Dear students, English language is the flavor of the millennium. In every aspect of life, we need great English language skills to stand out and be a success in your chosen field. In your competitive Exams for govt. jobs, English section is the most challenging. The best way to improve your language skills is by Reading newspapers. We are providing 10 vocabulary words from The Hindu Newspaper Editorial. Read and learn.
1.Arson (noun)
Meaning: the criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property.
Synonyms: incendiarism, pyromania, firebombing; fire-raising
Example: The Uttar Pradesh police on Monday lodged an FIR against 1,000 unknown students of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on charges of arson and rioting during the protest in the campus on Saturday night.
2.Rapprochement (noun)
Meaning: (especially in international affairs) an establishment or resumption of harmonious relations.
Example: It has been one year since the special forces of the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes to destroy terror launchpads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 29, 2016. It is important to take stock at this point on how India-Pakistan bilateral relations and the regional security situation have evolved over the past year since the strikes. Showing no appetite for a bilateral rapprochement, the two acrimonious neighbours have limited their interactions to firing across the borders in Jammu and Kashmir and calling each other names in global forums.
3.Acrimonious (adjective)
Meaning: (typically of speech or discussion) angry and bitter.
Synonyms: bitter, rancorous, caustic, acerbic, scathing, sarcastic, acid, harsh, sharp, razor-edged, cutting, astringent, trenchant, mordant, virulent.
Example: Showing no appetite for a bilateral rapprochement, the two acrimonious neighbours have limited their interactions to firing across the borders in Jammu and Kashmir and calling each other names in global forums. At the United Nations General Assembly a few days ago, for instance, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj termed Pakistan a “pre-eminent exporter of terror” — to which Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, responded: “India is the mother of terrorism” in South Asia.
4.Precarious (adjective)
Meaning: not securely held or in position; dangerously likely to fall or collapse.,dependent on chance; uncertain.
Synonyms: uncertain, insecure, unreliable, unsure, unpredictable, undependable, risky, hazardous, dangerous, unsafe, hanging by a thread, hanging in the balance, perilous, treacherous, on a slippery slope, on thin ice, touch-and-go, built on sand, doubtful, dubious.
Example: There are two sets of challenges that are more apparent today, one year after the surgical strikes. One, the India-Pakistan escalation ladder has become far more precarious today it has ever been in the past one and a half decades, i.e. since the ceasefire was agreed to in 2003.
The recurrent, and almost daily, occurrence of border battles between the two militaries in Jammu and Kashmir today have a worrying potential for escalation to higher levels.
5.Fraught (adjective)
Meaning: (of a situation or course of action) filled with (something undesirable), causing or affected by anxiety or stress.
Synonyms: full of, filled with, swarming with, rife with, thick with, bristling with, charged with, loaded with, brimful of, brimming with.
Example: By all accounts, India’s national security environment is fraught today. Terror attacks in Kashmir continue to break the calm. Consider Gen. Anbu remarks: “Large number of terrorist camps and launch pads exist across south and north of Pir Panjal, they have not decreased… Launch pads and terrorist camps have increased since last year.”
6.Assiduously (adverb)
Meaning: with great care and perseverance.
Synonyms: actively, busily, diligently, industriously, laboriously
Antonyms: lifelessly, sleepily, idly, inactively
Example: With her natural instinct for caution and pragmatism, Ms. Merkel embodied such a stance, one that was seen as a national trait assiduously cultivated to definitively turn the page on the country’s Nazi past. There is ample evidence of these qualities at work in Ms. Merkel’s remarkably long tenure, which led her to embrace Social Democratic Party policies on minimum wages, at times to the chagrin of her ally in the grand coalition.
7.Pander (verb)
Meaning: gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire or taste or a person with such a desire or taste).
Synonyms: indulge, gratify, satisfy, cater to, give in to, fulfil, yield to, bow to, humour, please, accommodate, comply with, go along with.
Example: It is, however, nearly impossible to accuse the Chancellor of pandering to the extreme right, so characteristic of the centre-right leadership in several European states in the face of the populist surge against the expansion of the EU and globalisation. The 8-plus percentage point plunge in support for the incumbent CDU and its Bavarian ally over 2013, combined with the all-time low returns for the Social Democratic Party, is a measure of the erosion of the middle ground.
8.Subtlety (noun)
Meaning: the quality or state of being subtle, a subtle distinction, feature, or argument.
Synonyms: delicacy, delicateness, subtleness, elusiveness, faintness, fineness, subtleness, precision, preciseness, niceness, nicety, nuance, shade, detail, slightness, minuteness, narrowness, tenuousness, indistinctness, indefiniteness, lack of definition, elusiveness.
Example: Hindi cinema doesn’t value subtlety. Hindi films are often screechy, didactic, and illustrative. Audiences are told how to see, think, and perceive. Cinematic moments are undervalued and easily
abandoned.
9.Vacuous (adjective)
Meaning: having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless.
Synonyms: blank, vacant, expressionless, deadpan, inscrutable, inexpressive, poker-faced, emotionless, impassive, absent, absent-minded, uninterested, empty, glassy, stony, wooden, motionless, lifeless, inanimate.
Example: A case in point is Lipstick Under My Burkha which had a crackling first half but descended into clichés post-interval. Remember the last scene? I haven’t seen anything more simplistic. Then there’s Simran, which is a disaster. A completely vacuous film, it fails to build upon the few sparkling moments it creates and does a shoddy job of showing the vulnerability of the lead character. When will we learn to make silence speak?
10.Trepidation (noun)
Meaning: a feeling of fear or anxiety about something that may happen.
Synonyms: fear, apprehension, dread, fearfulness, apprehensiveness, agitation, anxiety, worry, nervousness, tension, misgivings, unease, uneasiness, foreboding, disquiet, disquietude, perturbation, discomposure, dismay, consternation, alarm, panic, trembling, jumpiness.
Example: It is in this silence that perhaps lies its most forthright comment about the state of ill-being, which is already well known. If cinema is a visual medium, the key, not subsidiary, is image. Also, there is barely any violence in the film, which is remarkable. Its creation of a feeling of lingering trepidation is masterful. Do you have to show violence to represent or address violence? Newton says a resounding no. We see the central character studying in his middle-class home with an Ambedkar portrait on the wall.
