The 1000 most common sat words

ors (The other kids referred to the 
teacher’s pet as the Tenth Grade Toady.) 
tome (n.) a large book (In college, I used to carry around an anatomy book that was the 
heaviest tome in my bag.)
torpid (adj.) lethargic, dormant, lacking motion (The torpid whale floated, wallowing 
in the water for hours.)
torrid (adj.) giving off intense heat, passionate (I didn’t want to witness the neighbor’s 
torrid affair through the window.)
tortuous (adj.) winding (The scary thing about driving in mountains are the narrow, 
tortuous roads.)
tractable (adj.) easily controlled (The horse was so tractable, Myra didn’t even need a 
bridle.)
tranquil (adj.) calm (There is a time of night when nothing moves and everything 
is tranquil.)
transgress (v.) to violate, go over a limit (The criminal’s actions transgressed morality 
and human decency.)
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transient (adj.) passing through briefly; passing into and out of existence (Because 
virtually everyone in Palm Beach is a tourist, the population of the town is quite 
transient.) 
transmute (v.) to change or alter in form (Ancient alchemists believed that it was 
possible to transmute lead into gold.)
travesty (n.) a grossly inferior imitation (According to the school newspaper’s merciless 
theater critic, Pacific Coast High’s rendition of the musical Oklahoma was a 
travesty of the original.)
tremulous (adj.) fearful (I always feel a trifle tremulous when walking through 
a graveyard.)
trenchant (adj.) effective, articulate, clear-cut (The directions that accompanied my new 
cell phone were trenchant and easy to follow.)
trepidation (n.) fear, apprehension (Feeling great trepidation, Anya refused to jump into 
the pool because she thought she saw a shark in it.)
trite (adj.) not original, overused (Keith thought of himself as being very learned, but 
everyone else thought he was trite because his observations about the world were 
always the same as David Letterman’s.)
truculent (adj.) ready to fight, cruel (This club doesn’t really attract the dangerous 
types, so why was that bouncer being so truculent?) 
truncate (v.) to shorten by cutting off (After winning the derby, the jockey truncated 
the long speech he had planned and thanked only his mom and his horse.)
turgid (adj.) swollen, excessively embellished in style or language (The haughty writer 
did not realize how we all really felt about his turgid prose.)
turpitude (n.) depravity, moral corruption (Sir Marcus’s chivalry often contrasted with 
the turpitude he exhibited with the ladies at the tavern.)
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ubiquitous (adj.) existing everywhere, widespread (It seems that everyone in the United 
States has a television. The technology is ubiquitous here.)
umbrage (n.) resentment, offense (He called me a lily-livered coward, and I took 
umbrage at the insult.)
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SAT Vocabulary
uncanny (adj.) of supernatural character or origin (Luka had an uncanny ability to 
know exactly what other people were thinking. She also had an uncanny ability to 
shoot fireballs from her hands.)
unctuous (adj.) smooth or greasy in texture, appearance, manner (The unctuous 
receptionist seemed untrustworthy, as if she was only being helpful because she 
thought we might give her a big tip.)
undulate (v.) to move in waves (As the storm began to brew, the placid ocean began to 
undulate to an increasing degree.)
upbraid (v.) to criticize or scold severely (The last thing Lindsay wanted was for Lisa to 
upbraid her again about missing the rent payment.)
usurp (v.) to seize by force, take possession of without right (The rogue army general 
tried to usurp control of the government, but he failed because most of the army 
backed the legally elected president.)
utilitarian (adj.) relating to or aiming at usefulness (The beautiful, fragile vase couldn’t 
hold flowers or serve any other utilitarian purpose.)
utopia (n.) an imaginary and remote place of perfection (Everyone in the world wants 
to live in a utopia, but no one can agree how to go about building one.)
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vacillate (v.) to fluctuate, hesitate (I prefer a definite answer, but my boss kept 
vacillating between the distinct options available to us.)
vacuous (adj.) lack of content or ideas, stupid (Beyonce realized that the lyrics she had 
just penned were completely vacuous and tried to add more substance.)
validate (v.) to confirm, support, corroborate (Yoko’s chemistry lab partner was asleep 
during the experiment and could not validate the accuracy of her methods.)
vapid (adj.) lacking liveliness, dull (The professor’s comments about the poem were 
surprisingly vapid and dull.)
variegated (adj.) diversified, distinctly marked (Each wire in the engineering exam was 
variegated by color so that the students could figure out which one was which.)
vehemently (adv.) marked by intense force or emotion (The candidate vehemently 
opposed cutting back on Social Security funding.)
