WEEK 1
ROOT WORDS
Ambi

Both

ambiguous, ambidextrous
aqua

Water

aquarium, aquamarine
aud

to hear

audience, audition
bene

Good

benefactor, benevolent
cent

one hundred

century, percent
Circum

Around

circumference, circumstance
contra/counter

Against

contradict, encounter
Dict
to say

dictation, dictator
duc/duct
to lead

conduct, induce
Fac
to do; to make

factory, manufacture
WEEK 2 VOCABULARY
and
ROOT WORDS
Form
Shape

conform, reform
Fort
Strength

fortitude, fortress
Fract
Break

fracture, fraction
Ject
Throw

projection, rejection
jud

Judge

judicial, prejudice
mal

Bad

malevolent, malefactor
mater

Mother

maternal, maternity
mit

to send

transmit, admit
mort

Death

mortal, mortician
multi

Many

multimedia, multiple
WEEK 3 VOCABULARY
and
ROOT WORDS
pater

Father

paternal, paternity
anthropo
man; human; humanity

anthropologist, philanthropy
port
to carry

portable, transportation
rupt
to break

bankrupt, disruption
scrib/script
to write

inscription, prescribe
sect/sec
to cut

bisect, section
sent
to feel; to send

consent, resent
spect
to look

inspection, spectator
struct
to build

destruction, restructure
vid/vis
to see

televise, video
WEEK 4 VOCABULARY
and
ROOT WORDS
voc
voice; to call

vocalize, advocate
auto

Self

autobiography, automobile
bio

life

biology, biography
chron

Time

chronological, chronic
dyna

Power

dynamic, dynamite
dys

bad; hard; unlucky

dysfunctional, dyslexic
gram

thing written

epigram, telegram
graph

Writing

graphic, phonograph
hetero

different

heteronym, heterogeneous
homo

Same

homonym, homogenous
WEEK 5 VOCABULARY
and
ROOT WORDS
hydr

water

hydration, dehydrate
hyper

over; above; beyond

hyperactive, hyperbole
hypo

below; beneath

hypothermia, hypothetical
logy

study of

biology, psychology
meter/metr

Measure

thermometer, perimeter
micro

Small

microbe, microscope
mis/miso

Hate

misanthrope, misogyny
Mono

One

monologue, monotonous
morph

form; shape

morphology, morphing
Nym

Name

antonym, synonym
WEEK 6 VOCABULARY
and
ROOT WORDS
Phil

Love

philanthropist, philosophy
phobia

Fear

claustrophobia, phobic
photo/phos

Light

photograph, phosphorous
pseudo

False

pseudonym, pseudoscience
psycho

soul; spirit

psychology, psychic
scope

viewing instrument

microscope, telescope
techno

art; science; skill

technique, technological
tele

far off

television, telephone
therm

Heat

thermal, thermometer
SAT Vocabulary – Week 7
ABSTRACT
Adj. indefinite; vague; theoretical; intangible
CONCRETE
Adj. definite or specific; real; tangible
 When I watch our team captain wrestle, I'm
seeing a concrete display of courage, which is
itself an abstract concept. Friendship is another
abstraction, but my friends are real, concrete
human beings.
AFFLUENT
Adj. wealthy in a material sense
INDIGENT
Adj. very poor; lacking necessary material goods
 A guest lecturer at our school spoke on the
contrast between Haiti's few affluent people and
all the others-people so indigent that they live on
very little.
ATROPHY
V. to wither, degenerate; to waste away
BURGEON
V. to flourish; to grow and quickly expand,-bloom
 Ideas burgeon in people's minds just as flowers
or weeds burgeon in soil. By contrast, anything
that atrophies is faring poorly, like muscles that
atrophy from illness.
CACOPHONY
N. displeasing, harsh sound; horrible noise
EUPHONY
N. pleasing or sweet sound; harmony (of speech)

Parents and kids have different ideas about
euphonious sound. Our folks often call our music
cacophony when it is absolute euphony to us. Any
judgment about cacophony versus euphony
seems pretty subjective.
LAX
Adj. loose; unstructured; not firm; negligent; slack
STRINGENT
Adj. tight or constricted; rigid, adhering firmly to
accepted standards
 At orientation for new counselors, the camp
director handed us a stringent set of rules for the
camp. "If rules are dangerously lax," he said, "we
have a dangerous camp."
SAT Vocabulary – Week 8
GRAVITY
N. weighty importance; seriousness
LEVITY
N. lightness of approach or treatment;
humor

We probably should treat the SATs with gravity,
as the results can make a big difference in our
lives. But I'm not just a number, and my score
doesn't say who I am. My friends and I joke about
SATs a lot because levity helps us get past tough
challenges.
DESECRATE
V. to defile or profane something sacred or
very special
CONSECRATE
V. to make sacred or holy or worthy of
respect; to hallow
 Most Americans don't want anyone to desecrate
our flag, our national anthem, or our
monuments-anything that has special, emotional
significance to us.Those things have been
consecrated over time in our culture.
OBJECTIVE
Adj. lacking personal feeling or involvement; in a
detached, unbiased, fair manner
SUBJECTIVE
Adj. colored by personal feeling or opinion
 All kids wish that the grading of writing were
more objective than it is; unfortunately,
subjective factors always creep in. Our English
teachers mark one grade on papers for the
objective items like grammar, with a separate
grade for creativity, which is a more subjective
judgment.
OPTIMISM
N. a positive, upbeat, favorable outlook on
life
PESSIMISM
N. a negative, discouraging outlook on life
 For Mark Twain,Tom Sawyer represented
optimism. Huck Finn, who was a stark realist,
embodied pessimism. Comics joke that a pessimist
is a person who has all the facts. An optimist, of
course, focuses on the encouraging facts
RESOLUTE
Adj. firmly determined; steady; faithful
IRRESOLUTE
Adj. uncertain about behavior; vacillating

I acted in a totally resolute manner last
Halloween when I took some neighbor kids
through a famous "haunted house." If I'd
seemed nervous or irresolute for even a second,
those kids would have bolted like spooked
horses.
anti

Against

anticlimax
De
Opposite

devalue
dis
not; opposite of

discover
en-, em
cause to

enact, empower
Fore
before; front of

foreshadow, forearm
In-, im
In

income, impulse
in-, im-, il-, ir
Not

indirect, immoral, illiterate, irreverent
Inter
between; among

interrupt

mid-

middle

midfield

mis-

wrongly

misspell

non-

not

nonviolent

over-

over; too much

overeat

pre-

before

preview

re-

again

rewrite

semi-


















half; partly; not fully
semifinal
subUnder
subway
superabove; beyond
superhuman
transacross
transmit
unnot; opposite of
unusual
underunder; too little
underestimate

Common Suffixes





Suffix

Definition

Example

-able, -ible

is; can be

affordable, sensible

-al, -ial

having characteristics of

universal, facial

-ed

past tense verbs; adjectives

the dog walked,

the walked dog

-en

made of

golden

-er, -or

one who;

person connected with

teacher, professor

-er

more

taller

-est

the most

tallest