SSAT Upper Level Vocabulary

apprehensive

(adj.) fearful; aware; conscious The nervous child was apprehensive about beginning a new school year.

amiable

(adj.) friendly The newcomer picked the most amiable person to sit next to during the meeting.

affable

(adj.) friendly; amiable; good-natured Her affable puppy loved to play with children.

abrupt

(adj.) happening or ending unexpectedly The abrupt end to their marriage was a shock to everyone.

abstruse

(adj.) hard to understand; deep; recondite The topic was so abstruse the student was forced to stop reading. The concept was too abstruse for the average student to grasp.

arduous

(adj.) laborious, difficult; strenuous Completing the plans for the new building proved to be an arduous affair. Building a house is arduous work, but the result is well worth the labor

arbitrary

(adj.) making a judgement based on one's preference instead of a rule Rick admitted his decision had been arbitrary, as he claimed no expertise on the matter.

anonymous

(adj.) nameless; unidentified Not wishing to be identified by the police, he remained anonymous by returning the money he had stolen by sending it through the mail.

adverse

(adj.) negative; hostile; antagonistic; inimical Contrary to the ski resort's expectations, the warm weather generated adverse conditions for a profitable weekend.

ambiguous

(adj.) not clear; uncertain; vague The ambiguous law did not make a clear distinction between the new and old land boundary.

adamant

(adj.) not yielding, firm After taking an adamant stand to sell the house, the man called the real estate agency. The girl's parents were adamant about not allowing her to go on a dangerous backpacking trip.

arcane

(adj.) obscure; secret; mysterious; esoteric With an arcane expression, the young boy left the family wondering what sort of mischief he had committed. The wizard's description of his magic was purposefully arcane so that others would be unable to copy it.

aesthetic

(adj.) of beauty; pertaining to taste in art and beauty She found that her aesthetic sense and that of the artist were at odds. His review made one wonder what kind of aesthetic taste the critic had.

agrarian

(adj.) of the land, farming Many agrarian people are poor.

abject

(adj.) of the worst or lowest degree The Haldemans lived in abject poverty, with barely a roof over their heads.

apocalyptic

(adj.) pertaining to a discovery or new revelation Science-fiction movies seem to relish apocalyptic visions.

addled

(adj.) rotten The egg will become addled if it is left unrefrigerated.

acrid

(adj.) sharp; bitter; foul smelling Although the soup is a healthy food choice, it is so acrid not many people choose to eat it. The fire at the plastics factory caused an acrid odor to be emitted throughout the surrounding neighborhood.

adept

(adj.) skilled; practiced The skilled craftsman was quite adept at creating beautiful vases and candleholders.

abstemious

(adj.) sparing in use of food or drinks If we become stranded in the snow storm, we will have to be abstemious with our food supply. In many abstemious cultures the people are so thin due to the belief that too much taken into the body leads to contamination of the soul.

arable

(adj.) suitable (as land) for plowing When the land was deemed arable, the farmer decided to plow.

apposite

(adj.) suitable; apt; relevant Discussion of poverty was apposite to the curriculum, so the professor allowed it. Without reenacting the entire scenario, the situation can be understood if apposite information is given.

acerbic

(adj.) tasting sour; harsh in language or temper Too muchBay Leaf will make the eggplant acerbic. The baby's mouth puckered when she was given the acerbic medicine. The columnist's acerbic comments about the First Lady drew a strong denunciation from the President.

ambivalent

(adj.) undecided The ambivalent jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.

altruistic

(adj.) unselfish The altruistic volunteer donated much time and energy in an effort to raise funds for the children's hospital

abysmal

(adj.) very deep The abysmal waters contained little plant life.

amorphous

(adj.) with no shape; unorganized; having no determinate form The amorphous gel seeped through the cracks. The amorphous group quickly got lost. The scientist could not determine the sex of the amorphous organism.

ardent

(adj.) with passionate or intense feelings The fans' ardent love of the game kept them returning to watch the terrible team.

amiss

(adj.; adv.) wrong; awry; wrongly; in a defective manner Seeing that his anorak was gone, he knew something was amiss . Its new muffler aside, the car was behaving amiss.

abaft

(adv.) on or toward the rear of a ship The passengers moved abaft of the ship so as to escape the fire in the front of the ship.

affinity

(n.) a connection; similarity of structure There is a strong emotional affinity between the two siblings. It turns out that the elements bear a strong affinity to each other.

abnegation

(n.) a denial The woman's abnegation of her loss was apparent when she began to laugh.

animosity

(n.) a feeling of hatred or ill will Animosity grew between the two feuding families.

