SAT word

An idiomatic usage that derives from the former (pre-2016) Reading section of the SAT Reasoning Test where students had to define and understand obscure words, often above their level.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɛsˌeɪ̯ˈti ˌwɝd/

SAT word (plural SAT words)

1. (figurative) A particularly difficult or obscure word.

   He was just dropping SAT words left and right! Like who even says "whence" anymore?!

   • 2014 March 5, Editorial Board, “The New SAT Is a) Better b) Worse c) Both”, in Bloomberg Opinion‎:

     Add to this a partnership, also announced today, with Khan Academy to provide free test-prep materials for the SAT -- adaptive software, dashboards, feedback -- and there are probably a lot of (alert: SAT word) melancholy tutors right now.
     Of course, the College Board cannot erase the test-prep industry in one fell swoop. Change will still bring (alert: another SAT word) trepidation, something a professional tutor will happily accept an hourly fee to (OK, last SAT word) assuage.

   • 2014 March 17, Jamie Gumbrecht, “The SAT word is dead, long live the SAT word”, in CNN‎:

     “Today, when we say that someone has used an SAT word, it often means a word you have not heard before and are not likely to soon hear again,” Coleman explained in his announcement.
     […]
     Drop “mellifluous” or “loquacious” into a sentence after the college applications are sent, and you can actually stop to appreciate it – “Hey, I just used an SAT word!”

   • 2019 June 4, Maureen Corrigan, “An Immigrant Yearns For Connection In 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous'”, in NPR‎:

     Here's an SAT word for you: "aptronym." An aptronym is a proper name that's especially "apt" for describing the person who bears it.

   • 2021 February 28, Lawrence Yee, “Golden Globes: Laverne Cox Just Asked Us to Google ‘Extradiegetic,’ So We Did”, in The Wrap‎:

     Laverne Cox dropped a serious SAT word during her virtual red carpet interview at Sunday’s Golden Globes.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see SAT,‎ word.