Sat Vocabulary With Mnemonics

Front 1

Ingenuity

Back 1

Cleverness, skill, or inventiveness

gen - race, kind
mnemonic: engineer
This young man had been hired out by his master to work in a bagging factory, where his adroitness and ingenuity caused him to be considered the first hand in the place.

Front 2

Indignation

Back 2

Anger resulting from something unjust

Mnemonic - In Dig nation, unhappy & angry citizens dug their way out of a country surrounded by brick walls

Front 3

Perfunctory

Back 3

Routine, automatic, lacking enthusiasm

Mnemonic - per+FUNC+tory .. FUNC stands for function i.e. job.. so if you are doing a job quickly just to finish it and not caring enough about it.. doing job superficially.. it is called a perfunctory act

Front 4

ubiquitous

Back 4

existing or being everywhere
synonym - god is omnipresent

Front 5

reconcile

Back 5

To bring (oneself) to accept, to settle or resolve
but I could not reconcile it to myself to force Frederica into a marriage from which her heart revolted

Front 6

discord

Back 6

disagreement; difference of opinion
mnemonic - The chef DISCARDED the soup made by a cook because it was too sweet. The chef & the cook had different opinions.

Front 7

upheaval

Back 7

strong or violent change or disturbance, as in a society
Geology A raising of a part of the earth's crust.

Front 8

raiment

Back 8

clothing, apparel, attire
derived from the word array

Front 9

sustenance

Back 9

n. means of sustaining life; nourishment
Something, especially food, that sustains life or health

"to deliver in every morning six beeves, forty sheep, and other victuals for my sustenance" (Jonathan Swift)
"Very weak I was already; without sustenance I should surely die"

Front 10

kitsch

Back 10

something of cheap design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste; pretentious bad taste

The kitsch kitchen ... has aqua-and-white gingham curtains and rubber duck-yellow walls painted in a fried-egg motif

Front 11

flotsam

Back 11

unless or unimportant items
mnemonic: floating

Front 12

haphazard

Back 12

characterized by lack of order or planning, by irregularity, or by randomness; determined by or dependent on chance; aimless.
mnemonic:

Front 13

litigation

Back 13

a legal proceeding in a court; a judicial contest to determine and enforce legal rights

Once only, during the eleven years of litigation, did he lose control of his temper.

Front 14

whimsical

Back 14

erratic; unpredictable
He was too whimsical with regard to his work.
Erratic in behavior or degree of unpredictability: a whimsical personality

Front 15

incorrigible

Back 15

incapable of being reformed, not correctable
mneomonic: (in)corr(gible in eligible to be corrected or cant be corrected

Front 16

allusion

Back 16

indirect reference; passing or casual reference
mnemonic: it is similar to "illusion" which is done by showing things not there indirctly

Front 17

mercenary

Back 17

n. working or acting merely for money
mnemonic: no mercy.He can kill anybody for money or gain
(a person hired to fight for another country than their own)
"Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs, between the mercenary and the prudent motive?"

Front 18

wary

Back 18

watchful, being in caution
mnemonic: worry sounds like wary and in war
"Nicholas understood that something must have happened between Sonya and Dolokhov before dinner, and with the kindly sensitiveness natural to him was very gentle and wary with them both at dinner."

Front 19

hail

Back 19

To greet or acclaim enthusiastically; To pour (something) down or forth

Front 20

stymied

Back 20

to hinder, block, or thwart
mnemonic: Stymie means "tie me". i.e., prevent from moving forward

Front 21

spurious

Back 21

not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended, or proper source; counterfeit.
"And, then, I don't want any second-hand, spurious sensations; I want the knowledge that leaves a trace--that leaves strange scars and stains and reveries behind it"

Front 22

vociferous

Back 22

noisy outcry and offensively loud
mnemonic: VOICE + FURIOUS = noisy
"And one by one, encouraged by vociferous applause, speaking with fire and enthusiasm and excited gestures, they replied to the attack."

