1000 SAT words, Teer-web-app [cool books to read TXT] 📗

regularly began letters with the bizarre salutation
“Ahoy ahoy.”)
salve (n.) a soothing balm (After Tony applied a salve to his brilliant red sunburn, he
soon felt a little better.)
sanctimonious (adj.) giving a hypocritical appearance of piety (The sanctimonious
Bertrand delivered stern lectures on the Ten Commandments to anyone who would
listen, but thought nothing of stealing cars to make some cash on the side.)
sanguine (adj.) optimistic, cheery (Polly reacted to any bad news with a sanguine smile
and the chirpy cry, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”)
satiate (v.) to satisfy excessively (Satiated after eating far too much turkey and stuffing,
Liza lay on the couch watching football and suffering from
stomach pains.)
scathing (adj.) sharp, critical, hurtful (Two hours after breaking up with Russell,
Suzanne thought of the perfect scathing retort to his accusations.)
SAT Vocabulary
S
scintillating (adj.) sparkling (The ice skater’s scintillating rhinestone costume nearly
blinded the judges.)
scrupulous (adj.) painstaking, careful (With scrupulous care, Sam cut a snowflake out of
white paper.)
scurrilous (adj.) vulgar, coarse (When Bruno heard the scurrilous accusation being
made about him, he could not believe it because he always tried to be nice to
everyone.)
sedentary (adj.) sitting, settled (The sedentary cat did little but loll in the sun.)
semaphore (n.) a visual signal (Anne and Diana communicated with a semaphore
involving candles and window shades.)
seminal (adj.) original, important, creating a field (Stephen Greenblatt’s essays on
Shakespeare proved to be seminal, because they initiated the critical school of New
Historicism.)
sensual (adj.) involving sensory gratification, usually related to sex (With a coy smile,
the guest on the blind-date show announced that he considered himself a very
sensual person.)
sensuous (adj.) involving sensory gratification (Paul found drinking Coke, with all the
little bubbles bursting on his tongue, a very sensuous experience.)
serendipity (n.) luck, finding good things without looking for them (In an amazing bit
of serendipity, penniless Paula found a $20 bill in the subway station.)
serene (adj.) calm, untroubled (Louise stood in front of the Mona Lisa, puzzling over
the famous woman’s serene smile.)
servile (adj.) subservient (The servile porter crept around the hotel lobby, bowing and
quaking before the guests.)
sinuous (adj.) lithe, serpentine (With the sinuous movements of her arms, the dancer
mimicked the motion of a snake.)
sobriety (n.) sedate, calm (Jason believed that maintaining his sobriety in times of crisis
was the key to success in life.)
solicitous (adj.) concerned, attentive (Jim, laid up in bed with a nasty virus,
enjoyed the solicitous attentions of his mother, who brought him soup and extra
blankets.)
solipsistic (adj.) believing that oneself is all that exists (Colette’s solipsistic attitude
completely ignored the plight of the homeless people on the street.)
S
SAT Vocabulary
soluble (adj.) able to dissolve (The plot of the spy film revolved around an untraceable
and water-soluble poison.)
solvent 1. (n.) a substance that can dissolve other substances (Water is sometimes called
the universal solvent because almost all other substances can dissolve into it.) 2.
(adj.) able to pay debts (Upon receiving an unexpected check from her aunt,
Annabelle found herself suddenly solvent.)
somnolent (adj.) sleepy, drowsy (The somnolent student kept falling asleep and waking
up with a jerk.)
sophomoric (adj.) immature, uninformed (The mature senior rolled her eyes at the
sophomoric gross-out humor of the underclassman.)
sovereign (adj.) having absolute authority in a certain realm (The sovereign queen,
with steely resolve, ordered that the traitorous nobleman be killed.)
speculative (adj.) not based in fact (Sadly, Tessa was convicted on merely speculative
evidence.)
spurious (adj.) false but designed to seem plausible (Using a spurious argument, John
convinced the others that he had won the board game on a technicality.)
stagnate (v.) to become or remain inactive, not develop, not flow (With no room for
advancement, the waiter’s career stagnated.)
