21 September 2010 Newspaper words

sobering - Tending to make sober or more serious
To listen to scholars, journalists and politicians from Japan and South Korea discuss what China’s emergence as a world power means to them is a sobering experience for an Indian.

squirm - The act of wiggling
(wriggle out of) avoid by devious means.


cahoots - Collusion or secret agreement
What these experts propose instead is that the US, China, Japan and South Korea engage in sustained, multi-cornered parleys to address issues of common interest and concern. That alone can reassure Beijing that its neighbours and America are not in cahoots to encircle it.

clout - Strike hard, especially with the fist

Antonyms

1)      Mollify            × Enrage, Provoke

2)      Inundate          × Drain

3)      Equanimity      × Agitation

4)      Gauche            × Tactful

5)      Exhume           × Inter

6)      Baleful                        × Beneficent

7)      Anathematize  × Bless

8)      Enigmatic        × Unambiguous

9)      Pariah              × Idol

10)  Turbid             × Limpid

Synonyms - September / 2009

1)      Choleric           = Hot Tempered, Irritate

2)      Waif                = Urchin, Abandoned Person

3)      Florid              = Ornate, Showy

4)      Servility           = Surrender

5)      Tepid               = Luke warm, Half hearted

6)      Melee              = Fight, Combat

7)      Aplomb           = Self-confidence, composure

8)      Mawkish         = Over emotional, weepy

9)      Voracious        = Hungry, eager, greedy

10)  Cliché              = Commonplace, Truism

11)  Pithy                = Strong

12)  Celibacy          = Chastity, State of not being married

13)  Retrograde      = Worsen, Move backward

14)  Foil                  = metal sheet, Layer of aluminum paper

15)  Chaste             = Pure, Modest

16)  Furtive             = Secret, Stealthy

17)  Paradox           = Contradiction

18)  Alacrity           = Eagerness, Readiness

19)  Remiss             = Careless

20)  Repartee          = Witty Report

21)  Mundane         = Normal

22)  Moribund        = Dying, Expiring

23)  Banal               = Stale, Common place, Usual

24)  Tarry                = Delay

25)  Misapprehension = Improper Understanding

26)  Cleft                = Split

27)  Virulent           = Poisonous, Dangerous

28)  Indulgent        = Obliging, Complaint

29)  Tantamount     = Equivalent

30)  Repudiate        = Reject, Deny, Renounce

31)  Reprobate        = Degenerate

32)  Acclivity         = an upward slope

33)  Baneful           = Destructive, Harmful

34)  Chide              = Scold

35)  Circuitous        = Indirect in action or language

36)  Churlish           = Brutish, Cruel, Rude

37)  Latitude          = Freedom, Liberty

38)  Jettison            = throw away, get rid of

18 Oct 2010 Newspaper words

India may pat its back for having weathered the global crisis well despite not being decoupled from it.

17 Sep 2010 Newspaper words

 DISSEMBLE (verb)

INSINUATE (verb)

SOLITUDE (noun)


dissemble - Make believe with the intent to deceive

insinuate - Introduce or insert (oneself) in a subtle manner

He insinuated himself into the conversation of the people at the nearby table

solitude - A state of social isolation

30 May 2011 Newspaper words

panache - Distinctive and stylish elegance

aficionados - A serious devotee of some particular music genre or musical performer

arcane - Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge

scion - A descendent or heir

litigation - A legal proceeding in a court; a judicial contest to determine and enforce legal rights

kamikaze - reckless or potentially self-destructive

10th september 2010 Newspaper words

huddle - private conference

The sight of BJP leaders going into a huddle with Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief shattered yet again a myth that both sides have built up for well over five decades. 

moot - Open to argument or debate

How far this effort at image building succeeds is a moot point.

sinister- Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

..............Advani remains enigmatic, disturbing and at times even a shade sinister.

astray - Away from the right path or direction

emasculation - Loss of power and masculinity

Advani’s legacy can only lead to the further emasculation of the BJP. 

stymied - Hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of

Mamata stymied the tabling of the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill in the last session of Parliament.

