When it comes to listing the most difficult SAT words, there truly is no end to that list. The list of the most difficult SAT words provided below contains over 300 spellings, each more daunting than the other in terms of difficulty.
The SAT is a standardized exam widely taken and used for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is an extremely difficult exam where the questions are tough, and the environment is often hostile to the examinees.
Given the difficult nature of this examination, you can understand how difficult the SAT vocabulary words are. Of all the word lists you have ever faced, this SAT words list will be the most difficult one yet. But with a little practice, you will be able to tackle these sat vocabulary words with no difficulty at all.
You will find a lot of these sat vocabulary words in different spelling bee word lists. Spelling bees like to incorporate words from different languages, origins, and culture. Hence, you are bound to run into one or more of these words at some point during your practice as well as during the competition.
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Most Difficult SAT Words
Some definitions of difficult SAT words
| Abject | Cast down; low-lying. – Sunk to a law condition; down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; groveling; despicable; as, abject posture, fortune, thoughts. – To cast off or down; hence, to abase; to degrade; to lower; to debase. – A person in the lowest and most despicable condition; a castaway. |
| Abjure | To renounce upon oath; to forswear; to disavow; as, to abjure allegiance to a prince. To abjure the realm, is to swear to abandon it forever. – To renounce or reject with solemnity; to recant; to abandon forever; to reject; repudiate; as, to abjure errors. – To renounce on oath. |
| Abnegation | A denial; a renunciation. |
| Abrogate | Abrogated; abolished. – To annul by an authoritative act; to abolish by the authority of the maker or his successor; to repeal; — applied to the repeal of laws, decrees, ordinances, the abolition of customs, etc. – To put an end to; to do away with. |
| Abscond | To hide, withdraw, or be concealed. – To depart clandestinely; to steal off and secrete one’s self; — used especially of persons who withdraw to avoid a legal process; as, an absconding debtor. – To hide; to conceal. |
| Abstruse | Concealed or hidden out of the way. – Remote from apprehension; difficult to be comprehended or understood; recondite; as, abstruse learning. |
| Accede | To approach; to come forward; — opposed to recede. – To enter upon an office or dignity; to attain. – To become a party by associating one’s self with others; to give one’s adhesion. Hence, to agree or assent to a proposal or a view; as, he acceded to my request. |
| Accost | To join side to side; to border; hence, to sail along the coast or side of. – To approach; to make up to. – To speak to first; to address; to greet. – To adjoin; to lie alongside. – Address; greeting. |
| Accretion | The act of increasing by natural growth; esp. The increase of organic bodies by the internal accession of parts; organic growth. – The act of increasing, or the matter added, by an accession of parts externally; an extraneous addition; as, an accretion of earth. – Concretion; coherence of separate particles; as, the accretion of particles so as to form a solid mass. – A growing together of parts naturally separate, as of the fingers toes. – The adhering of property to something else, by which the owner of one thing becomes possessed of a right to another; generally, gain of land by the washing up of sand or sail from the sea or a river, or by a gradual recession of the water from the usual watermark. – Gain to an heir or legatee, failure of a coheir to the same succession, or a co-legatee of the same thing, to take his share. |
| Acumen | Quickness of perception or discernment; penetration of mind; the faculty of nice discrimination. |
| Adamant | A stone imagined by some to be of impenetrable hardness; a name given to the diamond and other substances of extreme hardness; but in modern mineralogy it has no technical signification. It is now a rhetorical or poetical name for the embodiment of impenetrable hardness. – Lodestone; magnet. |
| Admonish | To warn or notify of a fault; to reprove gently or kindly, but seriously; to exhort. – To counsel against wrong practices; to cation or advise; to warn against danger or an offense; — followed by of, against, or a subordinate clause. – To instruct or direct; to inform; to notify. |
| Adumbrate | To give a faint shadow or slight representation of; to outline; to shadow forth. – To overshadow; to shade. |
| Adverse | Acting against, or in a contrary direction; opposed; contrary; opposite; conflicting; as, adverse winds; an adverse party; a spirit adverse to distinctions of caste. – Opposite. – In hostile opposition to; unfavorable; unpropitious; contrary to one’s wishes; unfortunate; calamitous; afflictive; hurtful; as, adverse fates, adverse circumstances, things adverse. – To oppose; to resist. |
| Advocate | One who pleads the cause of another. Specifically: One who pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial court; a counselor. – One who defends, vindicates, or espouses any cause by argument; a pleader; as, an advocate of free trade, an advocate of truth. – Christ, considered as an intercessor. – To plead in favor of; to defend by argument, before a tribunal or the public; to support, vindicate, or recommend publicly. – To act as advocate. |
| Affluent | Flowing to; flowing abundantly. – Abundant; copious; plenteous; hence, wealthy; abounding in goods or riches. – A stream or river flowing into a larger river or into a lake; a tributary stream. |
| Aggrandize | To make great; to enlarge; to increase; as, to aggrandize our conceptions, authority, distress. – To make great or greater in power, rank, honor, or wealth; — applied to persons, countries, etc. – To make appear great or greater; to exalt. – To increase or become great. |
| Alacrity | A cheerful readiness, willingness, or promptitude; joyous activity; briskness; sprightliness; as, the soldiers advanced with alacrity to meet the enemy. |
| Alias | Otherwise; otherwise called; — a term used in legal proceedings to connect the different names of any one who has gone by two or more, and whose true name is for any cause doubtful; as, Smith, alias Simpson. – At another time. – A second or further writ which is issued after a first writ has expired without effect. – Another name; an assumed name. |
| Ambivalent | Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone. |
| Amenable | Easy to be led; governable, as a woman by her husband. – Liable to be brought to account or punishment; answerable; responsible; accountable; as, amenable to law. – Liable to punishment, a charge, a claim, etc. – Willing to yield or submit; responsive; tractable. |
| Amorphous | Having no determinate form; of irregular; shapeless. – Without crystallization in the ultimate texture of a solid substance; uncrystallized. – Of no particular kind or character; anomalous. |
| Anachronistic | Erroneous in date; containing an anachronism. |
