Transcript SAT VOCABULARY - Mrs Stewart's English Class

SAT
VOCABULARY
SEMESTER 1
Set #1
unanimous
Part of Speech: adjective (adj)
Definition: in total agreement
Sounds like: you, Nanny Moose
Picture: A moose named Nanny is running for
president. Immediately after the election the
members stand up and announce, “We all
voted for you, Nanny Moose!”
Sentence: Everyone wanted Michelle to be
class president, so the vote was unanimous.
lethargic
Part of Speech: adj
Definition: tired; sluggish; drowsy
Sounds like: leather chick
Picture: A young chicken is trying to run around
the barn, but she is too tired because she is
covered in leather instead of feathers. The
heat and the exercise has drained her energy.
Sentence: He’d intended to mow the lawn, but
was too lethargic and simply fell asleep.
vilify
verb
Defame; attack someone’s reputation
Sounds like: village fly
A giant fly, known as the Village Fly, goes
from house to house saying bad things
about the neighbors.
He was so vilified in the press that his
reputation never recovered.
Acquiescent
Adj
Reluctantly agreeable; compliant; obeying
Sounds like: agree yes cent
There is a penny sitting on a park bench. The
children want the penny to play with them and
won’t leave him alone. Finally the penny
gives in and agrees to play.
Some employers demand that their employees
are acquiescent or they will fire them.
furtive
Adj
Sneaky; secretive
Sounds like: fur tip
A husband and wife are leaving a fancy
restaurant. They pick up their fur coats from
the coat check. The husband refuses to tip
the coat check girl so the wife must sneak her
a dollar while her husband isn’t looking.
Three hours late, he tiptoed furtively into the
house.
criteria
Noun
Requirements or standards used to make a
decision
Sounds like: cry tearier
An actress is auditioning for a role in a movie.
The director keeps telling her, “you must cry
tearier! The person who we choose must be
able to cry tearier!”
There must be many criteria for selecting
astronauts who will travel to Mars.
arbitrary
Adj
Selected by random choice and without solid
reason
Sounds like: our bee, Jerry
A boy loses his pet bee. He looks into a giant
glass tank with a thousand bees and points
to one near the top. “That must be him,
That’s our bee, Jerry”
Your selection of a seat in a nearly empty
theater is somewhat arbitrary.
meager
Adj
Small in size or amount; thin; weak
Sounds like: me grrr
A small puppy has just been given a tiny
amount of food. As his owner walks by
the puppy expresses his anger “Me grrr!”
The movie promised plenty of action, but the
plot was meager.
Succinct
Adj
Short and to the point; concise
Sounds like: suck sink
Two boys are standing by the kitchen sink. One
boy has his head under the faucet and is
slurping up the water. Their mother walks in
alarmed and the one boy says succinctly to his
mother “thirsty.”
Those five minute news shows have to be
succinct.
nefarious
Adj
Extremely evil
Sounds like: no ferry is
A crazy wicked pirate attacks and plunders
ferry boats. He always says to his crew
“No ferry is safe from me!”
The gangster’s nefarious ways shocked his
mother, who thought he was a dentist.
unprecedented
Adj
The first of its kind
Sounds like: un-presidented
George Washington’s inauguration was
unprecedented, because he was the first.
Sandra Day O’Connor’s appointment to the
Supreme Court was unprecedented.
effervescent
Adj
Bubbly; happy; full of life
Sounds like: ever pheasant
A field full of pheasants (a bird) who are running
around singing and dancing. Two beavers
look on “Ah, pheasants, ever pheasants. So
bubbly. So full of life…”
The cheerleader was so effervescent that
nobody had ever seen her in a bad mood.
Set #2
ambivalent
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Adj
Indecisive; being unable to choose
Looks like: ambulance
A woman named Val is having a baby. She
can’t decide whether or not to get in the
ambulance without her husband in order to
get to the hospital
• The house had been in the family for
generations, so they were ambivalent about
selling it.
scrutinize
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Verb
Examine closely; inspect carefully
Sounds like: screwed-in eyes
There is a Frankenstein look alike contest.
The judge is holding a magnifying glass and
noticed that one Frankenstein did not have
screwed-in eyes like the real Frankenstein.
• The inspection went on for hours because the
principal scrutinized every locker.
antagonistic
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Adj
In hostile competition; opposing
Sounds like: ant tag on his stick
An ant is hold a stick that has a tag that says
“I’ll fight anybody, any time!”
• Political parties are often antagonistic toward
each other.
imminent
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Adj
About to take place; happening soon
Sounds like: in a minute
A farmer and his son are discussing a tornado
that is on its way. The farmer asks “they say
the tornado is imminent, when do you think it
will be here?” The son replies “in a minute?”
• Another stabbing contraction and the
pregnant woman knew the birth was
imminent.
despondent
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Adj
Feeling hopeless or depressed
Sounds like: the spoon dent
A man collects spoons. His son played with
his spoons and one spoon ended up with a
dent. The man cried for days.
• After the fire, Sam was despondent for
weeks.
optimist
• Noun
• Someone who always believes things will turn
out okay, looks on the bright side
• Looks like: a combo of optometrist and mist
• An optometrist is leading his family on a hike
up a mountain. It is really misty and he can’t
see, but he keeps repeating “we will make it
to the top! I just know it!”
