PSAT vocab test

ambivalent Having mixed feelings about something She was surprisingly ambivalent about attending her own birthday party Arbitrary based on personal whim, rather than reason His coworkers resented his imperious and arbitrary decision making style 00:06 01:24 Arbitrate To serve as a neutral third - party judge in dispute My mother arbitrated a resolution to the fight between my sister and me Carping constantly finding fault, particularly about trivial matters April's constant carping about the movie forced me to walk out of the theater Censor To edit out or repress objectionable material The prisoners outgoing letters were being censored by the prison officials Censure To express for a, disapproval of someone's behavior The senator was censured for her misconduct, but was permitted to stay in office Clemency leniency, particularly in judicial sentencing The judge showed clemency because the convict showed great remorse for his actions Conformist One who conscientiously compels with the standards of a group I'd rather be an individualist than a conformist Contempt sharp disgust for something deemed unworthy Her contempt for Mr.Jones was so deep that she would not even acknowledge his presence Cynic one who believes that humans are essentially selfish Warren was such a cynic that he mistrusted every word of praise from his teachers Demeaning Causing a loss of respect or dignity The student protest did not elevate the debate but instead reduced it to a demeaning travesty of intellectual discourse Denounce Publicly declare as bad or evil She was denounced for making a racist slur Depraved immoral or wicked The murderer showed depraved indifference to human life Derision Mockery, contemptuous ridicule The derision Phil received in the locker room scarred him for life Disdain Feeling that something or someone is unworthy I could feel only disdain for Glen's self-serving apology Dogmatic proclaiming an inflexible adherence to religious or political principles Some reporters spend too much time spouting dogmatic opinions rather than providing objective analysis Extol To praise enthusiastically She extolled the technics, beauty of Chopin's etudes Futile Doomed to fail, pointless All attempts to defeat me are futile Inane Silly, stupid I find most reality shows to be an inane waste of time Irreverent showing no respect for things that are ordinarily given respect The comedy troupe performed an irreverent sketch that thoroughly insulted the Vice President Mundane Dull and uninteresting She wanted to escape her mundane experience Punitive Intended to punish The court imposed punitive damages to discourage such reckless behavior in the future