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SAT Hot Words > 1. Lessons 1-5 > Flashcards

1. Lessons 1-5 Flashcards

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1
Q

brevity

A

n. BRIEFNESS OR CONCISENESS IN SPEECH OR WRITING. For the sake of brevity, choose your words with care.

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2
Q

concise

A

adj. USING FEW WORDS IN SPEAKING OR WRITING. For a concise summary of the book, read the book jacket.

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3
Q

laconic

A

adj. USING FEW WORDS IN SPEECH. It was just too hot to give more than a laconic response to the question.

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4
Q

pithy

A

adj. BRIEF AND FULL OF MEANING AND SUBSTANCE; CONCISE. For the yearbook, Jenny searched online for pithy quotations about courage.

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5
Q

quiescent

A

adj. QUIET; STILL; INACTIVE. Mount St. Helens has been quiescent since it’s last eruption in 1986.

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6
Q

reticent

A

adj. NOT TALKING MUCH; RESERVED. Usually reticent, Ms. Worthy surprised us with a long story at lunch.

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7
Q

succinct

A

adj. CLEARLY AND BRIEFLY STATED; CONCISE. The title succinctly conveys the point of my paper.

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8
Q

taciturn

A

adj. SILENT; SPARING OF WORD; CLOSE-MOUTHED. Next to me on the bus sat a taciturn girl who said nothing during the four-hour ride.

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9
Q

terse

A

adj. USING ONLY THE WORDS THAT ARE NEEDED TO MAKE THE POINT; VERY CONCISE, SOMETIMES TO THE POINT OF RUDENESS. Terse speakers make dull lecturers.

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10
Q

bombastic

A

adj. USING LANGUAGE IN A POMPOUS, SHOWY WAY; SPEAKING TO IMPRESS OTHERS. Luke’s speech was so bombastic, it was evident he was showing off.

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11
Q

circumlocution

A

n. SPEAKING IN CIRCLES; ROUNDABOUT SPEECH. To avoid hurting anyone’s feelings hank resorted to circumlocution.

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12
Q

colloquial

A

adj. PERTAINING TO COMMON EVERYDAY SPEECH; CONVERSATIONAL. The book is filled with colloquial expressions that reflect the speech of people in the deep south.

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13
Q

diffuse

A

adj. SPREAD OUT, NOT CONCISE; WORDY. A diffuse argument won’t convince the class to vote for me.

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14
Q

digress

A

vb. TO WANDER OFF FROM THE SUBJECT OR TOPIC SPOKEN ABOUT. We don’t have time to digress from the main issue right now.

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15
Q

eloquence

A

n. ARTFUL EASE WITH SPEAKING; SPEECH THAT CAN INFLUENCE PEOPLE’S FEELINGS. Although he sounds eloquent, he is full of hot air.

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16
Q

garrulous

A

adj. TALKATIVE; LOQUACIOUS. Garrulous gatherings of students are unwelcome in a library that values silence.

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17
Q

grandiloquent

A

adj. USING BIG AND FANCY WORDS WHEN SPEAKING FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPRESSING OTHERS. Mickey used grandiloquent language to conceal his ignorance of the subject

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18
Q

loquacious

A

adj. VERY TALKATIVE; LIKING TO TALK; GARRULOUS. Have you ever met a lawyer who wasn’t loquacious?

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19
Q

prattle

A

vb. TO SPEAK ON AND ON IN A SENSELESS AND SILLY MANNER; TO TALK FOOLISHLY. The prattle of freshmen resounded through the cafeteria.

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20
Q

ramble

A

vb. TO TALK ON POINTLESSLY, WITHOUT CLEAR DIRECTION. The teacher rambled endlessly about various unrelated topics.

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21
Q

rant

A

vb. TO TALK VERY LOUDLY, EVEN WILDLY; RAVE. Ranting is a far from polite way to get your point across.

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22
Q

rhetorical

A

adj. RELATING TO SPEECH THAT IS USED TO PERSUADE OR HAVE SOME EFFECT; INSINCERE IN EXPRESSION. The speech of politicians is often thick with rhetoric.

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23
Q

verbose

A

adj. USING TOO MANY WORDS; WORDY; LONG-WINDED. When time is short verbose explanations are inappropriate.

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24
Q

voluble

A

adj. TALKING A GREAT DEAL WITH EASE; GLIB. Victor is such a voluble speaker that it takes him a half hour to answer a simple question.

