Top 100 Most Challenging SAT Vocabulary
Words E - H (Weeks: May 2-6 – May 9-13)
Look up the following words in the dictionary and record: 1. the part(s) of speech 2. any helpful notes and 3. an original
sentence that uses the word correctly
1. ebullient
DEFINITION: extremely lively, enthusiastic
PART of speech: adj
SAMPLE SENTENCE: She became ebullient upon receiving an acceptance letter from her firstchoice college.
NOTES:
bulla – latin “bubble”
YOUR SENTENCE: The freshman wide receiver seemed ebullient to start his first game.
2. eclectic
DEFINITION: consisting of parts selected from various sources
PART of speech: adj
SAMPLE SENTENCE: The academy’s philosophy of teaching was an eclectic blend of ideas, ranging
from Socrates to Montessori.
NOTES: ex – “from” or “out of”
Lexis – speech, word or phrase
YOUR SENTENCE: The eclectic research paper gathered information from many sources.
3. egregious
DEFINITION: extremely bad
PART of speech: adj
SAMPLE SENTENCE: The student who threw sloppy joes across the cafeteria was punished for his
egregious behavior.
NOTES:
YOUR SENTENCE: Ms. Houlditch is an egregious break dancer. / Alex and Daniel’s egregious
decisions led them to being duct-taped to the wall.
4. ephemeral
DEFINITION: short lived; fleeting
PART of speech: adj
SAMPLE SENTENCE: She promised she’d love me forever, but her “forever” was only ephemeral:
she left me after one week.
NOTES:
YOUR SENTENCE: Osama bin Laden’s feelings of security were ephemeral when the Navy Seals
bust into his room.
5. epigraph
PART of speech:
NOTES:
grapheme – latin “word”
DEFINITION: an inscription on a monument or building, on a coin, or at the beginning of a book or
chapter.
SAMPLE SENTENCE: The epigraph to Things Fall Apart is from a poem by WB Yeats.
YOUR SENTENCE:
6. expiate
DEFINITION: to make amends for, atone
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: To expiate my selfishness, I gave all my profits to charity.
NOTES: ex – “from” or “out of”
YOUR SENTENCE:
7. expunge
DEFINITION: to obliterate, eradicate
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: Fearful of an IRS investigation, Paul tried to expunge all incriminating
evidence from his tax files.
NOTES: ex – “from” or “out of”
YOUR SENTENCE:
8. extol
DEFINITION: to praise, revere
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: Violet extolled the virtues of a vegetarian diet to her meat-loving brother.
NOTES: ex – “from” or “out of”
YOUR SENTENCE:
10. fallacious
DEFINITION: incorrect, misleading
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: Emily offered me cigarettes on the fallacious assumption that I smoked.
YOUR SENTENCE:
NOTES:
11. fastidious
PART of speech:
DEFINITION: meticulous, demanding, having high and often unattainable standards
SAMPLE SENTENCE: Mark is so fastidious that he is never able to finish a project because it always
seems imperfect to him
NOTES:
YOUR SENTENCE:
12. fervid
DEFINITION: full of intense passion or zeal
PART of speech:
NOTES:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: The governor’s campaign speech inspired fervid support.
YOUR SENTENCE:
13. flagrant
DEFINITION: shockingly evident; outrageously conspicuous
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: Amnesty International is an organization that draws attention to flagrant
violations of human rights around the world.
NOTES:
YOUR SENTENCE:
14. forensic
DEFINITION: 1. referring to legal proceedings 2. the study or practice of formal debate
PART of speech:
NOTES:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: A specialist in forensic medicine testified that the victim had died from poison.
YOUR SENTENCE:
15. garrulous
DEFINITION: talkative, wordy
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: Some talk-show hosts are so garrulous that their guests can’t get a word in
edgewise
NOTES:
YOUR SENTENCE:
16. grandiloquence
DEFINITION: lofty, pompous language
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: The student thought her grandiloquence would make her sound smart, but
neither the class nor the teacher bought it
NOTES:
YOUR SENTENCE:
17. gregarious
DEFINITION: drawn to the company of others, sociable
PART of speech:
YOUR SENTENCE: Well, if you’re not gregarious, I don’t know why you would want to go to a
singles party
NOTES:
18. hapless
DEFINITION: unlucky
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: My poor, hapless family never seems to pick a sunny week to go on vacation.
NOTES:
YOUR SENTENCE:
19. heterodox
DEFINITION: not in agreement wit accepted beliefs; holding unorthodox opinions.
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: Although the medical establishment once scorned them as radically
heterodox, Sigmund Freud’s ideas about the psyche have generally become accepted today.
NOTES:
YOUR SENTENCE:
20. hyperbole
DEFINITION: an exaggeration; a figure of expressing excess
PART of speech:
SAMPLE SENTENCE: “Our math homework was so hard! It took me ten years to finish those
problems,” is an example of hyperbole.
NOTES:
YOUR SENTENCE: