CUNNING
Adjective. Showing inventiveness and cleverness
“And, the cunning fox tricked the crow into throwing the piece of bread on the ground.”
- In fairy tales and Panchatantra, we always have a cunning fox who tricks everybody with his cleverness, don’t we? Back in 14th Century English verb cunnen meant “to know”. So, cunning means, to know how to trick people.
QUIXOTIC
Adjective. Not sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic
“It would be quixotic to imagine a fairy godmother can fix your life. Only you can do that.”
- We all have a little romance and fantasy in us, don’t we? That is quixotic! The word comes from the great Spanish novel “Don Quixote”, whose protagonist is unrealistically chivalrous.
INCENDIARY
Adjective. Capable of catching fire and exploding
“The crowd turned incendiary for the cause for Nirbhaya’s justice.”
- If you are in a fight with someone, and if you say something rude, your words become incendiary in the argument, just like gasoline to a fire. So, remember, incendiary=fire!
FIDELITY
Noun. Quality of being faithful and loyal
“Dogs are known to have a strong fidelity towards their master.”
- Do you what Wi-Fi stands for? It stands for Wireless Fidelity because even without wires, the connection remains strong and constant.
EMBELLISH
Verb. Decorate and make something more attractive
“The banquet hall was embellished beautifully for the wedding.”
- Do you see the “bell” in the word “embellish”? Bells are used for decorations, so always remember Embellish means to decorate or beautify something.
DISCIPLE
Noun. A follower who believes in something or someone
“He decided to become a disciple of Lord Buddha and follow his teachings.”
- The word disciple comes from the Latin word discipulus meaning “student, learner, follower”. These three words sum up the entire meaning of the word disciple.
CALLOUS
Adjective. Someone who is insensitive and emotionally hardened
“Terrorists must be so callous that they don’t see the suffering of people caused by them.”
- Callous comes from the Latin word callum meaning hard skin. You get callous on your feet if you walk barefoot a lot. Here, callous is used for someone who is hard and insensitive by heart.
DELIBERATION
Noun. Careful consideration
“After much deliberation, the RBI announced that all restriction on cash withdrawal will be removed.”
- Deliberation comes from the Latin word deliberare meaning to weigh or consider well. For instance, you do a proper deliberation before taking an important decision.
RECONVENE
Verb. Meet or cause to meet again
“The school will reconvene after the summer vacation of two months.”
- The word is also used in courts, where the judge says the session will reconvene after a short recess, or in Parliament, where the legislation will reconvene next week
DELETERIOUS
Adjective. Harmful to living things
“Smoking is deleterious to health and can cause lung cancer.”
- Just like pollution is deleterious to the environment, junk food is deleterious to health and fitness.
LETHAL
Adjective. Anything dangerous enough to cause death
“Nuclear weapons are lethal for the continuation of human race.”
- Snakes, guns, knives, food poisoning are lethal as they are deadly and fatal.
REPRIEVE
Verb. A break from a painful punishment
“The rain in July is a reprieve from the scorching summer heat.”
- For instance, if a team is losing in the cricket match, an unexpected rain would be a reprieve for them!
REPERCUSSIONS
Noun. The effect or consequence of something
“Doing a bad investment has its repercussions for the investor.”
- Partaking of excessive junk food could lead to serious repercussion for your health. Think of repercussion as karma.
PERNICIOUS
Adjective. Exceedingly harmful that is done slowly
“Watching too much television is pernicious for the brain of children.”
- Pernicious comes from the Latin word perniciosus meaning something that is destructive, something our parent usually say about the TV and smart phones!
ACQUIESCENCE
Noun. Agreement with a statement or proposal to do something
“The government gave an acquiescence for the plan of having Bullet Trains.”
- When you finally get the green light for going to Goa with your friends, that means you got acquiescence to Go Goa!
CONTEMPORARY
Adjective. Occurring in the same period of time
“Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Shashi Kapoor were the contemporary actors of the 70s Bollywood films.”
- You must have heard people talking about contemporary art or contemporary music, when they talk about the prevalent music and.
UTOPIAN
Adjective. An imagined ideal society or system
“Communist structure of government is a utopian dream that cannot exist in such capitalist economic time.”
- In 1516, the English philosopher Thomas Moore published Utopia, a book about an island nation with the perfect form of government. From here we got the adjective utopian, an ideal and impossible idea.
AUDACITY
Noun. Aggressive boldness
“Birbal’s wit and intelligence gave him the audacity to jest with King Akbar.”
- The word audacity comes from the Latin word audacitas, which means boldness. So, you display audacity if you talk back to your boss.
ORTHODOXY
Noun. The quality of blindly following something especially religion
“People usually fall in the trap of orthodoxy of some saints who claim to have seen God.”
- The word comes from the Greek root word orthos, meaning right or true, and doxa meaning opinion. So, to think something to be the only right opinion is engaging in orthodoxy.
CONSCIENCE
Noun. The inner sense of right and wrong in people
“I could never cheat in an exam as my conscience won’t allow it.”
- Conscience acts as your moral compass while making decisions.
PRECOCITY
Noun. Intelligence or growth achieved before time
“Children nowadays have a high precocity to develop and grow than they had before.”
- The root word in Latin is praecox meaning maturing early, which comes from pre meaning before and coquere meaning to ripen.
FIERCE
Adjective. wild and ferocious
“Geeta Phogat fought like a fierce lion and won India’s first gold medal in wrestling in Commonwealth Games in 2010.”
- Fierce comes from the Latin word ferus meaning wild animal, strong and proud.
TRIVIAL
Adjective. insignificant and unimportant
“Almost always, the questions from the trivial chapters come with highest marks in the exam.”
- So, better not leave out any trivial chapters for the exam!
HYSTERICAL
Adjective. uncontrollable and extreme emotion
“The whole crowd became hysterical, when India won the World Cup in 2011 against Sri Lanka.”
- Did you know Hysterical is a psychological and neurotic condition, where someone shows excess of an emotion? Check it out!
CARNAGE
Noun. Mass murder
“The partition of India and Pakistan ended with a carnage of people from both the countries.”
- Carnage comes from the Latin word carnaticum meaning “flesh” or “slaughter of animal.”, usually witnessed in bomb attacks.
