7 adjectives, 1 noun - Free SAT, GRE, TOEFL Vocabulary

resplendent - shining beautifully, brightly colored, shining

nascent - being born, developing

implacable - if someone is implacable, he/she is very angry about something and this person cannot be made less angry or made happy

insidious - something insidious is something sneaky which causes harm, or something which doesn't appear to be harmful but you slowly realize it is harmful; something insidious can actually look very attractive at first, before you realize it is harmful

savvy - if someone is savvy about something, he/she has a shrewd or very insightful understanding about something that most people don't have, but the connotation of the word is a bit negative - a savvy politician knows what voters want and will promise this to them or a savvy businessman will know how to make money (in a less than honorable way) than other people

a neophyte - a beginner, a newbie

irredeemable - hopeless, not possible of being saved

ponderous - when this word is used, it usually means someone is trying to say or write something very deep and profound, but instead what the person writes is very boring and dry and dull and uninteresting

Answers are under the exercise:


Alexander Hamilton believed that industrialization would be good for the ________________ American economy after the Revolution.  The economy was, after all, being born, and it was necessary to generate wealth quickly for the new republic.

When you start to ski you have to be patient.  As a _____________ I lacked patience and tried to ski down slopes that were too difficult for me, and I took some violent falls.

Sunflowers were a favorite object for Vincent van Gogh to paint.  He would go to ______________ fields of such flowers and create images that were even more vibrant than what he saw. 

Is there still chance for peace in the Middle East or is the situation totally ____________________?

I'm really interested in philosophy because it raises interesting questions we all should ask ourselves.  But this professor delivers some of the most ___________________ lectures I have ever heard. He gives philosophy a bad name.

Joseph McCarthy was a _______________ politician who realized that he could benefit from the fear Americans had of communism in the early 1950s.  He became quite popular and won several elections by falsely accusing other powerful people of being communists.

I don't know what Bob did to make Joe angry, but Joe has become ___________________ in his anger and hatred toward Bob.  He does not even want to see Bob again and if he does, I think there will be trouble.

AIDs is one of the more __________________ viral diseases.  A person who has AIDs will probably live with the disease for many years and will not even know it until the disease suddenly appears.  

Answers are below:






Answers:

nascent
neophyte
resplendent
irredeemable
ponderous
savvy
implacable
insidious

4 adjectives, 2 nouns, 1 verb

precipitous (precipitously - adverb) - this adjective comes from the noun 'precipice.' A precipice is a high point or cliff on a mountain - if you accidentally step off a precipice, you drop to your death.  So 'precipitous' means a quick decision that you make without thinking about it and often can't change after you make it or a quick action that was taken without enough thought behind it.

prodigious - basically this means huge or much bigger than normal

an ambit - a range or a boundary within which something or someone works

ad hoc - put together for just one reason or purpose; often you will read about ad hoc committees or ad hoc action - this means a committee is put together or action is taken to address this one situation

enmity - very strong hatred toward someone; often enmity means that two groups or two people really hate each other

ruthless -  showing no mercy or pity or compassion for others when taking an action

to curdle - when milk is treated with chemicals to become harder, so that it can be made into cheese; this term usually has another common meaning though: if a person is really shocked or scared, he might say that his/her blood curdled.


Answers are beneath the exercise: 

 
It was very dark in the room, and the light switch would not work.  Suddenly I heard a scream that made my blood ______________________.

The pirates of the Caribbean were renowned for being totally __________________ toward any ship that provided resistance.  If a ship's captain surrendered, the crew was spared but the cargo was stolen. If the captain chose to fight, no mercy would be shown and the entire crew would be slaughtered. 

Bob was a little too ___________________ in his choice to marry Becky.  They had only gone out with each other for 2 months before he proposed marriage to her, and their marriage only lasted 6 months.

Cyrano, with his __________________ nose, is a story of unrequited love (un-returned) love. His huge nose made him ugly to women but he was able to coach his handsome friend to be beautifully eloquent and to win the heart of the woman that Cyrano, himself, loved. 

Bill was an amazing US History professor, but he had spent so much time doing research within his academic________________ that he knew very little else about other fields of study.

There seems to be so much long-standing ______________ between countries in the Mideast that some US presidents do not even try to initiate peaceful negotiations.

Bob was not the most organized person in the world, nor was he good at predicting problems.  Instead, he chose to deal with things in an _______________ manner.

