SSAT Upper Verbal practice test

Compassionate means sympathetic and caring toward others. Fair is positive, but it means just rather than emotionally caring.

To prefer is to favor one option over another. Avoid, decline and reject all mean turning away from something, and announce means to make something known.

A motive is a reason for acting. Result is what follows an action, not what drives it.

Scatter means disperse, or spread in different directions. Arrange is a tempting wrong choice because it also changes how things are placed, but it implies order; gather means the opposite.

To rescue someone is to save that person from danger. Warn is a tempting wrong choice because a warning may help prevent danger but does not itself rescue anyone, while endanger is the antonym.

Doleful means mournful, sorrowful, or full of sadness.

Solitude is seclusion, or the state of being alone. Reflection is a tempting wrong choice because people may reflect while alone, while company is the antonym.

In literary use, flight can mean escape from danger or pursuit. Shelter is something a fleeing person may seek but does not mean flight, while pursuit reverses the relationship.

To confound someone is to confuse or puzzle that person.

To abate is to become less intense or to reduce in force.

Radiant means shining or luminous. Vivid can describe strong color, but it does not specifically mean giving off light.

To quibble is to complain or object over a minor point.

To badger someone is to pester that person repeatedly. Question is an interaction-related near miss, while leave alone is the antonym.

When a time or situation is ripe, it is ready for action. Fruitful is a tempting wrong choice because a ready situation may not produce good results, while premature is the antonym.

A knoll is a small hill or rounded rise in land.

A rampart is a defensive wall surrounding a fort or city. A watchtower is a fortification-related near miss, while an opening is the antonym.

A credulous person is too ready to believe things and is therefore gullible.

Solicitous means attentive and concerned for another person’s welfare.

Celerity means speed or swiftness of motion or action.

In a phrase such as “a margin of victory,” margin means the difference between two amounts. Estimate is a measurement-related near miss because a margin can be estimated without meaning an estimate, while equality is the antonym.

In this academic sense, sound means well-founded or logically reliable. Factual is the strongest near miss because a claim can cite facts yet rest on flawed reasoning, while flawed is the antonym.

Baleful means threatening or harmful, often in an ominous way.

Recalcitrant means stubbornly resistant to authority or control; defiant is the closest synonym.

In its literary sense, fair means beautiful or lovely. Plain is a tempting appearance-related near miss, while ugly is the antonym.

To coerce is to compel by pressure or force. Coax and persuade are near misses because they influence without force.

Truculent describes someone aggressively hostile or eager to argue.

Impecunious means having little or no money, so “poor” is the closest synonym.

“Gregarious” means sociable or fond of company; “convivial” is the closest synonym.

To palliate is to relieve without curing the cause. Explain, delay, intensify, and repeat do not match that meaning.

A conciliatory remark is meant to reduce anger or win goodwill; it is appeasing.

A barge carries cargo; a tanker carries oil. Both first terms are transport vehicles for the second.

A fixation is an extreme interest; alarm is an intense form of concern.

A case is a fitted holder for a violin; a holster is a fitted holder for a pistol.

A jeweler produces a necklace; a blacksmith produces a horseshoe. The relationship is worker to product.

A torch can symbolize enlightenment, just as scales can symbolize justice. Going from justice to scales names what is symbolized before the symbol, and a lantern holding a flame remains in the light-related domain but gives a container-and-content relationship.

A mason constructs a wall, just as a tailor makes a jacket.

A farce is a kind of comedy; a memoir is a kind of nonfiction. The relationship is example to category.

An embryo is an early stage of an organism; a bud is an early stage of a flower.

Cacophony is discord in sound; harmony is agreement in sound or relation. Each first term names the quality.

Flint can produce a spark; tinder can produce a flame.

A carafe can hold water for serving; a decanter can hold wine for serving.

Obscure and enigmatic are near synonyms describing something difficult to understand; cryptic and mysterious share that meaning. The other pairs contrast meanings, such as candid and deceitful or ancient and modern.

Graphite is characteristically slippery, just as rubber is characteristically resilient. Slippery is the trait and graphite is the object, which reverses the object-to-trait order. Graphite and pencil, and rubber and tire, pair materials with familiar objects made from them.

A violinist uses a bow; a surveyor uses a level. The relationship is practitioner to tool.

A fulcrum is the pivot point for a lever; an axis is the pivot line for a wheel.

A wistful person feels longing; an apprehensive person feels anxiety. The bridge is adjective to associated feeling.

A semaphore sends a signal; a beacon can send a warning. Both first terms communicate the second.

A novice lacks experience. Similarly, a miser lacks generosity.

A cartographer uses a compass; a jeweler uses a loupe. The other pairs are synonym, worker-to-product, reversed, or same-domain object pairs.

Profligate and wasteful describe reckless use of resources; improvident and extravagant similarly describe careless or excessive spending. The other pairs show maker/product (weaver/tapestry and vintner/wine), opposites (opaque/clear), or a characteristic (nettle/stinging).

A lament expresses grief; a diatribe is a harsh verbal attack that expresses anger. Both pair a form of expression with the emotion it conveys.

A nautilus belongs to the mollusk category, just as a morel belongs to the fungus category. Putting nautilus before mollusk, or morel before fungus, inverts category and member, whereas a shell is a characteristic structure of a mollusk and a spore is a characteristic structure of a fungus.

Adjudicating yields a verdict, as mediating yields a settlement. Adjudicate and dispute pair an action with its object; mediate and mediator pair an action with its agent; propose and settlement name an offer, not the process’s product; enforce and verdict pair carrying out a result already given.

An apothecary prepares medicine; a vintner produces wine.

Laconic and verbose are opposites in amount of speech; parsimonious and profligate are opposites in amount of spending. The relationship is precise opposition.

A strophe is a formal section of an ode; an act is a formal section of a drama. The bridge is part to complete work.

An amanuensis writes down another person’s words, producing a transcription. Similarly, a stenographer produces a transcript. The distractors pair agents with tools, materials, work objects, or settings rather than with the product of the work.

A motion can proceed to adoption; a nomination can proceed to confirmation. The relationship is formal submission to later official approval.

To interpolate is to estimate within the range of known data, just as to extrapolate is to project beyond that range. The other pairs name a basis for the process or reverse the relationship.

Obsequious and defiant contrast in willingness to yield as pliant and intractable do.