SAT words - S
| Sacrilege - n. the desecration of something holy | |
| syn. profaning, insulting | |
| ant. consecration, creation | |
| The bombing of Vatican City was one of the worst sacrileges ever recorded. | |
| Sacrosanct - adj. beyond criticism | |
| syn. blessed, sacred | |
| ant. condemned, cursed | |
| None of the demolition workers dared to deface the sacrosanct shrine. | |
| Sage - adj. wise as a result of experience | |
| syn. discerning of judgement | |
| ant. naive, inexperienced | |
| That sage knows everything you need to know about sex due to decades of study. | |
| Salubrious - adj. favorable to health | |
| syn. beneficial | |
| ant. harmful | |
| The salubrious health drink gave her essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrition. | |
| Salutary - adj. promoting good health | |
| syn. good, encouraging, healthy | |
| ant. bad, discouraging, unhealthy | |
| Regaining the ability to walk was a salutary sign of her recovery. | |
| Sanctimonious - adj. pretending to be religious | |
| syn. bigoted, deceiving | |
| ant. pious | |
| The sanctimonious, false, Atheist prophet tried to lead God's people to the devil. | |
| Sanction - v. to authorize | |
| syn. confirm, approve, endorse | |
| ant. disapprove, object | |
| The principal sanctioned and allowed our club's desire to build a shed out of toothpicks. | |
| Sanguine - adj. showing optimism | |
| syn. assured, secure | |
| ant. nervous, pessimistic | |
| Even after losing her dog in a freak ice cream accident, she still remained sanguine and looked at the better things in life. | |
| Satire - n. comedy using laughter as a weapon to evoke a feeling of scorn | |
| syn. irony, lampoon | |
| ant. drama, tragedy | |
| Since I hate President Bush, I will write a satire making fun of his inability to speak correctly. | |
| Saturate - v. to fill completely | |
| syn. satiate, soak | |
| ant. empty, leak | |
| After a day in the sun, the supermodel's sweat saturated her shirt, making it see-through. | |
| Scintillate - v. to sparkle | |
| syn. shimmer, shine | |
| ant. extinguish | |
| The sparkling fireworks scintillated and lit up the night sky. | |
| Scoff - v. to make fun of | |
| syn. mock, belittle | |
| ant. compliment | |
| They scoffed and made fun of me when I said that I wanted to be a toothpick artist. | |
| Scourge - n. a source of widespread devastation | |
| syn. affliction, bane | |
| ant. blessing, godsend | |
| Some see Einstein as a scourge, since his research led to the dropping of the atomic bomb that killed hundreds of thousands of people. | |
| Scrupulous - adj. showing painstaking care | |
| syn. attentive, diligent | |
| ant. lazy, sloppy, oblivious | |
| The scrupulous fry cook makes sure that each hamburger is cooked to perfection. | |
| Scrutinize - v. to examine with close attention | |
| syn. investigate | |
| ant. ignore | |
| My professor scrutinizes all of our homework and papers to make sure we don't plagiarize. | |
| Seminary - n. institution of higher learning | |
| syn. academy, brainery | |
| ant. (none) | |
| That smartass is going to a seminary to become even smarter. | |
| Sequester - v. to set apart or segregate | |
| syn. cloister, isolate | |
| ant. adopt, embrace | |
| After sequestering the young deer from its family, the wolves attacked it vigorously, ripping its flesh to shreds. | |
| Serville - adj. annoyingly submissive | |
| syn. subservient, abject | |
| ant. dominant | |
| Her serville lackey does everything she requests, no matter how stupid or idiotic. | |
| Sidereal - adj. pertaining to stars | |
| syn. stellar, astronomical | |
| ant. terrestrial | |
| The sidereal phenomenon involved 2 stars crashing into each other. | |
| Skeptic - n. one who doubts or waits to pass judgement | |
| syn. unbeliever | |
| ant. faithful one | |
| Though I obtained proof, the skeptic still refused to believe that I built stuff from toothpicks. | |
| Skulk - v. to lie in hiding | |
| syn. lurk, conceal | |
| ant. disclose, display | |
| To surprise its victims, the killer alien skulked in the dark shadows behind dumpsters. | |
| Slander - n. a false, defamatory spoken criticism | |
| syn. swearing, derision | |
| ant. compliment | |
| The slander against President Bush in the newspapers killed his chances at reelection. | |
| Sodden - adj. extremely wet | |
| syn. moist | |
| ant. dry | |
| After falling into the river, I had to wait hours for my sodden clothes to dry. | |
| Solicit - v. to ask for time, money, or moral support | |
| syn. bespeech, request | |
| ant. refuse, revoke | |
| I spent months in Washington DC soliciting help and aid for the newly formed and weak Republic of Infinite Losers. | |
| Solicitude - n. concern | |
| syn. affection, love | |
