Quick question: Do you know what the word OBVIATE means?? Many if not most students probably have never used this word.
RED ALERT – OBVIATE is making its first SAT debut as the answer to a difficult vocabulary in context question. OBVIATE means to remove a difficulty or problem by making something unnecessary. For example, this Winning Word post is intended to OBVIATE you’re worries about seeing OBVIATE on an upcoming SAT question!
SAT test writers clearly spent some time preparing their surprise OBVIATE passage. They turned back the pages of history by introducing Gottlob Frege (1848 – 1925), a German philosopher logician, and mathematician. Frege recognized that our languages are filled with vague and often misleading words that frequently have multiple meanings. In fact, SAT test writers often used these multiple-meaning words to confuse students.
Frege sought to use mathematical symbols to OBVIATE the confusing ambiguities and nuances found in our languages. His pioneering work created a language based entirely on math and logic thus laying the foundation for modern computer languages and challenging SAT questions!
OBVIATE – to remove a difficulty or problem; make something unnecessary