Up Your Score (14 page)

(v.) to remove inappropriate stuff

(n.) someone who censors things

Fabio
sensed her
longing and with his rough hands caressed her voluptuous, heaving

to criticize; blame

When someone starts to criticize you, you can
sense you’re
being
censured
.

thought

The guests at Einstein’s birthday
celebration
were all deep in
cerebration
.

embarrassment

She grin
ned and blushed with
chagrin
.

state of utter confusion

“We don’t want to cause
chaos
,” we told the customs official. “So just o
kay us
for passage!”

quack; someone who pretends he’s someone he’s not

Charlotte in
Charlotte’s Web
was not a
charlatan
; she really could spell.

pure; unspoiled; virginal

The virgin
chased
away the men so that she could remain
chaste
.

trickery

When I found the sneezing powder in my
Chicken
McNuggets, I knew you were up to some
chicanery
.

far out; bizarre; really heady

His dreams were so
chimerical
that it would ta
ke a miracle
for them to come true.

hot-tempered; easily made “hot under the
collar
”

The
choleric
pit bull did not enjoy it when his owner made him wear the electrified
collar
.

boorish; rude

Someone who is girlish is probably not
churlish
.

having tiny hairs

“Oh Juliet, I love your deep blue eyes.”

“Oh Romeo, I love the
ciliated
lining of your nostrils.”

prudent; cautious

Note:
This is one of those easily decodable words:

“
Search ’em
, in
spect
or,” ordered the
circumspect
detective.

mildness of temper—especially leniency toward an enemy or in sentencing a criminal

Because Roger
Clemens
was accused of using steroids, it now remains to be seen if he’ll be shown
clemency
and be voted into the Hall of Fame anyway.

The following three “cog” words all have to do with thinking:

clear; logical; well-thought-out

The two men (
co-gents
) on the debate team gave a cogent argument.

to think about deeply and carefully (see
RUMINATE
)

A good time to
cogitate
about dairy products is while eating
cottage
cheese.

fully informed and aware; conscious

When the factory repairman becomes
cognizant
that the
cog isn’t
working, he will fix the gear.

attractive; agreeable

The more frequently you
comb
your hair, the more
comely
you become. Or maybe not.

food

Banana flambé is a
com
b
ustible
comestible
.

equal; proportionate

You don’t think that this pile of gold is
commensurate
with that one? Well,
come measure it
.

to sympathize; be miserable together

Note:
Decode:

He
commiserated
with his friend at Clown College, who also got 200s.

to behave in a particular way

Note:
The root “-port” means “carry,” as in the words im
port
(carry in), ex
port
(carry out), and trans
port
(carry across). In this context,
comport
has to do with how you carry yourself.
Comport
yourself in a
comfort
able way.

strong uneasiness caused by guilt (see
REMORSE, CONTRITION
)

I felt
compunction
about puncturing your tires with Japanese throwing stars, but I went ahead and did it anyway.

at the same time

Note:
This is another decodable word:

John Adams’s and Thomas Jefferson’s deaths were almost
concurrent
; they both died on Independence Day, 1826.

existing at birth

Note:
This is decodable too: “con-” means together and “genital”—well, you figure it out.

Unless you’ve had a sex change, your
genitals
are
congenital
.

statement made without adequate evidence

“
Can Jack sure
ly reach that conclusion?” I asked. “Or is it only a
conjecture
?”

pertaining to marriage

Unless you
can juggle
both your careers, you will not have
conjugal
happiness.

twist; bend

We recommend that you contact your local
contorti
onist in order to learn the skills necessary for sitting in an SAT chair.

remorse; repentance; bitter regret felt owing to wrongdoing

When
Trish
broke the priceless gorilla sculpture, she was overcome with
contrition
.

of, relating to, or causing dispute

Distributing
contra
ceptives in high school is a
controversial
issue.

to call together; to cause to assemble

Note:
Decode:

The mayor
convokes
a town meeting so that the citizens
can
voc
alize their grievances.

a root meaning “body”

Example:
corp
se = dead body

of the body; bodily

Corporal
Thomas gave me
corporal
punishment because I saluted him with my foot instead of my hand.

obese; having a fat body

The
corpulent
corp
oral gave up eating for
Lent
.

to testify in agreement

Do you have any witnesses who can
corroborate
that this is the restaurant where Bonnie and Clyde
(co-robbers) ate
?