| ant. hatred, coldness | |
| Mom usually always show lots of solicitude and love towards her kids. | |
| Soporific - adj. causing sleep | |
| syn. sleepy, anesthetic, somnolent | |
| ant. stimulant, analeptic | |
| The soporific medication knocked him out and made him sleep for hours. | |
| Spat- n. small quarrel | |
| syn. altercation, bickering | |
| ant. concord, peace | |
| They have small spats and disagreement all the time, but they still love each other. | |
| Spurious - adj. false | |
| syn. fake, forged | |
| ant. real, authentic | |
| It was easy to prove the inaccuracy of the spurious document. | |
| Stagnant - adj. unmoving or not flowing | |
| syn. inactive | |
| ant. moving, active | |
| Our boat was stuck in the unmoving, stagnant ocean water. | |
| Staid - adj. fixed | |
| syn. permanent | |
| ant. temporary | |
| No matter what, I couldn't get the staid coffee stain off my shirt. | |
| Stalwart - n. someone who strongly believes in a cause | |
| syn. fanatic, zealot | |
| ant. noncaring person | |
| Though outnumbered 60,000 to 1, the crazed stalwart still fought to defend his beliefs. | |
| Stewardship - n. management | |
| syn. administration, supervision | |
| ant. (none) | |
| In just 2 weeks, I'll be promoted to stewardship and supervise the fry cooks. | |
| Stoic - adj. showing no feeling or pain | |
| syn. impassive | |
| ant. emotional | |
| Though he killed 587 people at once, the stoic killer showed no emotion at trial. | |
| Strident - adj. loud, harsh, sound | |
| syn. deafening | |
| ant. quiet, soft | |
| The strident fire alarm awoke me from my slumber at 3AM last night. | |
| Stringent - adj. tight or constricted | |
| syn. rigid | |
| ant. lax | |
| The stringent turtleneck nearly strangled me to death. | |
| Subjective - adj. colored by personal feeling or opinion | |
| syn. biased | |
| ant. objective | |
| Though my sister is also trying to get the raise, I shouldn't be subjective in my decision. | |
| Subjugate - v. to subdue | |
| syn. conquer, invade, take over | |
| ant. release, relinquish | |
| After years of battle, the Martians finally subjugated the Mole Men. | |
| Subliminal - adj. below the threshold of conscious perception | |
| syn. subconscious, repressed | |
| ant. conscious | |
| The subliminal messages controlled her every action, though she never realized it. | |
| Subterfuge - n. deceptive stratagem/device | |
| syn. bluff, delusion | |
| ant. truth, honesty, reality | |
| The Martian's subterfuge tricked us into surrendering to their forces. | |
| Succinct - adj. to the point, terse | |
| syn. concise, brief | |
| ant. elongated, lengthy | |
| Unlike President Bush's 16-hour long speech, his opponent's was succinct and to the point. | |
| Sullen - adj. quietly resentful | |
| syn. gloomy, dismal | |
| ant. happy, glad | |
| After getting dumped by his 34th girlfriend, he stayed in a sullen mood for quite a while. | |
| Supercilious - adj. excessively proud | |
| syn. disdainfully superior | |
| ant. approachable, friendly | |
| He became haughty and supercilious after winning his 30th straight poker game. | |
| Superficial - adj. on the surface | |
| syn. shallow, cursory | |
| ant. deep, serious, important | |
| My girlfriend is very superficial, only caring about material possessions and appearance. | |
| Superfluous - adj. extra | |
| syn. unnecessary, wasteful | |
| ant. needed, required | |
| After finishing my toothpick artwork, I had lots of superfluous toothpicks and glue left. | |
| Surfeit - n. excessive amount | |
| syn. glut, overabundance | |
| ant. dearth, deficiency | |
| No amount of Slim Fast drinks could help me lose my surfeit of fat. | |
| Surreptitious - adj. secretive | |
| syn. deceptive, clandestine | |
| ant. open, public | |
| The surreptitious stalker wouldn't tell anyone how he planned to get into the model's room. | |
| Susceptible - adj. lacking resistance | |
| syn. exposed, nonresistant | |
| ant. restricted, inaccessible | |
| The Dallas Mavs susceptible defense was ripped apart by the Kings' unstoppable offense. | |
| Swelter - v. to suffer from oppressive heat | |
| syn. roast, scorch | |
| ant. freeze | |
| Since I forgot my sunscreen, I sweltered under the hot sun and got a horrible sunburn. | |
| Sycophant - n. one who flatters others | |
| syn. brownnoser, toady | |
| ant. independent, noncaring person | |
| In an attempt to get promoted to head janitor, that sycophant flattered the boss endlessly. | |
| Syllogism - n. form of deductive reasoning | |
| syn. deduction | |
| ant. induction | |
| Using syllogism, I decided that I was male since all humans are either male or female, and I am not a female. | |
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© Raymond Ma 2004