John Wiley And Sons Webster''s New World - Essential vocabulary_O

not readily giving in; stubborn; inflexible • Despite his tenants’ having a difficult time coming up with the rent, Simon Legree was obdurate in his intention to evict them.. designating

obdurate (AHB dyoo RAYT) adj 1 not easily moved to feeling empathy;

2 not readily giving in; stubborn; inflexible

• Despite his tenants’ having a difficult time coming up with the rent,

Simon Legree was obdurate in his intention to evict them.

• Although Susan tried to get her employer to allow her to work flexible

hours so that she could take some courses, the manager remained obdurate

in insisting she stick to a fixed schedule

[-ly adv.] [Syn inflexible]

oblique (oh BLEEK) adj 1 Neither vertical, nor horizontal, but slanting;

2 indirect rather than to the point; 3 evasive and underhanded

• The hypotenuse of a right triangle is always oblique to both of the

triangle’s legs

• Despite Joe’s trying to get a direct answer from his supervisor as to whether his taking vacation time would impair his chances of promotion,

the supervisor’s answers remained oblique.

• The lawyer tried to pin Alice down on how much of the conversation she

had overheard, but she was oblique in most of her responses.

[-ly adv., -ness n.]

obscurity* (ahb SKYUR i tee) n the condition or quality of being difficult to

perceive, hard to see, not well known, vague, or ambiguous

• Because the soldier had taken care to completely camouflage his position,

despite the enemy’s closeness, his presence remained in obscurity.

• Elvis’s presence at the top of the pop music scene elevated him to the

limelight from near obscurity.

• The obscurity of the wording of the contract made it difficult to determine

what was expected from either party

[obscurities pl.]

observation (AHB zir VAY shin) n 1 the following or keeping a law, custom,

principle, etc.; 2 a noticing of something; 3 being seen or noticed; 4 the notingand recording of facts; 5 a comment or remark

• The observation of the Sabbath was a key part of Allan’s upbringing.

• Helen’s observation of a stranger near her car made her suspicious.

• The burglar kept low to the ground, hoping to elude everyone’s observation.

• Kenny’s observations during the chemical experiment were kept in his

obsessiveness (ahb SES iv nis) n 1 having the nature of being haunted by

something; 2 a being preoccupied by some emotion, thought, desire, etc in ance of reason

defi-• His obsessiveness with being right all the time has driven away all his

friends

• Xavier has pursued excellence in the field of motorsports with an obsessiveness

that can only be described as being driven (no pun intended)

obstacle (AHB stik il) n anything that gets in the way or hinders; impediment;

obstacle; barrier

• Police barriers are obstacles meant to keep fans back from parades during

festive occasions

• Lack of a high school diploma or equivalency diploma can be a real

obstacle to getting a college degree.

obstreperous (ahb STRE pir us) adj noisy, unruly, or boisterous, especially in

one’s opposition to something

• College students at a fraternity party generally turn obstreperous after a

couple of hours

• The opposition party member was obstreperous in his outcry against the

position of the prime minister

[Syn vociferous]

offensive (aw FEN siv) adj 1 attacking; 2 designating the side that is seeking

to score in a contest; 3 aggressive; 4 unpleasant; disgusting; repugnant

• In the game of chess, white always starts out on the offensive, even though

it doesn’t always remain such

• In volleyball, the offensive side is the one with the serve.

• Offensive action is needed to clean up toxic waste sites.

• A skunk’s odor is extremely offensive to most.

office (AWF is) n 1 a function or duty assigned to someone; 2 a post or

posi-tion of trust and/or authority; 3 any government branch; 4 the room, suite, orbuilding occupied by people in definition #2 or #3

• Seeing to it that packages were shipped out on time was the office assigned

to Stanley

• It was Hillary’s desire to change things that caused her to run for office.

• The post office sees to the delivery of the mail six days a week and rests on

the seventh

• The senators’ offices are for the most part, unsurprisingly, in the Senate

Office Building.

[Syn position, function]

onerous (OH nir is) adj 1 laborious; burdensome; 2 more burdensome than

opponent (uh POH nint) n a person against one in a fight, argument, debate, etc.

• The navy will carry the fight to our opponent.

• The opponents sat across the chess board from each other.

• Sometimes we must sit down with our opponents and try to work things out.

[Syn adversary, enemy, foe]

opportunity (AHP oer TOO ni tee or AHP oer TYOO ni tee) n 1 a good

chance; 2 a set of circumstances favorable to

• Every person deserves an opportunity to succeed.

