SAT vocabulary

Question 1

The review board ruled that the intern&#x27;s behavior had been ____; he had violated the high standards required of the job.

Accepted Answer

unethical

Question 2

The ombudsman was critical of the city&#x27;s law enforcement agencies for the __ of their efforts to stem criminal activity.

Accepted Answer

inadequacy

Question 3

Medieval alchemists tried to attain wealth by ________ lead and other base metals into gold.

Accepted Answer

Transforming

Question 4

The aims of tyrants are not __, but excited, by partial concessions; that is why we must be __ in opposing their demands

Accepted Answer

appeased . . . resolute

Question 5

The characters in Jane Austen&#x27;s novels never argue; rather, they employ more subtle verbal weapons; irony and ____.

Accepted Answer

innuendo

Question 6

Although marine engineers claimed that its hull was ____, the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg.

Accepted Answer

impenetrable

Question 7

Yeats&#x27;s poetry became more complex and more ___ during the 1890s; his audience found his poems difficult to interpret.

Accepted Answer

inscrutable

Question 8

In his later work, the artist finally attained a maturity of style utterly ___ his early, amateurish pieces.

Accepted Answer

absent from

Question 9

By 1918, the painter Andre&#x27; Derain had ____ both Cubism and abstract art in favor of a ____ approach of the old masters.

Accepted Answer

repudiated . . . traditional

Question 10

As they helped the community recover, the apparently ___ relief workers labored with an energy that never waned.

Accepted Answer

indefatigable

Question 11

Though people often think of them as ____ carnivores, many species of piranha are vegetarian.

Accepted Answer

voracious

Question 12

Inflation has made the cost of consumer goods so ___ that most people can barely afford to buy basic food items.

Accepted Answer

exorbitant

Question 13

Until his defeat by the newcomer, the boxer won most of his bouts by knockouts and had achieved an ___ series of wins.

Accepted Answer

unbroken

Question 14

Because of her ____ views, the professor frequently found herself defending traditional values and the status quo.

Accepted Answer

conservative

Question 15

Peach pits, which contain small amounts of poisonous cyanide, are not usually harmful, but, if eaten enough, can be ___.

Accepted Answer

virulent

Questions 15