200+Difficult SAT Words With Their Meaning

The Scholastic Assessment Test, commonly known as the SAT, is a critical step for students aspiring to study in the United States. Administered by the College Board, this standardized test evaluates a student’s readiness for college. A significant portion of the SAT assesses reading and writing skills, making a robust vocabulary essential for success.

In this article, we delve into the challenges of SAT vocabulary and provide valuable resources and tips to help you excel in this aspect of the exam.

Why is Studying SAT Vocabulary So Challenging?

The SAT presents a unique set of challenges for students, particularly in the realm of vocabulary. Unlike conventional tests, the SAT requires not only a strong grasp of English comprehension but also a nuanced understanding of specialized vocabulary. Test-takers must navigate through passages covering a wide range of topics, from economics to literature, law, culture, and science.

Many students find the vocabulary section daunting due to the inclusion of complex words that may be unfamiliar to them. The SAT often incorporates terms that are rare or archaic, further complicating the preparation process. For international students, especially those whose native language differs significantly from English, mastering SAT vocabulary can be particularly challenging.

100 Difficult SAT Words with Meanings

To assist you in your SAT preparation, we’ve compiled a list of 100 challenging SAT words along with their meanings. This curated selection encompasses a diverse range of vocabulary themes commonly found on the exam:

1. Abject: of the most contemptible kind
2. Aberration: a state or condition markedly different from the norm
3. Abjure: formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief
4. Abnegation: the denial and rejection of a doctrine or belief
5. Abrogate: revoke formally
6. Abscond: run away, often taking something or somebody along
7. Abstruse: difficult to understand
8. Accede: yield to another’s wish or opinion
9. Accost: approach and speak to someone aggressively or insistently
10. Accretion: an increase by natural growth or addition
11. Acumen: shrewdness shown by keen insight
12. Adamant: insistent; unwilling to change one’s mind or opinion
13. Admonish: scold or reprimand; take to task
14. Adumbrate: describe roughly or give the main points or summary of
15. Adverse: in an opposing direction
16. Advocate: a person who pleads for a person, cause, or idea
17. Affluent: having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value
18. Aggrandize: embellish; increase the scope, power, or importance of
19. Alacrity: liveliness and eagerness
20. Alias: a name that has been assumed temporarily
21. Ambivalent: uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow
22. Amenable: disposed or willing to comply
23. Amorphous: having no definite form or distinct shape
24. Anachronistic: chronologically misplaced
25. Anathema: a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by ex-communication
26. Annex: attach to
27. Antediluvian: of or relating to the period before the biblical flood
28. Antiseptic: thoroughly clean and free of disease-causing organisms
29. Apathetic: showing little or no emotion or animation
30. Antithesis: the exact opposite
31. Apocryphal: being of questionable authenticity
32. Approbation: official acceptance or agreement
33. Arbitrary: based on or subject to individual discretion or preference
34. Arboreal: of or relating to or formed by trees
35. Arcane: requiring secret or mysterious knowledge
36. Archetypal: of an original pattern on which other things are modelled
37. Arrogate: seize and take control without authority
38. Ascetic: someone who practises self-denial as a spiritual discipline
39. Aspersion: a disparaging remark
40. Assiduous: marked by care and persistent effort
41. Atrophy: a decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse
42. Bane: something causing misery or death
43. Bashful: self-consciously timid
44. Beguile: influence by slyness
45. Bereft: lacking or deprived of something
46. Blandishment: flattery intended to persuade
47. Bilk: cheat somebody out of what is due, especially money
48. Bombastic: ostentatiously lofty in style
49. Cajole: influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
50. Callous: emotionally hardened
51. Calumny: a false accusation of an offence
52. Camaraderie: the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability
53. Candour: the quality of being honest and straightforward
54. Capitulate: surrender under agreed conditions
55. Carouse: engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking
56. Carp: any of various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae
57. Caucus: meet to select a candidate or promote a policy
58. Cavort: play boisterously
59. Circumlocution: an indirect way of expressing something
60. Circumscribe: draw a geometric figure around another figure
61. Circumvent: surround so as to force to give up
62. Clamour: utter or proclaim insistently and noisily
63. Cleave: separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
64. Cobbler: a person who makes or repairs shoes
65. Cogent: powerfully persuasive
66. Cognizant: having or showing knowledge or understanding or realisation
67. commensurate: corresponding in size or degree or extent
68. Complement: something added to embellish or make perfect
69. Compunction: a feeling of deep regret, usually for some misdeed
70. Concomitant: following or accompanying as a consequence
71. Conduit: a passage through which water or electric wires can pass
72. Conflagration: a very intense and uncontrolled fire
73. Congruity: the quality of agreeing; being suitable and appropriate
74. Connive: form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner
75. Consign: give over to another for care or safekeeping
76. Constituent: one of the individual parts making up a composite entity
77. Construe: make sense of; assign a meaning to
78. Contusion: an injury in which the skin is not broken
79. Contrite: feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offences
80. Contentious: showing an inclination to disagree
81. Contravene: go against, as of rules and laws
82. Convivial: occupied with or fond of the pleasures of good company
83. Corpulence: the property of excessive fatness
84. Covet: wish, long, or crave for
85. Cupidity: extreme greed for material wealth
86. Dearth: an insufficient quantity or number
87. Debacle: a sudden and complete disaster
88. Debauch: a wild gathering involving excessive drinking
89. Debunk: expose while ridiculing
90. Defunct: no longer in force or use; inactive
91. Demagogue: a leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions
92. Denigrate: attack the good name and reputation of someone
93. Derivative: a compound obtained from another compound
94. Despot: a cruel and oppressive dictator
95. Diaphanous: so thin as to transmit light
96. Didactic: instructive, especially excessively
97. Dirge: a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
98. Disaffected: discontented as toward authority
99. Discomfit: cause to lose one’s composure
100. Disparate: fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind

