Here i will try to explain words in a simple way and easy to remember.
19/01/2013
1) Epithet:
Who is known as man’s best friend?
Ans : It’s DOG.
That’s the saying. Now if you use or say man’s best friend in your sentence, then it becomes an epithet.
Meaning: a word or phrase associated with a person or thing and is often used in place of real name
2) Exude :
What happens when you squeeze a wet cloth?? It oozes out. That is Exude.
Meaning : ooze out, come out as a drop
20/01/2013
1 1) Petite : very small
Ex: below is the picture of a petite man
2) Ominous :
what is the most common thing an Indian say when a cat crosses your way? Something is wrong.This may not be true. But such inauspicious are called ominous
Ex : Lately, the Indian cricket fans believed Sachin's century as ominous for Indian victory
21/01/2013
1) wail : when i slapped her so hard she wailed horribly.
if you look at the above sentence you can guess wail has something to do with after effects of slaping. assuming the person is not strong enough to slap you back ; he is expected to cry.
Meaning : mournful cry
2)
Errands: I am sure you must have ordered something from the flipkart. When the courier guy delivers you the order it, means he errands your material.
Meaning: Deliver a package
This word is used in a little different meaning: a short trip with a specific purpose
22/01/2013
1) Squirm: what can you say about movement of snake? It squirms. That is very much clear to get the meaning of squirm. I.e. to move in a twisting motion.
One commonly used synonym of squirm is writhe. There is one word that is confused with writhe and that is wreath. Wreath means a circular arrangement of flowers or leaves. It is a common practice to offer a wreath when one is dead.
If you observe there is a slight relation between both these words. Wreathe is circular arrangement and writhe is twisted movement. Remember Squirm is a synonym of writhe
2) Astute: Relate this word with Einstein. Now as soon as I say this, the first thing that might strike you is about his cleverness, genius.
23/01/2013
I always get confused between these two words : Flair and flare.
I know the menaing of these two words
one means a natural talent, the other is suddern burst of flame.
I found a new way to remeber these two words. Flair has air in it which is natural. Hence flair means natural talent. Obviously flare should mean suddern burst of flame
25/01/2013
Espionage : This word is as simple as difficult to remember. Look at the second and third letter i.e. S and P. So sp. If i ask you to make a 3 letter word withthese 2 as the first two letters, i am certain you would tell me spy. That is what the word means.
Meaning : The act of spying.
This originated from French in which espion means to spy and the age just adds to make it a noun.
Gawk : what do you do when you see something that makes you surprised? Do you do like this child?
This is known as gawking. Looking shockingly with your eyes and mouth wide open. There is one more word most frequently used which is AGAPE
26/01/2013
1) SKIRMISH : When Pakistan killed two of the Indian soldiers recently, it lead to a skirmish between the tw countries.
Skirmish means fight. Remember it is like a fight going on between Indian and Pakistan not a war like Kargil
2) Duress :
Let me modify the letters here
U DRESS : What am i doing? I am ordering you. In other words i am forcing you or making a compulsion on you.
27/01/2013
1) Dysfunctional : This word probably means what it is. Functional means something that is working. So just put a dys which is a kind of negative impact on the functional .
Meaning: Improper functioning
2) Exodus : If you are a voracious reader i am sure you must have come thorgh a book called 'Our moon has blood clots' by Rahul Pandita.
This book is about the exods of Rahul pandita from kashir.
Meaning : the departure of the people.
28/01/2013
1) Voracious : if you happen to obeserve carefully, this word was used in explaing the last word.
Voracious is an adjective meaning consuming large quantities. This is usually used while describing eating habits. It is also used in the above sense. When I say he is a voracious reader I mean he reads a lot.
2) Bonhomie : divide this word into two : bon and homie . In latin bon means good and homie means man. So Bonhomie means a good man or you can say good-natured person
29/01/2013
1) Pretext : Divide this into two parts . Pre and text from which we can tell that it is before text. Now what does this do?? This covers the actual text.
Arthat : something that is put forward to conceal the truth.
2
)Flail : Observe the last three words i.e. ail which means to cause pain.which is the easiest way to cause pain? Ok, here i am talking about physical. Well, in that case by beating.
So flail is nothing but to beat.
When used as noun it means as stick kind of then. how about this smiley to remember??
30/01/2013
1)
Envoy : envoy is a diplomat. His rank is next to an ambassador.
Well how to rmemebr this?
