SAT/ACT Vocabulary List for 08/29/2010

Here is today's word list:

• accost (v.): To speak to.
• aghast (adj.): Struck with terror and amazement.
• animate (v.): To make alive.
• armful (n.): As much as can be held in the arm or arms.
• badger (v.): To pester.
• bodice (n.): A women's ornamental corset-shaped laced waist.
• Canaanite (n.): A member of one of the three tribes that dwelt in the land of Canaan, or western Palestine.
• clement (adj.): Compassionate.
• conducive (adj.): Contributing to an end.
• control (v.): To exercise a directing, restraining, or governing influence over.
• culvert (n.): Any artificial covered channel for the passage of water through a bank or under a road, canal.
• demeanor (n.): Deportment.
• diffidence (n.): Self-distrust.
• dissolution (n.): A breaking up of a union of persons.
• effect (n.): A consequence.
• enmity (n.): Hatred.
• excruciate (v.): To inflict severe pain or agony upon.;
• fathom (n.): A measure of length, 6 feet.
• foresee (v.): To discern beforehand.
• genteel (adj.): Well-bred or refined.
• henchman (n.): A servile assistant and subordinate.
• illumine (v.): To make bright or clear.
• incapacity (n.): Want of power to apprehend, understand, and manage.
• influential (adj.): Having the power to sway the will of another.
• interposition (n.): A coming between.;
• itinerant (adj.): Wandering.
• leniency (n.): Forbearance.
• lyre (n.): One of the most ancient of stringed instruments of the harp class.
• menagerie (n.): A collection of wild animals, especially when kept for exhibition.;
• modulate (v.): To vary in tone, inflection, pitch or other quality of sound.
• negligible (adj.): Transferable by assignment, endorsement, or delivery.
• occult (adj.): Existing but not immediately perceptible.
• outright (adv.): Entirely.
• patter (v.): To mumble something over and over.
• persuadable (adj.): capable of influencing to action by entreaty, statement, or anything that moves the feelings.
• poignant (adj.): Severely painful or acute to the spirit.
• preparation (n.): An act or proceeding designed to bring about some event.
• prosody (n.): The science of poetical forms.
• rapacious (adj.): Disposed to seize by violence or by unlawful or greedy methods.
• rehabilitate (v.): To restore to a former status, capacity, right rank, or privilege.
• retinue (n.): The body of persons who attend a person of importance in travel or public appearance.
• scruple (n.): Doubt or uncertainty regarding a question of moral right or duty.
• sirocco (n.): hot winds from Africa.
• stringency (n.): Strictness.
• syllabus (n.): Outline of a subject, course, lecture, or treatise.
• tolerant (adj.): Indulgent.
• ulterior (adj.): Not so pertinent as something else to the matter spoken of.
• variation (n.): Modification.;
• wampum (n.): Beads strung on threads, formerly used among the American Indians as currency.

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.