Sat Prep

abase --(v.) to humiliate, degrade (After being overthrown and abased, the deposed leader offered to bow down to his conqueror.) abate --(v.) to reduce, lessen (The rain poured down for a while, then abated.) abdicate --(v.) to give up a position, usually one of leadership (When he realized that the revolutionaries would surely win, the king abdicated his throne.) abduct --(v.) to kidnap, take by force (The evildoers abducted the fairy princess from her happy home.) aberration --(n.) something that differs from the norm (In 1918, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and the Red Sox have not won a World Series since.) abet --(v.) to aid, help, encourage (The spy succeeded only because he had a friend on the inside to abet him.) abhor --(v.) to hate, detest (Because he always wound up kicking himself in the head when he tried to play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.) abide --1. (v.) to put up with (Though he did not agree with the decision, Chuck decided to abide by it.) 2. (v.) to remain (Despite the beating they've taken from the weather throughout the millennia, the mountains abide.) abject --(adj.) wretched, pitiful (After losing all her money, falling into a puddle, and breaking her ankle, Eloise was abject.) abjure --(v.) to reject, renounce (To prove his honesty, the President abjured the evil policies of his wicked predecessor.) abnegation --(n.) denial of comfort to oneself (The holy man slept on the floor, took only cold showers, and generally followed other practices of abnegation.) abort --(v.) to give up on a half-finished project or effort (After they ran out of food, the men, attempting to jump rope around the world, had to abort and go home.) abridge --1. (v.) to cut down, shorten (The publisher thought the dictionary was too long and abridged it.) 2. (adj.) shortened (Moby-Dick is such a long book that even the abridged version is longer than most normal books.) abrogate --(v.) to abolish, usually by authority (The Bill of Rights assures that the government cannot abrogate our right to a free press.) abscond --(v.) to sneak away and hide (In the confusion, the super-spy absconded into the night with the secret plans.) absolution --(n.) freedom from blame, guilt, sin (Once all the facts were known, the jury gave Angela absolution by giving a verdict of not guilty.) abstain --(v.) to freely choose not to commit an action (Everyone demanded that Angus put on the kilt, but he did not want to do it and abstained.) abstruse --(adj.) hard to comprehend (Everyone else in the class understood geometry easily, but John found the subject abstruse.) accede --(v.) to agree (When the class asked the teacher whether they could play baseball instead of learn grammar they expected him to refuse, but instead he acceded to their request.)