RETICENCE
Noun. the quality of being reserved and quiet.
“The reticence of his boss made him nervous during his presentation.”
- Reticence is the quality of remaining silent, and it is an important quality.
LATITUDE
Noun. imaginary lines drawn on earth; scope for freedom of action or thought
“The good teacher is someone, who gives latitude to the students to learn and grow.”
- Apart from being the imaginary horizontal lines on the map of the earth, latitude also means freedom to do something.
RATCHET
Noun. a situation that is perceived to be changing in a series of irreversible steps.
“The share prices of Kingfisher’s brand ratchetted down to a new low.”
- A ratchet is a device that helps you to move something in a specific direction
EMANATE
VERB. Anything that spreads out from some source
“River Ganga emanates into distributaries before flowing into the Bay of Bengal.”
- Light, sound, water, anything that comes out from a source is said to be emanating. So, easy way to remember this word is, emanate=out!
RENDITION
NOUN. a performance or rendition of drama or music
“B.R. Chopra’s rendition of Mahabharata TV series is the most celebrated rendition of the epic.”
- Rendition comes from the old French word rendre meaning to deliver. Think of rendition as making a new performance of a dramatic piece.
ONUS
Noun. something that is one’s duty or responsibility.
“The onus of giving income tax to the government entirely lies on every individual who earns.”
- Have you ever heard of the legal term onus probandi? It means the responsibility of showing proof, which requires the accuser to prove the case against the accused.
DOVETAIL
VERB. Something that fits together easily and nicely
“The cricket match perfectly dovetails with the sunny winter day.”
- A dovetail is actually a wooden piece with wooden projection that slide perfectly into each other to form a corner. In vocabulary, it refers to things that fit perfectly together. For example, weekend and sleeping dovetail each other!
SURVEILLANCE
NOUN. close observation of a person or group usually by police
“The police kept a close surveillance of the Talvar family during the investigation of Arushi Talvar murder case.”
- Cameras in banks means you are under CCTV surveillance, which means everybody is being watched.
ASSIDUOUSLY
ADVERB. With care and persistence.
“One must always drive a car assiduously and responsibly on the road.”
- If someone says you are assiduous, it is a compliment to you. Being assiduous makes you give more attention and care to detail than others.
SQUANDER
VERB. Spend anything especially money thoughtlessly and without care
“He squandered money in gambling and ended up being bankrupt.”
- Not just money, you should not squander your time, opportunity and chance for they never come back.
INCUMBANT
Noun. the official who hold the office
“Shri Narendra Modi is the incumbent Prime Minster of India.”
- Incumbent actually came from the Latin word incumbens meaning, lying in or leaning on. But, now the word is used for someone who sits on the chair of an official position.
MONOPOLY
Noun. exclusive ownership or control of something
“The Government hold the monopoly of railway and atomic energy in our economy.”
- In economics, there are five types of market: perfect, monopoly, monopolistic, oligopoly, monopsony.
CATACLYSM
Noun. a huge disaster with great loss
“Tsunamis cause huge cataclysm in Japan especially for those living on the coast.”
- Cataclysm comes from the Greek word kataklysmos which means “a deluge or flood”. But even apart from natural disasters, events like stock market crash, twin tower attack are also cataclysmic events!
REDUNDANT
Adjective. something that is not needed anymore or seems to be repeated too much
“After the popularity of emails and texting, letter writing has become a redundant activity.”
- For example, in CID as Daya breaks the door and says that there is no one in the room, maybe the criminal has run away. Now that is a redundant inference.
PAROCHIAL
Adjective. narrowly restricted in outlook or scope
“In many villages, even today the parochial practice of child marriage takes place.”
- Originally, the word was used for a Parish, which was under the leadership of a pastor for Christians. It was only in the mid-19th century that parochial got its “narrow” meaning.
MAGNANIMOUS
Adjective. noble and generous in spirit
“Mother Teresa had a magnanimous heart that cared for the poorest of the poor.”
- Magnanimous comes from the Latin magnus “great” and animus “soul”. So, together magnanimous means a great soul.
SOBRIQUET
Adjective. a name given to someone out of affection
“Mahatma Gandhi is affectionately called by his sobriquet, Bapu in the country.”
- Rajesh Khanna, Sourav Ganguly and R.D Burman were given the sobriquet of Kaka, Dada and Pancham Da, respectively.
TREPIDATION
Noun. a feeling of fear and nervousness
“I opened my class 12 results with much trepidation in front of my parents.”
- When you feel scared, really scared, do you tremble? Similarly remember this word as, trepidation=trembling with fear.
PERTURBED
Adjective. in a confused and flustered state
“The nation went into a perturbed condition when the note ban news was announced.”
- Doesn’t the word perturbed rhyme with another word? Yes, it does, with disturbed! It also has similar meaning. So, perturbed= disturbed.
CONFLUENCE
Noun. a place where things merge or flow together especially rivers
“In Prayag, thousands of people visit to witness the confluence of the Rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Sarawati.”
- Sangam is the Sanskrit word for confluence. Triveni sangam means the confluence of three rivers.
VIVACIOUS
Adjective. someone who is lively and high-spirited
“Enid Blyton’s children’s book are full of vivacious and funny stories.”
- Remember Geet from Jab We Met, she is the definition of the word vivacious.
INSOLENT
Adjective. marked by disrespect and a snobbish attitude
“A person who has an insolent attitude towards elders can never learn anything in life.”
RESCIND
Verb. cancel officially
“The United States of America rescinded the Paris Agreement from their side.”
- If your boss cancels your promotion, you can say that my good (for nothing) boss rescinded my promotion.
SUCCULENT
Adjective. Full of juice and taste
“My mother cooks the most succulent Gulab Jaamun I have ever eaten.”
- Do you also drool over the food they cook in Master Chef? Of course, you do, they appear so succulent!
GARGANTAUN
Adjective. of great mass; huge and bulky
“The Burj Khalifa is a gargantuan building with 163 floors and a height of 2,217 ft.”
- The word gargantuan came into English in the 16th century from Gargantua, a character in French novels by the author Francois Rabelais about two giants who were father and son.