• Billy is looking for an opportunity for advancement.

• The United States has been called the land of opportunity.

oppression* (uh PRESH in) n 1 a weighing heavily on the mind, spirit, or soul;

worry; troubling; 2 a keeping down by cruel or unjust use of power; 3 a feeling ofbeing weighed down as with worries or problems

• Oppression can have a paralyzing effect on a person’s ability to act.

• The oppression of slavery was a terrible weight on many Americans prior to

the Civil War

• The oppression of separate-but-equal educational opportunities that were

inherently unequal was not legally terminated until almost a century afterthe Civil War

[oppressive adj., oppressively adv.]

optimism (AHP ti mi zm) n 1 the belief that good triumphs over evil; 2 the

tendency to take the most cheerful point of view or hope for the best possible outcome

• If you believe that bad will be vanquished and good will win in the end,

then you are a practitioner of optimism.

• Optimism permits one to look at a half empty container of chocolate milk

and see it as half full

[optimistic adj., optimistically adv.]

orator (AW ruh tir) n 1 a person who delivers a formal public speech;

2 an eloquent public speaker

• An orator was a person who impressed and swayed his listeners before the

days of telecommunication

• Cicero was perhaps the orator of greatest fame to emerge from the senate of

ancient Rome

[oration n.] [Syn declaimer]

orchard (AWR chird) n 1 an area of land set aside for the raising of

fruit-bearing trees; 2 such a stand of trees; a grove of fruit trees

• Peach orchards dot the countryside in certain parts of Georgia.

• In New York’s southern Catskill Mountains, it is common to find roads

lined by apple orchards.

orchestra (AWR kes truh) n 1 the main floor of a theater; 2 a large musical

ensemble, specifically a symphony orchestra; 3 the instruments of definition 2

• As a general rule, the most expensive seats in the theater are the front and

center orchestra seats.

• The United States is fortunate to have at least five world-class symphony

orchestras.

• The instruments of the orchestra are divided into strings, brass, woodwinds,

and percussion

ordain (awr DAYN) vt 1 to order; establish; decree; 2 to predestine;

predeter-mine; 3 to invest with the office of a rabbi, minister, or priest

• In 1789, the framers ordained the U.S Constitution to be the law of the

country

• Some people believe that the future is ordained, and no matter what we do,

we can’t change it

• New clergypersons are ordained, usually from among the ranks of the

seminarians

[-ed, -ing, -ment, ordination n.]

origin (AWR i jin) n 1 a beginning; a coming into existence; 2 the birth;

lineage; parenthood; 3 that in which something has its root, source, cause, etc

• The Nile River’s origin is in Lake Victoria.

• The origin of the practical home computer can be traced to Steve Wozniak’s

garage

• Musical drama with fixed songs and story lines had its origin with the

operas of Giuseppi Verdi

[Syn source, inception]

originality (uh RIJ in AL i tee) n 1 the quality or condition of never having

occurred before; 2 the ability to be creative or inventive

• The person who wrote “Roses are red, violets are blue, monkeys are hairy,

and so are you” can hardly lay claim to having any originality.

• When it comes to cooking contests, originality in use of seasonings usually

plays a large part in determining the winner

ornate (awr NAYT) adj 1 heavily adorned, often to excess; 2 showy or flowery,

as in some musical or literary styles

• Corinthian capitals (column tops) are known for their exceptionally ornate

decoration

• Paganini was an exceptionally gifted violinist, and some of his

composi-tions are so ornate that nobody else can play them.

orthodox (AWR thuh DAHKS) n 1 conforming to the established beliefs and

doctrines (as in religion, politics, etc.); 2 designating any of the churches of theEastern Orthodox Church

• The orthodox politician makes it a point not to offend any potential voters.

• Admiral Yamamoto’s unorthodox reliance on aircraft carriers was the main

reason for early Japanese successes in World War II

• The Catholic Church celebrates Easter at a different time from the Orthodox

Church

[-y* n.] [Ant unorthodox]

ostensible (ahs TEN sib il) adj apparent; seeming; professed

• There was an ostensible misunderstanding between the valet parking

attendant and his client

• An ostensible difference of opinion exists between those voting for one

candidate and those supporting the other

[ostensibly adv.]

ostentatious* (AHS tin TAY shuhs) adj showy display of wealth or learning;

pretentious

• The lobby of the Ritz Carlton Hotel can only be described as slightly

ostentatious, as one would expect.

