300 Hardest SAT Words

Every word with its definition and a real-context example sentence.

abject

Someone or something of the most contemptible kind.

After the scandal, the CEO offered an abject apology to the public.

aberration

A state or condition markedly different from the norm.

A single failing grade was an aberration in her otherwise perfect transcript.

abjure

To formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief.

Under pressure, he had to abjure his former political views in the treaty ceremony.

abnegation

The denial and rejection of a doctrine or belief.

Her abnegation of personal comfort impressed the volunteers working beside her.

abrogate

To revoke formally.

The legislature voted to abrogate the outdated law later that year.

abscond

To run away, often taking something or somebody along.

Fearing arrest, the treasurer tried to abscond with the company’s petty cash.

abstruse

Something that is difficult to understand.

The professor warned students that Kant’s later essays are notoriously abstruse.

accede

To yield to another's wish or opinion.

After hours of debate, the chair finally acceded to the minority’s request.

accost

To approach and speak to someone aggressively or insistently.

A stranger accosted us near the station, demanding we answer his questions.

accretion

An increase by natural growth or addition.

The slow accretion of sediment formed a new sandbar along the river.

acumen

Shrewdness shown by keen insight.

Her business acumen helped the startup survive its first difficult winter.

adamant

Impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason.

He was adamant that the deadline would not move, no matter how we pleaded.

admonish

To scold or reprimand; to take to task.

The coach had to admonish the player for arguing with the referee.

adumbrate

To describe roughly or give the main points or summary of.

The opening chapter only adumbrates the complex plot revealed in the finale.

adverse

In an opposing direction.

Adverse winds forced the sailors to delay their departure until morning.

advocate

A person who pleads for a person, cause, or idea.

As an advocate for refugees, she spoke at town halls across the state.

affluent

Having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value.

The affluent suburb funded a new library without raising local taxes.

aggrandize

To embellish; to increase the scope, power, or importance of.

Dictators often aggrandize their own power while silencing critics.

alacrity

Liveliness and eagerness.

The interns accepted the extra assignment with surprising alacrity.

alias

A name that has been assumed temporarily.

The spy traveled under an alias so his real name never appeared on documents.

ambivalent

Uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow.

She felt ambivalent about the job offer because the salary was low but the mission mattered.

amenable

Disposed or willing to comply.

Fortunately, the landlord was amenable to extending our lease by six months.

amorphous

Having no definite form or distinct shape.

The amorphous cloud of gas made it hard to define the nebula’s edges.

anachronistic

Chronologically misplaced.

A digital watch on a Roman soldier would be jarringly anachronistic in that film.

anathema

A formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication.

For strict traditionalists, any compromise on the doctrine was sheer anathema.

annex

To attach to.

The school board voted to annex the neighboring district’s smallest campus.

antediluvian

Of or relating to the period before the biblical flood.

His antediluvian views on technology amused his smartphone-obsessed students.

antiseptic

Thoroughly clean and free of disease-causing organisms.

Nurses scrubbed until the operating room looked almost antiseptic under the lights.

apathetic

Showing little or no emotion or animation.

Too many apathetic voters stayed home, and turnout hit a record low.

antithesis

The exact opposite.

His calm reserve was the antithesis of his brother’s reckless enthusiasm.

apocryphal

Being of questionable authenticity.

The tale that he invented the device in a weekend is almost certainly apocryphal.

approbation

Official acceptance or agreement.

The design won official approbation from the city’s historic preservation board.

arbitrary

Based on or subject to individual discretion or preference.

The rule seemed arbitrary because it singled out one club and ignored the others.

arboreal

Of or relating to or formed by trees.

Lemurs are arboreal primates that rarely descend to the forest floor.

arcane

Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge.

Only a few scholars could follow the arcane symbols in the medieval manuscript.

archetypal

Of an original pattern on which other things are modeled.

Hamlet is often treated as the archetypal conflicted hero of Western drama.

arrogate

To seize and take control without authority.