| Anathema | A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by ecclesiastical authority, and accompanied by excommunication. Hence: Denunciation of anything as accursed. – An imprecation; a curse; a malediction. – Any person or thing anathematized, or cursed by ecclesiastical authority. |
| Annex | To join or attach; usually to subjoin; to affix; to append; — followed by to. – To join or add, as a smaller thing to a greater. – To attach or connect, as a consequence, condition, etc.; as, to annex a penalty to a prohibition, or punishment to guilt. – To join; to be united. – Something annexed or appended; as, an additional stipulation to a writing, a subsidiary building to a main building; a wing. |
| Antediluvian | Of or relating to the period before the Deluge in Noah’s time; hence, antiquated; as, an antediluvian vehicle. – One who lived before the Deluge. |
| Antiseptic | Alt. Of Antiseptical – A substance which prevents or retards putrefaction, or destroys, or protects from, putrefactive organisms; as, salt, carbolic acid, alcohol, cinchona. |
| Antithesis | An opposition or contrast of words or sentiments occurring in the same sentence; as, “The prodigal robs his heir; the miser robs himself.” “He had covertly shot at Cromwell; he how openly aimed at the Queen.” – The second of two clauses forming an antithesis. – Opposition; contrast. |
| Apathetic | Alt. Of Apathetical |
| Apocryphal | Pertaining to the Apocrypha. – Not canonical. Hence: Of doubtful authority; equivocal; mythic; fictitious; spurious; false. |
| Approbation | Proof; attestation. – The act of approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval; sanction; commendation. – Probation or novitiate. |
| Arbitrary | Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment. – Exercised according to one’s own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power. – Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical; as, an arbitrary prince or government. |
| Arboreal | Of or pertaining to a tree, or to trees; of nature of trees. – Attached to, found in or upon, or frequenting, woods or trees; as, arboreal animals. |
| Arcane | Hidden; secret. |
| Archetypal | Of or pertaining to an archetype; consisting a model (real or ideal) or pattern; original. |
| Arrogate | To assume, or claim as one’s own, unduly, proudly, or presumptuously; to make undue claims to, from vanity or baseless pretensions to right or merit; as, the pope arrogated dominion over kings. |
| Ascetic | Extremely rigid in self-denial and devotions; austere; severe. – In the early church, one who devoted himself to a solitary and contemplative life, characterized by devotion, extreme self-denial, and self-mortification; a hermit; a recluse; hence, one who practices extreme rigor and self-denial in religious things. |
| Aspersion | A sprinkling, as with water or dust, in a literal sense. – The spreading of calumniations reports or charges which tarnish reputation, like the bespattering of a body with foul water; calumny. |
| Assiduous | Constant in application or attention; devoted; attentive; unremitting. – Performed with constant diligence or attention; unremitting; persistent; as, assiduous labor. |
| Atrophy | A wasting away from want of nourishment; diminution in bulk or slow emaciation of the body or of any part. – To cause to waste away or become abortive; to starve or weaken. – To waste away; to dwindle. |
| Bane | That which destroys life, esp. Poison of a deadly quality. – Destruction; death. – Any cause of ruin, or lasting injury; harm; woe. – A disease in sheep, commonly termed the rot. – To be the bane of; to ruin. |
| Bashful | Abashed; daunted; dismayed. – Very modest, or modest excess; constitutionally disposed to shrink from public notice; indicating extreme or excessive modesty; shy; as, a bashful person, action, expression. |
| Beguile | To delude by guile, artifice, or craft; to deceive or impose on, as by a false statement; to lure. – To elude, or evade by craft; to foil. – To cause the time of to pass without notice; to relieve the tedium or weariness of; to while away; to divert. |
| Bereft | Imp. & p. P. Of bereave. – to take away from. – to take away. |
| Bilk | To frustrate or disappoint; to deceive or defraud, by nonfulfillment of engagement; to leave in the lurch; to give the slip to; as, to bilk a creditor. – A thwarting an adversary in cribbage by spoiling his score; a balk. – A cheat; a trick; a hoax. – Nonsense; vain words. – A person who tricks a creditor; an untrustworthy, tricky person. |
| Blandishment | The act of blandishing; a word or act expressive of affection or kindness, and tending to win the heart; soft words and artful caresses; cajolery; allurement. |
| Bombastic | Alt. Of Bombastical |
| Cajole | To deceive with flattery or fair words; to wheedle. |
| Callous | Hardened; indurated. – Hardened in mind; insensible; unfeeling; unsusceptible. |
| Calumny | False accusation of a crime or offense, maliciously made or reported, to the injury of another; malicious misrepresentation; slander; detraction. |
| Camaraderie | Mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together. |
| Candor | Whiteness; brightness; (as applied to moral conditions) usullied purity; innocence. – A disposition to treat subjects with fairness; freedom from prejudice or disguise; frankness; sincerity. |
| Capitulate | To settle or draw up the heads or terms of an agreement, as in chapters or articles; to agree. – To surrender on terms agreed upon (usually, drawn up under several heads); as, an army or a garrison capitulates. – To surrender or transfer, as an army or a fortress, on certain conditions. |
| Carouse | A large draught of liquor. – A drinking match; a carousal. – To drink deeply or freely in compliment; to take part in a carousal; to engage in drunken revels. – To drink up; to drain; to drink freely or jovially. |
| Carp | To talk; to speak; to prattle. – To find fault; to cavil; to censure words or actions without reason or ill-naturedly; — usually followed by at. – To say; to tell. – To find fault with; to censure. – of Carp – A fresh-water herbivorous fish (Cyprinus carpio.). Several other species of Cyprinus, Catla, and Carassius are called carp. See Cruclan carp. |
| Caucus | A meeting, especially a preliminary meeting, of persons belonging to a party, to nominate candidates for public office, or to select delegates to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding measures of party policy; a political primary meeting. – To hold, or meet in, a caucus or caucuses. |
| Cavort | To prance ostentatiously; — said of a horse or his rider. |
| Circumlocution | The use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language; a periphrase. |
| Circumscribe | To write or engrave around. – to inclose within a certain limit; to hem in; to surround; to bound; to confine; to restrain. – to draw a line around so as to touch at certain points without cutting. See inscribe, 5. |
| Circumvent | To gain advantage over by arts, stratagem, or deception; to decieve; to delude; to get around. |
