Elite SAT Vocab, 1 - 500

Abjuring his Maker, he abandoned himself to the service of the evil one. Newman, John Henry

“The skin is scarcely more than abraded—evidently by the finger nail scratching off the head of some infinitesimal pustule.” Hanshew, Thomas W.

This month, for instance, Pyongyang abrogated the armistice ending the Korean War and threatened pre-emptive nuclear strikes on the United States.

Some vegans and vegetarians put their cats and dogs on equally abstemious diets. Washington Post (Mar 1, 2010)

One would have thought a public calamity had fallen upon France; people accosted one another with the words, impressed with mournful despair: "Mirabeau is dead!" Sue, Eug?ne

Many observations were made, but no instrumental proof of rise in blood pressure could be adduced. Warfield, Louis Marshall

Even fairly small vendors such as Deng’s Circle Furniture are beginning to develop ad hoc social media strategies [specifically] to reach and retain customers.

“The Zetas are particularly adroit at spreading their tentacles across borders,” said Michael S. Vigil, a former senior official with the Drug Enforcement Administration. New York Times (Jun 12, 2012)

But it is now time to state, or rather faintly to adumbrate, the grand assumption of this singular work. Various

As recently as 1971, women footballers were forbidden by the Football Association from using male facilities that fell under its aegis.

People living in preindustrial agrarian societies interacted almost constantly with domesticated animals. Slate (Feb 21, 2013)

The men obeyed with alacrity, as all were glad to go, lying in camp so long. Terrill, J. Newton

Deriving euphoria from such punishing macho brutalism might be anathema to those raised on more subtle club music; Loadstar stomp on that attitude relentlessly.

This scares away some librettists and composers while causing others to play it safe by choosing anodyne historical topics from ancient China or Beijing opera. New York Times (Dec 31, 2010)

I always liked the probably apocryphal tale of a guest who arrived in shirtsleeves at an English country house where everyone was wearing dinner jackets. New York Times (Nov 19, 2010)

Police rounded up six of them soon after the escape and apprehended the remaining two by Tuesday evening.

Any reasonable person casting aspersions on Ms. Minaj’s musical output might logically have a few shots saved up for her label mate Drake, no? New York Times (Jun 13, 2012)

Caputo recommended dim lighting, so that observers might see their facial features in detail but experience attenuated color perception. Scientific American (Jul 31, 2013)

Napoleon's military autocracy had extinguished the last sparks of revolutionary zeal.

A vibrant ethnic melting pot, Marseille is also home to an increasing number of contemporary art and avant-garde performances.

In Manila, Dampier found the natives pursuing all the avocations of civilized life—they were merchants, skilled artisans in various trades, clerks, etc. Coleman, Ambrose

The moment of tension turned to bathos as the light flickered on nothing more fateful than a dead crow. Ross, Martin

Envisioning just about every possible firearm, motorized vehicle and kill shot imaginable, this is genuinely badass bedlam.

"When celebrities get involved in influencing public opinion, it behooves everyone to make sure the law is followed to the letter," he said. Seattle Times (Mar 19, 2013)

Wozniacki primped and adjusted her padding as the crowd whistled, while her exhibition opponent Maria Sharapova looked on in bemused bewilderment.

"The bereaved, the people who've lost someone, like me, that movement has taken off," Linn-Gust said. Seattle Times (Apr 13, 2013)

The deal, announced Sunday, brings together a bevy of global advertising agencies.

Nicholas Woodeson's bullying patriarch, Max, veers terrifyingly between bilious rage and familial sentimentality.

Will someone step in and confront the hearing aid company that bilked my 79-year-old mother out of hundreds of dollars?

They did not, but stopped to bivouac on the old camping ground. Stables, Gordon

He had expected coaxings, blandishments, the pleadings and wiles with which Virginia the elder had made him so intimately acquainted. Reynolds, Mrs. Baillie

In its blase comic attitude, it's the opposite of "The Dark Knight."

What could have been empty bombast still came across as sincere longing, as deeply private reveries that had magically been rendered orchestral. New York Times (Aug 1, 2010)

The sad thing about Living in the Material World is that Scorsese has so bowdlerized Harrison's life that he comes off as somewhat boring. Slate (Oct 4, 2011)

Bromides about unleashing sectors and removing regulations are tired and threadbare. Slate (Feb 13, 2013)

The moves were seen as an attempt to make the ruling coalition more appealing to Malaysia's growing middle class and burgeoning youth population.

But he also sketched out a darker possibility, in which his son is being held prisoner, politically speaking, by a right-wing cabal. New York Times (Aug 4, 2012)

But in developing economies, Western fast food has cachet and is often priced out of the reach of the masses.

Gangs of body snatchers, also known as resurrection men, stole cadavers from the capital’s cemeteries to sell to the surgeon anatomists.

