As if the English words on the MAT weren’t challenging enough, the Miller Analogies Test also includes some foreign words. Keep in mind that the foreign words on the MAT are words that are so commonly used in English that they’ve become part of the English lexicon and are defined in most English dictionaries.
The following list includes some common foreign words that may be tested on the MAT.
A priori: Based on deduction, not fact
Ad hoc: For a definite purpose
Ad nauseum: Continuing to a disgusting degree
Alfresco: Outdoors
Alter ego: An alternate identity
Bête noire: Something disliked
Bona fide: The real thing
Carpe diem: Seize the day
Carte blanche: Blank check, freedom; having discretion and authority
Casus belli: Justification for war
Caveat emptor: Buyer beware
Comme il faut: Like it should be
Corpus delicti: Evidence of a crime
Coup de grace: A deathblow
De facto: Actual reality
De jure: Truth by technicality
Déjà vu: A feeling that a new experience has happened before
Deus ex machina: Implausible answer to a problem
Doppelgänger: The ghostly or physical double of a person
Enfant terrible: Misbehaving child
Ex cathedra: Absolute authority
Fait accompli: Completed deed
Faux pas: Mistake made socially
Fiasco: A ludicrous failure
Idée fixe: An idea one obsesses on
In extremis: Near death
In loco parentis: Acting in a parent’s stead
In vino veritas: Truth is found in wine
Ipso facto: In and of itself
Joie de vivre: Joy of living
Mea culpa: My fault
Modus operandi: Way of working
Noblesse oblige: The way nobility must behave
Nolo contendere: No contest
Nom de plume: A pen name; an alias
Non sequitur: Doesn’t follow logically
Per se: By or in itself
Persona non grata: Someone disliked
Prima facie: At first look
Pro bono: Work done without payment
Pro forma: Done as a formality
Quid pro quo: An exchange
Raison d’être: Reason for being
Rara avis: Rare example
Sangfroid: Cool under pressure
Schadenfreude: Satisfaction from another’s misery
Sine qua non: Very important
Status quo: The existing condition
Sui generis: Unique
Tête-à-tête: A private conversation
Veni, vidi, vici: I came, I saw, I conquered
Verboten: Forbidden
Vis-à-vis: In relation to
Weltschmerz: Sadness because of the world’s evils
Zeitgeist: Popular opinion of the time
