SAT words - Q-R
| Quagmire - n. a difficult/precarious situation | |
| syn. dilemna, difficulty | |
| ant. easiness, simplicity | |
| After breaking my leg, being attacked by wolves, and getting lost in the Arctic wilderness, I found myself in a very dangerous quagmire. | |
| Quandary - n. a feeling of puzzlement or doubt | |
| syn. dilemna, bewilderment | |
| ant. clarity, resolution | |
| The quandary on the math test confused me for nearly an hour. | |
| Quell - v. to remove | |
| syn. reduce, mitigate | |
| ant. increase, enhance | |
| We need lots of food to quell the hunger of these 3 million hungry students. | |
| Querulous - adj. fault-finding | |
| syn. complaining, fretful, petulant | |
| ant. accepting, calm | |
| I spend 2 hours a day listening to my querulous mom complaining about my problems. | |
| Quibble - n. petty comments | |
| syn. nitpicking | |
| ant. approval | |
| If that idiot only has quibbles to say, then she should just shut up. | |
| Quip - n. a witty, offhand remark | |
| syn. pun, satire | |
| ant. (none) | |
| The comedic politician often uses quips to get his point across. | |
| Quixotic - adj. extravagantly idealistic | |
| syn. unpredictable, unrealistic, imaginary | |
| ant. real, predictable, commonplace | |
| Though he's a millionaire, I think he was being a little too quixotic when he said he wanted to buy all of Russia. | |
| Raconteur - n. gifted talker | |
| syn. storyteller, orator | |
| ant. mumbler | |
| I was captivated by the raconteur's stories. | |
| Rancor - n. deep-seated bitterness | |
| syn. old enmity, malevolence, ill will | |
| ant. kindness, sweetness | |
| The everlasting rancor between them was obvious when they tried to kill each other. | |
| Rapt - v. wholly absorbed | |
| syn. fascinated | |
| ant. disinterested | |
| The rapt child stared in disbelief at 3 clowns that crammed themselves in a matchbox. | |
| Rarefy - v. to make refined | |
| syn. refine, cleanse | |
| ant. muddy, pollute | |
| After months of polishing, the diamond was perfectly rarefied. | |
| Raze - v. to tear down completely | |
| syn. demolish, destroy | |
| ant. build, create | |
| My treacherous sister razed my toothpick artwork, breaking it into tiny pieces. | |
| Rebuff - v. to criticize harshly by ignoring him/her | |
| syn. reject | |
| ant. accept | |
| My professor rebuffed all my proposals angrily, saying that they sucked. | |
| Rebut - v. to disprove | |
| syn. argue, invalidate | |
| ant. affirm, agree | |
| Why does the teacher have to rebut all my proposals and point out its flaws? | |
| Recalcitrant - adj. very tough to control | |
| syn. defiant, unruly, refractory | |
| ant. obedient, loyal | |
| It took me a while to control the recalcitrant car and stop running over curbs and old ladies. | |
| Redundant - adj. extra and unnecessary | |
| syn. superfluous, unneeded | |
| ant. brief, succinct, terse | |
| Since the Dallas Mavs already have 7 centers, drafting another one would be redundant. | |
| Refutable - adj. shaky in foundation, able to be proved wrong | |
| syn. debatable | |
| ant. irrefutable, unable to be proved false | |
| Since I lacked proof, scientists rejected my refutable claim that I evolved from a toothpick. | |
| Regale - v. to provide great enjoyment | |
| syn. entertain, amuse, divert | |
| ant. anger, annoy | |
| The clown tried to regale the children at the party, but they quickly became bored. | |
| Rejuvenate - v. to make youthful or like new again | |
| syn. renew, reinvigorate | |
| ant. extinguish, subdue | |
| The ailing, 93-year old man wished there was a magic potion to rejuvenate him. | |
| Relegate - v. to put away or aside | |
| syn. shift, position, assign | |
| ant. keep, adopt | |
| Bored out of my mind, I relegated my homework for another time and played basketball. | |
| Remorse - n. self-reproach, guilty uneasiness | |
| syn. regret, anguish, contrition | |
