FMS Word List

FMS Word List

Most of the vocab questions asked in FMS are based on metaphors. So here is a list of some
common metaphors used in English.FMS also tests a students hold on etymology (that is word
analysis) so one needs to know a few roots: you can go through a list of High Frequency root list on
the website.

Vegetable metaphors

Vegetable metaphor Corresponding meaning

A vegetable A quadriplegic
A couch potato A chronic television viewer
An ear of corn On stick of corn
A head of lettuce One lettuce plant

Fruit metaphors

Fruit metaphors Corresponding meaning

A fruit A gay person (not polite)
Big banana Boss
Apple Sex (the forbidden act, unless you are married)
Lemon A machine that breaks down shortly after
purchase
A pickle A damned –if-you-do situation
Pumpkin Term of endearment to a cute child
Cherry (vulgar) Female virgin
The big apple NewYork,USA
Sour grapes envy
Melon head
Nuts testicles
Cucumber penis
Peach Pretty girl
Peachy Fine,ok
Crab apple Bitter person

Animal metaphors

Animal metaphors Corresponding meaning

Fox Beautiful woman
Chicken Scared
Pig Dirty person
Sloth Lazy person
Dog Bad man
Rat Tattler
Snake/serpent Cunning person
Whale Very fat person
Cow Humble person
Ox Big, strong man
Moose Big athletic man
Owl Night person

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Wolf Aggressive person (negative)

Tiger Aggressive person (positive)
Sheepish embarrassed
Mouse timid
Turtle Physically slow person
Snail Physically very slow person
Ham Show -off
Turkey idiot
Worm Lowest, hated person
Cuckoo Crazy person
Dodo idiot
Shark Hustler

Words from mythology and history

Achilles’ heel : weak or susceptible

Aegis: a protection
Aeolian harp: a box with strings that produce musical sounds when the winds blow on them
Apollonian:harmonious,ordered
Arcadia : a region of rural setting or pleasure
Arachnid: animals like spiders, scorpions
Armageddon: decisive battle
Augean stable: a place occupied with great filth or corruption
Bacchanalian: a wild or drunken party
Calliope: a musical instrument similar to an organ in which whistles are sounded by stream
or compressed air
Calypso: a folk song
Cassandra: a person who predicts misfortune
Cereal: a plant that produces grains that can be eaten
Chimera: an impossible or foolish fancy
Crosseus:a very rich person
Cyclopean: huge or massive
Cynosure: a guide
Delphic:unclear,ambiguous
Dionysian: fanatical
Draconian: extremely severe
Dragon’s teeth: seeds of conflict
Dryad: a wood nymph
Fauna: animal life especially the animals that live naturally
Flora: plant life
Hades: the underground home of the dead in Greek mythology
Hector: to bully
Hedonism: a way of life based on the idea that pleasure or happiness should be the chief
goal
Herculean: extremely strong
Hermetically sealed : describes a container that is tightly sealed so that air can pass through
Hydra-headed: any persistent or ever increasing evil
Iridescent: rainbow-coloured
Jovial: full of good humour
Junosque:having mature and poised beauty
Laconic: brief

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Mausoleum: a large tomb

Midas touch: talent of making money in every venture
Muse: a source of inspiration
Myrmidon: a loyal follower
Narcissism: fascination with oneself
Nemesis: a powerful or frightening opponent
Nestor:a wise old man
Olympian: exalted
Palladium: is a rare metal from the platinum group
Penelope: a modest domestic wife
Platonic: related to Plato and a close relationship in which love and sex are absent
Procrustean: ruthlessly disregarding individual differences
Protean: displaying great versatility
Pandora’s box: a source of many troubles
Promethean: life-bringing
Pyrrhic victory: a victory won at excessive cost
Sapphic: lesbian
Socratic: a teaching methodology similar to that of Socrates where in questions are asked to
the students to arrive at results
Scylla and Charybdis: two equally dangerous alternatives
Sibyl: a female prophet or fortune teller
Sisyphean: endless and difficult
Solecism: a grammatical mistake is speaking or writing
Spartan: war like, brave
Stoic: seemingly indifferent
Stygian:hell
Sybaritic:marked with sensual way of living
Tantalize:to tease or torment by offering something desirable but keeping out of reach
Thespian : an actor
Titanic:having great size or importance
Trojan horse:something that works from within to defeat or undermine

Colour metaphors

Black

Black: impure, wicked

Black comedy: a play or a movie that looks at an amusing side of things which we generally
consider serious
Black humour: satire
The Black Country: the industrial area in the west Midlands of England
The black hole of Calcutta: an unpleasantly full and hot room

Blue

Blue law: a law that limits activities that is immoral

Blue: sad
Blue ribbon: the highest prize in any competition
Blue chip: a company or investment designating any high priced stock with a good
reputation
Gray

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Gray dollar/Gray pound: the money which all old people as a group have available to spend
Gray eminence: someone without an official position who has power or influence
Gray market: a market, as for imported goods ,operating outside the authorized system of
distribution
Green

Greenie: a novice
Green fingers: skill at growing plants
Greens: vegetables
Green party/Green tourism: care for environment
Green paper: a document prepared by the British government for anyone interested to
study and make suggestions about ,esoecially before a law is changed
Green room: a waiting room in some theatres to be used by actors when they are off-stage

Purple

Purple heart: bravery

Purple prose: a piece of writing that sounds harsh or complicated because the writer may
have tried too hard to make the style interesting
Yellow

Yellow card: warning

Yellow journalism: the use of cheaply sensational methods in the newspaper to attract or
influence readers
Yellow-dog contract: an employer-employee contract
Yellow jack: a yellow flag used as a symbol of quarantine
Yellow peril: the threat to western civilisation presented by the Asian people especially
China or Japan
Yellow race: the Mongoloid group of mankind, usually a term of prejudice

White

White hope: any person who is expected to bring honour

White elephant: something that has cost a lot of money but has no useful purpose
White lie: a lie concerning a trivial matter
White horses: tides or waves which are white at the top
White magic: magic which is used to do only good things
White glove: inspection
Lily white: pure
White knuckle: terrifying experience
White noise: a sound containing a blend of all the audible frequencies distributed equally
over the range of the frequency band

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