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1
Q

saboteur

A

one who commits sabotage; destroyer of property

Members of the Resistance acted as saboteurs, blowing up train lines to prevent supplies from reaching the Nazi army.

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2
Q

sacrilegious

A

desecrating; profane

His stealing of the altar cloth was a very sacrilegious act.

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3
Q

sacrosanct

A

most sacred; inviolable

The brash insurance salesman invaded the sacrosanct privacy of the office of the president of the
company.

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4
Q

sadistic

A

inclined to cruelty

If we are to improve conditions in this prison, we must first get rid of the sadistic warden.

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5
Q

saga

A

Scandinavian myth; any legend

This is a saga of the sea and the men who risk their lives on it.

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6
Q

sagacious

A

keen; shrewd; having insight

He is much too sagacious to be fooled by a trick like that.

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7
Q

sage

A

person celebrated for wisdom

Hearing tales of a mysterious Master of All Knowledge who lived in the hills of Tibet, Sandy was possessed with a burning desire to consult the legendary sage.

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8
Q

salient

A

prominent

One of the salient features of that newspaper is its excellent editorial page.

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9
Q

sallow

A

yellowish; sickly in color

We were disturbed by his sallow complexion, which was due to jaundice.

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10
Q

salubrious

A

healthful

Many people with hay fever move to more salubrious sections of the country during the months of August and September.

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11
Q

salutary

A

tending to improve; beneficial; wholesome

The punishment had a salutary effect on the boy, as he became a model student.

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12
Q

sactimonious

A

displaying ostentatious or hypocritical devoutness

You do not have to be so sanctimonious to prove that you are devout.

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13
Q

sanguine

A

cheerful; hopeful

Let us not be too sanguine about the outcome; something could go wrong.

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14
Q

sap

A

diminish; undermine

The element kryptonite had an unhealthy effect on Superman: it sapped his strength.

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15
Q

sarcasm

A

scornful remarks, stinging rebuke

His feelings were hurt by the sarcasm of his supposed friends.

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16
Q

sardonic

A

disdainful; sarcastic; cynical

The sardonic humor of nightclub comedians who satirize or ridicule patrons in the audience strikes some people as amusing and others as rude.

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17
Q

sartorial

A

pertaining to tailors

He was as famous for the sartorial splendor of his attire as he was for his acting.

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18
Q

sate

A

satisfy to the full; cloy

Its hunger sated, the lion dozed.

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19
Q

satire

A

form of literature in which irony, sarcasm, and ridicule are employed to attack vice and folly

Gulliver’s Travels, which is regarded by many as a tale for children, is actually a bitter satire attacking human folly.

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20
Q

satirical

A

mocking

The humor of cartoonists Gary Trudeau often is satirical; though the comments of the Doonesbury characters, Trudeau ridicules political corruption and folly.

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21
Q

saturate

A

soak

Their clothes were saturated by the rain.

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22
Q

saturnine

A

gloomy

Do not be misled by his saturnine countenance; he is not as gloomy as he looks.

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23
Q

satyr

A

half-human, half-bestial being in the court of Dionysus, portrayed as wanton and cunning

He was like a satyr in his lustful conduct.

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24
Q

saunter

A

stroll slowly

As we sauntered through the park, we stopped frequently to admire the spring flowers.

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25
Q

savant

A

scholar

Our faculty includes many worldfamous savants.

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26
Q

savory

A

tasty; pleasing, attractive, or agreeable

Julia Child’s recipes enable amateur chefs to create savory delicacies for their guests.

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27
Q

scabbard

A

case for a sword blade; sheath

The drill master told the recruit to wipe the blood from his sword before slipping it back into the scabbard.

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28
Q

scad

A

a great quantity

Refusing Dave’s offer to lend him a shirt, Phil replied, “No, thanks: I’ve got scads of clothes.”

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29
Q

scaffold

A

temporary platform for workers; bracing framework; platform for execution

Before painting the house, the workers put up a scaffold to allow them to work on the second story.

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30
Q

scanty

A

meager; insufficient

Thinking his helping of food was scanty, Oliver Twist asked for more.

