SAT vocabulary in context

Study words by meaning and the clues in realistic sentences.

substantiate: support with evidence — The historian used shipping records to substantiate her claim about trade.
qualify: limit or add a condition to — The author qualified his conclusion because the sample included only one city.
corroborate: confirm with additional evidence — A second telescope's images corroborated the first observation.
refute: show to be false — The newly dated manuscript refuted the theory that the poem was written a century later.
reconcile: make two ideas consistent — The researchers tried to reconcile the laboratory results with the field observations.
posit: put forward as an explanation — One scholar posited that the missing pages were removed during restoration.
infer: conclude from evidence — From the worn steps, the team inferred that the entrance had been used frequently.
concede: acknowledge a point — The critic conceded that the film was visually striking, though she disliked its ending.
contend: argue or maintain — The biologist contended that habitat loss, rather than temperature, explained the decline.
undermine: weaken the basis for — The inconsistent measurements undermined confidence in the initial estimate.
empirical: based on observation or experiment — The team's empirical findings came from measurements in 30 wetlands.
anomalous: unusual compared with the pattern — Most samples cooled overnight, but one anomalous sample stayed warm.
tentative: not yet final or certain — The conclusion remained tentative until the second trial was complete.
robust: reliable under varied conditions — The method was robust: it gave similar results in rain and dry weather.
replicate: repeat to check a result — Other laboratories attempted to replicate the experiment using the same steps.
discern: recognize or detect — With a stronger microscope, the team could discern tiny cracks in the surface.
quantify: express as an amount or number — The survey quantified the change by counting riders before and after the new route.
preliminary: early and subject to revision — Preliminary results suggested a benefit, but the full dataset had not been analyzed.
conclusive: settling the question decisively — The pattern was suggestive but not conclusive because other causes remained possible.
methodical: careful and orderly — The archivist's methodical catalog listed each letter by date, sender, and condition.