staid (adj.) sedate, serious, self-restrained (The staid butler never changed his
expression no matter what happened.)
stingy (adj.) not generous, not inclined to spend or give (Scrooge’s stingy habits did not
fit with the generous, giving spirit of Christmas.)
stoic (adj.) unaffected by passion or feeling (Penelope’s faithfulness to Odysseus
required that she be stoic and put off her many suitors.)
stolid (adj.) expressing little sensibility, unemotional (Charles’s stolid reaction to his
wife’s funeral differed from the passion he showed at the time of her death.)
strenuous (adj.) requiring tremendous energy or stamina (Running a marathon is quite
a strenuous task. So is watching an entire Star Trek marathon.)
strident (adj.) harsh, loud (A strident man, Captain Von Trapp yelled at his daughter
and made her cry.)
stupefy (v.) to astonish, make insensible (Veronica’s audacity and ungratefulness
stupefied her best friend, Heather.)
SAT Vocabulary
T
subjugate (v.) to bring under control, subdue (The invading force captured and
subjugated the natives of that place.)
sublime (adj.) lofty, grand, exalted (The homeless man sadly pondered his former
wealth and once sublime existence.)
submissive (adj.) easily yielding to authority (In some cultures, wives are supposed to
be submissive and support their husbands in all matters.)
succinct (adj.) marked by compact precision (The governor’s succinct speech energized
the crowd while the mayor’s rambled on and on.)
superfluous (adj.) exceeding what is necessary (Tracy had already won the campaign so
her constant flattery of others was superfluous.)
surfeit (n.) an overabundant supply or indulgence (After partaking of the surfeit of
tacos and tamales at the All-You-Can-Eat Taco Tamale Lunch Special, Beth felt
rather sick.)
surmise (v.) to infer with little evidence (After speaking to only one of the students, the
teacher was able to surmise what had caused the fight.)
surreptitious (adj.) stealthy (The surreptitious CIA agents were able to get in and out of
the house without anyone noticing.)
surrogate (n.) one acting in place of another (The surrogate carried the child to term for
its biological parents.)
swarthy (adj.) of dark color or complexion (When he got drunk, Robinson’s white skin
became rather swarthy.)
sycophant (n.) one who flatters for self-gain (Some see the people in the cabinet as the
president’s closest advisors, but others see them as sycophants.)
T
tacit (adj.) expressed without words (I interpreted my parents’ refusal to talk as a tacit
acceptance of my request.)
taciturn (adj.) not inclined to talk (Though Jane never seems to stop talking, her brother
is quite taciturn.)
tangential (adj.) incidental, peripheral, divergent (I tried to discuss my salary, but the
boss kept veering off into tangential topics.)
tantamount (adj.) equivalent in value or significance (When it comes to sports, fearing
your opponent is tantamount to losing.)
T
SAT Vocabulary
tedious (adj.) dull, boring (As time passed and the history professor continued to drone
on and on, the lecture became increasingly tedious.)
temerity (n.) audacity, recklessness (Tom and Huck entered the scary cave armed with
nothing but their own temerity.)
temperance (n.) moderation in action or thought (Maintaining temperance will ensure
that you are able to think rationally and objectively.)
tenable (adj.) able to be defended or maintained (The department heads tore
down the arguments in other people’s theses, but Johari’s work proved to be quite
tenable.)
tenuous (adj.) having little substance or strength (Your argument is very tenuous, since
it relies so much on speculation and hearsay.)
terrestrial (adj.) relating to the land (Elephants are terrestrial animals.)
timorous (adj.) timid, fearful (When dealing with the unknown, timorous Tallulah
almost always broke into tears.)
tirade (n.) a long speech marked by harsh or biting language (Every time Jessica was
late, her boyfriend went into a long tirade about punctuality.)
toady (n.) one who flatters in the hope of gaining favors (The other kids referred to the
teacher’s pet as the Tenth Grade Toady.)
tome (n.) a large book (In college, I used to carry around an anatomy book that was the
heaviest tome in my bag.)
torpid (adj.) lethargic, dormant, lacking motion (The torpid whale floated, wallowing
in the water for hours.)
torrid (adj.) giving off intense heat, passionate (I didn’t want to witness the neighbor’s
torrid affair through the window.)
tortuous (adj.) winding (The scary thing about driving in mountains are the narrow,
tortuous roads.)
tractable (adj.) easily controlled (The horse was so tractable, Myra didn’t even need a
bridle.)
tranquil (adj.) calm (There is a time of night when nothing moves and everything
is tranquil.)
transgress (v.) to violate, go over a limit (The criminal’s actions transgressed morality
and human decency.)
