Most Important SAT Words

Abhor detest
Abstruse incomprehensable
Acumen keen
Adept skilled
Adroit skilled
Adulation excessive praise
Advocate to support
Aesthetic pertaining to beauty
Affability friendly
Affluence wealthy
Aggrandize to make bigger
Alacrity cheerful willingness
Alleviate to ease
Altruistic unselfish
Amalgamate unite
Ambiguous unclear
Ambivalent conflicting feeling
Ameliorate to improve
Amiable friendly
Amicability friendly
Anachronistic chronologically misplaced
Anarchy chaos
Anecdote short sketch Animosity hatred
Anomaly unusual
Apathetic indifferent
Arable fit for farming
Arcane known to only few
Archaic antiquated
Ardor filled with passion
Ascertain determine
Ascetic monk-like
Astute keen; sharp Augment increase
Austerity strict
Autonomy independent
Avarice greed
Banal commonplace
Belie to misrepresent
Belligerence combative
Benevolent good deed
Benign kind
Boisterous rowdy
Bolster support
Bombastic showy
Brevity concise
Bucolic farm-like
Byzantine complex
Cacophony harsh sound
Callous hardness
Candid frank
Cantankerous irritable
Capricious impulsive
Caustic bitter
Censure criticize
Cerebral pertaining to one's brain
Charlatan quack Chicanery trickery
Circumscribe restrict
Circumvent avoid
Clairvoyant able to perceive the future
Coerce coax
Cogent convincing
Commendable praise-worthy
Conciliatory agreeable
Concord to agree
Concur to agree
Condone to excuse Conflagration big fire
Confound confuse
Congenial friendly
Conjecture to guess
Consecrate to make it holy
Conspicuous readily seen
Consummate fulfill
Contempt bitterness
Contrive to devise
Convergence coming together
Convivial lively
Convoluted confusing
Copious abundance
Cordial friendly
Corpulence fat
Corroborate strengthen
Cosmopolitan universal
Covert secretive
Culpable blameworthy
Cursory hasty
Curtail to cut short
Cynical skeptical
Dearth scarce
Debacle disaster
Debunk to show falsehood
Defiance challenge
Defunct outdated
Deleterious harmful
Delineate to draw an outline
Demeanor mannerism
Deride to make fun of
Derivative secondary
Desolate void; empty
Devious sly
Devoid empty
Didactic intended to instruct
Dilatory delay
Discern perceptive
Discord disagreement
Discretion caution
Disdain arrogance Disingenuous crafty
Disparage belittle
Dissent disagree
Docile easily teachable
Dogmatic stubborn
Dormant inactive
Dubious doubtful
Duplicitous dupe
Ebullient high-spirited
Eccentric strange; oddity
Eclectic to select from various things
Effrontery boldly disrespectful
Egalitarian belief in equality
Embellish to decorate
Eminent famous
Empathetic understanding of another’s feeling
Emphatic to stress
Empirical based on experience
Encompass encircle
Encroach stealthily take over
Enervate weaken
Enigmatic puzzling
Epitome summary
Equanimity balanced
Equitable balanced
Eradicate to destroy
Erratic strange
Erudite learned
Eschew avoid
Esoteric known to only few
Eulogy to praise
Evasive hard to catch
Exacerbate aggravate
Exasperate to annoy
Excavate to dig up
Exonerate free from blame
Exorbitant huge
Extol praise
Facetious witty Facile easy
Faction division
Fastidious hard to please
Felicitous suitable
Fidelity loyalty
Flagrant obvious
Flamboyance showy
Flippant disrespectful
Floridity flowery
Furtive sly
Futility useless
Gaiety happy
Gluttony greed
Gratuitous unearned
Hackney worn out
Harangue pompous speech
Haughty arrogant
Hedonistic pleasure-seek
Histrionic overly dramatic
Hospitality welcoming
Iconoclast rebel
