SAT Vocab Week 2 Flashcards
1
Q
apprehend
A
- (v.) to seize, arrest (The criminal was apprehended at the scene.)
- (v.) to perceive, understand, grasp (The student has trouble apprehending concepts in
math and science.)
2
Q
approbation
A
(n.) praise (The crowd welcomed the heroes with approbation.)
3
Q
appropriate
A
(v.) to take, make use of (The government appropriated the farmer’s land
without justification.)
4
Q
aquatic
A
(adj.) relating to water (The marine biologist studies starfish and other aquatic
creatures.)
4
Q
arable
A
(adj.) suitable for growing crops (The farmer purchased a plot of arable land on
which he will grow corn and sprouts.)
5
Q
arbiter
A
(n.) one who can resolve a dispute, make a decision (The divorce court judge
will serve as the arbiter between the estranged husband and wife.)
6
Q
arbitrary
A
(adj.) based on factors that appear random (The boy’s decision to choose one
college over another seems arbitrary.)
7
Q
arbitration
A
(n.) the process or act of resolving a dispute (The employee sought official
arbitration when he could not resolve a disagreement with his supervisor.)
8
Q
arboreal
A
(adj.) of or relating to trees (Leaves, roots, and bark are a few arboreal traits.)
9
Q
arcane
A
(adj.) obscure, secret, known only by a few (The professor is an expert in arcane
Lithuanian literature.)
9
Q
arrogate
A
(v.) to take without justification (The king arrogated the right to order
executions to himself exclusively.)
10
Q
ardor
A
(n.) extreme vigor, energy, enthusiasm (The soldiers conveyed their ardor with
impassioned battle cries.)
10
Q
archaic
A
(adj.) of or relating to an earlier period in time, outdated (In a few select regions
of Western Mongolian, an archaic Chinese dialect is still spoken.)
10
Q
archetypal
A
(adj.) the most representative or typical example of something (Some
believe George Washington, with his flowing white hair and commanding stature,
was the archetypal politician.)
11
Q
arid
A
(adj.) excessively dry
12
Q
artifact
A
(n.) a remaining piece from an extinct culture or place (The scientists spent all
day searching the cave for artifacts from the ancient Mayan civilization.)
13
Q
artisan
A
(n.) a craftsman (The artisan uses wood to make walking sticks.)
14
Q
ascertain
A
(v.) to perceive, learn (With a bit of research, the student ascertained that
some plants can live for weeks without water.)
15
Q
ascribe
A
(v.) to assign, credit, attribute to (Some ascribe the invention of fireworks and
dynamite to the Chinese.)
16
Q
ascetic
A
(adj.) practicing restraint as a means of self-discipline, usually religious (The
priest lives an ascetic life devoid of television, savory foods, and other pleasures.)
17
Q
aspire
A
(v.) to long for, aim toward (The young poet aspires to publish a book of verse
someday.)
17
Q
aspersion
A
(n.) a curse, expression of ill-will (The rival politicians repeatedly cast
aspersions on each others’ integrity.)
18
Q
assail
A
(v.) to attack (At dawn, the war planes assailed the boats in the harbor.)
19
Q
assess
A
(v.) to evaluate (A crew arrived to assess the damage after the crash.)
20
assiduous
(adj.) hard-working, diligent (The construction workers erected the
skyscraper during two years of assiduous labor.)
20
assuage
(v.) to ease, pacify (The mother held the baby to assuage its fears.)
21
astute
(adj.) very clever, crafty (Much of Roger’s success in politics results from his
ability to provide astute answers to reporters’ questions.)
22
atone
(v.) to repent, make amends (The man atoned for forgetting his wife’s birthday
by buying her five dozen roses.)
22
asylum
1. (n.) a place of refuge, protection, a sanctuary (For Thoreau, the forest served as an asylum from the pressures of urban life.)
2. (n.) an institution in which the
insane are kept (Once diagnosed by a certified psychiatrist, the man was put in an
asylum.)
23
atrophy
(v.) to wither away, decay (If muscles do not receive enough blood, they will
soon atrophy and die.)
24
attain
(v.) to achieve, arrive at (The athletes strived to attain their best times in
competition.)
24
audible
(adj.) able to be heard (The missing person’s shouts were unfortunately not
audible.)
25
attribute
1. (v.) to credit, assign (He attributes all of his success to his mother’s undying encouragement.)
