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ACT/SAT Vocab Words > ACT - SAT Vocab Words - Q, S, T > Flashcards

ACT - SAT Vocab Words - Q, S, T Flashcards

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1
Q

quagmire

A

(n.) a difficult situation (We’d all like to avoid the kind of military quagmire characterized by the Vietnam War.)

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2
Q

quaint

A

(adj.) charmingly old-fashioned (Hilda was delighted by the quaintbonnets she saw in Amish country.)

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3
Q

quandary

A

(n.) a perplexed, unresolvable state (Carlos found himself in a quandary: should he choose mint chocolate chip or cookie dough?)

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4
Q

quell

A

(v.) to control or diffuse a potentially explosive situation (The skilled leader deftly quelledthe rebellion.)

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5
Q

querulous

A

(adj.) whiny, complaining (If deprived of his pacifier, young Brendan becomes querulous.)

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6
Q

quixotic

A

(adj.) idealistic, impractical (Edward entertained a quixoticdesire to fall in love at first sight in a laundromat.)

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7
Q

quotidian

A

(adj.) daily (Ambika’s quotidianroutines include drinking two cups of coffee in the morning.)

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8
Q

saccharine

A

(adj.) sickeningly sweet (Tom’s saccharinemanner, although intended to make him popular, actually repelled his classmates.)

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9
Q

sacrosanct

A

(adj.) holy, something that should not be criticized (In the United States, the Constitution is often thought of as a sacrosanctdocument.)

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10
Q

sagacity

A

(n.) shrewdness, soundness of perspective (With remarkable sagacity, the wise old man predicted and thwarted his children’s plan to ship him off to a nursing home.)

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11
Q

salient

A

(adj.) significant, conspicuous (One of the salientdifferences between Alison and Nancy is that Alison is a foot taller.)

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12
Q

salutation

A

(n.) a greeting (Andrew regularly began letters with the bizarre salutation “Ahoy ahoy.”)

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13
Q

salve

A

(n.) a soothing balm (After Tony applied a salveto his brilliant red sunburn, he soon felt a little better.)

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14
Q

sanctimonious

A

(adj.) giving a hypocritical appearance of piety (The sanctimoniousBertrand delivered stern lectures on the Ten Commandments to anyone who would listen, but thought nothing of stealing cars to make some cash on the side.)

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15
Q

sanguine

A

(adj.) optimistic, cheery (Polly reacted to any bad news with a sanguinesmile and the chirpy cry, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”)

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16
Q

satiate

A

(v.) to satisfy excessively (Satiated after eating far too much turkey and stuffing, Liza lay on the couch watching football and suffering from stomach pains.)

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17
Q

scathing

A

(adj.) sharp, critical, hurtful (Two hours after breaking up with Russell, Suzanne thought of the perfect scathingretort to his accusations.)

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18
Q

scintillating

A

(adj.) sparkling (The ice skater’s scintillatingrhinestone costume nearly blinded the judges.)

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19
Q

scrupulous

A

(adj.) painstaking, careful (With scrupulouscare, Sam cut a snowflake out of white paper.)

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20
Q

scurrilous

A

(adj.) vulgar, coarse (When Bruno heard the scurrilousaccusation being made about him, he could not believe it because he always tried to be nice to everyone.)

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21
Q

sedentary

A

(adj.) sitting, settled (The sedentarycat did little but loll in the sun.)

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22
Q

semaphore

A

(n.) a visual signal (Anne and Diana communicated with a semaphoreinvolving candles and window shades.)

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23
Q

seminal

A

(adj.) original, important, creating a field (Stephen Greenblatt’s essays on Shakespeare proved to be seminal, because they initiated the critical school of New Historicism.)

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24
Q

sensual

A

(adj.) involving sensory gratification, usually related to sex (With a coy smile, the guest on the blind-date show announced that he considered himself a very sensualperson.)

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25
Q

sensuous

A

(adj.) involving sensory gratification (Paul found drinking Coke, with all the little bubbles bursting on his tongue, a very sensuousexperience.)

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26
Q

serendipity

A

(n.) luck, finding good things without looking for them (In an amazing bit of serendipity, penniless Paula found a $20 bill in the subway station.)

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27
Q

serene

A

(adj.) calm, untroubled (Louise stood in front of the Mona Lisa, puzzling over the famous woman’s serenesmile.)

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28
Q

servile

A

(adj.) subservient (The servileporter crept around the hotel lobby, bowing and quaking before the guests.)

