SAT Vocabulary Page 20

• necessary adj. Indispensably requisite or absolutely needed to accomplish a desired result.
• necessitate v. To render indispensable.
• necessity n. That which is indispensably requisite to an end desired.
• necrology n. A list of persons who have died in a certain place or time.
• necromancer n. One who practices the art of foretelling the future by means of communication with the dead.
• necropolis n. A city of the dead.
• necrosis n. the death of part of the body.
• nectar n. Any especially sweet and delicious drink.
• nectarine n. A variety of the peach.
• needlework n. Embroidery.
• needy adj. Being in need, want, or poverty.
• nefarious adj. Wicked in the extreme.
• negate v. To deny.
• negation n. The act of denying or of asserting the falsity of a proposition.
• neglectful adj. Exhibiting or indicating omission.
• negligee n. A loose gown worn by women.
• negligence n. Omission of that which ought to be done.
• negligent adj. Apt to omit what ought to be done.
• negligible adj. Transferable by assignment, endorsement, or delivery.
• negotiable v. To bargain with others for an agreement, as for a treaty or transfer of property.
• Nemesis n. A goddess; divinity of chastisement and vengeance.
• neocracy n. Government administered by new or untried persons.
• neo-Darwinsim n. Darwinism as modified and extended by more recent students.
• neo-Latin n. Modernized Latin.
• neopaganism n. A new or revived paganism.
• Neolithic adj. Pertaining to the later stone age.
• neology n. The coining or using of new words or new meanings of words.
• neophyte adj. Having the character of a beginner.
• nestle v. To adjust cozily in snug quarters.
• nestling adj. Recently hatched.
• nettle v. To excite sensations of uneasiness or displeasure in.
• network n. Anything that presents a system of cross- lines.
• neural adj. Pertaining to the nerves or nervous system.
• neurology n. The science of the nervous system.
• neuter adj. Neither masculine nor feminine.
• neutral adj. Belonging to or under control of neither of two contestants.
• nevertheless conj. Notwithstanding.
• Newtonian adj. Of or pertaining to Sir Isaac Newton, the English philosopher.
• niggardly adj. Stingy. (no longer acceptable to use)
• nihilist n. An advocate of the doctrine that nothing either exists or can be known.
• nil n. Nothing
• nimble adj. Light and quick in motion or action.
• nit n. The egg of a louse or some other insect.
• nocturnal adj. Of or pertaining to the night.
• noiseless adj. Silent.
• noisome adj. Very offensive, particularly to the sense of smell.
• noisy adj. Clamorous.
• nomad adj. Having no fixed abode.
• nomic adj. Usual or customary.
• nominal adj. Trivial.
• nominate v. To designate as a candidate for any office.
• nomination n. The act or ceremony of naming a man or woman for office.
• nominee n. One who receives a nomination.
• non-existent n. That which does not exist.
• non-resident adj. Not residing within a given jurisdiction.
• nonchalance n. A state of mind indicating lack of interest.
• non-combatant n. One attached to the army or navy, but having duties other than that of fighting.
• nondescript adj. Indescribable.
• nonentity n. A person or thing of little or no account.
• nonpareil n. One who or that which is of unequaled excellence.
• norm n. A model.
• normalcy n. The state of being normal.
• Norman adj. Of or peculiar to Normandy, in northern France.
• nostrum n. Any scheme or recipe of a charlatan character.
• noticeable adj. Perceptible.
• notorious adj. Unfavorably known to the general public.
• novellette n. A short novel.
• novice n. A beginner in any business or occupation.
• nowadays adv. In the present time or age.
• nowhere adv. In no place or state.
• noxious adj. Hurtful.
• nuance n. A slight degree of difference in anything perceptible to the sense of the mind.
• nucleus n. A central point or part about which matter is aggregated.
• nude adj. Naked.
• nugatory adj. Having no power or force.
• nuisance n. That which annoys, vexes, or irritates.
• numeration n. The act or art of reading or naming numbers.
• numerical adj. Of or pertaining to number.
• nunnery n. A convent for nuns.
• nuptial adj. Of or pertaining to marriage, especially to the marriage ceremony.
• nurture n. The process of fostering or promoting growth.
• nutriment n. That which nourishes.
• nutritive adj. Having nutritious properties.
• oaken adj. Made of or from oak.
