SAT ACT Words of the Day

muzzle  
n.  the open end of the barrel of a firearm
temple  
n. the flat area on either side of the forehead
Only when I pressed the cold muzzle of the revolver to his temple did he at last understand that resistance was vain.

sardonic  
a. disdainfully or ironically humorous; scornful and mocking
ascetic  
a. pertaining to practice of rigorous self-discipline
gloom  
n. a state of partial or total darkness
bode  
v. indicate by signs
The sardonic smile which occasionally broke through his ascetic gloom boded little good for the object of our quest.

tide waiter  
n. a customs inspector at a seaport
monger  
n. someone who purchases and maintains an inventory of goods to be sold
Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a fish monger and a tide waiter.

woo  
v. seek someone's favor
deprive  
v. take away possessions from someone
After all the trouble of wooing and wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of fortune.

frenzy  
n. a state or period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behavior
tirade  
n. a long, angry speech of criticism or accusation
He would whip them into a frenzy with tirades against blacks and their traitorous white sympathizers.

gibe  
n. being compatible, similar or consistent
sneer  
n. a contemptuous or scornful remark
Henever spoke of the softer passions with a gibe and a sneer.

cronyism  
n. appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications
stain  
n. a colored patch or dirty mark that is difficult to remove
taint  
v. contaminate or pollute something
Finally our state would have a chance to move beyond the scars of Little Rock and the stains of cronyism that also tainted his later years.

socialite  
n. a person who is well known in fashionable society and is fond of social activities
dilettante  
n. a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real knowledge
After distinguished service in World War II, he married a New York socialite and reacquired his reputation as a hard-partying dilettante.

grudge  
n. a persistent feeling of ill will or resentment
handed-down  
a. passed on to a later generation or age
The visible manifestation of how real a century-old conflict was in places where time passed slowly, grudges died hard, and handed-down memories hung on and on.

hairdo  
n. style of a person's hair
crew cut  
n. a very short haircut for men and boys
He had a ducktail hairdo, crew cut on top, long hair greased back on the sides.

in full swing  
ad. in full operation, at the highest level of activity
homeroom  
n. a classroom in which a group of students assembles daily with the same teacher
In September 1960, the presidential campaign was in full swing; my homeroom and English teacher was also from Hope and, like me, a Democrat.

illusion  
n. a thing that is or is likely to be wrongly perceived or interpreted
bite the dust  
v. fall so that your body hits the ground heavily, die, end in failure
I always thought I was good at math until I had to give up helping Chelsea with her homework when she was in ninth grade; an illusion bites the dust.

shackle  
n. something that confines the legs or arms
segregation  
n. action or state of setting someone or something apart from others
In that late summer of 1957, they helped to set all of us, white and black alike, free from the dark shackles of segregation and discrimination.

obscene  
n. offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency