SAT words - I
| Iconoclast - n. one who criticizes established ideas | |
| syn. image destroyer, destroyer of idols | |
| ant. zealot, loyalist | |
| In an act of rebellion, the iconoclast destroyed all the statues of the toothpick kings. | |
| Idiosyncratic - adj. of a peculair characteristic | |
| syn. differentiating, discriminating | |
| ant. common, standard | |
| I easily identified my cousin by her idiosyncratic way of dress. | |
| Illicit - adj. illegal | |
| syn. bootleg, clandestine | |
| ant. legal, clean | |
| Apparently, I might be sued for downloading licensed and illicit anime. | |
| Imbue - v. to stain | |
| syn. dye | |
| ant. whiten | |
| For some reason, no one would believe that lemonade imbued the crotch area of my pants a yellow color. | |
| Immutable - adj. changeless and unchanging | |
| syn. unalterable, eternal | |
| ant. changing, mutated, mortal | |
| The traffic light seemed immutable, for the red light had stayed on for the past 50 hours. | |
| Impartial - adj. not prejudiced | |
| syn. unbiased, fair | |
| ant. unfair, subjective, biased | |
| By being impartial, I won't grant favors to anyone, not even my parents or hamsters. | |
| Impassive - adj. lacking emotion | |
| syn. apathetic, dispassionate | |
| ant. concerned, passionate | |
| The impassive Mole Man showed no emotion even after slaughtering the Martian army. | |
| Impecunious - adj. having little or no money | |
| syn. poor, impoverished | |
| ant. rich, wealthy | |
| A mere 5 dollars may seem like a lot to an impecunious beggar on the streets. | |
| Impetus - n. impelling force | |
| syn. catalyst, incentive | |
| ant. discouragement | |
| The $0.01 award was not much of an impetus for me to enter the grueling marathon. | |
| Implacable - adj. impossible to calm down | |
| syn. irreconcilable | |
| ant. (none) | |
| The implacable professor wouldn't stop crying after seeing his lab explode. | |
| Impotent - adj. lacking effectiveness | |
| syn. weak, lacking strength | |
| ant. effective, strong | |
| The impotent computer virus wasn't enough to take down the mainframe. | |
| Improvident - adj. thoughtless | |
| syn. unwary, careless, heedless | |
| ant. attentive, cautious | |
| The improvident babysitter didn't even know that the baby had left the house. | |
| Inadvertent - adj. accidental | |
| syn. careless, unintentional | |
| ant. planned, intended | |
| The inadvertent, unplanned meeting between the 2 presidential candidates resulted in a violent fist-fight to see who was more manly. | |
| Inane - adj. witless | |
| syn. empty, insipid, dopey | |
| ant. interesting, smart, intelligent | |
| President Bush's inane comments bore millions of Americans and me to death. | |
| Inauspicious - adj. foreboding | |
| syn. unfavorable, bad | |
| ant. auspicious, favorable, good | |
| The dead cats falling from the sky was an inauspicious sign that something bad was coming. | |
| Incendiary - adj. capable of causing a fire | |
| syn. combustible, burnable | |
| ant. nonexplosive | |
| Don't light any matches in a room full of incendiary objects. | |
| Incensed - adj. extremely angry | |
| syn. infuriated | |
| ant. calm | |
| The incensed driver went on a road rage rampage after getting cut off. | |
| Incessant - adj. going on without interruption | |
| syn. unceasing, continuous | |
| ant. completed, limited | |
| The teacher's seemingly incessant lecture about mutated koalas felt like it lasted forever. | |
| Incipient - adj. beginning to be | |
| syn. commencing, starting | |
| ant. ending, halting | |
| The incipient waitress still has much to learn since it's only her first day. | |
| Incongruous - adj. seeming out of place | |
| syn. unsuited | |
| ant. appropriate | |
| I felt incongruous among the 2-headed, 5-armed Martians. | |
| Indefatigable - adj. not tired | |
| syn. tireless, active | |
| ant. casual, lazy | |
| Even after playing ultimate frisbee for 8 hours, my indefatigable grandfather wasn't tired. | |
| Indigent - adj. lacking necessary material goods | |
| syn. very poor, dirt-poor | |
| ant. affluent, rich | |
| Due to extreme poverty, the indigent children were forced to steal in order to survive. | |
| Indignant - adj. anger aroused by injustice | |
| syn. acrimonious, disgruntled | |
| ant. satisfied | |
| Batman became an indignant crime fighter since criminals were getting away with crimes. | |
| Indiscriminate - adj. at random | |
| syn. haphazard, not chosen | |
| ant. discriminate, distinguished | |
| Though my decision was indiscriminate and random, they accused me of being biased. | |
| Indoctrinate - v. to teach the basics | |
| syn. instruct | |
| ant. brainwash | |
| It's my dream to indoctrinate others on how to create toothpick structures. | |
| Indolence - n. supreme laziness | |
| syn. sloth, idleness | |
| ant. attentiveness, superior awareness | |
| Her indolence and refusal to help is getting on my nerves. | |
| Indulgent - adj. generous to a fault | |
| syn. lenient, not critical, compassionate | |
| ant. cruel, severe | |
| The nice and indulgent teacher kindly looked away when I was torturing the bully with toothpick acupuncture. | |
| Ineffable - adj. incapable of being expressed | |
| syn. indescribable, unexplainable, unspeakable | |
| ant. effable, describable, seen | |