• You have to be an optimist if you’re going to
invest your money in the stock market.
ludicrous
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Adj
Absurd; ridiculous
Sounds like: lou to cross
Lou is trying to cross a 24 lane super high
way. “Lou” yells a friend, “it is ludicrous to
think you will ever get across!” Lou says to
himself, “isn’t it ludicrous that Bob thinks I can
hear him over all this traffic?”
• It’s ludicrous to say second-hand smoke is
harmless.
arrogant
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Adj
Acting superior, obnoxious, smug, or rude
Looks like: arrow can’t
A traveling rifle salesman is trying to sell rifles
to some Navajo Indians. “Arrows!” he
exclaims, “you are still hunting with arrows!”
He says arrogantly, “arrows can’t do nearly as
much as rifles.”
• The trick is to be self-confident without being
arrogant.
appease
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Verb
Make calm; pacify
Sounds like: peas
A baby is crying because he is hungry. His
mom feeds him some peas to appease him.
• Management tried to appease the strikers
with a small salary increase.
anarchy
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Noun
A lack of order; chaos
Sounds like: an ark key
The animals on Noah’s ark are running wild.
He is yelling “where is the ark key? Get
these animals back in their cages! Where is
the key?”
• Without laws and rules, there would be
anarchy everywhere.
loathe
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verb
Hate; abhor; to feel disgust for
Sounds like: load
A dump truck filled with rocks and boulders
pulls up in front of your beautiful lawn. He
says that he is supposed to dump them there.
You loathe his load.
• Nancy loved her children, but she loathed
some of their friends.
reprimand
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Verb
Scold; criticize; get mad at
Sounds like: Rep Raymond
Representative Raymond is trying to run for
President, but he isn’t very good at
campaigning. Instead of being nice he walks
around scolding and criticizing voters for their
beliefs.
• In addition to the fine, Jim was harshly
reprimanded for running the red light.
Set # 3
cacophony
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Noun
Harsh or ugly sound; opposite of harmony
Looks like cocoon and symphony combined
A caterpillar is inside a cocoon learning to
play the violin. He is terrible! Today he is
trying to play a symphony and all the birds
and squirrels are covering their ears trying to
escape the horrible sound.
• New visitors to the rainforest are struck by the
cacophony.
concede
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Verb
Admit reluctantly; yield; acknowledge
Sounds like: corn seed
Two farmers are examining something under
a microscope. The one finally admits to the
other that he is right, it is corn seed.
• The boss had to concede that it was his
assistant’s idea and give him credit.
destitute
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Adj
Poor; lacking possessions
Sounds like: dusty tooth
A man is so poor that he can’t afford dental
care. This has left him with just one tooth,
which is dusty, because he can’t afford a
toothbrush.
• In order to qualify for the scholarship, you
had to be almost destitute.
gullible
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Adj
Easily deceived or tricked
Sounds like: gully bull
A bull has fallen into a gully, tricked by the
other bulls.
• Don’t be so gullible that you believe
everything.
provoke
• Verb
• To make angry; to stir up
• Sounds like: prove oak
• Two women are arguing about what type of tree is in
the front yard. One thinks it is an oak and the other
thinks it is an elm. They look it up and it is an oak.
The one who is right begins to mock the other woman
until she is so angry that she hits her friend over the
head with one of the branches.
• People involved in a long-running feud often
don’t even know what provoked it.
meticulous
• Adj
• Extremely careful about details
• Sounds like: me ticklish
• There is a man who works in a pillow factory and his
job is to stuff the feathers into the pillows. He has to
be very careful because he is very ticklish and if he
doesn’t stuff the pillows exactly right he can’t work
because of the laughing.
• Brian was fairly neat and careful about most
things, but when it came to his stamp
collection, he was absolutely meticulous.
incredulous
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Adj
Unwilling or unable to believe
Sounds like: in red, you lose!
A man bets his whole bank account on 25
black in roulette. The attendant spins the
wheel and says as the wheel slows “looking
for black ink...and ink’s red, you lose!” The
man refuses to believe that he’s lost
everything!
• He watched incredulously as his dog got into
the family minivan and drove away.
obliterate
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Verb
Remove or destroy completely; erase
Looks like: Hobb litter ate
Hobb drops some litter on the floor, but then
sees a police officer walking toward him.
Hobb is afraid to get a ticket for littering so he
runs back and eats the litter to erase all
evidence!
• The fire obliterated the building and its
contents.
digress
• Verb
• To move away from the main topic when
writing or speaking; go off on a tangent
• Sounds like: die grass
• A speaker at a garden convention is lecturing about
how to keep grass from dying. However, while
talking about the dead patch behind his grill that he
saved, he begins discussing the awesome barbeque
he threw for his friends.
• In writing, if you digress from the main point
for too long, you may lose your reader.
exalt
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Verb
Raise in rank; elevate; praise
Sounds like: eggs salt
A bunch of hard-boiled eggs are
worshipping a salt shaker. As they glorify
the salt, it is raised into the air, elevated by
their praise.
• The popular queen was exalted by all.
genial
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Adj
Friendly; gracious; kind
Sounds like: Genie Al
A Genie named Al has just come out of his
bottle. He is extremely friendly and
accommodation, wanting very much to
please everyone around him
• I try to be genial, but my natural
grouchiness inevitably comes through.
pious
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Adj
Exhibiting religious devotion
Sounds like: pies
Pies praying
He never went to church or temple, but he
was pious all the same.