ACT - SAT Vocab Words - B, E Flashcards
balk
(v.) to stop, block abruptly (Edna’s boss balkedat her request for another raise.)
ballad
(n.) a love song (Greta’s boyfriend played her a balladon the guitar during their walk through the dark woods.)
banal
(adj.) dull, commonplace (The client rejected our proposal because they found our presentation banaland unimpressive.)
bane
(n.) a burden (Advanced physics is the baneof many students’ academic lives.)
bard
(n.) a poet, often a singer as well (Shakespeare is often considered the greatest bard in the history of the English language.)
bashful
(adj.) shy, excessively timid (Frankie’s mother told him not to be bashfulwhen he refused to attend the birthday party.)
battery
(n.) a device that supplies power (Most cars run on a combination of power from a batteryand gasoline.) 2. (n.)assault, beating (Her husband was accused of assault and batteryafter he attacked a man on the sidewalk.)
beguile
(v.) to trick, deceive (The thief beguiledhis partners into surrendering all of their money to him.)
behemoth
(n.) something of tremendous power or size (The new aircraft carrier is among several behemothsthat the Air Force has added to its fleet.)
benevolent
(adj.) marked by goodness or doing good (Police officers should be commended for their benevolentservice to the community.)
benign
(adj.) favorable, not threatening, mild (We were all relieved to hear that the medical tests determined her tumor to be benign.)
bequeath
(v.) to pass on, give (Jon’s father bequeathedhis entire estate to his mother.)
berate
(v.) to scold vehemently (The angry boss beratedhis employees for failing to meet their deadline.)
bereft
(adj.) devoid of, without (His family was bereftof food and shelter following the tornado.)
beseech
(v.) to beg, plead, implore (The servant beseechedthe king for food to feed his starving family.)
bias
(n.) a tendency, inclination, prejudice (The judge’s hidden biasagainst smokers led him to make an unfair decision.)
bilk
(v.) cheat, defraud (The lawyer discovered that this firm had bilkedseveral clients out of thousands of dollars.)
blandish
(v.) to coax by using flattery (Rachel’s assistant tried to blandishher into accepting the deal.)
blemish
(n.) an imperfection, flaw (The dealer agreed to lower the price because of the many blemisheson the surface of the wooden furniture.)
blight
(n.) a plague, disease (The potato blightdestroyed the harvest and bankrupted many families.) 2. (n.) something that destroys hope (His bad morale is a blight upon this entire operation.)
boisterous
(adj.) loud and full of energy (The candidate won the vote after giving several boisterousspeeches on television.)
bombastic
(adj.) excessively confident, pompous (The singer’s bombasticperformance disgusted the crowd.)
boon
(n.) a gift or blessing (The good weather has been a boonfor many businesses located near the beach.)
bourgeois
(n.) a middle-class person, capitalist (Many businessmen receive criticism for their bourgeoisapproach to life.)
brazen
(adj.) excessively bold, brash (Critics condemned the novelist’s brazenattempt to plagiarize Hemingway’s story.)
brusque
(adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive (The captain’s brusquemanner offended the passengers.)
buffet
(v.) to strike with force (The strong winds buffetedthe ships, threatening to capsize them.) 2. (n.) an arrangement of food set out on a table (Rather than sitting around a table, the guests took food from our buffetand ate standing up.)
burnish
(v.) to polish, shine (His mother asked him to burnishthe silverware before setting the table.)
buttress
(v.) to support, hold up (The column buttressesthe roof above the statue.) 2. (n.) something that offers support (The buttresssupports the roof above the statues.)
ebullient
(adj.) extremely lively, enthusiastic (She became ebullientupon receiving an acceptance letter from her first-choice college.)
eclectic
(adj.) consisting of a diverse variety of elements (That bar attracts an eclectic crowd: lawyers, artists, circus clowns, and investment bankers.)
ecstatic
(adj.) intensely and overpoweringly happy (The couple was ecstaticwhen theylearned that they had won the lottery.)
edict
(n.) an order, decree (The ruler issued an edictrequiring all of his subjects to bow down before him.)
efface
(v.) to wipe out, obliterate, rub away (The husband was so angry at his wife for leaving him that he effacedall evidence of her presence; he threw out pictures of her and gave away all her belongings.)
effervescent
(adj.) bubbly, lively (My friend is so effervescentthat she makes everyone smile.)