The general tried to arrogate command though he lacked any legal authority.

ascetic

Someone who practices self-denial as a spiritual discipline.

The ascetic monk slept on a thin mat and ate only one meal a day.

aspersion

A disparaging remark.

She resented the aspersion that she had only won through family connections.

assiduous

Marked by care and persistent effort.

His assiduous note-taking in lab saved the team when the data server crashed.

atrophy

A decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse.

After weeks in a cast, the injured leg began to atrophy from disuse.

bane

Something causing misery or death.

Mosquitoes were the bane of our camping trip until we bought better repellent.

bashful

Self-consciously timid.

The bashful freshman hesitated before stepping up to the microphone.

beguile

To influence by slyness.

The con artist beguiled investors with promises of impossible returns.

bereft

Lacking or deprived of something.

Bereft of any real evidence, the prosecution’s case quickly collapsed.

blandishment

Flattery intended to persuade.

Despite every blandishment from sales staff, she refused the expensive upgrade.

bilk

To cheat somebody out of what is due, especially money.

The contractor bilked several homeowners by taking deposits and vanishing.

bombastic

Ostentatiously lofty in style.

Critics panned the candidate’s bombastic speech as long on noise and short on facts.

cajole

To influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering.

Parents tried to cajole the toddler into bed with one more story and a song.

callous

Emotionally hardened.

A callous remark about the accident showed how little empathy he felt.

calumny

A false accusation of an offense.

She sued for calumny after the article falsely accused her of fraud.

camaraderie

The quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability.

Long shifts built a warm camaraderie among the nurses on the night ward.

candor

The quality of being honest and straightforward.

I appreciated her candor when she said the plan simply would not work.

capitulate

To surrender under agreed conditions.

Exhausted and outnumbered, the garrison decided to capitulate at dawn.

carouse

To celebrate or enjoy something in a noisy or wild way.

After finals, some seniors carouse downtown far into the early hours.

carp

Any of various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae.

A bright orange carp drifted through the lily pads in the garden pond.

caucus

Meet to select a candidate or promote a policy.

Iowa voters caucus every four years to signal their preferred presidential candidates.

cavort

To play boisterously.

The puppies cavort across the lawn whenever someone opens the back door.

circumlocution

An indirect way of expressing something.

Legal contracts often bury key duties in circumlocution few clients can parse.

circumscribe

To draw a geometric figure around another figure.

Surveyors circumscribe the lot with stakes before construction begins.

circumvent

To surround so as to force to give up.

The army maneuvered to circumvent the fortified town and cut its supply lines.

clamor

To utter or proclaim insistently and noisily.

Protesters clamor for reform outside the courthouse steps each morning.

cleave

To separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument.

With one sharp blow, the butcher cleaved the joint into two neat halves.

cobbler

A person who makes or repairs shoes.

The cobbler replaced the worn heels so the old boots could last another winter.

cogent

Powerfully persuasive.

She presented a cogent argument that persuaded even skeptical committee members.

cognizant

Having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization.

Please remain cognizant of the tight budget when you order lab supplies.

commensurate

Corresponding in size or degree or extent.

The raise was commensurate with her new responsibilities as department lead.

complement

Something added to embellish or make perfect.

The crisp salad was a perfect complement to the rich pasta course.

compunction

A feeling of deep regret, usually for some misdeed.

He felt compunction about repeating a rumor he could not verify.

concomitant

Following or accompanying as a consequence.

Stress often brings concomitant sleep problems that linger for weeks.

conduit

A passage through which water or electric wires can pass.

Workers laid a conduit under the street for the neighborhood’s fiber lines.

conflagration

A very intense and uncontrolled fire.

Sparks from the dry field started a conflagration that spread within minutes.

congruity

The quality of agreeing; being suitable and appropriate.

Designers praised the congruity between the museum’s new wing and the original facade.

connive

To form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner.

Officials connived with smugglers, sharing schedules in secret messages.

consign

To give over to another for care or safekeeping.

