SAT vocabulary review continues with today’s group of words to study: listless, myriad, nefarious, opacity, proclivity, and querulous.

listless

Here at Ultimate Vocabulary we’ve been encouraging you to study prefixes and suffixes to help you define new vocabulary words. The suffix -less is one you might have seen before: worthless means “without worth” and breathless means “without breath,” for example. However, listless doesn’t mean “without a list.” Someone who is listless lacks enthusiasm and energy, not a sheet of paper. The root word in this case is Germanic and can be traced back to the word lust, or desire.

Example: Annabelle was quiet and listless while she was ill last week, but now she’s back to taking part in the activities at school.

myriad

Myriad means “countless” – so many, in such a large number or variety, that an accurate number can’t be determined. In general, people use this word to mean simply “a lot,” even if the actual total can be counted. This word can be either a noun or an adjective.

Example: Passengers on this cruise ship have a myriad of choices when it comes to dining.

nefarious

Nefarious means wicked or evil. A synonym for nefarious is villainous.

Example: In the movies, heroes like James Bond and Superman always foil the nefarious plots of their enemies.

opacity

When a substance is hard or impossible to see through, it’s referred to as opaque. The word opacity means the degree to which something is opaque. The opposite of opacity is transparency. These words describe physical objects, but can also be used in a more figurative sense.

Example 1: Although the Japanese paper screens called shoji that divide rooms seem too thin to be useful, due to their opacity they allow for almost complete privacy.
Example 2: The opacity of his gaze made it impossible for me to judge his true feelings.

proclivity

Proclivity means a tendency or inclination towards something. The word comes from the Latin roots pro- (meaning “forward”) and clivus, or “slope.” We’ve talked before about using mental imagery to remember words, and this word is an excellent example of how you might connect this word to an image of something rolling down a slope, moving forward, or inclining. Synonyms for proclivity include predilection, predisposition, and propensity.

Example: The debate still continues on whether or not children who play video games involving combat will have a proclivity towards violence when they are adults.

querulous

Someone who is querulous is always complaining, usually in a whiny voice, or fretting about unimportant little details. In literature, this word will often be used to describe a spoiled child, or perhaps an irascible old man.

Example: Although Mrs. Stafford ate lunch every day at the cafe, the waiters fought to avoid serving her table, because of her constant querulous demands.

No complaining now – we only have two more days of vocabulary review before the quiz!