2. (n.) a facet or trait (Among the beetle’s most peculiar attributes is
its thorny protruding eyes.)
25
atypical
(adj.) not typical, unusual (Screaming and crying is atypical adult behavior.)
26
audacious
(adj.) excessively bold (The security guard was shocked by the fan’s
audacious attempt to offer him a bribe.)
27
augment
(v.) to add to, expand (The eager student seeks to augment his knowledge of
French vocabulary by reading French literature.)
27
auspicious
(adj.) favorable, indicative of good things (The tennis player considered the
sunny forecast an auspicious sign that she would win her match.)
28
ballad
(n.) a love song (Greta’s boyfriend played her a ballad on the guitar during their
walk through the dark woods.)
28
avarice
(n.) excessive greed (The banker’s avarice led him to amass a tremendous
personal fortune.)
28
bard
(n.) a poet, often a singer as well (Shakespeare is often considered the greatest bard
in the history of the English language.)
29
austere
(adj.) very bare, bleak (The austere furniture inside the abandoned house made
the place feel haunted.)
30
avenge
(v.) to seek revenge (The victims will take justice into their own hands and
strive to avenge themselves against the men who robbed them.)
30
aversion
(n.) a particular dislike for something (Because he’s from Hawaii, Ben has an
aversion to autumn, winter, and cold climates in general.)
31
balk
(v.) to stop, block abruptly (Edna’s boss balked at her request for another raise.)
32
banal
(adj.) dull, commonplace (The client rejected our proposal because they found
our presentation banal and unimpressive.)
33
battery
1.(n.) a device that supplies power (Most cars run on a combination of power from a battery and gasoline.)
2. (n.)assault, beating (Her husband was accused of
assault and battery after he attacked a man on the sidewalk.)
33
bane
(n.) a burden (Advanced physics is the bane of many students’ academic lives.)
34
bashful
(adj.) shy, excessively timid (Frankie’s mother told him not to be bashful when
he refused to attend the birthday party.)
35
beguile
(v.) to trick, deceive (The thief beguiled his partners into surrendering all of
their money to him.)
36
blemish
(n.) an imperfection, flaw (The dealer agreed to lower the price because of the
many blemishes on the surface of the wooden furniture.)
36
beseech
(v.) to beg, plead, implore (The servant beseeched the king for food to feed his
starving family.)
37
berate
(v.) to scold vehemently (The angry boss berated his employees for failing to
meet their deadline.)
37
benign
(adj.) favorable, not threatening, mild (We were all relieved to hear that the
medical tests determined her tumor to be benign.)
37
behemoth
(n.) something of tremendous power or size (The new aircraft carrier is
among several behemoths that the Air Force has added to its fleet.)
37
bias
(n.) a tendency, inclination, prejudice (The judge’s hidden bias against smokers led
him to make an unfair decision.)
38
bereft
(adj.) devoid of, without (His family was bereft of food and shelter following the
tornado.)
38
benevolent
(adj.) marked by goodness or doing good (Police officers should be
commended for their benevolent service to the community.)
38
bequeath
(v.) to pass on, give (Jon’s father bequeathed his entire estate to his mother.)
39
bilk
(v.) cheat, defraud (The lawyer discovered that this firm had bilked several clients
out of thousands of dollars.)
40
blight
1. (n.) a plague, disease (The potato blight destroyed the harvest and bankrupted many families.)
2. (n.) something that destroys hope (His bad morale is a blight
upon this entire operation.)
40
blandish
(v.) to coax by using flattery (Rachel’s assistant tried to blandish her into
accepting the deal.)
41
boisterous
(adj.) loud and full of energy (The candidate won the vote after giving
several boisterous speeches on television.)
41
bombastic
(adj.) excessively confident, pompous (The singer’s bombastic performance
disgusted the crowd.)
42
brazen
(adj.) excessively bold, brash (Critics condemned the novelist’s brazen attempt
to plagiarize Hemingway’s story.)
43
boon
(n.) a gift or blessing (The good weather has been a boon for many businesses
located near the beach.)
44
bourgeois
(n.) a middle-class person, capitalist (Many businessmen receive criticism for
their bourgeois approach to life.)
44
buffet
1. (v.) to strike with force (The strong winds buffeted the 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 buffet and ate standing up.)