She consigned the family jewels to a vault until the estate dispute ended.

constituent

One of the individual parts making up a composite entity.

Calcium is a major constituent of bone as well as of chalk and limestone.

construe

To make sense of; assign a meaning to.

Courts construe ambiguous contract language against the party that drafted it.

contusion

An injury in which the skin is not broken.

The fall left a painful contusion on his shoulder, though the skin never broke.

contrite

Feeling or expressing pain or sorrow.

Contrite and quiet, he apologized to everyone he had insulted online.

contentious

Showing an inclination to disagree.

Tax reform remains a contentious topic at nearly every town hall.

contravene

To go against, as of rules and laws.

The new policy contravenes earlier agreements signed with the union.

convivial

Occupied with or fond of the pleasures of good company.

Thanksgiving at their house is always a convivial feast of laughter and pie.

corpulence

The property of excessive fatness.

Doctors warned that his increasing corpulence raised his risk of diabetes.

covet

To wish, long, or crave for.

Advertisers train viewers to covet gadgets they do not truly need.

cupidity

Extreme greed for material wealth.

Wall Street’s cupidity in the bubble years led to reckless, destructive trades.

dearth

An insufficient quantity or number.

A dearth of rainfall turned the valley brown before the monsoon arrived.

debacle

A sudden and complete disaster.

The product launch became a debacle when the demo app crashed on live television.

debauch

A wild gathering.

The novel opens with a debauch that foreshadows the hero’s moral collapse.

debunk

To expose while ridiculing.

Scientists debunk the viral claim with a single, well-designed replication study.

defunct

No longer in force or use; inactive.

The defunct factory’s broken windows stared out over an empty parking lot.

demagogue

A leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions.

The demagogue blamed every problem on outsiders to whip up the crowd.

denigrate

To attack the good name and reputation of someone.

Tabloids denigrate celebrities for sport, rarely caring what is true.

derivative

A compound obtained from another compound.

Chemists built a derivative of the original compound that dissolved more easily.

despot

A cruel and oppressive dictator.

The despot ruled through fear, jailing anyone who questioned his decrees.

diaphanous

So thin as to transmit light.

She wore a diaphanous scarf that fluttered like smoke in the evening breeze.

didactic

Instructive, especially excessively.

The novel’s didactic tone turns some readers off, though teens find it clear.

dirge

A song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person.

A lone violin played a dirge as the procession moved toward the cemetery.

disaffected

Discontented as toward authority.

Disaffected workers began organizing quietly after their bonuses were cut.

discomfit

To cause to lose one's composure.

The blunt question seemed designed to discomfit the witness on the stand.

disparate

Fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind.

The committee united disparate voices—engineers, artists, and farmers—on one plan.

dispel

To cause to separate and go in different directions.

New data helped dispel the myth that the vaccine was unsafe for teens.

disrepute

The state of being held in low esteem.

The bribery scandal brought the whole agency into disrepute within a week.

divisive

Causing or characterized by disagreement or disunity.

The candidate’s divisive rhetoric split the party into hostile camps.

dogmatic

Pertaining to a code of beliefs accepted as authoritative.

Dogmatic certainty rarely helps when the evidence is still incomplete.

dour

Showing a brooding ill humor.

A dour guard watched the gate, answering every greeting with a grunt.

duplicity

The act of deceiving or acting in bad faith.

His duplicity—smiling to our faces while undermining the deal—cost him every ally.

duress

Compulsory force or threat.

A contract signed under duress may be thrown out if a judge finds coercion.

eclectic

Selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas.

Her eclectic playlist jumps from jazz to K-pop without warning.

edict

A formal or authoritative proclamation.

The king’s edict banned public gatherings until the rebellion cooled.

ebullient

Joyously unrestrained.

The ebullient host made even shy guests feel welcome within minutes.

egregious

Conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible.

It was an egregious error to publish names before confirming the facts.

elegy

A mournful poem; a lament for the dead.