150 Difficult SAT Words that will Elevate your SAT Preparation

Expanding upon the previous list, here are 150 additional SAT words designed to enhance your vocabulary prowess:

1. Dispel: cause to separate and go in different directions
2. Disrepute: the state of being held in low esteem
3. Divisive: causing or characterised by disagreement or disunity
4. Dogmatic: pertaining to a code of beliefs accepted as authoritative
5. Dour: showing a brooding ill humour
6. Duplicity: the act of deceiving or acting in bad faith
7. Duress: compulsory force or threat
8. Eclectic: selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas
9. Edict: a formal or authoritative proclamation
10. Ebullient: joyously unrestrained
11. Egregious: conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
12. Elegy: a mournful poem; a lament for the dead
13. Elicit: call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
14. Embezzlement: the fraudulent appropriation of funds or property
15. Emend: make corrections to
16. Emollient: a substance with a soothing effect when applied to the skin
17. Empirical: derived from experiment and observation rather than theory
18. Emulate: strive to equal or match, especially by imitating
19. Enervate: weaken physically, mentally, or morally
20. Enfranchise: grant freedom to, as from slavery or servitude
21. Engender: call forth
22. Ephemeral: anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day
23. Epistolary: written in the form of letters or correspondence
24. Equanimity: steadiness of mind under stress
25. Equivocal: open to two or more interpretations
26. Espouse: choose and follow a theory, idea, policy, etc.
27. Evanescent: short-lived; tending to vanish or disappear
28. Evince: give expression to
29. Exacerbate: make worse
30. Exhort: spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts
31. Execrable: unequivocally detestable
32. Exigent: demanding immediate attention
33. Expedient: appropriate to a purpose
34. Expunge: remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line
35. Extraneous: not belonging to that in which it is contained
36. Extol: praise, glorify, or honour
37. Extant: still in existence; not extinct or destroyed or lost
38. Expurgate: edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
39. Fallacious: containing or based on incorrect reasoning
40. Fatuous: devoid of intelligence
41. Fetter: a shackle for the ankles or feet
42. Flagrant: conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
43. Foil: hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire
44. Foment: instigate or stir up
45. Forbearance: good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence
46. Fortuitous: lucky; occurring by happy chance
47. Fractious: easily irritated or annoyed
48. Garrulous: full of trivial conversation
49. Gourmand: a person who is devoted to eating and drinking to excess
50. Grandiloquent: lofty in style
51. Gratuitous: unnecessary and unwarranted
52. Hapless: unfortunate and deserving pity
53. Hegemony: the dominance or leadership of one social group over others
54. Heterogenous: consisting of elements that are not of the same kind
55. Iconoclast: someone who attacks cherished ideas or institutions
56. Idiosyncratic: peculiar to the individual
57. Impecunious: not having enough money to pay for necessities
58. Impetuous: characterized by undue haste and lack of thought
59. Impinge: infringe upon
60. Impute: attribute or credit to
61. Inane: devoid of intelligence
62. Inchoate: only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
63. Incontrovertible: impossible to deny or disprove
64. Incumbent: necessary as a duty or responsibility; morally binding
65. Inexorable: impossible to prevent, resist, or stop
66. Inimical: tending to obstruct or cause harm
67. Injunction: a judicial remedy to prohibit a party from doing something
68. Inoculate: inject or treat with the germ of a disease to render immune
69. Insidious: working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
70. Instigate: provoke or stir up
71. Insurgent: in opposition to a civil authority or government
72. Interlocutor: a person who takes part in a conversation