| Clamor | A great outcry or vociferation; loud and continued shouting or exclamation. – Any loud and continued noise. – A continued expression of dissatisfaction or discontent; a popular outcry. – To salute loudly. – To stun with noise. – To utter loudly or repeatedly; to shout. – To utter loud sounds or outcries; to vociferate; to complain; to make importunate demands. |
| Cleave | To adhere closely; to stick; to hold fast; to cling. – To unite or be united closely in interest or affection; to adhere with strong attachment. – To fit; to be adapted; to assimilate. – To part or divide by force; to split or rive; to cut. – To part or open naturally; to divide. – To part; to open; to crack; to separate; as parts of bodies; as, the ground cleaves by frost. |
| Cobbler | A mender of shoes. – A clumsy workman. – A beverage. See Sherry cobbler, under Sherry. |
| Cogent | Compelling, in a physical sense; powerful. – Having the power to compel conviction or move the will; constraining; conclusive; forcible; powerful; not easily reasisted. |
| Cognizant | Having cognizance or knowledge. (of). |
| Commensurate | To reduce to a common measure. – To proportionate; to adjust. – Having a common measure; commensurable; reducible to a common measure; as, commensurate quantities. – Equal in measure or extent; proportionate. |
| Complement | That which fills up or completes; the quantity or number required to fill a thing or make it complete. – That which is required to supply a deficiency, or to complete a symmetrical whole. – Full quantity, number, or amount; a complete set; completeness. – A second quantity added to a given quantity to make it equal to a third given quantity. – Something added for ornamentation; an accessory. – The whole working force of a vessel. – The interval wanting to complete the octave; — the fourth is the complement of the fifth, the sixth of the third. – A compliment. – To supply a lack; to supplement. – To compliment. |
| Compunction | A pricking; stimulation. – A picking of heart; poignant grief proceeding from a sense of guilt or consciousness of causing pain; the sting of conscience. |
| Concomitant | Accompanying; conjoined; attending. – One who, or that which, accompanies, or is collaterally connected with another; a companion; an associate; an accompaniment. |
| Conduit | A pipe, canal, channel, or passage for conveying water or fluid. – A structure forming a reservoir for water. – A narrow passage for private communication. |
| Conflagration | A fire extending to many objects, or over a large space; a general burning. |
| Congruity | The state or quality of being congruous; the relation or agreement between things; fitness; harmony; correspondence; consistency. – Coincidence, as that of lines or figures laid over one another. – That, in an imperfectly good persons, which renders it suitable for God to bestow on him gifts of grace. |
| Connive | To open and close the eyes rapidly; to wink. – To close the eyes upon a fault; to wink (at); to fail or forbear by intention to discover an act; to permit a proceeding, as if not aware of it; — usually followed by at. – To shut the eyes to; to overlook; to pretend not to see. |
| Consign | To give, transfer, or deliver, in a formal manner, as if by signing over into the possession of another, or into a different state, with the sense of fixedness in that state, or permanence of possession; as, to consign the body to the grave. – To give in charge; to commit; to intrust. – To send or address (by bill of lading or otherwise) to an agent or correspondent in another place, to be cared for or sold, or for the use of such correspondent; as, to consign a cargo or a ship; to consign goods. – To assign; to devote; to set apart. – To stamp or impress; to affect. – To submit; to surrender or yield one’s self. – To yield consent; to agree; to acquiesce. |
| Constituent | Serving to form, compose, or make up; elemental; component. – Having the power of electing or appointing. – The person or thing which constitutes, determines, or constructs. – That which constitutes or composes, as a part, or an essential part; a component; an element. – One for whom another acts; especially, one who is represented by another in a legislative assembly; — correlative to representative. – A person who appoints another to act for him as attorney in fact. |
| Construe | To apply the rules of syntax to (a sentence or clause) so as to exhibit the structure, arrangement, or connection of, or to discover the sense; to explain the construction of; to interpret; to translate. – To put a construction upon; to explain the sense or intention of; to interpret; to understand. |
| Contentious | Fond of contention; given to angry debate; provoking dispute or contention; quarrelsome. – Relating to contention or strife; involving or characterized by contention. – Contested; litigated; litigious; having power to decide controversy. |
| Contravene | To meet in the way of opposition; to come into conflict with; to oppose; to contradict; to obstruct the operation of; to defeat. – To violate; to nullify; to be inconsistent with; as, to contravene a law. |
| Contrite | Thoroughly bruised or broken. – Broken down with grief and penitence; deeply sorrowful for sin because it is displeasing to God; humbly and thoroughly penitent. – A contrite person. – In a contrite manner. |
| Contusion | The act or process of beating, bruising, or pounding; the state of being beaten or bruised. – A bruise; an injury attended with more or less disorganization of the subcutaneous tissue and effusion of blood beneath the skin, but without apparent wound. |
| Convivial | Of or relating to a feast or entertainment, or to eating and drinking, with accompanying festivity; festive; social; gay; jovial. |
| Corpulence | Alt. Of Corpulency |
| Covet | To wish for with eagerness; to desire possession of; — used in a good sense. – To long for inordinately or unlawfully; to hanker after (something forbidden). – To have or indulge inordinate desire. |
| Cupidity | A passionate desire; love. – Eager or inordinate desire, especially for wealth; greed of gain; avarice; covetousness |
| Dearth | Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. |
| Debacle | A breaking or bursting forth; a violent rush or flood of waters which breaks down opposing barriers, and hurls forward and disperses blocks of stone and other debris. |
| Debauch | To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce; as, to debauch one’s self by intemperance; to debauch a woman; to debauch an army. – Excess in eating or drinking; intemperance; drunkenness; lewdness; debauchery. – An act or occasion of debauchery. |
| Debunk | Expose the falseness or hollowness of (an idea or belief). |
| Defunct | Having finished the course of life; dead; deceased. – A dead person; one deceased. |
| Demagogue | A leader of the rabble; one who attempts to control the multitude by specious or deceitful arts; an unprincipled and factious mob orator or political leader. |
| Denigrate | To blacken thoroughly; to make very black. – Fig.: To blacken or sully; to defame. |
| Despot | A master; a lord; especially, an absolute or irresponsible ruler or sovereign. – One who rules regardless of a constitution or laws; a tyrant. |
| Diaphanous | Allowing light to pass through, as porcelain; translucent or transparent; pellucid; clear. |
