100 Most Common SAT Words

Studying for the SATs can be a trying experience. One easy way to raise your score is to memorize SAT vocabulary words. Since the sentence completion questions in the Critical Reading section test your ability to recognize words in context, knowing more words will go a long way towards raising your Critical Reading Score. Here is a simple list of the 100 most common SAT Vocabulary words to get you started on the path towards improving your vocabulary skills and raising your overall SAT Score. The Critical Reading Section of the SAT has both a reading comprehension component and an SAT vocabulary component. The sentence completion questions, which ask you to select a word from a multiple choice list, test your knowledge of the definition of common words. Certain SAT vocabulary words are tested over and over again in the sentence completion questions. By learning these frequently tested words, you are increasing the odds of knowing the vocabulary required of you on test day. The 100 words below are a great starting point to help improve your SAT vocabulary words. Remember, though, the more words you know the better you will do.

abate: reduce or lesson 2. abdicate: give up a position

1.

3. aberration: something unusual, different from the norm 4. abhor: to really hate 5. abstain: to refrain from doing something 6. adversity: hardship, misfortune 7. aesthetic: pertaining to beauty 8. amicable: agreeable 9. anachronistic: out of the context of time, out of date 10. 11. 13. 14. 15. 16. arid: very dry asylum: sanctuary, place of safety friendly, helpful bias: a prejudice towards something or against something boisterous: enthusiastic, loud brazen: bold brusque: short, rude

12. benevolent:

17. camaraderie:

togetherness, trust, group dynamic of trust

18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.

canny: careful capacious: very large, spacious capitulate: surrender clairvoyant: can predict the future collaborate: work together compassion: sympathy compromise: meeting in the middle, settling differences condescending: patronizing conditional: contingent upon something else, contingent upon conformist: someone who follows the majority convergence: coming together deleterious: harmful rabble-rousing leader digression: straying from main point diligent: hard-working, dedicated discredit: dishonor someone, prove something untrue disdain: to regard with scorn divergent: moving apart, going in different directions empathy: feeling someone elses feeling emulate: following someone else's example enervating: tiring ephemeral: fleeting, temporary

30. demagogue:

40. evanescent:

not lasting long

41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60.

exemplary: outstanding extenuating: something that makes the situation not as bad florid: ornate forbearance: patience, restraint fortitude: strength fortuitous: lucky foster: promote, aid fraught: filled with frugal: thrifty hackneyed: clichd haughty: being arrogant, talking down to people hedonist: person who acts in pursuit of pleasure hypothesis: unproven theory, educated guess impetuous: rash, impulsive impute: to assign or attribute to someone inconsequential: without consequence, trivial, doesn't matter inevitable: unavoidable, definitely going to happen intrepid: fearless intuitive: knowing something by instinct jubilation: extreme happiness, joy

61. lobbyist: person who takes one side or the other, and persuades government officials

62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84.

longevity: long (particularly long life) mundane: boring, ordinary nonchalant: casual, calm, at ease opulent: wealthy orator: speaker ostentatious: flaunting wealth parched: freed from water, dried up disloyal pragmatic: practical precocious: gifted/talented beyond one's years pretentious: being self important, thinking you are better than others procrastinate: to delay, often unnecessarily prosaic: ordinary prosperity: wealth provocative: causes a fuss, inflammatory, likely to get people riled up prudent: careful, wise irritable, prone to argument rancorous: hateful, unpleasant reclusive: hermit, withdrawn reconciliation: coming back together after a disagreement renovation: being new, being redone restrained: controlled, not free reverence: deep respect

69. perfidious:

78. querulous:

85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100.

sagacity: wisdom scrutinize: to look at carefully spontaneous: being impulsive, acting without thinking spurious: false, untrue submissive: mild, meek substantiate: to confirm, prove subtle: shy, small, not showy superficial: shallow superfluous: unnecessary, too much surreptitious: secret tactful: polite tenacious: persistent stubborn transient: temporary, impermanent venerable: respectable because of its age vindicate: to free from blame wary: careful, watchful

Tips for Learning SAT Vocabulary Words

Learning SAT vocabulary words can be difficult. Here are some tips to help learn these 100 words, and any other SAT vocabulary words you may come across in the future.

Make flashcards with unfamiliar words Use new vocabulary words in a sentence Make a tape recording of yourself reading the word and the definition List the words in groups of positive, negative and related words.