SAT/ACT Vocabulary List for 08/13/2010

Here is today's word list:

• academy (n.): Any institution where the higher branches of learning are taught.
• affix (v.): To fasten.
• anatomy (n.): That branch of morphology which treats of the structure of organisms.
• arboriculture (n.): The cultivation of trees or shrubs.
• avarice (n.): Passion for getting and keeping riches.
• biography (n.): A written account of one's life, actions, and character.
• cadenza (n.): An embellishment or flourish, prepared or improvised, for a solo voice or instrument.
• circumnavigate (v.): To sail quite around.
• concerto (n.): A musical composition.;
• contingent (adj.): Not predictable.
• crevasse (n.): A deep crack or fissure in the ice of a glacier.
• deist (n.): One who believes in God, but denies supernatural revelation.;
• diabolic (adj.): Characteristic of the devil.
• dissatisfy (v.): To displease.
• earnest (adj.): Ardent in spirit and speech.
• endue (v.): To endow with some quality, gift, or grace, usually spiritual.
• exasperate (v.): To excite great anger in.;
• facial (adj.): Pertaining to the face.
• forebode (v.): To be an omen or warning sign of, especially of evil.
• gastric (adj.): Of, pertaining to, or near the stomach.
• harbinger (n.): One who or that which foreruns and announces the coming of any person or thing.
• idiosyncrasy (n.): A mental quality or habit peculiar to an individual.
• inactive (adj.): Inert.
• infamous (adj.): Publicly branded or notorious, as for vice, or crime.
• interact (v.): To act reciprocally.
• irreverent (adj.): Showing or expressing a deficiency of veneration, especially for sacred things.
• lea (n.): A field.
• luminary (n.): One of the heavenly bodies as a source of light.
• medallion (n.): A large medal.
• misuse (v.): To maltreat.
• necessity (n.): That which is indispensably requisite to an end desired.
• obsolescence (n.): The condition or process of gradually falling into disuse.
• outbreak (n.): A sudden and violent breaking forth, as of something that has been pent up or restrained.
• participant (n.): One having a share or part.
• perseverance (n.): A persistence in purpose and effort.
• plenary (adj.): Entire.
• preferment (n.): Preference.
• propaganda (n.): Any institution or systematic scheme for propagating a doctrine or system.
• quintet (n.): Musical composition arranged for five voices or instruments.
• refringency (n.): Power to refract.
• satirize (v.): To treat with sarcasm or derisive wit.
• significance (n.): Importance.
• steppe (n.): One of the extensive plains in Russia and Siberia.
• surreptitious (adj.): Clandestine.
• thoroughbred (adj.): Bred from the best or purest blood or stock.
• truism (n.): A statement so plainly true as hardly to require statement or proof.
• vacuous (adj.): Empty.
• vogue (n.): The prevalent way or fashion.

How To Master These Words

1. Create or buy a notebook. It can be named SAT/ACT Vocabulary Notebook or you can create your own name. You will be keeping your weekly words, definitions and assignments in this notebook.
2. Write the words and definitions in your vocabulary notebook.
3. Create your own sentence using each word and write this in your vocabulary notebook.
4. Make Flashcards - Write the word on one side of an index card and put the definition and a sentence on the opposite side. You can find ideas for making flashcards on the Internet by clicking on the link: Resources showing how to create your own flashcards.
5. Online Flashcard Game: Go to this site. lingro.com. Click on "wordlist" at the top of the page. Then click on "create new wordlist." Enter your word list for the week. When finished, click on "games" at the top of the page. Then click on "flashcards" and select your list. See if you can name the definition on each word before clicking on it to see the answer.
6. Use this dictionary link to check the pronounciation of each word. Type each word in the box on the left, then click the sound icon to listen.
7. Use TokBox to practice saying the words aloud. Register to get a free account. Click on "Send a Video Message." A box will open to set up your computer microphone and camera. Click "allow". Press the red "Record" button to begin. Press the "Stop" button when you are finished. Once you have practiced saying the words and recording it, send the video you created to your email account and listen to your video message. Send it to your parents' email account also to show them what you are learning.
8. Create your own crossword puzzle. Click on this link. Enter your words and your clues (definition), then click "Create Crossword Now." A new web page will appear. You can put a title on your puzzle if you wish, then click "Create Crossword." Print this out and complete the puzzle. Insert the completed work in your vocabulary notebook.