| Didactic | Alt. Of Didactical – A treatise on teaching or education. |
| Dirge | A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. |
| Disaffected | Alienated in feeling; not wholly loyal. – To disturb the functions of; to disorder. – To lack affection for; to be alienated from, or indisposed toward; to dislike. |
| Discomfit | To scatter in fight; to put to rout; to defeat. – To break up and frustrate the plans of; to balk/ to throw into perplexity and dejection; to disconcert. – Discomfited; overthrown. – Rout; overthrow; discomfiture. |
| Disparate | Unequal; dissimilar; separate. – Pertaining to two coordinate species or divisions. |
| Dispel | To drive away by scattering, or so to cause to vanish; to clear away; to banish; to dissipate; as, to dispel a cloud, vapors, cares, doubts, illusions. |
| Disrepute | Loss or want of reputation; ill character; disesteem; discredit. – To bring into disreputation; to hold in dishonor. |
| Divisive | Indicating division or distribution. – Creating, or tending to create, division, separation, or difference. |
| Dogmatic | One of an ancient sect of physicians who went by general principles; — opposed to the Empiric. – Alt. Of Dogmatical |
| Dour | Hard; inflexible; obstinate; sour in aspect; hardy; bold. |
| Duplicity | Doubleness; a twofold state. – Doubleness of heart or speech; insincerity; a sustained form of deception which consists in entertaining or pretending to entertain one of feelings, and acting as if influenced by another; bad faith. – The use of two or more distinct allegations or answers, where one is sufficient. – In indictments, the union of two incompatible offenses. |
| Duress | Hardship; constraint; pressure; imprisonment; restraint of liberty. – The state of compulsion or necessity in which a person is influenced, whether by the unlawful restrain of his liberty or by actual or threatened physical violence, to incur a civil liability or to commit an offense. – To subject to duress. |
| Ebullient | Boiling up or over; hence, manifesting exhilaration or excitement, as of feeling; effervescing. |
| Eclectic | Selecting; choosing (what is true or excellent in doctrines, opinions, etc.) From various sources or systems; as, an eclectic philosopher. – Consisting, or made up, of what is chosen or selected; as, an eclectic method; an eclectic magazine. – One who follows an eclectic method. |
| Edict | A public command or ordinance by the sovereign power; the proclamation of a law made by an absolute authority, as if by the very act of announcement; a decree; as, the edicts of the Roman emperors; the edicts of the French monarch. |
| Egregious | Surpassing; extraordinary; distinguished (in a bad sense); — formerly used with words importing a good quality, but now joined with words having a bad sense; as, an egregious rascal; an egregious ass; an egregious mistake. |
| Elegy | A mournful or plaintive poem; a funereal song; a poem of lamentation. |
| Elicit | Elicited; drawn out; made real; open; evident. – To draw out or entice forth; to bring to light; to bring out against the will; to deduce by reason or argument; as, to elicit truth by discussion. |
| Embezzlement | The fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted; as, the embezzlement by a clerk of his employer’s; embezzlement of public funds by the public officer having them in charge. |
| Emend | To purge of faults; to make better; to correct; esp., to make corrections in (a literary work); to alter for the better by textual criticism, generally verbal. |
| Emollient | Softening; making supple; acting as an emollient. – An external something or soothing application to allay irritation, soreness, etc. |
| Empirical | Pertaining to, or founded upon, experiment or experience; depending upon the observation of phenomena; versed in experiments. – Depending upon experience or observation alone, without due regard to science and theory; — said especially of medical practice, remedies, etc.; wanting in science and deep insight; as, empiric skill, remedies. |
| Emulate | Striving to excel; ambitious; emulous. – To strive to equal or to excel in qualities or actions; to imitate, with a view to equal or to outdo, to vie with; to rival; as, to emulate the good and the great. |
| Enervate | To deprive of nerve, force, strength, or courage; to render feeble or impotent; to make effeminate; to impair the moral powers of. – Weakened; weak; without strength of force. |
| Enfranchise | To set free; to liberate from slavery, prison, or any binding power. – To endow with a franchise; to incorporate into a body politic and thus to invest with civil and political privileges; to admit to the privileges of a freeman. – To receive as denizens; to naturalize; as, to enfranchise foreign words. |
| Engender | To produce by the union of the sexes; to beget. – To cause to exist; to bring forth; to produce; to sow the seeds of; as, angry words engender strife. – To assume form; to come into existence; to be caused or produced. – To come together; to meet, as in sexual embrace. – One who, or that which, engenders. |
| Ephemeral | Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer than, a day; diurnal; as, an ephemeral flower. – Short-lived; existing or continuing for a short time only. – Anything lasting but a day, or a brief time; an ephemeral plant, insect, etc. |
| Epistolary | Pertaining to epistles or letters; suitable to letters and correspondence; as, an epistolary style. – Contained in letters; carried on by letters. |
| Equanimity | Evenness of mind; that calm temper or firmness of mind which is not easily elated or depressed; patience; calmness; composure; as, to bear misfortunes with equanimity. |
| Espouse | To betroth; to promise in marriage; to give as spouse. – To take as spouse; to take to wife; to marry. – To take to one’s self with a view to maintain; to make one’s own; to take up the cause of; to adopt; to embrace. |
| Evanescent | Liable to vanish or pass away like vapor; vanishing; fleeting; as, evanescent joys. – Vanishing from notice; imperceptible. |
| Evince | To conquer; to subdue. – To show in a clear manner; to prove beyond any reasonable doubt; to manifest; to make evident; to bring to light; to evidence. |
| Exacerbate | To render more violent or bitter; to irriate; to exasperate; to imbitter, as passions or disease. |
| Execrable | Deserving to be execrated; accursed; damnable; detestable; abominable; as, an execrable wretch. |
| Exhort | To incite by words or advice; to animate or urge by arguments, as to a good deed or laudable conduct; to address exhortation to; to urge strongly; hence, to advise, warn, or caution. – To deliver exhortation; to use words or arguments to incite to good deeds. – Exhortation. |
| Exigent | Exacting or requiring immediate aid or action; pressing; critical. – Exigency; pressing necessity; decisive moment. – The name of a writ in proceedings before outlawry. |
| Expedient | Hastening or forward; hence, tending to further or promote a proposed object; fit or proper under the circumstances; conducive to self-interest; desirable; advisable; advantageous; — sometimes contradistinguished from right. – Quick; expeditious. – That which serves to promote or advance; suitable means to accomplish an end. – Means devised in an exigency; shift. |