• As a Harvard graduate, Andrew felt it necessary to place his diploma in an

ostentatious frame in his law office.

[-ly adv., ostentation n.]

ostracism (AHS truh sizm) n barring; banishment; excluding (from the ancient

Greek word ostra, for a shard of pottery)

• In ancient Athens, a man’s name might be written on a broken piece of

pottery, and if enough ostra had his name on it, an ostracism took place;

that is, he was banished

• Ostracism is a rather cruel form of social punishment.

[ostracize v., ostracized, ostracizing] [Syn banish]

outcast (OWT kast) n one cast out; a person or thing rejected by society

• One who has been ostracized is an outcast.

• Persons serving jail time for having committed crimes can be considered

social outcasts.

O: SAT Words 171

outcome (OWT kuhm) n result; consequence

• When a coin is tossed, there are two possible outcomes.

• The outcome of a day at the beach is too often a sunburn.

P – Q

palette (PAL it) n 1 a thin board, usually with a thumbhole, on which an artist

mixes paint colors; 2 the colors used by a certain artist for a certain painting orpaintings

• An artist’s palette usually contains only the colors that he is using to make

a particular painting

• During Picasso’s blue period, his palette was heavily tilted in the direction

of that color

pallid (PAL id) adj pale; wan; faint in color

• Margaret had been out of the sun for so long that her face had taken on an

unhealthy, pallid color.

[Syn pale]

pantomime (PAN tuh MYM) vt 1 a play or presentation wherein the

charac-ters perform actions and gesticulate, but speak no words; 2 an actor or actress whoperforms in this way; 3 actions and gestures without words used as a means ofexpression

• It is customary in Japanese Kabuki theater for characters to pantomime

while made up in whiteface

• In Mel Brooks’s Silent Movie, everyone pantomimed except for the famous

mime Marcel Marceau, who spoke the only word

• Pantomiming is a way of conveying information to one’s teammates in the

• The meaning of what they say is not paramount for the French; rather, it’s

how they pronounce it

[-ly adv.] [Syn dominant]

parasite (PA ruh syt) n 1 one who lives at the expense of others and

con-tributes nothing in return; 2 an organism that lives on or in another, getting ishment from the host but contributing nothing useful and sometimes causingharm, for example, a leech

nour-• Sometimes their maternal instincts cause women to take in parasites who

prey upon their better nature

• Tapeworms are parasites that can live inside a person’s intestines and take

all the nourishment ingested for themselves

[parasitic adj., parasitically adv.]

173

parboil (PAR boyl) vt 1 partially boil to cut down on final cooking time, usually

as a precursor to roasting; 2 to make uncomfortably hot; overheat

• Frozen vegetables are parboiled for a minute or more before freezing—a

process known as blanching

• Saunas are excellent places for parboiling people.

[-ed, -ing]

parch (PARCH) vi 1 to expose to great heat; 2 to dry up from heat; make hot

and dry; 3 to make or be very thirsty

• The peppers were parched by their stint on the grate of the charcoal grill.

• Tomatoes are often parched by sun-drying, which both wrinkles them up

and intensifies their flavor

• After two hours in the boat, Roxane was parched and reached for a bottle of

iced tea

[-ed, -ing]

parenthetical (PAR in THE ti kl) adj 1 contained in parentheses; 2 interjected

as explanatory or qualifying information; 3 using or containing parentheses

• The source of the article was parenthetical.

• Hailee was a very talented artist, and the parenthetical inclusion of her age,

five, was just for the viewers’ information

• Often, as in the last sentence and in this one, parenthetical information is

enclosed between commas

pariah (puh RY uh) n 1 an undesirable; one despised and rejected by others;

an outcast; 2 a member of the lowest social caste in India

• The pariahs in India comprise a caste known as “the untouchables.”

• The soldiers returning home from the Vietnam War were treated as pariahs

by much of the American public

parish (PA rish) n 1 an administrative district of many churches; 2 the

mem-bers of the congregation of any church; 3 in Louisiana, the equivalent of a county

in any other state

• A British local government’s territory is often identical with the size of the

original church parish.

• On any given Sunday, about half the members of the parish show up for

church

• In Louisiana, the state is carved into local parishes that are equivalent to

counties in all the other states

partisan* (PAHR ti zin) n 1 a person who takes one side or the other in a

con-test or dispute; 2 any of a group of guerrilla fighters —adj 1 like or characteristic

of a partisan; 2 blindly loyal

• In the argument between Stan and Gilda, Fred was a partisan of Gilda.

