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SAT Hot Words > 1. Lessons 1-5 > Flashcards

1. Lessons 1-5 Flashcards

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1
Q

brevity

A

n. BRIEFNESS OR CONCISENESS IN SPEECH OR WRITING. For the sake of brevity, choose your words with care.

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2
Q

concise

A

adj. USING FEW WORDS IN SPEAKING OR WRITING. For a concise summary of the book, read the book jacket.

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3
Q

laconic

A

adj. USING FEW WORDS IN SPEECH. It was just too hot to give more than a laconic response to the question.

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4
Q

pithy

A

adj. BRIEF AND FULL OF MEANING AND SUBSTANCE; CONCISE. For the yearbook, Jenny searched online for pithy quotations about courage.

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5
Q

quiescent

A

adj. QUIET; STILL; INACTIVE. Mount St. Helens has been quiescent since it’s last eruption in 1986.

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6
Q

reticent

A

adj. NOT TALKING MUCH; RESERVED. Usually reticent, Ms. Worthy surprised us with a long story at lunch.

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7
Q

succinct

A

adj. CLEARLY AND BRIEFLY STATED; CONCISE. The title succinctly conveys the point of my paper.

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8
Q

taciturn

A

adj. SILENT; SPARING OF WORD; CLOSE-MOUTHED. Next to me on the bus sat a taciturn girl who said nothing during the four-hour ride.

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9
Q

terse

A

adj. USING ONLY THE WORDS THAT ARE NEEDED TO MAKE THE POINT; VERY CONCISE, SOMETIMES TO THE POINT OF RUDENESS. Terse speakers make dull lecturers.

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10
Q

bombastic

A

adj. USING LANGUAGE IN A POMPOUS, SHOWY WAY; SPEAKING TO IMPRESS OTHERS. Luke’s speech was so bombastic, it was evident he was showing off.

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11
Q

circumlocution

A

n. SPEAKING IN CIRCLES; ROUNDABOUT SPEECH. To avoid hurting anyone’s feelings hank resorted to circumlocution.

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12
Q

colloquial

A

adj. PERTAINING TO COMMON EVERYDAY SPEECH; CONVERSATIONAL. The book is filled with colloquial expressions that reflect the speech of people in the deep south.

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13
Q

diffuse

A

adj. SPREAD OUT, NOT CONCISE; WORDY. A diffuse argument won’t convince the class to vote for me.

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14
Q

digress

A

vb. TO WANDER OFF FROM THE SUBJECT OR TOPIC SPOKEN ABOUT. We don’t have time to digress from the main issue right now.

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15
Q

eloquence

A

n. ARTFUL EASE WITH SPEAKING; SPEECH THAT CAN INFLUENCE PEOPLE’S FEELINGS. Although he sounds eloquent, he is full of hot air.

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16
Q

garrulous

A

adj. TALKATIVE; LOQUACIOUS. Garrulous gatherings of students are unwelcome in a library that values silence.

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17
Q

grandiloquent

A

adj. USING BIG AND FANCY WORDS WHEN SPEAKING FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPRESSING OTHERS. Mickey used grandiloquent language to conceal his ignorance of the subject

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18
Q

loquacious

A

adj. VERY TALKATIVE; LIKING TO TALK; GARRULOUS. Have you ever met a lawyer who wasn’t loquacious?

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19
Q

prattle

A

vb. TO SPEAK ON AND ON IN A SENSELESS AND SILLY MANNER; TO TALK FOOLISHLY. The prattle of freshmen resounded through the cafeteria.

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20
Q

ramble

A

vb. TO TALK ON POINTLESSLY, WITHOUT CLEAR DIRECTION. The teacher rambled endlessly about various unrelated topics.

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21
Q

rant

A

vb. TO TALK VERY LOUDLY, EVEN WILDLY; RAVE. Ranting is a far from polite way to get your point across.

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22
Q

rhetorical

A

adj. RELATING TO SPEECH THAT IS USED TO PERSUADE OR HAVE SOME EFFECT; INSINCERE IN EXPRESSION. The speech of politicians is often thick with rhetoric.

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23
Q

verbose

A

adj. USING TOO MANY WORDS; WORDY; LONG-WINDED. When time is short verbose explanations are inappropriate.

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24
Q

voluble

A

adj. TALKING A GREAT DEAL WITH EASE; GLIB. Victor is such a voluble speaker that it takes him a half hour to answer a simple question.

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25
Q

arrogant

A

adj. OVERBEARING; PROUD; HAUGHTY. His arrogant attitude made it hard for people to warm up to him.

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26
Q

braggart

A

n. ONE WHO BOASTS A GREAT DEAL. Although Tanya is very proud of her talents, she isn’t braggart.

27
Q

complacent

A

adj. SELF-SATISFIED; SMUG. Complacence destroys ambition.

28
Q

contemptuous

A

adj. LACKING RESPECT; SCORNFUL. Parents should teach tolerance, not breed contempt for people’s differences.

29
Q

disdainful

A

adj. FULL OF BITTER SCORN AND PRIDE; ALOOF. I can’t keep my disdainful comments to myself when Emily deliberately acts foolishly to get attention.

30
Q

egotistical

A

adj. EXCESSIVELY SELF-ABSORBED; VERY CONCEITED. Egotistical individuals cannot get enough of their own reflections in the mirror.

31
Q

haughty

A

adj. HAVING GREAT PRIDE IN ONESELF AND DISLIKE FOR OTHERS. The folks next door are too haughty for a ford; they drive only Mercedes and BMWs.

32
Q

insolent

A

adj. BOLDLY DISRESPECTFUL IN SPEECH OR BEHAVIOR; RUDE. When Ernie told the principal to “bug off,” his insolence earned him a suspension from school

33
Q

narcissistic

A

adj. HAVING TO DO WITH EXTREME SELF-ADORATION AND A FEELING OF SUPERIORITY TO EVERYONE. When self-esteem turns to narcissism, you’ve got a problem.

