Up Your Score (15 page)

to cancel a command

“Work in the stockroom today,” the shopkeeper ordered. “No, wait!” he
countermanded
, “Keep the front
counter manned
!”

concealed; secret (see
OVERT
)

When the press finds out about the CIA’s
covert
operations, the CIA tries to
cover it
up.

to quiver; shrink from fear

The
coward
cowered
.

uncultured

“Is it
crass
to scratch an
ass
?” the cow asked the donkey.

gullibility

His
credulity
led him to think that the preposterous alibi was
cred
ible. I found it too in
cred
ible to believe.

dejected

“I’m sorry I dropped the toothpaste,” he said,
crestfallen
.

main point; central issue; heart of the matter

Note:
Crux
is the Latin word for “cross,” as you can tell from the word
crucifix
, and a cross is always made when two lines meet in the center.

“The
crux
of our work is to
cruc
ify
crooks
,” explained the Roman policeman.

to select; weed out

Coll
ege admissions officers
cull
the best applications from the pile.

greed; avarice

Note:
Although Cupid is usually associated with love, he’s actually the god of desire, including desire for money.

Dan is possessed with stupidity as well as
cupidity
; he stole a lot of money, but then he burned it to get rid of the evidence.

It was one of those steamy nights when the sky is lousy with stars. I was enjoying a
cathartic
cerebration
and
culling
the blue M&M’s from the M&M
cache
in the office of the Sure-Lock Homes Locksmith and Detective Agency. Suddenly, my
cogitations
were interrupted by a
cacophonous
sound and a cataclysmic vibration that reverberated through my
capacious
office. I stepped with
circumspection
into the hall because I was afraid someone might be up to some
chicanery
. I found a
chaotic
scene: a
corpulent
man lying
contorted
at the bottom of the stairs. Blood was gushing through a wound in his side, and I could see the
ciliated
lining of his small intestine. I decided to take charge.

I asked with
compunction
, “Golly, are you okay?”

He replied
caustically
, “Sure, I’m just swell. And how was your day?”

“Peachy,” I said.

At that he bellowed
cholerically
, “You
callous
piece of
carrion
! Can’t you see I’ve been shot? Did you think this hole in my gut was a
congenital
condition? Get me to a hospital with
celerity
!”

“You don’t have to be so
captious
,
cantankerous
, and
churlish
. Let me
cogitate
!”

“If I don’t have this wound
cauterized
, I’ll be a
cadaver
.”

At that moment a
comely
lady walked into the office. She
comported
herself calmly. She was voluptuous and yet seemed
chaste
. I was overcome with thoughts that should be
censored
. She pointed at the wounded man and said, “We were in my apartment; he got up to answer the door, and suddenly I heard a
cacophonous
sound and a cataclysmic vibration that must have reverberated in your
capacious
office.”

Just then my assistant, Watt, entered. He said, handing me the phone, “My kid wants to know what sort of tree he should plant in our garden. What do you think, Sure-Lock?”

“A lemon tree, my dear Watt’s son,” I said.

Then Watt became
cognizant
of the situation. He
cowered
and said, “What is that?”

“It’s a plant with little yellow fruit and . . .”

He interrupted me, “No, that body on the floor.”

“Oh golly, I forgot. We should get him to a hospital. But wait!” I
countermanded
, “I need to stop for
comestibles
on the way!”

We all lifted the body
concurrently
and put it in my car.

When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor informed us that the
corpulent
man was dead.

“Golly, that’s too bad,” I said with
contrition
.

Well, it was time for me to get to the bottom of this heinous crime.
Convoking
the small crowd, I asked the dame, “Who was that man?”

“My husband,” she replied,
crestfallen
.

“Were your
conjugal
relations good?”

“Well, no, in fact we had been
celibate
for a long time.”

“Why?”

“Speaking with
candor
, I chose to be
chaste
.”

“Is it
crass
to ask why you chose to be
chaste
?”

“Because it starts with the letter C.”

“Aha! Well, let’s get to the
crux
of this situation. Did you kill your husband?”

“How dare you
censure
me like that. What a
calumnious
conjecture
!”

I repeated, “Did you kill him?”

With
chagrin
, she
capitulated
. “Well, only a little, but Watt will
corroborate
that. He
cajoled
me into it.”

“Watt! What brought you to it?
Cupidity
? All the time I thought you were on the side of the law and you were really
covertly
planning this crime. My
credulity
! You
charlatan
! I will bring you both to justice without
clemency
, and I’m sure you will be
castigated
with a prison sentence and
corporal
punishment
commensurate
with the seriousness of the crime.”

raised platform

The nervous speaker whispered, “
Da is
no way I am going up on the
dais
!”

to intimidate; frighten

bold, unable to be daunted

The
dauntless
mouse
daunted
the lion with his .357 Magnum.

This word has nothing to do with the word death. It means scarcity (see
PAUCITY
).

When there is nothing but
d’earth
there is a
dearth
.

Because of
Darth
Vader, there was a
dearth
of laughter on the
Death Star
.

to lower in quality or value; adulterate (note the similarity to
ABASE
)

The birds at
de base
of the statue
debased
it with excrement.

a lure or bait

The
coy
duck disguised himself as a wooden
decoy
, but the hunters shot at him anyway.

the act of throwing something out the window

Note:
It’s highly unlikely that this word will be on the SAT, but it’s the kind of word everyone should know anyway. You could use it if you ever witness the
defenestration
of a proctor.

to deceive

De lewd
dude
deluded
himself into thinking he was attractive.

to object mildly

reserved; modest

The
demure
poodle
demurred
at the Saint Bernard’s drooling in public.

to lessen the supply or content of

She
de-pleated
the skirt by ironing it, thus
depleting
her stock of pleated skirts.

morally corrupt; debased; perverted

As a prank, the
depraved
criminal
de-paved
the highway.

having a severe mental disorder; being insane

The
deranged
cowboy roamed the streets singing wildly, “Rome, Rome on
de range
.”

to detract; to take away

The effect of the spear protruding from Bob’s forehead was to
derogate
from his usually good-looking face.

to discern; to catch sight of something that is difficult to catch sight of

Through the mist they could
descry
the form of the hungry, one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater munching on a bag of purple Skittles.

aimless; disconnected; rambling; haphazard

“That’s why I love pepper,” said Uri, finishing his speech extolling the merits of salt. “
De salt, Uri
!” yelled his debate teacher.

to prevent or discourage from happening

Nothing can
deter
Derek Jeter from hitting a home run for the Yankees.

to ruin by violent action

The Blob
devastated
de
vast
state
of Nevada.

completely lacking; void; empty; without

Avoid
diving into swimming pools that are
devoid
of water; you could hurt yourself and that would suck.

adroit or skillful in the use of hands or body

Houdini was
dexterous
; he could escape from a straitjacket.

Are you remembering to do the mnemonic thing? Picture yourself watching nine acrobats wearing banners across their chests that say
dexterous
. Each contorts into the shape of a letter to spell out the word
dexterous
. They are all named
Dexter
, except for one, who is named
Poindexter
. You lean over to your friend and say, “Wow, are they
dexterous
! I’ve never seen anyone so
dexterous
. I love
dexterous
people!” Then she looks at you like you’re an idiot.