SAT Vocabulary Page 21

• opinion n. A conclusion or judgment held with confidence, but falling short of positive knowledge.
• opponent n. One who supports the opposite side in a debate, discussion, struggle, or sport.
• opportune adj. Especially fit as occurring, said, or done at the right moment.
• opportunist n. One who takes advantage of circumstances to gain his ends.
• opportunity n. Favorable or advantageous chance or opening.
• opposite adj. Radically different or contrary in action or movement.
• opprobrium n. The state of being scornfully reproached or accused of evil.
• optic n. Pertaining to the eye or vision.
• optician n. One who makes or deals in optical instruments or eye-glasses.
• optics n. The science that treats of light and vision, and all that is connected with sight.
• optimism n. The view that everything in nature and the history of mankind is ordered for the best.
• option n. The right, power, or liberty of choosing.
• optometry n. Measurement of the powers of vision.
• opulence n. Affluence.
• opulent adj. Wealthy.
• oral adj. Uttered through the mouth.
• orate v. To deliver an elaborate or formal public speech.
• oration n. An elaborate or formal public speech.
• orator n. One who delivers an elaborate or formal speech.
• oratorio n. A composition for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, generally taken from the Scriptures.
• oratory n. The art of public speaking.
• ordeal n. Anything that severely tests courage, strength, patience, conscience, etc.
• ordinal n. That form of the numeral that shows the order of anything in a series, as first, second, third.
• ordination n. A consecration to the ministry.
• ordnance n. A general name for all kinds of weapons and their appliances used in war.
• orgies n. Wild or wanton revelry.
• origin n. The beginning of that which becomes or is made to be.
• original adj. Not copied nor produced by imitation.
• originate v. To cause or constitute the beginning or first stage of the existence of.
• ornate adj. Ornamented to a marked degree.
• orthodox adj. Holding the commonly accepted faith.
• orthodoxy n. Acceptance of the common faith.
• orthogonal adj. Having or determined by right angles.
• orthopedic adj. Relating to the correcting or preventing of deformity
• orthopedist n. One who practices the correcting or preventing of deformity
• oscillate v. To swing back and forth.
• osculate v. To kiss.
• ossify v. to convert into bone.
• ostentation n. A display dictated by vanity and intended to invite applause or flattery.
• ostracism n. Exclusion from intercourse or favor, as in society or politics.
• ostracize v. To exclude from public or private favor.
• ought v. To be under moral obligation to be or do.
• oust v. To eject.
• out-and-out adv. Genuinely.
• outbreak n. A sudden and violent breaking forth, as of something that has been pent up or restrained.
• outburst n. A violent issue, especially of passion in an individual.
• outcast n. One rejected and despised, especially socially.
• outcry n. A vehement or loud cry or clamor.
• outdo v. To surpass.
• outlandish adj. Of barbarous, uncouth, and unfamiliar aspect or action.
• outlast v. To last longer than.
• outlaw n. A habitual lawbreaker.
• outlive v. To continue to exist after.
• out-of-the-way adj. Remotely situated.
• outpost n. A detachment of troops stationed at a distance from the main body to guard against surprise.
• outrage n. A gross infringement of morality or decency.
• outrageous adj. Shocking in conduct.
• outreach v. To reach or go beyond.
• outride v. To ride faster than.
• outrigger n. A part built or arranged to project beyond a natural outline for support.
• outright adv. Entirely.
• outskirt n. A border region.
• outstretch v. To extend.
• outstrip v. To go beyond.
• outweigh v. To surpass in importance or excellence.
• overdo v. To overtax the strength of.
• overdose n. An excessive dose, usually so large a dose of a medicine that its effect is toxic.
• overeat v. To eat to excess.
• overhang n. A portion of a structure which projects or hangs over.
• overleap v. To leap beyond.
• overlord n. One who holds supremacy over another.
• overpass v. To pass across or over, as a river.
• overpay v. To pay or reward in excess.
• overpower v. To gain supremacy or victory over by superior power.
• overproduction n. Excessive production.
• overreach v. To stretch out too far.
• overrun v. To infest or ravage.
• oversee v. To superintend.
• overseer n. A supervisor.
• overshadow v. To cast into the shade or render insignificant by comparison.
• overstride v. To step beyond.
• overthrow v. To vanquish an established ruler or government.
• overtone n. A harmonic.