Answers are below:



Answers:

curdle
ruthless
precipitious
prodigious
ambit
enmity
ad hoc

8 new SAT, GRE, TOEFL vocabulary words

to indemnify, to be indemnified - two meanings: 1) to insure someone for some type of possible loss (if you buy insurance on your car, you are indemnified against damages - if your car gets damaged, you'll receive a payment from the insurance company); 2) to pay someone for some type of damage or harm which has occurred

indolent - being lazy, not feeling like working

sedentary - being seated; a sedentary lifestyle is an inactive lifestyle - a sedentary job is a job in which you sit a lot

endemic to - common to

conspicuously - obviously, noticeably

graft - illegally obtaining money

keening - this is an obscure word which means vocally expressing grief or mourning after a person's death, especially at a funeral (I found the word in the book: Empire of the Summer Moon)

resilient - able to bounce back (usually after something negative happens)

Answers are underneath the exercise:


Designer bags have become a huge industry, as women pay high prices for these luxury items and ___________________ carry them around to show others that they have money and can live the high life.

It was the summer of Bob's junior year and his parents had not pressured him into finding a job.  He felt he had the right, this one summer, to be _______________ and relax and casually do some reading and lounging around.

According to the contract, we are __________________ against any losses we may suffer due to the negligence of our partner.

Lately a report noted that those who work at ________________ jobs seem to live shorter lives than those who work at jobs that do not require them to sit for long hours at a time.  If a person has to sit for long periods, he/she should find ways to get up and move around often.

One form of political corruption involves _______________. This is when the politician is able to illegally make money through actions he/she preforms as a public servant.

The disease of malaria is _______________ to about 100 countries around the world which have not been able to control the spread of a certain type of mosquito.

The loss of her husband at an early age was devastating for Mary.  At the funeral she was literally ________________ over the coffin of her husband with tears running down her face.

Bob proved himself to be extraordinarily ___________________. Even though he was unfairly fired from a job, he soon had another job at a better company in a better position.

Answers are below:




Answers:

conspicuously
indolent
indemnified
sedentary
graft
endemic
keening
resilient




Yes, I'm the guy who caused the scandal in Korea by revealing to a journalist that I did not feel that K-pop performers were being treated well in NY City:

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

4 adjectives, 1 verb --> Free SAT, GRE, TOEFL Vocabulary Exercise

mercurial - if a person changes his mood or temper very quickly, he/she is mercurial (The god Mercury traveled quickly between the other gods and people.)

louche - decadent, lacking in morals, corrupt, not an ethical person (pronounced loosh)

glutinous - glue-like or sticky

to ingratiate yourself with someone - to try hard to make someone like you

to be hobbled - to be slowed down (in the old west cowboys would deliberately tie the front legs of their horses together at night to make sure they would not run away - this was 'hobbling' their horses)

Answers are below the exercise:


I had heard that my current boss was a no-nonsense type of person who could be difficult to work with.  So I went out of my way to _____________________ myself with him.  I often asked his advice, complimented him and even bought him lunch sometimes.

I asked Bob how his research was going, and he told me it wasn't going well.  His team has been __________________ by the fact that the government has cut their funding in half.

I'm a rotten cook (a bad cook).  I can't even cook rice.  When I cook rice it looks, feels and tastes like some _________________ mess.

Chicago is known as one of the most politically corrupt (dishonest) cities in America. Political corruption has existed for so long that most of the politicians become ___________________ after just a short time. If you don't go along with the system there, you don't get anywhere in your political career.

Jack is an amazing guy with a good heart, but he has a significant shortcoming in his personality.  He is quite _________________ and it's hard to predict what his mood will be from one moment to the next.


Answers are below:





Answers:

ingratiate
hobbled
glutinous
louche
mercurial

2 nouns, 2 adjectives, 1 verb

compunction - a feeling of regret or a sense of guilt over something a person did which he/she considers wrong.  This word is often used with 'without' - he acted without compunction, or: he had no compunction in regard to etc.

tandem -  when two people/groups work together on something or work on something at the same time; or two people working in conjunction with each other (for instance, in the Olympics there is 'tandem' swimming where two people perform the same activity at the same time)

to abscond with - this means to go somewhere and secretly take something and run away with it

bumptious - a person who is really proud and boastful and kind of rude so that he/she annoys others

protocol - a list of rules to be followed to accomplish something


Answers are below the exercise:


The United States and the Soviet Union pursued their space programs __________________ and the competition added extra pressure which allowed quick and amazing innovations.