Front 23

garrulous

Back 23

given to constant and frivolous chatter; loquacious; talkative
mnemonic: "Gary, rule us!" yell the garrulous population

Front 24

stingy

Back 24

reluctant to give or spend; not generous
"Cousin Mattie's a great cook and there's nothing stingy about her."

Front 25

effusive

Back 25

pouring out; overflowing
mnemonic: effusive: she was fused to a person or object. Emotions poured out at their/its presence

Front 26

frugal

Back 26

economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful
mnemonic: Seeing that there are a small quanity of fruits at the table, he gulped down the fruits in a meager quantity

Front 27

taciturn

Back 27

inclined to silence; reserved in speech; reluctant to join in conversation
"Always of a sedate, taciturn disposition, he now fell into so deep a dejection that nothing could hold his attention, yet anything--a footfall, the sudden closing of a door--aroused in him a fitful interest; one might have called it an apprehension"

Front 28

miserly

Back 28

cheap
mnemonic: Miser Lee - a miserly old goat gave his children nothing but a pencil during Christmas time
"Of course it was not really because of that, but everything together, he began this hospital to prove, do you see, that he was not miserly about money"

Front 29

founder

Back 29

to break down or become a wreak
mnemonic: go + under
The ship struck a reef and foundered.

Front 30

prevail

Back 30

prove superior
mnemonic: prove well

Front 31

esoteric

Back 31

confined to a few people

Front 32

exoteric

Back 32

pertaining to outside, external

Front 33

capricious

Back 33

unpredictable
mnemonic: Caprisun -> different flavors

Front 34

tenable

Back 34

capable of being held, maintained, or defended, as against attack or dispute
mnemonic: if ten ppl are able to understand the theory, then it has to be a tenable ( reasonable ) theory !

Front 35

erroneous

Back 35

characterized by an error
mnemonic: error

Front 36

digression

Back 36

wandering from the main path of a journey
mnemonic: to digress

Front 37

impugned

Back 37

to challenge as false (another's statements, motives, etc.)
impugn a political opponent's record

Front 38

mollified

Back 38

make less rigid or softer; to lessen the harshness or severity
"She managed to mollify the angry customer"

Front 39

reconnaissance

Back 39

an examination or survey
An inspection or exploration of an area, especially one made to gather military information
"Or I can make a sufficient number of trips to land the entire party in the valley beyond the barrier; all will depend, of course, upon what my first reconnaissance reveals."

Front 40

decimation

Back 40

To destroy or kill a large part of (a group)
mnemonic: to make smaller
"The fawns decimated my rose bushes"

Front 41

cantankerous

Back 41

Ill-tempered and quarrelsome; disagreeable; hard to handle

contec - to contact
"Which was the more remarkable, because he was known as a savage, cantankerous old cuss who never liked anybody"

Front 42

churlish

Back 42

mean; rude; clumsy
"No churlish old curmudgeon could have been the owner of that grove of bread-fruit trees, or of these gloriously yellow bunches of bananas."

Front 43

laconic

Back 43

brief and to the point; effectively cut short
mnemonic: lack of words ... concise
"But their father, though very laconic in his expressions of pleasure, was really glad to see them; he had felt their importance in the family circle."

Front 44

disposition

Back 44

physical inclination or tendency, One's usual mood; temperament
mnemonic: this position
"Habit differs from disposition in being more lasting and more firmly established"

Front 45

mercurial

Back 45

changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic
mnemonic: mercury level in the blood pressure testing device fickles a lot when measuring b.p

Front 46

disingenuous

Back 46

Not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness
"I had another work to keep from smiling: he was so ingenuously disingenuous"

Front 47

implacable

Back 47

not to be appeased
"The old Squire was an implacable man: he made resolutions in violent anger, and he was not to be moved from them after his anger had subsided-- as fiery volcanic matters cool and harden into rock."

Front 48

phlegmatic

Back 48

not easily excited to action or display of emotion
mnemonic: practical; leg on mat.