amalgam

(n.) a mixture or combination (often of metals) The art display was an amalgam of modern and traditional pieces. That ring is made from an amalgam of minerals; if it were pure gold it would never hold its shape.

alchemist

(n.) a person who studies chemistry and tries to change the substance or nature of elements The alchemist's laboratory was full of bottles and tubes of strange-looking liquids

amendment

(n.) a positive change The amendment in his ways showed there was still reason for hope.

anecdote

(n.) a short account of happenings The speaker told an anecdote about how he lost his shoes when he was young.

abeyance

(n.) a state of temporary suspension or inactivity Since the power failure, the town has been in abeyance.

antipathy

(n.) a strong dislike or repugnance Her antipathy for large crowds convinced her to decline the invitation to the city. The vegetarian had an antipathy toward meat.

allegory

(n.) a symbolic description The book contained many allegories on Russian history.

anaphylaxis

(n.) an allergic reaction The boy's severe anaphylaxis to a series of medications made writing prescriptions a tricky proposition.

adversary

(n.) an enemy; foe The peace treaty united two countries that were historically great adversaries.

allusion

(n.) an indirect reference (often literary); a hint The mention of the pet snake was an allusion to the man's sneaky ways. In modern plays allusions are often made to ancient drama.

anomaly

(n.) an oddity, inconsistency; a deviation from the norm An anomaly existed when the report listed one statistic, and the spokeswoman reported another. In a parking lot full of Buicks, Chevys, and Plymouths, the Jaguar was an anomaly.

adage

(n.) an old saying now accepted as being truthful The adage "do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is still widely practiced.

alchemy

(n.) any mysterious change of substance or nature The magician used alchemy to change the powder into a liquid

accolade

(n.) approving or praising mention; a sign of approval or respect. Rich accolades were bestowed on the returning hero. Accolades flowed into her dressing room following the opening-night triumph.

accomplice

(n.) co-conspirator; partner; partner-in-crime The bank robber's accomplice drove the get-away car.

altercation

(n.) controversy; dispute A serious altercation caused the marriage to end in a bitter divorce

alacrity

(n.) eager readiness or speed The manager was so impressed by the worker's alacrity; he suggested a promotion. On the first day of her new job, the recent college graduate was able to leave early after completing all of her tasks with alacrity.

ameliorate

(v.) to improve or make better A consistent routine of exercise has shown to ameliorate health. We can ameliorate the flooding problem by changing the grading.

alleviate

(v.) to lessen or make easier The airport's monorail alleviates vehicular traffic.

abominate

(v.) to loathe; to hate Randall abominated all the traffic he encountered on every morning commute. Please do not abominate the guilty person until you hear the complete explanation.

aggrandize

(v.) to make more powerful The king wanted to aggrandize himself and his kingdom.

amortize

(v.) to put money into a fund at fixed intervals The couple was able to amortize their mortgage sooner than they thought

allude

(v.) to refer indirectly to something The story alludes to part of the author's life. Without stating that the defendant was an ex-convict, the prosecutor alluded to the fact by mentioning his length of unemployment.

abdicate

(v.) to reject, renounce, or abandon Due to his poor payment record, it may be necessary to abdicate our relationship with the client.

appease

(v.) to satisfy; to calm A milk bottle usually appeases a crying baby.

abbreviate

(v.) to shorten; compress; diminish His vacation to Japan was abbreviated when he acquired an illness treatable only in the United States.

abridge

(v.) to shorten; to limit The editor abridged the story to make the book easier to digest.

amalgamate

v.) to mix, merge, combine If the economy does not grow, the business may need to amalgamate with a rival company. The three presidents decided to amalgamate their businesses to build one strong company.

aloof

adj.) distant in interest; reserved; cool Even though the new coworker was aloof, we attempted to be friendly. The calm defendant remained aloof when he was wrongly accused of fabricating his story.

aberrant

(adj.) abnormal; straying from the normal or usual path The aberrant flight pattern of the airplane alarmed the air traffic controllers. His aberrant behavior led his friends to worry the divorce had taken its toll.

approbatory

(adj.) approving or sanctioning The judge showed his acceptance in his approbatory remark.

aghast

(adj.) astonished; amazed; horrified; terrified; appalled Stockholders were aghast at the company's revelation. The landlord was aghast at his water bill.

apocryphal

(adj.) counterfeit; of doubtful authorship or authenticity The man who said he was a doctor was truly apocryphal.

adroit

(adj.) expert or skillful The repair was not difficult for the adroit craftsman. The driver's adroit driving avoided a serious accident.

amity

(n.) friendly relations The amity between the two bordering nations put the populations at ease.

accretion

(n.) growth by addition; a growing together by parts With the accretion of the new members, the club doubled its original size. The addition of the new departments accounts for the accretion of the company.

