SAT Words Flashcards
- Abandon
To give up completely
- Abate
To lessen or reduce in intensity
- Aberration
A departure from what is normal or expected
- Abhor
To regard with disgust or hatred
- Abstruse
Difficult to understand
- Accolade
An award or honor
- Acquiesce
To accept something reluctantly but without protest
- Acrimony
Bitterness or harshness of manner or speech
- Alacrity
Cheerful readiness or willingness
- Allay
To diminish or put at rest
- Altruism
Selflessness, concern for the well-being of others
- Ameliorate
To make something better or more tolerable
- Anomaly
Something that deviates from what is standard or expected
- Antipathy
A deep-seated feeling of dislike
- Apathy
Lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern
- Apocryphal
Of doubtful authenticity
- Apprehensive
Anxious or fearful about something
- Arbitrary
Based on random choice or personal whim
- Arcane
Understood by few
- Arduous
Involving or requiring strenuous effort
- Articulate
Able to express oneself clearly and effectively
- Ascendancy
Occupation of a position of dominant power or influence
- Assiduous
Showing great care and perseverance
- Audacious
Willing to take bold risks
- Austere
Severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance
- Autonomous
Independent and self-sufficient
- Avarice
Extreme greed for wealth or material gain
- Bellicose
Demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight
- Benign
Gentle and kind
- Bolster
To support or strengthen
- Bombastic
High-sounding but with little meaning
- Brevity
Concise and exact use of words in writing or speech
- Burgeon
To begin to grow or increase rapidly
- Cacophony
A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds
- Cajole
To persuade someone to do something through flattery
- Capitulate
To surrender or give in
- Castigate
To reprimand someone severely
- Caustic
Able to burn or corrode
- Censure
To express severe disapproval
- Choleric
Bad-tempered or irritable
- Coerce
To force someone to do something by using threats or intimidation
- Cogent
Clear, logical, and convincing
- Complacent
Showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself
- Concise
Giving much information clearly and in a few words
- Concur
To agree or have the same opinion
- Condone
To accept or allow behavior that is morally wrong
- Conducive
Making a certain situation or outcome likely or possible
- Conflagration
An extensive fire that destroys a great deal of land or property
- Conspicuous
Easily seen or noticed
- Copious
Abundant in supply or quantity
- Corroborate
To confirm or give support to a statement or theory
- Cryptic
Having a meaning that is mysterious or obscure
- Cursory
Hasty and therefore not thorough or detailed
- Debilitate
To make someone weak or infirm
- Debunk
To expose the falseness or hollowness of an idea or belief
- Defenestrate
To throw someone or something out of a window
- Defunct
No longer existing or functioning
- Delineate
To describe or portray something precisely
- Demagogue
A political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices
- Denigrate
To criticize unfairly or belittle
- Deride
To mock or ridicule
- Despot
A ruler with absolute power, typically one who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way
- Dichotomy
A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being entirely different
- Disdain
To regard or treat with contempt or scorn
- Disparate
Essentially different in kind
- Disseminate
To spread or distribute information, ideas, or rumors widely
- Distend
To swell or expand by pressure from the inside
- Diverge
To separate or move in different directions
- Dogged
Persistent or determined in effort
- Dogmatic
Asserting opinions in a forceful or arrogant way, without consideration of others’ viewpoints
- Dormant
Inactive or in a state of rest or hibernation
- Dubious
Doubtful or uncertain
- Egregious
Outstandingly bad or shocking
- Elucidate
To make something clear or explain
- Emulate
To imitate or copy, typically with the intent of surpassing
- Enervate
To weaken or drain of energy
- Engender
To cause or give rise to something
- Enigmatic
Mysterious, difficult to understand
- Enervating
Causing one to feel drained of energy or vitality
- Ephemeral
Lasting for a very short time
- Equanimity
Mental calmness, especially in difficult situations
- Equitable
Fair and impartial
- Erratic
Not regular or consistent
- Erudite
Having or showing great knowledge or learning
- Esoteric
Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge
- Euphemism
A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt
- Exacerbate
To make a situation worse or more severe
- Excoriate
To criticize severely and publicly
- Exigent
Urgent, requiring immediate action
- Exonerate
To clear someone of blame or fault
- Expeditious
Done with speed and efficiency
- Extemporaneous
Done without preparation
- Facetious
Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor
- Fallacious
Based on a mistaken belief or unsound reasoning
- Fatuous
Silly and pointless
- Feasible
Possible and practical to achieve
