SAT Vocabulary for Juniors

Lesson Four

#1 Celibate: adj. abstaining from intercourse; unmarried

When training, many boxers remain celibate to focus their attention and energies on the forthcoming fight.

A celibate, like the fly in the heart of an apple, dwells in a perpetual sweetness, but sits alone, and is confined and dies in singularity.-Jeremy Taylor

#2 Fortuitous: adj. happening by chance or accidentsyn: accidental; unexpected / ant: premeditated; intentional

Fortuitous moments affect lives as certainly as planned actions.

Nothing fortuitous happens in a child's world. There are no accidents. Everything is connected with everything else and everything can be explained by everything else.... For a young child everything that happens is a necessity.-John Berger

#3 Recapitulate: v. to summarize; to repeat briefly

Arthur slept through class and hoped a friend would recapitulate the lecture accurately.

If a man would allot half an hour every night for self-conversation, and recapitulate with himself whatever he has done, right or wrong, in the course of the day, he would be both the better and the wiser for it.-Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, 4th Earl

#4 Perfunctory: adj. done without care; in a routine fashionsyn: indifferent; offhand / ant: diligent; attentive

He was a perfunctory friend but an attentive husband.

He got ready for school every day in a perfunctory manner and usually overlooked the fact that his socks were mismatched.

#5 Baroque: adj. overly decoratedsyn: ornate / ant: simple

With elaborate phrases and language, the author constructed a novel of baroque

proportions.

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is over. -Ernest Hemingway

#6 Hedonism: n. pursuit of pleasure, especially of the senses

Matt abandoned himself to a life of self-indulgent hedonism.

The philosophy of hedonism means little to lovers of pleasure. They have no inclination to read philosophy, or to write it. -Mason Cooley

#7 Obloquy: n. strong disapproval; a bad reputation resulting from public criticismsyn: censure; rebuke / ant: acclaim; praise

Escaped Nazi war criminals incurred so much obloquy that government agents

spent lifetimes hunting them down.

Many celebrities face obloquy after something scandalous occurs.

#8 Debacle: n. a complete failure; a total collapsesyn: calamity; catastrophe / ant: success; triumph

The peace talks became an utter debacle when an insult prompted General Reynolds to strike the opposing commander with a folding chair.

A major power can afford a military debacle only when it looks like a political victory. -Friedrich Dürrenmatt

#9 Quasi-:adj. resembling; seeming; half

Aimee functioned as a quasi-director in the amateur theater group.

The quasi-member of the choir was only able to make it to extra-curricular rehearsals since he was homeschooled.

#10 Besmirch: v. to make dirty; to stainsyn: soil; sully; smear / ant: cleanse

During a fight-club rumble, Sully fell into the gutter and besmirched his white

tuxedo.

The latest article about the new novel by the acclaimed author besmirched her reputation because the ideas were so radical.

#11 Imperative: adj. extremely necessary; vitally important

The squad leader’s rising voice conveyed an absolute, imperative urgency.

"I want it" is not a moral imperative.-Mason Cooley

#12 Sacrosanct: adj. extremely holysyn: divine; angelic

The magazine asserted that no topic or person would be sacrosanct or ruled out

as a subject for satire.

Families usually make their way to the church on the most sacrosanct days of the year.

#13 Sadistic: adj. deriving pleasure from inflicting pain on otherssyn: barbarous; perverse / ant: civilized; humane

The constitution exists, in part, to keep dictators or kings from performing sadistic acts against

citizens.

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting. -George Orwell

#14 Demeanor: n. behavior; manner of conducting oneselfsyn: deportment

Project a calm demeanor, and never let them see you sweat.

We imagine much more appropriately an artisan on his toilet seat or on his wife than a great president, venerable by his demeanor and his ability. It seems to us that they do not stoop from their lofty thrones even to live.-Michel de Montaigne

#15 Facetious: adj. comical; jocular; flippantsyn: joking; witty; jocose / ant: solemn; serious

With facetious intent, the professor asked the yawning student if he would like to

take a nap before the exam began.

Her friend took offense to her comment until he realized she was only being facetious.