“The weapon got nerfed, the boss has aggro, and my cooldown isn’t over yet.”

To a gamer, that sentence is perfectly clear. To non-gamers, it sounds like it's time to call 911. Teachers do the same thing with words such as "scaffolding," "do-nows," and "IEP."

This specialized language is called jargon: specialized vocabulary used by people in a particular profession, trade, group, or hobby.

Today we’re learning "jargon," that insider-speak that makes you feel either totally looped in or completely lost when you hear it.

📚️ Definition of Jargon

Jargon (noun): the specialized or technical vocabulary used by members of a particular profession, trade, or group that is hard for people outside of those groups to understand: avoid jargon when giving presentations.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Jargon

• IPA: ˈdʒɑː.ɡən (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: JAR-gun

📰 Examples of Jargon

Here are some examples of the word jargon:

• The research paper was full of impenetrable jargon; it made no sense to me at all.

• Some less ethical salespeople know that a little jargon can intimidate prospective buyers, and thereby make them easier to sell to.

• This they would sing, as a chorus, to words which to many would seem unmeaning jargon, but which, nevertheless, were full of meaning to themselves.” — Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)

🗣️ Common Collocations of Jargon

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• technical jargon

• legal jargon

• medical jargon

• jargon-free

• avoid jargon

• keep something jargon-free

• impenetrable jargon

Quiz answer: C.

How do you feel about jargon when you hear it and understand it, or even when you don’t understand it? Tomorrow, keep an eye out for “abscond.”

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

Most people know “abide by the rules.” But fewer realize that abide can also mean “to tolerate.”

The two meanings are related, but not identical. If you abide by a rule, agreement, or decision, you accept it and act according to it. If you abide something (no preposition), you put up with it, you tolerate it, though you don’t enjoy doing so.

Notice that the preposition matters:

• abide by the rules = follow the rules

• cannot abide dishonesty = cannot tolerate dishonesty

The second use sounds a little dated or literary today, which may be why it carries extra force. “I don’t like him laughing so loud” sounds mildly annoyed. “I cannot abide his loud laughing” sounds as though someone may soon be asked to watch his videos in another room.

📚️ Definition of Abide

Abide (verb): to put up with something or somebody unpleasant; tolerate. to comply with: Marissa abided by her mother’s wishes.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Abide

• IPA: ə.baɪd (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: uh-BIDE

📰 Examples of Abide

Here are some examples of the word Abide:

• Parents generally expect their children to abide by their rules, but also know that they need to flexible with those rules.

• So, Marlene cannot abide a phone at her table anytime, much less at the Thanksgiving table. Trish tested the rule last year, hiding a phone under the tablecloth. Of course, Marlene noticed and simply picked up Trish’s plate — the stuffing, the candied yams, the fork, all of it — and carried it back to the kitchen. In Marlene’s house, you learn the rules or you end up eating in the hallway.

• I believe they went to the trouble of putting an extra amount of garlic into our food; and I can’t abide garlic. — Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897)

🗣️ Common Collocations of Abide

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• abide by the rules

• can't abide

• abide by a decision

• abide by the law

• willing to abide

Quiz answer: B.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

30 Words You Need to Understand SAT Questions

Most vocabulary lists focus on difficult words in the reading passages. This list is different: these are words that appear in the questions and answer choices themselves.

Most vocabulary lists focus on difficult words in the reading passages. This list is different: these are words that appear in the questions and answer choices themselves.

You can understand a passage perfectly and still miss the question because you misunderstood what undermine, corroborate, or qualify was asking you to find. These words describe the relationships among claims, evidence, and ideas—the basic machinery of SAT Reading and Writing questions.

A few of them are especially treacherous because they look familiar. Students often assume that qualify means “confirm,” that complicate means “cause a problem,” or that infer and imply are interchangeable. They aren’t.

Learn these words well enough that you recognize them instantly. The question should be testing your reading, not whether you understood the question.

Supporting or Undermining an Argument

• undermine — weaken a claim or argument

• refute — prove that a claim is wrong

• rebut — respond directly to a claim by arguing against it

• corroborate — confirm a claim with independent evidence

• bolster — strengthen an argument that is already there

• substantiate — support a claim with evidence or proof

• validate — confirm that something is true, reasonable, or sound

• discredit — damage the credibility of a claim, source, or person

• contradict — say or show the opposite of something

Qualifying, Conceding, and Complicating

These are nuance words, which is exactly why students miss them. They often describe an author making a claim more precise—not abandoning it.

