Visual Dictionary: Lithe

Welcome to Visual Dictionary, a series of posts about words that are better expressed in pictures.


This woman is quite lithe.

You could also say she is limber or lissome.

There are more words for flexible that you wouldn’t typically use to describe an entire person. For instance, supple (commonly used to describe skin or leather) and plastic (the point of plastic surgery is that it bends and reshapes parts of the body).

The words pliant and malleable can physically describe something like clay, or can metaphorically describe someone who bends to the will of others, a pushover.

Try this Sentence Completion problem:

Although they were twins, they couldn’t have been more different: she was a ________ ballerina, and he was a ________ but gentle giant who often broke things unintentionally.

A. lithe … ratiocinating
B. lissome … sashaying
C. flexible … craven
D. supple … tyrannical
E. limber … lumbering

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Vocab at the Movies: Johnny Mnemonic

The 1995 critical flop Johnny Mnemonic rather hilariously tried to predict our “wired” future (from IMDB):

In the 21st century, information is the ultimate commodity. The most valuable of information is transported in mnemonic implants in the heads of professional mnemonic couriers like Johnny (Keanu Reeves) who offer both security and confidentiality for the right price … but the massive upload is too much for his brain and Johnny must find the secret codes to download the information – or die.

Mnemonic means pertaining to the memory. A mnemonic device is often something like SOHCATOA (for remembering the sine, cosine, and tangent in trigonometry).

Other GRE words relating to memory include reminisce and nostalgia.

Other words related to learning are didactic and heuristic.

While the Church was opposed to Galileo’s claim that the earth revolved around the sun, it did admit that the idea could be used as a heuristic to help guide ships — that is, the Church agreed that navigating as though the earth circled the sun would be useful, if not necessarily true.

Manhattan GRE’s blog is written by one of our real-live GRE instructors. She teaches in New York. To learn about Manhattan GRE’s classes, go here. To suggest a word or topic for the blog, email jenniferd@manhattangmat.com.

Visual Dictionary: Docile

Welcome to Visual Dictionary, a series of posts about words that are better expressed in pictures.

Sheep are so docile.

Want someone who never argues with you? Try talking to a sheep! They are super acquiescent.

Choose your own answer to this Antonyms problem, then click “more.”

DOCILE:
A. refractory
B. garrulous
C. malleable
D. tractable
E. ruminatory

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Three-Letter Words: Wan

Some of the most perplexing words on the GRE are diminutive. Who doesn’t see PAN : REVIEW and metaphorically scratch his or her head, or wonder what, exactly, a “nib” or a “gin” is on its own? Welcome to Three-Letter Words. A few of them might make you want to deploy some four-letter words.

Wan means pale, sickly, fatigued, or weak.

The reality show host gave the contestant a thumbs-up as he lowered her into a tank full of centipedes. She could manage only a wan smile in reply.

She made it to the job interview despite having the flu, and fortunately had time to duck into the ladies’ room and attempt to conceal her wan complexion with makeup.

Supposedly, Juan had been able to slam-dunk in high school, but ten years of smoking and indolence had not improved his basketball skills. After handily defeating Juan at a pickup game, Balaji said, “That was wan, Juan.”

Manhattan GRE’s blog is written by one of our real-live GRE instructors. She teaches in New York. To learn about Manhattan GRE’s classes, go here. To suggest a word or topic for the blog, email jenniferd@manhattangmat.com.

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