- Flabbergasted
Extremely surprised or astonished
- Flagrant
Conspicuously offensive or scandalous
- Flippant
Lacking a serious or respectful attitude
- Foible
A minor weakness or eccentricity in someone’s character
- Fortuitous
Happening by chance, often in a lucky or fortunate way
- Frivolous
Not having any serious purpose or value
- Garrulous
Excessively talkative, especially about trivial matters
- Gauche
Lacking social grace or sensitivity
- Genial
Friendly and cheerful
- Germane
Relevant and appropriate to the matter at hand
- Gratuitous
Given or done without charge or justification
- Gregarious
Fond of company
- Guile
Sly or cunning intelligence
- Harangue
A lengthy and aggressive speech or lecture
- Harbinger
A person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another
- Hegemony
Leadership or dominance over others
- Heretic
A person holding a belief that is contrary to orthodox religious doctrine
- Iconoclast
A person who attacks or criticizes cherished beliefs or institutions
- Idiosyncrasy
A characteristic or habit peculiar to an individual
- Ignoble
Not honorable in character or purpose
- Imbue
To inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality
- Immutable
Unchanging over time or unable to be changed
- Impasse
A situation where no progress can be made
- Impecunious
Having little or no money
- Impervious
Not allowing fluid to pass through
- Impetuous
Acting quickly without thought or care
- Implicit
Implied rather than plainly expressed
- Impugn
To dispute the truth or validity of something
- Inane
Lacking sense or meaning
- Inculpate
To accuse or blame someone
- Indefatigable
Persisting tirelessly
- Ineffable
Too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words
- Inept
Lacking skill or ability
- Inexorable
Impossible to stop or prevent
- Ingenious
Clever, original, and inventive
- Ingenuous
Innocent and unsuspecting
- Inimical
Hostile or harmful
- Innocuous
Not harmful or offensive
- Insidious
Proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects
- Insipid
Lacking flavor, vigor, or interest
- Intrepid
Fearless, adventurous
- Inundate
To overwhelm or flood
- Irascible
Easily angered
- Irrefutable
Impossible to deny or disprove
- Irresolute
Uncertain, indecisive
- Laconic
Using few words
- Languid
Weak or faint from illness or fatigue
- Laudable
Deserving praise and commendation
- Lethargic
Sluggish and lacking energy
- Licentious
Immoral or sexually unrestrained
- Loquacious
Very talkative
- Magnanimous
Very generous or forgiving, especially toward a rival or someone less powerful
- Malevolent
Having or showing a wish to do evil to others
- Malleable
Capable of being shaped or changed
- Meticulous
Showing great attention to detail
- Mitigate
To make less severe or harsh
- Mollify
To calm or soothe
- Mundane
Ordinary or dull
- Nefarious
Wicked or criminal
- Obfuscate
To confuse or make something unclear
- Obsequious
Excessively eager to please or obey
- Odious
Extremely unpleasant
- Opaque
Not able to be seen through
- Opulent
Wealthy and luxurious
- Oscillate
To move or swing back and forth
- Ostensible
Stated or appearing to be true, but not necessarily so
- Palliate
To reduce the severity or intensity of something
- Panacea
A universal remedy or solution
- Paragon
A model of excellence or perfection
- Pariah
An outcast, someone rejected from society
- Paucity
The presence of something in small or insufficient quantities
- Pejorative
Expressing contempt or disapproval
- Perfunctory
Done in a routine or superficial manner
- Perspicacious
Having a ready insight into and understanding of things
- Perturbed
Feeling anxious or unsettled
- Petulant
Childishly sulky or bad-tempered
- Phlegmatic
Calm and unemotional
- Pithy
Concise and forcefully expressive
- Placate
To make someone less angry or hostile
- Platitude
A remark or statement that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful
- Ponderous
Slow and clumsy due to great weight
- Pragmatic
Dealing with things sensibly and realistically
- Precarious
Not securely held or in position
- Preclude
To prevent from happening
- Prodigal
Wastefully extravagant
- Prolific
Producing large amounts of something
- Propensity
A natural inclination or tendency to behave in a particular way
- Prosaic
Lacking in imagination or originality
- Provocative
Causing strong reactions or emotions
- Puerile
Childishly silly or trivial
- Pulchritude
Physical beauty
- Quixotic
Extremely idealistic, unrealistic, and impractical
- Rancor
Bitterness or resentfulness
- Recalcitrant
Stubbornly resistant to authority or control
- Recant
To withdraw or retract a statement or belief
- Reclusive
Avoiding the company of others
- Redolent
Strongly reminiscent or suggestive of something
- Regress
To return to a former or less developed state
- Reprobate
A morally unprincipled person
- Rescind
To revoke, cancel, or repeal
- Reticent
Not revealing one’s thoughts or feelings readily
- Rigorous
Thorough and accurate
- Sanguine
Optimistic or positive, especially in a difficult situation
- Sardonic
Grimly mocking or cynical