Front 49

wistful

Back 49

characterized by melancholy
"When our eyes first met, she regarded me with a wistful, questioning look, as if she were troubled by some doubt which she shrunk from expressing in words."

Front 50

emphatic

Back 50

Standing out in a striking and clearly defined way
mnemonic: EMPHASIS
"What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation?"

Front 51

intransigent

Back 51

a person who refuses to agree or compromise

Front 52

serf

Back 52

a person in a condition of servitude, required to render services

mnemonic: smurfs

Front 53

hegemony

Back 53

leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation.
mnemonic: he's got money,so he's domineering in the society and he control other

Front 54

furtive

Back 54

secret and sly

Front 55

acquiescence

Back 55

agreement with a statement or proposal to do something
mnemonic: Aqua S swimming pool

Front 56

vigilant

Back 56

keenly watchful to detect danger; wary

Front 57

emancipate

Back 57

free from slavery or servitude

Front 58

bellicose

Back 58

inclined or eager to fight
mnemonic: belly close

Front 59

consummate

Back 59

complete; total; supremely good
mnemonic: he/she consumed the meal fully

Front 60

elusive

Back 60

hard to pin down, describe
mnemonic: eLUSive sounds like it has the word "loose" in it; Difficult to define or describe

"Failures are more finely etched in our minds than triumphs, and success is an elusive, if not mythic, goal in our demanding society" (Hugh Drummond)

Front 61

gregarious

Back 61

extroverted; sociable; outgoing
mnemonic: gregar-ious -> hillar-ious

Front 62

revolver

Back 62

to revolve, to turn around, to turn over

Front 63

tentar

Back 63

to examine by touch, to attempt, to try

Front 64

whet

Back 64

sharpen

These fragments of nourishment served only to whet my hunger

Front 65

warily

Back 65

cautiously

Front 66

vociferous

Back 66

noisy, clamorous

Front 67

garrulous

Back 67

talkative

Front 68

stingy

Back 68

generous

Front 69

effusive

Back 69

pour forth

Front 70

miserly

Back 70

lack of generosity

Front 71

elusive

Back 71

hard to understand

Front 72

sporadic

Back 72

scattered

Front 73

eloquent

Back 73

fluent and effective use of language; visible or vividly expressive

loqui - to speak

Every quiver of his little brown body, and every glance from his beseeching brown eyes were eloquent with appeal--so eloquent that at last Pollyanna understood, turned, and followed him.

Front 74

superfluous

Back 74

redundant

Front 75

impervious

Back 75

not affected by

Front 76

infallibility

Back 76

incapable of error

Front 77

frugal

Back 77

meager

Front 78

taciturn

Back 78

shy

Front 79

miserly

Back 79

does not want to be generous

Front 80

risque

Back 80

improper; off color

Front 81

vacillation

Back 81

changing or moving back and forth; indesicion
mnemonic: osillation

Front 82

mercenary

Back 82

someone who serves merely for wages

Front 83

humble

Back 83

ranking low in scale

Front 84

hailed

Back 84

salute. greet

Front 85

stymied

Back 85

hinder, stop

Front 86

spurious

Back 86

false

Front 87

fabricated

Back 87

make up, create

Front 88

pristine

Back 88

earliest period or state

Front 89

unmarred

Back 89

not destroyed or spoiled

Front 90

vacillation

Back 90

inability in take a stand

Front 91

stymie

Back 91

obstacle; hinder

Front 92

eclectic

Back 92

adj. chosing the best from many sources

an eclectic taste in music; Obama has an eclectic approach to managing the economy

Front 93

invidious

Back 93

envy

Front 94

redolent

Back 94

odor; aromatic

Front 95

exuberant

Back 95

extreme or excessive in size

Front 96

dormant

Back 96

inactive, sluggish

Front 97

compliant

Back 97

ready to agree, submissive

Front 98

trenchant

Back 98

clear; distinct; sharp