Page 80 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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C: SAT Words
curiosity (KYUR ee ahs i tee) n. 1. a wanting to learn or know; 2. a wish to 71
learn about things that don’t normally concern one; inquisitiveness; 3. anything
curious, strange, rare, or novel
• Children often show curiosity about where they came from.
• Spies tried not to openly show curiosity about factories.
• The armadillo is certainly as much of a curiosity as the duck-billed platypus.
current (KOER int) adj. 1. taking place now; at the present time; contemporary;
2. passing from person to person; 3. commonly used, known, or accepted —n. 1. a
flow of water or air in a certain direction; 2. a general flow or drift; course
• The current weather report is for a pleasant, sunny day.
• The current rumor has Anne and Fred romantically linked.
• To call something cool is no longer current, and I’m cool with that.
• The river’s current carried the swimmer rapidly along.
• When it comes to whom to invite to a party, I go with the current of this
year’s crop.
curtail (KOER tayl) vt. to cut short; reduce; abridge
• The urgent call caused me to curtail my visit to the park.
• You must curtail your planned two-hour welcoming speech.
[-ed, -ing, -ment n.] [Syn. shorten]
custom (KUHS tim) n. 1. a usual practice or accepted way of behaving; habit;
2. a social tradition passed on through generations and upheld by social disaproval;
those traditions, collectively; 3. duties and taxes imposed on imports —adj. 1. made,
cooked, or done to order; 2. making things to order or dealing in things that are
made to order
• It is Neal’s custom to always shower before shaving.
• Not eating bread is one custom of the Passover holiday.
• Not eating during daytime is a custom during Ramadan.
• When we impose customs on imports, reciprocal taxes usually follow on
our exports.
• I’m going to buy a custom luxury car next month or as soon as I have a
half-million dollars to spare—whichever comes last.
• Custom kitchens are Gloria and Jeff’s specialty.
cynical (SIN ik uhl) adj. 1. believing that all personal actions are motivated by
selfishness; 2. sarcastic, sneering, etc.
• When Geraldine heard that the car company had donated 30 uniforms to
her soccer team, she was cynical, and she was proven correct when each
donated uniform had the car company’s logo sewn onto it.
• Max had a cynical view toward all apparent good deeds, just like his
mother did.
[-ly adv.]
cynicism (SIN i SI zm) n. 1. attitudes or beliefs of a cynical person; 2. a cynical
remark, idea, or action
• Karl greeted the ad for a complete oil change for $10 with considerable
cynicism, wondering what the catch was.
• Cynicism is a lot like skepticism, which means that if something sounds too
good to be true, the odds are that it is.