The archaeologists offered a tentative date for the pottery shards, pending further carbon dating analysis.
考古学家对陶器碎片提出了一个暂定的年代，等待进一步的碳定年分析。
A researcher found that job candidates who used more confident-sounding language in their cover letters received callbacks at a similar rate to candidates with identical qualifications who used more tentative language, once the researcher controlled for the specific length of each cover letter.
From a Inferences question · Information and Ideas
Which choice best defines “tentative”?
D — Uncertain, not final. “tentative” means uncertain, not final.
Which word means “uncertain, not final”?
D — tentative. “tentative” means uncertain, not final.
tentative — uncertain, not final. In Chinese: 暂时的，试探性的.
tentative is pronounced /ˈtentətɪv/.
The archaeologists offered a tentative date for the pottery shards, pending further carbon dating analysis. (考古学家对陶器碎片提出了一个暂定的年代，等待进一步的碳定年分析。)
provisional, uncertain, hesitant — all close in meaning to tentative (uncertain, not final).
definitive, certain — each the opposite of tentative (uncertain, not final).
Yes. tentative is on the SAT Prep Easy list — mid-frequency academic words that do get tested. The Digital SAT does not test vocabulary in isolation; words like this one are tested through Words in Context questions, where you choose the word that completes a passage most logically and precisely.
tentative (exploratory)