SAT vocabulary for Juniors

Lesson Three

#1 Pedestrian: adj. ordinary or dullsyn: commonplace; mediocre / ant: imaginative; compelling

Stan did all he could to hype the essay, but he delivered only a pedestrian and

unsatisfying result.

“Say what they will of the glowing independence one feels in the saddle, give me the first morning flush of your cheery pedestrian!”-Henry Melville

#2 Bona fide: adj. in good faithsyn: legitimate; genuine / ant: fraudulent; phony

Although the team put forth a bona fide effort, they suffered their eighth straight

loss.

"Don't learn to do, but learn in doing. Let your falls not be on a prepared ground, but let them be bona fide falls in the rough and tumble of the world." -Samuel Butler

#3 Adventitious: adj. accidental; nonessentialsyn: incidental

Adventitious nostalgia and patriotism have made the Gettysburg Address more famous

than it was when Lincoln first gave it.

“If intellection and knowledge were mere passion from without, or the bare reception of extraneous and adventitious forms, then no reason could be given at all why a mirror or looking-glass should not understand; whereas it cannot so much as sensibly perceive those images which it receives and reflects to us.”-Ralph J. Cudworth

#4 Fecund: adj. fertile; productivesyn: prolific / ant: sterile

Gwen’s fecund imagination has produced many books that have brought critical

and popular acclaim.

“I callto the spirits of other lands to make fecund my existence”-Frank O’Hara

#5 Deviate: v. to turn aside from a course; to straysyn: digress

He thought in a linear fashion, with no room to deviate.

“Keep on adding, keep on walking, keep on progressing: do not delay on the road, do not go back, do not deviate.”-St. Augustine

#6 Obfuscate: v. to confuse; to bewildersyn: muddle; obscure / ant: clarify; elucidate

For a dedicated writer, it is a serious error to obfuscate, not clarify, with language.

“Life has a tendency to obfuscate and bewilder,Such as fating us to spend the first part of our livesbeing embarrassed by our parents and the last partbeing embarrassed by our childer.”-Ogden Nash

#7 Impale: v. to pierce with a sharp stake through the body

Punji sticks are very sharp bamboo stakes placed in holes to impale unsuspecting

soldiers.

In Lord Of The Flies, the boys on the island went from innocent children to savages who impaled pigs.

#8 Extenuate: v. to lessen seriousness by providing partial excuses

In law, circumstances that extenuate a crime may call for less punishment.

“Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate,Nor set down aught in malice.”-Shakespeare

#9 Parochial: adj. local; narrow; limitedsyn: provincial; narrow-minded / ant: universal; catholic

Bret’s parochial notions about art and history disappeared after he visited

several museums.

“Today, the notion of progress in a single line without goal or limit seems perhaps the most parochial notion of a very parochial century.”-Lewis Mumford

#10 Glower: v. to stare angrilysyn: frown; scowl / ant: grin

Although he often seemed to glower, he claimed to be smiling in his heart.

The five year old glowered at the other child who took her place at the front of the line.

#11 Edify: v. improve someone morally

Always edify, never stupefy, the veteran teacher advised.

The corrections officer always looked to edify his new charges so that they would become upstanding citizens.

#12 Ambiguous: adj. open to more than one interpretationsyn: unclear; uncertain; vague / ant: explicit; definite

The ambiguous orders misled the platoon into a minefield.

“Even a cow creates ambiguous signifiers. The moo of mystery.”-Mason Cooley

#13 Cataclysm: n. a violent changesyn: disaster; catastrophe / ant: triumph; boon

An island volcano, Krakatoa, exploded in a cataclysm that produced a tidal wave

120 feet high.

“Well, from what you tell me I should say that it was not only a landslide but a tidal wave and holocaust all rolled into one general cataclysm.”-William Howard Taft

#14 Optimum: adj. best; most favorable; ideal

After tasting the bears’ bowls of porridge, Goldilocks found one that was the

optimum temperature.

When traveling long distances, one must check for optimum conditions for the journey.

#15 Importune: v. to ask persistently; to begsyn: appeal; badger

Her friends seldom refused when Kim importune them for a ride to school.

“Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune,He had not the method of making a fortune.”-Thomas Gray