• Armed partisans have been common over the years in much of Central

America

• Partisan politics tends to get in the way of Congress ever doing very much.

• No matter what Carolina does, Rocio is partisan and follows her lead.

[Syn follower]

passive (PAS iv) adj 1 acted upon without acting back; 2 yielding; submissive;

patient; 3 taking no active part

• When sanding a block of wood, the sander is the active participant, while

the wood is passive.

• Boxing is not a sport for a passive person.

• In pleading not guilty to the charge of robbery, Bonnie insisted that she

had been passive, driving the car but having no idea that a robbery had

even taken place until the police pulled her over

[-ly adv.]

paternal (puh TER nil) adj 1 like or typical of a father; fatherly; 2 inherited

from or related on the father’s side

• Willis, the pug, acted paternally toward both kittens.

• Lois had inherited her hairy legs from her paternal side.

• Natalie was a paternal aunt, being a sister of the child’s father.

[-ly adv.]

pellagra (pil AG ruh) n a vitamin deficiency disease caused by a lack of

ade-quate supply of Vitamin B6, characterized by skin eruptions, gastrointestinal lems, and mental disorders

prob-• Pellagra is endemic in certain parts of the world.

• Those who consume a lot of protein-rich foods need not be concerned

with contracting pellagra.

penurious (pen YOOR ee uhs) adj 1 unwilling to part with money; miserly;

stingy; 2 very poor; in poverty

• Mythical King Midas had a well-documented history of being penurious.

• Strangely enough, sharecroppers also have a history of being penurious but

in the second sense of the word

[-ly adv., -ness n.] [Syn stingy]

perceive (poer SEEV) vt 1 to mentally grasp; observe; take note of; 2 to

become aware of through one of the senses

• The ant was able to perceive that when the spider invited her to dinner, she

was the main course

• By the odor of food and hickory in the air, Raldo perceived that there was a

barbecue nearby

[-d, perceiving*] [Syn discern]

perception (poer SEP shin) n 1 the act of perceiving or the ability to perceive

by means of the senses; 2 insight or intuition or the possession of either of them;

3 the idea, concept, or impression formed as a result of perceiving something

• The nose of the wine gave David the perception of ripe cherries and

blackberries

• Despite knowing that they were meeting for the first time, Helene could

not shake the perception that she knew him from somewhere.

perceptive (poer SEP tiv) adj 1 of or capable of perceiving; 2 having sharp

insight or intuition; penetrating

• It was extremely perceptive of Frederika to know who the real murderer was

before completing even half of Agatha Christie’s tale

• Bruce was perceptive enough to tell from the interview that the position

had already been filled and that the interviewer was just going through themotions

[-ly adv.]

perfidy (POER fi dee) n a deliberate breaking of trust; faithlessness; treachery

• Susan could not belive Jonathan’s perfidy in seeing Daphne behind her

back

• General Washington could scarcely believe Benedict Arnold’s perfidy in

giv-ing the British the plans to West Point

[perfidious* adj., perfidiously adv.]

performance (poer FAWR mins) n 1 the act of doing something;

accomplish-ment; execution; fullfillaccomplish-ment; 2 effectiveness of operation; 3 some deed or featdone; 4 a presentation before an audience

• Jack Nicholson has won the Oscar for best performance by an actor on more

than one occasion

• Running on clean oil improves the performance of your car’s engine.

• The boxer’s manager was pleased with his performance in his last fight.

• Lois and Barney attended last night’s performance of Cats.

perfunctory (poer FUHNK tir ee) adj 1 done without care; done routinely;

superficial; 2 indifferent; lacking in concern

• The mechanic gave a perfunctory look at the car before telling its owner

that it needed a new muffler

• When told that she’d need to update her medical insurance coverage,

Greta gave a perfunctory shrug.

[perfunctorily adv., perfunctoriness n.]

periphery (poer IF ir ee) n 1 the edge; an outside boundary line; the

perime-ter; 2 an outside surface, especially of a spherical object; 3 the immediate rounding territory; outskirts

sur-• The airport was just at the periphery of the pilot’s field of vision.

• One can usually tell if a basketball is properly inflated by squeezing its

periphery and giving it a bounce.