73. Intimation: a slight suggestion or vague understanding
74. Inure: cause to accept or become hardened to
75. Invective: abusive language used to express blame or censure
76. Intransigent: impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
77. Inveterate: habitual
78. Irreverence: a mental attitude showing lack of due respect
79. Knell: the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death
80. Laconic: brief and to the point
81. Largesse: liberality in bestowing gifts
82. Legerdemain: an illusory feat
83. Libertarian: an advocate of freedom of thought and speech
84. Licentious: lacking moral discipline
85. Linchpin: a central cohesive source of support and stability
86. Litigant: a party to a lawsuit
87. Maelstrom: a powerful circular current of water
88. Maudlin: effusively or insincerely emotional
89. Maverick: someone who exhibits independence in thought and action
90. Mawkish: effusively or insincerely emotional
91. Maxim: a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits
92. Mendacious: given to lying
93. Modicum: a small or moderate or token amount
94. Morass: a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
95. Mores: the conventions embodying the fundamental values of a group
96. Munificent: very generous
97. Multifarious: having many aspects
98. Nadir: the lowest point of anything
99. Negligent: characterised by undue lack of attention or concern
100. Neophyte: any new participant in some activity
101. Noisome: offensively malodorous
102. Noxious: injurious to physical or mental health
103. Obdurate: stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing
104. Obfuscate: make obscure or unclear
105. Obstreperous: noisily and stubbornly defiant
106. Officious: intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner
107. Onerous: burdensome or difficult to endure
108. Ostensible: appearing as such but not necessarily so
109. Ostracism: the act of excluding someone from society by general consent
110. Palliate: lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
111. Panacea: hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases
112. Paradigm: a standard or typical example
113. Pariah: a person who is rejected from society or home
114. Partisan: a fervent and even militant proponent of something
115. Paucity: an insufficient quantity or number
116. Pejorative: expressing disapproval
117. Pellucid: transparently clear; easily understandable
118. Penchant: a strong liking or preference
119. Penurious: excessively unwilling to spend
120. Pert: characterised by a lightly saucy or impudent quality
121. Pernicious: exceedingly harmful
122. Pertinacious: stubbornly unyielding
123. Phlegmatic: showing little emotion
124. Philanthropic: of or relating to charitable giving
125. Pithy: concise and full of meaning
126. Platitude: a trite or obvious remark
127. Plaudit: enthusiastic approval
128. Plenitude: a full supply
129. Plethora: extreme excess
130. Portent: a sign of something about to happen
131. Potentate: a powerful ruler, especially one who is unconstrained by law
132. Preclude: make impossible, especially beforehand
133. Predilection: a predisposition in favour of something
134. Preponderance: exceeding in heaviness; having greater weight
135. Presage: a foreboding about what is about to happen
136. Probity: complete and confirmed integrity
137. Proclivity: a natural inclination
138. Profligate: unrestrained by convention or morality
139. Promulgate: state or announce
140. Proscribe: command against
141. Protean: taking on different forms
142. Prurient: characterised by lust
143. Puerile: displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity
144. Pugnacious: ready and able to resort to force or violence
145. Pulchritude: physical beauty, especially of a woman
146. Punctilious: marked by precise accordance with details
147. Quaint: attractively old-fashioned
148. Quixotic: not sensible about practical matters
149. Quandary: state of uncertainty in a choice between unfavourable options
150. Recalcitrant: stubbornly resistant to authority or control

50 Difficult SAT Words for Your SAT Preparation

Another list of 50 difficult words for your SAT preparation:

