Over the years teachers and tutors have cautioned SAT students to avoid choosing extreme negative words. Although this strategy has worked, recent tests suggest that it may need to be revised. Students taking the March and April 2026 School Days
Exams are reporting that ANATHEMA is appearing as a possible answer for a vocabulary in context question.
ANATHEMA is a VERY negative word! It is used to describe someone or something that is intensely disliked. Examples of ANATHEMA in American history are not hard to find. Led by William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionists passionately argued that slavery was ANATHEMA to the core principles of American democracy. During the Red Scares following World War I and II, Americans viewed communist ideology as ANATHEMA to our nation’s democratic and capitalist values.
Please be alert. Don’t exclude ANATHEMA as a possible answer. Remember, on the SAT, context is everything!
ANATHEMA – someone or something that is intensely disliked