SAT Vocab. Lesson 10

• Pg. 93

Quiz on Friday, Jan.9th

fallible (adj.)capable of error; imperfect

All humans are fallible and sometimes make mistakes.

blatant (adj.)obvious; deliberate; unconcealed

His blatant efforts to get the girl’s attention were embarrassing to everyone.

dawdle (verb)to waste time; tarry; loiter

Bill, not wanting to go back to work, dawdled in the break room.

affiliate (noun)an associate; a partner; a colleague

He denied that he was an affiliate of any organized-crime families.

fawn (verb)to act slavishly submissive; grovel

The young dancers fawned over the master of the ball and longed to be his partner.

calumny (noun)a false & malicious accusation; slander; slur

The candidate said that the accusation against him was a calumny meant to damage his reputation.

berate (verb)to scold or rebuke severely and at length;

reprimand; admonish

The coach berated the three players for arriving at the game late.

minion (noun)a fawning, servile follower; lackey

The bully’s minions obeyed him not out of loyalty, but out of fear.

desolate (adj.)lonely; forlorn; uninhabited; barren

The castaway spent four years on a desolate island, many miles from the mainland.

bane (noun)the cause of ruin, harm, distress or death; blight;

curse

The bane of the defeated alien invaders turned out to be the common cold.

pacify (verb)to calm down; appease; placate

Grandmother was able to pacify the irritable baby.

garble (verb)to mix up or distort; jumble; corrupt

Jill’s speech would have been good if she had not garbled the facts.

"I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009

"I've been in the Bible every day since I've been the president." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 2008

prevaricate (verb)to lie; hedge

When asked about the crime, Jim prevaricated because he did not want to incriminate his friend.

filch (verb)to steal; pilfer; pinch

The woman filched my purse when I left the room to answer the telephone.

neophyte (noun)a beginner; a novice; an amateur

Though Sara was a neophyte at golf, she outplayed most of the veterans.

Exercise I – Words in Context p. 94

1. To avoid prosecution, the crime boss relied

on his _ to do his dirty work for him. The

_______ of the organization knew that if they

were arrested, they took the fall alone;

however, the boss’s overconfidence in his

associates proved to be his _____ when Knox, a

hit man, testified against him in court.

The boss claimed, of course, that the

testimony was merely a spiteful

______ designed to embarrass him;

however, the boss could not

__________ cleverly enough to

convince the jury that he was

innocent.

2. Gina couldn’t stand her friend’s

______ attempt to get Lonnie to ask

her to the dance. For weeks, Jamie

_______ Lonnie, even though he

barely recognized her when they

passed in the hall. Occasionally, Gina

______ her friend for being so foolish.

“Don’t _______ by waiting for him,”

Gina would say. “The dance is tomorrow;

ask someone you actually know.” Jamie

usually got angry when Gina lectured her.

“Will you leave me alone, please?” Gina

often replied. “I’m almost ready to take my

dog to the dance just to ________ your

nagging.”

3. “Even the most experienced hikers are

______ in climates as harsh as this one,”

said the desert guide as he turned and

squinted at the miles of ________ sand

dunes that stretched ahead on the

horizon. “If there’s one message that I

can’t ______ , it’s to bring plenty of water.

You _________ who haven’t hiked in the

desert before will soon learn that once

you’re out there in the dunes, water is

nonexistent. What you manage to

_________ from the various plants or from

beneath the ground will not be enough to

sustain you.”

p. 96 Homework:Exercise II – Sentence Completion

1. Affiliates of the organization were invited to

2. Craig garbles his speech when . . .

3. I’m just a neophyte at this card game, so please. . .

4. In a small town, spreading calumny about someone could . . .

5. That sports car is bound to be your bane if you continue to . . .

6. The desolate barn was the perfect place for . . .

7. If you dawdle all night, you won’t . . .

8. The cab driver berated the pedestrian who . . .

9. Nicole learned that even computers can be fallible when she . . .

10. Some of the fans at the concert fawned over

. . .

11. The pickpocket must have filched my wallet when he . . .

12. When asked by his wife how the new dress fit, Randy prevaricated because he thought . . .

13. Neil was asked to leave the restaurant after his blatant attempt to . . .

14. The crooked government official was never arrested because it was his minions who

. . .

15. Jenny had to pacify her dog after it . . .