Idiosyncratic peculiar
Impeach formally charge
Imperious commanding
Impugn to attack
Inconspicuous hard to detect
Incorrigible hard to manage
Indict accuse
Indigenous native
Indignant righteous anger
Indolence lazy
Indomitable hard to overcome
Induction formal introduction
Ineffable hard to expressive
Ingenuous innocent
Innocuous harmless
Insipid lacking spirit
Insolence boldly disrespectful
Insular protected
Intemperate extreme
Intricate complex Inundate flood
Invigorate reenergize Invoke to call upon
Irresolute indecisive
Jocular joking
Judicious wise Juxtapose compare side by side
Lackadaisical lacking energy Laconic concise
Lithe flexible
Loquacious talkative
Lucid bright; clear
Lugubrious sad
Machination evil plot
Magnanimous great generosity
Malfeasance evil deed
Marred damaged
Maverick rebel
Melancholy sad
Mercurial changeable
Meticulous precise
Mollify ease
Monotonous boring
Mundane ordinary; worldly
Nascent emerging
Nebulous unclear
Nefarious evil deed
Negligible insignificant
Nonchalant coolly unconcerned
Obdurate stubborn
Obscure dark; unknown
Obsequious slavish
Obstinate stubborn
Obtuse dull
Onerous burden
Ornate decorate
Ostentatious showy
Paragon model of excellence
Paucity scarcity
Pedestrian ordinary
Penchant inclination
Penitent remorseful
Penurious stingy
Perfidious breaking trust
Perfunctory done in routine manner
Pernicious harmful
Perspicacious keenly perceptive
Petulant irritable
Phlegmatic unemotional
Placid peace and quiet
Plaudit praise
Poignant deeply felt
Potentate dictator
Pragmatic practical
Precursor foretelling sign
Pretentious showy
Pristine pure
Prolific producing a lot
Prosaic dull; ordinary
Provoke to stir up
Prudence cautious
Pugnacious combative
Punctilious punctual
Quell to subdue
Quixotic idealistic
Rambunctious rowdy
Rancorous bitter
Ravenous greedy
Reclusive loner
Reconcile reestablish
Refute disprove
Relinquish to give up; step down
Remiss careless
Remuneration pay back
Reparation pay back
Reprehensible shameful
Resilience persistent
Resolute determined
Reticent reserved and quiet
Rhetoric art of language
Robust energetic
Rustic farm-like
Sagacious wise
Sanctimonious hypocritical piety
Sanguine cheerful; red
Scintillating sparkling
Scrupulous exactness
Scrutiny to examine carefully
Sedentary sitting most of the time
Serendipity happy chance
Serpentine winding movement
Smug self-satisfied
Solace comfort
Solemn serious
Somber serious
Soporific to cause drowsiness
Sovereign power
Speculation guess work Stoic unaffected
Stringent strict
Stymie prevent; hinder
Sublime lofty
Substantiate to prove Subversive to forcibly put down
Succinct concise; brief
Supercilious arrogant
Superfluous more than necessary
Supplant to replace
Suppress subdue
Surreptitious secretive
Sycophant suck up Tactful skillful in dealing with others
Tactile pertaining to touch
Tedious boring
Tenacious diligent
Tentative hesitant
Tenuous flimsy
Thwart prevent
Toady suck up
Tractable manageable
Truculent aggressive
Ubiquitous omnipresent
Undermine weaken
Underscore strengthen
Unequivocal clear
Unorthodox unconventional
Unyielding stubborn
Vacillate indecisive
Vacuity empty
Vapid lacking spirit or liveliness
Venerable respectful
Verbose wordy
Vexation irritability Vicarious substitute
Vigilant watchful
Vindicate free from blame
Vindictive revengeful
Viscous thickening
Vociferous loud outcry
Voluble fluent; talkative
Voracious greedy
Wary cautious
Waver indecisive
Wrath extreme anger