efficacious
(adj.) effective (My doctor promised me that the cold medicine was efficacious, but I’m still sniffling.)
effrontery
(n.) impudence, nerve, insolence (When I told my aunt that she was boring, my mother scolded me for my effrontery.)
effulgent
(adj.) radiant, splendorous (The golden palace was effulgent.)
egregious
(adj.) extremely bad (The student who threw sloppy joes across the cafeteria was punished for his egregiousbehavior.)
elaborate
(adj.) complex, detailed, intricate (Dan always beats me at chess because he develops such an elaborategame plan that I can never predict his next move.)
elated
(adj.) overjoyed, thrilled (When she found out she had won the lottery, the writer was elated.)
elegy
(n.) a speech given in honor of a dead person (At the funeral, the widow gave a moving elegydescribing her love for her husband.)
elicit
(v.) to bring forth, draw out, evoke (Although I asked several times where the exit was, I elicitedno response from the stone-faced policeman.)
eloquent
(adj.) expressive, articulate, moving (The priest gave such an eloquentsermon that most churchgoers were crying.)
elucidate
(v.) to clarify, explain (I didn’t understand why my friend was so angry with me, so I asked Janine to elucidateher feelings.)
elude
(v.) to evade, escape (Despite an intense search, the robber continues to eludethe police.)
emaciated
(adj.) very thin, enfeebled looking (My sister eats a lot of pastries and chocolate but still looks emaciated.)
embellish
(v.) to decorate, adorn (My mom embellishedthe living room by adding lace curtains.) 2. (v.)to add details to, enhance (When Harry told me that he had “done stuff” on his vacation, I asked him to embellishupon his account.)
embezzle
(v.) to steal money by falsifying records (The accountant was fired for embezzling$10,000 of the company’s funds.)
emend
(v.) to correct or revise a written text (If my sentence is incorrect, the editor will emendwhat I have written.)
eminent
(adj.) distinguished, prominent, famous (Mr. Phillips is such an eminent scholar that every professor on campus has come to hear him lecture.) 2. (adj. conspicuous (There is an eminentstain on that shirt.)
emollient
(adj.) soothing (This emollientcream makes my skin very smooth.)
emote
(v.) to express emotion (The director told the actor he had to emote, or else the audience would have no idea what his character was going through.)
empathy
(n.) sensitivity to another’s feelings as if they were one’s own (I feel such empathyfor my sister when she’s in pain that I cry too.)
empirical
(adj.) based on observation or experience (The scientist gathered empirical data on the growth rate of dandelions by studying the dandelions behind his house.) 2. (adj. capable of being proved or disproved by experiment (That all cats hate getting wet is an empiricalstatement: I can test it by bathing my cat, Trinket.)
emulate
(v.) to imitate (I idolize Britney Spears so much that I emulateeverything she does: I wear her outfits, sing along to her songs, and date a boy named Justin.)
enamor
(v.) to fill with love, fascinate, usually used in passive form followed by “of” or “with” (I grew enamoredof that boy when he quoted my favorite love poem.)
encore
(n.) the audience’s demand for a repeat performance; also the artist’s performance in response to that demand (At the end of the concert, all the fans yelled, “Encore! Encore!” but the band did not come out to play again.)
encumber
(v.) to weigh down, burden (At the airport, my friend was encumberedby her luggage, so I offered to carry two of her bags.)
enervate
(v.) to weaken, exhaust (Writing these sentences enervatesme so much that I will have to take a nap after I finish.)
enfranchise
(v.) to grant the vote to (The Nineteenth Amendment enfranchised women.)
engender
(v.) to bring about, create, generate (During the Olympics, the victories of U.S. athletes engendera patriotic spirit among Americans.)
enigmatic
(adj.) mystifying, cryptic (That man wearing the dark suit and dark glasses is so enigmaticthat no one even knows his name.)
enmity
(n.) ill will, hatred, hostility (Mark and Andy have clearly not forgiven each other, because the enmitybetween them is obvious to anyone in their presence.)
ennui
(n.) boredom, weariness (I feel such ennuithat I don’t look forward to anything, not even my birthday party.)
entail
(v.) to include as a necessary step (Building a new fence entailstearing down the old one.)
enthrall
(v.) to charm, hold spellbound (The sailor’s stories of fighting off sharks and finding ancient treasures enthralledhis young son.)
