SAT 250 10/2

Question 1

cogent

cogency (n.)

Answer 1

When you make a cogent argument, it means your argument is clear and persuasive.

Question 2

Concomitant

Answer 2

Concomitant means accompanying.
If you start training really hard at the gym, the main effect is that you become stronger, but there are concomitant effects, like better circulation, or a rosy glow, or getting happy from all those endorphins you’re releasing.

Question 3

conflagration

conflagrant (adj.)

Answer 3

A conflagration isn’t just a few flames; it’s an especially large and destructive fire that causes devastation.

Question 4

contrite

contrition(n.)

Answer 4

We are sorry to inform you that the adjective contrite means to feel regret, remorse, or even guilt.
Blake’s contrite behavior made it impossible to stay angry at him.

Question 5

conundrum

Answer 5

The tricky word conundrum is used to describe a riddle or puzzle, sometimes including a play on words or pun.

Question 6

credulity

credulous (adj.)

Answer 6

Did you know that if you say credulity ten times fast it starts to sound like orange? If you believe that, then you have a lot of credulity. Credulity means gullibility, or a willingness to believe anything.

Question 7

cupidity

Answer 7

Remember the saying “Greed is good”? It could just as easily be “Cupidity is good,” though admittedly it doesn’t roll off the tongue quite the same way. Cupidity means a burning desire to have more wealth than you need.

Question 8

cursory

cursoriness (n.)

Answer 8

No reason to get excited — cursory has nothing to do with bad language. Instead, it means not paying attention to details, like friends who are so busy studying for a test that they only give your new haircut a cursory glance.

Question 9

decry

Answer 9

When you dye your hair pink and orange, your mother decries your act as a horror and bursts into tears. She criticizes your choice of colors, stating that pink and purple would have looked better.

Question 10

defile

Answer 10

When you defile something, you make it dirty or make it lose its purity. Think of fresh new snow covered in cigarette butts. The butts defile the winter wonderland.

Question 11

deleterious
deleteriousness (n.)

Answer 11

If something is deleterious, it does harm or makes things worse. Smoking has obvious deleterious effects on your health, not to mention your social life.

Question 12

demure

Answer 12

A demure woman or girl can be described as polite and a little shy.
‘Though everyone else at the party was dancing
and going crazy, she remained demure.’

Question 13

deprecate

deprecation (v.)

Answer 13

To deprecate is to show disapproval or to make someone feel unimportant by speaking to them disrespectfully, like seniors who deprecate younger students just for fun.

Question 14

deride
derision (n.);
derisive (adj.)

Answer 14

To “ride” people is to get on their case or give them a hard time, and to deride is to do the same with insulting language or poor treatment
Also criticizing something with words is a common way to deride, and politicians often deride each other in their speeches during election campaigns.

Question 15

desecrate
desecrated (adj.);
desecration (n.)

Answer 15

The word consecrate from the Latin consecrare means “to make sacred.” Substituting the prefix con- with de- reverses the meaning. When preparing for a foreign occupation, the military instructs troops not to desecrate sacred sites and risk offending the local population. You can also desecrate someone’s memory if you spread malicious lies about him after his death.

Question 16

desiccated
desiccate (v.)
desiccation (n.)

Answer 16

To be desiccated is to be dried out. If you like desiccated fruit, you like dried fruit — such as raisins or dried apricots.

Question 17

diaphanous

Answer 17

If a dress is so see-through that light shines through it revealing the goods beneath, it’s diaphanous. Also known as “sheer,” “transparent,” or just plain “sexy,” but diaphanous is so much classier.

Question 18

diffident

Answer 18

The adjective diffident describes someone who is shy and lacking in self-confidence.
Diffident can describe someone who is reserved and restrained.

Question 19

discursive

Answer 19

If people accuse you of rambling from topic to topic in your speech or writing, they may say you have a discursive style — with changes in subject that are hard to follow. But it’s okay because unicorns are shiny.

Question 20

dissemble

dissemblance (n.)

Answer 20

To dissemble is to hide under a false appearance, to deceive. “When confronted about their human rights record, the Chinese government typically dissembles.”

Question 21

dither

Answer 21

to be indecisive

Question 22

ebullient

ebullience (n.)

Answer 22

More than chipper, more than happy, more than delighted is ebullient — meaning bubbling over with joy and delight.

Question 23

effrontery

Answer 23

If you rudely behave as if you have a right to something that you have no right to, you’re committing effrontery. When a couple stroll into a crowded restaurant, demand the best table, and threaten the staff unless they’re seated right away, that’s effrontery.

Question 24

effulgent

effulgence (n.)

Answer 24

Something effulgent radiates light. On a clear day the sun can be quite effulgent.

Question 25

egregious

egregiousness (n.)

Answer 25

Something that is egregious stands out, but not in a good way — it means “really bad or offensive,” like a tattoo on a man misspelling his girlfriend’s name.