SAT Vocabulary
U
transient (adj.) passing through briefly; passing into and out of existence (Because
virtually everyone in Palm Beach is a tourist, the population of the town is quite
transient.)
transmute (v.) to change or alter in form (Ancient alchemists believed that it was
possible to transmute lead into gold.)
travesty (n.) a grossly inferior imitation (According to the school newspaper’s merciless
theater critic, Pacific Coast High’s rendition of the musical Oklahoma was a
travesty of the original.)
tremulous (adj.) fearful (I always feel a trifle tremulous when walking through
a graveyard.)
trenchant (adj.) effective, articulate, clear-cut (The directions that accompanied my new
cell phone were trenchant and easy to follow.)
trepidation (n.) fear, apprehension (Feeling great trepidation, Anya refused to jump into
the pool because she thought she saw a shark in it.)
trite (adj.) not original, overused (Keith thought of himself as being very learned, but
everyone else thought he was trite because his observations about the world were
always the same as David Letterman’s.)
truculent (adj.) ready to fight, cruel (This club doesn’t really attract the dangerous
types, so why was that bouncer being so truculent?)
truncate (v.) to shorten by cutting off (After winning the derby, the jockey truncated
the long speech he had planned and thanked only his mom and his horse.)
turgid (adj.) swollen, excessively embellished in style or language (The haughty writer
did not realize how we all really felt about his turgid prose.)
turpitude (n.) depravity, moral corruption (Sir Marcus’s chivalry often contrasted with
the turpitude he exhibited with the ladies at the tavern.)
U
ubiquitous (adj.) existing everywhere, widespread (It seems that everyone in the United
States has a television. The technology is ubiquitous here.)
umbrage (n.) resentment, offense (He called me a lily-livered coward, and I took
umbrage at the insult.)
V
SAT Vocabulary
uncanny (adj.) of supernatural character or origin (Luka had an uncanny ability to
know exactly what other people were thinking. She also had an uncanny ability to
shoot fireballs from her hands.)
unctuous (adj.) smooth or greasy in texture, appearance, manner (The unctuous
receptionist seemed untrustworthy, as if she was only being helpful because she
thought we might give her a big tip.)
undulate (v.) to move in waves (As the storm began to brew, the placid ocean began to
undulate to an increasing degree.)
upbraid (v.) to criticize or scold severely (The last thing Lindsay wanted was for Lisa to
upbraid her again about missing the rent payment.)
usurp (v.) to seize by force, take possession of without right (The rogue army general
tried to usurp control of the government, but he failed because most of the army
backed the legally elected president.)
utilitarian (adj.) relating to or aiming at usefulness (The beautiful, fragile vase couldn’t
hold flowers or serve any other utilitarian purpose.)
utopia (n.) an imaginary and remote place of perfection (Everyone in the world wants
to live in a utopia, but no one can agree how to go about building one.)
V
vacillate (v.) to fluctuate, hesitate (I prefer a definite answer, but my boss kept
vacillating between the distinct options available to us.)
vacuous (adj.) lack of content or ideas, stupid (Beyonce realized that the lyrics she had
just penned were completely vacuous and tried to add more substance.)
validate (v.) to confirm, support, corroborate (Yoko’s chemistry lab partner was asleep
during the experiment and could not validate the accuracy of her methods.)
vapid (adj.) lacking liveliness, dull (The professor’s comments about the poem were
surprisingly vapid and dull.)
variegated (adj.) diversified, distinctly marked (Each wire in the engineering exam was
variegated by