Identifying Synonyms - SSAT Upper Level Verbal

“Fey” means relating to magic or supernatural phenomenon. For clarification, "rational" means reasonable and sensible; "mundane" means ordinary or boring; "introspective" means inwardly focused with thoughts and feelings; and "extroverted" means outgoing or sociable.

“Olfactory” means relating to the sense of smell.

“Odious” means revolting. For clarification, "sensory" means relating to the senses; "wanton" means random or indiscriminate.

“Nefarious” means wicked, infamous or evil. For clarification, "unscrupulous" means not restrained by moral or ethical principles; "discerning" means selective and showing good judgment.

“Ominous” means scary or foreboding. You might have noticed it has the same root word as “omen,” which might have clued you in to the correct answer "foreboding."

“Penurious” means very poor, so the best available synonym is “destitute,” which means to be completely poor and downtrodden. For clarification, "worldly" means knowledgeable and wise; "mercenary" means not loyal, willing to go against your conscience for money; "loquacious" means long-winded or talkative.

“Deleterious” means extremely harmful, which is the same meaning of the word “pernicious.” For clarification, "rudimentary" means basic; "enigma" means mystery; "bellicose" means ready for or inclined towards warfare.

If something is “precarious,” it is uncertain or unstable,with connotations of danger. The placement of a cup on the edge of a table would be “precariously” situated. For clarification, "preliminary" means coming before something; "illusory" means not real or imaginary.

"Intense" means of extreme force or strength, or vigorous.

"Dormant" means inactive or asleep. The Latin root word, "dormire," means to sleep.

"Pejorative" is an adjective that means "expressing contempt or disapproval," so we need to find another word that means about the same thing - roughly, "disapproving." While "sneer" (""a contemptuous or mocking smile, remark, or tone, or to make such an expression or comment") might seem like a good answer because a sneer is often a pejorative gesture, it is not an adjective that means "disapproving," so it can't be the correct answer. "Deprecatory," on the other hand, is an adjective that means "showing a critical or disrespectful attitude," and because it is the answer choice closest in meaning to "pejorative," it is the correct answer.

"Tyrannical" and "despotic" are both words to describe a person who holds the majority of the power and abuses it.

"Germane" is an adjective that means relevant to the topic of discussion, so we need to pick out an answer choice that means something like relevant. While both "important" and "pertinent" may look like potentially correct answer choices, "important" does not mean relevant, while "pertinent" means relevant. Because "pertinent" is the closest synonym of "germane" amongst the listed answer choices, it is the correct answer.

The word akin means "related to" or "alike." Based on this definition, we can rule out all other answer choices. One way to remember that the word akin means related to may be to think of the word kin, which is used in some areas to mean family or relatives.

"Affluent" means having lots of material wealth.

"Lewd" means crude, offensive, or "vulgar."

"Profane" means secular, disrespectful, or "indecent."

"Terse" means not using many words, or "abrupt."

If an action or decision is unilateral, it only affects one individual and not the others in the group. It is therefore independent.