Rock the SAT: Round 4

Frugal with your Love

Adversity
Its amazing that with all the adversity police officers have to endure shootouts, drug raids, car chases they still find time to harass skateboarders.

Adversity: notes and definition

Notes: Youll often see the adjective form adverse describing anything difficult or challenging: Although faced with unbelievably adverse conditions of rain, wind, waves, and giant killer squid, the Coast Guard managed to rescue the crew from a horrible slimy death. If you remember that a related word, adversary, means enemy or antagonist, the meaning of adversity isnt too much of a stretch to figure out.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Amicable
Dudley would have been a lot more amicable if we hadnt kidnapped him, painted his body green, and dropped him off at a rest stop in a strange town.

Amicable: notes and definition

Notes: You might see a related word, amity, meaning friendship: The warring parties demonstrated their amity by exchanging long, lingering smooches at the start of the peace talks. Another word, amiable, means almost the same thing as amicable. Amiable means good-natured or pleasant in general, whereas amicable means neighborly or friendly toward others.

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVE

Anecdote
The kids hated listening to Grandpas anecdotes about the war because he never shut up about the metal plate in his head and, quite frankly, everyone knew hed never been in the war.

Anecdote: notes and definition

Notes: Do not confuse anecdotes mini-autobiographical tales with antidotes, which are measures that counteract poisons.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Antagonist
Leslie was a constant antagonist to poor, sweet Egbert, always clawing at his soft underbelly and setting his hair on fire to delight the other kindergartners.

Antagonist: notes and definition

Notes: Sometimes the word is used in a more narrow sense to mean a villain in a work of fiction. The antagonist is the force that opposes the hero (or protagonist) the Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker, for example. The noun antagonism and verb antagonize are just as likely to show up on the test and in the life of an 8th grader.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Assiduous
Though I was assiduous and worked day and night to finish assembling this nuclear reactor, dont turn it on until Im, oh, say 27.12 kilometers from the blast zone.

Assiduous: notes and definition

Notes: The noun form is either the clunky assiduousness or the much more enjoyable assiduity.

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVE

Asylum
The United States refused to grant asylum to the refugees because, according to the State Department officials, They looked like fish, smelled like fish, and actually were fish.

Asylum: notes and definition

Notes: One common definition of asylum is a hospital for the mentally ill, but this is a very narrow use. An asylum can be a physical place, or it can be a condition of protection or safety, as when a country grants political asylum to refugees.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Benevolent
Sister Mary Altruism, famous for her benevolent acts of kindness, was hailed as a national heroine for successfully smuggling blenders into smoothie-starved Wimponia.

Benevolent: notes and definition

Notes: As a frequently used prefix, bene- means good. Remember that simple word root, and the sense of goodwill will come through when you see the word benevolent. Additional words that start with the prefix bene- include: benediction (a blessing), benefactor (a do-gooder), and beneficial (helpful, like these extra notes).

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVE

Camaraderie
The camaraderie between Ralphie and his beloved hound, Hank, could never be broken unless Hank got within sniffing range of a sweet-smellin female poodle.

Camaraderie: notes and definition

Notes: We cant resist: this word comes from the Latin word camera. WHAA? You ask. EXPLAIN! You say. Well, camera meant room, or chamber, (our bicameral Congress has 2 chambers: the House and Senate). In Middle French the word camarade was used to mean a group of people who sleep in one room, or, more simply, roommates. If you stay with your roommate long enough, youd better establish some friendly camaraderie. If not, youll make each other miserable.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Compassion
Those who have compassion always offer help to the less fortunate. Those who dont have a lot more free time.

Compassion: notes and definition

Notes: Dont let the word passion trip you up! Passion has a primary meaning of intense suffering or pain. (Yes, it also means strong emotion or even love, but check the dictionary. Those are secondary meanings.) The prefix, com- means together with, so compassion means to share in or at least be aware of the suffering of others. Also implied by compassion is a desire to help the person who is suffering.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Deleterious
Radiation has horribly deleterious effects on most living things, but if theres even a slight chance it can create a master race of mutant frog-men, Im all for it. All hail the Frog-Men!