Whitman’s elegy for Lincoln remains one of the most quoted American poems.

elicit

To call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response.

The therapist’s gentle questions elicit memories the patient had suppressed for years.

embezzlement

The fraudulent appropriation of funds or property.

Auditors uncovered embezzlement that had drained the charity’s accounts for a decade.

emend

To make corrections to.

Scholars emend corrupt lines in the ancient text using clues from other manuscripts.

emollient

A substance with a soothing effect when applied to the skin.

The pharmacist recommended an emollient cream for the dry, cracked skin.

empirical

Derived from experiment and observation rather than theory.

Good science relies on empirical tests rather than on authority alone.

emulate

To strive to equal or match, especially by imitating.

Young composers emulate Bach’s counterpoint while searching for their own voice.

enervate

To weaken physically, mentally, or morally.

The humid heat seemed to enervate everyone on the subway platform.

enfranchise

To grant freedom to, as from slavery or servitude.

The reform bill would enfranchise citizens who had long been denied basic rights.

engender

To call forth.

Loose talk about war can engender panic faster than any official announcement.

ephemeral

Anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day.

Cherry blossoms are ephemeral; a week of wind strips the branches bare.

epistolary

Written in the form of letters or correspondence.

The novel’s epistolary form—letters between sisters—heightens the sense of intimacy.

equanimity

Steadiness of mind under stress.

She faced the verdict with equanimity, neither gloating nor despairing.

equivocal

Open to two or more interpretations.

His equivocal answer left reporters unsure whether he would run again.

espouse

To choose and follow a theory, idea, policy, etc.

The senator espouses a moderate climate policy popular with suburban voters.

evanescent

Short-lived; tending to vanish or disappear.

The evanescent rainbow faded before we could cross the bridge for a photo.

evince

To give expression to.

His trembling hands evince a fear he refuses to put into words.

exacerbate

To make worse.

Cutting water rations during the drought will only exacerbate tensions in the camp.

exhort

To spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts.

The captain exhorts the team to keep pressing even when they are behind.

execrable

Unequivocally detestable.

Critics called the sequel’s dialogue execrable and walked out halfway through.

exigent

Demanding immediate attention.

In this exigent situation, waiting for committee approval could cost lives.

expedient

Appropriate to a purpose.

It was expedient to postpone the vote until more members could attend.

expiate

To make amends for.

He volunteered at the shelter for years, hoping somehow to expiate his youthful crime.

expunge

To remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line.

The judge agreed to expunge the misdemeanor from her record after probation ended.

extraneous

Not belonging to that in which it is contained.

Cut every extraneous slide so the pitch fits the ten-minute window.

extol

To praise, glorify, or honor.

Editorials extol the coach as a model mentor for student athletes.

extant

Still in existence; not extinct or destroyed or lost.

Only three extant copies of the pamphlet survive in public libraries.

expurgate

To edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate.

The publisher had to expurgate several passages before the textbook could ship abroad.

fallacious

Containing or based on incorrect reasoning.

That fallacious argument assumes correlation always proves causation.

fatuous

Devoid of intelligence.

His fatuous grin suggested he had not understood how serious the mistake was.

fetter

A shackle for the ankles or feet.

Medieval prisoners often wore an iron fetter on each ankle.

flagrant

Conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible.

The referee ejected him for a flagrant foul in the final minute.

foil

To hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire.

Heavy rain foiled our plan to hold graduation outdoors.

forbearance

Good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence.

Thank you for your forbearance while we repair the noisy elevator.

fortuitous

Lucky; occurring by happy chance.

A fortuitous meeting on the train led to a collaboration neither expected.

fractious

Easily irritated or annoyed.

The fractious toddler melted down whenever his routine changed.

garrulous

Full of trivial conversation.

The garrulous seatmate talked through the entire five-hour flight.

gourmand

A person who is devoted to eating and drinking to excess.

The gourmand planned vacations around Michelin-starred restaurants.

grandiloquent

Lofty in style.