Trust me if your friend is an envoy you might envy about him for all the things. Remember envy about the envoy :)
Eg: The conflict in Syria has reached "unprecedented levels of horror", peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has told the UN Security Council.
The above example is directly from the bbc.co.uk
2) Comatose : You see coma don't you? Well that's the meaning. It means affeted with coma. Now the reason i chose this word is becuase it is also used when you want to say'lacking energy or alertness'.
e.g : She remained
comatose for about three weeks and we never knew what to expect each day.
here it means affected by coma.
look at this
Indeed, if the BJP's till now comatose rank and file are suddenly showing signs of life.....
In this sentence it means that BJP has lacked in alertness till now
For next set of words in February
01/02/2013
1) Nubile : Lets say your parents are worrying about your marriage. what does that mean? That implicitly mean you have reached the age of marriage .
So nubile means marriageable. or who are eligible to marry.
Hold on this word is used only for girls.
E,g. : He scowled at his nubile daughter
2) Scowl : See the below smiley.
It is frowning smiley. That's the meaning of scowl .
E.g : used above for nubile :)
02/02/2013
1) Chastise : What does the opposition party do? Always criticize the ruling party. i.e to chastise.
Meaning : chastise means severe criticism
Synonyms which are usually used : castigate, objurgate, reprimand all mean criticizing severely.
e.g : The opposition party always chastises the ruling party
2) exigent : just relate this word with the most common picture below
when do you need an ambulance? when there is an emergency.
Meaning of exigent : an emergency situation which requires immediate attention
e.g : The police reacted well for the exigencies of the people.
03/02/2013
1) Outlandish : just split the words into two : out and landish. From this we can easily tell that it is something out of the land. The exact meaning would be strange and somewhat frightening.
e.g : He name was outlandish to hear.
This means her name was something strange to hear.
2) Jangle : No, this is not jungle. This is jangle. does this sound like bangle? Oh, yes.
What happens when bangles move. They make sound isn't it?? That is the meaning of jangle.
Exact meaning : Jangle is to make a sound which is typically of metallic object
e.g. : The coins in his pocket were jingle-jangling.
04/02/2013
1) Repatriate : re means as you all know again patriate is derived from patron means father as in patriarch or patriot. So repatriate is sending one back to his country.
e.g : The poor lad would be repatriated after the war.
2) Accost : Accost let me say it as 'at any cost'. Haven't you seen in movies the Villon tells that i need her(heroine) at any cost. Well, that's the meaning of accost.
Meaning : Approach with a sex offer.
there is one more meaning that is not related to sex term
Meaning: speak to someone or approach to someone with boldness.
e.g 1) : Prostitutes accost men to earn for their living.
2) He accosted for my friendship
05/02/2013
1) suo motu : Yes, you are right. This is not English. it is Latin. Nevertheless, this is used at time if not frequently.
Meaning Suo means self and motu is motion
So Suo motu is on it's own motion.
E.g : In Owaisi's case, a suo motu case was booked by Nirmal police on January 22nd, 11 days after his speech
2) Amiss : A miss?? Yes. You missed it because it was a wrong approach , or because it was improper or because there was a fault.
That's the meaning of amiss :
out of order, wrong, improper, fault.
e.g :
Nanded district police said they did not find anything amiss with the Bhokar public meeting.
both of the e.g are taken from Hindu paper
06/02/2013
1) stout : how do yoy say the physical feature of the boy in below pic?
FAT??
Don't use that word. He might get furious about your choice of word. call him Stout .I am sure he would not mind
meaning : a euphemism for 'fat'. (euphemism is an indirect way of telling which is not considered to be harsh.)
e.g : The mother was regally stout in black.
now that we have learnt a word for fat let the second word of the day be the opposite of it. i.e. slim or thin build.
2) Slender : meaning : delicate or thin build.
e.g: He was a tall crew cut man, very slender, very ordinary looking.
the above line is from the novel THE GODFATHER.
the above word is also used to indicate the quantity . when you say slender you mean small.
e.g : The employees were given a slender increment in their wages.
07/02/2013
1) Pogrom : When i searched this word, i was confused if the writer meant it program . i thought it may be the shortform of program. i was wrong but i was right. I was right in the sense that program and pogrom both are organized. i was wrong becuase pogrom always meant a massacre.
Meaning : An organized massacre.
e.g: He bears ultimate responsibility for the pogrom
2) misnomer : nomo means name. misnomer is an incorrect name.
e.g : The term is a misnomer. It is the result of brainwashing done by some people associated with Lutyen's Trust.
