SAT words

Question 1

redress

Answer 1

to put right a wrong or give payment for a wrong that has been done:

Most managers, politicians and bosses are men - how can women redress the balance (= make the situation fairer and more equal)?

2) money that you have to pay to someone else because you have injured that person or treated them badly:

He went to the industrial tribunal to seek redress for the way his employers had discriminated against him.

Question 2

belittle

Answer 2

to make a person or an action seem as if he, she or it is not important:

Though she had spent hours fixing the computer, he belittled her efforts.

Stop belittling yourself - your work is highly valued.

Question 3

disparage

Answer 3

to criticize someone or something in a way that shows you do not respect or value him, her, or it:

The actor’s work for charity has recently been disparaged in the press as an attempt to get publicity.

Question 4

desolation

Answer 4

the state of a place that is empty or where everything has been destroyed:

a scene of desolation

2) the state of feeling sad and alone:
a feeling of utter desolation

Question 5

disdain

Answer 5

the feeling of not liking someone or something and thinking that they do not deserve your interest or respect:

He regards the political process with disdain.

The mayor’s disdain for his opponents was well known.

Question 6

repudiate

Answer 6

to refuse to accept something or someone as true, good, or reasonable:

He repudiated the allegation/charge/claim that he had tried to deceive them.

I utterly repudiate those remarks.

Question 7

meager

Answer 7

(of amounts or numbers) very small or not enough:
a meager salary

The prisoners existed on a meager diet.

Question 8

calibrate

Answer 8

to mark units of measurement on an instrument such so that it can measure accurately:

a calibrated stick for measuring the amount of oil in an engine

Question 9

timid (C2)

Answer 9

shy and nervous; without much confidence; easily frightened:
Kieran is a timid child.

My dog is a little timid - especially around other dogs.

Question 10

exacerbate

Answer 10

to make something that is already bad even worse:
This attack will exacerbate the already tense relations between the two communities.

Question 11

impartial

Answer 11

able to judge or consider something fairly without allowing your own interest to influence you:

The jury has to give an impartial verdict after listening to all of the evidence.

impartial advice

A trial must be fair and impartial.

Question 12

earnest

Answer 12

serious and determined, especially too serious and unable to find your own actions funny:

He was a very earnest young man

Question 13

immerse

Answer 13

to involve someone completely in an activity:

She immersed herself wholly in her work.

2) To immerse something is also to put it completely under the surface of a liquid:

Immerse the egg in boiling water.

Question 14

vitality C2

Answer 14

energy and strength:
According to the packet, these vitamin pills will restore lost vitality.

Question 15

ominous

Answer 15

suggesting that something unpleasant is likely to happen:

There was an ominous silence when I asked whether my contract was going to be renewed.

The engine had been making an ominous sound all the way from my parents’ house.

ominous dark clouds

Question 16

menacing

Answer 16

making you think that someone is going to do something bad:

a menacing look/gesture

Question 17

egocentric

Answer 17

thinking only about yourself and what is good for you:

Babies are entirely egocentric, concerned only with when they will next be fed.

Question 18

exploit

Answer 18

exploit verb [T] (USE WELL)

B2 to use something in a way that helps you:
We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible

2) (USE UNFAIRLY)

B2 to use someone or something unfairly for your own advantage:
Laws exist to stop companies exploiting their employees

3) a brave, interesting, or unusual act:
daredevil exploits
He is not content to limit himself to his exploits on the basketball court.

Question 19

momentous

Answer 19

very important because of effects on future events:
the momentous news of the president’s death
Whether or not to move overseas was a momentous decision for the family.

Question 20

reverberate

Answer 20

If an event or idea reverberates somewhere, it has an effect on everyone or everything in a place or group:

News of the disaster reverberated around the organization.

The surge in US share prices reverberated across the globe

2) (of sound) to continue to be heard; to echo repeatedly:
The loud music reverberated off the walls.

Question 21

lament

Answer 21

to express sadness and feeling sorry about something:

The poem opens by lamenting (over) the death of a young man
.
My grandmother, as usual, lamented the decline in moral standards in today’s society.

The late lamented (= dead and remembered with love) Frank Giotto used to live here

Question 22

mediate

Answer 22

to talk to two separate people or groups involved in a disagreement to try to help them to agree or find a solution to their problems:

Negotiators were called in to mediate between the two sides.

The two envoys have succeeded in mediating an end to the war.

Question 23

sullen

Answer 23

angry and unwilling to smile or be pleasant to people:

His daughters stared back at him with an expression of sullen resentment.

literary She looked up at the sullen (= dark and unpleasant) sky and shuddered.

Question 24

surmise

Answer 24

to guess something, without having much or any proof:
[ + (that) ] The police surmise (that) the robbers have fled the country.

Question 25

contrive

Answer 25

to arrange a situation or event, or arrange for something to happen, using clever planning:
Couldn’t you contrive a meeting between them? I think they’d really like each other.
[ + to infinitive ] Somehow she contrived to get tickets for the concert.

Question 26

hierarchy C2

Answer 26

a system in which people or things are arranged according to their importance:
Some monkeys have a very complex social hierarchy.
He rose quickly through the political hierarchy to become party leader.

Question 27

tout

Answer 27

tout verb (MAKE KNOWN)

[ T ] to advertise, talk about, or praise something or someone repeatedly, especially as a way of encouraging people to like, accept, or buy something:

The minister has been touting these ideas for some time.

He is being widely touted as the next leader of the party.

A local car dealership was touting its services/wares on the radio.

2) a person who touts tickets:
Britain’s best-known ticket tout once boasted that he could get you tickets for anything.

Question 28

permeate

Answer 28

to spread through something and be present in every part of it:

Dissatisfaction with the government seems to have permeated every section of society.

A foul smell of stale beer permeated the whole building.

The table has a plastic coating which prevents liquids from permeating into the wood beneath.

2) pervade

When qualities, characteristics, or smells pervade a place or thing, they spread through it and are present in every part of it:
The film movie is a reflection of the violence that pervades our culture.

Question 29

obeisance

Answer 29

the fact of obeying or respecting someone, or something you do that expresses this:

One by one the noblemen made their obeisances (= bent at the waist) to the queen.

Question 30

engulf

Answer 30

to surround and cover something or someone completely:
The flames rapidly engulfed the house.

Northern areas of the country were engulfed by/in a snowstorm last night.

The war is threatening to engulf the entire region.

Question 31

coarse

Answer 31

rude and offensive:

a coarse joke
coarse language

2) rough and not smooth or soft:
coarse hair
coarse linen shirts

Question 32

reproach C2

Answer 32

to criticize someone, especially for not being successful or not doing what is expected:

His mother reproached him for not eating all his dinner.

You have nothing to reproach yourself for/with.