Vocab Builder: Restive and Restful

October 14, 2008

The most dangerous vocabulary words on the GRE are those that sound almost identical to other words, especially when those other words have opposite meanings. "Restive" and "restful" are a pair of such words.

Restful

"Restful" means what it sounds like it means. You can remember it as "full of rest" or, more technically: "giving or conducive to rest." It's like most words with "-ful" or "-full" at the end, like "colorful" or "bountiful."

"Restful" has plenty of antonyms you might be familiar with as well. They include "agitated," "uneasy," "disturbed," and--again, one that means what it sounds like it should mean--"restless."

Restive

"Restive" is almost exactly the opposite. You probably won't see the two words as possible antonyms on the test, but that wouldn't be too far wrong.

Here's a dictionary definition of "restive:" "impatient of control, restraint, or delay, as persons; restless; uneasy." In other words, "not restful." Making things even more complicated, the suffix "-ive" doesn't usually change the meaning like it does in this case. Consider words like "destructive," which retains the core meaning of "destroy."

There are plenty of long, convoluted words on the GRE, but sometimes the shorter, simpler-sounding ones can be trickiest of all!

Jeff Sackmann is a test-prep tutor based in New York City and the author of Total GRE Math, among other GRE and GMAT resources.

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