SAT 18

Question 1

Abstemious; adj.

Answer 1

– sparing in eating and drinking; temperate; self-denying / unrestrained
Concerned whether her vegetarian son’s abstemious diet provided him with sufficient protein, the worried mother pressed food on him.

Question 2

Abstruse; adj.

Answer 2

– obscure; profound; difficult to understand perplexing / simple
Baffled by the abstruse philosophical texts assigned in class, Dave asked Lucy to explain Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.

Question 3

Concede; verb

Answer 3

– admit; yield; grant; give in / deny; contradict; negate

Despite all the evidence Monica had assembled, Mark refused to concede that she was right.

Question 4

Corroborate; verb.

Answer 4

– confirm; support; agree / contradict

Though Huck was quite willing to corroborate Tom’s story, Aunt Polly knew better than to believe either of them.

Question 5

Cryptic; adj.

Answer 5

– mysterious; hidden; secret / straightforward
Thoroughly baffled by Holmes’s cryptic remarks, Watson wondered whether Holmes was intentionally concealing his thoughts about the crime.

Question 6

Decorum; noun

Answer 6

– propriety; orderliness and good taste in manners / abandon

Even the best-mannered students have trouble behaving with decorum on the last day of school.

Question 7

Diminution; noun

Answer 7

– lessening; reduction in size; decrease / growth

Old Jack was as sharp at eighty as he had been at fifty; increasing age led to no diminution of his mental ability.

Question 8

Exemplary; adj.

Answer 8

– serving as a model; outstanding
At commencement the dean praised Ellen for her exemplary behavior as class president.

Question 9

Garrulous; adj.

Answer 9

– loquacious; wordy; talkative / taciturn

Azzaam is the most garrulous person at Walnut High School; he can outtalk anyone I know.

Question 10

Hamper; verb

Answer 10

– obstruct; hinder; get in the way; impede / facilitate
The new mother didn’t realize how much the effort of caring for an infant would hamper her ability to keep an immaculate house.

Question 11

Intrepid; adj.

Answer 11

– fearless; brave; bold; courageous / cowardly

For her intrepid conduct nursing the wounded during the war, Florence Nightingale was honored by Queen Victoria.

Question 12

Laud; verb

Answer 12

– praise; speak well of / denigrate

The NFL lauded Boomer Esiason’s efforts to raise money to combat cystic fibrosis.

Question 13

Negate; verb

Answer 13

– cancel out; nullify; deny; undo; counteract / concede

A sudden surge of adrenalin can negate the effects of fatigue: there’s nothing like a good shock to wake you up.

Question 14

Ominous; adj.

Answer 14

– threatening; warning; worrying; gloomy / promising

Those clouds are ominous; they suggest a severe storm is on the way.

Question 15

Perpetuate; verb

Answer 15

– make something last; preserve from extinction
Some critics attack The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because they believe Twain’s book perpetuates a false image of Blacks in this country.

Question 16

Recount; verb

Answer 16

– narrate or tell; relate; report; count over again

A born storyteller, my father loved to recount anecdotes about his early years in New York.

Question 17

Refute; verb.

Answer 17

– disprove; contest; rebut / prove
The defense called several respectable witnesses who were able to refute the false testimony of the prosecution’s sole witness.

Question 18

Scrutinize; verb

Answer 18

– examine closely and critically

Searching for flaws, the sergeant scrutinized every detail of the private’s uniform.

Question 19

Substantiate; verb

Answer 19

– validate; authenticate; verify
These endorsements from satisfied customers substantiate our claim that Barron’s How to Prepare for the SAT is the best SAT-prep book on the market.

Question 20

Sycophant; noun

Answer 20

– servile; flatterer;

Fed up with the sycophants, his toadies and flunkies who made up this entourage, the star cried, “Get out, all of you!”