Psat List 2

Front 1

Abate (v)

Back 1

Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to abate.Thesaurus: slow, weaken, decline, lessen, decrease

Front 2

Altruistic (adj)

Back 2

In providing tutorial assistance and college scholarships for hundreds of economically disadvantaged youth, Eugene Lang performed a truly altruistic deed.Thesaurus: unselfishly generous, benevolent, chartable, considerate, kind, magnanimous, philanthropic

Front 3

Ascendancy (n.)

Back 3

Leaders of religious cults maintain ascendancy over their followers by methods that can verge on brainwashing.Thesaurus: advantage, authority, control, influence, superiority, sovereignty

Front 4

Buttress (v)

Back 4

The attorney came up with several far-fetched arguments in a vain attempt to buttress his weak case.Thesaurus: support, reinforcement, prop up.

Front 5

Contract (v)

Back 5

Warm metal expands; cold metal contracts.Thesaurus: compress, shrink, pledge, catch a disease

Front 6

Didactic (adj)

Back 6

Pope’s lengthy poem An Essay On Man is too didactic for my taste: I dislike it when poets turn preachy and moralize.Thesaurus: academic, teaching, instructional, perceptive

Front 7

Duration (n.)

Back 7

Because she wanted the children to make a good impression on the dinner guests, Mother promised them a treat if they would behave of the duration of the meal.Thesaurus: length of time something lasts

Front 8

Ephemeral (adj)

Back 8

Its adult stage lasting less than two days, the mayfly is by definition an ephemeral creature.Thesaurus: short lived, brief, temporary, impermanent,

Front 9

Expertise (n.)

Back 9

Although she is knowledgeable in a number of fields, she was hired for her special expertise in computer programming.Thesaurus: specialized knowledge, expert skill

Front 10

Frail (adj)

Back 10

The sickly child seemed too frail to lift the heavy carton.Thesaurus: week, thin, unsubstantial, dainty, decrepit, delicate, feeble

Front 11

Hardy (adj)

Back 11

We asked the gardening expert to recommend particularly hardy pants that could withstand our harsh Hew England winters.Thesaurus: strong, robust, healthy

Front 12

Impetuous (adj)

Back 12

“Leap before you look” was the motto suggested by one particularly impetuous young man.Thesaurus: abrupt, rash, furious, hasty, unthinking, violent, sudden, swift

Front 13

Indolent (adj)

Back 13

Couch potatoes lead an indolent life lying back on their Lazyboy recliners watching TV.Thesaurus: lazy, inert

Front 14

Initiate (v)

Back 14

The college is about to initiate a program in reducing math anxiety among students.Thesaurus: begin, originate, enter, admit, intoduce

Front 15

Invert (v)

Back 15

When he inverted his body in a handstand, he felt the blood rush to his head.Thesaurus: reverse, up side down, flip

Front 16

Meander (v)

Back 16

Needing to stay close to a source of water, he followed a very twist and turn of the stream as it meandered through the countryside.Thesaurus: wind or turn in its course, turn, change, extravagate,

Front 17

Munificent (adj)

Back 17

The Annenberg Trust made a munificent gift to the city that supported art programs in the public schools. Thesaurus: giving, generous, kind, benevolent, liberal, rich, magnanimous

Front 18

Paradigm (n.)

Back 18

Pavlov’s experiment in which he trains a dog to salivate on hearing a bell is a paradigm of the conditioned-response experiment in behavioral psychology.Thesaurus: ideal, sample, model, pattern, example

Front 19

Pithy (adj)

Back 19

Some of Whoopi Goldberg’s one-liners at the Oscar Awards were pithy and to the point: they packed a wallop, but were short and sweet.Thesaurus: meaningful, substantial, concise, effective, expressive,

Front 20

Prolific (adj)

Back 20

My editors must assume I’m a prolific writer: they expect me to revise six books this year!Thesaurus: abundant, fruitful, reproducing, rich

Front 21

Receptive (adj)

Back 21

Adventure-loving Huck Finn proved a receptive audience for Tom’s tale of buried treasure and piracy.Thesaurus: quick, willing to receive ideas, open, ready, responsive

Front 22

Repudiate (v)

Back 22

On separating from Tony, Tina announced that she would repudiate all debts incurred by her soon-to-be- ex-husband.Thesaurus: disown, reject, banish, disclaim, discard, repeal, revoke

Front 23

Sparse (adj)

Back 23

He had moved from the densely populated city to the remote countryside where the population was sparse.Thesaurus: few, scant, scarce, sporadic, infrequent, inadequate

Front 24

Surpass (v)

Back 24

Her SAT I scores surpassed our expectations. Thesaurus: exceeds, outdo, beyond, improve, outrank, beat

Front 25

Vacillate (v)

Back 25

Uncertain which suitor she ought to marry, the princess vacillated, saying now one, now the other.Thesaurus: fluctuate, waver, oscillate, vibrate,

Front 26

Acknowledge (v)

Back 26

Although I acknowledge that the Beatles’ tunes sound pretty dated nowadays, I still prefer them to the “gangsta” rap songs my brothers play.Thesaurus: admit, accept, acquiesce, agree, allow, approve, ratify, recognize, support, subscribe to

Front 27

Anecdote (n.)

