Up Your Score (20 page)

sluggishness; indifference

Are you overcome by
lethargy
from all this studying? Well, it’s time to wake up, so:

STOP STUDYING!

1. Go to the nearest store.

2. Buy four cups of coffee and a six-pack of 5-Hour Energy Shots.

3. Rapidly consume everything you just bought.

4. Go back to work (and relax!).

indecent; obscene

It is
rude

To be
lewd
.

immoral; morally wild or sexually unrestrained

“I’ve got my driver’s
license
,” Terry proudly exclaimed. “Now we can be
licentious
in the back seat of my car.”

pertaining to or resembling a slug

This word won’t be on the test, but it’s a useful insult.

graceful; supple; limber; moving
light
ly

When the
lithe
dancers at the ballet studio spread rumors that the lisping prima ballerina was getting fat, she responded, “
Lithe
,
lithe
, they’re all
lithe
!”

to hate

Note:
The last four letters of
loathe
can be reorganized to spell
hate.

“Pick up some bread at the store, okay?” she asked.

“No, I’ll buy tortillas,” he replied. “You know I
loathe loaves
!”

hard, scholarly studying (see
COGITATE
)

Readers of this book won’t have to do any
lucubration
.

mournful or sad

When Lou the undertaker’s friends died, he was too
lugubrious
to bury them. Finally, they got so tired of waiting to be buried that they came back to life and said, “
Lou, go bury us
.”

With such words in this list as
lewd
,
licentious
, and
lecherous
, you’re probably looking forward to a great story. Well, you won’t find one here, but not because we were too
lackadaisical
or
languid
. We actually did write a pretty
lascivious
one, but instead of
lauding
it, the editor
loathed
it. After she read it, she
lithely
lambasted
us with
lethal
cans of lima beans (we suspect they were obtained through
larceny
),
lacerating
our ligaments. This made us a bit
lugubrious
, but we were willing to
lucubrate
some more and come up with a new story. But when she
laconically
called us “
limacine
idiots,” we left, suddenly overcome by our
latent
lethargy
,
languor
, and
lassitude
. And so, in protest, we didn’t do an L story. Humblest apologies. We hope you’ll forgive us.

gross; ghastly; suggestive of horrible death and decay

Note:
You will always find this word on the back covers of worthless horror novels.

“This
macabre
story is about a psychotic farmer who chokes people with corn on the
cob
.”

noble; generous; forgiving;
magni
ficently kind

The
magnanimous
king allowed the prisoner to live on one condition: that he take the SAT every day for the rest of his life. The prisoner chose death.

The root “mal-” means “bad.” The next few words all begin with “mal-”:

a feeling of illness or depression

After I ate the jar of
ma
yonn
aise
, I had a feeling of
malaise
that made
me laz
y.

a spoken curse

The male chauvinist’s remarks earned him a
malediction
from the feminists.

wishing evil on others;
MALICIOUS
(the opposite of
BENE VOLENT
)

All year I am
malevolent
. But I repent for
my life during Lent
.

the desire to do bad to others; spite

the desire to do bad to others; spite having
malice

The Queen of Hearts felt
malice
toward Alice.

to say bad things about; slander

He
maligned
me by saying that I couldn’t remember
my line
s.

a malevolent and malicious act (also, a malignant tumor)

In an act of extreme
malignancy
, the bully was trying to break my leg. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. I said to him, “Get off
my leg’n see
who’s at the door.”

smelling bad; having a bad odor

The air in the testing center will be
malodorous
.

a skillful or clever move

The captain used a tricky sailing
maneuver
to rescue the
man over
board. The man thanked him, “
Man, you ver
y clever.”

near the sea; concerned with shipping or navigation

We had a
merry time
when we vacationed in a
maritime
resort.

Mnemonic time again: You’re out at sea on the U.S.S.
Maritime
. The crusty old captain, whose facial hair is in the shape of the word
maritime,
orders you to swab the deck. In only two days you will reach the
maritime
resort, where you will party until you pass out on the beach, your body leaving the
word
maritime
imprinted in the sand. You will wake to the lulling sound of the waves, “
Maritime, maritime
. . .”

to wander around aimlessly

Me and her
meandered
down the path.

sadness; depression; pensiveness

When he finds out that she can’t elope, he’ll be
melancholy
.

sweet sounding; flowing with honey or sweetness

Mel is fluent
in the
mellifluous
lines of
Hamlet
.

untruthful; lying

Men who say they don’t fear commitment are probably being
mendacious
.

(n.) a beggar

(adj.) practicing begging

Men dat can’t
get jobs often become
mendicants.

The bum lived a
mendicant
existence.

extremely careful and precise

He was so
meticulous
that he used the
metric
system to measure the diameter of his navel lint.

a poisonous atmosphere or cloud (often in swamps)

Deep in the swamp, Eugene cried, “This
miasma
is bad for
my asthma
.”

very tiny

Minuscule
students go to
minischools
.

an inappropriate or wrong name

“My name is Mrs. Troller!” screamed the teacher. “To call me
Miss
Gnomer
is a
misnomer
!”

to make less severe

The robber’s escape was foiled when he was
met
at
the gate
by cops. His sentence was
mitigated
, however, when he offered the cops donuts.

little bit

When Barbra Streisand was just a child, she began to show a
modicum
of talent, and instead of calling her mother, she would sing “
Muduh
,
come!
”

always at the same pitch; boring; repetitious

This word is easy if you break it up into its parts:

The concerto played on the one-keyed piano was
monotonous
.

low, deep sound made by a cow

In a low, deep voice the cow said, “
Moo
.”

bitingly sarcastic or nasty

She
mordantly
told him that he needed
more denta
l adhesive.

sullen; depressed

If you love learning vocabulary words, you will be
morose
when you get to the word
overt
because after it there are no
more Os
.

many; a lot; a very large amount

Mary had
only one little lamb, not
myriad
lambs.