SAT words - P
| Painstaking - adj. revealing much care and effort | |
| syn. careful, diligent | |
| ant. disorganized, slipshod | |
| After hours of painstaking effort, I finished making the perfect souffle. | |
| Palisade - n. fence of pales forming a defensive barrier | |
| syn. barricade, obstruction | |
| ant. opening, passage | |
| The poorly constructed palisade didn't slow the enemies' attack at all. | |
| Pall - n. gloomy atmosphere | |
| syn. melancholy, damper | |
| ant. charm | |
| A sad pall could be felt in the room for days after the death of our 66nd hamster. | |
| Palpable - adj. something easily perceived | |
| syn. obvious, apparent | |
| ant. hidden, obscure | |
| No one could miss such a large and palpable sign like that. | |
| Pandemic - adj. throughout an entire population | |
| syn. rampant, sweeping | |
| ant. isolated, confined | |
| Soon enough, the pandemic disease spread across the globe. | |
| Panegyric - n. formal eulogistic composition meant as a compliment | |
| syn. praise, acclamation | |
| ant. criticism | |
| The panegyric given at his funeral was really touching. | |
| Pantomime - n. comminucation by means of gesture and facial expression | |
| syn. acting, mime | |
| ant. speaking | |
| His throat was too sore to talk, so he communicated through pantomime instead. | |
| Paradigm - n. something serving as a model | |
| syn. ideal, criterion | |
| ant. anomaly | |
| I use Cameron Diaz as a paradigm for my dream girl when I fantasize. | |
| Parochial - adj. of narrow, limited scope | |
| syn. provinicial | |
| ant. insightful | |
| Though obviously talented, his parochial talents extended only to basketball. | |
| Partial - adj. strongly disposed toward | |
| syn. biased, subjective | |
| ant. impartial, unbiased | |
| Though you don't have a favorite team, I'm partial and I like the LA Lakers. | |
| Parsimony - n. extreme stinginess | |
| syn. thrift, penny-pinching | |
| ant. generous | |
| She showed true parsimony when she kept wearing her torn skirt just to save money. | |
| Partisan - adj. strongly in favor | |
| syn. biased, prejudiced | |
| ant. objective, unbiased, indifferent | |
| The partisan Republican had already decided 2 months earlier for who to vote for. | |
| Patronage - n. financial support from a benefactor | |
| syn. support, assistance | |
| ant. (none) | |
| Without the patronage and support from the school, the math team would've never had the money or resources to enter competitions. | |
| Paucity - n. lack or scarcity of number | |
| syn. dearth, famine | |
| ant. prosperity | |
| The paucity of rare gems is what makes them worth so much. | |
| Peal - n. ringing of a set of bells | |
| syn. clang, clamor | |
| ant. (none) | |
| The peal of church bells signaled the end of the wedding. | |
| Pejorative - adj. tending to make or become worse | |
| syn. debasing, deprecatory , belittling | |
| ant. approving, admiring | |
| Her pejorative comments made President Bush look like a complete imbecile. | |
| Penury - n. extreme want | |
| syn. destitution, distress | |
| ant. (none) | |
| The villagers' penury increased after a genetically mutated cow ate their entire corn crop. | |
| Peremptory - adj. offensively self-assured | |
| syn. dictatorial, brusque | |
| ant. democratic, objective | |
| Our peremptory group leader wouldn't allow anyone else make any important decisions. | |
| Perfidy - n. faithlessness | |
| syn. treachery, betrayal | |
| ant. obedience, loyalty | |
| My girlfriend's perfidy and betrayal during the snowball fight led to our downfall. | |
| Perfunctory - adj. boring | |
| syn. uninteresting, commonplace | |
| ant. exciting | |
| The perfunctory speech drove everyone in the auditorium to sleep. | |
| Pernicious - adj. causing great harm | |
| syn. destructive, deadly, dangerous | |
| ant. helpful, mitigating | |
| The murderer's pernicious deed left 40 hamsters and 68 guinea pigs dead. | |
