SAT Vocabulary Lesson 8
Words like conflagration, trepidation, and exacerbate — 25 challenging vocabulary words with definitions, exercises, and an answer key.
Word List with Definitions
Study these 25 vocabulary words. Each word includes its part of speech and definition. Use the printable worksheet to practice synonyms, antonyms, analogies, and sentence completion.
| Word | Part of Speech | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| anteroom | (n) | a smaller room that serves as an entry into a larger room |
| bauble | (n) | a worthless but attractive adornment |
| bureaucracy | (n) | government through administrative organizations or departments |
| condolence | (n) | sympathy for or acknowledgment of another’s pain or grief |
| conflagration | (n) | an extensive fire |
| denude | (v) | to remove covering |
| dissuade | (v) | to convince a person to abandon an action or belief |
| exacerbate | (v) | to make worse; to aggravate a problem or condition |
| ghastly | (adj) | having a horrible appearance |
| impetus | (n) | a factor that causes action |
| jaundice | (n) | a yellow discoloration of the skin and tissues caused by a medical condition, such as hepatitis |
| lenient | (adj) | tending to give a lesser punishment or penalty |
| myth | (n) | a fictional story told as true in a particular culture, often containing a moral or explaining natural phenomena through supernatural tales |
| navigate | (v) | to control the course and direction of a vessel or vehicle; to find a route, as with a map |
| omnivorous | (adj) | eating food from both animals and plants |
| pandemic | (adj) | widespread and pervasive; affecting everyone |
| perspective | (n) | a particular mental outlook or point of view |
| premonition | (n) | a prophetic feeling; an impression that an event, often a bad event, will happen in the future |
| ravine | (n) | a deep, long depression in the earth, as a canyon or gorge |
| reticent | (adj) | unwilling to speak; tending to be silent |
| shiftless | (adj) | lacking willingness or energy to accomplish anything |
| tacit | (adj) | not stated outright but understood |
| trepidation | (n) | a feeling of anxiety or uncertainty |
| veneer | (n) | a superficial, often deceptive, outer layer |
| zealot | (n) | a person who is fanatical or holds extreme and passionate views on a particular topic, especially a religion |
Practice Exercises
The printable worksheet includes four types of exercises to reinforce each word:
- Synonyms — Write the word from the list that means the same as the word given.
- Antonyms — Write the word from the list that means the opposite of the word given.
- Analogies — Choose the word that best completes the word-relationship pattern.
- Sentence Completion — Write the correct word to complete each sentence.
Printable Worksheet
The printable PDF includes the word list, all four exercises, and a full answer key.
SAT Vocabulary Quiz — Lesson 8
Test your knowledge of the Lesson 8 words. Select the best answer for each question and submit to see your score.
SAT Vocabulary Quiz — Lesson 8
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Which word means 'a large destructive fire'?
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Which word means 'fear or nervous apprehension'?
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Which word means 'reserved or unwilling to speak'?
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Which word means 'a driving force or stimulus'?
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Which word means 'to make worse or more severe'?