SAT Power Vocab

Chapter 7 Word List

ABSTRUSE (ab STROOS) adj hard to understand
• The professor’s article, on the “meaning of meaning,” was
abstruse. Michael couldn’t even pronounce the words in it.
• Nuclear physics is a subject that is too abstruse for most
people.

AFFRONT (uh FRUNT) n insult; a deliberate act of disrespect

• Jim’s dreadful score on the back nine was an affront to the
ancient game of golf.
• Amanda thought she was paying Liz a compliment when she
said that she liked her new hair color, but Liz took it as an
affront because she was upset about the greenish spots the
hair stylist couldn’t cover.

Affront can also be a verb.

• Laura affronted me by continually sticking out her tongue as I
addressed the class.

Rude and disrespectful behavior can be described as effrontery

(i FRUN tuh ree).

ALLEVIATE (uh LEE vee ayt) v to relieve, usually temporarily or

incompletely; to make bearable; to lessen
• Visiting the charming pet cemetery alleviated the woman’s
grief over the death of her canary.
• Aspirin alleviates headache pain. When your headache comes
back, take some more aspirin.

ALLOCATE (AL uh kayt) v to distribute; to assign; to allot

• The event had been a big failure, and David, Aaliyah, and Jan
spent several hours attempting to allocate the blame. In the
end, they decided it had all been Jan’s fault.
• The office manager had allocated just seven paper clips for
our entire department.

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BOMBAST (BAHM bast) n pompous or pretentious speech or

writing
• If you stripped away the bombast from the candidate’s
campaign speeches, you would find nothing but misconcep-
tions and lies.
• The magazine writer resorted to bombast whenever his dead-
line was looming; thoughtful opinions required time and
reflection, but he could become pompous almost as rapidly
as he could type.
The adjective is bombastic (bahm BAS tik).

BRAWN (brawn) n big muscles; great strength

• All the other boys in the class thought it extremely unfair that
Sean had both brains and brawn.
• The old engine didn’t have the brawn to propel the tractor up
the side of the steep hill.
To be brawny (BRAW nee) is to be muscular.
• The members of the football team were so brawny that
each one needed two seats on the airplane in order to sit
comfortably.

CASTIGATE (KAS tuh gayt) v to criticize severely; to chastise

• José’s mother-in-law castigated him for forgetting to pick her
up at the airport.

CEREBRAL (suh REE brul) adj brainy; intellectually refined

Your cerebrum is the biggest part of your brain. To be cerebral is
to do and care about things that really smart people do and care
about.
• A cerebral discussion is one that is filled with big words
and involves abstruse matters that ordinary people can’t
understand.
• Sebastian was too cerebral to be a baseball announcer; he
kept talking about the existentialism of the outfield.

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COMPENSATION (kom pin SAY shun) n something given in

exchange for services or to make up for loss or suffering
• Evelyn accepted the job offer in part because it offered a
better compensation package than she was currently getting.
• The restaurant manager offered to take care of our bill as
compensation for the horribly overcooked food.
• Through workers’ compensation, companies are generally
required to pay for any injuries employees suffer at work and
to pay them for their time while they recover.

The verb form is compensate (KOM pin sayt).

• I tried to compensate for my lack of preparation by telling
jokes, but no one was amused.

CONCEDE (kun SEED) v to admit; to acknowledge as true; to yield;

to admit defeat
• Although Soojin hated sports, she conceded that playing
volleyball was fun once she got the hang of it.
• It is customary for a runner-up in an election to formally
concede once their opponent has officially won.
The noun form is concession.
• The congressional bill initially promised to make a dramatic
impact, but after the sponsors made several concessions to
get more people to sign on, the bill became fairly weak.

CONTIGUOUS (kun TIG yoo us) adj side by side; adjoining

• Two countries that share a border are contiguous, as are two
events that happened one right after the other.
• If two countries are contiguous, the territory they cover is
continuous. That is, it spreads or continues across both coun-
tries without any interruption.
CORROBORATE (cuh RAH bur ayt) v to confirm; to back up; to support
• The witness corroborated the clerk’s testimony that the robber
had been speaking Pig Latin.
• I repeated your experiment 50 times, and each time my
participants preferred eating chocolate ice cream to putting it
in their shoes, so I cannot corroborate your finding that people
prefer the latter.

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COSMOPOLITAN (kahz muh PAHL uh tun) adj at home in many

places or situations; internationally sophisticated
• Marcello’s tastes are cosmopolitan when it comes to cuisine;
he eats only the finest foods.
• A truly cosmopolitan traveler never feels like a foreigner in any
country.
• New York City is very cosmopolitan; you can hear nearly every
language spoken there.

EARNEST (ER nist) adj sincere; serious and zealous in intention or

effort
• I started to laugh when he asked me what time the 4:00 show
would start but stopped when I saw the earnest look on his
face.
• She is an earnest student who carefully completes all of her
homework and asks thoughtful questions in class.
Earnest can also be used as a noun in the phrase “in earnest,”
which essentially means “for real” or “with intensity.”
• We are starting to think about the SAT, but our studying will
begin in earnest after we finish this year’s final exams.

EPITOME (i PIT uh mee) n a brief summary that captures the

meaning of the whole; the perfect example of something; a paradigm
• The first paragraph of the new novel is an epitome of the
entire book; you can read it and understand what the author is
trying to get across. It epitomizes the entire work.
• Luke’s first year was the epitome of a college experience; he
made friends, joined a fraternity, and ate too much pizza.
• Eating corn dogs and drinking root beer is the epitome of the
good life, as far as Amelia is concerned.

EXORBITANT (ig ZOHR buh tent) adj excessively costly; excessive

This word literally means “out of orbit.”
• Prices are exorbitant when they get sky-high.
• Meals at the new restaurant were exorbitant; a garden salad
cost seventy-five dollars.

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• The Better Business Bureau cited the discount electronic store

for putting an exorbitant markup on portable tape recorders.

EXPEDIENT (ik SPEE dee ent) adj providing an immediate advan-

tage; serving one’s immediate self-interest; practical
• Since the basement had nearly filled with water, the plumber
felt it would be expedient to clear out the drain.
• The candidate’s position in favor of higher pay for teachers
was an expedient one adopted for the national teachers’
convention but abandoned shortly afterward.
Expedient can also be used as a noun for something expedient.
• The car repairman did not have his tool kit handy, so he used
chewing gum as an expedient to patch a hole.
The noun expedience or expediency also refers to practicality or
being especially suited to a particular goal.

EXPEDITE (EK spi dyte) v to speed up or ease the progress of

• The post office expedited mail delivery by hiring more letter
carriers.
• The lawyer expedited the progress of our case through the
courts by bribing a few judges.
• Our wait for a table was expedited by a waiter who mistook
Angela for a movie star.

FALLACY (FAL uh see) n a false notion or belief; a misconception

• Peter clung to the fallacy that he was a brilliant writer, despite
his work being rejected by every publisher he had contacted.
• That electricity is a liquid was but one of the many fallacies
spread by the incompetent science teacher.
The adjective is fallacious (fuh LAY shus).

FLAGRANT (FLAY grunt) adj glaringly bad; notorious; scandalous

• An example of a flagrant theft would be stealing a car from
the parking lot of a police station.
• A flagrant spelling error is a very noticeable one.

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FLAUNT (flawnt) v to show off; to display ostentatiously

• The brand-new millionaire annoyed all his friends by driving
around his old neighborhood to flaunt his new, expensive car.
• Colleen flaunted her engagement ring, shoving it in the face
of almost anyone who came near her.
This word is very often confused with flout, which means to openly
disregard or break a rule or law.

FLEDGLING (FLEJ ling) adj inexperienced or immature

• A fledgling bird is one still too young to fly; once its wing
feathers have grown in, it is said to be fledged.
• Lucy was still a fledgling caterer when her deviled eggs gave
the whole party food poisoning.
Full-fledged means complete or full-grown.
• Now that Lucy is a full-fledged gourmet chef, her deviled eggs
poison only a couple of people annually.

FLIPPANT (FLIP unt) adj frivolously disrespectful; saucy; pert; flip

• I like to make flippant remarks in church to see how many old
ladies will turn around and glare at me.

The act or state of being flippant is flippancy (FLIP un see).

• The flippancy of the second graders was almost more than the
substitute teacher could stand.

Flip is another form of the word that is in common usage.

INEVITABLE (in EV it uh bul) adj unavoidable; certain to happen

eventually
• Once he accepted that being grounded was inevitable, Sai
gave up trying to evade his parents and came home to receive
his punishment.
• Every time we go to the ice cream shop, my sister tries at least
five different flavors but then inevitably picks plain vanilla.
The noun form is inevitability (in ev it uh BIL it ee).
• Some people treat marriage as an inevitability, but there are
many people who are content never to wed.

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LAUD (lawd) v to praise; to applaud; to extol; to celebrate

• The bank manager lauded the hero who trapped the escaping
robber. The local newspaper published a laudatory editorial on
this intrepid individual.

Laudatory means “praising,” and laudable means “praiseworthy.”

• Giving several million dollars to charity is a laudable act of
philanthropy.

LAVISH (LAV ish) v to spend freely or bestow generously; to

squander
• My father lavishes so many birthday presents on his relatives
that they panic when it’s time for them to give him something
in return.
• City Hall has lavished money on the street-cleaning program,
but our streets are dirtier than ever.
Lavish is also an adjective.
• Don’t you think Ms. Woodstone is a little too lavish with her
praise? She slathers so much positive reinforcement on her
students that they can’t take her seriously at all.