| Expiate | To extinguish the guilt of by sufferance of penalty or some equivalent; to make complete satisfaction for; to atone for; to make amends for; to make expiation for; as, to expiate a crime, a guilt, or sin. – To purify with sacred rites. – Terminated. |
| Expunge | To blot out, as with pen; to rub out; to efface designedly; to obliterate; to strike out wholly; as, to expunge words, lines, or sentences. – To strike out; to wipe out or destroy; to annihilate; as, to expugne an offense. |
| Expurgate | To purify; to clear from anything noxious, offensive, or erroneous; to cleanse; to purge; as, to expurgate a book. |
| Extant | Standing out or above any surface; protruded. – Still existing; not destroyed or lost; outstanding. – Publicly known; conspicuous. |
| Extol | To place on high; to lift up; to elevate. – To elevate by praise; to eulogize; to praise; to magnify; as, to extol virtue; to extol an act or a person. |
| Extraneous | Not belonging to, or dependent upon, a thing; without or beyond a thing; not essential or intrinsic; foreign; as, to separate gold from extraneous matter. |
| Fallacious | Embodying or pertaining to a fallacy; illogical; fitted to deceive; misleading; delusive; as, fallacious arguments or reasoning. |
| Fatuous | Feeble in mind; weak; silly; stupid; foolish; fatuitous. – Without reality; illusory, like the ignis fatuus. |
| Fetter | A chain or shackle for the feet; a chain by which an animal is confined by the foot, either made fast or disabled from free and rapid motion; a bond; a shackle. – Anything that confines or restrains; a restraint. – To put fetters upon; to shackle or confine the feet of with a chain; to bind. – To restrain from motion; to impose restraints on; to confine; to enchain; as, fettered by obligations. |
| Flagrant | Flaming; inflamed; glowing; burning; ardent. – Actually in preparation, execution, or performance; carried on hotly; raging. – Flaming into notice; notorious; enormous; heinous; glaringly wicked. |
| Forbearance | The act of forbearing or waiting; the exercise of patience. – The quality of being forbearing; indulgence toward offenders or enemies; long-suffering. |
| Fortuitous | Happening by chance; coming or occuring unexpectedly, or without any known cause; chance; as, the fortuitous concourse of atoms. – Happening independently of human will or means of foresight; resulting from unavoidable physical causes. |
| Fractious | Apt to break out into a passion; apt to scold; cross; snappish; ugly; unruly; as, a fractious man; a fractious horse. |
| Garrulous | Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative; loquacious. – Having a loud, harsh note; noisy; — said of birds; as, the garrulous roller. |
| Gourmand | A greedy or ravenous eater; a glutton. See Gormand. |
| Grandiloquent | Speaking in a lofty style; pompous; bombastic. |
| Gratuitous | Given without an equivalent or recompense; conferred without valuable consideration; granted without pay, or without claim or merit; not required by justice. – Not called for by the circumstances; without reason, cause, or proof; adopted or asserted without any good ground; as, a gratuitous assumption. |
| Hapless | Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid. |
| Hegemony | Leadership; preponderant influence or authority; — usually applied to the relation of a government or state to its neighbors or confederates. |
| Heterogenous | Of or pertaining to heterogenesis; heterogenetic. |
| Iconoclast | A breaker or destroyer of images or idols; a determined enemy of idol worship. – One who exposes or destroys impositions or shams; one who attacks cherished beliefs; a radical. |
| Idiosyncratic | Alt. Of Idiosyncratical |
| Impecunious | Not having money; habitually without money; poor. |
| Impetuous | Rushing with force and violence; moving with impetus; furious; forcible; violent; as, an impetuous wind; an impetuous torrent. – Vehement in feeling; hasty; passionate; violent; as, a man of impetuous temper. |
| Impinge | To fall or dash against; to touch upon; to strike; to hit; to ciash with; — with on or upon. |
| Impute | To charge; to ascribe; to attribute; to set to the account of; to charge to one as the author, responsible originator, or possessor; — generally in a bad sense. – To adjudge as one’s own (the sin or righteousness) of another; as, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. – To take account of; to consider; to regard. |
| Inane | Without contents; empty; void of sense or intelligence; purposeless; pointless; characterless; useless. – That which is void or empty. |
| Inchoate | Recently, or just, begun; beginning; partially but not fully in existence or operation; existing in its elements; incomplete. – To begin. |
| Incontrovertible | Not controvertible; too clear or certain to admit of dispute; indisputable. |
| Incumbent | Lying; resting; reclining; recumbent; superimposed; superincumbent. – Lying, resting, or imposed, as a duty or obligation; obligatory; always with on or upon. – Leaning or resting; — said of anthers when lying on the inner side of the filament, or of cotyledons when the radicle lies against the back of one of them. – Bent downwards so that the ends touch, or rest on, something else; as, the incumbent toe of a bird. – A person who is in present possession of a benefice or of any office. |
| Inexorable | Not to be persuaded or moved by entreaty or prayer; firm; determined; unyielding; unchangeable; inflexible; relentless; as, an inexorable prince or tyrant; an inexorable judge. |
| Inimical | Having the disposition or temper of an enemy; unfriendly; unfavorable; — chiefly applied to private, as hostile is to public, enmity. – Opposed in tendency, influence, or effects; antagonistic; inconsistent; incompatible; adverse; repugnant. |
| Injunction | The act of enjoining; the act of directing, commanding, or prohibiting. – That which is enjoined; an order; a mandate; a decree; a command; a precept; a direction. – A writ or process, granted by a court of equity, and, insome cases, under statutes, by a court of law,whereby a party is required to do or to refrain from doing certain acts, according to the exigency of the writ. |
| Inoculate | To bud; to insert, or graft, as the bud of a tree or plant in another tree or plant. – To insert a foreign bud into; as, to inoculate a tree. – To communicate a disease to ( a person ) by inserting infectious matter in the skin or flesh; as, to inoculate a person with the virus of smallpox,rabies, etc. See Vaccinate. – Fig.: To introduce into the mind; — used especially of harmful ideas or principles; to imbue; as, to inoculate one with treason or infidelity. – To graft by inserting buds. – To communicate disease by inoculation. |
| Insidious | Lying in wait; watching an opportunity to insnare or entrap; deceitful; sly; treacherous; — said of persons; as, the insidious foe. – Intended to entrap; characterized by treachery and deceit; as, insidious arts. |