| He found it impossible to express his ineffable love for her. | |
| Inevitable - adj. unavoidable | |
| syn. assured, imminent | |
| ant. uncertain, unnatural | |
| It was only a matter of time before my inevitable death would occur. | |
| Inexorable - adj. not movable by any means | |
| syn. inflexible, relentless | |
| ant. movable, flexible | |
| Nothing on the island could move the inexorable, monolithic sumo wrestler. | |
| Infamous - adj. of exceedingly bad repute | |
| syn. disgraceful | |
| ant. famous, outstanding, excellent | |
| Everyone instantly recognized the infamous bank robber once he entered the bar. | |
| Infinitesimal - adj. very small | |
| syn. atomic, microscopic | |
| ant. gigantic, immense | |
| No vacuum cleaner can pick up all the infinitesimal pieces of dirt off the floor. | |
| Ingenuous - adj. lacking in guile, worldliness | |
| syn. candid, naive, childlike, innocent | |
| ant. artful, devious | |
| The ingenuous youngster had no idea that his teacher was tricking him when she said that babies grew from trees in the Amazon. | |
| Inimitable - adj. defying imitation | |
| syn. matchless, incomparable | |
| ant. comparable, worst | |
| The inimitable basketball superstar could do things no one else in the league could do. | |
| Iniquity - n. gross injustice | |
| syn. wickedness, immorality | |
| ant. virtue, kindness | |
| Her long list of acts of iniquity included cheating on 54 boyfriends. | |
| Injunction - n. strong request | |
| syn. demand, mandate, order | |
| ant. (none) | |
| Due to the principal's injunction, I must clean the urinals all week. | |
| Innocuous - adj. harmless | |
| syn. dull, insipid | |
| ant. dangerous | |
| Though he hacked into 5000 different computers, the nerd was innocuous/weak physically. | |
| Innuendo - n. subtle hint | |
| syn. hint, insinuation | |
| ant. blatant comment | |
| How are guys supposed to understand the innuendos and subtle hints that girls give them? | |
| Insidious - adj. dangerous but appealing | |
| syn. corrupt, crafty | |
| ant. artless, guileless | |
| The insidious politician used lies to get elected and then even punished her own supporters. | |
| Insipid - adj. lacking flavor | |
| syn. dull, flat | |
| ant. exciting, interesting | |
| Chicken tastes bland and insipid without sauce or being fried. | |
| Insular - adj. isolated | |
| syn. detached, narrow-minded, cut off | |
| ant. connected | |
| That insular, toothpick-obsessive maniac cares only about toothpicks and refuses to join society. | |
| Insuperable - adj. impossible to overcome | |
| syn. insurmountable, indomitable | |
| ant. pregnable, vulnerable | |
| The prisoner, serving a 40-year sentence, overcame the prison's seemingly insuperable walls after 39 1/2 years of digging. | |
| Insurgent - n. one who rises up in revolt | |
| syn. rebel | |
| ant. obedient follower | |
| The Mole King took just one look at the insurgent trying to start a revolution before ripping his head off. | |
| Intemperance - n. excessive consumption | |
| syn. indulgence | |
| ant. abstinence | |
| His intemperance of alcohol left him incapable of holding any job for very long. | |
| Interlocutor - n. someone who takes part in a conversation | |
| syn. conversational partner | |
| ant. (none) | |
| Why invent the word 'interlocutor' just to describe someone who talks in a conversation? | |
| Interminable - adj. seemingly without an end | |
| syn. endless, tedious, continual | |
| ant. finite, limited | |
| The interminable task of memorizing SAT words felt like it would take forever. | |
| Intractable- adj. difficult to manage | |
| syn. stubborn, immovable | |
| ant. compliant | |
| The intractable toddler wouldn't do anything we asked of him. | |
| Intrepid - adj. resolutely courageous | |
| syn. fearless, brave | |
| ant. scared, frightened | |
| The intrepid space explorers bravely entered the black hole in their space vessel, only to turn into nothingness a moment later. | |
| Inundate - v. to put too much water on | |
| syn. flood, overflow | |
| ant. dehydrate, dry | |
| After inundating the flowers, they almost drowned and died. | |
| Irascible - adj. easily angered | |
| syn. testy, choleric, touchy | |
| ant. calm, understanding | |
| Right now, nearly anything I say could anger that irascible fellow. | |
| Iridescence - n. prismatic display of color | |
| syn. brightness, luminousness | |
| ant. darkness | |
| They kissed passionately under glowing iridescence of the rainbow, thinking only of love.. | |
| Irony - n. the opposite of what would be normal or expected | |
| syn. sarcasm | |
| ant. standard language | |
| The irony of the situation became apparent when I saw the football team in a ballet class. | |
| Irrefutable - adj. impossible to prove wrong | |
| syn. accurate, indisputable | |
| ant. refutable, able to be proved false | |
| No one would doubt me if I had irrefutable proof that humans evolved from toothpicks. | |
| Irresolute - adj. uncertain about behavior | |
| syn. vacillating | |
| ant. resolute, steady | |
| Why can't she just make up her mind and stop being so irresolute? | |
| Itinerant - adj. not settled | |
| syn. moving, roaming | |
| ant. stationary | |
| The itinerant spaceship was in a new place every week. | |
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© Raymond Ma 2004