OPPRESSIVE (uh PRESS iv) adj overbearing; tyrannical;

burdensome
• The immigrants came to escape an oppressive government
that controlled everything in their lives.
• The oppressive heat prevented us from spending more than
ten minutes outside.
The verb form is oppress (uh PRESS), and the noun form is oppres-
sion (uh PRESH un).
• The ruling class oppressed the poor. The oppression of the
poor lasted for several centuries.

ORTHODOX (OR thuh dahks) adj conventional; adhering to estab-

lished principles or doctrines, especially in religion; by the book
• The doctor’s treatment for Lou’s cold was entirely orthodox:
plenty of liquids, aspirin, and rest.
• Austin’s views were orthodox; there was nothing shocking
about any of them.

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The body of what is orthodox is called orthodoxy.

• The teacher’s lectures were characterized by strict adherence
to orthodoxy.

To be unconventional is to be unorthodox.
• “Swiss cheese” is an unorthodox explanation for the composi-
tion of the moon.

OSCILLATE (AHS uh layt) v to swing back and forth; to pulsate; to

waver or vacillate between beliefs or ideas
• We watched the hypnotist’s pendulum oscillate before our
eyes, and soon we became sleepy.
• Daisy can’t make up her mind about what music to listen to
in the car; she oscillates between the oldies and pop station
throughout the drive.

PARTISAN (PAHR tuh zun) n one who supports a particular person,

cause, or idea
• Henry’s plan to give himself the award had no partisan except
himself.
• I am the partisan of any candidate who promises not to make
promises.
• The mountain village was attacked by partisans of the rebel
chieftain.

Partisan can also be used as an adjective meaning “biased,” as in

partisan politics.
• An issue that everyone agrees on regardless of the party he or
she belongs to is a nonpartisan issue.

Bipartisan means supported by two (bi) parties.

• Both the Republican and Democratic senators voted to give
themselves a raise. The motion had bipartisan support.

RHETORIC (RET ur ik) n the art of formal speaking or writing;

inflated discourse
• A talented public speaker might be said to be skilled in
rhetoric.

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Rhetoric is often used in a pejorative sense to describe speaking or

writing that is skillfully executed but insincere or devoid of meaning.
• The political candidate’s speech that was long on drama and
promises but short on genuine substance was dismissed as
mere rhetoric.

SQUANDER (SKWAHN dur) v to waste

• Jerry failed to manage his inheritance; instead, he squandered
it on trips to Las Vegas.

SUBTLE (SUHT l) adj hard to perceive; not obvious; delicate

• Saying “XYZ” to someone is a subtle way to let them know
their pants are unzipped, but it only works if they know that it
means “examine your zipper.”
• I wasn’t sure whether my coworkers were going to dress up
for Halloween, so I wore a subtle costume that could pass for
regular clothes.
• The two designs appeared identical at first glance, but they
had subtle differences.

TANGENTIAL (tan JEN shul) adj only superficially related to the

matter at hand; not especially relevant; peripheral
• The vice president’s speech bore only a tangential relation-
ship to the topic that had been announced.
• Stuart’s connection with our organization is tangential; he
once made a phone call from the lobby of our building, but he
never worked here.
• When a writer or speaker “goes off on a tangent,” he or she is
making a digression or straying from the original topic.

VESTIGE (VES tij) n a remaining bit of something; a last trace

• An old uniform and a tattered scrapbook were the only vestiges
of the old man’s career as a professional athlete.
• Your appendix is a vestige: it used to have a function, but now
this organ does nothing.

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The adjective form of vestige is vestigial (vuh STIJ ee ul).

• The appendix is referred to as a vestigial organ. It is still in
our bodies, although it no longer has a function. It is a mere
vestige of some function our digestive systems no longer
perform.

VEX (veks) v to annoy; to pester; to confuse

• Margaret vexed me by poking me with a long, sharp stick.

The act of vexing, or the state of being vexed, is vexation. A vexed

issue is one that is troubling or puzzling.
• Stuck at the bottom of a deep well, I found my situation
extremely vexing.

VIE (vye) v to compete; to contest; to struggle

• Sheryl vied with her best friend for a promotion.
• The two advertising agencies vied fiercely for the Lax-Me-Up
account, which was worth $100 million a year in billings.

VIGILANT (VIJ uh lunt) adj constantly alert; watchful; wary

• Ms. Grimble is vigilant against grammatical errors; when she
spots a misplaced modifier, she pounces like a tiger.
• Dad vigilantly guarded the door of the living room to keep the
children from seeing the Easter Bunny at work.
To be vigilant is to exhibit vigilance (VIJ uh luns).
• Distracted by the loud noise in the hallway, the guard let his
vigilance slip for a moment, and the prisoner quickly escaped.

Vigil is a related word that refers to a period of staying awake or

peacefully protesting, as if vigilantly standing watch.

A vigilante is a person who takes the law into their own hands.
Batman is probably the most well-known vigilante.

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