| Instigate | To goad or urge forward; to set on; to provoke; to incite; — used chiefly with reference to evil actions; as to instigate one to a crime. |
| Insurgent | Rising in opposition to civil or political authority, or against an established government; insubordinate; rebellious. – A person who rises in revolt against civil authority or an established government; one who openly and actively resists the execution of laws; a rebel. |
| Interlocutor | One who takes part in dialogue or conversation; a talker, interpreter, or questioner. – An interlocutory judgment or sentence. |
| Intimation | The act of intimating; also, the thing intimated. – Announcement; declaration. – A hint; an obscure or indirect suggestion or notice; a remote or ambiguous reference; as, he had given only intimations of his design. |
| Intransigent | Refusing compromise; uncompromising; irreconcilable. |
| Inure | To apply in use; to train; to discipline; to use or accustom till use gives little or no pain or inconvenience; to harden; to habituate; to practice habitually. – To pass into use; to take or have effect; to be applied; to serve to the use or benefit of; as, a gift of lands inures to the heirs. |
| Invective | Characterized by invection; critical; denunciatory; satirical; abusive; railing. – An expression which inveighs or rails against a person; a severe or violent censure or reproach; something uttered or written, intended to cast opprobrium, censure, or reproach on another; a harsh or reproachful accusation; — followed by against, having reference to the person or thing affected; as an invective against tyranny. |
| Inveteratehabitual | |
| Irreverence | The state or quality of being irreverent; want of proper reverence; disregard of the authority and character of a superior. |
| Knell | The stoke of a bell tolled at a funeral or at the death of a person; a death signal; a passing bell; hence, figuratively, a warning of, or a sound indicating, the passing away of anything. – To sound as a knell; especially, to toll at a death or funeral; hence, to sound as a warning or evil omen. – To summon, as by a knell. |
| Laconic | Alt. Of Laconical – Laconism. |
| Largesse | Liberality; generosity; bounty. – A present; a gift; a bounty bestowed. |
| Legerdemain | Sleight of hand; a trick of sleight of hand; hence, any artful deception or trick. |
| Libertarian | Pertaining to liberty, or to the doctrine of free will, as opposed to the doctrine of necessity. – One who holds to the doctrine of free will. |
| Licentious | Characterized by license; passing due bounds; excessive; abusive of freedom; wantonly offensive; as, a licentious press. – Unrestrained by law or morality; lawless; immoral; dissolute; lewd; lascivious; as, a licentious man; a licentious life. |
| Linchpin | A pin used to prevent the wheel of a vehicle from sliding off the axletree. |
| Litigant | Disposed to litigate; contending in law; engaged in a lawsuit; as, the parties litigant. – A person engaged in a lawsuit. |
| Maelstrom | A celebrated whirlpool on the coast of Norway. – Also Fig. ; as, a maelstrom of vice. |
| Maudlin | Tearful; easily moved to tears; exciting to tears; excessively sentimental; weak and silly. – Drunk, or somewhat drunk; fuddled; given to drunkenness. – Alt. Of Maudeline |
| Maverick | In the southwestern part of the united States, a bullock or heifer that has not been branded, and is unclaimed or wild; — said to be from Maverick, the name of a cattle owner in Texas who neglected to brand his cattle. |
| Mawkish | Apt to cause satiety or loathing; nauseous; disgusting. – Easily disgusted; squeamish; sentimentally fastidious. |
| Maxim | An established principle or proposition; a condensed proposition of important practical truth; an axiom of practical wisdom; an adage; a proverb; an aphorism. – The longest note formerly used, equal to two longs, or four breves; a large. |
| Mendacious | Given to deception or falsehood; lying; as, a mendacious person. – False; counterfeit; containing falsehood; as, a mendacious statement. |
| Modicum | A little; a small quantity; a measured simply. |
| Morass | A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen. |
| Mores | The essential or characteristic customs and conventions of a society or community. |
| Multifarious | Having multiplicity; having great diversity or variety; of various kinds; diversified; made up of many differing parts; manifold. – Having parts, as leaves, arranged in many vertical rows. |
| Munificent | Very liberal in giving or bestowing; lavish; as, a munificent benefactor. |
| Nadir | That point of the heavens, or lower hemisphere, directly opposite the zenith; the inferior pole of the horizon; the point of the celestial sphere directly under the place where we stand. – The lowest point; the time of greatest depression. |
| Negligent | Apt to neglect; customarily neglectful; characterized by negligence; careless; heedless; culpably careless; showing lack of attention; as, disposed in negligent order. |
| Neophyte | A new convert or proselyte; — a name given by the early Christians, and still given by the Roman Catholics, to such as have recently embraced the Christian faith, and been admitted to baptism, esp. To converts from heathenism or Judaism. – A novice; a tyro; a beginner in anything. |
| Noisome | Noxious to health; hurtful; mischievous; unwholesome; insalubrious; destructive; as, noisome effluvia. – Offensive to the smell or other senses; disgusting; fetid. |
| Noxious | Hurtful; harmful; baneful; pernicious; injurious; destructive; unwholesome; insalubrious; as, noxious air, food, or climate; pernicious; corrupting to morals; as, noxious practices or examples. – Guilty; criminal. |
| Obdurate | Hardened in feelings, esp. Against moral or mollifying influences; unyielding; hard-hearted; stubbornly wicked. – Hard; harsh; rugged; rough; intractable. – To harden. |
| Obfuscate | Obfuscated; darkened; obscured. – To darken; to obscure; to becloud; hence, to confuse; to bewilder. |
| Obstreperous | Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; clamorous; noisy; vociferous. |
| Officious | Pertaining to, or being in accordance with, duty. – Disposed to serve; kind; obliging. – Importunately interposing services; intermeddling in affairs in which one has no concern; meddlesome. |
| Onerous | Burdensome; oppressive. |
| Ostensible | Capable of being shown; proper or intended to be shown. – Shown; exhibited; declared; avowed; professed; apparent; — often used as opposed to real or actual; as, an ostensible reason, motive, or aim. |
| Ostracism | Banishment by popular vote, — a means adopted at Athens to rid the city of a person whose talent and influence gave umbrage. – Banishment; exclusion; as, social ostracism. |
| Palliate | Covered with a mant/e; cloaked; disguised. – Eased; mitigated; alleviated. – To cover with a mantle or cloak; to cover up; to hide. – To cover with excuses; to conceal the enormity of, by excuses and apologies; to extenuate; as, to palliate faults. – To reduce in violence; to lessen or abate; to mitigate; to ease withhout curing; as, to palliate a disease. |
| Panacea | A remedy for all diseases; a universal medicine; a cure-all; catholicon; hence, a relief or solace for affliction. – The herb allheal. |
