SAT Vocabulary Page 22

• patter v. To mumble something over and over.
• paucity n. Fewness.
• pauper n. One without means of support.
• pauperism n. Dependence on charity.
• pavilion n. An open structure for temporary shelter.
• payee n. A person to whom money has been or is to be paid.
• peaceable adj. Tranquil.
• peaceful adj. Tranquil.
• peccable adj. Capable of sinning.
• peccadillo n. A small breach of propriety or principle.
• peccant adj. Guilty.
• pectoral adj. Pertaining to the breast or thorax.
• pecuniary adj. Consisting of money.
• pedagogics n. The science and art of teaching.
• pedagogue n. A schoolmaster.
• pedagogy n. The science and art of teaching
• pedal n. A lever for the foot usually applied only to musical instruments, cycles, and other machines.
• pedant n. A scholar who makes needless and inopportune display of his learning.
• peddle v. To go about with a small stock of goods to sell.
• pedestal n. A base or support as for a column, statue, or vase.
• pedestrian n. One who journeys on foot.
• pediatrics n. The department of medical science that relates to the treatment of diseases of childhood.
• pedigree n. One's line of ancestors.
• peddler n. One who travels from house to house with an assortment of goods for retail.
• peerage n. The nobility.
• peerless adj. Of unequaled excellence or worth.
• peevish adj. Petulant. (irritable)
• pellucid adj. Translucent.
• penalty n. The consequences that follow the transgression of natural or divine law.
• penance n. Punishment to which one voluntarily submits or subjects himself as an expression of
• penitence.
• penchant n. A bias in favor of something.
• pendant n. Anything that hangs from something else, either for ornament or for use.
• pendulous adj. Hanging, especially so as to swing by an attached end or part.
• pendulum n. A weight hung on a rod, serving by its oscillation to regulate the rate of a clock.
• penetrable adj. That may be pierced by physical, moral, or intellectual force.
• penetrate v. To enter or force a way into the interior parts of.
• penetration n. Discernment.
• peninsular adj. Pertaining to a piece of land almost surrounded by water.
• penitence n. Sorrow for sin with desire to amend and to atone.
• penitential adj. Pertaining to sorrow for sin with desire to amend and to atone.
• pennant n. A small flag.
• pension n. A periodical allowance to an individual on account of past service done by him/her.
• pentagram n. A figure having five points or lobes.
• pentavalent adj. Quinqeuvalent.
• pentad n. The number five.
• pentagon n. A figure, especially, with five angles and five sides.
• pentahedron n. A solid bounded by five plane faces.
• pentameter n. In prosody, a line of verse containing five units or feet.
• pentathlon n. The contest of five associated exercises in the great games and the same contestants.
• penultimate adj. A syllable or member of a series that is last but one.
• penurious adj. Excessively sparing in the use of money.
• penury n. Indigence.
• perambulate v. To walk about.
• perceive v. To have knowledge of, or receive impressions concerning, through the medium of the body senses.
• perceptible adj. Cognizable.
• perception n. Knowledge through the senses of the existence and properties of matter or the external world.
• percipience n. The act of perceiving.
• percipient n. One who or that which perceives.
• percolate v. To filter.
• percolator n. A filter.
• percussion n. The sharp striking of one body against another.
• peremptory adj. Precluding question or appeal.
• perennial adj. Continuing though the year or through many years.
• perfectible adj. Capable of being made perfect.
• perfidy n. Treachery.
• perforate v. To make a hole or holes through.
• perform v. To accomplish.
• perfumery n. The preparation of perfumes.
• perfunctory adj. Half-hearted.
• perhaps adv. Possibly.
• perigee n. The point in the orbit of the moon when it is nearest the earth.
• periodicity n. The habit or characteristic of recurrence at regular intervals.
• peripatetic adj. Walking about.
• perjure v. To swear falsely to.
• perjury n. A solemn assertion of a falsity.
• permanence n. A continuance in the same state, or without any change that destroys the essential form or nature.
• permanent adj. Durable.
• permeate v. To pervade.
• permissible adj. That may be allowed.
• permutation n. Reciprocal change, different ordering of same items.
• pernicious adj. Tending to kill or hurt.