08/02/2013
1) cavern : Everyone must have experienced this. Remember scary house?? If yes, the space in scary house is called cavern.
The below picture would help?
meaning : large dark and enclosed space.
e.g : If Pratibha Patil is looking forward to visitations from the dead in the corridors of the cavernous Rashtrapati Bhavan, she should take a left turn from her future suite.
02) Ratify : Ratify is to rectify.
meaning : To confirm. or make something valid
This word is most used in its noun form Ramification. Meaning
e.g: The ministers made news for the topic of ratification of Modi as PM candidate.
09/02/2013
1) Consternation : Say you know something bad, danger thing is going to happen. The fear that is caused because of that is consternation.
2) Proscenium : Pro is in front. Scene is a screen(theatre)
Meaning : The wall that separates the stage from the auditorium.
e.g : Its track record from Proscenium remains mixed.
10/02/2013
1) Annals : One thing that is common in annals.. biannual and annual is ann. Yes, ann means yearly in both the words. Now it becomes a cake walk to guess the meaning of annals .
Meaning : chronological account of events in successive years
e.g : The king is mentioned several times in annals of the period.
02) Plebiscite : What does the below picture tell you?It clearly represents the voting.
Meaning : A vote to determine public opinion
e.g : Do you really need it??
11/02/2013
1) Spurn :
The above picture gives us an idea that the person is refusing or stopping something
Meaning :Refuse with contempt, disdain.
E.g : She spurned his debt
2) Laden : The lorry in the below picture is loaded too much isn't it?
Meaning : Loaded heavily, burdened psychologically or mentally.
e.g : The move is laden with political significance.
12/02/2013
1) Celerity : What does the Below image say about? 'Oh c'mon its speed', There you go.
Meaning : speed, rapid
e.g : The celerity achieved by car amazed everyone.(chosen from testfunda)
2) Expunge : What is the person doing in the below picture? He is erasing it? ain't it?
meaning : to erase
e.g: He expunged the remark from the record
13/02/2013
Before i put words i would apologies for not updating this page with words for last 10 or so days.
1) Effeminate : if you cut out ef you will be left with feminate which gives you enough clue that the word deals with female.
Meaning : Having unsuitable feminine qualities.
e.g : He seemed to be effeminate man.
2) Palatial : This word is associated with the word palace. it means relating to palace. it is also used as impressive.
e.g : The wholesaler owned his own palatial house.
14/02/2013
1) Prudent : What reminds me of this word is ICICI prudential life insurance. When you chose ICICI prudential life insurance you are careful, you are sensible, your choice sounds good. I am not advertising ICICI but just tried to explain its meaning using this example.
Meaning : Careful and sensible.
e.g : He was a prudent manager.
2) Terse : Lets say you are talking at a length and the below picture is shown to you. what does that mean to you? To stop speaking.
Meaning : brief and precise to the point.
This word is also synonym for laconic. A laconic is one who speaks very precise up to the point.
E.g : Your speech should be short and terse but yet easy to understand.
15/02/2013
1) Beleaguer : What happens when a person constantly pinch you? or hit you. You get annoyed isn't it? The act that he does is called Beleaguer.
Meaning :Annoy persistently
e.g : The ministry stripped the beleaguered airlines.
2) Besiege : When ever you see this word remember one layer of chakravyuha. How are you being attacked? In all the direction.
Meaning : Encircle as a military tactic.
This word is sometimes used when you are continuously being harassed by the question.
e.g : And one thought leads to another, before you know, you are besieged by a whole collection of torturous memories.
16/02/2013
1) Procrastinate : The reason why this page is not being updated at the right time is because of my procrastination. Well, you must have understood that i am getting lazier . You are close.
Meaning : Postpone
e.g : Procrastination is one bad habit i should get rid off.
2) Sore : Remember this is not soar. So do not get confused!!!. OK I can relate these 2 very closely.
Sore means hurting or causing misery .
Soar means rise rapidly.
What i would say is when you are hurt badly, rise again . a kind of Phoenix eh? Yes Indeed
e.g : What sore you my friend?
17/02/2013
1) Earnest : Do not think it is the superlative degree of earn. We can relate them to remember it. When do you earn? when you work. Now say, if the earning was based on your performance or amount of work which means more you work more you earn. When can you work more? for obvious reasons, when you are interested. When you sincerely intend to work. Here you go with the meaning of earnest.
e.g : If you are earnest in your intent, try to become inordinately curious about words.