Politicians sometimes adopt a grandiloquent style when dedicating monuments.

gratuitous

Unnecessary and unwarranted.

Critics slammed the film for gratuitous violence that did not advance the plot.

hapless

Unfortunate and deserving pity.

The hapless tourist boarded the wrong train and missed his connection.

hegemony

The dominance or leadership of one social group over others.

Cultural hegemony meant American films dominated screens worldwide for decades.

heterogenous

Consisting of elements that are not of the same kind.

The heterogenous sample included both urban renters and rural landowners.

iconoclast

Someone who attacks cherished ideas or institutions.

As an iconoclast in art school, she mocked every sacred tradition of realism.

idiosyncratic

Peculiar to the individual.

His idiosyncratic habit of color-coding every note puzzled new coworkers.

impecunious

Not having enough money to pay for necessities.

Impecunious students shared textbooks because they could not afford their own copies.

impetuous

Characterized by undue haste and lack of thought.

An impetuous tweet cost the executive his job before sunrise.

impinge

To infringe upon.

New zoning laws impinge on landowners’ freedom to subdivide their lots.

impute

To attribute or credit to.

Never impute motives you cannot prove when discussing a colleague’s decision.

inane

Devoid of intelligence.

The debate devolved into inane chatter about celebrity gossip.

inchoate

Only partly in existence; imperfectly formed.

The inchoate movement lacked leaders, bylaws, or even a shared name.

incontrovertible

Impossible to deny or disprove.

DNA provided incontrovertible proof that the suspect had been at the scene.

incumbent

Necessary as a duty or responsibility; morally binding.

It is incumbent on all citizens to serve jury duty when summoned.

inexorable

Impossible to prevent, resist, or stop.

The inexorable march of glaciers shaped the valley over thousands of years.

inimical

Tending to obstruct or cause harm.

Policies inimical to small business drove many shops out of the downtown core.

injunction

A judicial remedy to prohibit a party from doing something.

The court issued an injunction halting construction until the appeal is heard.

inoculate

To inject or treat with the germ of a disease to render immune.

Nurses inoculate thousands of children against measles each flu season.

insidious

Working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way.

Insidious rumors spread through the office long before management noticed.

instigate

To provoke or stir up.

Agents provocateurs tried to instigate a riot outside the embassy gates.

insurgent

In opposition to a civil authority or government.

Insurgent forces attacked convoys along the mountain highway after dark.

interlocutor

A person who takes part in a conversation.

Between speeches, the interlocutor summarized audience questions for the panel.

intimation

A slight suggestion or vague understanding.

She caught an intimation of trouble in the way he avoided her eyes.

inure

To cause to accept or become hardened to.

Years of criticism inured the author to bad reviews, though praise still pleased her.

invective

Abusive language used to express blame or censure.

The editorial poured invective on anyone who questioned the board’s decision.

intransigent

Impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason.

The union remained intransigent, refusing even a temporary pay freeze.

inveterate

Habitual.

An inveterate procrastinator, he finished the paper an hour before it was due.

irreverence

A mental attitude showing a lack of due respect.

The comedian’s irreverence toward sacred cows delighted some fans and enraged others.

knell

The sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death.

Each toll of the knell echoed through the foggy village square.

laconic

Brief and to the point.

Asked about the loss, the coach gave a laconic shrug and said, “We’ll adjust.”

largesse

Liberality in bestowing gifts.

The foundation’s largesse funded dozens of new scholarships at the college.

legerdemain

An illusory feat.

With impressive legerdemain, the magician turned the scarf into a live dove.

libertarian

An advocate of freedom of thought and speech.

As a libertarian, she opposes most government mandates on personal choice.

licentious

Lacking moral discipline.

Victorian reviewers condemned the novel’s licentious scenes as immoral.

linchpin

A central cohesive source of support and stability.

The veteran midfielder was the linchpin of the team’s defensive strategy.

litigant

A party to a lawsuit.

Each litigant must disclose all relevant documents before the trial begins.

maelstrom

A powerful circular current of water.

