CONSOLATION
Noun. Something that makes someone feel better after they are disappointed
“Ice cream after getting second division in the exams was a consolation of him.”
- Remember how in competition there was a consolation prize, for those who didn’t get the first position, but at least it is better than nothing? Exactly.
DELUDE
Verb. To trick or fool someone
“My mother deluded me into eating spinach by making paranthes with spinach so that I eat them.”
- The low fat packed food are actually deluding you into believing they are healthy.
SALIENT
Adjective. the quality that stands out among many
“The infinity display and retina security are some of the salient feature of the new Samsung Galaxy S8 phone.”
- Every phone, car, laptop and almost everything you buy has some salient features. Always read the salient features before buying them.
LACKLUSTRE
Adjective. lacking brilliance or vitality
“The gold necklace become lackluster after wearing it so many times.’
- Luster means shine and brightness, and lack means an absence of something. So adding both of them makes lackluster=lacking shine.
HECTOR
Verb. Someone who dominates others
“Elder siblings always hector younger ones to do their work for them.”
- Hector comes from a Greek mythological hero. Hector is someone who is a bully to others.
OBDURACY
Noun. Stubbornly refuse to change one’s opinion or action
“That teacher was known for her obduracy to take tests every week.”
- The word obduracy comes from the Latin word obdurare, meaning to be hard like a stone.
PUNITIVE
Adjective. inflicting punishment
“Students faced punitive action from the principal, after they did a mass bunk for a whole day.”
- Easiest way to remember the word punitive, is that, it appears to be similar to the word punish and means the same. So, punitive=punishing.
PROTAGONIST
Noun. Main character in a work of fiction
“Raj and Simran are the protagonists of Dilwaale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.”
- The protagonist is the main hero or heroine in a movie or a book. For example, the film Queen is named after its protagonist, Rani.
DISPARITY
Noun. Inequality or difference in some respect
“Despite all the benefits, the Green Revolution led to a sharp disparity between rich and poor farmers in the country.”
- Disparity exists in many different ways, in caste, economic status, gender, income. It is important to remove such disparities.
CONTAGIOUS
Adjective. infection that can easily spread
“Conjunctivitis is a contagious disease that gets transferred from the infected eye to a healthy eye.”
- Diseases like chicken pox, viral fever are examples of contagious diseases. Other contagious things are sneezing, yawning and laziness, if you see someone doing those things.
DELINEATION
Noun. The action of describing or portraying something precisely
“The artist made a beautiful delineation of the scenery in front of him.”
- Not just painting and maps, but if you see a good movie and told its summary to your friends and convinced them to watch it, then you can make good delineations!
COMPREHENSIVE
Adjective. including all or everything
“Education nowadays has become more comprehensive for an all-round growth of students.”
- For instance, if you take a car insurance that covers a broad range, offering protection against most risks and damage, then your insurance is comprehensive.
SOPHISTICATED
Adjective. having a sense of refinement and style
“People from South Delhi are considered to be quite sophisticated and stylish.”
- Have you seen Maya Sarabhai from Sarabhai vs Sarabhai? She is the living definition of sophistication. Check out the new season!
MALIGNANT
Adjective. something that is harmful
“The doctors had to do an operation to remove the malignant tumor from the body.”
- Remember the word benign, we learnt in the last articles? Malignant is just the evil twin sister of benign. So, remember malignant=evil!
PERTINENT
Adjective. something that is on-point and appropriate
“The articles in Hindustan Times are pertinent to the current affairs that are taking place in the country.”
- If your mother gives you an advice to clean your room before Diwali, it is certainly a pertinent advice. You should take it.
NAÏVE
Adjective. someone who is simple and lack worldly experience
“If you believe you can top the exams by not studying hard, then you are just being naïve.”
- Remember Anil Kapoor as Ishwar in the movie Ishwar? He is an example of someone being naïve and simple.
RELEGATE
Verb. Reduce to a lower position
“Smriti Irani was relegated from the post of Education minister to Textile Minister.”
RAUCOUS
Adjective. unpleasantly loud and harsh
“Marriages in India tend to turn into a raucous affair and disturb the students.”
- Imagine someone who has a very loud and harsh voice and every time they open their mouth, you want to shut your ear. Remember that person next time you see the word raucous.
FRIVOLOUS
Adjective. silly and unnecessary
“In childhood, we all did a lot of frivolous things that were fun and silly.”
- Remember when we were small we had to practice cursive writing for each alphabet? Seems frivolous now that we always type everything!
NOTORIOUS
Adjective. things and people are famous for a bad reason
“Amrish Puri was infamous for always playing the villain’s role in films.”
- When someone is famous, but for a negative thing, then we call that person infamous. It is similar to negative publicity, isn’t it?
TITULAR
Adjective. existing in name only
“The Queen has a titular role in the governance of England.”
- The word titular comes from the Latin word titulus meaning merely a title.
RESURGENCE
Noun. bring again in activity and prominence
“The 90s Bollywood songs are finding resurgence today, in the shape of remixes.”
- Not just songs and music, but also fashion has seen a resurgence of the 70s and 80s fashion, in terms of headbands, ponchos and chokers.
FABLED
Adjective. famous and well-known in stories or legend
“The mischief of Lord Krishna in his childhood is so fabled that every child in the country knows about it.”
- Not just that, the stories of Mowgli, Hanuman and Bheem are fabled tales that we all know about.
DEMISE
Noun. the time when something ends
“On July 14th, 2013, the 163-year-old telegram service had its demise as people stopped using it.”
- Just like handwritten letters are facing their demise after the introduction of text messages.
ASKANCE
Adverb. To look at something with suspicion and disapproval
“Low rate housing loans are usually looked with askance.”
- Police officers, lawyers and detectives always look at everything with askance. just like you might read this in askance if I say the new iPhone 7s is not expensive!
