The 1000 Most
Common SAT
Words
A
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.)
SAT Vocabulary
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.)
, A
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.)
SAT Vocabulary
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.)
accentuate (v.) to stress, highlight (Psychologists agree that those people who are
happiest accentuate the positive in life.)
, A
accessible (adj.) obtainable, reachable (After studying with SparkNotes and getting a
great score on the SAT, Marlena happily realized that her goal of getting into an
Ivy-League college was accessible.)
acclaim (n.) high praise (Greg’s excellent poem won the acclaim of his friends.)
accolade (n.) high praise, special distinction (Everyone offered accolades to Sam after
he won the Noble Prize.)
accommodating (adj.) helpful, obliging, polite (Though the apartment was not big
enough for three people, Arnold, Mark, and Zebulon were all friends and were
accommodating to each other.)
accord (n.) an agreement (After much negotiating, England and Iceland finally came to
a mutually beneficial accord about fishing rights off the cost of Greenland.)
accost (v.) to confront verbally (Though Antoinette was normally quite calm, when the
waiter spilled soup on her for the fourth time in 15 minutes she stood up and accosted
the man.)
accretion (n.) slow growth in size or amount (Stalactites are formed by the accretion of
minerals from the roofs of caves.)
acerbic (adj.) biting, bitter in tone or taste (Jill became extremely acerbic and began to
cruelly make fun of all her friends.)
acquiesce (v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Correlli wanted to stay outside
and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner,
he acquiesced to her demands.)
acrimony (n.) bitterness, discord (Though they vowed that no girl would ever come
between them, Biff and Trevor could not keep acrimony from overwhelming their
SAT Vocabulary
friendship after they both fell in love with the lovely Teresa.)
acumen (n.) keen insight (Because of his mathematical acumen, Larry was able to figure
out in minutes problems that took other students hours.)
acute 1. (adj.) sharp, severe (Arnold could not walk because the pain in his foot was so
acute.) 2. (adj.) having keen insight (Because she was so acute, Libby instantly
figured out how the magician pulled off his “magic.”)
adamant (adj.) impervious, immovable, unyielding (Though public pressure was
intense, the President remained adamant about his proposal.)
adept (adj.) extremely skilled (Tarzan was adept at jumping from tree to tree like a
monkey.)
, A
adhere 1. (n.) to stick to something (We adhered the poster to the wall with tape.) 2. (n.)
to follow devoutly (He adhered to the dictates of his religion without question.)
admonish (v.) to caution, criticize, reprove (Joe’s mother admonished him not to ruin
his appetite by eating cookies before dinner.)
adorn (v.) to decorate (We adorned the tree with ornaments.)
adroit (adj.) skillful, dexterous (The adroit thief could pick someone’s pocket without
attracting notice.)
adulation (n.) extreme praise (Though the book was pretty good, Marcy did not believe
it deserved the adulation it received.)
adumbrate (v.) to sketch out in a vague way (The coach adumbrated a game plan, but
none of the players knew precisely what to do.)
adverse (adj.) antagonistic, unfavorable, dangerous (Because of adverse conditions, the
hikers decided to give up trying to climb the mountain.)
advocate 1. (v.) to argue in favor of something (Arnold advocated turning left at the
stop sign, even though everyone else thought we should turn right.) 2. (n.) a person
who argues in favor of something (In addition to wanting to turn left at every stop
sign, Arnold was also a great advocate of increasing national defense spending.)
aerial (adj.) somehow related to the air (We watched as the fighter planes conducted
aerial maneuvers.)
aesthetic (adj.) artistic, related to the appreciation of beauty (We hired Susan as our
interior decorator because she has such a fine aesthetic sense.)
affable (adj.) friendly, amiable (People like to be around George because he is so affable
SAT Vocabulary
and good-natured.)
affinity (n.)a spontaneous feeling of closeness (Jerry didn’t know why, but he felt an
incredible affinity for Kramer the first time they met.)
affluent (adj.) rich, wealthy (Mrs. Grebelski was affluent, owning a huge house, three
cars, and an island near Maine.)
affront (n.) an insult (Bernardo was very touchy, and took any slight as an affront to his
honor.)
aggrandize (v.) to increase or make greater (Joseph always dropped the names of the
famous people his father knew as a way to aggrandize his personal stature.)