Al Capone showed little or no ___________________ for the years that he had run a criminal organization in the City of Chicago.

If a student wants to learn how to conduct a scientific experiment properly, he/she must learn the proper ___________________.

We all understood that Bob was very proud that he had won a scholarship to the college he wanted to attend, but it went to his head.  He became very arrogant and ____________________ to the point where we began avoiding him.

The elderly lady thought that Mark was a kind person who liked doing volunteer work.  When she invited him to her home, however, she later discover that he had __________________ with some of her priceless jewelry.

Answers are below:




Answers:


in tandem
compunction
protocol
bumptious
absconded

5 adjectives, 4 nouns, 1 verb ---> Free SAT, GRE, TOEFL vocabulary

I chose these 10 words from an amazing book:  The Empire of the Summer Moon (by S.C. Gwynne).  It is a book about an American Indian tribe (the Comanches) that lived in Texas until the 1800s.  If you are studying for the SAT or GRE, this would be a good book to read to improve your vocabulary (if you look up all the words you don't know.)  


malfeasance - this means an illegal or wrong action, especially by a government official

ornery - an ornery person is kind of a nasty, bad-tempered person who likes to argue and fight

untrammeled - unrestricted, not fenced in, free to move about

arbitrage - when you buy something cheaper in one place and sell it for a higher price in another place

ubiquitous - all over the place; if something looks as if it is all over the place, it is ubiquitous (the word is pronounced with an initial 'you' sound --> you BIK wih tus

unalloyed - pure, not mixed with anything else

an obloquy - a very nasty or mean statement about another person; harsh, severe criticism (this noun can be countable or non-countable...i.e. non-countable: How can you resort to such obloquy!  countable: I am tired of all these obloquies being directed at the president!)

a blandishment - this is a deliberately kind of flattering or nice statement meant to get a person to do what you want him/her to do

to bowdlerize - to remove material from a literary work because the material is thought to be too 'dirty', vulgar or offensive; basically this means to censor a work but there is an extra meaning - if a work is bowdlerized, it no longer has the same meaning as it had before the censoring

athwart -  in opposition to, against something


Answers are below the exercise:


Sometimes young adult versions of classic famous novels are ____________________ so much that they no longer even resemble the original works.

The current data were completely ________________ what everyone had believed.  The theory obviously had to be changed.

One of the worst cases of _________________ in recent American history involved Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois.  He was thrown in jail for trying to sell a high-ranking political position to anyone who wanted to buy it.

These days there are people who engage in what is called the "forex" trade, which is a type of ___________________.  They buy a certain amount of foreign currency at one price and then sell it at a higher price in a different market.  Basically, 'forex' is a type of individual gambling that produces no real good for any economy.

Sometimes it's better to use _________________ to encourage a person to do something that is right than using threats of punishment.

I don't understand why it is so hard to catch a cab in Manhattan.  The cabs seem to be _________________, yet they all also seem to be carrying people. 

If a country in Europe joins the European Union, their citizens will have ____________________ access to other EU countries.

Bob recently proposed marriage to Becky and when she accepted, he was filled with the deepest and most _______________ joy he had ever felt.

Frankly, I was disgusted by the recent presidential campaign.  I do not understand why candidates cannot focus on the issues and why they have to resort to ____________________ that attack the reputations of other candidates.

Many people say that New York City cabbies (cab drivers) are rude.  That is an understatement.  They are worse than rude, they are __________________ and it is best to just take the subway in order to avoid arguments and nasty exchanges with them.

Answers are below:




Answers:

bowdlerized
athwart
malfeasance
arbitrage
blandishments
ubiquitous 
untrammeled
unalloyed
obloquies
ornery

2 verbs, 3 adjectives, 2 nouns: SAT, GRE, TOEFL vocabulary

to skulk - this means to hide or move around secretly, either because a person is afraid of being seen or because the person wants to do something wrong.  So if you did something embarrassing at school, you might skulk around the school hoping not too many people see you. Or, if someone is a criminal who wants to commit a crime, he might skulk around looking for an opportunity. 

docile - this word usually means submissive or willing to take orders and do what one is told to do

to dote on - to show too much emotion or affection (love) for someone; to really cater to someone because you really love that person.  

vitriol - this is literally a type of acid, therefore, figuratively, it means a very very harsh or nasty type of criticism

chagrin - when a person feels annoyed or irritated because he has failed at something

pendulous - when something is hanging very loosely or low

fallow - in the old days, farmers would leave some of their land fallow for a year so that it could recover from a previous planting and harvesting.  So leaving land fallow means not using it so that it can recover. 