Rescue crews struggled against the maelstrom where two currents collided.

maudlin

Very sentimental or emotional.

After the third toast, his maudlin stories about childhood bored half the table.

maverick

Someone who exhibits independence in thought and action.

A political maverick, she often votes against her own party’s leadership.

mawkish

Very sentimental or emotional.

The film’s mawkish ending piles on slow motion and swelling strings.

maxim

A saying that is widely accepted on its own merits.

“Measure twice, cut once” is a practical maxim for any carpenter.

mendacious

Given to lying.

The mendacious tabloid headline had no basis in the underlying police report.

modicum

A small or moderate or token amount.

If we had shown a modicum of patience, the deal might still be alive.

morass

A soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot.

We slogged through a morass of mud after the storm flooded the trail.

mores

The conventions embodying the fundamental values of a group.

Local mores discouraged loud arguments in the town’s quiet tea shops.

munificent

Very generous.

A munificent donor paid for the new wing without attaching her name.

multifarious

Having many aspects.

The multifarious demands of the job—coding, teaching, and travel—exhausted him.

nadir

The lowest point of anything.

Losing three starters to injury marked the nadir of an already rough season.

negligent

Characterized by undue lack of attention or concern.

The landlord was negligent in failing to repair the broken stair for months.

neophyte

A participant with no experience with an activity.

A neophyte skier, she stuck to the bunny slope on her first morning.

noisome

Offensively malodorous.

A noisome stench drifted from the dumpster behind the restaurant.

noxious

Injurious to physical or mental health.

Noxious fumes from the spill forced firefighters to evacuate two blocks.

obdurate

Stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing.

The obdurate committee would not reconsider even plainly superior evidence.

obfuscate

To make obscure or unclear.

Lawyers sometimes obfuscate simple facts behind pages of jargon.

obstreperous

Noisily and stubbornly defiant.

Obstreperous fans were escorted out after bottles flew toward the court.

officious

Intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner.

The officious clerk insisted on stamping forms we had already signed online.

onerous

Burdensome or difficult to endure.

The contract placed onerous reporting duties on every small vendor.

ostensible

Appearing as such but not necessarily so.

His ostensible reason for visiting was tourism; in truth he was spying.

ostracism

The act of excluding someone from society by general consent.

After the scandal, social ostracism left her isolated from former friends.

palliate

To lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of.

Painkillers could only palliate the symptoms; they did not cure the disease.

panacea

A hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases.

No single policy is a panacea for inequality, despite campaign promises.

paradigm

A standard or typical example.

Einstein’s theories shifted the paradigm of how physicists imagined space and time.

pariah

A person who is rejected from society or home.

Once admired, he became a pariah after the insider-trading charges.

partisan

A fervent and even militant proponent of something.

Partisan news outlets rarely air stories that embarrass their preferred party.

paucity

An insufficient quantity or number.

A paucity of qualified applicants forced the district to raise teacher salaries.

pejorative

Expressing disapproval.

Using “elitist” as a pejorative shuts down debate before it starts.

pellucid

Transparently clear; easily understandable.

Her pellucid explanation made a confusing theorem feel obvious to freshmen.

penchant

A strong liking or preference.

He has a penchant for vintage cameras and fills his shelves with them.

penurious

Excessively unwilling to spend.

The penurious landlord patched leaks with duct tape instead of hiring a plumber.

pert

Characterized by a lightly saucy or impudent quality.

The student’s pert reply earned a stern look from the usually patient teacher.

pernicious

Exceedingly harmful.

Social media can spread pernicious stereotypes faster than fact-checks can follow.

pertinacious

Stubbornly unyielding.

Pertinacious reporters kept asking until the mayor finally answered.

phlegmatic

Showing little emotion.

The phlegmatic captain stayed calm while alarms blared on the bridge.

philanthropic

Of or relating to charitable giving.

Their philanthropic foundation funds clean-water projects on three continents.

pithy

Concise and full of meaning.

