SAT High Frequency Words : 101-110

1. Digression N. wandering away from the subject. Nobody minded when Professor Renoir’s lectures wandered away from their official theme; his digressions were always more fascinating than the topic of the day.
2. Diligence N. steadiness of effort; persistent hard work. Her employers were greatly impressed by her diligence and offered her a partnership in the firm.
3. Diminution N. lessening; reduction in size. Old Jack was as sharp at eighty as he had been at fifty; increasing age led to no diminution of his mental acuity.
4. Discerning ADJ. mentally quick and observant; having insight. Though no genius, the star was sufficiently discerning to tell her true friends from the countless phonies who flattered her.
5. Disclose V. reveal. Although competitors offered him bribes, he refused to disclose any information about his company’s forthcoming product.
6. Discordant ADJ. not harmonious; conflicting. Nothing is quite so discordant as the sound of a junior high school orchestra tuning up.
7. Discount V. disregard; dismiss. Be prepared to discount what he has to say about his ex-wife.
8. Discriminating ADJ. able to see differences; prejudiced. A superb interpreter of Picasso, she was sufficiently discriminating to judge the most complex works of modern art.
9. Disdain V. view with scorn or contempt. In the film Funny Face, the bookish heroine disdained fashion models for their lack of intellectual interests.
10. Disinclination N. unwillingness. Some mornings I feel a great disinclination to get out of bed.

Barron's High Frequency 333 Words : 101-110

1. Dissonance (n) discord, opposite of harmony; Composer Charles Ives often used DISSONANCE - clashing or unresolved chords - for special effects in his musical works.
2. Distend (v) expand, swell out; I can tell when he is under stress by the way the veins DISTEND on his forehead.
3. Distill (v) purify, refine, concentrate; A moonshiner DISTILLS mash into whiskey; an epigrammatic distills thoughts int quips.
4. Diverge (v) vary, go in different directions from the same point; The spokes of the wheel DIVERGE from the hub.
5. Divest (v) strip, deprive; He was DIVESTED of his power to act and could no longer govern.
6. Document (v) provide written evidence; She kept all the receipts from her business trip in order to DOCUMENT her expenses for the firm.
7. Dogmatic (adj) opinionated, arbitrary, doctrinal; We tried to discourage Doug from being so DOGMATIC, but never could convince him that his opinions might be wrong.
8. Dormant (adj) sleeping, lethargic, latent; At fifty her long-DORMANT ambition to write flared up once more; within a year she had completed the first of her great historical novels.
9. Dupe (n) someone easily fooled; While the gullible Watson often was made a DUPE by unscrupulous parties, Sherlock Holmes was far more difficult to fool.
10. Ebullient (adj) showing excitement, overflowing with enthusiasm; Amy’s EBULLIENT nature could not be repressed; she was always bubbling over with excitement.

SAT High Frequency Words : 91-100

1. Deprecate (v) . express disapproval of; protest against; belittle. A firm believer in old-fashioned courtesy, Miss Post deprecated the modern tendency to address new acquaintances by their first names.
2. Deride V. ridicule; make fun of. The critics derided his pretentious dialogue and refused to consider his play seriously.
3. Derivative ADJ. unoriginal; derived from another source. Although her early poetry was clearly derivative in nature, the critics thought she had promise and eventually would find her own voice.
4. Despondent ADJ. depressed; gloomy. To the dismay of his parents, William became seriously despondent after he broke up with Jan; they despaired of finding a cure for his gloom.
5. Detached ADJ. emotionally removed; calm and objective; physically unconnected. A psychoanalyst must maintain a detached point of view and stay uninvolved with his or her patients’ personal lives.
6. Deterrent N. something that discourages; hindrance. Does the threat of capital punishment serve as a deterrent to potential killers?
7. Detrimental ADJ. harmful; damaging. The candidate’s acceptance of major financial contributions from a wellknown racist ultimately proved detrimental to his campaign, for he lost the backing of many of his early grassroots supporters.
8. Devious ADJ. roundabout; erratic; not straightforward. The Joker’s plan was so devious that it was only with great difficulty we could follow its shifts and dodges.
9. Devise V. think up; invent; plan. How clever he must be to have devised such a devious plan! What ingenious inventions might he have devised if he had turned his mind to science and not to crime.
10. Diffuse ADJ. wordy; rambling; spread out (like a gas). If you pay authors by the word, you tempt them to produce diffuse manuscripts rather than brief ones.

Barron's High Frequency GRE Words : 91-100

1. Discrete (adj) separate, unconnected, consisting of distinct parts; In programmed instruction, the information to be learned is presented in DISCRETE units; you must respond correctly to each unit before you may advance to the next.
2. Disingenuous (adj) lacking genuine candor, insincere; Now that we know that the mayor and his wife are engaged in a bitter divorce fight, we find their earlier remarks regretting their lack of time together remarkably DISINGENUOUS.
3. Disinterested (adj) unprejudiced; Given the judge’s political ambitions and the lawyer’s financial interest in the case, the only DISINTERESTED person in the courtroom may have been the court reporter.
4. Disjointed (adj) lacking coherence, separated at the joints; Unable to think of anything to say about the assigned topic, the unprepared student scribbled a few DISJOINTED sentences on his answer sheet.
5. Dismiss (v) eliminate from consideration, reject; Believing in John’s love for her, she DISMISSED the notion that he might be unfaithful.
6. Disparage (v) belittle; A doting mother, Emma was more likely to praise her son’s crude attempts at art than DISPARAGE to them.
7. Disparate (adj) basically different, unrelated; Unfortunately Tony and Tina have DISPARATE notions of marriage.
8. Dissemble (v) disguise, pretend; Even though John tried to DISSEMBLE his motive for taking modern dance, we all knew he was there not to dance but to meet girls.
9. Disseminate (v) distribute, spread, scatter; By their use of the Internet, propagandists have been able to DISSEMINATE their pet doctrines to new audiences around the globe.
10. Dissolution (n) disintegration, looseness in morals; The profligacy and DISSOLUTION of life in Caligula’s Rome appall some historians.

