Let’s explore ten vocabulary words from The Hindu on April 26, 2024, along with their meanings, alternate words, and usage:
- Precarious (adjective)
- Meaning: Not securely held or in position; dangerously unstable.
- Alternate Words: Unstable, uncertain, risky.
- Usage: The hiker found himself in a precarious situation on the narrow mountain ledge.
- Inundate (verb)
- Meaning: To overwhelm someone with things or people to be dealt with.
- Alternate Words: Flood, deluge, swamp.
- Usage: The newsroom was inundated with calls after the breaking story.
- Ephemeral (adjective)
- Meaning: Lasting for a very short time; transient.
- Alternate Words: Fleeting, momentary, brief.
- Usage: The beauty of cherry blossoms is ephemeral; they bloom for just a few weeks.
- Ubiquitous (adjective)
- Meaning: Present, appearing, or found everywhere.
- Alternate Words: Omnipresent, widespread, pervasive.
- Usage: Smartphones have become ubiquitous in modern society.
- Voracious (adjective)
- Meaning: Having an eager approach to consuming large amounts of something.
- Alternate Words: Insatiable, ravenous, gluttonous.
- Usage: The voracious reader finished three novels in a week.
- Cacophony (noun)
- Meaning: A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds.
- Alternate Words: Noise, racket, clamor.
- Usage: The construction site was filled with a cacophony of drills and machinery.
- Sycophant (noun)
- Meaning: A person who acts obsequiously toward someone important to gain advantage.
- Alternate Words: Flatterer, toady, bootlicker.
- Usage: The politician surrounded himself with sycophants who praised his every move.
- Pernicious (adjective)
- Meaning: Having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way.
- Alternate Words: Destructive, detrimental, insidious.
- Usage: The pernicious influence of negative peer pressure affected the teenager’s behavior.
- Serendipity (noun)
- Meaning: The occurrence of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
- Alternate Words: Fortuity, luck, providence.
- Usage: Their meeting was a serendipitous moment that changed their lives.
- Esoteric (adjective)
- Meaning: Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.
- Alternate Words: Abstruse, arcane, cryptic.
- Usage: The professor’s lecture on quantum physics was esoteric and challenging.
Feel free to incorporate these words into your vocabulary practice! 📚