oblivion - Total forgetfulness

With a simple stroke of a pen last month, a singular legend slipped into the oblivion of history books. 

honing(hone) -  perfect

exult - To express great joy

Exult in the feeling of oneness. 

unfazed - Not perturbed or put out

9th september 2010 Newspaper words

amok - behave uncontrollably, murderously

The political class must share the blame for allowing sections of the police to run amok violating all norms of policing.

refute - Prove to be false or incorrect
If Modi wishes to refute this impression he must not adopt stalling tactics, but rather move with dispatch on the results of the probe and make sure that the guilty are brought to book.

connote - Express or state indirectly

8th september 2010 Newspaper words

triumvirate - A group of three men responsible for public administration or civil authority

Sycophants - A person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage

patronage -  (politics) granting favours or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support

parochialism- A limitation of views or interests like that defined by a local parish
He still spoke in Punjabi with his mother, and went occasionally to the Wadala market to get vadiyan, but by the time we came along, the mother tongue at home was English and we were raised to be global citizens with a healthy disregard for parochialism – and for ghee!


snob - A person regarded as arrogant and annoying


prolix - Tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length  
"editing a prolix manuscript" or prolix blogger or prolix teacher

garrulous - Full of trivial conversation


loquacious- Full of trivial conversation

rambling (verb ramble) - Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment

I guess it comes from our deep and enduring disgust for pompous, windbag politicians, garrulous chat show hosts, bombastic journalists, rambling academics, prolix bloggers, loquacious gurus, chatterbox celebrities with nothing to talk about but the tedium of their boring, over-exposed lives.

7th september 2010 Newspaper words

oblivious - (followed by 'to' or 'of') lacking conscious awareness of
So the classical forms are not entirely oblivious to global demands of modernity and beyond modernity. 

caveat -  A warning against certain acts

5 september 2010 Newspaper words

precarious - unstable, uncertain, depending on chance, insecure; delicate

precedent - the original of a copy; model; former; previous

precept  - law; an axiom ; an instruction in moral conduct ; principle ; a rule of action

precinct - a division of police or electoral purposes ; a place around a building

preciosity - fastidious over-refinement

precipice -  a high verical or nearly vertical cliff or rock face.

precipitate - to accelerate, to settle down or suspend in solution , a substance separated from solution due to precipitation

preclude - to stop or obstruct

precocious - strikingly advanced or mature in mental development, speech, social behaviour, etc

4th september 2010 Newspaper words

Tamilian moniker for coffee, was brewed by my grandma as an early morning rite. A mellifluous matriarch, she had so perfected the art of making kaapi that brides-to-be of our family had from her their Coffee for Dummies tutorials.

moniker - A familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name)

mellifluous - Pleasing to the ear

.......he would work on the pinkish teats of the animal’s swollen udder.

teats - The small projection of a mammary gland

udder - Mammary gland of bovids (cows and sheep and goats)

tinsel - A showy decoration that is basically valueless
..tinsel town.

fondle -  Touch lightly and with affection, with brushing motions
I fondle my pendant, press it to my lips and think, "What do I care! Petel is mine and nobody knows it!"
(anne frank,jan 12,1944)

3rd September 2010 Newspaper words

Only real aficionados of arcane moves inside the ruling party could be bothered to follow the ups and downs of factional bosses, many of whom were from established political families, and most of whom relied on shady financing. Corruption scandals erupted from time to time, but these, too, were usually part of intra-party manoeuvres.

The victorious DPJ may not immediately set off any political fireworks. Its leader, Yukio Hatoyama, is an uncharismatic scion of yet another established political dynasty.

After decades of missed economic opportunities and litigation logjam, the urban development ministry’s initiative to overhaul the property rights system comes as a welcome if belated development.

I did not have the stomach for such a kamikaze gamble and though my hosts looked quite insulted, one emerged alive.

panache - Distinctive and stylish elegance

aficionados - A serious devotee of some particular music genre or musical performer

arcane - Requiring secret or mysterious knowledge

scion - A descendent or heir

litigation - A legal proceeding in a court; a judicial contest to determine and enforce legal rights

kamikaze - reckless or potentially self-destructive