44
brusque
(adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive (The captain’s brusque manner offended the
passengers.)
45
buttress
1. (v.) to support, hold up (The column buttresses the roof above the statue.)
2. (n.)something that offers support (The buttress supports the roof above the statues.)
45
burnish
(v.) to polish, shine (His mother asked him to burnish the silverware before
setting the table.)
46
cacophony
(n.) tremendous noise, disharmonious sound (The elementary school
orchestra created a cacophony at the recital.)
47
cadence
(n.) a rhythm, progression of sound (The pianist used the foot pedal to
emphasize the cadence of the sonata.)
48
cajole
(v.) to urge, coax (Fred’s buddies cajoled him into attending the bachelor party.)
49
calamity
(n.) an event with disastrous consequences (The earthquake in San Francisco
was a calamity worse than any other natural disaster in history.)
49
calibrate
(v.) to set, standardize (The mechanic calibrated the car’s transmission to
make the motor run most efficiently.)
50
callous
(adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling (The murderer’s callous lack of remorse shocked the
jury.)
50
capacious
(adj.) very spacious (The workers delighted in their new capacious office
space.)
51
calumny
(n.) an attempt to spoil someone else’s reputation by spreading lies (The local
official’s calumny ended up ruining his opponent’s prospect of winning the election.)
51
camaraderie
(n.) brotherhood, jovial unity (Camaraderie among employees usually
leads to success in business.)
52
capricious
(adj.) subject to whim, fickle (The young girl’s capricious tendencies made it
difficult for her to focus on achieving her goals.)
53
candor
(n.) honesty, frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the mayor’s speech
because he is usually rather evasive.)
53
canny
(adj.) shrewd, careful (The canny runner hung at the back of the pack through
much of the race to watch the other runners, and then sprinted past them at the end.)
54
canvas
1. (n.) a piece of cloth on which an artist paints (Picasso liked to work on canvas rather than on bare cement.)
2. (v.) to cover, inspect (We canvassed the
neighborhood looking for clues.)
54
carouse
(v.) to party, celebrate (We caroused all night after getting married.)
55
capitulate
(v.) to surrender (The army finally capitulated after fighting a long costly
battle.)
55
captivate
(v.)to get the attention of, hold (The fireworks captivated the young boy, who
had never seen such things before.)
56
carp
(v.) to annoy, pester (The husband divorced his wife after listening to her carping
voice for decades.)
57
catalog
1. (v.) to list, enter into a list (The judge cataloged the victim’s injuries before calculating how much money he would award.)
2. (n.) a list or collection (We
received a catalog from J. Crew that displayed all of their new items.)
58
caucus
(n.) a meeting usually held by people working toward the same goal (The
ironworkers held a caucus to determine how much of a pay increase they would
request.)
59
cavort
(v.) to leap about, behave boisterously (The adults ate their dinners on the patio,
while the children cavorted around the pool.)
59
catalyze
(v.) to charge, inspire (The president’s speech catalyzed the nation and
resuscitated the economy.)
60
caustic
(adj.) bitter, biting, acidic (The politicians exchanged caustic insults for over an
hour during the debate.)
61
censure
1. (n.) harsh criticism (The frustrated teenager could not put up with anymore of her critical mother’s censure.)
2. (v.) to rebuke formally (The principal censured
the head of the English Department for forcing students to learn esoteric
vocabulary.)
61
cerebral
(adj.) related to the intellect (The books we read in this class are too cerebral—
they don’t engage my emotions at all.)
62
chaos
(n.) absolute disorder (Mr. Thornton’s sudden departure for the lavatory
plunged his classroom into chaos.)
63
chastise
(v.) to criticize severely (After being chastised by her peers for mimicking
Britney Spears, Miranda dyed her hair black and affected a Gothic style.)
64
cherish
(v.) to feel or show affection toward something (She continued to cherish her
red plaid trousers, even though they had gone out of style and no longer fit her.)
65
chide
(v.) to voice disapproval (Lucy chided Russell for his vulgar habits and sloppy
appearance.)
66
choreography
(n.) the arrangement of dances (The plot of the musical was banal, but the
choreography was stunning.)
67
chronicle
1. (n.) a written history (The library featured the newly updated chronicle of World War II.)
2. (v.) to write a history (Albert’s diary chronicled the day-to-day
growth of his obsession with Cynthia.)