| Paradigm | An example; a model; a pattern. – An example of a conjugation or declension, showing a word in all its different forms of inflection. – An illustration, as by a parable or fable. |
| Pariah | One of an aboriginal people of Southern India, regarded by the four castes of the Hindoos as of very low grade. They are usually the serfs of the Sudra agriculturalists. See Caste. – An outcast; one despised by society. |
| Partisan | An adherent to a party or faction; esp., one who is strongly and passionately devoted to a party or an interest. – The commander of a body of detached light troops engaged in making forays and harassing an enemy. – Any member of such a corps. – Adherent to a party or faction; especially, having the character of blind, passionate, or unreasonable adherence to a party; as, blinded by partisan zeal. – Serving as a partisan in a detached command; as, a partisan officer or corps. – A kind of halberd or pike; also, a truncheon; a staff. |
| Paucity | Fewness; smallness of number; scarcity. – Smallnes of quantity; exiguity; insufficiency; as, paucity of blood. |
| Pejorative | Implying or imputing evil; depreciatory; disparaging; unfavorable. |
| Pellucid | Transparent; clear; limpid; translucent; not opaque. |
| Penchant | Inclination; decided taste; bias; as, a penchant for art. |
| Penurious | Excessively sparing in the use of money; sordid; stingy; miserly. – Not bountiful or liberal; scanty. – Destitute of money; suffering extreme want. |
| Pernicious | Quick; swift (to burn). – Having the quality of injuring or killing; destructive; very mischievous; baleful; malicious; wicked. |
| Pert | Open; evident; apert. – Lively; brisk; sprightly; smart. – Indecorously free, or presuming; saucy; bold; impertinent. – To behave with pertness. |
| Pertinacious | Holding or adhering to any opinion, purpose, or design, with obstinacy; perversely persistent; obstinate; as, pertinacious plotters; a pertinacious beggar. – Resolute; persevering; constant; steady. |
| Philanthropic | Alt. Of Philanthropical |
| Phlegmatic | Watery. – Abounding in phlegm; as, phlegmatic humors; a phlegmatic constitution. – Generating or causing phlegm. – Not easily excited to action or passion; cold; dull; sluggish; heavy; as, a phlegmatic person. |
| Pithy | Consisting wholly, or in part, of pith; abounding in pith; as, a pithy stem; a pithy fruit. – Having nervous energy; forceful; cogent. |
| Platitude | The quality or state of being flat, thin, or insipid; flat commonness; triteness; staleness of ideas of language. – A thought or remark which is flat, dull, trite, or weak; a truism; a commonplace. |
| Plaudit | A mark or expression of applause; praise bestowed. |
| Plenitude | The quality or state of being full or complete; fullness; completeness; abundance; as, the plenitude of space or power. – Animal fullness; repletion; plethora. |
| Plethora | Overfullness; especially, excessive fullness of the blood vessels; repletion; that state of the blood vessels or of the system when the blood exceeds a healthy standard in quantity; hyperaemia; — opposed to anaemia. – State of being overfull; excess; superabundance. |
| Portent | That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign. |
| Potentate | One who is potent; one who possesses great power or sway; a prince, sovereign, or monarch. |
| Preclude | To put a barrier before; hence, to shut out; to hinder; to stop; to impede. – To shut out by anticipative action; to prevent or hinder by necessary consequence or implication; to deter action of, access to, employment of, etc.; to render ineffectual; to obviate by anticipation. |
| Predilection | A previous liking; a prepossession of mind in favor of something; predisposition to choose or like; partiality. |
| Preponderance | Alt. Of Preponderancy |
| Presage | Something which foreshows or portends a future event; a prognostic; an omen; an augury. – Power to look the future, or the exercise of that power; foreknowledge; presentiment. – To have a presentiment of; to feel beforehand; to foreknow. – To foretell; to predict; to foreshow; to indicate. – To form or utter a prediction; — sometimes used with of. |
| Probity | Tried virtue or integrity; approved moral excellence; honesty; rectitude; uprightness. |
| Proclivity | Inclination; propensity; proneness; tendency. – Readiness; facility; aptitude. |
| Profligate | Overthrown; beaten; conquered. – Broken down in respect of rectitude, principle, virtue, or decency; openly and shamelessly immoral or vicious; dissolute; as, profligate man or wretch. – An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person. – To drive away; to overcome. |
| Promulgate | To make known by open declaration, as laws, decrees, or tidings; to publish; as, to promulgate the secrets of a council. |
| Proscribe | To doom to destruction; to put out of the protection of law; to outlaw; to exile; as, Sylla and Marius proscribed each other’s adherents. – To denounce and condemn; to interdict; to prohibit; as, the Puritans proscribed theaters. |
| Protean | Of or pertaining to Proteus; characteristic of Proteus. – Exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms; as, an amoeba is a protean animalcule. |
| Prurient | Uneasy with desire; itching; especially, having a lascivious curiosity or propensity; lustful. |
| Puerile | Boyish; childish; trifling; silly. |
| Pugnacious | Disposed to fight; inclined to fighting; quarrelsome; fighting. |
| Pulchritude | That quality of appearance which pleases the eye; beauty; comeliness; grace; loveliness. – Attractive moral excellence; moral beauty. |
| Punctilious | Attentive to punctilio; very nice or exact in the forms of behavior, etiquette, or mutual intercourse; precise; exact in the smallest particulars. |
| Quaint | Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. – Characterized by ingenuity or art; finely fashioned; skillfully wrought; elegant; graceful; nice; neat. – Curious and fanciful; affected; odd; whimsical; antique; archaic; singular; unusual; as, quaint architecture; a quaint expression. |
| Quandary | A state of difficulty or perplexity; doubt; uncertainty. – To bring into a state of uncertainty, perplexity, or difficulty. |
| Quixotic | Like Don Quixote; romantic to extravagance; absurdly chivalric; apt to be deluded. |
| Recalcitrant | Kicking back; recalcitrating; hence, showing repugnance or opposition; refractory. |
| Redoubtable | Formidable; dread; terrible to foes; as, a redoubtable hero; hence, valiant; — often in contempt or burlesque. |
| Relegate | To remove, usually to an inferior position; to consign; to transfer; specifically, to send into exile; to banish. |
| Remiss | Not energetic or exact in duty or business; not careful or prompt in fulfilling engagements; negligent; careless; tardy; behindhand; lagging; slack; hence, lacking earnestness or activity; languid; slow. – The act of being remiss; inefficiency; failure. |
| Reprieve | To delay the punishment of; to suspend the execution of sentence on; to give a respite to; to respite; as, to reprieve a criminal for thirty days. – To relieve for a time, or temporarily. – A temporary suspension of the execution of a sentence, especially of a sentence of death. – Interval of ease or relief; respite. |
