Up Your Score (26 page)

to call forth; to call together

The king
summoned
his advisor. When his advisor’s footsteps could be heard in the hall, the king’s submissive assistant exclaimed, “
Some
one’s c
omin
’.”

Following are four superior words beginning with “super-.”

haughty; conceited; disdainful

The
supercilious
person said, “I am perfect, but you are a
super silly as
s.”

beyond what’s necessary; extra

Super
man once
flew us
home without his cape. This suggests that his cape is just a
superfluous
item and not something he needs in order to fly.

most; of the highest order; surpassing all others

We’re going to be
super late if
the car breaks down, and Mom is going to be
superlatively
pissed off.

to take the place of

After Farmer Clark planted the new tomato
super seed
, it completely
superseded
the regular seeds.

done clandestinely (secretly) or by stealth

Afraid that the public might see, Daniel stroked the cow’s udder
surreptitiously
.

small secretory gland in the skin that excretes water and body salts

Are you awake?

to cheat or defraud

This airplane doesn’t really work, but thi
s wind’ll
keep it up in the air long enough for me to
swindle
the customer into buying it.

servile person who follows and flatters another person in the hope of winning favor

After the concert, Miley Cyrus was surrounded by
sycophants
. Suddenly she screamed, “I’m
sick of fans
. You guys are crazy. You’re nothing more than a bunch of
psycho fans
.”

not real; man-made; fabricated

“
Synthetic
fabric is one thing—I like my polyester and rayon gowns,” cried Cruella De Vil, wrapping her white coat with black dots around her. “But
synthetic
Dalmatian fur? Never!”

My
sweat glands
were working overtime in the
stagnant
air of the courtroom as I
stolidly
continued my unscrupulous questioning of the
sinister
defendant on trial for
sedition
(related to the
surreptitious
taking away of
suffrage
). Although he remained
steadfast
in proclaiming his innocence, the jury was obviously
skeptical
. When I
superseded
him on the courtroom
floor, it was clear that the other lawyer’s points were
soporific
compared to my
superlative
arguments. His
scanty
arguments were
sparsely
filled with
synthetic
-sounding facts and his words
stagnated
as he spoke. He was an obvious
sycophant
, but the judge just sat
somberly
in the shadows,
servile
. I was confident. All further speech was
superfluous
. I know you’ll think me
shiftless
, but I thought I could afford to be
slothful
and not
summon
any more witnesses. So,
superciliously
, I said, “The State rests, Your Honor.” I ran out to lunch, and the jury was
sequestered
.

Two hours later the jury was
summoned
, and I waited, drooling
salaciously
, expecting the
succulent
word “guilty.” So I was surprised when I heard the word “not” as well. “I’ve been
subverted
and
swindled
!” I yelled. Then the bailiff hit me over the head and I
submissively
accepted a
sedative
.

Now I cultivate
sanguine
stinkhorns
and lead a much quieter,
static
life.

The SAT would not refer to the four-legged household object. Rather, the SAT definition would be
to remove from consideration.

The legislature
tabled
the amendment that would have made everyone eat their vege
table
s.

untalkative; uncommunicative

The normally chatty billionaire was
taciturn
when the IRS asked what his
assets earn
.

skill in dealing with people in difficult situations (think: good social
tact
ics)

When at a funeral, it is not
tact
ful to say, “Darn, she owed me money.”

existing materially; palpable; able to be touched

Compare with in
tangible
: Love, fear, and hope are in
tangible
.
Tang
erines, antelopes, and pencils are
tangible
.

boring; tiresome; trivial

The other team scored so many touchdowns that it became
tedious
to watch them
TD us
.

recklessness; wild craziness; lack of regard for danger

“Boromir’s
temerity
in facing the Orcs was nothing compared to ours facing the ETS,” boasted the brash review-book authors.

the quality of being
temperate

showing self-restraint by not doing things to excess; moderate

She was
temperate
: She rarely lost her
temper
and never
ate
too much.

stormy; turbulent; like a
tempest
(violent windstorm)

When we lose our
temp
ers,
eschew us
because we behave
tempestuously
. (If you’ve forgotten what
eschew
means, we “
sugg-eschew
” go look it up.)

persistence; tending to hold on firmly

The student took
ten SATs
with
tenacity
until she got a perfect score. It took her so many tries because she hadn’t read
Up Your Score
.

principle or doctrine

The Ten Commandments are
ten et
ernal
tenets
.

lukewarm; somewhat warm

(Did you ever try the one where you put a sleeping person’s hand in
tepid
water and . . .)

Tom’s tea was
tepid
, so he nuked it in the microwave.

of the earth

Often when I gaze celestial,

I forget all things
terrestrial
.

Problem is, when I look at space,

I always fall flat on my face.

concise; free of superfluous words

This
verse
is
terse
.

to prevent from taking place; challenge

“We must
thwart
the wart
,” the dermatologist decided.

long and vehement speech

The dean gave the sorority girls a
tirade
for responding to the fraternity’s panty raid with a
tie raid
.

parched by the sun; hot; burning

I plan
to rid
myself of this
torrid
climate by moving to Alaska.

passionate

Soap opera previews always talk about “
torrid
love affairs.”

betrayal of trust; traitorousness

When
Treach
left his rap group Naughty by Nature to embark on a solo career, the group called him
treacherous
.

fear; state of anxiety or fear that makes you
tre
mble

We couldn’t think of a good sentence so we made up a bunch of bogus words:

prepidation—fear of clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch

strepidation—fear of getting a sore throat

stripidation—fear of taking off your clothes

trapidation—fear of getting stuck

tripidation—fear of vacations, stumbling, and drugs

troopidation—fear of getting drafted or of watching
Flags of Our Fathers

This should be enough to remind you that
trepidation
means “fear.”

gift expressing gratitude or respect

Elton John’s
tribute
to Princess Diana at her funeral was described by French critics as “
très beauti
ful.”

fear of the number 13

If you have
triskaidekaphobia
, you’ll always skip questions numbered 13 on the SAT. (This word won’t be on the test, but you should use it as much as possible.)

to shorten by chopping off the end

The elephant’s
trunk
was
truncated
when his friend
ate
his
trunk
.

being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time; omnipresent

The Evil Testing Serpent is
ubiquitous
. He tortures students all over the nation at the same time.

Take five yellow Post-It notes and write
ubiquitous
on each one. Then stick them all over your house. The stickers will then be
ubiquitous
.

There are a lot of SAT words that start with “un-.” However, since “un-” usually means “not,” most of these words just mean the opposite of what they mean without the “un-.” For example: unabashed = not abashed.

However, some “un-” words aren’t direct opposites. Others aren’t even words without the “un-” (for example,
uncle
).

not pretentious; modest

Although they were rich enough to pay off the federal deficit, they were
unassuming
and lived in a tent.

This word doesn’t mean
not aware
; it means
by surprise; unexpectedly
(
Note:
it’s an adverb); compare
UNWITTING
.

We came up behind him
unawares
and saw him in his
un
d
erwear
.

crude; unrefined; awkward (think: uncool)