• The new mall is being built just at the periphery of the most heavily

popu-lated area

[peripheral adj., peripherally adv.] [Syn circumference]

perishable (PER ish i bl) adj likely to spoil or deteriorate —n something,

espe-cially food, that is liable to spoil

• The most perishable commodity in the cooler is the ice.

• It is a good idea to refrigerate perishables, such as dairy products and meat.

permanence (POER min ins) n the quality or fact of lasting for a very long, if

not indefinite, time without changing

• There is a certain permanence about a marble statue that long outlasts the

person or event it celebrates

• Some permanence is desirable in laundry marks that go on your clothing.

permeate (POER mee ayt) vt to pass into or through and affect every part;

infest —vi to penetrate and diffuse

• It took three paper towels to clean up the spill, as the first two became

totally permeated with liquid.

• Rinna’s daughter sent her to college in hope that some learning might

permeate her thick, yet porous skull.

[-d, permeating]

perpetrator (poer pi TRAY ter) n 1 one who does something evil; doer of a

crime; 2 one who commits a hoax or a blunder

• It is the job of the criminal justice system to lock up the perpetrators of

criminal activities

• Mr Brown hammered a nail between two panels of the chalkboard thereby

becoming the perpetrator of the infamous skyhook hoax on his physics

class

[(to) perpetrate vt., perpetrated, perpetrating]

perpetuate (poer PET yoo ayt) vt to cause to continue; make perpetual;

pre-serve from extinction

• The teacher strived to perpetuate the myth among her students that she had

eyes in the back of her head

• Regular service intervals and tender care will perpetuate the useful life of

your automobile

[-d, perpetuating]

perplex (poer PLEKS) vt 1 to puzzle; to confuse; to make one doubtful;

2 to make complicated or difficult to understand

• Finding the way to Red Riding Hood’s grandma’s house using the map

perplexed the wolf.

• Finding a general cure for cancer continues to perplex researchers.

[-ed, -ing] [Syn puzzle]

persevere (poer si VEER) vi to continue to make an effort despite opposition;

to persist

• The Marines persevered in their attempt to climb Mt Suribachi until they

finally prevailed

• To attain one’s life’s goals, it is essential to persevere, regardless of the

obsta-cles one might encounter

[-d, persevering*]

persistent (poer SIST int) n 1 refusing to give up; unrelenting; stubborn;

2 lasting without change; 3 constantly repeated

• The usher was persistent in asking the noisy couple to leave the theater.

• Yosemite Park’s El Capitan has been persistent in resisting the ravages of

wind and rain

• Rote learning is the result of persistent repetition of the same information

rather than understanding

[-ly adv.]

persnickety (poer SNIK i tee) adj 1 too fussy; too particular or precise; fastidious;

2 showing or needing very careful treatment

• Hazel was very persnickety about how her bedding was folded in the linen

perspective* (poer SPEK tiv) n 1 the artistic picturing of things so as to

repre-sent a three-dimensional portrait using two-dimensional drawings by use of linesthat converge at a vanishing point; 2 the effect of relative distances on how objectsappear; 3 the relationships and proportions of parts to each other and to thewhole; 4 a point of view in judging things or events

• The artist’s perspective makes things disappear in the distance, giving the

viewer the feeling of three dimensions

• Perspective makes nearer objects appear larger than distant ones.

• To avoid blowing things out of proportion, we must view them in the

perspective of how they relate to the whole.

perspicuity (POER spi KYOO i tee) n clear and easily understood; lucidity;

clar-ity in statement and expression

• It is a talent to speak with perspicuity.

• Perspicuity makes it easy to convey your ideas to others.

[perspicuous adj., perspicuously adv.]

persuasive (per SWAY siv) adj having the power to sway one’s opinion or

tend-ing to sway one’s opinion, beliefs, etc

• Your argument against a national pickle-spotting hotline was not very

persuasive to the gherkin lobbyist.

• Over the course of time, the pen has proven to be much more persuasive

than the sword

pertinent (PER ti nint) adj to the point; connected to the matter under

[-ly adv., -ness n.]

pessimism (PES i mi zm) n 1 expecting the worst at all times; 2 the

philoso-phy that evil always triumphs over good

• Pessimism leads the driver to believe that the bridge is out just around the

phenomenal (fe NAHM in il) adj very unusual; extraordinary; very remarkable

• The medical community has had phenomenal success with curing certain

cancers

• Phenomenal advances took aviation from the Wright Brothers’ flyer to the

space shuttle in less than 100 years