Learning new words and improving your vocabulary is the first step to developing better communication skills.
These skills will carry you forward in both your academic and professional careers.
That’s why there is a vocabulary section on the SAT exam. It’s important to learn these life skills.
100 Most Common SAT Word List
Here is a list of the most common SAT words that are often tested on the SAT vocabulary exam.
- Abandon – give up completely
- Abate – become less intense or widespread
- Abet – encourage or assist
- Accede – accent or agree to a demand
- Berate – scold or criticize
- Bovine – of or relating to cattle
- Braggart – a person who boasts about achievements
- Burnish – polish by rubbing
- Cache – a collection of similar items stored in a secret place
- Cacophony – harsh discordant mixture of sounds
- Catalyst – substance the increases the rate of chemical reaction
- Censorious – severely critical of others
- Dearth – scarcity or lack of something
- Demagogue – a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires rather than reason
- Diluvial – of or relating to a flood
- Dispassionate – not influenced by strong emotion
- Effluvia – an unpleasant or harmful odor
- Emulate – match or surpass
- Epochal – extremely significant
- Expound – explain or present
- Facile – appearing comprehensive by ignoring the complexities of the situation
- Fictive – created by imagination
- Flippant – not showing serious attitude
- Gauche – lacking grace
- Gregarious – outgoing or social
- Grotto – small cave or cave-like structure
- Hedonist – person who believes the pursuit of pleasure is the most important aspect of life
- Heretical – practicing religious heresy
- Hubris – excessive pride
- Hypocrite – a person who says one thing and does another
- Ignoble – not honorable in character
- Imbibe – drink alcohol
- Imperious – assuming power without justification
- Importunate – persistant
- Jettison – throw or drop for an airplane or ship
- Jocular – humorous or playful
- Junta – military group that rules after taking by force
- Kismet – destiny
- Lexicon – vocabulary of a person
- Licentious – immoral
- Limber – flexible
- Loquacious – talkative
- Malapropism – mistaken use of a word in place of a similar sounding word
- Malfeasance – wrongdoing
- Mawkish – sentimental in a sickening way
- Misnomer – wrong or inaccurate name in designation
- Modicum – small or minimal portion
- Mote – tiny piece of a substance
- Necromancy – practice of communicating with the dead
- Nihilism – rejection of religion
- Nomenclature – the choosing of names for things
- Novel – fictitious prose narrative
- Obfuscate – to confuse
- Olfactory – of or relating to the sense of smell
- Opprobrious – compressing scorn
- Ostracize – exclude from a society or group
- Palatial – resembling a palace
- Pandemic – disease prevalent over an entire country or multiple countries
- Paramount – more important than anything else
- Patrician – an aristocrat
- Polyglot – knowing or using several languages
- Prestidigitation – magic tricks performed for entertainment
- Provincial – of or concerning a province or country
- Rancor – bitterness or resentfulness
- Rarefy – to make or become more dense or solid
- recapitulate – summarize and state again the main points
- Refute – prove to be wrong or false
- Repose – a state of rest
- Resilient – able to withstand
- Revile – criticize in an abusive manner
- Rife – of common occurrence
- Sanctimonious – making a show of being morally superior
- Scrupulous – diligent attention to details
- Sedition – conduct or speech inciting people to rebel
- Sinecure – position requiring little or no work
- Stint – supply inadequate amount of something
- Sybarite – self indulgent person
- Tawdry – showy but cheap
- Tenacious – keep a firm hold on something
- Terse – sparing in use of words
- Tout – attempt to sell something by aggressively pestering
- Trounce – defeat heavily in a contest
- Tutelage – authority over someone or something
- Unconscionable – not right or reasonable
- Untoward – unexpected
- Usury – lending money at unlawful rates
- Vehemently – showing strong feeling
- Veritable – using as an intensifier
- Vilify – write or speak in an abusively disparaging way
- Vociferous – vehement
- Wan – pale with appearance of illness
- Wield – hold and use typically a weapon or tool
- Winsome – attractive appearance or character
- Wry – using dry or mocking humor
- Xenophobe – fear or dislike for people of different countries
- Yeoman – a man holding and cultivating a field
- Yen – Japanese monetary unit
- Yowl – loud waining cry
- Zenith – peak
- Zephyr – soft gentle breeze
