SAT WORDS 3

Question 1

allocate

Answer 1

(v.) to distribute, set aside (The Mayor allocated 30 percent of the funds for
improving the town’s schools.)

Question 2

aloof

Answer 2

(adj.) reserved, distant (The scientist could sometimes seem aloof, as if he didn’t
care about his friends or family, but really he was just thinking about quantum
mechanics.)

Question 3

altercation

Answer 3

(n.) a dispute, fight (Jason and Lionel blamed one another for the car
accident, leading to an altercation.)

Question 4

amalgamate

Answer 4

(v.) to bring together, unite (Because of his great charisma, the presidential
candidate was able to amalgamate all democrats and republicans under his banner.)

Question 5

ambiguous

Answer 5

(adj.) uncertain, variably interpretable (Some people think Caesar married
Cleopatra for her power, others believe he was charmed by her beauty. His actual
reasons are ambiguous.)

Question 6

ambivalent

Answer 6

(adj.) having opposing feelings (My feelings about Calvin are ambivalent
because on one hand he is a loyal friend, but on the other, he is a cruel and vicious
thief.)

Question 7

ameliorate

Answer 7

(v.) to improve (The tense situation was ameliorated when Sam proposed a
solution everyone could agree upon.)

Question 8

amenable

Answer 8

(adj.) willing, compliant (Our father was amenable when we asked him to
drive us to the farm so we could go apple picking.)

Question 9

amenity

Answer 9

(n.) an item that increases comfort (Bill Gates’s house is stocked with so many
amenities, he never has to do anything for himself.)

Question 10

amiable

Answer 10

(adj.) friendly (An amiable fellow, Harry got along with just about everyone.)

Question 11

amicable

Answer 11

(adj.) friendly (Claudia and Jimmy got divorced, but amicably and without
hard feelings.)

Question 12

amorous

Answer 12

(adj.) showing love, particularly sexual (Whenever Albert saw Mariah wear
her slinky red dress, he began to feel quite amorous.)

Question 13

amorphous

Answer 13

(adj.) without definite shape or type (The effort was doomed from the start,
because the reasons behind it were so amorphous and hard to pin down.)

Question 14

anachronistic

Answer 14

(adj.) being out of correct chronological order (In this book you’re
writing, you say that the Pyramids were built after the Titanic sank, which is
anachronistic.)

Question 15

analgesic

Answer 15

(n.) something that reduces pain (Put this analgesic on the wound so that the
poor man at least feels a little better.)

Question 16

analogous

Answer 16

(adj.)similar to, so that an analogy can be drawn (Though they are unrelated
genetically, the bone structure of whales and fish is quite analogous.)

Question 17

anarchist

Answer 17

(n.) one who wants to eliminate all government (An anarchist, Carmine
wanted to dissolve every government everywhere.)

Question 18

anathema

Answer 18

(n.) a cursed, detested person (I never want to see that murderer. He is an
anathema to me.)

Question 19

anecdote

Answer 19

(n.) a short, humorous account (After dinner, Marlon told an anecdote about
the time he got his nose stuck in a toaster.)

Question 20

anesthesia

Answer 20

(n.) loss of sensation (When the nerves in his spine were damaged, Mr.
Hollins suffered anesthesia in his legs.)

Question 21

anguish

Answer 21

(n.) extreme sadness, torment (Angelos suffered terrible anguish when he
learned that Buffy had died while combating a strange mystical force of evil.)

Question 22

animated

Answer 22

(adj.) lively (When he begins to talk about drama, which is his true passion, he
becomes very animated.)

Question 23

annex

Answer 23

1. (v.) to incorporate territory or space (After defeating them in battle, the
   Russians annexed Poland.) 2. (n.) a room attached to a larger room or space (He
   likes to do his studying in a little annex attached to the main reading room in the
   library.)

Question 24

annul

Answer 24

(v.) to make void or invalid (After seeing its unforeseen and catastrophic effects,
Congress sought to annul the law.)

Question 25

anomaly

Answer 25

(n.) something that does not fit into the normal order (“That rip in the spacetime continuum is certainly a spatial anomaly,” said Spock to Captain Kirk.)

Question 26

anonymous

Answer 26

(adj.) being unknown, unrecognized (Mary received a love poem from an
anonymous admirer.)

Question 27

antagonism

Answer 27

(n.) hostility (Superman and Bizarro Superman shared a mutual
antagonism, and often fought.)

Question 28

antecedent

Answer 28

(n.)something that came before (The great tradition of Western culture had
its antecedent in the culture of Ancient Greece.)

Question 29

antediluvian

Answer 29

(adj.) ancient (The antediluvian man still believed that Eisenhower was
president of the United States and that hot dogs cost a nickel.)

Question 30

anthology

Answer 30

(n.) a selected collection of writings, songs, etc. (The new anthology of Bob
Dylan songs contains all his greatest hits and a few songs that you might never have
heard before.)