Oscar Wilde was famous for pithy one-liners that still circulate online.

platitude

A trite or obvious remark.

“Everything happens for a reason” felt like an empty platitude after the layoffs.

plaudit

Enthusiastic approval.

A sustained plaudit swept the hall after the soloist's final, fragile high note.

plenitude

A full supply.

Autumn brings a plenitude of apples at every farmers market in the valley.

plethora

Extreme excess.

The plethora of streaming services makes choosing a movie oddly exhausting.

portent

A sign of something about to happen.

Dark clouds at sunrise were an ill portent for sailors heading offshore.

potentate

A powerful ruler, especially one who is unconstrained by law.

Oil wealth turned the desert potentate into a player on the world stage.

preclude

To make impossible, especially beforehand.

A prior conviction may preclude you from obtaining certain professional licenses.

predilection

A predisposition in favor of something.

She showed a predilection for abstract algebra long before graduate school.

preponderance

Exceeding in heaviness; having greater weight.

A preponderance of evidence convinced the jury despite a single dissenting witness.

presage

A foreboding about what is about to happen.

Falling enrollment figures presage budget cuts for the district next year.

probity

Complete and confirmed integrity.

Judges are expected to demonstrate probity both on and off the bench.

proclivity

A natural inclination.

His proclivity for risky trades worried the firm’s compliance officers.

profligate

Unrestrained by convention or morality.

Profligate spending emptied the treasury within a single extravagant season.

promulgate

To state or announce.

The agency will promulgate new safety standards after the public comment period.

proscribe

To command against.

School policy proscribes bullying in any form, online or in person.

protean

Taking on different forms.

The protean startup pivoted from food delivery to logistics in under a year.

prurient

Characterized by lust.

The article appealed to prurient curiosity rather than genuine news value.

puerile

Displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity.

The debate sank to puerile name-calling within the first ten minutes.

pugnacious

Ready and able to resort to force or violence.

The pugnacious terrier barked at dogs three times his size.

pulchritude

Physical beauty, especially of a woman.

Classical poets rarely tired of praising the pulchritude of sea nymphs.

punctilious

Marked by precise accordance with details.

A punctilious editor catches every inconsistent hyphen and serial comma.

quaint

Attractively old-fashioned.

We stayed in a quaint cottage with ivy climbing the stone walls.

quixotic

Not sensible about practical matters.

His quixotic quest to ban all cars downtown won admiration but few votes.

quandary

State of uncertainty in a choice between unfavorable options.

She faced the quandary of accepting a safe job or chasing an uncertain dream.

recalcitrant

Stubbornly resistant to authority or control.

Recalcitrant tenants refused to leave even after the court ordered eviction.

redoubtable

Inspiring fear.

Facing a redoubtable chess champion, the amateur knew he was outmatched.

relegate

To assign to a lower position.

After the scandal, he was relegated to a back-office role with no client contact.

remiss

Failing in what duty requires.

The board was remiss in failing to audit the charity’s finances annually.

reprieve

Postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal.

The governor granted a last-minute reprieve, halting the execution for review.

reprobate

A person without moral scruples.

Novelists love a charming reprobate who breaks rules yet wins the reader’s sympathy.

rescind

To cancel officially.

The university decided to rescind the honorary degree after the allegations surfaced.

requisition

An authoritative demand.

The general issued a requisition for trucks, tents, and medical supplies.

rife

Excessively abundant.

The rumor mill was rife with speculation about the CEO’s sudden resignation.

sanctimonious

Excessively or hypocritically pious.

Sanctimonious lectures about thrift rang hollow from someone driving a new Porsche.

sanguine

Confidently optimistic and cheerful.

Despite poor polls, the campaign manager remained sanguine about a late surge.

scurrilous

Expressing offensive, insulting, or scandalous criticism.

The candidate sued over a scurrilous pamphlet distributed on election eve.

semaphore

An apparatus for visual signaling.

Sailors still learn semaphore flags for signaling when radios fail at sea.

serendipity

Good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries.