34
Q

ostentatious

A

adj. HAVING TO DO WITH SHOWING OFF; PRETENTIOUS. My parents prefer staying at a quit inn by the sea to a glitzy, ostentatious Miami Beach hotel.

35
Q

presumptuous

A

adj. TOO FORWARD OR BOLD; OVERSTEPPING PROPER BOUNDS. Presumptuous people would be better off with a bit of self-control and tact.

36
Q

pretentious

A

adj. CLAIMING OR PRETENDING INCREASED IMPORTANCE; OSTENTATIOUS; AFFECTEDLY GRAND. Isn’t pretention often a mask for self doubt?

37
Q

supercilious

A

adj. LOOKING DOWN ON OTHERS; PROUD AND SCORNFUL. If we held a contest for superciliousness, haughty Hannah would win hands down.

38
Q

swagger

A

vb. TO WALK AROUND IN A PROUD SHOWY MANNER; TO BOAST IN A LOUD MANNER. Butch’s swagger reveals an ego as big as a house.

39
Q

banal

A

adj. DULL OR STALE BECAUSE OF OVERUSE; TRITE; HACKNEYED. Banality is boring because its so predictable.

40
Q

cliché

A

n. AN IDEA OR EXPRESSION THAT HAS BECOME STALE DUE TO OVERUSE. Good writers avoid clichés like the plague.

41
Q

derivative

A

adj. UNORIGINAL; TAKEN FROM SOMETHING ALREADY EXISTING. English is a derivative language. It is made up of words that originated in many other languages.

42
Q

hackneyed

A

adj. MADE COMMONPLACE BY OVERUSE; TRITE. People who are imaginative avoid hackneyed expressions.

43
Q

hack

A

n. ONE WHO COPIES OR IMITATES THE WORK OF OTHERS. Only hack writers rely on hackneyed expressions.

44
Q

insipid

A

adj. LACKING FLAVOR OR TASTE; UNEXCITING. The conversation at dinner was so insipid that Monica fell asleep at the table.

45
Q

lackluster

A

adj. LACKING VITALITY, ENERGY, OR BRIGHTNESS; BORING. Even a superior actor finds it challenging to enliven a lackluster script.

46
Q

mundane

A

adj. COMMONPLACE; ORDINARY. The movies offer an escape from the mundane character of daily life.

47
Q

pedestrian

A

adj. COMMONPLACE, ORDINARY, UNORIGINAL, MUNDANE. Pedestrian thinkers contributed lackluster ideas to the Socratic seminar.

48
Q

platitude

A

n. QUALITY OF BEING DULL; AN OBVIOUS REMARK UTTERED AS IF IT WERE ORIGINAL. A recipe to induce sleep is a monotonous voice and a plethora of platitudes.

49
Q

prosaic

A

adj. DULL; COMMONPLACE. What is more prosaic than a movie and a pizza on a Friday night?

50
Q

trite

A

adj. UNORIGINAL AND STALE DUE TO OVERUSE. Mr. Gill claims that triteness is a sign of an air-filled brain.

51
Q

vapid

A

adj. LACKING FRESHNESS AND ZEST; FLAT; STALE. The speaker’s vapid delivery emptied the conference hall within 10 minutes.

52
Q

allay

A

vb. TO LESSEN FEAR; TO CALM; TO RELIEVE PAIN. An SAT prep course can allay the anxiety of some students, but can heighten tension for others.

53
Q

alleviate

A

vb. TO LESSEN PAIN OR DISCOMFORT. Grandma takes pills to alleviate her arthritic pain.

54
Q

ameliorate

A

vb. TO MAKE BETTER; TO LESSEN PAIN, DIFFICULTY, OR TENSION. Side curtain airbags ameliorate some of my anxiety about driving a small car.

55
Q

appease

A

vb. TO MAKE TRANQUIL OR QUIET, ESPECIALLY BY GIVING INTO ANOTHER’S DEMANDS; TO PACIFY. What did Albert do to appease his parents? He offered to cook them dinner.

56
Q

assuage

A

vb. TO ALLEVIATE; TO LESSEN PAIN OR CONFLICT; PACIFY. Listening to my tail of woe may help to assuage your own troubles.

57
Q

conciliate

A

vb. TO WIN A PERSON OVER THROUGH SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS OR PERSUASIVE METHODS; RECONCILE. He toned down the harsh language with some conciliatory words such as ‘please’ and ‘sorry.’

58
Q

mediate

A

vb. TO ACT AS A GO-BETWEEN IN SETTLING CONFLICTS OR DISPUTES BETWEEN PEOPLE OR OPPOSING SIDES. Hal is impartial. That is why he can act as an effective mediator.

59
Q

mitigate

A

vb. TO MAKE OR BECOME LESS SEVERE; TO LESSEN PAIN OR DAMAGE. A sudden shift in the wind mitigated the intensity of the storm.

60
Q

mollify

A

vb. TO PACIFY, SOOTHE, OR APPEASE; TO MAKE LESS SEVERE OR VIOLENT. Jay mollified his mother by bringing home all A’s on his report card.

61
Q

pacify

A

vb. TO CALM; TO MAKE PEACEFUL; TO RESTORE TO TRANQUIL STATE. Mother pacified her crying baby by rubbing his tummy.

62
Q

placate

A

vb. TO MAKE CALM; TO SOOTHE. What can be done to placate impatient drivers caught in a traffic jam?

63
Q

quell

A

vb. TO PACIFY; TO SUBDUE; TO QUIET DOWN. Having been tipped off, the police managed to quell the disturbance.

SAT Hot Words (8 decks)

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