• qualify (see note below) — limit a claim or add a condition or exception to it; it does not mean “confirm”

• concede (see note below) — admit that a point is true, often one that weakens your own position

• reconcile — explain how two apparently conflicting ideas can both be true

• complicate — show that an issue is less simple than it first appeared; it does not merely mean “cause a problem”

• reinforce — make an existing idea, conclusion, or impression stronger

Describing What a Sentence or Paragraph Does

These words often appear in questions that ask what a sentence “primarily functions to do.”

• illustrate — explain an idea by giving a concrete example

• exemplify — serve as a clear or typical example of something

• convey — communicate an idea, impression, or feeling

• imply — suggest something without stating it directly; the writer or text implies

• infer — reach a conclusion from evidence; the reader infers

• posit — put forward an idea or claim for consideration

• assert — state something firmly or confidently

• characterize — describe the essential nature or qualities of something

• delineate — describe or lay something out precisely

• attribute — identify something as the result of a particular cause or source

• juxtapose — place two things side by side, usually to emphasize a contrast

• analogous — comparable in a relevant or revealing way

• corollary — a result or conclusion that follows naturally from another idea

Tone and Stance

These words describe the author’s attitude, level of certainty, or relationship to the subject.

• ambivalent — having genuinely mixed or conflicting feelings

• objective — based primarily on facts rather than personal feelings or judgments

• subjective — shaped by personal feelings, experiences, or opinions

• hypothetical — proposed or imagined for the sake of discussion, rather than presented as something that actually happened

Two Words That Deserve Extra Attention

Qualify and concede are notorious traps with students in my experience; each word has a nuanced meaning that some students will overlook.

To qualify a claim is to limit it, narrow it, or add an exception:

Exercise improves health.
Qualified: Exercise generally improves health, although the benefits definitely depend on the type of exercise and intensity.

To concede a point is to admit that part of the opposing argument is true:

The proposed change in the policy may be expensive at first, the author concedes, but over time, it could save tax-payer money.

Neither word means that the author has abandoned the original argument. In fact, acknowledging limits or admitting a fair point often makes an argument more credible to many readers.

Before You Go

You do not need to memorize every difficult word that might appear on the SAT. You do, however, need to know the words the test uses to tell you what it wants.

Pay particular attention to pairs of words that students routinely confuse: infer and imply, refute and rebut, objective and subjective. And do not assume you know a word just because it looks familiar. Qualify, for example, does not mean “confirm.” (For example, an unqualified success is a complete success.)

Learn a few of these at a time, and you’ll start seeing them in questions and feel more confident answer them.

Here are the last ten words we learned, each presented in three different question styles to help ensure retention. You'll see every word three times in different formats.

There are thirty questions total — give it a shot, write down your answers, and check against the answers at the bottom.

📖 Review First!

Brush up before you start the quiz! If you’d like to review the last ten words, follow the links below: waver, cower, headlong, deplorable, unruffled, sovereignty, pique, mar, extant, resolute

START

1. MAR most nearly means

A) blemish
B) enhance
C) undulate
D) accelerate

2. After pediatrician Herbert Needleman published a landmark 1979 study linking low-level childhood lead exposure to reduced IQ, two scientists with ties to the lead industry accused him of scientific misconduct. However, a University of Pittsburgh panel ultimately exonerated him, leading many observers to condemn the industry’s efforts to discredit his research as ______.^[1]

A) transparent
B) laudable
C) irrelevant
D) deplorable

3. COWER most nearly means to

A) enjoy
B) have high regard for
C) shrink back in fear
D) strongly dislike

4. Despite the skull-and-crossbones flag that is familiar in popular culture, genuine pirate banners are remarkably scarce: only two authenticated Jolly Roger ensigns remain ____, one a Barbary corsair’s flag preserved in Finland’s Åland Maritime Museum, the other a red one that the Royal Navy captured in 1780.^[2]

A) extant
B) dormant
C) extinct
D) enshrined

5. WAVER most nearly means

A) flatten
B) flourish
C) persevere
D) vacillate

6. COWER most nearly means

A) tempt
B) abhor
C) respect
D) flinch

7. Which of the following words best describes the supreme authority of a state to govern itself without outside interference, such as when a newly independent nation gains full control over its own laws, borders, and foreign policy?

