“Origin story” is an expression for a superhero’s backstory — for instance, Superman was born on Krypton just before it was destroyed. Many words also have fascinating origin stories. While English comes largely from Latin (and from Greek, and from Latin through French and Spanish, with some Germanic roots and a bit of Sanskrit, etc.), you’ll find that word usage can change quite bit over a couple thousand years.

Anoint means “rub or sprinkle oil on; make sacred, such as by a ceremony that includes applying oil to someone.”

After Principal Smitters raised test scores over 60% at her school, it was only a matter of time before she was anointed superintendant by a fawning school board.

Anoint shares a root with ointment, an oily substance added to the skin. Anointing occurs repeatedly in the Bible; in that time, people rubbed oil on themselves medicinally and for refreshment, and as a means of showing hospitality to guests.

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

To equivocate is to use unclear language to deceive or avoid committing to a position. Colloquially, we sometimes say that someone is “flip-flopping.”

Not wanting to lose supporters, the politician equivocated on the issue, tossing out buzzwords related to each side while also claiming more study was needed.

Related Words:

• Ambivalent (uncertain; unable to decide, or wanting to do two contradictory things at once)
• Vacillate and Waffle (waver, be indecisive)
• Dither (act irresolutely)
• Hedge (avoid commitment by leaving provisions for withdrawal or changing one’s mind; protect a bet by also betting on the other side)
• Palter (talk insincerely; bargain or haggle)
• Tergiversate (repeatedly change one’s opinions, equivocate)

Equivocate contains the roots “equi” and “voc” “ think of it as being equally vocal for two or more positions.

Photo of blog author balancing on the equator at Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador. Credit: Eric Walton.

“Origin story” is an expression for a superhero’s backstory — for instance, Superman was born on Krypton just before it was destroyed. Many words also have fascinating origin stories. While English comes largely from Latin (and from Greek, and from Latin through French and Spanish, with some Germanic roots and a bit of Sanskrit, etc.), you’ll find that word usage can change quite bit over a couple thousand years.

Adumbrate means “Give a rough outline of; foreshadow; reveal only partially; obscure.”

When I took on the lead role in the movie, I agreed not to give away the plot, but I suppose I could give a brief adumbration of the premise.

Adumbrate contains the root umbra, Latin for shadow. It may seem that give an outline of and obscure are opposites, but think of it this way “ to adumbrate is to give a shadowy, vague picture of something, which could mean giving more information (if starting with nothing) or obscuring information (if starting with a clear picture) in order to reach that point.

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.

If you’ve ever heard the word eke, it was probably in the context of the expression eke out a living or “barely eke out a living,” but what does eke mean by itself?

Interestingly, eke means “increase, enlarge, or lengthen” — in fact, the word shares a root, the Latin “augÄ“re,” with augment.

The expression “to eke out” of course means “to make (a living) or support (existence) laboriously” — to be just barely making it. “Eke out” can also mean to supplement an income, as in “He eked out his meager paycheck by participating in medical studies for money.”

(By the way, for the spelling-challenged, the eke in eke out a living is not the same as in Eek, a mouse!)

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

An effigy is a representation of someone, such as a statue, or — more commonly — a grotesque or crude representation of a hated person, as in the expression “burned in effigy.” (Much like poking pins in a voodoo doll, burning a paper mache version of a ruler is an evocative way to express dislike).

A scarecrow is also a common type of effigy, intended to scare birds away and keep them from eating crops.

In Ecuador, burning effigies — especially figures representing the worst of the past year — is a traditional way to celebrate New Years. From photographer Eric Walton:

“This stage-hand is putting the finishing touches on an elaborate display of effigies in which Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is represented as a puppet-master who is controlling the president of Columbia and another figure who was identified as Falso Positivo.”

To grandstand is to “to conduct oneself or perform showily or ostentatiously in an attempt to impress onlookers.” As a noun, a grandstand is essentially “the bleachers,” so the verb grandstand means to act as though you’re in the stadium, performing for bleachers full of onlookers.