1. Redoubtable: inspiring fear
2. Relegate: assign to a lower position
3. Remiss: failing in what duty requires
4. Reprieve: postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal
5. Reprobate: a person without moral scruples
6. Rescind: cancel officially
7. Requisition: an authoritative demand
8. Rife: excessively abundant
9. Sanctimonious: excessively or hypocritically pious
10. Sanguine: confidently optimistic and cheerful
11. Scurrilous: expressing offensive, insulting, or scandalous criticism
12. Semaphore: an apparatus for visual signalling
13. Serendipity: good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries
14. Sobriety: the state of being unaffected or not intoxicated by alcohol
15. Solicitous: full of anxiety and concern
16. Solipsism: the philosophical theory that the self is all that exists
17. Spurious: plausible but false
18. Staid: characterised by dignity and propriety
19. Stolid: having or revealing little emotion or sensibility
20. Subjugate: make subservient; force to submit or subdue
21. Surfeit: indulge (one’s appetite) to satiety
22. Surreptitious: marked by quiet and caution and secrecy
23. Swarthy: naturally having the skin of a dark colour
24. Tangential: of superficial relevance, if any
25. Tirade: a speech of violent denunciation
26. Tome: a large and scholarly book
27. Toady: a person who tries to please someone to gain an advantage
28. Torpid: in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation
29. Travesty: a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style
30. Trenchant: having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought
31. Trite: repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
32. Truculent: defiantly aggressive
33. Turpitude: a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice
34. Ubiquitous: being present everywhere at once
35. Umbrage: a feeling of anger caused by being offended
36. Upbraid: express criticism towards
37. Utilitarian: having a useful function
38. Veracity: unwillingness to tell lies
39. Vestige: an indication that something has been present
40. Vicissitude: a variation in circumstances or fortune
41. Vilify: spread negative information about
42. Virtuoso: someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
43. Vitriolic: harsh, bitter, or malicious in tone
44. Vituperate: spread negative information about
45. Vociferous: conspicuously and offensively loud
46. Wanton: a lewd or immoral person
47. Wily: marked by skill in deception
48. Winsome: charming in a childlike or naive way
49. Yoke: join with stable gear, as two draft animals
50. Zephyr: a slight wind

Tips to Improve your SAT Vocabulary

Building a robust vocabulary is a gradual process that requires dedication and practice. Here are some effective strategies to enhance your SAT vocabulary:

• Read Widely: Engage with a variety of texts, including novels, newspapers, and academic articles. Reading exposes you to new words in context, making it easier to understand and remember them.
• Utilize a Dictionary: Whenever you encounter unfamiliar words, make it a habit to look them up in a dictionary. Understanding the definitions and usage of words will deepen your comprehension and retention.
• Practice Writing: Incorporate SAT words into your writing exercises. Formulating sentences and paragraphs using new vocabulary reinforces your understanding and application of words.
• Flashcards: Create flashcards with SAT words on one side and their definitions on the other. Reviewing flashcards regularly helps reinforce memorization.
• Consistency is Key: Dedicate consistent time to vocabulary study each day. Set aside specific study sessions focused solely on expanding your vocabulary.

Conclusion

Mastering SAT vocabulary is a crucial aspect of achieving success on the exam. By familiarizing yourself with a wide range of words, practicing consistently, and utilizing effective study techniques, you can enhance your vocabulary skills and boost your overall SAT performance.

Remember, patience and perseverance are key as you work towards your academic goals. With diligence and strategic preparation, you can conquer the SAT and take the first step towards realizing your educational aspirations.

Difficult SAT Words- FAQs

Why is SAT vocabulary so important?

SAT vocabulary is crucial because it directly impacts your performance on the exam’s reading and writing sections. A strong vocabulary enhances your ability to comprehend complex passages and effectively convey ideas in your essays, thereby improving your overall SAT score.

How can I effectively memorize SAT words?

To memorize SAT words effectively, try using mnemonic devices, creating flashcards, and incorporating new words into your daily vocabulary. Additionally, practice active recall by regularly reviewing words in different contexts to reinforce retention.

Are there specific strategies for tackling SAT vocabulary questions?

Yes, several strategies can help you tackle SAT vocabulary questions, such as using context clues, eliminating answer choices based on word parts (prefixes, suffixes), and identifying the tone or attitude conveyed by the word in the given passage.

What resources are available to help me improve my SAT vocabulary?

There are numerous resources available, including SAT vocabulary books, online flashcards, mobile apps, and practice tests. Additionally, reading extensively and engaging with a variety of texts can significantly enhance your vocabulary skills.

How much time should I dedicate to studying SAT vocabulary?

The amount of time you dedicate to studying SAT vocabulary depends on your current skill level and learning pace. However, consistency is key. Aim to allocate regular study sessions throughout your SAT preparation period, focusing on gradually expanding your vocabulary repertoire.