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29
Q

sinuous

A

(adj.) lithe, serpentine (With the sinuousmovements of her arms, the dancer mimicked the motion of a snake.)

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30
Q

sobriety

A

(n.) sedate, calm (Jason believed that maintaining his sobrietyin times of crisis was the key to success in life.)

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31
Q

solicitous

A

(adj.) concerned, attentive (Jim, laid up in bed with a nasty virus, enjoyed the solicitousattentions of his mother, who brought him soup and extra blankets.)

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32
Q

solipsistic

A

(adj.) believing that oneself is all that exists (Colette’s solipsisticattitude completely ignored the plight of the homeless people on the street.)

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33
Q

soluble

A

(adj.) able to dissolve (The plot of the spy film revolved around an untraceable and water-soluble poison.)

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34
Q

solvent

A

(n.) a substance that can dissolve other substances (Water is sometimes called the universal solventbecause almost all other substances can dissolve into it.) 2. (adj.) able to pay debts (Upon receiving an unexpected check from her aunt, Annabelle found herself suddenly solvent.)

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35
Q

somnolent

A

(adj.) sleepy, drowsy (The somnolentstudent kept falling asleep and waking up with a jerk.)

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36
Q

sophomoric

A

(adj.) immature, uninformed (The mature senior rolled her eyes at the sophomoricgross-out humor of the underclassman.)

37
Q

sovereign

A

(adj.) having absolute authority in a certain realm (The sovereignqueen, with steely resolve, ordered that the traitorous nobleman be killed.)

38
Q

speculative

A

(adj.) not based in fact (Sadly, Tessa was convicted on merely speculative evidence.)

39
Q

spurious

A

(adj.) false but designed to seem plausible (Using a spuriousargument, John convinced the others that he had won the board game on a technicality.)

40
Q

stagnate

A

(v.) to become or remain inactive, not develop, not flow (With no room for advancement, the waiter’s career stagnated.)

41
Q

staid

A

(adj.) sedate, serious, self-restrained (The staidbutler never changed his expression no matter what happened.)

42
Q

stingy

A

(adj.) not generous, not inclined to spend or give (Scrooge’s stingyhabits did not fit with the generous, giving spirit of Christmas.)

43
Q

stoic

A

(adj.) unaffected by passion or feeling (Penelope’s faithfulness to Odysseus required that she be stoicand put off her many suitors.)

44
Q

stolid

A

(adj.) expressing little sensibility, unemotional (Charles’s stolidreaction to his wife’s funeral differed from the passion he showed at the time of her death.)

45
Q

strenuous

A

(adj.) requiring tremendous energy or stamina (Running a marathon is quite a strenuoustask. So is watching an entire Star Trek marathon.)

46
Q

strident

A

(adj.) harsh, loud (A stridentman, Captain Von Trapp yelled at his daughter and made her cry.)

47
Q

stupefy

A

(v.) to astonish, make insensible (Veronica’s audacity and ungratefulness stupefiedher best friend, Heather.)

48
Q

subjugate

A

(v.) to bring under control, subdue (The invading force captured and subjugatedthe natives of that place.)

49
Q

sublime

A

(adj.) lofty, grand, exalted (The homeless man sadly pondered his former wealth and once sublimeexistence.)

50
Q

submissive

A

(adj.) easily yielding to authority (In some cultures, wives are supposed to be submissiveand support their husbands in all matters.)

51
Q

succinct

A

(adj.) marked by compact precision (The governor’s succinctspeech energized the crowd while the mayor’s rambled on and on.)

52
Q

superfluous

A

(adj.) exceeding what is necessary (Tracy had already won the campaign so her constant flattery of others was superfluous.)

53
Q

surfeit

A

(n.) an overabundant supply or indulgence (After partaking of the surfeitof tacos and tamales at the All-You-Can-Eat Taco Tamale Lunch Special, Beth felt rather sick.)

54
Q

surmise

A

(v.) to infer with little evidence (After speaking to only one of the students, the teacher was able to surmisewhat had caused the fight.)

55
Q

surreptitious

A

(adj.) stealthy (The surreptitiousCIA agents were able to get in and out of the house without anyone noticing.)

56
Q

surrogate

A

(n.) one acting in place of another (The surrogatecarried the child to term for its biological parents.)

57
Q

swarthy

A

(adj.) of dark color or complexion (When he got drunk, Robinson’s white skin became rather swarthy.)

58
Q

sycophant

A

(n.) one who flatters for self-gain (Some see the people in the cabinet as the president’s closest advisors, but others see them as sycophants.)became rather swarthy.)

