How to study SAT words?

Memorization is not really the best way to understand language. Read through definitions, sure, but use the word in a sentence as well. Try to describe something already in your life using that word. Simply cramming 2000 words in your head might not work - our short term memory is rather bad at holding such a volume of information, and our long-term memory is more relational and networked than a storage box for random stuff - which is why the sentence strategy works.