A) democracy
B) hegemony
C) jurisdiction
D) sovereignty

8. Clickbait headlines weaponize the “curiosity gap”—that distance between what we know and what we want to know—first identified by economist George Loewenstein in 1994. Such teasers deliberately ______ our interest, releasing dopamine in anticipation of a reward that much of the content itself, engineered for clicks rather than substance, more often than not fails to deliver.^[3]

A) pique
B) assuage
C) belie
D) quash

9. Let’s say you are like that famous determined hedgehog who will never ever give up no matter what. In this case, you would be considered

A) imaginary
B) ambivalent
C) resolute
D) anthropomorphic

10. “Everything You Know About Protein Is WRONG!” “Americans Are Slowly Killing Themselves With This One Common Ingredient.” “99% of People Miss This Simple Math Question.” If headlines like these ______ your curiosity, you’re experiencing what behavioral economist George Loewenstein called the “curiosity gap.” In his influential 1994 paper “The Psychology of Curiosity,” he argued that noticing a gap in our knowledge creates a mild feeling of cognitive deprivation, an itch that we can’t help but try to scratch. Clickbait exploits that instinct.^[4]

A) diminish
B) pique
C) validate
D) satisfy

Read more

You've written your college essay, read it 37 times, and your cursor is hovering over the "Submit" button. You waver for just a moment before clicking.

If you waver, you go back and forth between two choices, opinions, or courses of action. Maybe you're deciding whether to submit that essay, accept a great job on the other side of the country, or ask someone out. It's similar to the word vacillate, but waver is much more common in everyday English.

📚️ Definition of Waver

Waver (verb): to vacillate between choices or opinions; to show indecision: he wavered in support for the mayor.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Waver

• IPA: ˈweɪ.və(ɹ) (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: WAY-ver

📰 Examples of Waver

Here are some examples of the word Waver:

• Marcus never wavered in his academic goals.

• My New Year’s resolutions are always strongest on January 1st, but invariably they begin to waver even before February arrives.

• For one brief moment, the firefighter <span class=”termDef”>wavered</span>; but then he looked up, saw a kitten in a second-floor window, and charged into the burning building with renewed determination.

🗣️ Common Collocations of Waver

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• waver between choices

• voice began to waver

• never wavered in their resolve

• waver in one’s commitment

• waver under pressure

• resolve wavered

Quiz answer: A.

Final tip: Don’t confuse “waver” with its homophone “waiver” (a document giving up a right) — an error that the best of us might make. Next time, we’ll tackle a word worth sticking around for: “abide.”

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

A frightened dog tucks its tail and shrinks into the corner. It's cowering. If you cower, you physically shrink back because you're afraid or expecting harm. It's similar to cringe, but cringe can also describe recoiling from embarrassment, awkwardness, or disgust. Cower, by contrast, almost always suggests fear.

📚️ Definition of Cower

Cower (verb): to show fear by cringing or crouching, especially by making oneself more distant: to cower in fear.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Cower

• IPA: ˈkau.ər (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: KOW-uhr

📰 Examples of Cower

Here are some examples of the word Cower:

• We cowered silently in our tents while the bears looked around for food.

• During the 4.8 earthquake, Francisco cowered beneath the kitchen table, hoping it would protect him.

• Some animals protect themselves by cowering in fear when threatened; humans who attempt this defense, however, may be subjected to ridicule.

🗣️ Common Collocations of Cower

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• cower in fear

• cower before someone

• cower in the corner

• cower under a table

• cower at the sight of

• make somebody cower

Quiz answer: C.

One last thing: don’t confuse cower with cringe. You can cringe at a bad joke or an embarrassing text message, but you cower only when you’re afraid. Next time, we’ll look at another very human behavior: wavering.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

Picture someone sprinting so recklessly toward something that their head is nine inches ahead of the rest of their body.

That's the idea of headlong.

If you do something headlong, you plunge into it rashly or without stopping to think. The word originally meant head first, and that literal image eventually gave rise to the figurative meaning we use much more often today.