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31
Q

scavenge

A

hunt through discarded materials for usable items; search, especially for food

If you need car parts that the dealers no longer stock, try scavenging for odd bits and pieces at the auto wreckers’ yards.

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32
Q

schism

A

division; split

Let us not widen the schism by further bickering.

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33
Q

scintilla

A

shred; least bit

You have not produced a scintilla of evidence to support your argument.

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34
Q

scintillate

A

sparkle; flash

I enjoy her dinner parties because the food is excellent and the conversation scintillates.

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35
Q

scoff

A

mock; ridicule

He scoffed at dentists until he had his first toothache.

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36
Q

scotch

A

stamp out; thwart; hinder

Heather tried to scotch the rumor that she had stolen her best friend’s fiance.

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37
Q

scourge

A

lash; whip; severe punishment

They feared the plague and regarded it as a deadly scourge.

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38
Q

scruple

A

fret about; hesitate, for ethical reasons

Fearing that her husband had become involved in an affair, she did not scruple to read his diary.

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39
Q

scrupulous

A

conscientious; extremely thorough

I can recommend him for a position of responsibility for I have found him a very scrupulous young man.

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40
Q

scuffle

A

struggle confusedly; move off in a confused hurry.

The twins briefly scuffled, wrestling to see which of them would get the toy. When their big brother yelled, “Let go of my Gameboy!” they scuffled off down the hall.

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41
Q

scurrilous

A

obscene; indecent

Your scurrilous remarks are especially offensive because they are untrue.

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42
Q

scurry

A

move briskly

The White Rabbit had to scurry to get to his appointment on time.

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43
Q

scurvy

A

despicable; contemptible

Peter Pan sneered at Captain Hook and his scurvy crew.

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44
Q

scuttle

A

sink

The sailors decided to scuttle their vessel rather than surrender it to the enemy.

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45
Q

seamy

A

sordid; unwholesome

In the Godfather, Michael Corleone is unwilling to expose his wife and children to the seamy side of his life as the son of a Mafia don.

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46
Q

sear

A

char or burn; brand

Accidentally brushing against the hot grill, she seared her hand badly.

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47
Q

secession

A

withdrawal

The secession of the Southern states provided Lincoln with his first major problem after his inauguration.

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48
Q

seclusion

A

isolation; solitude

One moment she loved crowds; the next, she sought seclusion.

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49
Q

secrete

A

hide away or cache; produce and release a substance into an organism.

The pack rat secretes odds and ends in its nest; the pancreas secretes insulin in the islets of Langerhans.

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50
Q

sectarian

A

narrow-minded; limited in scope

As university chaplain, she sought to address universal religious issues and not limit herself to mere sectarian concerns

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51
Q

secular

A

worldly; not pertaining to church matters; temporal

The church leaders decided not interfere in secular matters.

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52
Q

sedentary

A

requiring sitting

Because he had a sedentary occupation, he decided to visit a gymnasium weekly.

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53
Q

sedition

A

resistance to authority; insubordination

His words, though not treasonous in themselves, were calculated to arouse thoughts of sedition.

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54
Q

sedulous

A

diligent

The young woman was so sedulous that she received a commendation for her hard work.

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55
Q

seedy

A

run-down; decrepit; disreputable

I would rather stay in dormitory lodgings in a decent youth hostel than have a room of my own in a seedy downtown hotel.

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56
Q

seemly

A

proper; appropriate

Lady Bracknell did not think it was seemly for Ernest to lack a proper family; no baby abandoned on a doorstep could grow up to marry her daughter.

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57
Q

seep

A

ooze; trickle

During the rainstorm, water seeped through the crack in the basement wall and damaged the floor boards.

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58
Q

seethe

A

be disturbed; boil

The nation was seething with discontent as the nobleman continued their arrogant ways.

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59
Q

seine

A

net for catching fish

When the shad run during the spring, you may see fishermen with seines along the banks of our coastal rivers.

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60
Q

seminary

A

school for training future ministers; secondary school, especially for young women

Sure of his priestly vocation, Terrence planned to pursue his theological training at the local Roman Catholic seminary.

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61
Q

senility

A

old age; feeble mindedness of old age

Most of the decisions are being made by the junior members of the company because of the senility of the president.

