abase

"I will not abase myself by going to a base with you on the first date," she said to Paul.

abash

Arthur was abashed at a bash when he drank too much and fell in the trash.

abate

Abigail's sister screamed, "Ab ate all the cookies!" Later, of course, her anger abated.

abominate

The terrorist abominated his enemy Nate so much that he put a bomb in Nate's boxer shorts.

abstruse

When Abraham Lincoln wrote a confusing peace agreement to end the Civil War, people commented that Ab's truce was abstruce.

accentuate

An accent mark accentuates a syllable.

While in New York, it was rude of you to accentuate the fact that Brooklyn people speak with an accent you hate.

acclivity

A cliff is an example of an acclivity.

accolade

When Coolio recieved an accolade for his acting, he just smiled and asked for a Kool-Aid.

accost

"That snack cost you $3.95!" the salesman said, accosting the customer who was about to leave without paying. 

adroit

C3PO is an adroit android.

adulate

"Brad, dual eight hundreds on your math and critical reading SATs? You're a god!" she adulated.

adulterate

Never trust an adult with your belly button lint collection. He will definitely adulterate it.

adumbrate

The economic indicators adumbrated that the price of gas would rise to a dumb rate.

adverse

"It's tough writing a national anthem during a British attack," complained Francis Scott Key. "The only light you have is the rockets' red glare. You have to add verses under adverse conditions."

hostile; opposed; unfavorable

(see AVERSE)

advocate

Advertisements advocate products.

aesthetic

As the tick was sucking blood from my arm I squashed it. The dead insect smeared on my arm was not aesthetically pleasing.

affected

His affected personality negatively affected our affection.

fake

(think: a-FAKE-ted)

affinity

There was a natural affinity between him and his new Infiniti.

affluent

A flu went around the affulent passengers of the yacht; their diamond tiaras and Rolexes sparkled when they sneezed.

affray

The frog was afraid to enter the affray.

agape

If you stand agape, there is a gap in your mouth.

aghast

We were aghast when he "passed gas."

horrified

(See EUPHEMISM. Passed gas is an example of a euphemish.)

agile

Age'll make you less agile.

alacrity

The empty auditorium was the result of a lack of alacrity among the sleep-deprived students.

alias

"Your real name was all I asked for; why did you give me an alias?" the reporter said to Jennifer Garner.

alimentary

When Watson asked, 'What's a ten-letter word meaning 'supplying nourishment'?" Sherlock replied, "Alimentary, my dear Watson."

allay

He allayed his parents' fears by getting all A's on his report card.

to soothe; to make more bearable

(See ALLEVIATE)

Note: This is one of a countless number of SAT words with this meaning.

alleged

It was alleged that he died by falling off a ledge.

alleviate

A leaf he ate failed to alleviate his hunger, even though it was a large leaf.

to make more bearable

(See APPEASE)

allusion

A lewd person alludes to salacious sexual endeavors (see SALACIOUS)

altercation

An altercation broke out when, at the altar, Kate said to her groom, "I don't."

amass

By publishing this book, we hope to amass a mass of perfect scores for our readers.

ambulatory

After he was run over by the ambulance, he was no longer ambulatory.

ameliorate

Amelia rated her love life as having been ameliorated since last year.

amity

There was amity between the students at M.I.T. and thier math professors.

amnesia

We forgot our sentence for this word because we have amnesia. (See, after this long wild night of vicious partying, combined with excessive exposure to the sun and long, exotic massages with nameless herbal oils. we became so fried that we lost our ability to recall things and to function normally in society and...what word are we on?)

amok

The schmuck in the muck got stuck, ran amok, and guess what word he screamed? (Answer: Shucks.)

amorphous

If you take too much morphine, you'll feel like an amorphous blob.

shapeless

Note: This word is decodable if you know all the pieces.

anthropoid

C3PO is an anthropoid droid. SAT proctors tr to appear as anthropoid as possible, but we know better.

antipathy

By this time you should be developing a strong antipathy to studying these words and their ridiculous definitions. Take a break. Put the book down , get a soda, or drink a bottle of Vitamin Water. Then return to your work refreshed and ready to continue.

hatred; aversion; dislike

Note: This word is also decodable.

apathy

It's a pathetic thing to be apathetic.

"They found the cure for apathy, but no one showed any interest in it." - George Carlin

indifference; lack of interest

Note: Another decodable word.

apex

The ape excercised by jumping off the apex of the monkey house in the zoo.

tip; peak; summit; way up there

Note: This word is likely to be found in the analogy section. Its opposites are words such as nadir and bottom.

appease

He appeased his parents by eating a piece of slimy okra.

to soothe; placate

(think: apeace)

(see ASSUAGE)

arbitrary

If a college rejects you, its admissions process must be arbitrary.

ardor

With ardor she moaned, "You don't have to be so gentle - ardor, ardor."

askew

Dont tell us our type is askew. Did we ask you?

assuage

Buying a suede fringed jacket might assuage Donna's compulsive desire to shop.

astute

A student must be astute to outwit the Evil Testing Serpent.

attribute

In her article on Pamela Anderson, the mean-spirited reporter attributed the actress's most prominent attribute to plastic surgery.

(n.) a characterisitc, usually a good one

(v.) to explain by indicating a cause

atypical

Michael Jackson's face, voice, clothing, and habits are atypical for an earthling.

audacity

Their audacity was evident when they published their odd SAT book.

august

When Cleopatra saw Augustus in all his finery, she said, "Aw Gus, you look august."

austerity

His austerity is actually a rarity; severity is his specialty.

averse

I was averse to writing a verse, so at the teacher I did curse, and put mounds of coleslaw in her purse. My verse started well but then got worse as I ran out of things that rhymed with -erse.

avuncular

This word does not deserve a sentence because only your avuncular Uncle Herbert would ever use it.

awry

"Waiter, there is something awry in my bread," she complained. "That thing?" he replied. "Why, that's just a rye seed."