| ant. happy, indifferent | |
| 20 years in jail sure helped him feel remorse about stealing the shipment of toothpicks. | |
| Remuneration - n. payment | |
| syn. accomplishment, acquisition | |
| ant. loss, nothing | |
| I can't believe I received such a small remuneration after cleaning his bathroom for 6 years. | |
| Rend - v. to tear | |
| syn. break, split | |
| ant. mend, repair | |
| What idiot would use the verb 'to rend' instead of just saying 'to tear?' | |
| Repartee - n. characterized by wit | |
| syn. satire, comeback, lip, retort | |
| ant. (none) | |
| The witty fellow responded to every insult with a well-though out repartee. | |
| Report - n. an explosive noise | |
| syn. bang, boom | |
| ant. silence | |
| The report of his science fair project exploding woke him up from his slumber. | |
| Reprehensible - adj. deserving blame or criticism | |
| syn. shameful, wicked | |
| ant. admirable, appealing | |
| His reprehensible action earned him a week's suspension without pay. | |
| Reprisal - n. retaliation | |
| syn. avenging, counterblow | |
| ant. (none) | |
| For fear of reprisal, the ants didn't dare attack the big shoe lying on their anthill. | |
| Reprobate - n. immoral/wicked person | |
| syn. scoundrel, bastard, delinquent | |
| ant. gentleman | |
| That reprobate burned down my toothpick structure and spit in its ashes. | |
| Reproof- n. act of disapproval | |
| syn. ban, censure | |
| ant. blessing | |
| He ignored my disapproving reproof of his project idea and did it anyway. | |
| Repudiate - v. to disown or reject | |
| syn. disclaim, refuse | |
| ant. accept, take in | |
| My proposal was repudiated, and no one would accept it. | |
| Repugnance - n. extreme dislike | |
| syn. aversion | |
| ant. affection | |
| I have a strong repugnance for those who hate my guts. | |
| Rescind - v. to cancel or annul | |
| syn. repeal, call back | |
| ant. encourage, allow | |
| Due to a financial shortage, the company had to rescind their order for a billion toothpicks. | |
| Resilient - adj. able to snap back after change | |
| syn. elastic, rebounding | |
| ant. rigid, unbendable | |
| Though he moved 274 times in his life, he was resilient enough to adapt and change. | |
| Resolute - adj. firmly determined | |
| syn. steady, faithful | |
| ant. irresolute, unsure | |
| My resolute sister stayed with her decision to become a model all her life. | |
| Respite - n. time or relief from activity | |
| syn. rest, pause | |
| ant. continuation | |
| Teachers only have us a moment of respite before handing us yet another test. | |
| Reticent - adj. quiet and restraining in personality | |
| syn. silent, reserved, restrained | |
| ant. loud, being wordy | |
| Never speaking unless answering a question, my reticent friend rarely talked. | |
| Retinue - n. attendants following a high ranked person | |
| syn. company, assemblage | |
| ant. (none) | |
| President Bush's retinue didn't care when the assassin suddenly showed up and killed him. | |
| Revere - v. to respect and honor | |
| syn. venerate, worship | |
| ant. disparage, insult | |
| I worship and revere the great toothpick artists that came before me. | |
| Rhetoric - n. study of good communication | |
| syn. oratory | |
| ant. slang | |
| Even after studying rhetoric for 40 years, she still failed to get her message across to me. | |
| Risible - adj. used for laughter | |
| syn. laughable, funny | |
| ant. important, serious | |
| His risible personality made us laugh everytime. | |
| Rudimentary - adj. not complex | |
| syn. elementary, easy | |
| ant. difficult | |
| My stupid hamster couldn't even do the most rudimentary of tricks. | |
| Rue - v. to regret exceedingly | |
| syn. deplore, moan | |
| ant. laugh, celebrate | |
| I will probably always rue the day when I refused the supermodel's offer to make out. | |
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© Raymond Ma 2004