2) Inordinate : Why i chose this word is because of the example above.
Everyone is aware of ordinate which is the value of coordinate on the vertical axis. Thanks to maths.
Inordinate. adding in to ordinate, means beyond normal limits.
e.g: The book was of inordinate length.
18/02/2013
1) Maudlin : Connect this word with Mary Magdalene. Now what's the connection? In religious Magdalene was usually pictured with eyes swollen and red from weeping.
Meaning : Insincerely emotional.
e.g : Everyone fell for here maudlin cry.
2) Jeopardize : This french word was divided by jeu parti which meant that 'game divided'. Now when the game is equally divided or equally divided what happens is both the teams are uncertain or scared of the result. Let me say team A has 6 members and team B has 10 players. In this case team B is almost certain win if the players are of equal strength and of course they play to their strength. This is not the case when the game is equally divided. everyone is uncertain because the other team jeopardize you.
Meaning : Pose a threat , put at risk
e.g : When soldiers enter a battle, they jeopardize their lives.
19/02/2013
1) Bereft : Look at the picture. It clearly tells us that these people are poor and are deprived of basic needs. That's the meaning.
Meaning : Deprived.
This is not restricted to money or any needs. It can be extended to many things like love, happiness etc.
e.g: He is bereft of all his happiness
2) Commiserate : Divide the word into com and miser . Misery, as we all know, is suffering , a state of unhappiness. Com means together. So commiserate is to to feel or express sympathy.
Meaning : feel or express sympathy
e.g : They commiserated with him , over his loss.
20/02/2013
1) Entourage : I could not find a better picture than the below one. The below picture is a line of ants going somewhere. Now the question is who is leading them? There must be someone isn't it?
Meaning : The group following some important person.
e.g : Shiva's entourage followed the course of Jhelum.
2) Impair : What's when you are in pair? Your strength doubles. Impair is exactly opposite the meaning.
Meaning : make less effective or worse
e.g :His vision was impaired
21/02/2013
1) Appall : Well, the below says two things. one, is about watch or time. second is about the alarm which you can keep using the watch. I am more concerned about the second meaning.
Meaning : Fill with apprehension or alarm.
This word does not mean the alarm that we use to wake up ourselves. This is alarm more of a danger.
e.g: I think what was done was appalling
2) Beget : One of my friend used to say 'The essence of life is to reproduce'. Did not understand the meaning? OK , how about this picture to help you?
Meaning : To produce children
e.g : Everyone here is to beget.
Note : This is not restricted to children. It can be referred when someone creates a problem etc.
22/02/2013
1) Prevarication : Let me explain this in his fashion. The prefix pre keep it aside. Varication can be thought of variety. Now if i restrict it to truth and lie, what can be told in variety way? Of course, Lie. truth is always one. But can tell many lies.
Meaning : act of deviating from truth, lie
e.g : His prevarication is what harmed him in long term.
2) Convoluted : This word consists of con and the other part. The other part comes from the root volu, volv which means roll, bend etc. Remember, volvo is also derived from the same root.
Meaning : Twisted.
This word is also used to indicate high complexities.
if i say, the solution was convoluted I mean that solution had complexities in arriving .
23/02/2013
1) Lineage : Its simply the the line of age. Eh? What does that mean?
Meaning : Descendants of one individual
e.g : Do you where your tribe has come from? their lineage?
2) Serendipity : The man in the below picture is really excited and happy. Why? By looking at the money shown in the picture we can assume he has won a big amount in lottery. The meaning of serendipity is close to it.
Meaning : Good fortune, luck
e.g : The first rule of Serendipity is that miracles come when we forget rational rule and have faith
24/02/2013
1) Duel : Remember the difference between duel and dual. What does the sword in the below picture tell about? Well, sword indicates fight. And that is the meaning of Duel.
Meaning : Prearranged fight with deadly weapons.
Now, one can remember in this way. It is easy to fight when you are in dual .
e.g : Agnipariksha, a duel unto death, enabled a contestant to challenge an unjust tormentor.
2) Gargantuan : How do you define the size of an elephant? Well, its Gargantuan.
Meaning : Of great mass, huge and bulky.
e.g : The gargantuan Tarak would certainly slay her.
25/02/2013
1) Inundated : Oh poor man, why is he in such a bedlam?? Well because his place has been inundated.
Meaning : Covered with water
e.g : It was obvious that city would be inundated.
2) Bedlam : what happens when you are in above situation? you are confused what to do
Meaning : A state of extreme confusion and disorder.
