Wonderlic WBST key terms

A word that means nearly the same as another word; recognizing synonyms helps you choose the answer closest in meaning to a prompt word.

A word whose meaning is opposite to another word's meaning; antonym questions ask you to select the choice that reverses the sense of the given word.

A comparison asserting that two pairs of words share the same relationship, such as 'hot is to cold as up is to down.'

The emotional or cultural shading a word carries beyond its literal meaning; 'cheap' and 'inexpensive' point to the same idea but differ in connotation.

The literal, dictionary meaning of a word, considered apart from the feelings, associations, or implied judgments the word may suggest.

Information in nearby words or sentences that helps you work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word without consulting a dictionary.

A conclusion you reach by combining stated facts with reasonable assumptions, rather than by reading the answer directly in the text.

The central point a passage communicates; it is the claim or message that the supporting details explain, develop, or illustrate.

The writer's overall attitude toward the subject, revealed through word choice and phrasing, such as sarcastic, hopeful, critical, or neutral.

A word part attached to the front of a root that alters its meaning, as 'un-' changes 'happy' into 'unhappy.'

A word part added to the end of a root that changes its meaning or grammatical role, as '-ness' turns 'kind' into 'kindness.'

The core part of a word that carries its basic meaning and to which prefixes and suffixes may be attached.

One of two or more words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings, such as 'their' and 'there.'

An expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from its individual words, such as 'kick the bucket,' which means to die.

Wording in a text that departs from literal meaning to create comparisons or vivid effects, including metaphor, simile, personification, and hyperbole.

Open to more than one reasonable interpretation; ambiguous wording in a question or sentence can leave the intended meaning unclear.

To restate the meaning of a passage in your own words, usually more briefly and without copying its exact phrasing.

A number expressed as a share of one hundred; 25% means 25 out of every 100, which equals 0.25 or one quarter.

A comparison of two quantities by division, often written as 3:4, showing how much of one exists relative to the other.

An equation stating that two ratios are equal, often used to find a missing value when scaling quantities up or down.

The sum of a set of values divided by the number of values; it spreads the total evenly across all items in the set.

The middle value in a data set arranged from least to greatest; when two middle values exist, their average is the median.

The value that occurs most often in a data set; a set may have no mode or may have more than one.

The difference between the largest and smallest values in a data set; it shows how spread out the data are.

A way to write a part of a whole as one number over another, such as 3/4, meaning three of four equal parts.

The top number in a fraction, indicating how many equal parts of the whole are being counted or described in that fraction.

The bottom number in a fraction, showing the total number of equal parts into which the whole is divided.

Fractions that name exactly the same amount even though they use different numbers, such as 1/2 and 2/4 or 3/6.

A number written with place value to the right of a decimal point, where each place is one tenth the value of the place before it.

A rate stated as an amount per single unit of another quantity, such as miles per hour or dollars per pound.

The amount of growth divided by the original amount, expressed as a percentage; used to measure price rises or other growth.

Money earned or paid on a principal amount, calculated as principal times annual rate times time in years.

The standard sequence for evaluating expressions: parentheses first, then exponents, then multiplication and division, then addition and subtraction, working left to right.

A raised number showing how many times a base is multiplied by itself, as the 3 in 2³ tells you to use three 2s.

A whole number greater than 1 whose only positive divisors are 1 and itself, such as 7, 11, or 13.

A positive whole number that divides another number exactly with no remainder, such as 4, which divides 12 evenly.

The result of multiplying a number by a whole number; for 6, the first few are 6, 12, 18, and 24.

Any whole number, positive, negative, or zero, without a fractional or decimal part, such as -3, 0, or 8.

A letter or symbol standing for an unknown or changing quantity in an expression or equation, such as x in 3x + 5.

A number from 0 to 1 describing how likely an event is, often found by dividing favorable outcomes by all possible outcomes.