SAT Vocabulary
Unit 4
Affable
• (adj) courteous and pleasant, sociable, easy to
speak to
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Syn: genial, amicable
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Ant: surly, cantankerous
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*Aggrandize
• (v) to increase in greatness, power, or wealth; to
build up or intensify; to make appear greater
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Syn: amplify, enhance
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Ant: reduce, diminish
Amorphous
• (adj) shapeless, without definite form; of no
particular type of character; without organization,
unity, or cohesion
•
Syn: formless, nebulous
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Ant: definite, clear-cut
•
Aura
(n) that which surrounds (as an atmosphere); a
distinctive air or personal quality
•
Syn: ambience, atmosphere
Contraband
• (n) illegal traffic, smuggled goods; (adj) illegal,
prohibited
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Syn: illicit, bootleg
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Ant: lawful, licit
Erudite
• (adj) scholarly, learned, bookish, pedantic
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Syn: well-read, profoundly educated
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Ant: ignorant, illiterate
Gossamer
• (adj) thin, light, delicate, insubstantial; (n) a very thin,
light cloth
•
Syn: sheer, airy
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Ant: dense, solid
Infer
• (v) to find out by reasoning; to arrive at a
conclusion on the basis of thought; to hint,
suggest, imply
•
Syn: gather, deduce
*Inscrutable
• (adj) incapable of being understood; impossible to
see through physically
•
Syn: incomprehensible, enigmatic
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Ant: comprehensible, intelligible
Insular
• (adj) relating to, characteristic of, or situated on
an island; narrow or isolated in outlook or
experience
•
Syn: narrow-minded, parochial
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Ant: cosmopolitan, liberal
*Irrevocable
• (adj) incapable of being changed or called back
•
Syn: unrecallable, unalterable
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Ant: reversible, changeable
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Propensity
• (n) a natural inclination or predilection toward
•
Syn: natural bent, penchant
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Ant: inability, incapacity
*Querulous
• (adj) peevish, complaining, fretful
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Syn: cranky, irritable
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Ant: stoic, placid
*Remonstrate
• (v) to argue or plead with someone against
something, to protest against, object to
•
Syn: reason against, expostulate
Repudiate
• (v) to disown, reject, or deny the validity of
•
Syn: disavow, renounce
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Ant: affirm, vouch
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Resilient
• (adj) able to return to an original shape or form;
able to recover quickly
•
Syn: springy, buoyant
•
Ant: rigid, unyielding
Reverberate
• (v) to re-echo, resound; to reflect or be reflected
repeatedly
•
Syn: rumble, thunder
•
Scurrilous
• (adj) coarsely abusive, vulgar or low (especially
in language), foul-mouthed, unseemly
•
Syn: obscene, filthy
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Ant: decorous, tasteful
*Sedulous
• (adj) persistent, showing industry or determination
•
Syn: assiduous, tireless
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Ant: lackadaisical, indolent
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Sleazy
• (adj) thin or flimsy in texture;
cheap; shoddy of inferior in quality
or character; ethically low, mean,
or disreputable
•
Syn: inferior, tawdry
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Ant: superior, first-rate