📚️ Definition of Headlong

Headlong (adverb): moving or acting recklessly: ran headlong into the burning house. with the head first or down: to jump headlong into the water.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Headlong

• IPA: ˈhɛd.lɑŋ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: HED-lawng

📰 Examples of Headlong

Here are some examples of the word Headlong:

• Eager to close the deal, Daoud rushed headlong into the negotiations for the sale of his house without consulting his real estate friends.

• On New Year’s Day, I promised myself I’d stop picking up new hobbies, but by January 3, I was already researching digital cameras.

• In 2010, UX designer Harry Brignull coined the term dark patterns to name deceptive interfaces—cancel buttons that are hard to see, “only 2 left” alerts, extra fees that show up at the end of checkout—engineered to trigger not deliberation but a shopper’s headlong decision to buy. Such designs, a 2022 Federal Trade Commission report warned, essentially trick users into choices they would not otherwise make.

🗣️ Common Collocations of Headlong

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• rush headlong

• run headlong

• headlong into danger

Quiz answer: B.

Note: This is an updated, completed version of the empty email that was sent earlier.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

If something is deplorable, it's about as bad as you can get.

For example, deplorable living or working conditions could be very cold or hot rooms, poor lighting, mud floors, filth everywhere, and so on. We can also say that someone's behavior or actions are deplorable, meaning they are awful, immoral, extremely rude, etc.

📚️ Definition of Deplorable

Deplorable (adjective): deserving strong condemnation; shockingly bad: deplorable living conditions. worthy of sympathy: saddened by his deplorable loss.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Deplorable

• IPA: dɪˈplɔːɹ.ə.bəl (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: dih-PLOR-uh-bul

📰 Examples of Deplorable

Here are some examples of the word Deplorable:

• Damian’s deplorable behavior at the work party ended up getting him fired.

• Did you see how Rudy talked to the server? It was deplorable — sending food back, asking for more ice for his free water, and then interrogating her about her day job.

• The deplorable working conditions of many 19th-century US factories ranged from 12- to 16-hour workdays and poor ventilation to unguarded machinery and even physical abuse by supervisors.

🗣️ Common Collocations of Deplorable

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• deplorable conditions

• deplorable state

• truly deplorable

• deplorable behavior

• absolutely deplorable

Quiz answer: D, disgraceful.

One thing to watch for this week: headlong is almost never a compliment. If someone dives headlong into a swimming pool, that's one thing. But if they rush headlong into a relationship or a major life decision, the word usually suggests they acted too quickly and without enough thought. Next time, we'll look at almost the opposite idea with cower.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

The power went out, everyone else is panicking. But you don't even flinch.

If someone is unruffled, they remain completely calm and in control during a stressful situation. Imagine you're giving a speech when a few people in the audience suddenly start heckling you. Because you practiced and know your material, you remain unruffled. You barely react, keep your composure, and finish the speech without missing a beat.

📚️ Definition of unruffled

unruffled (adjective): calm or poised, especially in the face of stress or chaos; not emotionally upset or agitated: remained unruffled during the disturbance.

🗣️ Pronunciation of unruffled

• IPA: ʌnˈrʌ.fəld (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: un-RUFF-uld

📰 Examples of unruffled

Here are some examples of the word unruffled:

• Serena remained completely unruffled during Show and Tell when her classmates started interrupting her.

• Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the failed blood-testing startup Theranos, was once celebrated as the United States’ youngest self-made female billionaire. But investigators later found that many of the company’s claims about its technology were false, leading to fraud charges. During her 2021–2022 trial, Holmes remained remarkably unruffled. Even as four guilty verdicts were read in court, she showed virtually no emotion. She was later sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison.

• Grandma says the secret to staying unruffled is simple: iron your emotions along with your trousers.

🗣️ Common Collocations of unruffled

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• remained unruffled

• unruffled composure

• unruffled calm

• stayed unruffled

• unruffled demeanor

• appeared unruffled

Quiz answer: A, composed.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

🚀 New: Citations of the research. There are citations at the very end so that you can verify the statements presented as fact.

This is a challenging set of questions designed to deepen your understanding while introducing you to important but often overlooked aspects of history, society, and government.

Test your memory! We’ve got 30 questions on 10 words coming up.

