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About This Quiz
Did you ace your SATs? Are your friends often baffled or bemused by the words you use? When you were a kid, did you ever sit and simply page through the dictionary? Maybe you have a natural affinity for languages and can suss out the meaning of a word by analyzing its Latin or Greek root. Or perhaps your knowledge comes from being well-read; bookworms tend to have hefty vocabularies, just because they are exposed to copious amounts of text.
We've scoured lists of the most common SAT vocabulary words to compile this quiz, which should be no problem for an English major, bibliophile, or classics scholar. Even if you don't fall into any of those categories, give this quiz a whirl anyway. You might just surprise yourself with the depth of your language knowledge!
Need a little help (assistance, advice, guidance, support)? Check out the hints, which use these vocabulary words in an example sentence. It's a good bet that you will be able to make educated guesses about many of the definitions - in order to excel, succeed, surmount, triumph, conquer, vanquish...!Â
Callipygian means having beautifully shaped __________.
Statuary
Topiary
Buttocks
Callipygian means having well-shaped buttocks. Hayden told Mackenzie that her derriere looked particularly callipygian in her new yoga pants.
Ears
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Abstruse means __________.
A right angle
Stubborn
Grossly overweight
Difficult to understand, impenetrable
Abstruse means complicated, difficult to penetrate, or hard to understand. Zelda tried reading the philosophy of Foucault, but it was too abstruse for her.
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To defenestrate something or someone is to __________.
Throw them under the bus
Throw it away
Catch them in a lie
Throw it out the window
Defenestrate means to throw something (or someone!) out of a window. Jazmyn got so irritated with her new iPhone that she defenestrated it, only to have it land softly in a bush beneath her window.
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If you are officious, then you are __________.
Self-importantly helpful
Officious means meddlesome or overzealous in a self-important way. Micah ushered me into the conference room with an officious manner, even though he was only an intern, not the CEO.
Self-consciously quiet
Self-deprecatingly funny
Selfish
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Calling someone puerile is the same as calling them __________.
Immature
Puerile means juvenile or immature. LaDasha was tired of Calvin's puerile jokes about farting.
Annoying
Generous
Handsome
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What does it mean to say that someone is sanguine?
They are bloody.
They are annoying.
They are optimistic.
Sanguine means cheerful and optimistic in the face of difficulties. Even after his wife divorced him, taking his dog and his truck, Leroy remained the same cheerful, sanguine guy he had always been.
They are flexible.
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Mendacious means __________.
Sweaty
Good at sewing
Poor
Dishonest
Mendacious means untruthful or dishonest. Everything that came out of Donald's mouth was either an outright lie or a mendacious version of what really happened.
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"Complement" has an entirely different meaning than "compliment." What is it?
To anger, irritate, or exasperate
To complete, enhance, or improve
Complement means to improve, complete, or enhance. Gretchen's silver lamé fanny pack really complemented her callipygian silhouette.
To shine, sparkle, or glimmer
To consume, eat, or use up
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Doing something with alacrity means doing it with __________.
Grouchy reluctance
Cheerful eagerness
Alacrity means cheerful or eager speed or quickness. When I asked Sebastian if he wanted to go out for fish and chips, he answered in the affirmative with alacrity.
Nervous compliance
Depressed slowness
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Extant refers to __________.
Something that is still in existence
Extant means something that remains or is still in existence. Sometimes Elena thought that hers must be the only extant MySpace page, but she refused to join Facebook or Twitter.
Something that is extinct
Something that stinks
Something that has exited the building
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To be sanctimonious means to be __________.
Catty
Petty
Holier-than-thou
Sanctimonious means self-righteous, smug with regards to piety or morality, making a show of being superior to others. The politician put on a sanctimonious front by voting against same-sex marriage, despite being a regular in gay chat rooms.
Officially sponsored
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A conflagration is a __________.
Disagreement
Boxing match
Popular Tex-mex entreé
Fire
A conflagration is a fire. Mrs. O'Leary's cow is infamous for having kicked the lantern that started the great conflagration in Chicago.
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Hegemony is a noun meaning __________.
Bushes or trees sculpted into shapes
A type of mutual fund
The study of minerals
The ruling class or dominant social group
Hegemony means a system, social class, or group that is dominant and holds sway over other classes or groups. Sidney railed against the hegemony of the heteropatriarchy by using gender-neutral pronouns and boycotting Chik-fil-A.
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What does it mean to say that a person is fatuous?
They are fat.
They are silly.
Fatuous means silly, inconsequential, inane, foolish. If Sheline posts one more fatuous hashtag about her purse dog, her makeup, or her manicure, I'm unfollowing her on Instagram.
They are pessimistic.
They are fabulous.
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What about being fractious?
Good at fractions
Partisan or biased
Quarrelsome or irritable
Fractious means irritable, grouchy, quick to pick a fight. I could tell that Nikki was deep in the throes of PMS, since she was fractious one minute, then stuffing chocolate into her face the next.
Involved in the oil and gas industry
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To obfuscate means to do what?
To perplex or confuse
Obfuscate means to confuse, muddle, or overcomplicate. D.J. tried to obfuscate his constituents, rather than responding to their concerns with accessible, meaningful language.
To become fat
To do a job poorly
To grant favors, especially to relatives
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To take umbrage is to __________.