Answers are below the exercise:


The current trend in the field of education is to build up a student's sense of confidence.  I remember the old days, however, when a teacher might verbally attack a student, using such __________________ that the student would be deeply embarrassed.

By the time a student reaches a university, his/her professors expect that student to be completely __________________. This is why professors are sometimes surprised when students complain or demand better efforts and more meaningful types of learning in the classroom.

I called the police and reported a guy who was just ________________ around my neighborhood. Every night when I come home I see him just kind of hiding around the corners of buildings and looking around.

The grapes in that area of the world grow to be so huge that they are __________________. They are large and round and just hang low on the vine ready to be plucked.

Because of China's 'one child' policy, parents tended to really __________________ their only child, and many of these children grew up to be very spoiled and self-absorbed.

I love gardening and my little garden has produced so many cucumbers and tomatoes. But I think I am going to leave my garden ________________ this year so that the soil can recover from previous plantings.

Bob was sure that he was going to be admitted to the graduate program he really wanted to go to. To his _______________, he was denied admission and we knew this because he started skulking around our school.

Answers are below:



Answers:

vitriol
docile
skulking
pendulous
dote on
fallow
chagrin

4 adjectives, 1 noun

congenial - this word has two basic meanings: 1) pleasant, friendly 2: if you find a person to be congenial it's because you and that person share certain interests or values

supercilious - a supercilious person is someone who thinks he/she is better or superior to other people

cantankerous - a person who is cantankerous is difficult to get along with; this type of person is kind of nasty and bad tempered

impervious - if something is impervious, it can't be penetrated, you can't get through it

an iconoclast -  this is the type of person who enjoys attacking what everyone else believes in; iconoclasts are generally 'good' for a society since they attack ideas or beliefs which may be wrong

Answers are below the exercise:

In Italian universities in the 1500s, the philosophy of Aristotle dominated the study of science.  Galileo, however, was an ___________________ who openly attacked this philosophy by showing that it did not explain what he had actually observed through his telescope. 

Some cell membranes allow a wide variety of substances into the cell while some are more selective. No cell membrane is ever, however, totally ____________________. Each cell has to admit some substances.

Joe was an amazing athlete and could play several sports, but few colleges wanted to accept him because he had the reputation for being quite _________________ with his coaches and teammates.

The person who wrote the book "Tiger Mom" argues that Chinese mothers, like herself, are "superior" to all other mothers.  Yet, she seems like a very ____________________ person from a privileged background who likes to look down on people who were not as fortunate or blessed as she was. 

From his email messages, Bob struck me as being a cantankerous guy who liked to complain.  But when I met him, I found him to be quite _________________.  He was pleasant and agreeable. 

I hate blind dates.  But, when I met Suzy, I discovered she was totally ________________. We like the same types of movies and share the same types of values.

Answers are below:




Answers:

iconoclast
impervious
cantankerous
supercilious
congenial
congenial

3 verbs, 1 adjective, 1 noun

1. to atrophy - this is when a muscle becomes weaker and smaller because it is not being used
2. intangible - something that is not physical; something which can't be touched
3. to extrapolate - when you extrapolate, you take what you already know and you make a prediction from it
4. to dwindle - to decrease in size
5. a derivative - this comes from the same root word as 'derive;' so a derivative is something that you get from something else

Answers are below the exercise - good luck!

Many foreign tourists come to New York City with lots of money, and before they know it, they realize that their money has ______________ down to a very small amount.

There is a significant problem with using just one test to allow students admission to 'elite' schools.  The problem is that some students have amazing but more ________________ qualities that are harder to measure academically (like creativity, kindness, leadership, generosity).  It has been a huge failure of our school system to neglect these less measurable qualities.

Gasoline is actually a type of _________________ from oil.  After oil is pumped out of the ground, it is refined into gasoline and other products.

From the economic trends of the past year economists have __________________ that unemployment will go down and consumer purchasing will rise.

When astronauts travel in space, they have to make sure that they do various exercises or their muscles will quickly ______________ due to a lack of gravity in space. The lack of gravity means their muscles are not used as much as they are on earth.

answers are below:




answers:

dwindled
intangible
derivative
extrapolated
atrophy