Here are the last ten words we learned, each presented in three different question styles to help ensure retention. You'll see every word three times in different formats: first as a straight synonym match, then in a real-world scenario where you have to feel your way to the answer, and finally as a definition where you pick the matching word.

There are thirty questions total — give it a shot, write down your answers, and check against the answers at the bottom.

📖 Review First!

If you’d like to review the last ten words before jumping in, follow the links: sovereignty, pique, mar, extant, resolute, latitude, grit, disparate, verdure, fatuous

START

1. In his book Dumping in Dixie, sociologist Robert D. Bullard documented that Houston’s lax zoning laws granted waste companies enormous ______ in choosing dump sites, which gave the companies freedom to locate the overwhelming majority of the landfills in Black and lower-income neighborhoods.^[1]

A) latitude
B) legislation
C) constraint
D) antipathy

2. Economist Rosa Alonso-Terme and her colleagues at the International Monetary Fund found that levels of corruption are associated not just with wasted public funds but also with greater poverty: incomes grow more and more ______ as the wealthy benefit from subsidies and contracts.^[2]

A) transparent
B) uniform
C) inflationary
D) disparate

3. Only a handful of stories about High John the Conqueror have survived. In the best-known ______ stories about him, the legendary trickster hero uses wit, humor, charm, and sheer determination to triumph over oppression.

A) extant
B) incoherent
C) obsolete
D) apocryphal

4. During the Great Depression of 1929 to 1939, Sanora Babb recorded the lives of Dust Bowl migrants with both ______ and empathy that reflected her determination to depict their lives accurately. John Steinbeck drew on Babb’s notes for his best-selling novel The Grapes of Wrath, but Babb received little attention for her work for decades.^[3]

A) trickery
B) grit
C) disinterest
D) languor

5. MAR most nearly means

A) undulate
B) accelerate
C) enhance
D) blemish

6. Cities located at or near the same ______ experience similar amounts of daylight throughout the year.

A) longitude
B) population
C) latitude
D) elevation

7. FATUOUS most nearly means

A) inane
B) indolent
C) pompous
D) corpulent

8. Imagine you saved up for a couple of months to buy a very nice study/gaming desk for your room. At the end of the year, it was still pristine and shiny. When your lease was up, you moved to a new apartment, but during the move, the desk got a scratch, making you feel disheartened. What happened to the table?

A) Nothing of importance, honestly.
B) It was decimated.
C) It held its value.
D) It was marred, unfortunately.

9. When families of Flint, Michigan insisted their tap water was poisoning their children, state officials, who had stripped the city of local sovereignty by installing an unelected emergency manager, dismissed the complaints. Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha, denounced as hysterical by some of these officials, refused to ______; she published the blood-lead data that ultimately forced the state to concede she had been right.

A) recant
B) persevere
C) testify
D) elaborate

10. VERDURE most nearly means

A) temperament
B) judgment
C) greenery
D) aridity

Read more

Think of sovereignty as “having the final say.”

If a country has sovereignty, no other country gets to boss it around. It makes its own laws, controls its own borders, and governs itself.

The idea applies outside of politics, too. If you have sovereignty over your own decisions, you’re the one making the final call—not your parents, your friends, or anyone else.

📚️ Definition of Sovereignty

Sovereignty (noun): Supreme power or authority over a territory, group, or oneself, free from outside control; the right to self-governance. Example: a nation’s sovereignty over its airspace.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Sovereignty

• IPA: /ˈsɑv.rɪn.ti/ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: SAH-vrin-tee

📰 Examples of Sovereignty

Here are some examples of the word sovereignty:

• The small island nation gained sovereignty after decades of colonial rule.

• For many Indigenous peoples, such as the Māori of New Zealand, preserving and revitalizing their language is an important part of maintaining their cultural identity and asserting their sovereignty.

• Every human possesses sovereignty over herself; no one has a right to descend into the sacred recesses of another person’s mind.

🗣️ Common Collocations of Sovereignty

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• national sovereignty

• sovereignty over a group, a political area, or a thing

• territorial sovereignty

• assert sovereignty

• relinquish sovereignty

Quiz answer: C, autonomy.

Happy Fourth to all!

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

One interesting fact is all it takes.

Maybe you hear about Bigfoot for the first time. Or someone mentions the Chupacabra. Or you stumble across a documentary about the Mapinguari, a legendary creature from the Amazon rainforest. Suddenly you’re reading everything you can find.