ephemeral
(adj.) short-lived, fleeting (She promised she’d love me forever, but her “forever” was only ephemeral: she left me after one week.)
epistolary
(adj.) relating to or contained in letters (Some people call me “Auntie’s boy,” because my aunt and I have such a close epistolaryrelationship that we write each other every day.)
epitome
(n.) a perfect example, embodiment (My mother, the epitomeof good taste, always dresses more elegantly than I do.)
equanimity
(n.) composure (Even though he had just been fired, Mr. Simms showed great equanimityby neatly packing up his desk and wishing everyone in the office well.)
equivocal
(adj.) ambiguous, uncertain, undecided (His intentions were so equivocal that I didn’t know whether he was being chivalrous or sleazy.)
erudite
(adj.) learned (My Latin teacher is such an eruditescholar that he has translated some of the most difficult and abstruse ancient poetry.)
eschew
(v.) to shun, avoid (George hates the color green so much that he eschewsall green food.)
esoteric
(adj.) understood by only a select few (Even the most advanced students cannot understand the physicist’s esoterictheories.)
espouse
(v.) to take up as a cause, support (I love animals so much that I espouseanimal rights.)
ethereal
(adj.) heavenly, exceptionally delicate or refined (In her flowing silk gown and lace veil, the bride looked ethereal.)
etymology
(n.) the history of words, their origin and development (From the study of etymology, I know that the word “quixotic” derives from Don Quixote and the word “gaudy” refers to the Spanish architect Gaudí.)
euphoric
(adj.) elated, uplifted (I was euphoricwhen I found out that my sister had given birth to twins.)
evanescent
(adj.) fleeting, momentary (My joy at getting promoted was evanescent because I discovered that I would have to work much longer hours in a less friendly office.)
evince
(v.) to show, reveal (Christopher’s hand-wringing and nail-biting evincehow nervous he is about the upcoming English test.)
exacerbate
(v.) to make more violent, intense (The gruesome and scary movie I saw last night exacerbatedmy fears of the dark.)
exalt
(v.) to glorify, praise (Michael Jordan is the figure in basketball we exaltthe most.)
exasperate
(v.) to irritate, irk (George’s endless complaints exasperatedhis roomate.)
excavate
(v.) to dig out of the ground and remove (The pharaoh’s treasures were excavatedby archeologists in Egypt.)
exculpate
(v.) to free from guilt or blame, exonerate (My discovery of the ring behind the dresser exculpatedme from the charge of having stolen it.)
excursion
(n.) a trip or outing (After taking an excursionto the Bronx Zoo, I dreamed about pandas and monkeys.)
execrable
(adj.) loathsome, detestable (Her pudding is so execrablethat it makes me sick.)
exhort
(v.) to urge, prod, spur (Henry exhortedhis colleagues to join him in protesting against the university’s hiring policies.)
exigent
(adj.) urgent, critical (The patient has an exigentneed for medication, or else he will lose his sight.)
exonerate
(v.) to free from guilt or blame, exculpate (The true thief’s confession exoneratedthe man who had been held in custody for the crime.)
exorbitant
(adj.) excessive (Her exorbitantpraise made me blush and squirm in my seat.)
expedient
(adj.) advisable, advantageous, serving one’s self-interest (In his bid for reelection, the governor made an expedientmove by tabling all controversial legislation.)
expiate
(v.) to make amends for, atone (To expiatemy selfishness, I gave all my profits to charity.)
expunge
(v.) to obliterate, eradicate (Fearful of an IRS investigation, Paul tried to expungeall incriminating evidence from his tax files.)
expurgate
(v.) to remove offensive or incorrect parts, usually of a book (The history editors expurgatedfrom the text all disparaging and inflammatory comments about the Republican Party.)
extant
(adj.) existing, not destroyed or lost (My mother’s extantlove letters to my father are in the attic trunk.)
extol
(v.) to praise, revere (Violet extolledthe virtues of a vegetarian diet to her meat- loving brother.)
extraneous
(adj.) irrelevant, extra, not necessary (Personal political ambitions should always remain extraneousto legislative policy, but, unfortunately, they rarely are.)
extricate
(v.) to disentangle (Instead of trying to mediate between my brother and sister, I extricatedmyself from the family tension entirely and left the house for the day.)
exult
(v.) to rejoice (When she found out she won the literature prize, Mary exultedby dancing and singing through the school’s halls.)
