SAT Vocab (A-Z)

antediluvian

(adj.) ancient (The _____ man still believed that Eisenhower was president of the United States and that hot dogs costed a nickel.)

alias

(n.) a false name or identity (He snuck past the guards by using an _____ and fake ID.)

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 _____.)

aggregate

1. (n.) a whole or total (The three branches of the U.S. Government form an _____ much more powerful than its individual parts.) 2. (v.) to gather into a mass (The dictator tried to ____ as many people into his army as he possibly could.)

adverse

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

aesthetic

(adj.) artistic, related to the appreciation of beauty (We hired Susan as our interior decorator because she has such a fine _____ sense.)

anachronistic

(adj.) being out of correct chronological order (In this book you're writing, you say that the Pyramids were built after the Titanic sank, which is _____.)

anonymous

(adj.) being unknown, unrecognized (Mary received a love poem from an _____ admirer.)

agnostic

(adj.) believing that the existence of God cannot be proven or disproven (Joey's parents are very religious, but he is _____.)

acerbic

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

antiseptic

(adj.) clean, sterile (The _____ hospital was very bare, but its cleanliness helped to keep patients healthy.)

aggrieved

(adj.) distressed, wronged, injured (The foreman mercilessly overworked his _____ employees.)

adept

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

apocryphal

(adj.) fictitious, false, wrong (Because I am standing before you, it seems obvious that the stories circulating about my demise were _____.)

amiable

(adj.) friendly (An _____ fellow, Harry got along with just about everyone.)

affable

(adj.) friendly, amiable (People like to be around George because he is so ____ and good-natured.)

amicable

(adj.) friendly, with reference to 2 or more people (Claudia and Jimmy got divorced, but _____ and without hard feelings.)

abstruse

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

ambivalent

(adj.) having opposing feelings (My feelings about Calvin are _____ because on one hand he is a loyal friend, but on the other, he is a cruel and vicious thief.)

accommodating

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

adamant

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

appalling

(adj.) inspiring shock, horror, disgust (The judge found the murderer's and lack of remorse _____.)

apathetic

(adj.) lacking concern, emotion (Uninterested in politics, Bruno was _____ about whether he lived under a capitalist or communist regime.)

animated

(adj.) lively (When Nick begins to talk about drama, which is his true passion, he becomes very _____.)

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 _____.)

antiquated

(adj.) old, out of date (That _____ car has none of the features, like power windows and steering, that make modern cars so great.)

agile

(adj.) quick, nimble (The dogs were too slow to catch the _____ rabbit.)

aerial

(adj.) related to the air (We watched as the fighter planes conducted _____ maneuvers.)

aloof

(adj.) reserved, distant (The scientist could sometimes seem _____, as if he didn't care about his friends or family, but really he was just thinking about quantum mechanics.)

affluent

(adj.) rich, wealthy (Mrs. Grebelski was ____, owning a huge house, three cars, and an island near Maine.)

amorous

(adj.) showing love, particularly sexual (Whenever Albert saw Mariah wear her slinky red dress, he began to feel quite _____.)

analogous

(adj.) similar to, so that an analogy can be drawn (Though they are unrelated genetically, the bone structure of whales and fish is quite _____.)

adroit

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

ambiguous

(adj.) uncertain, variably interpretable (Some people think Caesar married Cleopatra for her power, others believe he was charmed by her beauty. His actual reasons are _____.)

amenable

(adj.) willing, compliant (Our father was _____ when we asked him to drive us to the farm so we could go apple picking.)

amorphous

(adj.) without definite shape or type (The cake was delicious, but so _____ that no one initially wanted to try it.)

abject

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

allusion

(n.) (Literary term) a reference within a literary work to a historical, literary, or biblical character, place, or event. (The following line from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice contains an _____ to the Roman mythological character Cupid: "Come, come, Nerissa; for I long to see quick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly.")

alliteration

(n.) (Literary term) the repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants, at the beginning of words ("Sweet scented stuff" is an example of _____ in Robert Frost's poem "Out, Out—.")

anathema

(n.) a cursed, detested person (I never want to see that murderer. He is an _____ to me.)

altercation

(n.) a dispute, fight (Jason and Lionel blamed one another for the car accident, leading to an _____.)

aisle

(n.) a passageway between rows of seats (Once we got inside the stadium we walked down the _____ to our seats.)

anthology

(n.) a selected collection of writings, songs, etc. (The new _____ of Bob Dylan songs contains all his greatest hits and a few songs that you might never have heard before.)

