Upper-Level SAT Word List

Chandu G.
191 words 22 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. aesthete
    one who professes great sensitivity to the beauty of art
  2. alacrity
    liveliness and eagerness
  3. anomalous
    deviating from the general or common order or type
  4. aphorism
    a short pithy instructive saying
  5. appropriate
    take possession of by force
  6. arable
    capable of being farmed productively
  7. arboreal
    of or relating to or formed by trees
  8. aspersion
    an abusive attack on a person's character or good name
  9. asylum
    a shelter from danger or hardship
  10. auspicious
    indicating favorable circumstances and good luck
  11. austerity
    excessive sternness
  12. avant-garde
    radically new or original
  13. behemoth
    someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful
  14. bequest
    a gift of personal property by will
  15. breadth
    the extent of something from side to side
  16. brook
    put up with something or somebody unpleasant
  17. bungle
    make a mess of, destroy, or ruin
  18. Byzantine
    highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious
  19. calumny
    a false accusation of an offense
  20. celerity
    a rate that is rapid
  21. cerebral
    involving intelligence rather than emotions or instinct
  22. chagrin
    strong feelings of embarrassment
  23. circumscribed
    subject to restrictions or constraints
  24. cloying
    overly sweet
  25. confound
    be confusing or perplexing to
  26. conjecture
    believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
  27. constituent
    one of the individual parts making up a composite entity
  28. consummate
    having or revealing supreme mastery or skill
  29. convoluted
    highly complex or intricate
  30. crude
    not refined or processed
  31. curtail
    terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end
  32. debased
    mixed with impurities
  33. decorous
    according with custom or propriety
  34. denuded
    without the natural or usual covering
  35. desultory
    marked by lack of definite plan, purpose, or enthusiasm
  36. diaphanous
    so thin as to transmit light
  37. didactic
    instructive, especially excessively
  38. dilatory
    wasting time
  39. din
    a loud, harsh, or strident noise
  40. dirge
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
  41. discomfited
    people who are defeated
  42. discretionary
    having the ability to act according to your own judgment
  43. disingenuous
    not straightforward or candid
  44. disposed
    (usually followed by `to') naturally disposed toward
  45. divine
    a clergyman or other person in religious orders
  46. edifice
    a structure that has a roof and walls
  47. effigy
    a representation of a person
  48. egregious
    conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
  49. elusive
    skillful at evading capture
  50. emollient
    a substance with a soothing effect when applied to the skin
  51. empirical
    derived from experiment and observation rather than theory
  52. enervate
    weaken physically, mentally, or morally
  53. enfranchise
    grant freedom to, as from slavery or servitude
  54. epitaph
    an inscription in memory of a buried person
  55. espouse
    choose and follow a theory, idea, policy, etc.
  56. expurgate
    edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
  57. extant
    still in existence; not extinct or destroyed or lost
  58. fabrication
    the act of making a product from raw materials
  59. feral
    wild and menacing
  60. flotilla
    a fleet of small craft
  61. flotsam
    the floating wreckage of a ship
  62. galvanize
    stimulate (muscles) by administering a shock
  63. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
  64. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
  65. grovel
    show submission or fear
  66. hapless
    unfortunate and deserving pity
  67. harbinger
    something indicating the approach of something or someone
  68. hermetic
    completely sealed or airtight
  69. histrionic
    overly dramatic or emotional
  70. hubris
    overbearing pride or presumption
  71. inanimate
    not endowed with life
  72. incantation
    a ritual reciting of words believed to have a magical effect
  73. inchoate
    only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
  74. incisive
    demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
  75. incumbent
    necessary as a duty or responsibility; morally binding
  76. indelible
    not able to be forgotten, removed, or erased
  77. ineffable
    defying expression or description
  78. inflammatory
    inciting action or rebellion
  79. insular
    relating to or characteristic of or situated on an island
  80. intemperate
    excessive in behavior
  81. interlocutor
    a person who takes part in a conversation
  82. intractable
    difficult to manage or mold
  83. jaded
    exhausted
  84. jingoism
    fanatical patriotism
  85. juggernaut
    a massive inexorable force
  86. juxtapose
    place side by side
  87. kinetic
    relating to the motion of material bodies and their forces
  88. legion
    a large military unit
  89. levitation
    the phenomenon of rising as if by supernatural means
  90. licentious
    lacking moral discipline
  91. mawkishness
    insincere pathos
  92. melee
    a noisy riotous fight
  93. mendacity
    the tendency to be untruthful
  94. milieu
    the environmental condition
  95. multifarious
    having many aspects
  96. myopic
    unable to see distant objects clearly
  97. naivete
    lack of sophistication or worldliness