Common SAT
Words
A
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.)
SAT Vocabulary
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.)
, A
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.)
SAT Vocabulary
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.)
accentuate (v.) to stress, highlight (Psychologists agree that those people who are
happiest accentuate the positive in life.)
, A
accessible (adj.) obtainable, reachable (After studying with SparkNotes and getting a
great score on the SAT, Marlena happily realized that her goal of getting into an
Ivy-League college was accessible.)
acclaim (n.) high praise (Greg’s excellent poem won the acclaim of his friends.)
accolade (n.) high praise, special distinction (Everyone offered accolades to Sam after
he won the Noble Prize.)
accommodating (adj.) helpful, obliging, polite (Though the apartment was not big
enough for three people, Arnold, Mark, and Zebulon were all friends and were
accommodating to each other.)
accord (n.) an agreement (After much negotiating, England and Iceland finally came to
a mutually beneficial accord about fishing rights off the cost of Greenland.)
accost (v.) to confront verbally (Though Antoinette was normally quite calm, when the
waiter spilled soup on her for the fourth time in 15 minutes she stood up and accosted
the man.)
accretion (n.) slow growth in size or amount (Stalactites are formed by the accretion of
minerals from the roofs of caves.)
acerbic (adj.) biting, bitter in tone or taste (Jill became extremely acerbic and began to
cruelly make fun of all her friends.)
acquiesce (v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Correlli wanted to stay outside
and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner,
he acquiesced to her demands.)
acrimony (n.) bitterness, discord (Though they vowed that no girl would ever come
between them, Biff and Trevor could not keep acrimony from overwhelming their
SAT Vocabulary
friendship after they both fell in love with the lovely Teresa.)
acumen (n.) keen insight (Because of his mathematical acumen, Larry was able to figure
out in minutes problems that took other students hours.)
acute 1. (adj.) sharp, severe (Arnold could not walk because the pain in his foot was so
acute.) 2. (adj.) having keen insight (Because she was so acute, Libby instantly
figured out how the magician pulled off his “magic.”)
adamant (adj.) impervious, immovable, unyielding (Though public pressure was
intense, the President remained adamant about his proposal.)
adept (adj.) extremely skilled (Tarzan was adept at jumping from tree to tree like a
monkey.)
, A
adhere 1. (n.) to stick to something (We adhered the poster to the wall with tape.) 2. (n.)
to follow devoutly (He adhered to the dictates of his religion without question.)
admonish (v.) to caution, criticize, reprove (Joe’s mother admonished him not to ruin
his appetite by eating cookies before dinner.)
adorn (v.) to decorate (We adorned the tree with ornaments.)
adroit (adj.) skillful, dexterous (The adroit thief could pick someone’s pocket without
attracting notice.)
adulation (n.) extreme praise (Though the book was pretty good, Marcy did not believe
it deserved the adulation it received.)
adumbrate (v.) to sketch out in a vague way (The coach adumbrated a game plan, but
none of the players knew precisely what to do.)
adverse (adj.) antagonistic, unfavorable, dangerous (Because of adverse conditions, the
hikers decided to give up trying to climb the mountain.)
advocate 1. (v.) to argue in favor of something (Arnold advocated turning left at the
stop sign, even though everyone else thought we should turn right.) 2. (n.) a person
who argues in favor of something (In addition to wanting to turn left at every stop
sign, Arnold was also a great advocate of increasing national defense spending.)
aerial (adj.) somehow related to the air (We watched as the fighter planes conducted
aerial maneuvers.)
aesthetic (adj.) artistic, related to the appreciation of beauty (We hired Susan as our
interior decorator because she has such a fine aesthetic sense.)
affable (adj.) friendly, amiable (People like to be around George because he is so affable
SAT Vocabulary
and good-natured.)
affinity (n.)a spontaneous feeling of closeness (Jerry didn’t know why, but he felt an
incredible affinity for Kramer the first time they met.)
affluent (adj.) rich, wealthy (Mrs. Grebelski was affluent, owning a huge house, three
cars, and an island near Maine.)
affront (n.) an insult (Bernardo was very touchy, and took any slight as an affront to his
honor.)
aggrandize (v.) to increase or make greater (Joseph always dropped the names of the
famous people his father knew as a way to aggrandize his personal stature.)