| Perspicacity - n. astuteness | |
| syn. accuracy, awareness | |
| ant. dullness, ignorance | |
| He has a high degree of perspicacity, noticing even the smallest mistakes in the alibi. | |
| Peruse - v. to study carefully | |
| syn. examine | |
| ant. ignore, skim | |
| Dr. Strangelove, an expert in nukes, spent 40 years perusing that subject. | |
| Pervade - v. to go throughout | |
| syn. diffuse, permeate | |
| ant. stay | |
| The computer virus pervaded thoughout the mainframe before crashing the system. | |
| Pessimism - n. a negative, discouraging outlook on life | |
| syn. hopelessness | |
| ant. optimism | |
| After getting hit by a truck, a convertible, and an old lady on a wheelchair all on the same day, I had a sense of pessimism for what would happen to me the rest of the day. | |
| Petulant - adj. easily irritated | |
| syn. moody, bitchy | |
| ant. peaceable, sweet, kind | |
| The petulant and pissed off teacher yelled at me even though I only said "hello." | |
| Philistine - adj. lacking refinement | |
| syn. barbaric, savage | |
| ant. upper-class, orderly, refined | |
| Our philistine guest had absolutely no table manners at all. | |
| Pinioned - adj. bound down, immobilized | |
| syn. (none) | |
| ant. (none) | |
| My pinioned hostage was bound so tightly that she couldn't move at all. | |
| Pique - n. a feeling of wounded pride | |
| syn. annoyance, resentment, vexation | |
| ant. (none) | |
| Though the cab accidentally sprayed water on him, his pique still rose. | |
| Piquing - adj. provoking | |
| syn. motivating, stimulating | |
| ant. depressing | |
| My piquing competition encouraged me to try my hardest. | |
| Pithy - adj. forceful and brief | |
| syn. concise, curt | |
| ant. elaborate, extended, prolonged | |
| Britney Spear's 55th marriage was pithy and didn't last very long at all. | |
| Placate - v. to calm by offering to be nice | |
| syn. soothe, appease | |
| ant. aggravate, annoy | |
| I tried my best to placate my sister and make her feel better after her hamster died. | |
| Platitude - n. tired, old saying | |
| syn. banality | |
| ant. original saying | |
| The overused platitude "Look before you jump" has been used way too many times. | |
| Plethora - n. abundance | |
| syn. deluge, excess | |
| ant. lack | |
| The plethora of toothpicks encouraged me to make the Eiffel Tower out of toothpicks. | |
| Plutocracy - n. society controlled by those w/ wealth | |
| syn. (none) | |
| ant. (none) | |
| In a plutocracy, money and material possessions are very important. | |
| Posit - v. to assume or affirm | |
| syn. suppose, propose, suggest | |
| ant. doubt, not believe | |
| I posit a theory that humans evolved from toothpicks over a million years ago. | |
| Posterity - n. future generations | |
| syn. breed, brood, descendents | |
| ant. ancestors, predecessors | |
| I hope mankind's posterity won't elect someone as stupid as President Bush in the future. | |
| Potent - adj. strong | |
| syn. powerful, effective | |
| ant. ineffective, weak, worthless | |
| The potent tranquilizer knocked him out nearly immediately. | |
| Pragmatic - adj. practical | |
| syn. sensible | |
| ant. idealistic, artistic | |
| Those pragmatic Romans only did the sensible things in life. | |
| Precarious - adj. lacking stability | |
| syn. unsteady, wobbly | |
| ant. stable, steady | |
| The precarious sculpture toppled less than an hour after it was completed. | |
| Precipitately - adv. to cause to happen suddenly | |
| syn. rapidly | |
| ant. slowly | |
| After I removed a brick from the half-finished building, it precipitately and suddenly collapsed. | |
| Precocious - adj. showing very early mental development | |
| syn. prodigious (as in child prodigy) | |
| ant. dumb, retarded | |
| My precocious 3-year old cousin memorized 750 digits of pi. | |
| Predecessor - n. prior person in a position | |
| syn. ancestor | |
