27 July

skirt (verb) - to lie on or along the border of
Peace talks pick up pace as India, Pak skirt roadblocks.

ticks off - to scold or reprimand
Krishna ticks off Pak over Hurriyat meet 


tranche - a portion of something (especially money)

26 July 2011

quagmire 

• Land with a soft muddy surface.
• A difficult or precarious situation;

Usage : Jailed former telecom minister A Raja on Monday sought to drag Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram into the political-legal quagmire of the spectrum scam, saying they were party to the decision to allow telecom firms that got 2G licences to sell equity for large profits.

10th July 2011

barb - Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
Govt barbs force solicitor general to put in papers.

brouhaha - A noisy and overexcited critical response, display of interest, or trail of publicity


source : Dictionary

27 Apr 2011 Newspaper Words

garb - A distinctive style or form of clothing; dress
don - To put on (clothing).

Indian Prince to Don Traditional Garb for WillKate Wedding.

devour - To eat up greedily 

sojourn - A temporary stay; a brief period of residence 
eg. south african sojourn 

18th April 2011 Newspaper words

queer - Deviating from the expected or normal; strange
Rate hikes queer pitch for bond dealers. 

varsity - The principal team representing a university, college, or school in sports, games, or other competitions.

4 Apr 2011 Newspaper Words

lure - Something that tempts or attracts with the promise of pleasure or reward.

caveat - A warning or caution
"A final caveat: Most experts feel that clients get unsatisfactory results when they don't specify clearly what they want" (Savvy).
Synonyms for caveat -
lure, entice, inveigle, decoy, tempt, seduce

13 April 2011 Newspaper Words

Milieu -  the physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops i.e Environment (French)
Dhirubhai Ambani personifies the mix of hawkish and quick thinking breed of Indian managers that evolved in this milieu.

beckoning - To signal or summon, as by nodding or waving

28 jan 2010 Newspaper Words

belches - emit wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth.
It’s the most fitting honour for a country that eats, prays, loves and belches Bollywood.

moonstruck - slightly deranged, especially because of being in love

20 jan 2010 Newspaper Words

mercurial - subject to sudden changes of mood or mind.
Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee showed her mercurial side on Tuesday when she decided to skip Jyoti Basu’s last journey, taking even her senior partymen by surprise. 

agog - very eager to hear or see something.
I had to go for my MBA interview, and luckily, had the chance to fly. My mother and me were agog with excitement.

inured - accustom (someone) to something, especially something unpleasant.
 
quagmire - a complex or difficult situation

gatecrash -  enter (a party) without an invitation or ticket.
 

15 Jan 2010 Newspaper Words

overt - done or shown openly
covert - not openly acknowledged or displayed.

14 jan 2010 Newspaper Words

crescendo - climactic point.


mows down - recklessly knock someone down with a car

parasol - a light umbrella used to give shade from the sun

7 Jan 2010 Newspaper Words

aphrodisiac - a food, drink, or drug that stimulates sexual desire. 
A tiger’s tooth is considered a potent aphrodisiac.

malaise - a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or unease.

24 dec 2009 Newspaper Words

ennui - listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from boredom.
It was observed that a longing for thrills to drive away ennui may lead people to indulge in destructive, sensation-seeking activities, including smoking, vandalism, gambling and drugs.

stale - no longer new and interesting.
....finding love outside a stale marriage to spicing up your love life....

moron - a stupid person. 


fidelity - continuing loyalty to a person, cause, or belief. 







rehab - rehabilitation.

20 dec 2009 Newspaper Words

Taboo - prohibited or restricted by social custom. Ødesignated as sacred and prohibited.

(plural – taboos, tabus)

21 Dec Newspaper Words

pragmatic wisdom (vyavaharic vivek)

18 Dec 2009 Newspaper Words

 The military-ISI duo that calls the shots in Pakistan appears to be under severe pressure due to the ongoing global offensive against terrorism.


callousness - insensitive and cruel. 

Then there are the follow-up comments of Shantaram Naik, Rajya Sabha MP from the state, which not only hit a new low in their sheer insensitivity and callousness towards women but may also have triggered a diplomatic contretemps between India and Russia.

fray -  a battle or fight. 

Even that isn’t all. Goa chief minister Digamber Kamat has chosen to step into the fray by announcing, portentously, that it is up to tourists to follow “certain code and responsibilities’’, without specifying what these are.

riposte - a quick clever reply. 

paranoia - unjustified suspicion and mistrust of others. 

obsequious - obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree. 

17 december Newspaper Words

salience - most noticeable or important 
The market and technology needs of the most advanced and dynamic sectors of the Indian economy, coupled with the diminishing role of the government sector, have also reduced the salience of our Russian connection. 


superannuate  - retire with a pension

eg. superannuated man...

fiat - an official order or authorization

fief - a person's sphere of operation or control. 

A single leader may hold a party as his fief. Decisions are taken at the top without the involvement of the cadres and implemented by fiat.

15 December 2010 Newspaper Words

masquerade - a false show or pretence.

vigil - a period of staying awake during the time usually spent asleep, especially to keep watch or pray.
Nursery rush starts, govt keeps vigil

livid - furiously angry.

mar -  impair; spoil.

Livid over thousands of students failing to appear in the computer-based CAT, the govt has convened a meeting of IIM directors on Wednesday, even as the IIM faculty has demanded scrapping of the test which was marred by technical glitches. 

nudge - give gentle encouragement to. 

aficionado   (plural aficionados) a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about a particular activity or subject. 

9 December 2009 vocab

credulity - having or showing too great a readiness to believe things

execrable - extremely bad or unpleasant.

herniating -  suffer a hernia: a herniated disc.

26 Nov 2010 Newspaper words

blitzkrieg - an intense military campaign intended to bring about a swift victory.
It’s a year since the terror attacks on Mumbai stunned India and the world. But even now, there is an absence of comfort at how we might deal with another terrorist blitzkrieg that could possibly surpass last year’s 26/11 attacks in intensity.

flurry  -  a number of things arriving suddenly and simultaneously. 
fiasco - a ludicrous or humiliating failure.

After an initial flurry of activity and pronouncements – from military threats to Pakistan, where the attacks came from, to promises that our police and intelligence agencies would be geared up to prevent such a fiasco – the government’s responses have been far from reassuring.

smirk - smile in an irritatingly smug or silly way.
To add a smile to Pakistan’s smirk, our prime minister’s meeting with his Pakistani counterpart led to a contestable joint statement despite Pakistan’s rejection of several volumes of proof that India has provided the Pakistanis.