Shape Up your Vocabulary from Newspaper Wordlist: 13th Dec'21

Vocabulary plays a very important role in enhancing your communication skills, be it written or spoken. As you glance through the newspaper every day, you come across a number of new words. Your reading exercise is impeded if you do not understand the meaning of a word, or its meaning in a given context. Such challenges could be overcome by inculcating a sound habit of reading. The habit lets you encounter something new every day in the form of words, the meaning of which you were unaware of. 

In keeping with the idea of learning and scoring better in English, we bring to you our series, ‘Shape up your Vocabulary from Newspaper Wordlist’. A daily dose of this article acquaints you with commonly (and not so commonly) used English words. The series tries to feature every such word, with its meaning, contextual usage, pronunciation, synonym, antonym, proper use in sentences, etc., that could save you from sitting with a dictionary while reading. Ultimately, it facilitates smooth reading and better intake of the newspaper article.

Given below is an important editorial from the newspaper ‘The Hindu’. Read it, understand the context and go through the meanings of words to boost up your learning.

Omicron shadow: On RBI latest monetary policy

Important Words from the Article

1. Word: Ward off (बचाव करना)

• Pronunciation: wawrd ov/ वॉर्ड ऑफ
• Part of Speech: Phrasal Verb
• Meaning: To ward off a danger or illness means to prevent it from affecting you or harming you.
• Synonyms: avert, prevent, avoid, repel
• Antonyms: allow, intervene
• Usage in a sentence: In an attempt to ward off criticism, the government has made education a priority.

2. Word: Status-quo (यथास्थिति) 

• Pronunciation: stey-tuh s kwoh/estatus-quo
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning: the way things are
• Synonyms: State, situation, condition
• Antonyms: Reverse, revolution
• Use in a Sentence: A lack of desire to change the status quo is the reason for the poor voter turnout at last year’s election.

 3. Word: Benchmark (मानदण्ड)

• Pronunciation: bench-mahrk/ बेन्च्मार्क
• Part of Speech: Noun, Verb
• Meaning: 
  a standard or point of reference against which things may be compared. (Noun)
  evaluate (something) by comparison with a standard. (Verb)
• Synonyms: standard, yardstick, baseline
• Usage in a sentence: Her outstanding performances set a new benchmark for singers across the world.

4. Word: Stance (उद्देश्य)

• Pronunciation: stans/ स्टैन्स
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning: the attitude of a person or organization towards something; a standpoint.
• Synonyms: position, posture, attitude, opinion
• Usage in a sentence: The doctor's stance on the issue of abortion is well known.

5. Word: Wariness (सावधानी)

• Pronunciation: wari-ne-ss/वरिनेस्स
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning: a feeling that you have to be careful because there may be a danger or problem
• Synonyms: vigilance , caution , alertness
• Antonyms: carelessness , negligence
• Usage in a sentence: Given how destructive cocaine and other narcotics are, wariness regarding legalization is understandable.

6. Word: Headwind (प्रतिवात)

• Pronunciation: hed-wind/ हेड विन्ड
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning:
  a. a wind blowing from directly in front, opposing forward motion.
  b. a force or influence that inhibits progress
• Synonyms: updraft, upwind, adverse wind
• Antonym: tailwind
• Usage in a Sentence: Beijing is trying to strengthen patriotic sentiment at home amid headwinds that include a trade war with the United States, protests in Hong Kong, and a slowing economy.

7. Word: Momentum (गति शक्ति)

• Pronunciation: moh-men-tuh m/ मोमेन्टम
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning:
  a. the force that keeps an object moving or keeps an event developing after it has started
  b. the force or speed of an object in motion, or the increase in the rate of development of a process
• Synonyms: impetus, impulse, thrust, push
• Antonyms: inertia, immobility, brake
• Usage in a sentence: Once you push it, it keeps going under its own momentum.

8. Word: Dissent (असम्मत होना/ असम्मति)

• Pronunciation: dih-sent/डिसेन्ट
• Part of Speech: Verb, Noun
• Meaning:
  a. hold or express opinions that are at variance with those commonly or officially held. [Verb]
  b. the holding or expression of opinions at variance with those commonly or officially held. [Noun]
• Synonyms: conflict, disagree, protest
• Antonyms: agree, assent, agreement
• Usage in a sentence: Voices of dissent began to rise against the bombing.

9. Word: Against the grain (अजीब)

• Pronunciation: ageynst d greyn/अगेंस्ट द ग्रेन
• Meaning: 
  a. if something goes against the grain, you would not usually do it because it would be unusual
• Synonyms: different from normal, against the current
• Antonyms: on the whole, according to one's taste
• Usage in a sentence: These days it goes against the grain to show too much respect for authority.

10. Word: Sanguine (विश्वासपूर्ण)

• Pronunciation: sang-gwin/ सैंगविन
• Part of Speech: Adjective
• Meaning: optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation.
• Synonyms: hopeful, confident
• Antonyms: pessimistic, unhappy
• Usage in Sentence: The man tends to take a sanguine view of the problems involved.

'Writer's Corner'

Based on the description of the words, we have some practice questions for you. Answer these questions in the comments section. Our team will review them at the earliest!

Exercise 1. Make your own Sentences.

Here are some of the words from the above article. Try to frame sentences from them in your own words and share them with us in the comments section!

• ward off
   
• status quo
   
• benchmark
   
• stance
   
• wariness

Exercise 2: Match the columns.

Share your answers in the comment section. 

More from us:

For practice, attempt the quiz based on this daily wordlist from the link below to enhance your exam preparation: Vocabulary Quiz, Click here to attempt!

You can also check the wordlist articles for the previous days from the link below: Shape Up your Vocabulary from Newspaper Wordlist

That was your Vocabulary dose for the day. 

from BYJU'S Exam Prep