Deleterious: notes and definition

Notes: You wont often find the word deleterious used to modify anything other than effects. Its most often used to describe health effects, such as the impact of pollution on living things. It often describes situations where the harmful effects arent immediately apparent or happen slowly over time.

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVE

Exchange your mentor sentence

QUIZ TIME!

Diligence
Although Veronica has the diligence of an A student, she prefers the hack-into-the-school-computer-and-changeyour-grade method of study.

Diligence: notes and definition

Notes: You might also see the adjective form, diligent.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Enervating
After 15 enervating minutes of trudging uphill, all I wanted was to flop on my couch, watch pro bowling, and scarf pork rinds.

Enervating: notes and definition

Notes: Many people confuse enervating with energizing, which is exactly the opposite. The scary testing people are betting youll make the same error dont do it! The prefix, e- means to remove or decrease in Latin. Nervus means muscles in Latin. So, when youre enervated, your physical power decreases.

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVE

Exasperation
Driven to the point of exasperation by a screaming baby in the theater, Daryl lost control and shouted, Shut yer piehole, ya little freak!

Exasperation: notes and definition

Notes: Synonyms- anger, aggravation Antonyms- calm

Part of Speech: NOUN

Frugal
Billionaire Gilbert Worthington III was so frugal, hed stand in line for hours at a soup kitchen for the homeless rather than grab a can from one of the five supermarkets he owned.

Frugal: notes and definition

Notes: Frugal can have the negative sense of stingy, as in the sentence, where the billionaire is cheap to the point of being ridiculous. However, it just as often carries the more neutral sense of simply being economical or sparing with resources.

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVE

Hackneyed
Get real! Do you really think Id go for a guy who used a hackneyed old line like Help, Im drowning?

Hackneyed: notes and definition

Notes: Only hack writers rely on hackneyed expressions. Thats what makes them hacks.

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVE

Incompatible
Bev and Jan were incompatible roommates. Bev was the quiet type, while Jan was into throwing parties where everyone wiped mayonnaise on their faces and played rugby.

Incompatible: notes and definition

Notes: Remember the prefix in- means not, and then this is easy. NOT compatible, or NOT able to get along.

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVE

Inconsequential
As long as you have love, money is inconsequential. Unless, of course, you also enjoy food and shelter; then you need money.

Inconsequential: notes and definition

Notes: If something has no consequences, then it simply doesnt matter to you. If you get stuck, remember it in that way: something inconsequential has no consequence.

Part of Speech: ADJECTIVE

Jubilation
Becky and William exploded in jubilation when their parents told them they were headed to Disney World, but their joy soon died when they learned they were really going to Lamp World.

Jubilation: notes and definition

Notes: Other common forms are the adjective jubilant and the noun jubilee, which means a celebration, especially an anniversary.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Sagacity
Gilbert Worthington III was famous for his sagacity in making tough financial choices, but his accountants all agreed that buying a fast-food chain named BoogerBurger was not a wise decision.

Sagacity: notes and definition

Notes: Perhaps, dear student, youve notice that the prefix sag- is used in the word sage, meaning either wise or wise person. You might also see the adjective form, sagacious: It was indeed a sagacious decision of Mrs. de Beer to buy Rock the SAT, for without it, you might never have learned what sagacity means.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Sanctuary
Thank heavens a sanctuary has been created to protect the worlds least attractive mollusk, the poisonous, flesh-eating slime sucker.

Sanctuary: notes and definition

Notes: See Silence, Reticence for notes on sanctuary. Its such a comforting word, we just had to use it twice. Now you have no excuse if you forget it on the day of your test, and no, you do not get your money back if you space out.

Part of Speech: NOUN

Exchange your Mentor Sentence

QUIZ TIME!