Find shelter
Be prepared
Feel flattered
Be offended
To take umbrage is to take offense. Caitlynne took umbrage at the fact that Dante posted an article about eating disorders without adding a trigger warning.
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The definition of impecunious is __________.
Penniless
Impecunious means poor. Most of Zendaya's clothing had designer labels, thereby obfuscating her impecunious situation.
Haughty
Curious
Spoiled
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Nadir means __________.
An independent candidate for political office
A pinnacle or high point
A low point
Nadir means a low point. Spilling her pumpkin spice latte on her brand new Uggs was the nadir of Makayla's day; afterwards, she was unable to even speak until she'd drunk two appletinis.
A chess strategy
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If you are quixotic, then you __________.
Require antibiotics
Resemble a donkey
Are stubborn and pig-headed
Are idealistic and starry-eyed
Quixotic means idealistic, optimistic, dreamy, unrealistically positive. While some naysayers viewed Cody's plans to start an avocado-toast food truck as quixotic, his venture was surprisingly successful.
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A pariah is someone who __________.
Is an outcast or misfit
A pariah is an outcast. Logan's utter inability to grow a beard, as well as his flannel allergy, made him a pariah in the lumberjack community.
Can speak two or more languages
Is a churchgoer
Can sing well
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What does munificent mean?
Relating to city government
Shy or introverted
Able to produce oxygen
Lavishly generous
Munificent means generous, charitable, philanthropic. When Hailey won the lottery, she indulged her munificent nature by buying tiny houses and teardrop trailers for all of her friends.
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To ameliorate is to __________.
Love someone passionately
Be extremely literal, unable to understand metaphors
Improve a bad situation
To ameliorate means to make something better or improve it. Knowing that he had a lavender bath bomb and the latest episode of "This Is Us" to look forward to that evening helped to ameliorate Devon's grumpy mood.
Get in the way
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If someone calls you a neophyte, what are they saying about you?
You are bad at math.
You are a newbie.
A neophyte is a newbie. Connor was such a neophyte to the world of craft beer that he didn't know a lager from a lambic.
You resemble a Greek goddess.
You appear aerodynamic.
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Do you know what vitriolic means?
Harmonious, pleasing to the ear
Savage or malicious
Vitriolic means filled with malice, bitterness, spite, anger. When Karen was told she couldn't use her expired Kohl's cash, she launched into a vitriolic rant and then asked to speak with a manager.
Having a flowery scent
Relating to winter
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Superfluous is another way of saying __________.
Extra or unnecessary
Superfluous means unnecessary or extra. Kelsie packed seven pairs of skinny jeans for a three-day trip, even though she knew Caleb would consider so many pants superfluous.
Basic or ordinary
Sarcastic or mean
Smart or educated
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A panacea is a __________.
Deciduous shrub native to the Pacific Northwest
Cure-all or universal solution
A pancea is a cure-all. No matter how depressed Jesse felt, Olivia's homemade cheesecake was like a panacea that always cheered him up.
Chain of fast-casual sandwich shops
Imaginary underworld ruled by elves
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When something is anachronistic, it is __________.
Multi-colored
Protected or covered by a thin film
Mythical or imaginary
Chronologically out of place
Anachronistic means out of place in terms of chronological time. The novel was set in 1879, but the main character kept using anachronistic expressions, like "talk to the hand" and "all that and a bag of chips."
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The definition of ephemeral is __________.
Relating to hormonal changes in the human body
Fleeting or temporary
Ephemeral means temporary or fleeting. The foam atop Lynzey's cappuccino was beautiful, but ultimately ephemeral.
See-through or transparent
Familiar, comfortable, home-like
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To enervate means to __________.
Weaken or make less effective
To enervate means to weaken. Sierra felt so enervated by the heat at Coachella that she needed an açai bowl and a green matcha bubble tea before she could even post a Snapchat story.
Cause something to happen
Hunt for buried treasure
Appear anxious or jittery
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Do you know the meaning of pulchritude?
Nausea
Intense hatred
Youth
Beauty
Pulchritude means beauty. Danni exhibits such pulchritude that her selfies don't even need an Instagram filter.
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What does the word iconoclast mean?
A person who is legendary
A visual artist
An extremely poor person
A person who attacks institutions or cherished beliefs
An iconoclast is someone who criticizes or rejects the norm. Kristin became an iconoclast at the yoga studio when she said "You know, I don't even think Lululemon is that great."
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Bemused is another way of saying __________.
Amused or laughing
Confused or bewildered
Bemused means confused. "Braden is becoming low-key savage. Did you see his clapback on Snapchat? Salty AF," said Keenan to his utterly bemused mother, Jennifer.
Bruised or battered
Enthused or excited
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To dissemble is to __________.
Take something apart
Undress
Conceal one's feelings or pretend
To dissemble is to lie or pretend. Shonti worked so hard making a raw kale salad that Marcus, who hated greens, felt he had no choice but to dissemble.
Make stronger, improve
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As a descriptor, winsome means __________.
Moderately lucky
Successful, but only to an extent
Dishonest
Charming or appealing
Winsome means charming, likeable, appealing. Even though she wasn't a very good stylist, Ximena's personality was so winsome that customers flocked to her.
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You Got:
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