This is the first in a series of posts that pulls vocabulary from pop culture. Words appearing frequently on the SAT, ACT, GRE, and AP English Language and Literature tests are highlighted in red.
Bereft: deprived of or lacking something, especially a nonmaterial asset.
Passion: an intense desire or enthusiasm for something.
Plodding: slow-moving and unexciting.
Incredible: difficult to believe; extraordinary.
Pedantic: overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, especially in teaching.
Surreptitious: kept secret, especially because it would not be approved of.
Assimilate: take in (information, ideas, or culture) and understand fully.
Dispassionate: not influenced by strong emotion, and so able to be rational and impartial.
Dismiss: treat as unworthy of serious consideration.
Continuum: a continuous sequence in which adjacent elements are not perceptibly different from each other, although the extremes are quite distinct.
Omnipotent: (of a deity) having unlimited power; able to do anything.
Futile: incapable of producing any useful result; pointless.
Ruse: an action intended to deceive someone; a trick.
Dispose: get rid of by throwing away or giving or selling to someone else.
Aphrodisiac: a food, drink, or drug that stimulates sexual desire.
Vindicate: show or prove to be right, reasonable, or justified.
Vile: extremely unpleasant.
Insidious: proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects. treacherous; crafty.
Impetuous: acting or done quickly and without thought or care.
Sentient: able to perceive or feel things.
Consciousness: the fact of awareness by the mind of itself and the world.
Hearing: an opportunity to state one's case.
Engineering: the branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of engines, machines, and structures.
Curiosity: a strange or unusual object or fact.
Degree: the amount, level, or extent to which something happens or is present.
Crucible: a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. A situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new.
Irrelevancy: The quality of being irrelevant or inapplicable; lack of pertinence or connection.
Replicate: make an exact copy of; reproduce.
Reveal: make (previously unknown or secret information) known to others.
Significant: sufficiently great or important to be worthy of attention; noteworthy.
Savage: (of an animal or force of nature) fierce, violent, and uncontrolled.
Curtail: reduce in extent or quantity; impose a restriction on.
Servitude: the state of being a slave or completely subject to someone more powerful.
Seek: attempt to find (something).
Metaphysics: the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.
Saint: a person acknowledged as holy or virtuous and typically regarded as being in heaven after death.
Soul: the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.
Ruling: an authoritative decision or pronouncement, especially one made by a judge.
Propose: put forward (an idea or plan) for consideration or discussion by others.
Intriguing: arousing one's curiosity or interest; fascinating.
Redoubtable: (of a person) formidable, especially as an opponent.
Macro: large-scale; overall.
Micro: extremely small.
Proposal: a plan or suggestion, especially a formal or written one, put forward for consideration or discussion by others.
Subject: dependent or conditional upon
Sieze: take hold of suddenly and forcibly.
Convict: declare (someone) to be guilty of a criminal offense by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law
Savage: (chiefly in historical or literary contexts) a member of a people regarded as primitive and uncivilized.
Accustomed: customary or usual
Privilege: a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.
Reflect: think deeply or carefully about.
Strut: walk with a stiff, erect, and apparently arrogant or conceited gait
Fury: violence or energy displayed in natural phenomena or in someone's actions.
Signify: be a symbol of; have as meaning.
Irony: a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.
Conviction: a firmly held belief or opinion.
Piece: an instance or example.
Work: something done or made.
Noble: of excellent or superior quality.
Reason: the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic.
Infinite: limitless or endless in space, extent, or size; impossible to measure or calculate.
Faculty: an inherent mental or physical power
Form: the visible shape or configuration of something.
Express: (of a likeness) exact.
Action: a manner or style of doing something, typically the way in which a mechanism works or a person moves.
Angel: a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant, agent, or messenger of God, conventionally represented in human form with wings and a long robe.
Apprehension: understanding; grasp.
Concern: worry (someone); make anxious.
Just: based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair.
Idle: without purpose or effect; pointless.
Extend: hold (something) out toward someone.
Question: feel or express doubt about; raise objections to.
Censor: examine (a book, movie, etc.) officially and suppress unacceptable parts of it.
vs. Censure (commonly confused with Censor): express severe disapproval of (someone or something), typically in a formal statement.
Irrevocable: not able to be changed, reversed, or recovered; final.