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62
Q

sensuous

A

pertaining to the physical senses; operating through the senses

He was stimulated by the sights, sounds and smells about him; he was enjoying his sensuous experience.

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63
Q

sententious

A

terse; concise; aphoristic

After reading so many redundant speeches, I find his sententious style particulary pleasing.

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64
Q

sentinel

A

sentry; lookout

Though camped in enemy territory, Bledsoe ignored the elementary precaution of posting sentinels around the encampment.

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65
Q

septic

A

putrid; producing putrefaction

The hospital was in such a filthy state that we were afraid that many of the patients would suffer from septic poisoning.

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66
Q

sepulcher

A

tomb

Annabel Lee was buried in a sepulcher by the sea.

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67
Q

sequester

A

retire from public life; segregate; seclude

Although he had hoped for a long time to sequester himself in a small community, he never was able to drop his busy round of activities in the city.

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68
Q

sere

A

parched; dry

After the unseasonably dry winter the Berkeley hills looked dusty and sere.

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69
Q

serendipity

A

gift for finding valuable or desirable things by accident; accidental good fortune or luck

Many scientific discoveries are a matter of serendipity: Newton was not sitting there thinking about gravity when the apple dropped on his head.

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70
Q

serpentine

A

winding; twisting

The car swerved at every curve in the serpentine road.

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71
Q

servile

A

slavish; cringing

Constantly fawning on his employer, humble Uriah Heap was a servile creature.

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72
Q

severance

A

division; partition; separation

The severance of church and state is a basic principle of our government.

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73
Q

sextant

A

navigation tool used to determine a ship’s latitude and longitude

Given a clear night, with the aid of his sextant and compass, he could keep the ship safely on course.

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74
Q

shackle

A

chain; fetter

The criminal’s ankles were shackled to prevent his escape.

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75
Q

sham

A

pretend

He shammed sickness to get out of going to school.

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76
Q

shambles

A

slaughterhouse; scene of carnage

By the time the police arrived, the room was a shambles.

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77
Q

shard

A

fragment, generally of pottery

The archaeologist assigned several students the task of reassembling earthenware vessels from the shards he had brought back from the expedition.

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78
Q

sheaf

A

bundle of stalks of grain; any bundle of things tied together

The lawyer picked up a sheaf of papers as he rose to question the witness.

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79
Q

sheathe

A

place into a case

As soon as he recognized the approaching men, he sheathed his dagger and hailed them as friends.

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80
Q

sherbet

A

flavored dessert ice

I prefer raspberry sherbet to ice cream since it is less fattening.

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81
Q

shimmer

A

glimmer intermittently

The moonlight shimmered on the water as the moon broke through the clouds for a moment.

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82
Q

shirk

A

avoid (responsibility, work, etc.); malinger

Brian has a strong sense of duty; he would never shirk any responsibility.

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83
Q

shoddy

A

sham; not genuine; inferior

You will never get the public to buy such shoddy material.

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84
Q

shrew

A

scolding woman

No one wanted to marry Shakespeare’s Kate because she was a shrew.

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85
Q

shun

A

keep away from

Cherishing his solitude, the recluse shunned the company of other human beings.

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86
Q

shunt

A

turn aside; divert; sidetrack

If the switchman failed to shunt the Silver Streak onto a side track, the train would plow right into Union Station.

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87
Q

shyster

A

lawyer using questionable methods.

On L.A. Law, respectable attorney Brackman was horrified to learn that his newly discovered half brother was a cheap shyster.

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88
Q

sibylline

A

prophetic; oracular

Until their destruction by fire in 83 B.C., the sibylline books were often consulted by the Romans.

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89
Q

sidereal

A

relating to the stars

Although hampered by optical and mechanical flaws, the orbiting Hubble space telescope has relayed extraordinary images of distant sidereal bodies.

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90
Q

silt

A

sediment deposited by running water

The harbor channel must be dredged annually to remove the silt.

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91
Q

simile

A

comparison of one thing with another, using the word like or as

“My love is like a red, red rose” is a simile.

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92
Q

simper

A

smirk; smile affectedly

Complimented on her appearance, Stella self-consciously simpered.

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93
Q

simulate

A

feign

He simulated insanity in order to avoid punishment for his crime.