There is one synonym of this which is more frequently used. Pandemonium
26/02/2013
1) Talisman :
The picture represents Magician right? What does he do? 'Oh c'mon every kid knows it. He does magic'
Meaning : an object supposed to be induced from magic and able to bring luck . good fortune.
It is derived from teleo which means to accomplish.
e.g : The talismanic amulet he gave did miracles
2) Tandem : How does the cycle pedals go? They go in tandem
Meaning: one following the other.
e.g : It is common to see ants go in tandem always
27/02/2013
1) Allay : Allay is nothing but all lay .
Meaning : lay to rest, alleviate, mitigate.
e.g : She sought to ally those worries in an interview.
2) Suborn : Look at these 2 men who are bribing!!!
Meaning : To bribe or induce unlawfully to perform some misdeed or crime
E.g : he suborn the people to complete his task
28/02/2013
1) Reparation : Remove out the ation part you will be left with repar. The meaning of word reparation is nothing but repair
Meaning : making of amends for wrong doing.
this is usually in terms of compensation as money etc.
e.g : It can be quite early
2) Lynch :
Meaning : hang, kill without legal sanction.
An interesting origin of this word :
There lived a person in Virginia during 18th century named Captain William Lynch. He was a self appointed judge who sentenced people to die without a proper trial. Thus, the act was of killing or hanging someone came to be known as Lynch
e.g : The death sentence of Kasab is being called as Lynch by some
March :
01/03/2013
1) Wordrobe : No, it is not wardrobe. It is wordrobe . To understand the meaning of this word, lets go back to wardrobe. What does wardrobe consists of? All the clothes one has. Similarly, wordrobe as the name clearly indicates word robe is that which consists of all the words of aperson.
meaning : a person's vocabulary.
e.g : this blog is to help you increase your wordrobe
2) wordsmith : he is the smith of words . These are the people who are exceptionally good writers.
e.g: we need to bring out a new brochure. lets hire a wordsmith.
02/03/2013
1) Mala Fide : Mala is derived from malus, bad. And fide means faith as in confidence. So, now you cam guess the meaning
Meaning :in bad faith, false
e.g : Pakistan's mala fide intentions is clearly evident.
2) Flummox : The thief said : 'I am the thief'
Police : 'why did you stole?'
thief : 'Because i have lot of money'
Now the police is flummoxed . why did he steal if he has lot of money?
May be he is kleptomaniac.
Meaning : confuse
e.g : The Indian government was flummoxed by Italy's vacillating statements
03/03/2013
I have used two words in the above word 'flummox'
1) Kleptomaniac : Kelpto means to steal. Mania is as everyone knows is craziness, disorder, passion
Meaning : one who has the habit of stealing for fun
e.g : 'Oh look at her. She is the one i was referring to as kleptomaniac'
2) Vacillating : Vacillate is to oscillate.
Meaning : oscillate, be undecided about something, fluctuate, hover
e.g : He is always vacillating in taking decisions. He reminds me of a pendulum
04/03/2013
1) Fetter : Look at the pic below.
What happens when shackles are tied to your legs? It restricts your motion .
Meaning :
Noun : A shackle for the ankles or feet
verb : restrain with fetters.
This word is related with word fet which in turn is related to fot, foot. SO there you go how to remember this.
e.g : At the moment, legally speaking, internet cafes operate in Ohio without fetter or review.
2) Gamut : This word is derived from the word gamma ut. Gamma ut is the lowest note in lowest note of a medieval scale.
Meaning : The whole series of recognized musical notes.
this word is more commonly used to tell as : entire range or series.
e.g : The actor's work runs the entire gamut from goofy comedies to serious dramas.
05/03/2013
1) Sacrosanct : this word is made up of two words. sacro and sanctus. Sacro, derived from sacrum, means 'by a sacred rite' and sanctum means 'sacred' . Now you must be thinking this word consits of two words meaning sacred? Indeed, yes.
Meaning : Most sacred, holy.
Now you understand why two words of same meaning. It is just to indicate how sacred this word really means
e.g : Our family traditions may seem silly to outsiders, but to us they are sacrosanct.
Remember sanctimony sanctify and sanctuary are all derived from santum
2) Decapitate : Capit means head. Ideally decapitate should mean remove head.
Meaning: to cut off the head. behead
The word capit is base for many other words such as recapitalization, capital city etc.
e.g : Shiva had ordered him to decapitate all the enemies
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