A Glance at SAT Vocabulary List: 20 Most Common Words
Updated on 06 February, 2023
Mrinal Mandal
Study Abroad Expert
)
The SAT Vocabulary (words in context) section consists of questions that test a student's vocabulary skills. These words generally appear as a part of the reading passages with context clues.
The SAT is designed to make things tricky, but practicing with an SAT vocabulary book can help you ace the section. A general vocabulary preparation book may have at least 300 to 500 most commonly asked words. Students should not follow the approach of cramming difficult words to build an SAT vocabulary list. They should focus on familiarizing (not memorizing) and implementing innovative vocabulary words in their daily use.
Table of Contents
SAT Vocabulary Words with Meaning and Sentences
Below is an SAT vocabulary list of the 35 most common words that appear during the examination. The meaning of each word, along with a sentence using the same, is given.
- Abate
Meaning – to lessen in intensity
Sentence – The airlines expected the storm to abate in an hour, after which flight operations could resume.
2. Accede
Meaning – to give one’s consent to a demand
Sentence – His seniors did not accede to his request for a deadline extension.
3. Berate
Meaning – to scold in anger
Sentence – The car owner berated his chauffeur for the theft.
4. Cacophony
Meaning – harsh and jarring to the ears
Sentence – The cacophony from across the street made it difficult for her to concentrate on the work.
5. Diluvial
Meaning – associated with floods
Sentence – The diluvial rain converted the dry and barren land into a mini lake.
6. Catalyst
Meaning – a thing or a person acting as a stimulus
Sentence – Her controversial speech acted as a catalyst for a heated debate.
7. Dearth
Meaning – shortage or scarcity
Sentence – The dearth of customer information made it difficult for the company to improvise the product.
8. Emulate
Meaning – to imitate something
Sentence – The company introduced some new measures to emulate the success of its competitor firm.
9. Epochal
Meaning – momentous
Sentence – Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation worldwide was an epochal voyage in history.
10. Fictive
Meaning – a figment of one’s imagination
Sentence – Alice found that writing fictive stories gave her more joy than autobiographies.
11. Flippant
Meaning – frivolous and shallow
Sentence – Her flippant attitude signified a lack of understanding of the gravity of the situation.
12. Gregarious
Meaning – relating to someone who is social
Sentence – Dolphins are gregarious creatures who form strong bonds with others of the same species.
13. Gauche
Meaning – socially awkward or gawky
Sentence – Sabrina’s gauche table manners, especially talking with a mouth full of food, made others cringe.
14. Hubris
Meaning – self-conceit or excessive pride
Sentence – He made much progress as long as he was humble, but the hubris of fame has led to his downfall.
15. Jocular
Meaning – Funny and humorous
Sentence – Seema has many friends in school, given her cheerful, jocular, and kind manners.
16. Lexicon
Meaning – vocabulary
Sentence – The contemporary English lexicon consists of many words that the great William Shakespeare coined.
17. Knave
Meaning – a scoundrel or dishonest person
Sentence – The church knave volunteered to work only to have access to the offering box.
18. Lackadaisical
Meaning – with a general sense of disinterest
Sentence – The restaurant’s delectable food could not compensate for the lackadaisical customer service.
19. Lachrymose
Meaning – teary-eyed
Sentence – Ishan, the music composer, is more famous for lachrymose ballads than hip-hop or jazz.
20. Malfeasance
Meaning – wrongdoing committed by a public official
Sentence – Despite being accused of malfeasance, the two officials were not tried until several years later.
21. Modicum
Meaning – a tiny quantity of
Sentence – People laughed at him, knowing that his story did not have a modicum of truth.
22. Necromancy
Meaning – black magic
Sentence – The cottage had been locked up for ages and its walls reeked of necromancy.
23. Nihilism
Meaning – the belief that life is purposeless
Sentence – Rita lived with a sense of nihilism and apathy after losing her mother.
24. Obfuscate
Meaning – being unclear or confusing
Sentence – She was disqualified from the annual debate as her arguments tend to obfuscate the main topic.
25. Ostracize
Meaning – to be shunned from society
Sentence – Her radical political views had her ostracized from the community.
26. Paramount
Meaning – supremacy over anything else
Sentence – Giving work-life balance paramount importance, the company introduced a four-day workweek.
27. Polyglot
Meaning – someone who is fluent in multiple languages
Sentence – Anita, a polyglot, was hired as a US government translator.
28. Patrician
Meaning – someone who belongs to the aristocracy
Sentence – The people bowed in reverence as they perceived the presence of a fellow patrician.
29. Rancor
Meaning – long-standing bitterness
Sentence – Everyone in the court was astonished as she responded to her accusers without rancor.
30. Refute
Meaning – to prove something to be false
Sentence – The prosecutor refuted the alibi of the defendant with circumstantial evidence.
31. Revile
Meaning – to insult or criticize someone harshly
Sentence – The students worked silently, in fear of being reviled by the professor.
32. Sanctimonious
Meaning – a self-righteous attitude
Sentence – His sanctimonious sense of self-made him blind to his shortcomings.
33. Sinecure
Meaning – an easy job
Sentence – Being the son of the company’s CEO, Sushant was given a sinecure.
34. Sybarite
Meaning – someone who loves indulgence and luxury
Sentence – He could not stand being in a non-air-conditioned office, having been raised as a sybarite by his parents.
35. Scrupulous
Meaning – paying careful attention to details
Sentence – His scrupulous research enabled him to create the best project in class.
You can also read: SAT-Accepting Colleges In Australia | SAT Reading Tips | SAT Writing |
| Eligibility For SAT | SAT Exam Dates 2022 | SAT Exam Results |
| SAT Exam Format | SAT Exam Registration | SAT Exam Syllabus |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the ultimate strategy for mastering SAT Vocabulary?
Vocabulary is not something a student can master in a day or two. Students make the mistake of only memorizing the SAT vocabulary list, but that is an inefficient strategy. The best method is to learn new words daily and naturally incorporate them into the vocabulary, along with reading books and literature.
Are SAT Vocabulary words hard?
Every SAT test has at least 10 to 15 words that the average student may not have encountered. It does not mean SAT vocabulary words are hard. They're usually of medium difficulty, and students must keep learning their meaning and usage through practice and reading.
Refer Your Friend & Earn upto ₹40000
Help your friend upgrade to a Global Career and earn rewards together.
Disclaimer
The above tips are the Author's experiences. upGrad does not guarantee scores or admissions.