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94
Q

sinecure

A

well-paid position with little responsibility

My job is no sinecure; I work long hours and have much responsibility.

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95
Q

sinewy

A

tough; strong and firm

The steak was too sinewy to chew

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96
Q

sinuous

A

winding; bending in and out; not morally honest

The snake moved in a sinuous manner.

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97
Q

skiff

A

small, light sailboat or rowboat

Tom dreamed of owning an ocean-going yacht but had to settle for a skiff he could sail in the bay.

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98
Q

skimp

A

provide scantily; live very economically

They were forced to skimp on necessities in order to make their limited supplies last the winter.

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99
Q

skinflint

A

miser

The old skinflint refused to give her a raise.

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100
Q

skirmirsh

A

minor fight

Custer’s troops expected they might run into a skirmish or two on maneuvers; they did not expect to face a major battle.

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101
Q

skittish

A

lively; frisky

She is as skittish as a kitten playing with a piece of string.

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102
Q

skulduggery

A

dishonest behavior

The investigation into municipal corruption turned up new instances of skulduggery daily.

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103
Q

skulk

A

move furtively and secretly

He skulked through the less fashionable sections of the city in order to avoid meeting any of his former friends.

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104
Q

slacken

A

slow up; loosen

As they passed the finish line, the runners slackened their pace.

105
Q

slag

A

residue from smelting metal; dross; waste matter

The blast furnace had a special opening at the bottom to allow the workers to remove the worthless slag.

106
Q

slake

A

quench; sate

When we reached the oasis, we were able to slake our thirst.

107
Q

slander

A

defamation; utterance of false and malicious statements

Unless you can prove your allegations, your remarks constitute slander.

108
Q

slapdash

A

haphazard; careless; sloppy

From the number of typos and misspellings I’ve found on it, it’s clear that Mario proofread the report in a remarkably slapdash fashion.

109
Q

sleazy

A

flimsy; unsubstantial

This is a sleazy fabric; it will not wear well.

110
Q

sleeper

A

something originally of little value or importance that in time becomes very valuable

Unnoticed by the critics at its publication, the eventual Pulitzer Prize winner was a classic sleeper.

111
Q

sleight

A

dexterity

The magician amazed the audience with his sleight of hand.

112
Q

slight

A

insult to one’s dignity; snub

Hypersensitive and ready to take offense at any discourtesy, Bertha was always on the lookout for real or imaginary slights.

113
Q

slither

A

slip or slide

During the recent ice storm, many people slithered down this hill as they walked to the station.

114
Q

slough

A

cast off

Each spring, the snake sloughs off its skin.

115
Q

slovenly

A

untidy; slipshod

Such slovenly work habits will never produce good products.

116
Q

sluggard

A

lazy person

“You are a sluggard, a drone, a parasite,” the angry father shouted at his lazy son.

117
Q

sluice

A

artificial channel for directing or controlling the flow of water

In times of drought, this sluice enables farmers to obtain water for irrigation.

118
Q

slur

A

insult to one’s character or reputation; slander

Polls revealed that the front-runner’s standing had been damaged by the slurs and innuendoes circulated by his opponent’s staff.

119
Q

smattering

A

slight knowledge

I don’t know whether it is better to be ignorant of a subject or to have a mere smattering of information about it.

120
Q

smirk

A

conceited smile

Wipe that smirk off your face!

121
Q

smolder

A

burn without flame; be liable to break out at any moment

The rags smoldered for hours before they burst into flame.

122
Q

snicker

A

half-stifled laugh

The boy could not suppress a snicker when the teacher sat on the tack.

123
Q

snivel

A

run at the nose; snuffle; whine

Don’t you come sniveling to me complaining about your big brother.

124
Q

sodden

A

soaked; dull, as if from drink

He set his sodden overcoat near the radiator to dry.

125
Q

sojourn

A

temporary stay

After his sojourn in Florida, he began to long for the colder climate of his native New England home.

126
Q

solace

A

comfort in trouble

I hope you will find solace in the thought that all of us share your loss.

127
Q

solder

A

repair or make whole by using a metal alloy

The plumber fixed the leak in the pipes by soldering a couple of joints from which water had been oozing.