SAT High Frequency Words : 81-90

1. Cryptic (adj) . mysterious; hidden; secret. Thoroughly baffled by Holmes’s cryptic remarks, Watson wondered whether Holmes was intentionally concealing his thoughts about the crime.
2. Cursory (adj) . casual; hastily done. Because a cursory examination of the ruins indicates the possibility of arson, we believe the insurance agency should undertake a more extensive investigation of the fire’s cause.
3. Curtail (v) . shorten; reduce. When Herb asked Diane for a date, she said she was really sorry she couldn’t go out with him, but her dad had ordered her to curtail her social life.
4. Decorum (n)  . propriety; orderliness and good taste in manners. Even the best-mannered students have trouble behaving with decorum on the last day of school.
5. Deference (n) . courteous regard for another’s wish. In deference to the minister’s request, please do not take photographs during the wedding service.
6. Degradation (n) . humiliation; debasement; degeneration. Some secretaries object to fetching the boss a cup of coffee because they resent the degradation of being made to do such lowly tasks.
7. Delineate (v) . portray; depict; sketch. Using only a few descriptive phrases, Austen delineates the character of Mr. Collins so well that we can predict his every move.
8. Denounce (v) . condemn; criticize. The reform candidate denounced the corrupt city officers for having betrayed the public’s trust.
9. Deplore (v) . regret; disapprove of. Although I deplore the vulgarity of your language, I defend your right to express yourself freely.
10. Depravity (n) . extreme corruption; wickedness. The depravity of Caligula’s behavior came to sicken even those who had willingly participated in his earlier, comparatively innocent orgies.

Barron's High Frequency 333 GRE Words : 81-90

1. Dichotomy (n) split, branching into two parts; Willie didn’t know how to resolve the DICHOTOMY between his ambition to go to college and his childhood longing to run away and join the circus.
2. Diffidence (n) shyness; You must overcome your DIFFIDENCE if you intend to become a salesperson.
3. Diffuse (adj) wordy, rambling, spread out(like a gas); If you pay authors by the word, you tempt them to produce DIFFUSE manuscripts rather than brief ones.
4. Digression (n) wandering away from the subject; Nobody minded when Professor Renoir’s lectures wandered away from their official theme; his DIGRESSIONS were always more fascinating than the topic of the day.
5. Dirge (n) lament with music; The funeral DIRGE stirred us to tears.
6. Disabuse (v) correct a false impression, undeceive; I will attempt to DISABUSE you of your impression of my client’s guilt; I know he is innocent.
7. Discerning (adj) mentally quick and observant, having insight; Though no genius, the star was sufficiently DISCERNING to distinguish her true friends from the countless phonies who flattered her.
8. Discordant (adj) not harmonious, conflicting; Nothing is quite so DISCORDANT as the sound of a junior high school orchestra tuning up.
9. Discredit (v) defame, destroy confidence in, disbelieve; The campaign was highly negative in tone; each candidate tried to DISCREDIT the other.
10. Discrepancy (v) lack of consistency, difference; The police noticed some DISCREPANCIES in his description of the crime and did not believe him.

SAT High Frequency Words : 71-80

1. Consensus (n) . general agreement. Every time the garden club members had nearly reached a consensus about what to plant, Mistress Mary, quite contrary, disagreed.
2. Constraint (n) . compulsion; repression of feelings. There was a feeling of constraint in the room because no one dared to criticize the speaker.
3. Contend (v) . struggle; compete; assert earnestly. Sociologist Harry Edwards contends that young black athletes are exploited by some college recruiters.
4. Contentious (adj) . quarrelsome. Disagreeing violently with the referee's’ ruling, the coach became so contentious that they threw him out of the game.
5. Contract (v) . compress or shrink; make a pledge; catch a disease. Warm metal expands; cold metal contracts.
6. Conviction (n) . judgment that someone is guilty of a crime; strongly held belief. Even her conviction for murder did not shake Peter’s conviction that Harriet was innocent of the crime.
7. Cordial (adj) . gracious; heartfelt. Our hosts greeted us at the airport with a cordial welcome and a hearty hug.
8. Corroborate (v) . confirm; support. Though Huck was quite willing to corroborate Tom’s story, Aunt Polly knew better than to believe either of them.
9. Credulity (n)  . belief on slight evidence; gullibility; naivete. Con artists take advantage of the credulity of inexperienced investors to swindle them out of their savings.
10. Criterion (n) . standard used in judging. What criterion did you use when you selected this essay as the prizewinner?