antagonism

(n.) hostility; opposition The antagonism was created by a misunderstanding. The rebellious clan captured a hostage to display antagonism to the new peace treaty.

apathy

(n.) lack of emotion or interest He showed apathy when his relative was injured. The disheartened peasants expressed apathy toward the new law which promised new hope and prosperity for all.

acclaim

(n.) loud approval; applause Edward Albee's brilliantly written Broadway revival of A Delicate Balance received wide acclaim.

anarchist

(n.) one who believes that a formal government is unnecessary The yell from the crowd came from the anarchist protesting the government. The anarchist attempted to overthrow the established democratic government of the new nation and reinstate chaos and disarray.

arbiter

(n.) one who is authorized to judge or decide The decision of who would represent the people was made by the arbiter.

archetype

(n.) original pattern or model; prototype This man was the archetype for scores of fictional characters. The scientist was careful with the archetype of her invention so that once manufacturing began, it would be easy to reproduce it.

adulation

(n.) praise in excess The adulation was in response to the heroic feat. The adulation given to the movie star was sickening.

acrimony

(n.) sharpness or bitterness in language or manner. The acrimony of her response was shocking.

analogy

(n.) similarity; correlation; parallelism The teacher used an analogy to describe the similarities between the two books. Comparing the newly discovered virus with one found long ago, the scientist made an analogy between the two organisms.

anachronism

(n.) something out of place in time (e.g., an airplane in 1492) The editor recognized an anachronism in the manuscript where the character from the 1500s boarded an airplane. He realized that the film about cavemen contained an anachronism when he saw a jet cut across the horizon during a hunting scene.

anchorage

(n.) something that can be relied on Knowing the neighbors were right next door was an anchorage for the elderly woman.

abstinence

(n.) the act or process of voluntarily refraining from any action or practice; self- control; chastity In preparation for the Olympic games, the athletes practiced abstinence from red meat and junk food, adhering instead to a menu of pasta and produce.

altruism

(n.) unselfish devotion to the welfare of others After the organization aided the catastrophe victims, it was given an award for altruism. She displayed such altruism by giving up all of her belongings and joining a peace corps in Africa.

accrue

(v.) a natural growth; a periodic increase Over the course of her college career, she managed to accrue a great deal of knowledge. The savings were able to accrue a sizable amount of interest each year. During his many years of collecting stamps, he was able to accrue a large collection of valuable items.

allocate

(v.) set aside; designate; assign There have been front row seats allocated to the performer's family. The farmer allocated three acres of his fields to corn.

adjure

(v.) solemnly ordered; request or urge The jurors were adjured by the judge to make a fair decision.

acquiesce

(v.) to agree without protest The group acquiesced to the new regulations even though they were opposed to them. After a hard-fought battle, the retailers finally acquiesced to the draft regulations.

abrogate

(v.) to cancel by authority The judge would not abrogate the law.

amassed

(v.) to collect together; accumulate Over the years the sailor has amassed many replicas of boats. The women amassed a huge collection of priceless diamonds and pearls.

accede

(v.) to comply with; to consent to With defeat imminent, the rebel army acceded to hash out a peace treaty.

affiliate

(v.) to connect or associate with; to accept as a member (n.) a person who is affiliated The hiking club affiliated with the bird-watching club.

adulterate

(v.) to corrupt, debase, or make impure The dumping of chemicals will adulterate the pureness of the lake.

anointed

(v.) to crown; ordain; A member of the monarchy was anointed by the king.

abase

(v.) to degrade; humiliate; disgrace The mother's public reprimand abased the girl. The insecure father, after failing to achieve his own life-long goals, abased his children whenever they failed.

absolve

(v.) to forgive; to acquit The judge will absolve the person of all charges. After feuding for many years, the brothers absolved each other for the many arguments they had.

abscond

(v.) to go away hastily or secretly; to hide The newly wed couple will abscond from the reception to leave on the honeymoon.

abhor

(v.) to hate By the way her jaw tensed when he walked in, it is easy to see that she abhors him. The dog abhorred cats, chasing and growling at them whenever he had the opportunity.

abandon

(v.; n) to leave behind; to give something up; freedom; enthusiasm; impetuosity After failing for several years, he abandoned his dream of starting a grocery business. Lucy embarked on her new adventure with abandon.

allure

(v.; n.) to attract; entice; attraction; temptation; glamour The romantic young man allured the beautiful woman by preparing a wonderful dinner. Singapore's allure is its bustling economy.

advocate

(v.; n.) to plead in favor of; supporter; defender Amnesty International advocates the cause for human rights. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great advocate of civil rights.

abjure

formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure The losing team may abjure to the team that is winning.