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25
arrogant
adj. OVERBEARING; PROUD; HAUGHTY. His arrogant attitude made it hard for people to warm up to him.
26
braggart
n. ONE WHO BOASTS A GREAT DEAL. Although Tanya is very proud of her talents, she isn't braggart.
27
complacent
adj. SELF-SATISFIED; SMUG. Complacence destroys ambition.
28
contemptuous
adj. LACKING RESPECT; SCORNFUL. Parents should teach tolerance, not breed contempt for people's differences.
29
disdainful
adj. FULL OF BITTER SCORN AND PRIDE; ALOOF. I can't keep my disdainful comments to myself when Emily deliberately acts foolishly to get attention.
30
egotistical
adj. EXCESSIVELY SELF-ABSORBED; VERY CONCEITED. Egotistical individuals cannot get enough of their own reflections in the mirror.
31
haughty
adj. HAVING GREAT PRIDE IN ONESELF AND DISLIKE FOR OTHERS. The folks next door are too haughty for a ford; they drive only Mercedes and BMWs.
32
insolent
adj. BOLDLY DISRESPECTFUL IN SPEECH OR BEHAVIOR; RUDE. When Ernie told the principal to "bug off," his insolence earned him a suspension from school
33
narcissistic
adj. HAVING TO DO WITH EXTREME SELF-ADORATION AND A FEELING OF SUPERIORITY TO EVERYONE. When self-esteem turns to narcissism, you've got a problem.
34
ostentatious
adj. HAVING TO DO WITH SHOWING OFF; PRETENTIOUS. My parents prefer staying at a quit inn by the sea to a glitzy, ostentatious Miami Beach hotel.
35
presumptuous
adj. TOO FORWARD OR BOLD; OVERSTEPPING PROPER BOUNDS. Presumptuous people would be better off with a bit of self-control and tact.
36
pretentious
adj. CLAIMING OR PRETENDING INCREASED IMPORTANCE; OSTENTATIOUS; AFFECTEDLY GRAND. Isn't pretention often a mask for self doubt?
37
supercilious
adj. LOOKING DOWN ON OTHERS; PROUD AND SCORNFUL. If we held a contest for superciliousness, haughty Hannah would win hands down.
38
swagger
vb. TO WALK AROUND IN A PROUD SHOWY MANNER; TO BOAST IN A LOUD MANNER. Butch's swagger reveals an ego as big as a house.
39
banal
adj. DULL OR STALE BECAUSE OF OVERUSE; TRITE; HACKNEYED. Banality is boring because its so predictable.
40
cliché
n. AN IDEA OR EXPRESSION THAT HAS BECOME STALE DUE TO OVERUSE. Good writers avoid clichés like the plague.
41
derivative
adj. UNORIGINAL; TAKEN FROM SOMETHING ALREADY EXISTING. English is a derivative language. It is made up of words that originated in many other languages.
42
hackneyed
adj. MADE COMMONPLACE BY OVERUSE; TRITE. People who are imaginative avoid hackneyed expressions.
43
hack
n. ONE WHO COPIES OR IMITATES THE WORK OF OTHERS. Only hack writers rely on hackneyed expressions.
44
insipid
adj. LACKING FLAVOR OR TASTE; UNEXCITING. The conversation at dinner was so insipid that Monica fell asleep at the table.
45
lackluster
adj. LACKING VITALITY, ENERGY, OR BRIGHTNESS; BORING. Even a superior actor finds it challenging to enliven a lackluster script.
46
mundane
adj. COMMONPLACE; ORDINARY. The movies offer an escape from the mundane character of daily life.
47
pedestrian
adj. COMMONPLACE, ORDINARY, UNORIGINAL, MUNDANE. Pedestrian thinkers contributed lackluster ideas to the Socratic seminar.
48
platitude
n. QUALITY OF BEING DULL; AN OBVIOUS REMARK UTTERED AS IF IT WERE ORIGINAL. A recipe to induce sleep is a monotonous voice and a plethora of platitudes.
49
prosaic
adj. DULL; COMMONPLACE. What is more prosaic than a movie and a pizza on a Friday night?
50
trite
adj. UNORIGINAL AND STALE DUE TO OVERUSE. Mr. Gill claims that triteness is a sign of an air-filled brain.
51
vapid
adj. LACKING FRESHNESS AND ZEST; FLAT; STALE. The speaker's vapid delivery emptied the conference hall within 10 minutes.
52
allay
vb. TO LESSEN FEAR; TO CALM; TO RELIEVE PAIN. An SAT prep course can allay the anxiety of some students, but can heighten tension for others.
53
alleviate
vb. TO LESSEN PAIN OR DISCOMFORT. Grandma takes pills to alleviate her arthritic pain.
54
ameliorate
vb. TO MAKE BETTER; TO LESSEN PAIN, DIFFICULTY, OR TENSION. Side curtain airbags ameliorate some of my anxiety about driving a small car.
55
appease
vb. TO MAKE TRANQUIL OR QUIET, ESPECIALLY BY GIVING INTO ANOTHER'S DEMANDS; TO PACIFY. What did Albert do to appease his parents? He offered to cook them dinner.
56
assuage
vb. TO ALLEVIATE; TO LESSEN PAIN OR CONFLICT; PACIFY. Listening to my tail of woe may help to assuage your own troubles.
57
conciliate
vb. TO WIN A PERSON OVER THROUGH SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS OR PERSUASIVE METHODS; RECONCILE. He toned down the harsh language with some conciliatory words such as 'please' and 'sorry.'
58
mediate
vb. TO ACT AS A GO-BETWEEN IN SETTLING CONFLICTS OR DISPUTES BETWEEN PEOPLE OR OPPOSING SIDES. Hal is impartial. That is why he can act as an effective mediator.
59
mitigate
vb. TO MAKE OR BECOME LESS SEVERE; TO LESSEN PAIN OR DAMAGE. A sudden shift in the wind mitigated the intensity of the storm.
60
mollify
vb. TO PACIFY, SOOTHE, OR APPEASE; TO MAKE LESS SEVERE OR VIOLENT. Jay mollified his mother by bringing home all A's on his report card.
61
pacify
vb. TO CALM; TO MAKE PEACEFUL; TO RESTORE TO TRANQUIL STATE. Mother pacified her crying baby by rubbing his tummy.
62
placate
vb. TO MAKE CALM; TO SOOTHE. What can be done to placate impatient drivers caught in a traffic jam?
63
quell
vb. TO PACIFY; TO SUBDUE; TO QUIET DOWN. Having been tipped off, the police managed to quell the disturbance.

SAT Hot Words (8 decks)

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