• oakum n. Hemp-fiber obtained by untwisting and picking out loosely the yarns of old hemp rope.
• obdurate adj. Impassive to feelings of humanity or pity.
• obelisk n. A square shaft with pyramidal top, usually monumental or commemorative.
• obese adj. Exceedingly fat.
• obesity n. Excessive fatness.
• obituary adj. A published notice of a death.
• objective adj. Grasping and representing facts as they are.
• objector n. One who objects, as to a proposition, measure, or ruling.
• obligate v. To hold to the fulfillment of duty.
• obligatory adj. Binding in law or conscience.
• oblique adj. Slanting; said of lines.
• obliterate v. To cause to disappear.
• oblivion n. The state of having passed out of the memory or of being utterly forgotten.
• oblong adj. Longer than broad: applied most commonly to rectangular objects considerably elongated
• obnoxious adj. Detestable.
• obsequies n. Funeral rites.
• obsequious adj. Showing a servile readiness to fall in with the wishes or will of another.
• observance n. A traditional form or customary act.
• observant adj. Quick to notice.
• observatory n. A building designed for systematic astronomical observations.
• obsolescence n. The condition or process of gradually falling into disuse.
• obsolescent adj. Passing out of use, as a word.
• obsolete adj. No longer practiced or accepted.
• obstetrician n. A practitioner of midwifery.
• obstetrics n. The branch of medical science concerned with the treatment and care of women during
• pregnancy.
• obstinacy n. Stubborn adherence to opinion, arising from conceit or the desire to have one's own way.
• obstreperous adj. Boisterous.
• obstruct v. To fill with impediments so as to prevent passage, either wholly or in part.
• obstruction n. Hindrance.
• obtrude v. To be pushed or to push oneself into undue prominence.
• obtrusive adj. Tending to be pushed or to push oneself into undue prominence.
• obvert v. To turn the front or principal side of (a thing) toward any person or object.
• obviate v. To clear away or provide for, as an objection or difficulty.
• occasion n. An important event or celebration.
• Occident n. The countries lying west of Asia and the Turkish dominions.
• occlude v. To absorb, as a gas by a metal.
• occult adj. Existing but not immediately perceptible.
• occupant n. A tenant in possession of property, as distinguished from the actual owner.
• occurrence n. A happening.
• octagon n. A figure with eight sides and eight angles.
• octave n. A note at this interval above or below any other, considered in relation to that other.
• octavo n. A book, or collection of paper in which the sheets are so folded as to make eight leaves.
• octogenarian adj. A person of between eighty and ninety years.
• ocular adj. Of or pertaining to the eye.
• oculist n. One versed or skilled in treating diseases of the eye.
• oddity n. An eccentricity.
• ode n. The form of lyric poetry anciently intended to be sung.
• odious adj. Hateful.
• odium n. A feeling of extreme repugnance, or of dislike and disgust.
• odoriferous adj. Having or diffusing an odor or scent, especially an agreeable one.
• odorous adj. Having an odor, especially a fragrant one.
• off adj. Farther or more distant.
• offhand adv. Without preparation.
• officiate v. To act as an officer or leader.
• officious adj. Intermeddling with what is not one's concern.
• offshoot n. Something that branches off from the parent stock.
• ogre n. A demon or monster that was supposed to devour human beings.
• ointment n. A fatty preparation with a butter-like consistency in which a medicinal substance exists.
• olfactory adj. of or pertaining to the sense of smell.
• olive-branch n. A branch of the olive-tree, as an emblem of peace.
• ominous adj. Portentous.
• omission n. Exclusion.
• omnipotence n. Unlimited and universal power.
• Omnipotent adj. Possessed of unlimited and universal power.
• omniscience n. Unlimited or infinite knowledge.
• omniscient adj. Characterized by unlimited or infinite knowledge.
• omnivorous adj. Eating or living upon food of all kinds indiscriminately.
• onerous adj. Burdensome or oppressive.
• onrush n. Onset.
• onset n. An assault, especially of troops, upon an enemy or fortification.
• onslaught n. A violent onset.
• onus n. A burden or responsibility.
• opalescence n. The property of combined refraction and reflection of light, resulting in smoky tints.
• opaque adj. Impervious to light.
• operate v. To put in action and supervise the working of.
• operative adj. Active.
• operator n. One who works with or controls some machine or scientific apparatus.
• operetta n. A humorous play in dialogue and music, of more than one act