Shape Up your Vocabulary from Newspaper Wordlist: 1st February, 2021

By Oindrila Banerjee|Updated : February 1st, 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. Shape Up your Vocabulary from Newspaper Wordlist from BYJU'S Exam Prep is a daily vocabulary exercise that will help enhance your vocabulary skills.

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 Indian Express’.

Read it, understand the context and go through the meanings of words to boost up your learning.

Fighting words

Important Words from the Article

1. Word: Potshot (बिना निशाना लगाने का गोली चलाना)

  • Pronunciationpot-shot
  • Part of Speech: Noun
  • Meaning: 
    a. a shot fired at game merely for food, with little regard to skill or the rules of sport.
    b. a shot at an animal or person within easy range, as from ambush.
    c. a casual or aimless shot.
    d. a random or incidental criticism
  • Synonyms: slam, shoot, criticise
  • Antonyms: hit the target, compliment, support
  • Usage in a sentence: He kept firing potshots to while away the afternoon.

2. Word: Endearment ( लाड़ प्यार)

  • Pronunciation: en-deer-ment
  • Part of speech: Noun
  • Meaning: actions or words that convey affection
  • Synonyms: affection, fondness, tenderness
  • Antonyms: dislike, estrangement, ghastliness
  • Usage in a sentence: The mother hoped her words of endearment would make her son feel better after he failed his exam. 

3Word: Erstwhile (भूतपूर्व)

  • Pronunciationerst·​while
  • Part of Speech: Adjective
  • Meaning: former.
  • Synonyms: Former, previous
  • Antonyms: current, future
  • Usage in a Sentence: She found herself ostracized by erstwhile friends.

4. Word: Infantilise (बालोचित)

  • Pronunciation: in-fuhn-tl-ahyz
  • Part of Speech: Verb
  • Meaning:
    a. to keep in or reduce to an infantile state.
    b. to treat or regard as infantile or immature.
  • Synonyms: childish, immature, juvenile, puerile
  • Antonyms: mature, grown-up, elderly
  • Usage in a sentence: The parents needed to stop infantilising their adult son.

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5. Word: Stratagem (दांव-पेंच)

  • Pronunciation: strat-uh-juhm 
  • Part of Speech: Noun
  • Meaning: a carefully planned way of achieving or dealing with something, often involving a trick
  • Synonyms: ruse, scheme, trick, ploy
  • Antonyms: counsel, truth
  • Usage in a sentence: In order to make their presence felt, the company needs to come up with a clever stratagem. 

6. Word: Traction (खिंचाव/कर्षण)

  • Part of Speech: Noun
  • Pronunciation: trak-shuhn
  • Meaning: 
    a. the action of drawing or pulling something over a surface, especially a road or track.
    b. the fact of an idea, product, etc. becoming popular or being accepted 
  • Synonyms: grip, friction, intensity
  • Antonyms: repulsion, slickness, berth
  • Use in a Sentence: Rubber tyres get good traction on wet roads.

7. Word: Moniker (मुँह-बोला नाम)

  • Pronunciation: mon-i-ker
  • Part of Speech: Noun
  • Meaning: a name or nickname
  • Synonyms: nickname, alias, handle, epithet
  • Antonyms: adscript, gibberish
  • Usage in a sentence: The quality of his work earned him the moniker of 'perfectionist'.

8. Word: One-upmanship (दूसरों पर हावी होने की आदत)

  • Pronunciation: wuhn-uhp-muhn-ship
  • Part of Speech: Noun
  • Meaning:
    a. the art or practice of achieving, demonstrating, or assuming superiority in one's rivalry with a friend or opponent by obtaining privilege, status, status symbols, etc.:
  • Synonyms: superiority, artfulness, arrogance
  • Antonyms: artlessness, authenticity, bluntness
  • Usage in a sentence: His habit of one-upmanship made him fall into disrepute.

9. Word: Rhetoric (शब्दाडम्बर)

  • Pronunciationret-er-ik
  • Part of Speech: Noun
  • Meaning: language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect, but which is often regarded as lacking in sincerity or meaningful content.
  • Synonyms: Elocution, Discourse, Bombast
  • Antonyms: Conciseness, Quiet
  • Use in a Sentence: As the elections are just one week away, the rhetoric on both parties is building.

10. Word: Caricature (भोंडी नक़ल)

  • Pronunciation: kar-i-kuh-cher
  • Part of Speech: Noun
  • Meaning:
    a. (the art of making) a drawing or written or spoken description of someone that usually makes them look silly by making part of their appearance or character more noticeable than it really is
  • Synonyms: parody, burlesque, lampoon, satire
  • Antonyms: actual, authentic
  • Usage in a sentence: He was excellent at drawing caricatures of famous people.

'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!

  • potshot
  • endearment
  • erstwhile 
  • infantilise
  • stratagem

Exercise 2: Match the columns.

SR No.WordSynonym
1tractionsuperiority
2Monikerintensity
3one-upmanshipelocution
4rhetoriclampoon
5caricaturealias

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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