That feeling is exactly what pique describes.

The word comes from a French verb meaning to prick, as if with a needle. Originally, if you piqued someone, you irritated or offended them. Today, however, it is much more commonly used to mean to spark curiosity.

📚️ Definition of Pique

Pique (verb): To stimulate or arouse (interest, curiosity); also, to irritate or wound someone’s pride. Example: the movie trailer piqued my interest. As a noun, pique means a feeling of resentment from wounded pride.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Pique

• IPA: /piːk/ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: PEEK (sounds exactly like peak and peek)

Fun fact: Picante is etymologically related to pique. Both words ultimately come from a verb meaning to prick or to sting.

📰 Examples of Pique

Here are some examples of the word pique:

• The advertisement did a good job of piquing my interest.

• Publishers know that a headline has only a few seconds to pique a reader’s curiosity, which is why we see so much clickbait online now.

• In a fit of pique, Rizabel wrote, “What part of ‘birthday’ made you think I wanted to spend the afternoon assembling IKEA furniture?”

• Spelling alert: Something piques your interest—it never “peaks” or “peeks” it. This common homophone mix-up is a classic error that will certainly pique your spelling-bee coach.

🗣️ Common Collocations of Pique

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example, figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• pique one’s interest

• pique one’s curiosity

• a fit of pique

• out of pique

• pique someone’s pride

Quiz answer: D, provoke.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

Think of mar as "spoil the perfection of."

If you mar something, you don't simply damage it—you spoil something that was otherwise attractive, successful, or nearly perfect. For example, you might say that an otherwise pleasant dinner was marred by a loud argument between two people at the next table.

📚️ Definition of Mar

Mar (verb): To damage, spoil, or impair the quality or appearance of something. Example: graffiti that mars the monument.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Mar

• IPA: /mɑr/ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: MAR (rhymes with “car”)

📰 Examples of Mar

Here are some examples of the word mar:

• Our brand-new table was marred by a bad scratch during the move.

• The 1919 World Series was marred by the “Black Sox” scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players were accused of intentionally losing games in exchange for payment from a gambling syndicate.

• “Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.” — William Shakespeare, King Lear (1606)

🗣️ Common Collocations of Mar

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example, figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• marred by controversy

• mar the beauty of

• marred by scandal

• mar the surface

• mar an otherwise perfect record

• badly marred

Quiz answer: A, spoil.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

When something is extant, it's still around. It hasn't been destroyed, lost, or wiped out—it survived. You'll see this word a lot when people talk about old documents, dead languages (i.e., languages for which there are no native speakers, like Latin), or an artist’s works. If a library says a manuscript is the "oldest extant copy," that means older copies probably existed once, but they're gone now, and this is the oldest one that’s still around.

📚️ Definition of Extant

Extant (adjective): Still in existence; not destroyed, lost, or extinct. Example: the oldest extant copy of a text.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Extant

• IPA: /ɪkˈstænt/ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: ik-STANT

📰 Examples of Extant

Here are some examples of the word extant:

• Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only the Pyramid of Giza is still extant. It also happens to be the oldest of all seven.

• The oldest extant copy of Beowulf, known as the Nowell Codex, is housed at the British Library and is probably a little more than 1,000 years old.

• In genetic terms, all extant populations are remarkably equivalent because we all share a common biological heritage.

🗣️ Common Collocations of Extant

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example, figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• the oldest extant copy

• extant manuscripts

• extant species

• still extant

• no longer extant

Quiz answer: B, still in existence.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

If someone is resolute, they are very determined to do something, or sometimes, determined about something. For example, many people are resolute in reaching goals and work tirelessly, even year after year to reach them. Note that we frequently use the preposition in with resolute: resolute in his goal to invest 23% of his salary until he hit a net worth of $250,000.

📚️ Definition of Resolute

Resolute (adjective): Firmly determined and unwavering in purpose; refusing to be shaken from a goal or decision. Example: a resolute commitment to one’s training.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Resolute

• IPA: /ˈrɛz.ə.luːt/ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: REZ-uh-loot

📰 Examples of Resolute

Here are some examples of the word resolute:

• Jackie remained resolute, determined to finish her first marathon, and pushed on toward the finish line, even though her body was screaming for her to stop and it had started raining heavily around mile 12.

