Hot Words for the SAT (with sentences)

Ramble

(v.) To talk on and on pointlessly, without clear direction When Leslie Knope was drunk off of the Swanson Family Mash Liquor, she kept on rambling and knocking things off her desk.

Rant

(v.) To talk very loudly, even wildly; rave Leslie was ranting to Ben about Ann when she was drunk off of Snake Juice.

Swagger

(v.) To walk around in a proud, showy manner; to boast in a loud manner Mona-Lisa Saperstein's swagger alongside with her ostentatious fashion choices reveals her big ego.

Mediate

(v.) to act as a go-between in settling conflicts or disputes between people or opposing ideas Ben had to mediate the tension between Leslie and the citizens of Eagletown.

Affable

(adj.) easy to talk to; easy to approach, friendly; kind; amiable Ron Swanson does not want to be affable. He loves nothing.

Jocular

(adj.) liking to be with people, joke around with them and have fun Seth Rogen's jocular personality makes him amicable and hilarious.

Complacent

(adj.) self-satisfied; smug Chris Traeger always feels complacent whenever someone compliments his physical appearance.

Philanthropic

(adj.) showing a desire to help others by giving gifts; charitable; humane Ellen Degeneres and Bill Gates are examples of philanthropists.

Altruistic

(adj.) showing an unselfish concern for others Leslie Knope is an altruistic bureaucrat,

Thrifty

(adj.) showing care with how money and resources are spent or used Chris and Ben had to make thrifty budget cuts in the parks department in order to keep city hall afloat.

Amicable

(adj.) showing goodwill; peaceable The Pawnee-Eagletown merger was an amicable action.

Taciturn

(adj.) silent; sparring of words; close-mouthed After Ben and Leslie's break up, Ben was taciturn and quiet while Leslie was loud and desperate to get back together.

Gregarious

(adj.) sociable, outgoing The gregarious crowd formed a mosh pit at the TED talk convention.

Convivial

(adj.) sociable, outgoing in a festive way, especially when pertaining to eating and drinking; fond of good company Tom envisaged that snake juice would turn his "boring" coworkers into convivial party animals.

Penurious

(adj.) stingy; relating to great poverty, destitution Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory lived in a penurious house before winning the Chocolate Factory.

Belligerent

(adj.) taking part in war or fighting; ready to fight After two decades of the war, the belligerent countries made peace.

Garrulous

(adj.) talkative; loquacious Donna Meagle is a garrulous woman who enjoys going to various clubs to meet single men.

Voluble

(adj.) talking with a great deal with ease; glib Bobby Newport was not a voluble speaker because of his lack of knowledge and stuttering.

Insolent

(adj.) boldly disrespectful in speech or behavior; rude Tammy 2's insolent nature causes Leslie to dislike her.

Platitude

( n.) quality of being dull; an obvious remark uttered as if it were original A recipe to induce sleep is a monotonous voice and a plethora of platitudes.

Quiescent

(adj.) Being quiet, still, or at rest; inactive Jerry Gergich is a quiescent parks and recreations employee, considering he does nothing and is not helpful at all.

Pithy

(adj.) Brief and full of meaning and substance; concise Leslie Knope's speeches are always filled with pithy quotations.

Succinct

(adj.) Clearly and briefly stated; concise Ron Swanson's permit was succinct. It stated, "I can do what I want. -Ron"

Reticent

(adj.) Not talking much; reserved Ben Wyatt and Chris Traeger are a mismatched pair; Ben's shy and reticent, but Chris never stops talking.

Verbose

(adj.) Using too many words; wordy;long-winded The teacher asked Brenda to cut her verbose speech from 40 to 15 minutes.

Cantankerous

(adj.) bad-tempered or irritable; quarrelsome Tammy 1, Ron's first ex-wife is an extremely cantankerous woman.

Miserly

(adj.) careful with how money is spent; thrifty To lose weight, he ate a miserly breakfast: one prune and a cup of skim milk.

Frugal

(adj.) careful with money; thrifty; not prodigal or wasteful Though Ron Swanson is a frugal man, he is prodigal when spending his money on steak, meat, eggs and bacon, and barbecue.

Pretentious

(adj.) claiming or pretending increased importance; ostentatious; affectedly grand It is pretentious for a person to say they love a band while they only know one song.

Pedestrian

(adj.) commonplace, ordinary, unoriginal, mundane Pedestrian thinkers contributed lackluster ideas to the Socratic seminar.

Mundane

(adj.) commonplace; ordinary Before Ben met Leslie, he was a mundane and boring man.

Congenial

(adj.) compatible; having kindred needs or tastes: sympathetic April Ludgate should have won the Miss Congeniality award, since she apparently loves "people, places, and things."

Banal

(adj.) dull or stale because of overuse; trite; hackneyed That old song from ten years ago seem banal now.