anecdote

(n.) a short, humorous account (After dinner, Marlon told an _____ about the time he got his nose stuck in a toaster.)

affinity

(n.) a spontaneous feeling of closeness (Jerry didn't know why, but he felt an incredible ____ for Kramer the first time they met.)

antipathy

(n.) a strong dislike, repugnance (I know you love me, but because you are a liar and a thief, I feel nothing but _____ for you.)

accord

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

affront

(n.) an insult (Bernardo was very touchy, and took any slight as an ____ to his honor.)

amenity

(n.) an item that increases comfort (Bill Gates's house is stocked with so many _____, he never has to do anything for himself.)

acrimony

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

abnegation

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

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 _____.)

adulation

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

anguish

(n.) extreme sadness, torment (Angelo suffered terrible _____ when he learned that Buffy had died while combating a strange mystical force of evil.)

agriculture

(n.) farming (It was a huge step in the progress of civilization when tribes left hunting and gathering and began to develop more sustainable methods of obtaining food, such as _____.)

absolution

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

acclaim

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

accolade

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

antagonism

(n.) hostility (Superman and Bizarro Superman shared a mutual _____, and often fought.)

anxiety

(n.) intense uneasiness (When he heard about the car crash, he felt _____ because he knew that his girlfriend had been driving on the road where the accident occurred.)

acumen

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

anesthesia

(n.) loss of sensation (When the nerves in his spine were damaged, Mr. Hollins suffered _____ in his legs.)

anarchist

(n.) one who wants to eliminate all government (An _____, Carmine wanted to dissolve every government everywhere.)

accretion

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

antecedent

(n.) something that came before (The great tradition of Western culture had its _____ in the culture of Ancient Greece.)

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 _____, and the Red Sox have not won a World Series since.)

anomaly

(n.) something that does not fit into the normal order ("That rip in the space- time continuum is certainly a spatial _____," said Spock to Captain Kirk.)

analgesic

(n.) something that reduces pain (Put this _____ on the wound so that the poor man at least feels a little better.)

antithesis

(n.) the absolute opposite (Your values, which hold war and violence in the highest esteem, are the _____ of my pacifist beliefs.)

abrogate

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

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 _____ to their request.)

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 _____ to her demands.)

abet

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

allege

(v.) to assert, usually without proof (The policeman had _____ that Marshall committed the crime, but after the investigation turned up no evidence, Marshall was set free.)

amalgamate

(v.) to bring together, unite (Because of his great charisma, the presidential candidate was able to _____ all democrats and republicans under his banner.)

admonish

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

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 _____ the man.)

adorn

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

allocate

(v.) to distribute, set aside (The Mayor _____ 30 percent of the funds for improving the town's schools.)

abdicate

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

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 _____ and go home.)

abhor

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

abase

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

ameliorate

(v.) to improve (The tense situation was _____ when Sam proposed a solution everyone could agree upon.)

aggrandize

(v.) to increase or make greater (Joseph always dropped the names of the famous people his father knew as a way to _____ his personal stature.)

abduct

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

annul

(v.) to make void or invalid (After seeing its unforeseen and catastrophic effects, Congress sought to _____ the law.)

abate

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

abjure

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

alleviate

(v.) to relieve, make more bearable (This drug will _____ the symptoms of the terrible disease, but only for a while.)

adumbrate

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

abscond

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

allay

(v.) to soothe, ease (The chairman of the Federal Reserve gave a speech to try to _____ investors' fears about an economic downturn.)

accentuate

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

acute

1. (adj.) sharp, severe (Arnold could not walk because the pain in his foot was so _____.) 2. (adj.) having keen insight (Because she was so _____ Libby instantly figured out how the magician pulled off his "magic.")

adhere

1. (n.) to stick (We _____ the poster to the wall with tape.) 2. (n.) to follow devoutly (He _____ to the dictates of his religion without question.)

advocate

1. (v.) to argue in favor of something (Arnold _____ 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 _____ of increasing national defense spending.)

abridge

1. (v.) to cut down, shorten (The publisher thought the dictionary was too long and _____ it.) 2. (adj.) shortened (Moby-Dick is such a long book that even the _____ version is longer than most normal books.)

annex

1. (v.) to incorporate territory or space (After defeating them in battle, the Russians _____ Poland.) 2. (n.) a room attached to a larger room or space (He likes to do his studying in a little _____ attached to the main reading room in the library.)

abide

1. (v.) to put up with (Though he did not agree with the decision, Chuck decided to _____ by it.) 2. (v.) to remain (Despite the beating they've taken from the weather throughout the millennia, the mountains _____.)