59
Q

tacit

A

(adj.) expressed without words (I interpreted my parents’ refusal to talk as a tacit acceptance of my request.)

60
Q

taciturn

A

(adj.) not inclined to talk (Though Jane never seems to stop talking, her brother is quite taciturn.)

61
Q

tangential

A

(adj.) incidental, peripheral, divergent (I tried to discuss my salary, but the boss kept veering off into tangentialtopics.)

62
Q

tantamount

A

(adj.) equivalent in value or significance (When it comes to sports, fearing your opponent is tantamountto losing.)

63
Q

tedious

A

(adj.) dull, boring (As time passed and the history professor continued to drone on and on, the lecture became increasingly tedious.)

64
Q

temerity

A

(n.) audacity, recklessness (Tom and Huck entered the scary cave armed with nothing but their own temerity.)

65
Q

temperance

A

(n.) moderation in action or thought (Maintaining temperancewill ensure that you are able to think rationally and objectively.)

66
Q

tenable

A

(adj.) able to be defended or maintained (The department heads tore down the arguments in other people’s theses, but Johari’s work proved to be quite tenable.)

67
Q

tenuous

A

(adj.) having little substance or strength (Your argument is very tenuous, since it relies so much on speculation and hearsay.)

68
Q

terrestrial

A

(adj.) relating to the land (Elephants are terrestrialanimals.)

69
Q

timorous

A

(adj.) timid, fearful (When dealing with the unknown, timorousTallulah almost always broke into tears.)

70
Q

tirade

A

(n.) a long speech marked by harsh or biting language (Every time Jessica was late, her boyfriend went into a long tiradeabout punctuality.)

71
Q

toady

A

(n.) one who flatters in the hope of gaining favors (The other kids referred to the teacher’s pet as the Tenth Grade Toady.)

72
Q

tome

A

(n.) a large book (In college, I used to carry around an anatomy book that was the heaviest tomein my bag.)

73
Q

torpid

A

(adj.) lethargic, dormant, lacking motion (The torpidwhale floated, wallowing in the water for hours.)

74
Q

torrid

A

(adj.) giving off intense heat, passionate (I didn’t want to witness the neighbor’s torridaffair through the window.)

75
Q

tortuous

A

(adj.) winding (The scary thing about driving in mountains are the narrow, tortuousroads.)

76
Q

tractable

A

(adj.) easily controlled (The horse was so tractable, Myra didn’t even need a bridle.)

77
Q

tranquil

A

(adj.) calm (There is a time of night when nothing moves and everything is tranquil.)

78
Q

transgress

A

(v.) to violate, go over a limit (The criminal’s actions transgressedmorality and human decency.)

79
Q

transient

A

(adj.) passing through briefly; passing into and out of existence (Because virtually everyone in Palm Beach is a tourist, the population of the town is quite transient.)

80
Q

transmute

A

(v.) to change or alter in form (Ancient alchemists believed that it was possible to transmutelead into gold.)

81
Q

travesty

A

(n.) a grossly inferior imitation (According to the school newspaper’s merciless theater critic, Pacific Coast High’s rendition of the musical Oklahoma was a travestyof the original.)

82
Q

tremulous

A

(adj.) fearful (I always feel a trifle tremulouswhen walking through a graveyard.)

83
Q

trenchant

A

(adj.) effective, articulate, clear-cut (The directions that accompanied my new cell phone were trenchantand easy to follow.)

84
Q

trepidation

A

(n.) fear, apprehension (Feeling great trepidation, Anya refused to jump into the pool because she thought she saw a shark in it.)

85
Q

trite

A

(adj.) not original, overused (Keith thought of himself as being very learned, but everyone else thought he was tritebecause his observations about the world were always the same as David Letterman’s.)

86
Q

truculent

A

(adj.) ready to fight, cruel (This club doesn’t really attract the dangerous types, so why was that bouncer being so truculent?)

87
Q

truncate

A

(v.) to shorten by cutting off (After winning the derby, the jockey truncated the long speech he had planned and thanked only his mom and his horse.)

88
Q

turgid

A

(adj.) swollen, excessively embellished in style or language (The haughty writer did not realize how we all really felt about his turgidprose.)

89
Q

turpitude

A

(n.) depravity, moral corruption (Sir Marcus’s chivalry often contrasted with the turpitudehe exhibited with the ladies at the tavern.)

ACT/SAT Vocab Words (10 decks)

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