128
Q

solecism

A

construction that is flagrantly incorrect grammatically

I must give this paper a failing mark because it contains many solecisms.

129
Q

solemnity

A

seriousness; gravity

The minister was concerned that nothing should disturb the solemnity of the marriage service.

130
Q

solicit

A

request earnestly; seek

Knowing she needed to have a solid majority for the budget to pass, the mayor telephoned all the members of the city council to solicit their votes.

131
Q

solicitous

A

worried, concerned

The employer was very solicitous about the health of her employees as replacements were difficult to get.

132
Q

soliloquy

A

talking to oneself

The soliloquy is a device used by the dramatist to reveal a character’s innermost thoughts and emotions.

133
Q

solstice

A

point at which the sun is farthest from the equator

The winter solstice usually occurs on December 21.

134
Q

somatic

A

pertaining to the body; physical

Why do you ignore the spiritual aspects and emphasize only the corporeal and the somatic ones?

135
Q

somnambulist

A

sleepwalker

The most famous somnambulist in literature is Lady Macbeth; her monologue in the sleepwalking scene is one of the highlights of Shakespeare’s play.

136
Q

somnolent

A

half asleep

The heavy meal and the overheated room made us all somnolent and indifferent to the speaker.

137
Q

sonorous

A

resonant

His sonorous voice resounded through the hall.

138
Q

sophist

A

teacher of philosophy; quibbler; employer of fallacious reasoning

You are using all the devices of a sophist in trying to prove your case; your argument is specious.

139
Q

sophistry

A

seemingly plausible but fallacious reasoning

Instead of advancing valid arguments, he tried to overwhelm his audience with a flood of sophistries.

140
Q

sophomoric

A

immature; shallow

Your sophomoric remarks are a sign of your youth and indicate that you have not given much thought to the problem.

141
Q

sordid

A

filthy; base; vile

The social worker was angered by the sordid housing provided for the homeless.

142
Q

spangle

A

small metallic piece sewn to clothing for ornamentation

The thousands of spangles on her dress sparkled in the glare of the stage lights.

143
Q

spartan

A

lacking luxury and comfort; sternly disciplined

Looking over the bare, unheated room with its hard cot, he wondered what he was doing in such spartan quarters. Only his spartan sense of duty kept him at his post.

144
Q

spasmodic

A

fitful; periodic

The spasmodic coughing in the auditorium annoyed the performers.

145
Q

spat

A

squabble; minor dispute

What had started out as a mere spat escalated into a full-blown argument.

146
Q

spate

A

sudden flood

I am worried about the possibility of a spate if the rains do not diminish soon.

147
Q

spawn

A

lay eggs

Fish ladders had to be built in the dams to assist the salmon returning to spawn in their native streams.

148
Q

specious

A

seemingly reasonable but incorrect

Let us not be misled by such specious arguments.

149
Q

spectrum

A

colored band produced when a beam of light passes through a prism

The visible portion of the spectrum includes red at one end and violet at the other.

150
Q

spendthrift

A

someone who wastes money

Easy access to credit encourages people to turn into spendthrifts who shop till they drop.

151
Q

sphinx-like

A

enigmatic; mysterious

The Mona Lisa’s sphinx-like expression has puzzled art lovers for centuries.

152
Q

splice

A

fasten together; unite

Before you splice two strips of tape together, be sure to line them up evenly.

153
Q

spoonerism

A

accidental transposition of sounds in sucessive words

When the radio announcer introduced the President as Hoobert Herver, he was guilty of spoonerism.

154
Q

sporadic

A

occurring irregularly

Although there are still sporadic outbursts of shooting in the streets, the rebellion is essentially over.

155
Q

spruce

A

neat and trim

Every button buttoned, tie firmly in place, young Alex Keaton looked spruce and tidy for his job interview at the bank.

156
Q

spry

A

vigorously active; nimble

She was eighty years old, yet still spry and alert.

157
Q

spurious

A

false; counterfeit; forged; illogical

The hero of Jonathan Gash’s mystery novels is an antique dealer who gives the reader advice on how to tell spurious antiques from the real things.

158
Q

spurn

A

reject; scorn

The heroine spurned the villain’s advances.

