<p>quodlibet comes from the Latin quod (what) libet (pleases):
two meanings 1) a humorous medley of songs 2) a form of academic debate which involves impromptu questionioning</p>
<p>Weird Al Yankovich's latest CD is an amusing quodlibet of parodies on 90's rap/rock. But some high-hat music critics will be engaging themselves in an endless quodlibet over whether Yankovich himself has any real musical talent.</p>
<p>gestalt</p>
<p>HEY EVERYONE: WE SHOULD INCLUDE ETYMOLOGIES!
(with inspiration from obsessedAndre)</p>
<p>gestalt -a configuration of elements so unified that it cannot be understood as a simple sumation of parts.
[german: stellen to place - past participle]</p>
<p>A talented painter can create a gestalt of color and texture on the canvas.</p>
<p>nugatory</p>
<p>nugatory - unimportant, inconsequential (from Latin nugatorius - "relating to trifles")</p>
<p>The perfectionist boss would often yell at his underlings over any nugatory mistake they made, like making a single typographical error in a 5000 word letter.</p>
<p>exaptation</p>
<p>Can people start picking more SAT-type words please?
Exaptation? That's a biology term.. The chances of it showing up on the SAT are miniscule. Same with obscure german words.
Really.</p>
<p>Anyway..</p>
<p>exaptation: utilization of a structure or feature for a function other than that for which it was developed through natural selection</p>
<p>A human's exaptation of his fingers for plucking the strings of a harp is quite strange.
?
No clue if that makes sense, but alright.</p>
<p>ubiquitous</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So biology words never appear on the SAT, huh?</p>
<ol>
<li>The marine biologist found a shell fragment on the beach and identified it as part of the --------, the bony outer covering, of an Atlantic green crab.</li>
</ol>
<p>A. antennae
B. aperture
C. cavity
D. carapace
E. viscera</p>
<p>The answer is D, carapace, which is defined as "a bony or chitinous case or shield covering the back or part of the back of an animal (as a turtle or crab"</p>
<p>This is from the 2005 sample PSAT/NMSQT, question 29, section 3. And I'm sorry, "schadenfreude" and "gestalt" are not obscure words. They are commonly seen in major newspapers and magazines like the NY Times and Wash Post and are fair game for the SAT.</p>
<p>ubiquitous: widely known</p>
<p>As Hollywood's current "it" girl, Lindsay Lohan is a ubiquitous celebrity.</p>
<p>vituperative</p>
<p>vituperative - marked by harsh criticism</p>
<p>His vituperative reviews of the cafe ultimately forced them to go out of buisness.</p>
<p>fugacious</p>
<p>Whatevvs, I'm just saying people should use some more common SAT words. Check SparkNotes for good ideas.</p>
<p>fugacious: passing away quickly</p>
<p>The time elapsed fugaciously (?).</p>
<p>eschew</p>
<p>fugacious: lasting a short time, evanescent</p>
<p>The careers of most one-hit wonders are, by definition, fugacious.</p>
<p>cabal</p>
<p>Ooo..</p>
<p>cabal: a group of advisors...I think...</p>
<p>After the president started playing soccer, he kicked the soccer cabal out of the field.</p>
<p>indignant</p>
<p>cabal - a group that seeks power usually through intrigue
(I love that we are all getting words from dictionary.com's word of the days... ha!)</p>
<p>the cabal of CC secretly planned to take over the world! After getting in to Harvard, of course.</p>
<p>cynosure</p>
<p>oops
indignant - with the feeling of anger because of some injustice</p>
<p>The indignant girl stomped out of the room, after receiving a C on her term paper.</p>
<p>tmesis</p>
<p>indignant-with anger or hatred</p>
<p>The losing team, indignant because of loss, was quite upset.</p>
<p>iconoclastic</p>
<p>iconoclastic - a person who throws off popular cultural ideals.</p>
<p>the iconoclastic, a black-gay-jewish-man, soon left his conservative home in podunk, Texas for New York, New York.</p>
<p>stentorian</p>
<p>actually, I just picked cabal off the top of my head. </p>
<p>I do believe that stentorian was Webster's word of the day a few days ago, though... >;-)</p>
<p>j/k</p>
<p>stentorian = loud</p>
<p>The Ferrari's engine lets out a stentorian roar whenever I step on the gas.</p>
<p>I'm also going to answer tmesis, because that's a really interesting one...</p>
<p>tmesis = separation of parts of a compound word by the intervention of one or more words
Example: "what place soever" for "whatsoever place"
or "any-old-how" for "any how"...</p>
<p>and cynosure! that's a great one:
cynosure = a guide; an attractor or center of attention</p>
<p>Home to many famous models, South Beach is the cynosure of Miami. </p>
<p>The Tibetan boy was cynosure for the Hikers who wanted to reach K2.</p>
<p>alacrity</p>
<p>alacrity - speed</p>
<p>Please bring me my letter from Stanford will all due alacrity.</p>
<p>maladroit</p>
<p>maladroit- clumsy or inept</p>
<p>The maladroit senator stumbled over his words because of inexperience.</p>
<p>antistrophe</p>
<p>antistrophe - the 2nd stanza; the 2nd chorus that stands opposite the strophe</p>
<p>the antistrophe of her poem was trite and unoriginal.</p>
<p>autochthonous</p>
<p>autochthonous = native, aboriginal</p>
<p>The Puritan settlers of America initially got along with the autochthonous peoples of New England, but over time, the Natives came to resent them and wars broke out.</p>
<p>diurnal</p>
<p>(Just a question)</p>
<p>Do you guys really know these words? I just know some of them, like <10%... I feel diffident.</p>
<p>(finish question)</p>
<p>I know about half to 1/3 of them. The point is to learn!! As long as you know them after reading this thread you're okay!</p>
<p>diurnal - daily</p>
<p>as Mr. Rice worried more about his health, his trips to the doctor became diurnal.</p>
<p>equipoise</p>