• perpendicular adj. Straight up and down.
• perpetrator n. The doer of a wrong or a criminal act.
• perpetuate v. To preserve from extinction or oblivion.
• perquisite n. Any profit from service beyond the amount fixed as salary or wages.
• persecution n. Harsh or malignant oppression.
• perseverance n. A persistence in purpose and effort.
• persevere v. To continue striving in spite of discouragements.
• persiflage n. Banter.
• persist v. To continue steadfast against opposition.
• persistence n. A fixed adherence to a resolve, course of conduct, or the like.
• personage n. A man or woman as an individual, especially one of rank or high station.
• personal adj. Not general or public.
• personality n. The attributes, taken collectively, that make up the character and nature of an individual.
• personnel n. The force of persons collectively employed in some service.
• perspective n. The relative importance of facts or matters from any special point of view.
• perspicacious adj. Astute.
• perspicacity n. Acuteness or discernment.
• perspicuous adj. Lucid.
• perspiration n. Sweat.
• perspire v. To excrete through the pores of the skin.
• persuade v. To win the mind of by argument, eloquence, evidence, or reflection.
• persuadable adj. capable of influencing to action by entreaty, statement, or anything that moves the
• feelings.
• pertinacious adj. Persistent or unyielding.
• pertinacity n. Unyielding adherence.
• pertinent adj. Relevant.
• perturb v. To disturb greatly.
• perturbation n. Mental excitement or confusion.
• perusal n. The act of reading carefully or thoughtfully.
• pervade v. To pass or spread through every part.
• pervasion n. The state of spreading through every part.
• pervasive adj. Thoroughly penetrating or permeating.
• perverse adj. Unreasonable.
• perversion n. Diversion from the true meaning or proper purpose.
• perversity n. Wickedness.
• pervert n. One who has forsaken a doctrine regarded as true for one esteemed false.
• pervious adj. Admitting the entrance or passage of another substance.
• pestilence n. A raging epidemic.
• pestilent adj. Having a malign influence or effect.
• pestilential adj. having the nature of or breeding pestilence.
• peter v. To fail or lose power, efficiency, or value.
• petrify v. To convert into a substance of stony hardness and character.
• petulance n. The character or condition of being impatient, capricious or petulant.
• petulant adj. Displaying impatience.
• pharmacopoeia n. A book containing the formulas and methods of preparation of medicines for the use of druggists.
• pharmacy n. The art or business of compounding and dispensing medicines.
• phenomenal adj. Extraordinary or marvelous.
• phenomenon n. Any unusual occurrence.
• philander v. To play at courtship with a woman.
• philanthropic adj. Benevolent.
• philanthropist n. One who endeavors to help his fellow men.
• philanthropy n. Active humanitarianism.
• philately n. The study and collection of stamps.
• philharmonic adj. Fond of music.
• philogynist n. One who is fond of women.
• philologist n. An expert in linguistics.
• philology n. The study of language in connection with history and literature.
• philosophize v. To seek ultimate causes and principles.
• philosophy n. The general principles, laws, or causes that furnish the rational explanation of anything.
• phlegmatic adj. Not easily roused to feeling or action.
• phonetic adj. Representing articulate sounds or speech.
• phonic adj. Pertaining to the nature of sound.
• phonogram n. A graphic character symbolizing an articulate sound.
• phonology n. The science of human vocal sounds.
• phosphorescence n. The property of emitting light.
• photoelectric adj. Pertaining to the combined action of light and electricity.
• photometer n. Any instrument for measuring the intensity of light or comparing the intensity of two lights.
• photometry n. The art of measuring the intensity of light.
• physicist n. A specialist in the science that treats of the phenomena associated with matter and energy.
• physics n. The science that treats of the phenomena associated with matter and energy.
• physiocracy n. The doctrine that land and its products are the only true wealth.
• physiognomy n. The external appearance merely.
• physiography n. Description of nature.
• physiology n. The science of organic functions.
• physique n. The physical structure or organization of a person.
• picayune adj. Of small value.
• piccolo n. A small flute.
• piece n. A loose or separated part, as distinguished from the whole or the mass.
• piecemeal adv. Gradually.
• pillage n. Open robbery, as in war.