SAT list A4

(adj.) [ə POK rə fəl] of doubtful authenticity; counterfeit. The story of George Washington and the cherry tree is apocryphal, no doubt.

(v) [kə PICH yoo lat] surrender; to cease resisting. Colonel Leeds was determined not to capitulate under any terms, even though he was sure to lose.

(adj.) [di ROG ə tor ee] tending to lower in estimation; degrading. After Melanie apologized for her derogatory remarks, she and Sarah regained their friendship.

(v) [em BROYL] to involve in a quarrel. The Tory party sought a way to embroil the government in a dispute over the economy.

(adj.) [for LORN] deserted; left alone and neglected; unhappy. Old pictures of Ellis Islands immigrants portray happy faces as well as forlorn ones.

(v) [GAL və niyz] arouse suddenly; to startle. It took a nuclear mishap at Chernobyl to galvanize the nuclear industry into inspecting aging power plants.

(n) [NO mən klay chər] a systematic naming in an art of science. The first step in learning a new topic is to master its nomenclature, which is a kind of shorthand of its key concepts.

(v) [fi LAN dər] to engage in love affairs casually; to flirt. None of the girls on campus took Seans’s romantic attentions seriously since he was known to philander.

(adj.) [prag MAT ik] practical; opinionated; concerned with actual practice rather than with theory or speculation. While other students tried to discover the theory behind the problem, Denise devised a pragmatic solution

(n) [ret rə BYOO shən] punishment; payback. Much of gang activity seems to be seeking retribution for real or imagined disrespect.

(adj.) [SANG gwin] ruddy; helpful, warm; cheerful. Gwen’s sanguine outlook on life was expressed in her personal motto, “Cheer up, things could be worse!”

(adj.) [sar DON ik] scornful; mocking, cynical. With a sardonic smirk, the police officer listened to the motorist’s excuse for speeding on the residential street.

(n) [sat ər NA lee a] originally a Roman holiday (December 17); now applied to an unrestrained celebration; an orgy. The departure of the twins’ parents for the weekend led to a noisy saturnalia which brought the police knocking at the door.

(v) [TEM pə riyz] to compromise in order to gain time; to stall or delay. “But Mom,” temporized Stephen, “the lawn is too wet to mow now. I’ll do it this afternoon.”

(adj.) [vi KAR e əs] taking the place of another; experienced through sympathetic participation in the experience of another. The vicarious thrill we get from watching films falls short of the pleasure of first hand experience.