159
Q

squabble

A

minor quarrel; bickering

Children invariably get involved in petty squabbles; wise parents know when to interfere and when to let the children work things out on their own.

160
Q

squalid

A

dirty; neglected; poor

It is easy to see how crime can breed in such a squalid neighborhood.

161
Q

squander

A

waste

The prodigal son squandered the family estate.

162
Q

squat

A

stocky; short and thick

Tolkien’s hobbits are somewhat squat, sturdy little creatures, fond of good ale, good music, and good food.

163
Q

staccato

A

played in an abrupt manner; marked by abrupt, sharp sound

His staccato speech reminded one of the sound of a machine gun.

164
Q

stagnant

A

motionless; stale; dull

The stagnant water was a breeding ground for disease

165
Q

staid

A

sober; sedate

Her conduct during the funeral ceremony was staid and solemn.

166
Q

stalemate

A

deadlock

Negotiations between the union and the employers have reached a stalemate; neither side is willing to budge from previously stated positions.

167
Q

stalwart

A

strong, brawny; steadfast

His consistent support of the party has proved that he is a stalwart and loyal member.

168
Q

stamina

A

strength; staying power

I doubt that she has the stamina to run the full distance of the marathon race.

169
Q

stanch

A

check flow of blood

It is imperative that we stanch the gushing wound before we attend to the other injuries.

170
Q

statute

A

law

We have many statutes in our law books which should be repealed.

171
Q

statutory

A

created by statute or legislative action

The judicial courts review and try statutory crimes.

172
Q

steadfast

A

loyal; unswerving

Penelope was steadfast in her affections, faithfully waiting for Ulysses to return from his wanderings.

173
Q

stealth

A

slyness; sneakiness; secretiveness

Fearing detection by the sentries on duty, the scout inched his way toward the enemy camp with great stealth.

174
Q

steep

A

soak; saturate

Be sure to steep the fabric in the dye bath for the full time prescribed.

175
Q

stem

A

check the flow

The paramedic used a tourniquet to stem the bleeding from the slashed artery.

176
Q

stemfrom

A

arise from

Milton’s problems in school stemmed from his poor study habits.

177
Q

stentorian

A

extremely loud

The town crier had stentorian voice.

178
Q

stickler

A

perfectionist; person who insists things be exactly right

The Internal Revenue Service agent was a stickler for accuracy; no approximations or rough estimates would satisfy him.

179
Q

stifle

A

suppress; extinguish; inhibit

Halfway through the boring lecture, Laura gave up trying to stifle her yawns.

180
Q

stigma

A

token of disgrace; brand

I do not attach any stigma to the fact that you were accused of this crime; the fact that you were acquitted clears you completely.

181
Q

stilted

A

bombastic; stiffly pompous

His stilted rhetoric did not impress the college audience; they were immune to bombastic utterances.

182
Q

stint

A

*

be thrifty; set limits

“Spare no expense,” the bride’s father said, refusing to stint on the wedding arrangements.

**

supply; allotted amount; assigned portion of work

He performed his daily stint cheerfully and willingly.

183
Q

stipend

A

pay for services

There is a nominal stipend for this position.

184
Q

stipple

A

paint or draw with dots

Seurat carefully stippled dabs of pure color on the canvas, juxtaposing dots of blue and yellow that the viewer’s eye would interpret as green.

185
Q

stipulate

A

make express conditions, specify

Before agreeing to reduce American military forces in Europe, the president stipulated that NATO teams be allowed to inspect Soviet bases.

186
Q

stodgy

A

stuffy; boringly conservative

For a young person, Winston seems remarkably stodgy: you’d expect someone of his age to have a little more life.

187
Q

stoic

A

person who is indifferent to pleasure or pain

The doctor called her patient a stoic because he had borne the pain of the examination without whimpering.

188
Q

stoke

A

stir up a fire; feed plentifully

As a Scout, Marisa learned how to light a fire, how to stoke it if it started to die down, and how to extinguish it completely.

189
Q

stolidity

A

dullness; impassivenss

The earthquake shattered his usual stolidity; trembling, he crouched on the no longer stable ground.

190
Q

strew

A

spread randomly; sprinkle; scatter

Preceding the bride to the altar, the flower girl will strew rose petals along the aisle.

