SAT Critical Reading Essential SAT Vocab: Part 9

Essential SAT Vocab: Part 9

• linguistics
• (n) the study of language
• Connected to linguisticand lingua franca
• The professor of linguisticsspeaks twelve living languages and four dead ones.
• commemorate
• (v) to serve as a memorial of; to honor the memory of by some observance
• Connected to commemoration and commemorative
• The Lincoln Memorial commemorates the sixteenth president of the United States.
• candid
• (adj) completely honest; straightforward
• Connected to candor
• The violinist surprised everyone with his extremely candidremarks about what life was really like in an orchestra.
• callous
• (adj) emotionally hardened; unfeeling
• Connected to callousness and calluses
• The bully was calloustoward other students; he didn’t care how they felt when he was cruel to them.
• brevity
• (n) the quality or state of being brief in duration
• Connected to breviaryand abbreviate
• The only thing I liked about that book was its brevity; it didn’t take me long to finish reading it.
• “Brevity is the soul of wit.”
• benign
• (adj) kind and gentle
• Connected to malign
• The biopsy showed that the cyst was benign; it wasn’t dangerous, and it wasn’t cancer.
• Elaine is a benignpresence in my life; she is always there with a kind word when I need her.
• connoisseur
• (n) an expert judge in an art or matters of taste
• Connected to reconnaissance
• Elton is a connoisseurof fine wines; he knows everything about them and always enjoys an excellent vintage.
• anachronism
• (n) the representation of something as existing or happening in the wrong time period
• Connected to anachronisticand chronological
• In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the chiming of the clock is an anachronism; there were no mechanical clocks in ancient Rome.
• prestige
• (n) a reputation or influence arising from success, achievement, and/or rank
• Connected to prestigious
• Yo-Yo Ma’s skill as a cellist has won him great prestigein the world of classical music.
• vindictive
• (adj) disposed to seek revenge; revengeful, spiteful
• Connected to vindictiveness
• In Great Expectations, Miss Havisham is a vindictivecharacter; everything she does works toward her revenge against those who have offended her.
• Recommended supplementary material to view SAT questions featured in lesson answer guides: The Official SAT Study Guide by the College Board.