Hot SAT Words:

1. Hot SAT Words: Lessons # 1-10

2. Lesson #10: Mole Hills or Mountains? Words relating to Problems, Puzzlements, and Disasters

3. ADVERSITY N. Great trouble or difficulty

4. ANIMAL ADVERSITY!

5. HUMAN ADVERSITY!

6. PAST ADVERSITY:

7. FUTURE ADVERSITY!

8. The book tells how she overcame the ADVERSITY of an impoverished childhood. The hero faced four years of ADVERSITY trying to survive on a desert island. ADVERSITY

9. CONFLAGRATION N. a huge fire; an inferno Flames from the CONFLAGRATON lit up the sky for miles around.

10. CONFLAGRATION The burning of Atlanta in Gone With the Wind is one of the great CONFLAGRATION scenes in movie history.

11. CONFOUNDING Adj. puzzling, baffling

12. CONFOUNDING The world was fascinated by the CONFOUNDING disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

13. CONFOUNDED!

14. CRYPTIC Adj. hidden, hard to understand, mysterious, obscure THE ROSETTA STONE

15. CRYPTIC • We found a CRYPTIC message scrawled on the blackboard. No one could figure out its meaning. • The twins used a CRYPTIC, incomprehensible language to talk to each other.

16. DEBACLE N. A failure or breakdown; a collapse that is often nonsensical

17. OBLIVIOUS PILOTS = IMMINENT DEBACLE…

18. VORACIOUS SHARK = IMMINENT DEBACLE!

19. DEFINITE DEBACLE!

20. DEBACLE • For me, physics class was a DEBACLE. I understood none of it, failed every test, and finally dropped the course. • The performance was a DEBACLE. Actors forgot their lines, the set fell down, and the lights blew halfway through the first act.

21. ENIGMA N. a riddle or mystery; a puzzling or baffling matter or person

22. EnigmaMachine

23. ENIGMA • Isabelle is an ENIGMA. I can’t figure her out. Her moods change with the wind. • The ENIGMATIC carvings on the ancient Egyptian tomb have never been fully interpreted.

24. ENIGMA or … DEBACLE … or BOTH?

25. LABYRINTH N. a maze from which it is very hard to extricate (free) oneself

26. LABYRINTH • The basement of our school is a LABYRINTH of tunnels and passageways. It’s easy to get lost. • Applying to college often seems like trying to find your way through a complicated maze or LABYRINTH.

27. ART Imitates life.

28. Animal ingenuity triumphs! Cutting the GORDIAN KNOT!

29. PRECARIOUS Adj. dangerous or risky; uncertain

30. PRECARIOUS POSITION

31. POSITION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING PRECARIOUS POSITION

32. PRECARIOUS • Because Finny’s foothold on the tree limb was PRECARIOUS, he fell and broke his leg. • It’s PRECARIOUS to apply to only one college because you may not be accepted. Then what?

33. QUANDARY ELOQUENT • A dilemma; • a confusing or puzzling situation

34. QUANDARY

35. QUANDARY • Walter faced the enviable QUANDARY of deciding which of three hot colleges he should attend. • Safe Rides has taken the QUANDARY out of whether to accept a ride with a driver who’s been drinking.

36. TURBULENCE N. Great unrest; turmoil or disorder

37. TURBULENCE • In September Mac and Meg were a happy couple. But since Mary came along, their relationship has experienced some TURBULENCE. • “Buckle your seat belt,” said the flight attendant. “We are experiencing some TURBULENCE.”

38. TURMOIL N. A very puzzling scenario or situation; tumult

39. TURMOIL • There was TURMOIL in the room because the teacher had lost control of the class. • Gretchen’s emotions were in TURMOIL after Jerry unexpectedly broke up with her.