| Reprobate | Not enduring proof or trial; not of standard purity or fineness; disallowed; rejected. – Abandoned to punishment; hence, morally abandoned and lost; given up to vice; depraved. – Of or pertaining to one who is given up to wickedness; as, reprobate conduct. – One morally abandoned and lost. – To disapprove with detestation or marks of extreme dislike; to condemn as unworthy; to disallow; to reject. – To abandon to punishment without hope of pardon. |
| Rescind | To cut off; to abrogate; to annul. – Specifically, to vacate or make void, as an act, by the enacting authority or by superior authority; to repeal; as, to rescind a law, a resolution, or a vote; to rescind a decree or a judgment. |
| Rife | Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. – Having power; active; nimble. |
| Sanctimonious | Possessing sanctimony; holy; sacred; saintly. – Making a show of sanctity; affecting saintliness; hypocritically devout or pious. |
| Scurrilous | Using the low and indecent language of the meaner sort of people, or such as only the license of buffoons can warrant; as, a scurrilous fellow. – Containing low indecency or abuse; mean; foul; vile; obscenely jocular; as, scurrilous language. |
| Semaphore | A signal telegraph; an apparatus for giving signals by the disposition of lanterns, flags, oscillating arms, etc. |
| Serendipity | The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.. |
| Sobriety | Habitual soberness or temperance as to the use of spirituous liquors; as, a man of sobriety. – Habitual freedom from enthusiasm, inordinate passion, or overheated imagination; calmness; coolness; gravity; seriousness; as, the sobriety of riper years. |
| Solicitous | Disposed to solicit; eager to obtain something desirable, or to avoid anything evil; concerned; anxious; careful. |
| Solipsism | Egotism. – egoism. |
| Spurious | Not proceeding from the true source, or from the source pretended; not genuine; false; adulterate. – Not legitimate; bastard; as, spurious issue. |
| Stolid | Hopelessly insensible or stupid; not easily aroused or excited; dull; impassive; foolish. |
| Subjugate | To subdue, and bring under the yoke of power or dominion; to conquer by force, and compel to submit to the government or absolute control of another; to vanquish. |
| Surreptitious | Done or made by stealth, or without proper authority; made or introduced fraudulently; clandestine; stealthy; as, a surreptitious passage in an old manuscript; a surreptitious removal of goods. |
| Swarthy | Being of a dark hue or dusky complexion; tawny; swart; as, swarthy faces. – To make swarthy. |
| Tangential | Of or pertaining to a tangent; in the direction of a tangent. |
| Tirade | A declamatory strain or flight of censure or abuse; a rambling invective; an oration or harangue abounding in censorious and bitter language. |
| Toady | A mean flatterer; a toadeater; a sycophant. – A coarse, rustic woman. – To fawn upon with mean sycophancy. |
| Tome | As many writings as are bound in a volume, forming part of a larger work; a book; — usually applied to a ponderous volume. |
| Torpid | Having lost motion, or the power of exertion and feeling; numb; benumbed; as, a torpid limb. – Dull; stupid; sluggish; inactive. |
| Travesty | Disguised by dress so as to be ridiculous; travestied; — applied to a book or shorter composition. – A burlesque translation or imitation of a work. – To translate, imitate, or represent, so as to render ridiculous or ludicrous. |
| Trenchant | Fitted to trench or cut; gutting; sharp. – Fig.: Keen; biting; severe; as, trenchant wit. |
| Trite | Worn out; common; used until so common as to have lost novelty and interest; hackneyed; stale; as, a trite remark; a trite subject. |
| Truculent | Fierce; savage; ferocious; barbarous; as, the truculent inhabitants of Scythia. – Cruel; destructive; ruthless. |
| Turpitude | Inherent baseness or vileness of principle, words, or actions; shameful wickedness; depravity. |
| Ubiquitous | Existing or being everywhere, or in all places, at the same time; omnipresent. |
| Umbrage | Shade; shadow; obscurity; hence, that which affords a shade, as a screen of trees or foliage. – Shadowy resemblance; shadow. – The feeling of being overshadowed; jealousy of another, as standing in one’s light or way; hence, suspicion of injury or wrong; offense; resentment. |
| Upbraid | To charge with something wrong or disgraceful; to reproach; to cast something in the teeth of; — followed by with or for, and formerly of, before the thing imputed. – To reprove severely; to rebuke; to chide. – To treat with contempt. – To object or urge as a matter of reproach; to cast up; — with to before the person. – To utter upbraidings. – The act of reproaching; contumely. |
| Utilitarian | Of or pertaining to utility; consisting in utility; /iming at utility as distinguished from beauty, ornament, etc.; sometimes, reproachfully, evincing, or characterized by, a regard for utility of a lower kind, or marked by a sordid spirit; as, utilitarian narrowness; a utilitarian indifference to art. – Of or pertaining to utilitarianism; supporting utilitarianism; as, the utilitarian view of morality; the Utilitarian Society. – One who holds the doctrine of utilitarianism. |
| Veracity | The quality or state of being veracious; habitual observance of truth; truthfulness; truth; as, a man of veracity. |
| Vestige | The mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign; hence, a faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost, or has perished, or is no longer present; remains; as, the vestiges of ancient magnificence in Palmyra; vestiges of former population. |
| Vicissitude | Regular change or succession from one thing to another; alternation; mutual succession; interchange. – Irregular change; revolution; mutation. |
| Vilify | To make vile; to debase; to degrade; to disgrace. – To degrade or debase by report; to defame; to traduce; to calumniate. – To treat as vile; to despise. |
| Virtuoso | One devoted to virtu; one skilled in the fine arts, in antiquities, and the like; a collector or ardent admirer of curiosities, etc. – A performer on some instrument, as the violin or the piano, who excels in the technical part of his art; a brilliant concert player. |
| Vitriolic | Of or pertaining to vitriol; derived from, or resembling, vitriol; vitriolous; as, a vitriolic taste. Cf. Vitriol. |
| Vituperate | To find fault with; to scold; to overwhelm with wordy abuse; to censure severely or abusively; to rate. |
| Vociferous | Making a loud outcry; clamorous; noisy; as, vociferous heralds. |
| Wily | Full of wiles, tricks, or stratagems; using craft or stratagem to accomplish a purpose; mischievously artful; subtle. |
| Winsome | Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. – Causing joy or pleasure; gladsome; pleasant. |
| Zephyr | The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. |
These were the most difficult SAT words. Practice this list until you will master all the sat vocabulary, then move on to the next featured spelling bee word list.
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