100 Top SAT Vocabulary Words
- abate become less in amount or intensity
- abdicate give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
- aberration a state or condition markedly different from the norm
- abstain choose not to consume
- adversity a state of misfortune or affliction
- aesthetic concerning or characterized by an appreciation of beauty or good taste
- amicable characterized by friendship and good will
- anachronistic chronologically misplaced
- arid lacking sufficient water or rainfall
- asylum a shelter from danger or hardship
- benevolent showing or motivated by sympathy and understanding and generosity
- bias a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation
- boisterous full of rough and exuberant animal spirits
- brazen unrestrained by convention or propriety
- brusque marked by rude or peremptory shortness
- camaraderie the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability
- canny showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others
- capacious large in capacity
- capitulate surrender under agreed conditions
- clairvoyant someone who has the power of clairvoyance
- collaborate work together on a common enterprise of project
- compassion a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering
- compromise an accommodation in which both sides make concessions
- condescending (used of behavior or attitude) characteristic of those who treat others with condescension
- conditional imposing or depending on or containing a condition
- conformist someone who conforms to established standards of conduct (especially in religious matters)
- conundrum a difficult problem
- convergence the act of converging (coming closer)
- deleterious harmful to living things
- demagogue a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions and prejudices
- digression a turning aside (of your course or attention or concern)
- diligent quietly and steadily persevering especially in detail or exactness
- discredit the state of being held in low esteem
- disdain lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
- divergent tending to move apart in different directions
- empathy understanding and entering into another's feelings
- emulate strive to equal or match, especially by imitating
- enervating causing debilitation
- ephemeral anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form
- evanescent tending to vanish like vapor
- exemplary worthy of imitation
- extenuating partially excusing or justifying
- florid elaborately or excessively ornamented
- forbearance a delay in enforcing rights or claims or privileges; refraining from acting
- fortitude strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity with courage
- fortuitous occurring by happy chance
- foster providing or receiving nurture or parental care though not related by blood or legal ties
- fraught filled with or attended with
- frugal avoiding waste
- hackneyed repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
- haughty having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy
- hedonist someone motivated by desires for sensual pleasures
- hypothesis a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena
- impetuous characterized by undue haste and lack of thought or deliberation
- impute attribute or credit to
- inconsequential lacking worth or importance
- inevitable incapable of being avoided or prevented
- intrepid invulnerable to fear or intimidation
- intuitive spontaneously derived from or prompted by a natural tendency
- jubilation a feeling of extreme joy
- lobbyist someone who is employed to persuade legislators to vote for legislation that favors the lobbyist's employer
- longevity the property of being long-lived
- mundane found in the ordinary course of events
- nonchalant marked by blithe unconcern
- opulent rich and superior in quality
- orator a person who delivers a speech or oration
- ostentatious intended to attract notice and impress others
- parched dried out by heat or excessive exposure to sunlight
- perfidious tending to betray; especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans
- pragmatic concerned with practical matters
- precocious characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity (especially in mental aptitude)
- pretentious making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction
- procrastinate postpone doing what one should be doing
- prosaic lacking wit or imagination
- prosperity the condition of prospering; having good fortune
- provocative serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy
- prudent careful and sensible; marked by sound judgment
- querulous habitually complaining
- rancorous showing deep-seated resentment
- reclusive withdrawn from society; seeking solitude
- reconciliation the reestablishing of cordial relations
- renovation the act of improving by renewing and restoring
- restrained under restraint
- reverence a feeling of profound respect for someone or something
- sagacity the mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations
- scrutinize examine carefully for accuracy with the intent of verification
- spontaneous said or done without having been planned or written in advance
- spurious plausible but false
- submissive inclined or willing to submit to orders or wishes of others or showing such inclination
- substantiate establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts
- subtle difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
- superficial of, affecting, or being on or near the surface
- superfluous more than is needed, desired, or required
- surreptitious marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed
- tactful having or showing a sense of what is fitting and considerate in dealing with others
- tenacious stubbornly unyielding
- transient lasting a very short time
- venerable profoundly honored
- vindicate show to be right by providing justification or proof
- wary marked by keen caution and watchful prudence