S Flashcards
Silly seagulls sneakily steal salty strawberry sandwiches.
saccharine
(adj.)
sickeningly sweet
(Tom’s saccharine manner, although intended to make him popular, actually repelled his classmates.)
sacrosanct
(adj.)
holy, something that should not be criticized
(In the United States, the Constitution is often thought of as a sacrosanct document.)
sagacity
(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.)
salient
(adj.)
significant, conspicuous
(One of the salient differences between Alison and Nancy is that Alison is a foot taller.)
salutation
(n.)
a greeting
(Andrew regularly began letters with the bizarre salutation “Ahoy ahoy.”)
salve
(n.)
a soothing balm
(After Tony applied a salve to his brilliant red sunburn, he soon felt a little better.)
sanctimonious
(adj.)
giving a hypocritical appearance of piety
(The sanctimonious Bertrand 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.)
sanguine
(adj.)
optimistic, cheery
(Polly reacted to any bad news with a sanguine smile and the chirpy cry, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”)
satiate
(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.)
scathing
(adj.)
sharp, critical, hurtful
(Two hours after breaking up with Russell, Suzanne thought of the perfect scathing retort to his accusations.)
scintillating
(adj.)
sparkling
(The ice skater’s scintillating rhinestone costume nearly blinded the judges.)
scrupulous
(adj.)
painstaking, careful
(With scrupulous care, Sam cut a snowflake out of white paper.)
scurrilous
(adj.)
vulgar, coarse
(When Bruno heard the scurrilous accusation being made about him, he could not believe it because he always tried to be nice to everyone.)
sedentary
(adj.)
sitting, settled
(The sedentary cat did little but loll in the sun.)
semaphore
(n.)
a visual signal
(Anne and Diana communicated with a semaphore
involving candles and window shades.)
seminal
(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.)
sensual
(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 sensual person.)
sensuous
(adj.)
involving sensory gratification
(Paul found drinking Coke, with all the little bubbles bursting on his tongue, a very sensuous experience.)
serendipity
(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.)
serene
(adj.)
calm, untroubled
(Louise stood in front of the Mona Lisa, puzzling over the famous woman’s serene smile.)
servile
(adj.)
subservient
(The servile porter crept around the hotel lobby, bowing and quaking before the guests.)
sinuous
(adj.)
lithe, serpentine
(With the sinuous movements of her arms, the dancer mimicked the motion of a snake.)
sobriety
(n.)
sedate, calm
(Jason believed that maintaining his sobriety in times of crisis was the key to success in life.)
solicitous
(adj.)
concerned, attentive
(Jim, laid up in bed with a nasty virus, enjoyed the solicitous attentions of his mother, who brought him soup and extra blankets.)
solipsistic
(adj.)
believing that oneself is all that exists
(Colette’s solipsistic attitude completely ignored the plight of the homeless people on the street.)
soluble
(adj.)
able to dissolve
(The plot of the spy film revolved around an untraceable and water-soluble poison.)
solvent
1.(n.) 2.(adj.)
- a substance that can dissolve other substances
- able to pay debts
- (Water is sometimes called the universal solvent because almost all other substances can dissolve into it.)
- (Upon receiving an unexpected check from her aunt, Annabelle found herself suddenly solvent.)
somnolent
(adj.)
sleepy, drowsy
(The somnolent student kept falling asleep and waking up with a jerk.)
sophomoric
(adj.)
immature, uninformed
(The mature senior rolled her eyes at the sophomoric gross-out humor of the underclassman.)
soveriegn
(adj.)
having absolute authority in a certain realm
(The sovereign queen, with steely resolve, ordered that the traitorous nobleman be killed.)
speculative
(adj.)
not absed in fact
(Sadly, Tessa was convicted on merely speculative evidence.)
spurious
(adj.)
false but designed to seem plausible
(Using a spurious argument, John convinced the others that he had won the board game on a technicality.)
stagnate
(v.)
to become or remain inactive, not develop, not flow
(With no room for advancement, the waiter’s career stagnated.)
staid
(adj.)
sedate, serious, self-restrained
(The staid butler never changed his expression no matter what happened.)
stingy
(adj.)
not generous, not inclined to spend or give
(Scrooge’s stingy habits did not fit with the generous, giving spirit of Christmas.)
stoic
(adj.)
unaffected by passion or feeling
(Penelope’s faithfulness to Odysseus required that she be stoic and put off her many suitors.)
stolid
(adj.)
expressing little sensibility, unemotional
(Charles’s stolid reaction to his wife’s funeral differed from the passion he showed at the time of her death.)
strenuous
(adj.)
requiring tremendous energy or stamina
(Running a marathon is quite a strenuous task. So is watching an entire Star Trek marathon.)
strident
(adj.)
harsh, loud
(A strident man, Captain Von Trapp yelled at his daughter and made her cry.)
stupefy
(v.)
to astonish, make insensible
(Veronica’s audacity and ungratefulness stupefied her best friend, Heather.)
subjugate
(v.)
to bring under sontrol, subdue
(The invading force captured and subjugated the natives of that place.)
sublime
(adj.)
lofty, grand, exalted
(The homeless man sadly pondered his former wealth and once sublime existence.)
submissive
(adj.)
easily yielding to authority
(In some cultures, wives are supposed to be submissive and support their husbands in all matters.)
succinct
(adj.)
marked by compact precision
(The governor’s succinct speech energized the crowd while the mayor’s rambled on and on.)
superfluous
(adj.)
exceeding what is necessary
(Tracy had already won the campaign so her constant flattery of others was superfluous.)
surfeit
(n.)
an overabundant supply or indulgence
(After partaking of the surfeit of tacos and tamales at the All-You-Can-Eat Taco Tamale Lunch Special, Beth felt rather sick.)
surmise
(v.)
to infer with little evidence
(After speaking to only one of the students, the teacher was able to surmise what had caused the fight.)
surreptitious
(adj.)
stealthy
(The surreptitious CIA agents were able to get in and out of the house without anyone noticing.)
surrogate
(n.)
one acting in place of another
(The surrogate carried the child to term for its biological parents.)
swarthy
(adj.)
of dark color or complexion
(When he got drunk, Robinson’s white skin became rather swarthy.)
sycophant
(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.)
