to take without justification (The king arrogated the right to order executions to himself exclusively.)

ascetic

(adj.) practicing restraint as a means of self-discipline, usually religious (The priest lives an ascetic life devoid of television, savory foods, and other pleasures.)

aspersion

(n.) a curse, expression of ill-will (The rival politicians repeatedly cast aspersions on each others' integrity.)

assuage

(v.) to ease, pacify (The mother held the baby to assuage its fears.)

astute

(adj.) very clever, crafty (Much of Roger's success in politics results from his ability to provide astute answers to reporters' questions.)

auspicious

(adj.) favorable, indicative of good things (The tennis player considered the sunny forecast an auspicious sign that she would win her match.)

austere

(adj.) very bare, bleak (The austere furniture inside the abandoned house made the place feel haunted.)

abate

(v.) to reduce, lessen (The rain poured down for a while, then abated.)

abdicate

(v.) to give up a position, usually one of leadership (When he realized that the revolutionaries would surely win, the king abdicated his throne.)

abduct

(v.) to kidnap, take by force (The evildoers abducted the fairy princess from her happy home.)

aberration

(n.) something that differs from the norm (In 1918, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and the Red Sox have not won a World Series since.)

abet

(v.) to aid, help, encourage (The spy succeeded only because he had a friend on the inside to abet him.)

abhor

(v.) to hate, detest (Because he always wound up kicking himself in the head when he tried to play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.)

abide

1. (v.) to put up with (Though he did not agree with the decision, Chuck decided to abide by it.)

2. (v.) to remain (Despite the beating they've taken from the weather throughout the millennia, the mountains abide.)

abject

(adj.) wretched, pitiful (After losing all her money, falling into a puddle, and breaking her ankle, Eloise was abject.)

abjure

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

abnegation

(n.) denial of comfort to oneself (The holy man slept on the floor, took only cold showers, and generally followed other practices of abnegation.)

abort

(v.) to give up on a half-finished project or effort (After they ran out of food, the men, attempting to jump rope around the world, had to abort and go home.)

abridge

1. (v.) to cut down, shorten (The publisher thought the dictionary was too long and abridged it.)

2. (adj.) shortened (Moby-Dick is such a long book that even the abridged version is longer than most normal books.)

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 sneak away and hide (In the confusion, the super-spy absconded into the night with the secret plans.)

absolution

(n.) freedom from blame, guilt, sin (Once all the facts were known, the jury gave Angela absolution by giving a verdict of not guilty.)

abstain

(v.) to freely choose not to commit an action (Everyone demanded that Angus put on the kilt, but he did not want to do it and abstained.)

abstruse

(adj.) hard to comprehend (Everyone else in the class understood geometry easily, but John found the subject abstruse.)

accede

(v.) to agree (When the class asked the teacher whether they could play baseball instead of learn grammar they expected him to refuse, but instead he acceded to their request.)

accentuate

(v.) to stress, highlight (Psychologists agree that those people who are happiest accentuate the positive in life.)

accessible

(adj.) obtainable, reachable (After studying with SparkNotes and getting a great score on the SAT, Marlena happily realized that her goal of getting into an Ivy-League college was accessible.)

acclaim

(n.) high praise (Greg's excellent poem won the acclaim of his friends.)

accolade

(n.) high praise, special distinction (Everyone offered accolades to Sam after he won the Noble Prize.)

accommodating

(adj.) helpful, obliging, polite (Though the apartment was not big enough for three people, Arnold, Mark, and Zebulon were all friends and were accommodating to each other.)

accord

(n.) an agreement (After much negotiating, England and Iceland finally came to a mutually beneficial accord about fishing rights off the cost of Greenland.)

accost

(v.) to confront verbally (Though Antoinette was normally quite calm, when the waiter spilled soup on her for the fourth time in 15 minutes she stood up and accosted the man.)

accretion

(n.) slow growth in size or amount (Stalactites are formed by the accretion of minerals from the roofs of caves.)

acerbic

(adj.) biting, bitter in tone or taste (Jill became extremely acerbic and began to cruelly make fun of all her friends.)

acquiesce

(v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Correlli wanted to stay outside and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner, he acquiesced to her demands.)

acrimony

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

acumen

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

acute

1. (adj.) sharp, severe (Arnold could not walk because the pain in his foot was so acute.)

2. (adj.) having keen insight (Because she was so acute, Libby instantly figured out how the magician pulled off his "magic.")

adamant

(adj.) impervious, immovable, unyielding (Though public pressure was intense, the President remained adamant about his proposal.)

adept

(adj.) extremely skilled (Tarzan was adept at jumping from tree to tree like a monkey.)

adhere

1. (n.) to stick to something (We adhered the poster to the wall with tape.)

2. (n.) to follow devoutly (He adhered to the dictates of his religion without question.)

admonish

(v.) to caution, criticize, reprove (Joe's mother admonished him not to ruin his appetite by eating cookies before dinner.)

adorn

(v.) to decorate (We adorned the tree with ornaments.)

adulation

(n.) extreme praise (Though the book was pretty good, Marcy did not believe it deserved the adulation it received.)

adumbrate

(v.) to sketch out in a vague way (The coach adumbrated a game plan, but none of the players knew precisely what to do.)

adverse

(adj.) antagonistic, unfavorable, dangerous (Because of adverse conditions, the hikers decided to give up trying to climb the mountain.)

advocate

1. (v.) to argue in favor of something (Arnold advocated turning left at the stop sign, even though everyone else thought we should turn right.)

2. (n.) a person who argues in favor of something (In addition to wanting to turn left at every stop sign, Arnold was also a great advocate of increasing national defense spending.)