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veneer (n.) a superficial or deceptively attractive appearance, façade (Thanks to her 
Chanel makeup, Shannen was able to maintain a veneer of perfection that hid the 
flaws underneath.)
venerable (adj.) deserving of respect because of age or achievement (The venerable 
Supreme Court justice had made several key rulings in landmark cases throughout 
the years.)
venerate (v.) to regard with respect or to honor (The tribute to John Lennon sought to 
venerate his music, his words, and his legend.)
veracity (n.) truthfulness, accuracy (With several agencies regulating the reports, it was 
difficult for Latifah to argue against its veracity.)
verbose (adj.) wordy, impaired by wordiness (It took the verbose teacher two hours to 
explain the topic, while it should have taken only fifteen minutes.)
verdant (adj.) green in tint or color (The verdant leaves on the trees made the world 
look emerald.)
vestige (n.) a mark or trace of something lost or vanished (Do you know if the Mexican 
tortilla is a vestige of some form of Aztec corn-based flat bread?)
vex (v.) to confuse or annoy (My little brother vexes me by poking me in the ribs for 
hours on end.)
vicarious (adj.) experiencing through another (All of my lame friends learned to be 
social through vicarious involvement in my amazing experiences.)
vicissitude (n.) event that occurs by chance (The vicissitudes of daily life prevent me 
from predicting what might happen from one day to the next.)
vigilant (adj.) watchful, alert (The guards remained vigilant throughout the night, but 
the enemy never launched the expected attack.)
vilify (v.) to lower in importance, defame (After the Watergate scandal, almost any story 
written about President Nixon sought to vilify him and criticize his behavior.)
vindicate (v.) to avenge; to free from allegation; to set free (The attorney had no chance 
of vindicating the defendant with all of the strong evidence presented by the state.)
vindictive (adj.) vengeful (The vindictive madman seeks to exact vengeance for any 
insult that he perceives is directed at him, no matter how small.)
virtuoso (n.) one who excels in an art; a highly skilled musical performer (Even though 
Lydia has studied piano for many years, she’s only average at it. She’s no virtuoso, 
that’s for sure.)
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SAT Vocabulary
viscous (adj.) not free flowing, syrupy (The viscous syrup took three minutes to pour 
out of the bottle.)
vitriolic (adj.) having a caustic quality (When angry, the woman would spew vitriolic 
insults.)
vituperate (v.) to berate (Jack ran away as soon as his father found out, knowing he 
would be vituperated for his unseemly behavior.)
vivacious (adj.) lively, sprightly (The vivacious clown makes all of the children laugh 
and giggle with his friendly antics.)
vocation (n.) the work in which someone is employed, profession (After growing tired 
of the superficial world of high-fashion, Edwina decided to devote herself to a new 
vocation: social work.)
vociferous (adj.) loud, boisterous (I’m tired of his vociferous whining so I’m breaking 
up with him.)
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wallow (v.) to roll oneself indolently; to become or remain helpless (My roommate 
can’t get over her breakup with her boyfriend and now just wallows in self-pity.)
wane (v.) to decrease in size, dwindle (Don’t be so afraid of his wrath because his 
influence with the president is already beginning to wane.)
wanton (adj.) undisciplined, lewd, lustful (Vicky’s wanton demeanor often made the 
frat guys next door very excited.)
whimsical (adj.) fanciful, full of whims (The whimsical little girl liked to pretend that 
she was an elvin princess.)
wily (adj.) crafty, sly (Though they were not the strongest of the Thundercats, wily Kit 
and Kat were definitely the most clever and full of tricks.)
winsome (adj.) charming, pleasing (After such a long, frustrating day, I was grateful for 
Chris’s winsome attitude and childish naivete.)
wistful (adj.) full of yearning; musingly sad (Since her pet rabbit died, Edda missed it 
terribly and sat around wistful all day long.)
wizened (adj.) dry, shrunken, wrinkled (Agatha’s grandmother, Stephanie, had the 
most wizened countenance, full of leathery wrinkles.)
wrath (n.) vengeful anger, punishment (Did you really want to incur her wrath when 
she is known for inflicting the worst punishments legally possible?)
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yoke (v.) to join, link (We yoked together the logs by tying a string around them.)
Z
zealous (adj.) fervent, filled with eagerness in pursuit of something (If he were any 
more zealous about getting his promotion, he’d practically live at the office.)
zenith (n.) the highest point, culminating point (I was too nice to tell Nelly that she had 
reached the absolute zenith of her career with that one hit of hers.)
zephyr (n.) a gentle breeze (If not for the zephyrs that were blowing and cooling us, our 
room would’ve been unbearably hot.)