By pure serendipity, she found the missing diary in a thrift-store cookbook.

sobriety

The state of being unaffected or not intoxicated by alcohol.

Officers checked guests for sobriety at the gate of the music festival.

solicitous

Full of anxiety and concern.

The nurse was solicitous, asking every hour whether the pain had eased.

solipsism

The philosophical theory that the self is all that exists.

Extreme solipsism makes genuine dialogue impossible—you hear only yourself.

spurious

Plausible but false.

The study relied on spurious correlations that vanished under replication.

staid

Characterized by dignity and propriety.

The staid law firm discouraged neon hair dye in its dress code.

stolid

Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility.

He listened with stolid patience while the toddler narrated a twenty-minute story.

subjugate

To make subservient; force to submit or subdue.

Conquerors tried to subjugate the region through fear and forced labor.

surfeit

To indulge (one's appetite) to satiety.

After a surfeit of holiday sweets, she craved nothing but plain soup.

surreptitious

Marked by quiet and caution and secrecy.

They exchanged surreptitious glances across the conference table.

swarthy

Naturally having skin of a dark color.

The portrait shows a swarthy sailor squinting into the Mediterranean sun.

tangential

Of superficial relevance if any.

The witness offered only tangential details that did not prove the alibi.

tome

A large and scholarly book.

She hauled a dusty legal tome from the shelf to check an obscure statute.

toady

A person who tries to please someone to gain an advantage.

The intern played the toady, laughing at jokes that were not remotely funny.

torpid

In a condition of biological rest or suspended animation.

The snake lay torpid on the rock until the afternoon sun warmed its scales.

travesty

A composition that imitates or misrepresents a style.

Calling that sham trial justice was a travesty everyone recognized.

trenchant

Having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought.

Her trenchant review dismantled the bestseller’s sloppy argument in two pages.

trite

Repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse.

“Follow your dreams” sounds trite until you meet someone who actually did.

truculent

Defiantly aggressive.

The truculent customer demanded a refund while insulting every employee.

turpitude

A corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice.

The official was dismissed for moral turpitude unrelated to his policy work.

ubiquitous

Being present everywhere at once.

Smartphones are so ubiquitous that pay phones have nearly disappeared.

umbrage

A feeling of anger caused by being offended.

She took umbrage at the suggestion that her success was mere luck.

upbraid

To express criticism towards.

The principal upbraided the team for cheating on the take-home exam.

utilitarian

Having a useful function.

The dorm’s utilitarian furniture was durable but far from stylish.

veracity

Unwillingness to tell lies.

Journalists test the veracity of every claim before printing a front-page story.

vestige

An indication that something has been present.

A vestige of Roman brickwork still lines the cellar of the medieval church.

vicissitude

A variation in circumstances or fortune.

The vicissitudes of fortune turned the heir into a struggling artist overnight.

vilify

To spread negative information about.

Opponents vilify the reform as socialism without reading the actual bill.

virtuoso

Someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field.

The young violinist played like a virtuoso, drawing a stunned silence before applause.

vitriolic

Harsh, bitter, or malicious in tone.

Vitriolic comments flooded the post until moderators shut the thread down.

vituperate

To spread negative information about.

Columnists vituperate the mayor daily, yet his approval rating barely moves.

vociferous

Conspicuously and offensively loud.

Vociferous protesters chanted outside the courthouse all afternoon.

wanton

A lewd or immoral person.

The invaders faced charges of wanton destruction of hospitals and schools.

winsome

Charming in a childlike or naive way.

Her winsome smile disarmed critics who had come ready for a fight.

yoke

Join with stable gear, as two draft animals.

Farmers yoke two oxen together so they pull the plow in straight lines.

zephyr

A slight wind.

A light zephyr stirred the curtains though the day remained hot.

wily

Marked by skill in deception.

The wily fox doubled back through the hedgerow, losing the hounds.

tirade

A speech of violent denunciation.

The coach’s tirade in the locker room left the players silent and tense.