• overture n. An instrumental prelude to an opera, oratorio, or ballet.
• overweight n. Preponderance.
• pacify v. To bring into a peaceful state.
• packet n. A bundle, as of letters.
• pact n. A covenant.
• pagan n. A worshiper of false gods.
• pageant n. A dramatic representation, especially a spectacular one.
• palate n. The roof of the mouth.
• palatial adj. Magnificent.
• paleontology n. The branch of biology that treats of ancient life and fossil organisms.
• palette n. A thin tablet, with a hole for the thumb, upon which artists lay their colors for painting.
• palinode n. A retraction.
• pall v. To make dull by satiety.
• palliate v. To cause to appear less guilty.
• pallid adj. Of a pale or wan appearance.
• palpable n. perceptible by feeling or touch.
• palsy n. Paralysis.
• paly adj. Lacking color or brilliancy.
• pamphlet n. A brief treatise or essay, usually on a subject of current interest.
• pamphleteer v. To compose or issue pamphlets, especially controversial ones.
• panacea n. A remedy or medicine proposed for or professing to cure all diseases.
• Pan-American adj. Including or pertaining to the whole of America, both North and South.
• pandemic adj. Affecting a whole people or all classes, as a disease.
• pandemonium n. A fiendish or riotous uproar.
• panegyric n. A formal and elaborate eulogy, written or spoken, of a person or of an act.
• panel n. A rectangular piece set in or as in a frame.
• panic n. A sudden, unreasonable, overpowering fear.
• panoply n. A full set of armor.
• panorama n. A series of large pictures representing a continuous scene.
• pantheism n. The worship of nature for itself or its beauty.
• Pantheon n. A circular temple at Rome with a fine Corinthian portico and a great domed roof.
• pantomime n. Sign-language.
• pantoscope n. A very wide-angled photographic lens.
• papacy n. The official head of the Roman Catholic Church.
• papyrus n. The writing-paper of the ancient Egyptians, and later of the Romans.
• parable n. A brief narrative founded on real scenes or events usually with a moral.
• paradox n. A statement or doctrine seemingly in contradiction to the received belief.
• paragon n. A model of excellence.
• parallel v. To cause to correspond or lie in the same direction and equidistant in all parts.
• parallelism n. Essential likeness.
• paralysis n. Loss of the power of contractility in the voluntary or involuntary muscles.
• paralyze v. To deprive of the power to act.
• paramount adj. Supreme in authority.
• paramour n. One who is unlawfully and immorally a lover or a mistress.
• paraphernalia n. Miscellaneous articles of equipment or adornment.
• paraphrase v. Translate freely.
• pare v. To cut, shave, or remove (the outside) from anything.
• parentage n. The relation of parent to child, of the producer to the produced, or of cause to effect.
• Pariah n. A member of a degraded class; a social outcast.
• parish n. The ecclesiastical district in charge of a pastor.
• Parisian adj. Of or pertaining to the city of Paris.
• parity n. Equality, as of condition or rank.
• parlance n. Mode of speech.
• parley v. To converse in.
• parliament n. A legislative body.
• parlor n. A room for reception of callers or entertainment of guests.
• parody v. To render ludicrous by imitating the language of.
• paronymous adj. Derived from the same root or primitive word.
• paroxysm n. A sudden outburst of any kind of activity.
• parricide n. The murder of a parent.
• parse v. To describe, as a sentence, by separating it into its elements and describing each word.
• parsimonious adj. Unduly sparing in the use or expenditure of money.
• partible adj. Separable.
• participant n. One having a share or part.
• participate v. To receive or have a part or share of.
• partition n. That which separates anything into distinct parts.
• partisan adj. Characterized by or exhibiting undue or unreasoning devotion to a party.
• passible adj. Capable of feeling of suffering.
• passive adj. Unresponsive.
• pastoral adj. Having the spirit or sentiment of rural life.
• paternal adj. Fatherly.
• paternity n. Fatherhood.
• pathos n. The quality in any form of representation that rouses emotion or sympathy.
• patriarch n. The chief of a tribe or race who rules by paternal right.
• patrician adj. Of senatorial or noble rank.
• patrimony n. An inheritance from an ancestor, especially from one's father.
• patriotism n. Love and devotion to one's country.
• patronize v. To exercise an arrogant condescension toward.
• patronymic adj. Formed after one's father's name.