SAT words - M
| Magnanimous - adj. generously forgiving | |
| syn. big-spirited | |
| ant. greedy, selfish | |
| I'm lucky that the person I nearly stabbed to death was magnanimous enough to forgive me. | |
| Magnate - n. someone of power, rank, or influence | |
| syn. royalty, upper class | |
| ant. nobody, unknown | |
| Once I become a powerful magnate ruling the world, I can force hot girls to work naked. | |
| Maladroit - adj. foolish | |
| syn. inappropriate, inept, clumsy | |
| ant. appropriate, adroit, coordinated | |
| The maladroit idiot wasn't fit to do any job except being an imbecile. | |
| Malediction - n. malicious saying | |
| syn. curse | |
| ant. blessing | |
| The Toothpick People yelled many maledictions and insults at the Fire Ladies after they burned up all the toothpicks. | |
| Malfeasance - n. wrongdoing | |
| syn. misconduct, corruption, crookedness | |
| ant. honesty, good deed | |
| After dousing my hamster and trying to light it on fire, my mom said that I would go to hell if I continued such malfeasances. | |
| Malice - n. the desire to see another suffer | |
| syn. spite, extreme ill will | |
| ant. kindness | |
| The twisted killer possessed so much malice that she laughed as she murdered him. | |
| Malign - v. to speak of in an ill-willed manner | |
| syn. slander, defame | |
| ant. praise, laud | |
| Due to President Bush's pathetic policies, many newspapers maligned him angrily. | |
| Malinger - v. to fake an illness to avoid work | |
| syn. parry, avoid, dodge | |
| ant. (none) | |
| No one knows how she could fake so many illnesses, malinger work, and get away with it. | |
| Mar - v. to spoil or damage | |
| syn. injure, blemish | |
| ant. beautify, fix | |
| My mean sister wants to mar my cello or at least dent it in several places. | |
| Matriarch - n. dignified woman | |
| syn. mother | |
| ant. patriarch | |
| The bees looked towards their queenly matriarch for guidance. | |
| Meager - adj. lacking in quality or quantity | |
| syn. scanty, skimpy, spare | |
| ant. plentiful, copious | |
| She couldn't possibly buy the expensive miniskirt she wanted with her meager allowance. | |
| Meander - v. to wander casually with no set plan | |
| syn. ramble | |
| ant. hurry, rush, continue | |
| The curious rabbit meandered away from its mother and was eaten by a wolf. | |
| Megalomania - n. condition where fantasies of power/wealth dominate | |
| syn. egoism, egocentricity | |
| ant. atruism | |
| He knew he had a serious case of megalomania after dreaming about ruling the world and possessing billions of dollars for the 50th straight night. | |
| Mélange - n. a mixture | |
| syn. concoction, solution | |
| ant. (none) | |
| The melange of alcohol gave her a terrible hangover that lasted for days. | |
| Mellifluous - adj. sweetly or smoothly flowing | |
| syn. euphony, melodic | |
| ant. stagnant, flat | |
| The mellifluous melody coming from the cellist drove me wild with passion and desire. | |
| Mendacious - adj. untruthful | |
| syn. lying, dishonest | |
| ant. truthful, honest | |
| That mendacious presidential candidate lied about everything he said. | |
| Mendicant - n. beggar | |
| syn. bum, freeloader, hobo | |
| ant. rich person | |
| Though rich, Scrooge only gave the poor mendicant in the street a nickel. | |
| Mercurial - adj. quick and changeable in temperament | |
| syn. volatile, capricious | |
| ant. predictable, stable | |
| My mercurial dad would support the Dallas Mavs one second and then diss them the next. | |
| Meritocracy - n. society run by those w/ talent | |
| syn. (none) | |
| ant. (none) | |
| For such a highly-esteemed meritocracy, its members were sure stupid. | |
| Meticulous - adj. particular down to the tiniest detail | |
| syn. fastidious, picky | |
| ant. sloppy | |
| The nerd's meticulous work ethic guaranteed that his work would be near perfect. | |
| Minutiae - n. small details | |
| syn. trivialities | |
| ant. important stuff | |
| No one really cares about the minutiae in a contract, until it screws them over. | |
| Misanthrope - n. one who hates people | |
| syn. cynic, loner | |
| ant. optimist, lover | |
| For no reason, that misanthrope came up to me, spat in my face, and slapped me. | |
| Misappropriate - v. to appropriate dishonestly for one's own use | |
| syn. embezzle, cheat | |
| ant. return, bequeath | |
| The Enron CEO might go to jail for misappropriating money for himself. | |
| Miser - n. a greedy, grasping person | |
| syn. cheapskate | |
| ant. aristocrat, gentleman | |
| I was unfortunate to get run over by a miser who refused to pay any compensation at all. | |
| Miscreant - n. villain | |
| syn. bad egg, evildoer | |
| ant. hero | |
| That miscreant stole my purse! | |
| Mitigate - v. to make less severe | |
| syn. alleviate, relieve | |
| ant. worsen, hurt | |
| In order to mitigate my wound, I applied medication and wrapped it in bandages. | |
| Modicum - n. small, moderate amount | |
| syn. (none) | |
| ant. (none) | |
| The children at the orphange didn't get much food to eat, only a modicum of morsels. | |
| Mollify - v. to calm in temper | |
| syn. soothe | |
| ant. excite, enrage | |
| It took my hours to mollify my infuriated sister after she got hit in the head w/ a frisbee. | |
| Morphology - n. study of the structure of an organism | |
| syn. anatomy, biology | |
| ant. (none) | |
| Studying human morphology would allow me to study females in close detail. | |
| Morose - adj. very sullen in manner | |
| syn. depressed, gloomy | |
| ant. happy, overjoyed | |
| No matter what I did, I couldn't get my morose friend to smile. | |
| Mundane - adj. commonplace | |
| syn. everyday | |
| ant. special, unique | |
| Toothpicks may seem common and mundane, but each one is very, very, very special. | |
| Munificent - adj. very liberal in giving | |
| syn. generous, beneficient | |
| ant. greedy, wanting | |
| The wacky scientist luckily received funding from a confused yet munificent philanthropist. | |
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© Raymond Ma 2004