Mastering the GRE Vocabulary: Untenable
Explore the meaning, usage, and importance of the GRE vocabulary word ‘untenable’. Learn how to identify and apply this term correctly in various contexts, including reading comprehension and sentence completion questions.
Imagine you’re balancing on a rickety chair to reach a high shelf. As the chair wobbles, you realize your position is dangerous and cannot be maintained.
This situation perfectly illustrates our GRE vocabulary word for today: untenable. Untenable is a crucial word to understand for the GRE, as it often appears in reading comprehension passages and sentence completion questions.
Let’s break it down and explore its various aspects.
Word type: Untenable is an adjective. It’s used to describe positions, situations, or arguments.
Meaning: Untenable means not able to be maintained or defended against attack or objection. It refers to something that is not sustainable, indefensible, or cannot be justified logically.
Word history: The word untenable comes from the Latin tenere, meaning to hold. The prefix un negates the meaning, so untenable literally means not able to be held or maintained.
It entered the English language in the seventeenth century.
Antonyms: Some antonyms of untenable include tenable, defensible, justifiable, and sustainable.
Synonyms: Synonyms for untenable include indefensible, unsupportable, unsustainable, weak, and flimsy.
Examples use in sentences: The lawyer realized her argument was untenable once new evidence was presented.
The company’s financial position became untenable after a series of poor investments. As climate change worsens, many coastal communities find their current locations increasingly untenable.
Common errors in use: One common mistake is confusing untenable with intolerable. While both are negative, intolerable means unbearable or too extreme to endure, whereas untenable means unsustainable or indefensible.
Another error is using untenable to describe people rather than positions or situations. For example, it would be incorrect to say an untenable person.
Instead, you might say the person’s stance or argument is untenable. Understanding and using untenable correctly can significantly enhance your vocabulary and help you tackle complex texts and questions on the GRE.
Remember, if something cannot be defended, maintained, or logically justified, it’s likely untenable.
Keep an eye out for this word in your studies and try incorporating it into your own writing and conversations.
