SAT Vocabulary word SMART

abash – v. to make ashamed; to embarrass abase – v. to belittle; to diminish abdicate – v. to step down from a position of power or responsibility abject – adj. hopeless; extremely sad and servile; defeated; without hope abnegate – v. to deny oneself things; to reject; to renounce; giving up oneself abortive – adj. unsuccessful abscond – v. to escape without permission abrasive – adj. rubbing away; tending to grind down abridge – v. to shorten; to condense absolute – adj. total; unlimited absolve – v. to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation, responsibility ardor - n. fervor; warmth or passion abstinent – adj. voluntarily not doing something abysmal – adj. extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless; despair or hope is impossible accost – v. to approach and speak to someone aggressively acclimate – v. to become accustomed to a new climate or environment acerbic – adj. sour; severe; like acid in temper, mood or tone accessible – adj. easy to approach; obtainable acrid – adj. harshly pungent; bitter; something or someone offensive acumen – n. keenness of judgment; mental sharpness accrue – v. to build up; accumulate adamant – adj. stubborn; unyielding; completely inflexible; hard substance address – v. to speak to; to direct one’s attention to aggressor – n. attacker adherent – n. follower; supporter; believer; people who stick to something or someone admonish – v. to scold gently; to warn antsy – adj. impatient and fidgety especially children, not staying still adulterate – v. to contaminate; to make impure adverse – adj. unfavorable; antagonistic affectation – n. unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress affinity – n. sympathy; attraction kinship; similarity; resemblance agnostic – n. one who believes that the existence of a god can be neither proven nor disproven agrarian – adj. relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land alacrity – n. cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond allege – v. to assert without proof; claim astray – adj. off the right path allocate – v. to distribute; to assign; to allot alloy – n. a combination of two or more things, usually metals allusion – n. indirect reference; a hint ambience – n. atmosphere; mood; feeling amenable – adj. obedient; willing to give in to the wishes of another; agreeable amenity – n. pleasantness; attractive or comfortable feature annihilate – v. to destroy someone or something completely amnesty – n. an official pardon for a group of people who have violated a law or policy tax amnesty – n. by the government; if people pay the taxes they owe, the government will officially forget that they broke the law by not paying them in the first place amoral – adj. lacking a sense of right and wrong; neither good nor bad, without moral feelings amorous – adj. feeling loving, especially in a sexual sense; in love; relating to love anguish – n. agonizing physical or mental pain apartheid – n. the former policy of racial segregation and oppression in the Republic of South Africa aphorism – n. a brief, often witty saying; a proverb apocalypse – n. a prophetic revelation, especially one concerning the end of the world apotheosis – n. an elevation to diving status; the perfect example of something apprehensive – adj. worried; anxious approbation – n. approval; praise appropriate – v. to take without permission; to set aside for a particular use append – v. to add; join aptitude – n. capacity for learning; natural ability arbiter – n. one who decides; a judge archetype – n. an original model or pattern; first model to be improved in later versions arduous – adj. hard; difficult aristocratic – adj. of noble birth; snobbish; quite wealthy artful – adj. crafty; wily; sly array – v. to put into proper order assimilate – v. to take in; to absorb; to learn thoroughly atheist – n. one who does not believe in the existence of any god or divine giving