Back 27

Rather than make concrete proposals for welfare reform, President Ronald Reagan told anecdotes about poor people who became wealthy despite their impoverished backgrounds.Thesaurus: incident, narration, short story, tale, yarn, short account of amusing event.

Front 28

Benign (adj)

Back 28

Though her benign smile and gentle bearing made Miss Marple seem a sweet little old lady, in reality she was a tough-minded, shrewd observer of human natureThesaurus: amiable, complaisant, friendly, gentle, generous, sympathetic

Front 29

Composure (n.)

Back 29

Even the latest crisis at work failed to shake Nancy’s composure. Thesaurus: calmness, balance, harmony, dignity, placidity, self-control, stability

Front 30

Degenerate (v)

Back 30

As the fight dragged on, the champion’s style degenerated until he could barely keep on his feet.Thesaurus: worse, deteriorate, worn, breakable

Front 31

Disparity (n.)

Back 31

Their disparity in rank made no difference at all to the prince and Cinderella.Thesaurus: difference, inequality, disproportion, imbalance,

Front 32

Elusive (adj)

Back 32

Trying to pin down exactly when the contractors would be finished remodeling the house, Nancy was frustrated by their elusive replies.Thesaurus: evasive, hard to grasp, ambiguous, puzzling, incomprehensible, indefinable

Front 33

Exalt (v)

Back 33

The actor Alec Guinness was exalted to the rank of knighthood by the queen.Thesaurus: rise in rank, excessive, eminent, first, imposing, leading, noble

Front 34

Florid (adj)

Back 34

If you go to Florida and get a sunburn, your complexion will look florid.Thesaurus: ruddy, reddish, flowery,

Front 35

Garrulous (n.)

Back 35

My Uncle Henry can out-talk any three people I know. He is the most garrulous person in Cayuga County.Thesaurus: chatty, wordy, talkative, loquacious

Front 36

Impair (v)

Back 36

Drinking alcohol can impair your ability to drive safely; if you’re going to drink, don’t drive.Thesaurus: damage, diminish, destroy, decrease, weaken

Front 37

Incongruous (adj)

Back 37

David saw nothing incongruous about wearing sneakers with his tuxedo; he couldn’t understand why his date took one look at him and started to laugh.Thesaurus: alien, bizarre, improper, inappropriate, unsuitable, foreign, unintelligible

Front 38

Inexorable (adj)

Back 38

Ignoring the defense attorney’s pleas for clemency, the judge was inexorable, giving the convicted felon the maximum punishment allowed by law.Thesaurus: hard, harsh, immobile, unyielding

Front 39

Insipid (adj)

Back 39

Flat prose and flat ginger ale are equally insipid: both lack sparkle.Thesaurus: banal, colorless, dry, dull, lifeless, plain

Front 40

Lethargic (adj)

Back 40

The stifling classroom made Sarah lethargic: she felt as is she was about to nod off.Thesaurus: drowsy, apathetic, dull, impassive, inactive, inert, lackadaisical, sleepy

Front 41

Misanthrope (n.)

Back 41

In Gulliver’s Travels, Swift portrays an image of humanity as vile, degraded beast; for this reason, some critics consider him a misanthrope.Thesaurus: hater, isolate, misogynist, recluse, skeptical

Front 42

Notoriety (n.)

Back 42

To the starlet, any publicity was good publicity: if she couldn’t have a good reputation, she’d settle for notoriety. Thesaurus: dishonor, disrepute, ill fame

Front 43

Paucity (n.)

Back 43

They closed the restaurant because the paucity of customers meant that it was a losing proposition to operate.Thesaurus: lack, scarcity,

Front 44

Problematic (adj)

Back 44

Given the many areas of conflict still awaiting resolution, the out come of the peace talks remains problematic. Thesaurus: doubtful, ambiguous, dubious, uncertain

Front 45

Provocative (adj)

Back 45

In a typically provocative act, the bully kicked sand into the weaker man’s face.Thesaurus: annoying, aggravating, arousing anger or interest, offensive, insulting

Front 46

Renegade (n.)

Back 46

Because he had abandoned his post and joined forces with the Indians, his fellow officers considered the hero of Dancing with Wolves a renegade.Thesaurus: disloyal, radical, unfaithful, rebellious

Front 47

Seclusion (n.)

Back 47

One moment she loved crowds; the next she sought seclusion. Thesaurus: aloof, alone, hiding, isolation

Front 48

Steadfast (adj)

Back 48

Penelope was steadfast in her affections faithfully waiting for Ulysses to return from his wanderings.Thesaurus: changeless, loyal, abide, enduring, immobile

Front 49

Tantamount (adj)

Back 49

Though Rudy claimed his wife was off visiting friends, his shriek of horror when she walked into the room was tantamount to a confession that he believes she was dead.Thesaurus: same, alike, equivalent, indistinguishable,

Front 50

Virulent (adj)

Back 50

Laid up with an extremely virulent case of measles, he blamed his doctors because his recovery took so long. In fact, he became quite virulent on the subject of the quality of modern medical care. Thesaurus: poisonous, malignant, harmful, unhealthy, deadly, toxic, septic, mephitic