Shape Up your Vocabulary from Newspaper Wordlist: 19th May, 2021

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.

Avoiding breakdown: On GST council meeting

Important Words from the Article

1. Word: Precedent (मिसाल)

• Pronunciation: pres-i-duhnt/ प्रेसिडन्ट
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning: 
  a. Law. a legal decision or form of proceeding serving as an authoritative rule or pattern in future similar or analogous cases.
  b. any act, decision, or case that serves as a guide or justification for subsequent situations.
• Synonyms: example, model, prototype
• Antonyms: subsequent, following, ensuing
• Usage in a sentence: The government is not setting the right precedent by banning the markets in the middle of an economic crisis. 

2. Word: Acrimony (कटुता)

• Pronunciation: ak-ruh-moh-nee/ ऐक्रिमोनी
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning:
  a. sharpness, harshness, or bitterness of nature, speech, disposition, etc.:
• Synonyms: bitterness, animosity, malice
• Antonyms: benevolence, affection, kindness
• Usage in a sentence: The speaker attacked him with great acrimony.

 3. Word: Transpire (मालूम होना)

• Pronunciation: tran-spahyuhr/ ट्रैन्स्पाइअर
• Part of Speech: Verb
• Meaning: 
  a. to occur; happen; take place.
  b. to emit or give off waste matter, watery vapor, etc., through the surface, as of the body or of leaves.
  c. to escape, as moisture or odor, through or as if through pores.
  d. to be revealed or become known.
• Synonyms: occur, happen, befall
• Antonyms: vanish, stop quit
• Usage in a sentence: It transpired that she had worked as spy in East Germany. 

4. Word: Hobble (लड़खड़ाना)

• Pronunciation: hob-uhl/ हाबल 
• Part of Speech: Verb
• Meaning:
  a. to walk lamely; limp.
  b. to proceed irregularly and haltingly:
• Synonyms: limp, fetter, falter
• Antonyms: stride, accelerate, advance
• Usage in a sentence: The old woman hobbles down to the store every day. 
  
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5. Word: Normalcy (साधारण अवस्था)

• Pronunciation: nawr-muhl-see/ नॉर्मल्सी
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning:
  a. the quality or condition of being normal, as the general economic, political, and social conditions of a nation; normality:
• Synonyms: normality, regularity, ordinariness
• Antonyms: abnormality, oddity, anomaly 
• Usage in a sentence: After months of living in a state of tension, all yearned for a return to normalcy.

6. Word: Contend (संतुष्ट होना)

• Pronunciation: kuhn-tend/ कन्टेन्ड
• Part of Speech: Verb
• Meaning:
  a. to struggle in opposition:
  b. to contend for first prize.
  c. to strive in debate; dispute earnestly:
  d. to assert or maintain earnestly:
• Synonyms: argue, assert, fight
• Antonyms: agree, deny, surrender
• Usage in a sentence: He contended that taxes were too high.

7. Word: Fray (कलह)

• Pronunciation: frey/ फ्रै
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning:
  a. a fight, battle, or skirmish.
  b. a competition or contest, especially in sports.
  c. a noisy quarrel or brawl.
  d. Archaic. fright.
• Synonyms: brawl, fight, affray  
• Antonyms: harmony, agreement, calm
• Usage in a sentence: Uneven property distribution was the reason for the fray between the brothers. 

8. Word: Elan (उत्साह)

• Pronunciation: ey-lahn/ एलान
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning:
  a. dash; impetuous ardor:
• Synonyms: flair, panache, zeal
• Antonyms: lethargy, ennui, apathy
• Usage in a sentence: One's only motive in a party should be to dance with great élan.

9. Word: Missive (राजनीतिक संदेश)

• Pronunciation: mis-iv/ मिसिव
• Part of Speech: Noun
• Meaning:
  a. a written message; letter.
  b. sent or about to be sent, especially of a letter from an official source.
• Synonyms: note, message, epistle
• Usage in a sentence: The missive from central government was directed towards the state governments. 

10. Word: Irascible (चिड़चिड़ा)

• Pronunciation: ih-ras-uh-buhl/ इरैसिबल
• Part of Speech: Adjective
• Meaning:
  a. easily provoked to anger; very irritable
  b. characterized or produced by anger
• Synonyms: irritable, petulant, choleric
• Antonyms: pleasant, happy, genial
• Usage in a sentence: An irascible response was expected from the BJP after Congress took a swipe at their policies.

'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.

• Precedent
• Acrimony
• Transpire
• Hobble
• Normalcy

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!

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. 

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