| ant. replacement, offspring | |
| All of President Bush's predecessors performed better than him. | |
| Predilection - n. positive feelings for | |
| syn. natural preference | |
| ant. distaste, dislike | |
| Ever since I was a child, I had a predilection and liking for sweet snacks. | |
| Prerogative - n. a special right | |
| syn. privilege | |
| ant. duty | |
| Since he called first, he has the prerogative to select first. | |
| Prescient - adj. clairvoyant | |
| syn. discerning, perceptive, prophetic | |
| ant. unreceptive | |
| My prescient teacher accurately predicted that the Cleveland Cavaliers would miss the playoffs for the next 20 straight years. | |
| Pretentious - adj. insisting on recognition | |
| syn. showy, pompous | |
| ant. humble | |
| Pretentious cheerleaders demand that all the attention be placed on them 24/7. | |
| Priggishness - n. smugly proper or prudish attitude | |
| syn. arrogance, pompousness | |
| ant. modesty | |
| Her priggishness showed when she bragged about her car for the 167th time that day. | |
| Prodigal - adj. wildly extravagant | |
| syn. lavish | |
| ant. conservative | |
| The prodigal millionaire held a 5-day long party to celebrate her son's birthday. | |
| Prodigious - adj. inspiring awe | |
| syn. enormous | |
| ant. small, miniscule | |
| Her prodigious performance inspired me to become an actor. | |
| Profound - adj. intellectually deep | |
| syn. all-encompassing | |
| ant. shallow, stupid | |
| The profound philosopher appeared like he knew what he was talking about as he explained his theory for existence. | |
| Profundity - n. deepness | |
| syn. fathomage, abyss | |
| ant. shallowness | |
| The profundity of the cavern was so great that I couldn't hear my hamster crash to his death at the bottom after he jumped into it. | |
| Profuse - adj. in great abundance | |
| syn. bountiful, lavish, lush | |
| ant. meager, skimpy | |
| Usually, I use a profuse amount of toothpicks to make my large toothpick models. | |
| Proliferate - v. to increase rapidly in number | |
| syn. multiply, add | |
| ant. decrease | |
| The germs proliferated quickly and soon covered the entire table. | |
| Prolific - adj. very productive | |
| syn. fruitful, fertile, fecund | |
| ant. useless, barren | |
| Prolific Italian mothers who had lots of children were given medals by Mussolini. | |
| Promulgation - n. public declaration | |
| syn. advertisement, publication | |
| ant. (none) | |
| The promulgation posted on the library wall clearly stated that Martians would soon attack. | |
| Propensity - n. strong natural leaning or preference | |
| syn. predilection | |
| ant. dislike | |
| I have a desire for ice cream and also a propensity for potato chips. | |
| Propitiate - v. to conciliate | |
| syn. appease, allay | |
| ant. aggravate, antagonize | |
| In order to propitiate my girlfriend, who was mad at me, I sent over 2 dozen roses. | |
| Prosaic - adj. unexciting | |
| syn. ordinary, dull, unimaginative | |
| ant. special, original, artistic | |
| The prosaic speech on Viagra usage nearly drove me insane with boredom. | |
| Proscribe - v. to denounce | |
| syn. condemn, disapprove, ostracize | |
| ant. allow, permit | |
| After 9/11, the president proscribed the terrorists' actions against the US. | |
| Prudent - adj. careful in managing things | |
| syn. shrewd, wise, descreet | |
| ant. wasteful, stupid | |
| The prudent manager of the basketball team tried to do everything carefully and wisely. | |
| Puerile - adj. childish | |
| syn. baby-like, babyish | |
| ant. adult, mature | |
| My puerile sister nagged me incessantly until I made her her favorite Ramen noodles. | |
| Purveyor - n. one that furnishes provisions | |
| syn. provider | |
| ant. leech | |
| The purveyor in the family is the one who provides the food and things needed to survive. | |
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© Raymond Ma 2004