191
Q

striated

A

marked with parallel bands; grooved

The glacier left many striated rocks.

192
Q

stricture

A

critical comments; severe and adverse criticism

His strictures on the author’s style are prejudiced and unwarranted.

193
Q

strident

A

loud and harsh

She scolded him in a strident voice

194
Q

strngent

A

binding; rigid

I think these regulations are too stringent.

195
Q

strut

A

*

pompous walk

His strut as he marched about the parade ground revealed him for what he was: a pompous buffoon.

**

supporting bar

The engineer calculated that the strut supporting the rafter needed to be reinforced.

196
Q

stultify

A

cause to appear or become stupid or inconsistent; frustrate or hinder

His long hours in the blacking factory left young Dickens numb and incurious, as if the menial labor had stultified his mind.

197
Q

stupefy

A

make numb; stun; amaze

Disapproving of drugs in general, Laura refused to take sleeping pills or any other medicine that might stupefy her.

198
Q

stupor

A

state of apathy; daze; lack of awareness

In his stupor, the addict was unaware of the events taking place around him.

199
Q

stymie

A

present an obstacle; stump

The detective was stymied by the contradictory evidence in the robbery investigation.

200
Q

suavity

A

urbanity; polish

He is particulary good in roles that require suavity and sophistication.

201
Q

subaltern

A

subordinate

The captain treated his subalterns as though they were children rather than commissioned officers.

202
Q

subjugate

A

conquer; bring under control

It is not our aim to subjugate our foe; we are interested only in establishing peaceful relations.

203
Q

sublimate

A

refine; purify

We must strive to sublimate these desires and emotions into worthwhile activities.

204
Q

subliminal

A

below the threshold

We may not be aware of the subliminal influences that affect our thinking.

205
Q

suborn

A

persuade to act unlawfully (especially to commit perjury)

In the Godfather, the mobsters used bribery and threats to suborn the witnesses against Don Michael Corleone.

206
Q

subpoena

A

writ summoning a witness to appear

The prosecutor’s office was ready to serve a subpoena on the reluctant witness.

207
Q

subservient

A

behaving like a slave; servile; obsequious

He was proud and dignified; he refused to be subservient to anyone.

208
Q

subside

A

settle down; descend; grow quiet

The doctor assured us that the fever would eventually subside.

209
Q

subsidiary

A

subordinate; secondary

This information may be used as subsidiary evidence but is not sufficient by itself to prove your argument.

210
Q

subsidy

A

direct financial aid by government, etc.

Without this subsidy, American ship operators would not be able to compete in world markets.

211
Q

substantive

A

essential; pertaining to the substance

Although the delegates were aware of the importance of the problem, they could not agree on the substantive issues.

212
Q

subsume

A

include; encompass

Does the general theory of relativity contradict Newtonian physics, or is Newton’s law of gravity subsumed into Einstein’s larger scheme?

213
Q

subterfuge

A

pretense; evasion

As soon as we realized that you had won our support by a subterfuge we withdrew our endorsement of your candidacy.

214
Q

subtlety

A

nicety; cunning; guile; delicacy

The subtlety of his remarks was unnoticed by most of his audience.

215
Q

subversive

A

tending to overthrow; destructive

At first glance, the notion that Styrofoam cups may actually be more ecologically sound than paper cups strikes most environmentalists as subversive.

216
Q

succint

A

brief; terse; compact

His remarks are always succinct and pointed.

217
Q

succulent

A

juicy; full of richness

To some people, Florida citrus fruits are more succulent than those from California.

218
Q

succumb

A

yield; give in; die

I succumb to temptation whenever it comes my way.

219
Q

suffragist

A

advocate of voting rights (for women)

In recognition of her efforts to win the vote for women, Congress authorized coining a silver dollar honoring the suffragist Susan B. Anthony.

220
Q

suffuse

A

spread over

A blush suffused her cheeks when we teased her about her love affair.

221
Q

sully

A

tarnish; soil

He felt that it was beneath his dignity to sully his hands in such menial labor.

222
Q

sultry

A

sweltering

He could not adjust himself to the sultry climate of the tropics.

223
Q

summation

A

act of finding the total, summary

In his summation, the lawyer emphasized the testimony given by the two witnesses.