Tread: crush or flatten something with the feet.
Consort: habitually associate with (someone), typically with the disapproval of others.
Invoke: cite or appeal to (someone or something) as an authority for an action or in support of an argument.
Subvert: undermine the power and authority of (an established system or institution).
Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
Principle: morally correct behavior and attitudes.
Undermine: damage or weaken (someone or something), especially gradually or insidiously.
Recess: a period of time when the proceedings of a parliament, committee, court of law, or other official body are temporarily suspended.
Infer: deduce or conclude (information) from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements.
Heretic: a person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted.
Villian: (in a film, novel, or play) a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot.
Climate: the prevailing trend of public opinion or of another aspect of public life.
Righteousness: the quality of being morally right or justifiable.
Vigilance: the action or state of keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties.
Incorporate: take in or contain (something) as part of a whole; include.
Identify: establish or indicate who or what (someone or something) is.
Inevitable: certain to happen; unavoidable.
Dispute: a disagreement, argument, or debate.
Arbiter: a person who settles a dispute or has ultimate authority in a matter.
Succession: the right or sequence of inheriting a position, title, etc.
Mediation: intervention in a dispute in order to resolve it; arbitration.
Challenger: a person who disputes the truth of or places themselves in opposition to something.
Conspire: make secret plans jointly to commit an unlawful or harmful act.
Strip: deprive someone of (rank, power, or property).
Epitaph: a phrase or statement written in memory of a person who has died, especially as an inscription on a tombstone.
Leer: an unpleasant, malicious, or lascivious look.
Lascivious: (of a person, manner, or gesture) feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire.
Fever: a state of nervous excitement or agitation.
Long: have a strong wish or desire.
Faith: a strongly held belief or theory.
Despise: feel contempt or a deep repugnance for.
Dote: be extremely and uncritically fond of.
In spite of: despite, although, even though.
Temperate: relating to or denoting a region or climate characterized by mild temperatures.
Insane: shocking; outrageous.
Possess: have as belonging to one; own.
Pluck: take hold of (something) and quickly remove it from its place; pick.
Vital: full of energy; lively.
Fool: a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person.
Incident: an event or occurrence.
Adjutant: a military officer who acts as an administrative assistant to a senior officer.
Diplomatic: of or concerning the profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations.
Delegation: a body of delegates or representatives; a deputation.
Cloak: hide, cover, or disguise (something).
Repercussion: an unintended consequence occurring some time after an event or action, especially an unwelcome one.
Quadrant: each of four quarters of a circle.
Immense: extremely large or great, especially in scale or degree.
Gratify: give (someone) pleasure or satisfaction.
Prosper: succeed in material terms; be financially successful.
Tribute: something resulting from something else and indicating its worth.
Astute: having or showing an ability to accurately assess situations or people and turn this to one's advantage.
Movement: a group of people working together to advance their shared political, social, or artistic ideas.
Purge: remove a group of undesirable people from (an organization or place) in an abrupt or violent way.
Ravishing: delightful; entrancing.
Suffice: be enough or adequate.
Treason: the crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government.
Bluster: talk in a loud, aggressive, or indignant way with little effect.
Pity: a cause for regret or disappointment.
Motivation: the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.
Quarrel: an angry argument or disagreement, typically between people who are usually on good terms.
Charge; accuse (someone) of something, especially an offense under law.
Ridicule: subject (someone or something) to contemptuous and dismissive language or behavior.
Penal: relating to, used for, or prescribing the punishment of offenders under the legal system.
Resin: a solid or liquid synthetic organic polymer used as the basis of plastics, adhesives, varnishes, or other products.
Uninhabitable: (of a place) unsuitable for living in.
Pride: a person or thing that is the object or source of a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction. the best state or condition of something; the prime.
Service: the armed forces.
Vendetta: a prolonged bitter quarrel with or campaign against someone.
Paradox: a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.
Orb: a spherical body; a globe.
Sacred: connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration.
Prophecy: a prediction.
Genuine: truly what something is said to be; authentic.
Secure: protect against threats; make safe.
Barbarian: (in ancient times) a member of a community or tribe not belonging to one of the great civilizations (Greek, Roman, Christian).
Touch: a small amount; a trace.