• Resolute Bay is a tiny Inuit settlement in northern Canada with a population of under 200 and an average yearly temperature of 5 °F (−15.1 °C).

• I was resolute about learning 10 vocab words a day until my SAT in junior year; I’m happy to say that my determination paid off, and I scored 780 on the verbal section. But the best part is that my readings in class now are much faster, and I understand them better.

• “He who is firm and resolute in will molds the world to himself.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

🗣️ Common Collocations of Resolute

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• a resolute leader

• remain resolute

• resolute determination

• stand resolute

• resolute in the face of adversity

Quiz answer: C, steadfast.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

New with this quiz! I am adding citations at the very end so that you can verify the statements presented as fact. It may seem counterintuitive, but I always tell my students not to believe anything anyone tells them, even me, and they should always verify important information themselves from a variety of vetted sources.

Test your memory! We’ve got 30 questions on 10 words coming up.

Here are the last ten words we learned, each presented in three different question styles to help ensure retention.

There are thirty questions total — give it a shot, write down your answers, and check against the answers at the bottom.

📖 Review First!

If you’d like to review the last ten words before jumping in, If you’d like to review the last ten words, follow the links: latitude, grit, disparate, verdure, fatuous, restitution, infer, concise, extol, counterintuitive

START

1. INFER most nearly means

A) imply
B) assert
C) conclude
D) speculate

2. DISPARATE most nearly means

A) different
B) under-developed
C) reticent
D) far away

3. Which of the following words best describes the act of praising someone enthusiastically and highly, such as a coach publicly celebrating an athlete’s record-breaking performance?

A) extol
B) exhort
C) endorse
D) venerate

4. CONCISE most nearly means

A) succinct
B) verbose
C) playful
D) empty

5. After a year of exercising five days a week and including strength training, cardio exercise, and stretching, my uncle Tito now --- the virtues of physical activity and discipline to anyone within earshot.

A) replenishes
B) extols
C) denies
D) confuses

6. RESTITUTION most nearly means

A) reparation
B) forgiveness
C) retribution
D) remuneration

7. In the game show Let’s Make a Deal, contestants are told that a prize is behind one of three doors. The contestant makes their choice of door 1, 2, or 3. Game show host Monty Hall, who knows which door hides the prize, then opens one of the two remaining doors to reveal no prize. Hall then asks the player whether they’d like to switch their choice to the other, still-closed, door. It may seem ---, but switching to the remaining door actually doubles the chances of winning.

A) traditional
B) rational
C) ineluctable
D) counterintuitive

8. After the court found him guilty of embezzling funds from the charity, the judge ordered him to make full ------- to every donor he had defrauded.

A) restitution
B) retribution
C) remuneration
D) absolution

9. EXTOL most nearly means

A) be ignorant of
B) praise highly
C) extract precisely
D) denounce vigorously

10. FATUOUS most nearly means

A) pompous
B) astute
C) indolent
D) inane

Read more

We learn in school that latitude refers to the imaginary lines on a globe. Specifically, lines of latitude run east-west and are used to measure how far north or south a place is from the Equator.

But latitude has another meaning that’s also useful: freedom, leeway, or flexibility.

For example, a host planning a party might tell a friend,

“I’ll give you plenty of latitude to decide what dishes to serve; I trust your culinary instincts on this!”

In other words, you’re free to make the decision yourself, and you have room to use your own judgment.

📚️ Definition of Latitude

Latitude (noun): Freedom to act, choose, or stray from the usual rules; room for flexibility or discretion, e.g., broad latitude to design the project. In geography, latitude also means the distance of a place north or south of the equator, measured in degrees.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Latitude

• IPA: /ˈlæt.ɪ.tud/ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: LAT-ih-tood

📰 Examples of Latitude

Here are some examples of the word latitude:

• I love it when the teacher gives us latitude in choosing topics to write about, but I know some of my friends prefer to be assigned a topic so that they don’t have to think too much.

• I once knew a man who had great wit, but no judgment; however, his acquaintances gave him great latitude because of his cleverness.

