💎 Intrinsic: SAT Word of the Day

Intrinsic (adjective): belonging to the essential nature of something: children possess intrinsic curiosity.

• IPA: ɪn.ˈtrɪn.zɪk (See IPA key)

• Phonetic: in-TRIN-zik

Test your recall of the last five words we’ve learned. Answer key is below.

1. COHERENT most nearly means

(A) exhaustive
(B) eloquent
(C) disparate
(D) logical

2. PLACID most nearly means

(A) volatile
(B) turbulent
(C) serene
(D) apathetic

3. VERBATIM most nearly means

(A) approximately
(B) concisely
(C) accurately
(D) word for word

4. ANOMALY most nearly means

(A) conformity
(B) paradox
(C) aberration
(D) precedent

5. COVERT most nearly means

(A) overt
(B) cryptic
(C) tacit
(D) clandestine

• Children are intrinsically curious; it’s how they learn.

• Music appears to be an intrinsic part of human culture and has been documented by ethnomusicologists in every society they’ve studied.

• Cryptocurrency arguably has no intrinsic value, but the same criticism could be made about most currencies, whose worth also depends on confidence of those who use it.

These are common ways to use INTRINSIC with other words:

• intrinsic value, intrinsic worth, intrinsic motivation, intrinsic property, intrinsic quality, intrinsic to human nature

First one: D, inherent. And here’s the quiz if you didn't get it: INTRINSIC means: A) acquired; B) incidental; C) external; D) inherent.

Last-5 quiz answers: 1) D — coherent 2) C — placid 3) D — verbatim 4) C — anomaly 5) D — covert

Y’all come back mañana. We’ll be learning what you hope your biggest goals are.

• My colleague Robert’s SAT Vocab book on Amazon

• Dr. P’s guide to building a perfect college list