He is a more accomplished bowler than the callow enthusiast that first bowled in India half a dozen years ago.

John Knox was constrained by his "spirituality" to utter low and loathsome calumnies against all women. Ingersoll, Robert Green

She reiterated the "death panel" claim via Twitter a few months later, well after it had been exposed as a canard.

This canny ploy means the action, heaving with innuendo and jokes about pendulums, can be played straight, making it all the funnier.

Thousands of fliers were plastered around the city, buildings canvassed, hundreds of people interviewed. Time (May 24, 2012)

It may seem like captious triviality to raise questions and objections thus early in the exposition of Professor Fisher's doctrine. Anderson, Benjamin M.

“Brevity was the cardinal rule,” Mr. Hardesty said, recalling his years writing for Johnson.

Bacchanalian; fond of drunken revelry; wine-loving; reveling; carousing. Webster, Noah

YouTube's official comedy channel brings us a series of amusing enough sketches about a nuclear family carping at one another across the dinner table.

Money cascaded into peripheral Europe, causing banking booms and housing bubbles. Economist (Jul 4, 2013)

The idea that someone could be on it, caught up in the cataclysm, and survive, left me stunned. Scientific American (Oct 4, 2012)

Back then, the slang term “motorcade” — a riff on “cavalcade” — described any kind of derring-do by a team of drivers.

Bruce was characteristically cavalier on his arrest, remarking: "C'est la vie, Tom."

These are small cavils in an otherwise sparkling achievement. Seattle Times (Jul 19, 2012)

There was no independent verification of the figure; the authorities have been chary of releasing death tolls for fear of inflaming further violence. New York Times (Apr 24, 2011)

Though the episode is most frequently described as a Ponzi scheme, the film also lays out evidence of extensive money laundering and other financial chicanery.

The former, a grey-haired and somewhat choleric old gentleman, could not help giving vent by the way to his long pent-up anger. Werner, E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers)

King Louis XVI was still on his throne, but his powers were being circumscribed by a constituent assembly.

Such big asks would seem to call for strong, cogent pitches. Scientific American (Sep 10, 2013)

They could scarcely have spoken a hundred words before their colloquy was at an end. Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)

We're living longer and longer, while our deaths are becoming commensurately more protracted.

Young girls are crying out for help, using Instagram as an emotional outlet and banding together around a service to commiserate.

The Armory installation, his biggest so far, is a compendium of signature ingredients: violence, humor, sex, impotence, appetite, degradation, art history, politics and pop culture.

She insisted on leading the van, and her too complaisant husband consented. Butler, Pierce

As in Birmingham several months earlier, law enforcement showed no compunction about cracking down on youths with brute force.

They maintained that Ofterdingen's conduct was worthy of condign punishment, which they were prepared and eager to inflict upon him, sword in hand. Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm

Just as a combination of meteorological forces made for a particularly harsh storm, sports was spared Monday by a confluence of elements. Seattle Times (Oct 29, 2012)

Professor Brown, who studied the Egyptian judiciary and met with Mr. Mansour on several occasions, described him as pleasant, smiling and congenial, but very reserved.

Prof Longley later defended his independence, denying his findings were "sexed up" and rejected allegations that he "colluded or connived" with civil servants.

When formerly contiguous patches of habitat are broken apart and separated by some other habitat, it is called fragmentation. New York Times (May 23, 2012)

Yet even that cautious timetable would be contingent on the economy performing as well as expected.

The ombudsman had investigated a complaint that the county council charged for care services before making a financial assessment, contravening government guidelines.

When you have an obdurate, obstinate, contumacious, headstrong, wilful, self-contained maiden to deal with, you will waste your breath whatever you do. Besant, Walter, Sir

Chavez, 58, is convalescing in Cuba after undergoing his fourth cancer operation in 18 months on December 11.

Lunches are always long, laid-back affairs that melt into convivial evenings lit by candles and kerosene lanterns and fueled by lots of good French wine. New York Times (Aug 19, 2011)

There’s also a wardrobe, dressing rooms, make-up studio and professional-level sound and lighting systems plus a coterie of dedicated theatre staff.

Complicating matters is a yellowing legal covenant dated 18 October 1887.

The group started out by focusing on the Solyndra scandal, attacking the president as a corrupt figure who granted his cronies lucrative government contracts.

His cupidity was tempted, his every weakness exploited. Griggs, Sutton E. (Sutton Elbert)

Too long already had the young General dallied, wasting time. Wingfield, Lewis

Both Congress and the news media, two institutions burned badly by the Iraq debacle, are asking particularly pointed questions about Obama’s plans.

Despite its deleterious effects on the environment, coal remains popular in countries seeking to increase their electricity output and promote economic development.  Salon (Nov 27, 2012)

There will always be another video, book, or cartoon just waiting to be exploited by politically savvy demagogues.