• “The zero-degree parallel of latitude is fixed by the laws of nature, while the zero-degree meridian of longitude shifts like the sands of time. This difference makes finding latitude child’s play, and turns the determination of longitude, especially at sea, into an adult dilemma – one that stumped the wisest minds of the world for the better part of human history.” — Dava Sobel, Longitude (1995)

🗣️ Common Collocations of Latitude

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• wide latitude

• considerable latitude

• give (someone) latitude

• a degree of latitude

• latitude and longitude

Quiz answer: C, leeway.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

📚️ Definition of Grit

Grit (noun): Courage, resolve, and strength of character; the blend of perseverance and passion that pushes someone to chase long-term goals despite setbacks. Example: the grit to finish a marathon. Grit also refers to sand or similar small, abrasive particles used for grinding. Grit is also a measure of the fineness of the grit, like 200 grit, 1000 grit.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Grit

• IPA: /ɡrɪt/ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: GRIT

📰 Examples of Grit

Here are some examples of the word grit:

• Zenencia’s grit got her through four grueling years of medical school while she worked exactly four hours a week as an MCAT tutor.

• The 1969 Western True Grit earned John Wayne (born Marion Robert Morrison) his only Academy Award, with the title referring to the characters’ grit in tracking down a criminal.

• On grit: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” — Thomas A. Edison (commonly attributed; year uncertain)

• “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.” — Angela Duckworth

🗣️ Common Collocations of Grit

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• true grit

• sheer grit

• grit and determination

• to show grit

• grit and resilience

Quiz answer: C, perseverance.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

If two more things are disparate, then there’s some kind of significant gap between them. Disparate tastes in food could refer, for example, to one person liking savory food like roasted meats, another person preferring kale salad and tempeh, and still another who just wants candy.

📚️ Definition of Disparate

Disparate (adjective): Fundamentally different or distinct in kind; so unlike that the things being compared seem to have nothing in common. Example: disparate sources of income.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Disparate

• IPA: /ˈdɪs.pər.ət/ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: DIS-puhr-it

📰 Examples of Disparate

Here are some examples of the word disparate:

• Since our class had such disparate interests, we couldn’t reach a decision about which book to read together.

• During the weekly meeting of the Badminton Club, the board members struggled to reconcile the disparate interests of the players, who wanted more tournaments; the coaches, who wanted the players to do more drills; and the school admin, who wanted the club to do more fundraising.

• That smartphone you’ve got in your pocket is a modern supercomputer that unites once-disparate gadgets and software apps—a camera, a compass, a calculator, a telephone, a communicator, a gaming device, and much more.

• My friend group thinks we have disparate tastes in music, but in truth, 80% of us are listening to a similar cluster of “cursive singing,” K-pop, and Taylor Swift.

🗣️ Common Collocations of Disparate

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• disparate elements

• disparate groups

• disparate sources

• widely disparate

• seemingly disparate

Quiz answer: D, dissimilar.

Thanks again for learning! Tomorrow, we’ll learn the word that Angela Duckworth made more popular.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list

Verdure is a noun that refers to a lot of lush green plants all together. Think of dense green plants with large green leaves, lots of grass, and so on.

📚️ Definition of Verdure

Verdure (noun): The fresh greenness of lush, flourishing vegetation; green plant growth considered collectively. Example: the verdure of the hills in the spring.

🗣️ Pronunciation of Verdure

• IPA: /ˈvɜːr.dʒər/ (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: VUR-jur

📰 Examples of Verdure

Here are some examples of the word verdure:

• When I think of a rain forest, I think of verdure. And vice versa.

• The previously-brown hillsides in Marin County were covered with verdure as summer approached.

• Though I was initially excited to live in the dorms my first year of college, by December I had become so tired of the dreary gray cinderblocks that I bought a dozen potted plants for my room just to get a little verdure into my life.

• “Spring advanced rapidly; the weather became fine and the skies cloudless. It surprised me that what before was desert and gloomy should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure.” — Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)

🗣️ Common Collocations of Verdure

A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.

• lush verdure

• spring verdure

• rich verdure

• tender verdure

• the verdure of the countryside

Quiz answer: A, greenery.

🧠 Quiz on VERDURE + Recent Words

This short question relies on your knowledge of today’s new word and your memory of the recent words inane, intrepid, terse, and nefarious.

Choose the best answer below:

Come back tomorrow; we’ll learn the adjective disparate.

🚀 Learn more!

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list