A similar word is declaim, meaning to make a formal speech, or to speak aloud in an oratorical, pompous, or showy way (that is, to act as though you are making a formal speech when you really ought to just talk normally).

This past October, just in time for the election, Queen Latifah appeared on 30 Rock as Senator Regina Bookman (also up for reelection) of Rhode Island. Watch Bookman grandstand!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fvUabknNow

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCM2nEBE0RY

This classic Monty Python sketch, “Bookshop,” contains a memorable use of the word expurgate, which means “to censor, to remove morally offensive passages.”

The funny part — if you haven’t heard or seen the sketch before — is that the customer in the bookshop wants an expurgated version of a book that no one would normally find the need to censor: Olsen’s Standard Book of British Birds. (He dislikes a particular bird — they have “long, nasty beaks”).

There are a few other GRE words relating to censoring or shortening:

Redact – Revise or edit; draw up or frame. This word is sometimes used euphemistically to refer to censorship, as in the title of the 2007 film Redacted.

Abridge – “To shorten by omissions while retaining the basic contents,” as is frequently done when adapting a book to audiobook format.

Truncate – “to shorten by cutting off a part; cut short”

And, of course, don’t get censor mixed up with censure, which means to disapprove, especially formally.

The new James Cameron 3-D action thriller Sanctum is about a cave diving team that becomes trapped in an underwater labyrinth.

“Soon, they are confronted with the unavoidable question: Can they survive, or will they be trapped forever?”

A sanctum is a sacred place or a place free from intrusion. For instance, your bedroom might be a sanctum where you can lock the door and study for the GRE for hours without interruption! (Or maybe you’re not so lucky…).

So, the use of sanctum is a bit unusual (perhaps ironic) for a place where our heroes are trapped and risk a watery death.

Sanctum contains the root “sanct-“, which means “holy” and also appears in sanctuary, sanctify, sacrosanct, and sanctimonious.

Flotsam and Jetsam are evil moray eels in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

The words flotsam and jetsam, appropriately enough, are words related to trash found in the water.

While the two words usually occur as an expression — “flotsam and jetsam,” always in that order — they do have distinct meanings:

Flotsam is “the part of the wreckage of a ship and its cargo found floating on the water.”

Jetsam is “goods cast overboard deliberately, as to lighten a vessel or improve its stability in an emergency, which sink where jettisoned or are washed ashore.”

As an expression, “flotsam and jetsam” often means any big mess of trash, or even of people. The earthquake that destroyed much of the city also caused the prison’s north wall to crumble, allowing the flotsam and jetsam of society to pour out into the chaos.

A third word, lagan, refers to “anything sunk in the sea, but attached to a buoy or the like so that it may be recovered.”

From Wikipedia, on The Little Mermaid:

Flotsam and Jetsam are the first to notice Ariel’s infatuation with the world above. Upon witnessing the mermaid fall in love with a human, Prince Eric, Ursula sends Flotsam and Jetsam to propose a deal to Ariel. In making sure that Ursula wins the deal, Flotsam and Jetsam sabotage what would have been a successful kiss between Ariel and Eric. In the climax, Flotsam and Jetsam attempt to drown Eric by dragging him underwater.

Trashy!

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 jen@manhattanprep.com/gre.

What on earth are hallows, anyway?

You may have heard the word hallow as a verb — if you’re Catholic, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name….” Universities are sometimes referred to as “these hallowed halls.” Another name for Halloween is “Hallow’s Eve.”

As a verb, hallow means “to make holy; to honor as holy.”

As a noun, hallow or hallows means “a holy person or saint; the relics or remains of a saint, or the shrines in which they are kept.”

Select your own answer to this GRE Antonyms question before clicking “more”:

HALLOW:
A. disinter
B. apotheosize
C. deconsecrate
D. depredate
E. osculate

Read more