Lilac: a Eurasian shrub or small tree of the olive family, that has fragrant violet, pink, or white blossoms and is widely cultivated as an ornamental.
Radiation: the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles that cause ionization.
Menace: a person or thing that causes trouble or annoyance.
Creature: an animal, as distinct from a human being.
Consume: eat, drink, or ingest (food or drink).
Mortal: (of an enemy or a state of hostility) admitting or allowing no reconciliation until death.
Aramada: a fleet of warships.
Obliterate: destroy utterly; wipe out.
Eradicate: destroy completely; put an end to.
Face: confront and deal with or accept.
Destined: certain to meet (a particular fate).
Transport: take or carry (people or goods) from one place to another by means of a vehicle, aircraft, or ship.
Salvage: retrieve or preserve (something) from potential loss or adverse circumstances.
Plasma: an ionized gas consisting of positive ions and free electrons in proportions resulting in more or less no overall electric charge, typically at low pressures (as in the upper atmosphere and in fluorescent lamps) or at very high temperatures (as in stars and nuclear fusion reactors).
Manifold: a pipe or chamber branching into several openings.
Inquest: a judicial inquiry to ascertain the facts relating to an incident, such as a death.
Hologram: a three-dimensional image formed by the interference of light beams from a laser or other coherent light source.
Specialty: a product, especially a type of food, that a person or region is famous for making well.
Cross: oppose or stand in the way of (someone).
Quarters: rooms or lodgings, especially those allocated to people in military or domestic service.
Giga: a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of a (short-form) billion (109 or 1000000000). It has the symbol G. Giga is derived from the Greek word γίγας, meaning "giant".
Appreciative: feeling or showing gratitude or pleasure.
Regent: a person appointed to administer a country because the monarch is a minor or is absent or incapacitated.
Existential: concerned with existence, especially human existence as viewed in the theories of existentialism.
Existentialism: a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.
Course: a dish, or a set of dishes served together, forming one of the successive parts of a meal.
Open: establish (a new business, movement, or enterprise).
Implicit: with no qualification or question; absolute.
Consideration: a fact or a motive taken into account in deciding or judging something.
Ideal: a standard of perfection; a principle to be aimed at.
Perceptive: having or showing sensitive insight.
Prion: a protein particle that is believed to be the cause of brain diseases such as BSE, scrapie, and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Prions are not visible microscopically, contain no nucleic acid, and are highly resistant to destruction.
Mutagen: an agent, such as radiation or a chemical substance, that causes genetic mutation.
Retrovirus: any of a group of RNA viruses that insert a DNA copy of their genome into the host cell in order to replicate, e.g., HIV.
Jocularity: given to, characterized by, intended for, or suited to joking or jesting; waggish; facetious: jocular remarks about opera stars.
Conscience: an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior.
Fanatical: filled with excessive and single-minded zeal.
Pariah: an outcast.
Pretentious: attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.
Emissary: a person sent on a special mission, usually as a diplomatic representative.
Administration: the officials in the executive branch of government under a particular chief executive.
Autonomy: freedom from external control or influence; independence.
Justify: show or prove to be right or reasonable.
Extradite: hand over (a person accused or convicted of a crime) to the jurisdiction of the foreign state in which the crime was committed.
Cause: a principle, aim, or movement that, because of a deep commitment, one is prepared to defend or advocate.
Subtle: making use of clever and indirect methods to achieve something.
Innuendo: an allusive or oblique remark or hint, typically a suggestive or disparaging one.
Grueling: extremely tiring and demanding.
Intoxicating: exhilarating or exciting.
Breast: the chest of a bird or mammal.
Totter: move in a feeble or unsteady way.
Irregular: contrary to the rules or to that which is normal or established.
Proceed: move forward, especially after reaching a certain point.
Temporal: relating to time.
Prime: of first importance; main.
Directive: an official or authoritative instruction.
Grave: giving cause for alarm; serious.
Plausible: (of an argument or statement) seeming reasonable or probable.
Inversion: a reversal of the normal decrease of air temperature with altitude, or of water temperature with depth.
Modulate: alter the amplitude or frequency of (an electromagnetic wave or other oscillation) in accordance with the variations of a second signal, typically one of a lower frequency.
Incursion: an invasion or attack, especially a sudden or brief one.
Reintegrated: restore (elements regarded as disparate) to unity.
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