Prosaic

(adj.) dull; commonplace The teenage girl's eyes rolled when the young male said, "Netflix and chill." She thought it was a prosaic idea.

Pugnacious

(adj.) eager to fight; belligerent The pugnacious pug ripped the child's toy squirrel in half.

Egotistical

(adj.) excessively self-absorbed; very conceited Though "Treat yo Self" day may seem egotistical to others, it is a tradition that Tom and Donna celebrate annually.

Amiable

(adj.) friendly, kind I want to have some amiable amis and some amiable amigos.

Disdainful

(adj.) full of bitter scorn and pride; aloof Joan Callamezzo, the hostess of Pawnee Today, never keeps her disdainful comments to herself.

Lavish

(adj.) generous in giving to others or in spending money Tom Haverford has a lavish collection of menswear monogrammed with his initials.

Magnanimous

(adj.) generous in overlooking insult or injury by others; rising above pettiness Though Little Bobby threw shade at me, I magnanimously forgave him because I shall rise above pettiness.

Benevolent

(adj.) giving freely and easily to others; charitable; kind Chris Traeger's big heart makes him benevolent towards everyone.

Avaricious

(adj.) greedy It was a avaricious move for Jean-Ralphio to get run over by a Lexus just to get money.

Mercenary

(adj.) greedy for self-gain; thinking only of money-making The mercenary Spaniards exploited the Native Americans through the process of mercantilism,

Austere

(adj.) having great economy; showing self-control when it comes to foregoing luxuries and frills; stern in manner or appearance Ron Swanson lives an austere life; he shops at "Food and Stuff" and only purchases things when necessary.

Haughty

(adj.) having great pride in oneself and dislike for others Dennis Feinstein, a famous fragrance maker, has a haughty and egotistical personality.

Narcissistic

(adj.) having to do with extreme self-adoration and a feeling of superiority to everyone Councilman Jeremy Jamm is narcissistic, often placing himself above the other citizens of Pawnee.

Ostentatious

(adj.) having to do with showing off; pretentious The ostentatious parties Entertainment 720 threw led to its bankruptcy.

Polemical

(adj.) inclined to argue or debate; controversial If you lay a finger on Donna's beloved Mercedes-Benz, she will become polemical and destroy you.

Insipid

(adj.) lacking flavor or taste; unexciting Jerry's personality is dull and insipid.

Vapid

(adj.) lacking freshness and zest; flat; stale Behind every uninspiring, vapid TV sitcom, you'll find an empty-headed producer, director, and screenwriter.

Contemptuous

(adj.) lacking respect; scornful Accustomed to the fillet mignon, Fido glared contemptuously at the bowl of dog chow in front of him.

Lackluster

(adj.) lacking vitality, energy, or brightness; boring When Chris was sick with the flu, he looked lackluster instead of his usual energized self.

Prodigal

(adj.) lavish; wasteful Jean-Ralphio and Mona Lisa Saperstein are both prodigals who waste their money on faux pas fashion.

Disputatious

(adj.) likely to dispute or argue Marcia Langman was acting petty and disputatious when Leslie married two male penguins together.

Supercilious

(adj.) looking down on others; proud and scornful Though Joe from the sewage department is supercilious, he is a well-disliked pariah.

Hackneyed

(adj.) made commonplace by overuse; trite (n.) hack- one who imitates the work of others Only hack writers rely on hackneyed expressions.

Captious

(adj.) made for the sake of quarreling; quibbling My supervisor does nothing but bicker with the staff. His captiousness forced me to quit my job.

Bellicose

(adj.) of a quarrelsome nature; eager to fight; war-like; belligerent Tybalt was a bellicose Capulet.

Arrogant

(adj.) overbearing; proud; haughty Tom Haverford's arrogance was the cause of the failure of his business, Entertainment 720.

Parsimonious

(adj.) overly thrifty or miserly Ron can be parsimonious with his words. He will not speak to anyone unless it is necessary.

Colloquial

(adj.) pertaining to common everyday speech; conversational Two examples of colloquial greetings are "Hey dude, how's it goin'?" and "Notice me, Senpai."

Bombastic

(adj.) pompous or overblown in language; full of high-sounding words; speaking to impress others The bombastic young writer used a dictionary to write his speech.

Contentious

(adj.) quarrelsome; belligerent If you don't stop being contentious, no one will want to cooperate with you.

Rhetorical

(adj.) relating to speech that is used to persuade or have some effect; insincere in expression Metaphors, allusions, and pithy quotations are examples of rhetorical devices.

Diffuse

(adj.) to spread out, not concise; wordy "This essay lacks focus," said the teacher. "It's too diffuse."

Presumptuous

(adj.) too forward or bold; overstepping proper bounds It was presumptuous of Bobby Newport to believe he would win the city council election just because of his wealth.

