The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words: List 6

On the ACT Reading Test, you'll encounter questions that ask you to determine the meanings of common words in context. We've identified 200 high-frequency, multiple-meaning words of the sort that you'll see on the exam. As you practice this list, you'll have to rely on context clues in order to determine each word’s meaning in a particular sentence. Be careful! Several of a word's meanings might show up as answer choices — but only one answer will capture the meaning of the word in the context of the sentence.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. active
    characterized by energetic movement
  2. invest
    lay out money or resources in an enterprise
  3. throw
    propel through the air
  4. raw
    not treated with heat to prepare it for eating
  5. defend
    protect against a challenge or attack
  6. development
    a process in which something passes to a different stage
  7. faith
    complete confidence in a person or plan, etc.
  8. grievous
    causing or marked by grief or anguish
  9. relief
    the act of reducing something unpleasant
  10. neutral
    having no personal preference
  11. intense
    possessing a distinctive feature to a heightened degree
  12. condition
    a mode of being or form of existence of a person or thing
  13. suspend
    bar temporarily
  14. scratch
    cut, scrape, or wear away the surface of
  15. compound
    a whole formed by a union of two or more elements or parts
  16. pattern
    a repeated design, structure, or arrangement
  17. recognize
    perceive to be something or something you can identify
  18. waver
    pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness
  19. state
    the way something is with respect to its main attributes
  20. absolute
    perfect or complete or pure
  21. arise
    move upward
  22. buckle
    fastener that fastens together two ends of a belt or strap
  23. scale
    an ordered reference standard
  24. subdued
    restrained in style or quality
  25. dissolve
    pass into a solution
Created on Thu Dec 17 12:25:42 EST 2020 (updated Thu Dec 17 12:43:39 EST 2020)

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