  98. nihilism
    complete denial of established authority and institutions
  99. nondescript
    lacking distinct or individual characteristics
  100. nonplussed
    filled with bewilderment
  101. obfuscate
    make obscure or unclear
  102. obliged
    having a moral duty to do something
  103. oblique
    slanting or inclined in direction or course or position
  104. obstreperous
    noisily and stubbornly defiant
  105. olfactory
    of or relating to the sense of smell
  106. onerous
    burdensome or difficult to endure
  107. opprobrium
    a state of extreme dishonor
  108. ostensible
    appearing as such but not necessarily so
  109. panacea
    hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases
  110. partisan
    a fervent and even militant proponent of something
  111. pathos
    a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow
  112. pedagogic
    of or relating to pedagogy
  113. pedantic
    marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning
  114. perfidious
    tending to betray
  115. petulant
    easily irritated or annoyed
  116. plaudits
    enthusiastic approval
  117. pontificate
    administer a pontifical office
  118. pragmatist
    an adherent of a theory of observable practical consequences
  119. precept
    a rule of personal conduct
  120. precipitate
    bring about abruptly
  121. prescience
    the power to foresee the future
  122. probity
    complete and confirmed integrity
  123. profligate
    unrestrained by convention or morality
  124. proliferate
    grow rapidly
  125. promulgate
    state or announce
  126. prose
    ordinary writing as distinguished from verse
  127. prototype
    a standard or typical example
  128. prowess
    a superior skill learned by study and practice
  129. pundit
    an expert who publicly gives opinions via mass media
  130. qualm
    uneasiness about the fitness of an action
  131. quibble
    evade the truth of a point by raising irrelevant objections
  132. quixotic
    not sensible about practical matters
  133. raiment
    especially fine or decorative clothing
  134. rectitude
    righteousness as a consequence of being honorable and honest
  135. refractory
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
  136. relegate
    assign to a lower position
  137. reprehensible
    bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure
  138. rescind
    cancel officially
  139. retrograde
    moving or directed or tending in a backward direction
  140. reverent
    feeling or showing profound respect or veneration
  141. sanctimonious
    excessively or hypocritically pious
  142. sanction
    official permission or approval
  143. scrupulous
    characterized by extreme care and great effort
  144. serendipity
    good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries
  145. sophistry
    a deliberately invalid argument in the hope of deceiving
  146. spate
    a sudden forceful flow
  147. specious
    plausible but false
  148. steadfastness
    steadfast resolution
  149. stupefy
    make someone dazed or foolish
  150. subterfuge
    something intended to misrepresent the nature of an activity
  151. supplant
    take the place or move into the position of
  152. surfeit
    indulge (one's appetite) to satiety
  153. sybarite
    a person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses
  154. synergistic
    working together for an enhanced effect
  155. table
    furniture having a smooth flat top supported by legs
  156. tawdry
    tastelessly showy
  157. temerity
    fearless daring
  158. temper
    a characteristic state of feeling
  159. threadbare
    thin and tattered with age
  160. treachery
    an act of deliberate betrayal
  161. treacly
    overly sweet
  162. treacle
    a syrup made of sugar cane
  163. truculent
    defiantly aggressive
  164. turgid
    ostentatiously lofty in style
  165. unctuous
    unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating
  166. unheralded
    without warning or announcement
  167. unintelligible
    not clearly understood or expressed
  168. untenable
    incapable of being defended or justified
  169. upstart
    a person who has suddenly risen to a higher economic status
  170. utopian
    pertaining to or resembling an ideally perfect state
  171. vaunt
    show off
  172. venial
    warranting only temporal punishment
  173. verdant
    characterized by abundance of vegetation and green foliage
  174. verisimilitude
    the appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true
  175. vestigial
    not fully developed in mature animals
  176. victuals
    a source of food or nourishment
  177. vignette
    a brief literary description
  178. virile
    characteristic of a man
  179. visceral
    relating to or affecting the internal organs
  180. vitiate
    make imperfect
  181. vitriolic
    harsh, bitter, or malicious in tone
  182. vocation
    the particular occupation for which you are trained
  183. watershed
    a ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems
  184. waylay
    wait in hiding to attack
  185. wheedle
    influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
  186. wily
    marked by skill in deception
  187. windfall
    a sudden happening that brings good fortune
  188. winsome
    charming in a childlike or naive way
  189. witticism
    a message whose ingenuity has the power to evoke laughter
  190. xenophobic
    having abnormal fear or hatred of foreigners
  191. zephyr
    a slight wind
Created on Sun Feb 17 22:07:28 EST 2013 (updated Mon Mar 04 13:53:57 EST 2013)

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