Trite

(adj.) unoriginal and stale due to overuse The teacher threw shade at a student who had nothing but trite and irrelevant questions to ask.

Derivative

(adj.) unoriginal; taken from something already existing English is a derivative language. It is made up of words that originated in many other languages.

Grandiloquent

(adj.) using big and fancy words when speaking for the purpose of impressing others Grandiloquence- (n.) Andy Dwyer tries to use grandiloquent language to show off his intelligence.

Concise

(adj.) using few words in speaking or writing For a concise summary of the book, read the book jacket.

Laconic

(adj.) using few words in speech Ron Swanson's laconic replies makes his coworkers question his enthusiasm.

Terse

(adj.) using only the words that are needed to make the point; very concise, sometimes to the point of rudeness Ben's terse response to Li'l Sebastian's appearance at the Harvest Festival made all his coworkers furious.

Munificent

(adj.) very generous It's easy to be munificent when you already have more of everything than you'll ever need.

Loquacious

(adj.) very talkative; liking to talk; garrulous Tom Haverford is extremely loquacious, especially when he promotes his company, Entertainment 720.

Cordial

(adj.) warm and friendly; amiable The cordial remarks of my guests convinced me that the party was a success.

Profligate

(adj.) wasteful; careless, even reckless, with spending money; extravagant Profligate in their spending, Tom and Donna both buy expensive and lavish items on "Treat yo Self" day.

Brevity

(n.) Briefness or conciseness in speech or writing Limited space in the newsletter makes brevity essential.

Circumlocution

(n.) Speaking in circles; Roundabout speech Circumlocution is commonly known as "beating around the bush."

Cliché

(n.) an idea or expression that has become stale due to overuse Lazy writers rely on clichés because it's hard work to express ideas with new phrases.

Eloquence

(n.) artful ease with speaking; speech that can influence people's feelings Eloquent- (v.) Leslie Knope's campaign speech was eloquent and captured the hearts of the Pawnee citizens.

Largess

(n.) generous giving (also spelled largesse) The largess of their alumni has enabled many colleges to offer their scholarships to deserving students.

Antagonism

(n.) hatred or hostility If you hate Li'l Sebastian, my antagonism for you will only increase.

Animosity

(n.) hatred; ill will Ron's animosity towards skim milk is intense. In fact, he thinks it is water disguised as milk.

Levity

(n.) lightheartedness; gaiety; carefree disposition, particularity when not appropriate There was plenty of levity in the classroom. In fact, you could hear it from the other end on the corridor.

Braggart

(n.) one who boasts a great deal Jean-Ralphio acted like a braggart when he kept talking about how he got run over by a Lexus.

Predator

(n.) one who takes advantage of another, exploits or feeds on another; a strong adversary or rival Watch out for the predatory schemers who'll take your money and run.

Assuage

(v.) to alleviate; to lessen pain or conflict; pacify Ann Perkins helped assuage Leslie's heartbreak when she broke up with Ben.

Pacify

(v.) to calm; to make peaceful; to restore to a tranquil state The pacifier pacified the baby's crying.

Allay

(v.) to lessen fear; to calm; to relieve pain The soothing voice of Hozier can allay the anxiety of many.

Alleviate

(v.) to lessen pain or discomfort Grandma takes pills to alleviate her arthritic pain.

Ameliorate

(v.) to make better; to lessen the pain, difficulty, or tension President Armelio helped to ameliorate Craig's depression while staying at the hospital.

Placate

(v.) to make calm; to soothe What can be done to placate impatient driver caught in a traffic jam?

Mitigate

(v.) to make or become less severe; to lessen pain or damage To mitigate the pain in her throat, Coco Peru drank a cup of Celestial Seasoning's Tension Tamer tea.

Appease

(v.) to make tranquil or quiet, especially by giving into another's demands; to pacify "Oh, screw beautiful. I'm brilliant. If you want to appease me, compliment my brain." -Cristina Yang

Mollify

(v.) to pacify, soothe, or appease; to make less severe or violent The toy squirrel mollified Little Bobby's qualms and worries.

Quell

(v.) to pacify; to subdue; to quiet down Gene managed to quell the noise in the auditorium by shouting, "Quiet!"

Prattle

(v.) to speak on and on in a senseless and silly manner; to talk foolishly Chris Pratt plays Andy Dwyer, a character on the show, Parks and Recreation, who often prattles and makes foolish mistakes.

Squander

(v.) to spend money (or time) in a wasteful, uncaring fashion On "Treat yo Self" day, Ben squandered his money on a pack of socks and a replica Batman costume.

Digress

(v.) to wander off from the subject or topic spoken about Jean-Ralphio often digresses from casual conversation due to his lack of concentration.

Conciliate

(v.) to win a person over through special considerations or persuasive methods; reconcile Ron Swanson is not a type of man to conciliate towards anyone. He's too good for that. He's Ron Swanson.