Sat Vocabulary 8

Front 1

As you go through this set of words, try to
A) identify the root of the word
B) define the word
C) give a sentence example using the word

Back 1

If you can achieve A, B, and C, you'll ace the SAT.

Front 2

wanton

Back 2

(adj.) undisciplined, lewd, lustful (Vicky’s wanton demeanor often made the frat guys next door very excited.)

Front 3

winsome

Back 3

(adj.) charming, pleasing (After such a long, frustrating day, I was grateful for Chris’s winsome attitude and childish naivete.)

Front 4

wistful

Back 4

(adj.) full of yearning; musingly sad (Since her pet rabbit died, Edda missed it terribly and was wistful all day long.)

Front 5

wizened

Back 5

(adj.) dry, shrunken, wrinkled (Agatha’s grandmother, Stephanie, had the most wizened countenance, full of leathery wrinkles.)

Front 6

zenith

Back 6

(n.) the highest point, culminating point (I was too nice to tell Nelly that she had reached the absolute zenith of her career with that one hit of hers.)

Front 7

zephyr

Back 7

(n.) a gentle breeze (If not for the zephyrs that were blowing and cooling us, our room would’ve been unbearably hot.)

Front 8

constitute

Back 8

(v.) to compose or represent. (Oil and natural gas constituted almost 50 percent of Russian government revenue last year.)

Front 9

aesthetic

Back 9

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

Front 10

affinity

Back 10

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

Front 11

affront

Back 11

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

Front 12

agile

Back 12

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

Front 13

abhor

Back 13

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

Front 14

abject

Back 14

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

Front 15

abstruse

Back 15

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

Front 16

acclaim

Back 16

(n.) high praise (Greg’s excellent poem won the acclaim of his friends.)

Front 17

acquiesce

Back 17

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 acquiesced to her demands.)

Front 18

adamant

Back 18

(adj.) impervious, immovable, unyielding (Though public pressure wasintense, the President remained adamant about his proposal.)

Front 19

adept

Back 19

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

Front 20

adhere

Back 20

(n.) to stick to something (We adhered
the poster to the wall with tape.)

Front 21

adorn

Back 21

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

Front 22

adverse

Back 22

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

Front 23

affluent

Back 23

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

Front 24

alleviate

Back 24

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

Front 25

allocate

Back 25

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

Front 26

aloof

Back 26

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

Front 27

ambiguous

Back 27

(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 ambiguous)

Front 28

ambivalent

Back 28

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

Front 29

amenity

Back 29

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

Front 30

analogous

Back 30

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

Front 31

anecdote

Back 31

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

Front 32

anguish

Back 32

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

Front 33

annul

Back 33

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

Front 34

appease

Back 34

(v.) to calm, satisfy (When the child cries, the mother gives him candy to appease him.)

Front 35

apprehend

Back 35

(v.) to seize, arrest. (The criminal was apprehended at the scene)

Front 36

archaic

Back 36

(adj.) of or relating to an earlier period in time, outdated. (In a few select regions of Western Mongolian, an archaic Chinese dialect is still spoken.)