224
Q

sumptuous

A

lavish; rich

I cannot recall when I have had such a sumptuous Thanksgiving feast.

225
Q

sunder

A

separate; part

Northern and southern Ireland are politically and religiously sundered.

226
Q

sundry

A

various; several

My suspicions were aroused when I read sundry items in the newspapers about your behavior.

227
Q

superannuated

A

retired or disqualified because of age

The superannuated man was indignant because he felt that he could still perform a good day’s work.

228
Q

supercilious

A

contemptuous; haughty

I prefer Jill’s modesty to Jack’s supercilious and arrogant attitude.

229
Q

supererogatory

A

superfluous; more than needed or demanded

We have more than enough witnesses to corroborate your statement; to present any more would be supererogatory.

230
Q

superfluous

A

excessive; overabundant, unnecessary

Please try not to include so many superfluous details in your report; just give me the bare facts.

231
Q

supernumerary

A

person or thing in excess of what is necessary; extra

His first appearance on the stage was as a supernumerary in a Shakespearean tragedy.

232
Q

supersede

A

cause to be set aside; replace

This regulation will supersede all previous rules.

233
Q

supple

A

flexible; pliant

The angler found a supple limb and used it as a fishing rod.

234
Q

suppliant

A

entreating; beseeching

He could not resist the dog’s suppliant whimpering, and he gave it some food.

235
Q

supposition

A

hypothesis; surmise

I based my decision to confide in him on the supposition that he would be discreet.

236
Q

supposititious

A

assumed; counterfeit; hypothetical

I find no similarity between your supposititious illustration and the problem we are facing.

237
Q

surfeit

A

satiate; stuff; indulge to excess in anything

Every Thanksgiving we are surfeited with an overabundance of holiday treats.

238
Q

surly

A

rude; cross

Because of his surly attitude, many people avoided his company.

239
Q

surmise

A

guess

I surmise that he will be late for this meeting.

240
Q

surpass

A

exceed

Her SAT scores surpassed out expectations.

241
Q

surreptitious

A

secret

News of their surreptitious meeting gradually leaked out.

242
Q

surrogate

A

substitute

For a fatherless child, a male teacher may become a father surrogate.

243
Q

susceptible

A

impressionable; easily influenced; having little resistance, as to a disease

He was a very susceptible young man, and so his parents worried that he might fall into bad company.

244
Q

sustain

A

experience; support; nourish

He sustained such a severe injury that the doctors feared he would be unable to work to sustain his growing family.

245
Q

sustenance

A

means of support, food, nourishment

In the tropics, the natives find sustenance easy to obtain because of all the fruit trees.

246
Q

swarthy

A

dark; dusky

Despite the stereotype, not all Italians are swarthy; many are fair and blond.

247
Q

swathe

A

wrap around; bandage

When I visited him in the hospital, I found him swathed in bandages.

248
Q

swelter

A

be oppressed by heat

I am going to buy an air conditioning unit for my apartment as I do not intend to swelter through another hot and humid summer.

249
Q

swerve

A

deviate; turn aside sharply

The car swerved wildly as the driver struggled to regain control of the wheel.

250
Q

swill

A

drink greedily

Singing, “Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum,” Long John Silver and his fellow pirates swilled their grog.

251
Q

swindler

A

cheat

She was gullible and trusting, an easy victim for the first swindler who came along.

252
Q

sybarite

A

lover of luxury

Rich people are not always sybarites; some of them have little taste for a life of luxury.

253
Q

sycophant

A

servile flatterer

The king enjoyed the servile compliments and attentions of the sycophants in his retinue.

254
Q

syllogism

A

logical formula consisting of a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion; deceptive or specious argument

There must be a fallacy in this syllogism; I cannot accept its conclusion.

255
Q

sylvan

A

pertaining to the woods; rustic

His paintings of nymphs in sylvan backgrounds were criticized as oversentimental.

256
Q

synoptic

A

providing a general overview; summary

The professor turned to the latest issue of Dissertation Abstracts for a synoptic account of what was new in the field.

257
Q

stygian

A

literary dark

The stygian room reminded him of an empty space.

258
Q
A

GRE (24 decks)

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