DSAT Vocab

  • Rectify - correct

  • Impede - prevent something

  • Momentous - of great importance or significance (especially having a bearing on future events)

  • Badger - to pester or annoy

  • Callous - insensitive

  • Absolve - clear of wrongdoing

  • Defunct - no longer in use or existence

  • Desolate - lifeless; depress; bleak


  • Level 2

  • Abate - decrease, recede (move back or away)

  • Tenuous - very weak or slight

  • Invoke (NOT EVOKE) - to cite or appeal to someone or something as an authority for an action or in support of an argument

  • Supplant - to supercede or replace

  • Placate - to make someone less angry or hostile

  • Palpable - capable of being touched or felt

  • Transpose - to cause two or more things to take the place of each other

  • Lament - express regret or disappointment about something

  • Vindicate - to clear something or someone of blame or suspicion 

  • Preclude - to prevent something from happening or being possible

  • Decry - denounce or discredit

  • Feign - to represent falsely; fake

  • Stipulate - to specify or demand a requirement or condition as part of an agreement 

  • Deplorable - regrettable

  • Magnanimous - generous, forgiving 

  • Clandestine - done in hiding/secret

  • Cursory - not thorough; superficial

  • Supple - flexible

  • Replete - completely filled

  • Culpable - deserving of blame

  • Deride - to ridicule or mock

  • Overt - obvious

  • Miser - stingy person

  • Heterodox - contrary to or differing from established beliefs or accepted doctrines

  • Credulity - gullibility 

  • Amicable - agreeable 

  • Resolute - determined

  • Mutable - changeable 

  • Benevolent - kind and helpful

  • Tactful - sensitive in dealing with others

  • Animosity - bitter hatred 

  • Prefigure - to show, suggest, or announce beforehand; to show or suggest that something will happen in the future 

  • Forfeiture - a giving up of something 

  • Erroneous - incorrect

  • Recant - to take back a previously held belief 

  • Buttress - strengthen or defend

  • Localized - to restrict, assign, or keep in a particular location

  • Latent - dormant or functionless

  • Paltry - trivial, lacking in importance

  • Arduous - involving strenuous, requiring a lot of effort

  • Candid - direct

  • Candor - honesty

  • Incongruous - not responding or agreeing 

  • Abate - decrease or recede

  • Incisive - sharpness of mind

  • Inundate - overwhelm or flood

  • Immutable - unchangeable 

  • Accrue - to increase or to gain

  • Supersede - to replace with something better

  • Deleterious - harmful to one’s health

  • Acumen - sharpness of knowledge or insight

  • Nefarious - extremely wicked

  • Brevity - concise without wasted words

  • Derelict - abandoned, neglected of duty

  • Censure - to blame or condemn

  • Fortuitous - by chance/accident

  • Verbose - wordy

  • Assail - to attack someone

  • Accost - to approach and speak to someone

  • Acuity - sharpness

  • Deferential - yielding to the opinions of others

  • Aberration - a deviation from the normal or proper

  • Proscribe - to forbid

  • Atrophy - to deteriorate

  • Laud - to praise highly

  • Dissonant - harsh or irregular in sound

  • Level 3

  • Abet - to act as an accomplice, to aid

  • Amorphous - having no shape or character

  • Engender - to give rise to a feeling, situation, or condition

  • Austere - severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance; lacking any excess

  • Citadel - a strong holding or fortress

  • Equivocal - subject to two or more interpretations; of uncertain nature or classification

  • Repine - to feel or express discontent

  • Evince - to reveal the presence of a quality or feeling

  • Demagogue - a person who appeals to the emotions or feelings of the people

  • Neophyte - beginner or novice

  • Cogent - persuasive or forceful

  • Laconic - using few words

  • Ineluctable - unable to be escaped, inevitable

  • Denigrate - battle; ridicule 

  • Gratuitous - unnecessary, uncalled for

  • Mirth - merriment, joy

  • Demur - to object

  • Equivocate - to be ambiguous, not upfront

  • Fastidious - great attention to detail

  • Adulation - high praise

  • Guile - deception or skillful deceit 

  • Prodigious - causing amazement or wonder; enormous 

  • Magnanimous - noble or generous 

  • Hedonism - the pursuit of pleasure

  • Scrupulous - a person or process that is diligent, thorough, and extremely attentive to details

  • Terse - brief

  • Acquiesce - to agree; to submit passively

  • Irreproachable - beyond criticism or fault, perfect or faultless 

  • Loquacious - talkative

  • Haughty - arrogant or snobbish 

  • Deft - skilled

  • Curt - short in response, often used when someone is being rude

  • Perfunctory - done routinely with little care

  • Rancor - bitterness or spitefulness 

  • Belligerent - aggressive; hostile

  • Contrite - affected by guilt

  • Untenable - indefensible 

  • Banal - commonplace

  • Allay - to lessen, ease, or soothe

  • Spurious - false or not genuine, lacking authenticity 

  • Surreptitious - secret or stealthy

  • Bilk - to swindle or cheat

  • Egregious - obviously bad or offensive

  • Antipathy - extreme dislike

  • Incongruous - out of place

  • Acrimony - bitterness or hostility 

  • Disparage - to belittle or speak down to someone

  • Fervent - passionate or zealous 

  • Venerable - worthy of respect

  • Curmudgeon - a rude person

  • Convivial - social or festive

  • Extol - to commend or praise

  • Admonish - to caution or reprimand; to warn

  • Partite - divided into parts

  • Capricious - impulsive, whimsical 

  • Dogmatic - inflexible, rigid in one belief 

  • Accretion - gradual buildup or growth by addition

  • Abet - to aid

  • Inviolable - not to be broken; sacred

  • Untoward - unfavorable, inconvenient, inappropriate 

  • Assent - to agree

  • Taciturn - reserved or quiet

  • Trite - overused

  • Hew - cut or shape

  • Profligate - wasteful

  • Castigate - to punish severely 

  • Brusque - rudely concise 

  • Furtive - sneaky or shy

  • Edify - to instruct or enlighten 

  • Assiduous - diligent, hard-working

  • Admonish - to caution

  • Heretic - person holding blasphemous or untraditional views

  • Incorrigible - incapable of being corrected or reformed

  • Auspicious - favorable, promising

  • Avarice - greed

  • Feckless - weak; ineffective; incompetent 

  • Ardent - passionate

  • Expedient - suitable for achieving a particular end

  • Ascetic - self-denying; depriving oneself of something

  • Onerous - burdensome or oppressive

  • Sagacious - wise

  • Aspersion - a false rumor or damaging report

  • Impious - irreverent, disrespectful

  • Assuage - to soothe or pacify

  • Perspicacious - very perceptive or discerning

  • Abstruse - complex or hard to understand

  • Petulant - childish, irritable

  • Abase - to humble or degrade

  • Latent - undeveloped or dormant

  • Abdicate - to formally relinquish 

  • Obstreperous - noisy; unruly

  • Harbinger - forerunner or omen

  • Beguile - to deceive 

  • Parity - state of being equivalent

  • Callow - inexperienced, immature

  • Perfunctory - routine; done with care

  • Dearth - a lack or a deficiency

  • Eminent - prominent; distinguished

  • Pragmatic - practical 

  • Iconoclast - someone who attacks traditional ideas or institutions

  • Penitent - remorseful

  • Magnate - a powerful or influential person

  • Gregarious - sociable, enjoying the company of others

  • Languid - exhausted

  • Affable - friendly

  • Hapless - ill fated, unlucky

  • Palliate - to soothe or mitigate