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SAT Vocabulary > Words beginning with A > Flashcards

Words beginning with A Flashcards

1
Q

Abash

A

To embarrass

Arthur was abashed at a bash when he drank too much and fell in the trash.

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2
Q

Abate

A

To lessen

Abigail’s sister screamed, “Ab ate all the cookies!” Later, of course, her anger abated.

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3
Q

Abominate

A

To loathe; hate

The terrorist abominated his enemy Nate so much that he put a bomb in Nate’s boxer shorts.

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4
Q

Abstruse

A

Profound; difficult to understand

When Abraham Lincoln wrote a confusing peace agreement to end the Cil War, people commented that Abe’s truce was abstruse.

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5
Q

Accentuate

A

To stress; emphasize

An accent mark accentuates a syllable.
While in New York, it was rude of you to accentuate the fact the Brooklyn people speak with an accent you hate.

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6
Q

Acclivity

A

Sharp incline of a hill

A cliff is an example of an acclivity.

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7
Q

Accolade

A

Award; honor

When LL Cool J received an accolade for his acting, he just smiled and asked for a Kool-Aid.

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8
Q

Accost

A

To approach and speak to

“That snack cost you $3.95!” the salesman said, accosting the costumer who was about to leave without paying.

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9
Q

Acne

A

Zits

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10
Q

Adroit

A

Skillful

C3PO is an adroit android.

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11
Q

Adulate

A

To flatter and praise so much it’s sickening

“Brad, dual eight hundreds on your math and verbal SATs! Your a god!” She adulated.

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12
Q

Adulterate

A

To make impure

Never trust and adult with you bellybutton lint collection. He will definitely adulterate it.

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13
Q

Adumbrate

A

To foreshadow by disclosing, only partially

The economic indicators adumbrated that the price of gas would rise to a dumb rate.

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14
Q

Adverse

A

Hostile; opposed; unfavorable

“It’s tough writing a national anthem during a British attack.” complained Francis Scott Key. “The only light you have is the Rockets’ red glare. You have to add verse user adverse conditions.

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15
Q

Advocate

A

To urge; recommend

Advertisements advocate products.

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16
Q

Aesthetic

A

Artistic; pertaining to a sense of what is beautiful

As the tick was sucking blood from my arm I squished it. The dead insect smeared on my arm was not aesthetically pleasing.

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17
Q

Affected

A

Fake

His affected personality negatively affected out affection.

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18
Q

Affinity

A

Attraction

There was a natural affinity between him and his new Infiniti.

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19
Q

Affluent

A

Rich

A flu went around the affluent passengers of the yacht; their diamond tiaras and the Rolexes sparked when the sneezed.

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20
Q

Affray

A

Public brawl

The frog was afraid to enter the affray.

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21
Q

Agape

A

Open-mouthed

If you stand agape, there is a gap in your mouth.

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22
Q

Aghast

A

Horrified

We were aghast when he “passed gas.”

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23
Q

Agile

A

Able to move in a quick and easy fashion

Age’ll make you less agile.

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24
Q

Alacrity

A

Cheerful promptness

The empty auditorium was the result of a lack of alacrity among the sleep-deprived students.

25
Q

Alias

A

A false name

“Your real name was all I asked for; why did you give me an alias?” The reporter said to Jennifer Lawrence.

26
Q

Alimentary

A

Supplying nourishment

When Watson asked, “what’s a ten letter word meaning supplying nourishment?” Sherlock replied, “Alimentary, my dear Watson.”

27
Q

Abase

A

Lower; humiliate

“I will not abase myself by going to a base with you on the first date,” she said to Paul.

28
Q

Allay

A

To soothe; to make more bearable

He allayed his parents’ fears by getting all A’s on his report card.

29
Q

Alleged

A

Stated without proof

It was alleged that he does by falling off a ledge.

30
Q

Alleviate

A

To make more bearable

A leaf he ate failed alleviate his hunger, even though it was a large leaf.

31
Q

Allude

A

To refer indirectly

32
Q

Allusion

A

A reference to something

A lewd person alludes to salacious sexual endeavors.

33
Q

Altercation

A

A violent dispute

An altercation broke out when, at the altar, Kate said to her groom, “I don’t.”

34
Q

Amass

A

To collect; to get a bunch of

By publishing this book we hope to amass a mass of scores for our readers.

35
Q

Ambulatory

A

Able to walk

After he was run over by the ambulance, he was no longer ambulatory.

36
Q

Ameliorate

A

To improve a bad situation

Amelia rated her love life as having been ameliorated since last year.

37
Q

Amity

A

Peaceful relations; friendship

There was amity between the students at M.I.T and their math professors.

38
Q

Amnesia

A

Loss of memory

We forgot out sentence for this word because we have amnesia.

39
Q

Amok

A

Freaked out and violently pissed off

The schmuck in the muck got stuck, ran amok, and screamed, “Shucks!”

40
Q

Amorphous

A

Shapeless

If you take too much morphine, you’ll feel like an amorphous blob.

41
Q

Anthropoid

A

Humanlike

C3PO is and anthropoid droid.

42
Q

Antipathy

A

Hatred; aversion; dislike

By this time you should be developing a strong antipathy to studying these words and their ridiculous definitions.

43
Q

Apathetic

A

Indifferent; showing lack of interest

44
Q

Apathy

A

Indifference; lack of interest

It’s a pathetic thing to be apathetic.

45
Q

Alex

A

Tip; peak; summit; way up there

The ape exercised by jumping off the apex of the monkey house in the zoo.

46
Q

Appease

A

To soothe; placate

He appeased his parents by eating a piece of slimy okra.

47
Q

Arbitrary

A

Chosen at random or without apparent reason

If a college rejects you, it must be because it’s admissions process is arbitrary.

48
Q

Ardor

A

Heat; passion; zeal

With ardor she moaned, “You don’t have to be so gentle—ardor, ardor. “

49
Q

Askew

A

Crooked; off to one side

50
Q

Assuage

A

To ease; pacify

Buying a suede fringed jacket might assuage Donna’s compulsive desire to shop.

51
Q

Astute

A

Shrewd; wise; observing

A student must be astute to outwit the Evil Testing Serpent.

52
Q

Attribute

A

A characteristic, usually a good one (n.)
To explain be indicating a cause (v.)

In her article on Pamela Anderson, the mean-spirited reporter attributed the actress’ most prominent attribute to plastic surgery.

53
Q

Atypical

A

Not typical

Michael Jackson’s looks, voice, clothing, and habits are atypical for an Earthling.

54
Q

Audacity

A

Boldness

Their audacity was evident when they published their odd SAT book.

55
Q

August

A

Majestic; awe-inspiring

When Cleopatra saw Augustus in all his finery she said, “Aw Gus, you look august.”

56
Q

Austerity

A

Severity; strictness

His austerity is actually a rarity; severity is not his specialty.

57
Q

Averse

A

Opposed; unwilling

I was averse to writing verse. So at the teacher I did curse. And put mounds of coleslaw I her purse. My verse started well, but then got worse. As I ran out of things that rhymed with -erse.

58
Q

Avuncular

A

A funky word meaning, “like an uncle”

This word does not deserve a sentence because only your avuncular Uncle Herbert would ever use it.

59
Q

Awry

A

Twisted crooked; out of whack; askew; wrong

“Waiter, there is something awry in my bread,” she complained. “That thing?” He replied. “Why that’s just a rye seed.”

SAT Vocabulary (10 decks)

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