Vocab Bank

Meaning:  Intricately folded, twisted, or coiled (especially of an argument, story, or sentence) extremely complex and difficult to follow. Synonyms: Complicated, complex, involved, elaborate, serpentine, labyrinthine, tortuous, tangled, Byzantine. In Hindi: जटिल Use: When I fly, I prefer a direct flight not one which takes me on a convoluted journey. My head began to hurt as I listened to the…

Meaning: Not written in any key or mode. Synonyms: Discordant, harsh, loud, strident, absonant, acute, blaring, dissonant, blatant, braying, brusque, cacophonous, gruff, squawking, stertorous, unharmonious, husky. In Hindi: अतान Use: I heard a new voice floating above the atonal music. The atmosphere was filled with an eerie, atonal melody.  

Meaning: A preference or strong liking for something; a bias. Synonyms:  Liking, fondness, preference, partiality, taste, penchant, weakness, soft spot, fancy, inclination, leaning, bias, propensity, bent, proclivity, predisposition, appetite. In Hindi:  झुकाव,  पक्षपात. Use: Usually pregnant women have predilection for pickles. While girls wear the color pink often, boys have a predilection for…

Meaning: To be understood by only few people with a specialized knowledge or interest. Synonyms:  Abstruse, obscure, arcane, recherché, rarefied, recondite, abstract. In Hindi: गुप्त, गोपनीय. Use: Steve Jobs kept his plans esoteric even with his apple employees. Only few of the colleagues working in the IPad department were aware of the IPad launch. Gerald was an eight-year-old genius who had…

Meaning: Be a perfect example of. Give a summary of (a written work). Synonyms:  Embody, encapsulate, typify, exemplify, represent, manifest, symbolize, illustrate, sum up. In Hindi: सार निकालना, उदहारण. Use: Rubin won the employee of the month award because he epitomized the values of the company. Before his career-ending injury, Dwayne epitomized the world’s idea of the best basketball player…

Meaning: the action of ruining or destroying something, forfeiting goods or property by illegal or unethical means. Synonyms: demolish, destroy, plunder, depredate, devastate, ransack, desolate, spoil, ruin, rob, despoil, hovoc, ravage, pillage, fleece, gut, desecrate. In Hindi: लूट, डाका,  नुक़सान. Use: Even now the work of spoliation was not complete. If you don’t stop shredding right now,…

Meaning: Recurring naturally on a twenty-four-hour cycle  (biological processes), even in the absence of light fluctuations. Synonyms: biological rhythm, body clock, happening at particular intervals of time, alternate, annually, biennial. In Hindi:  जैविक प्रक्रिया. Use: Many physiological processes such as body temperature have a circadian rhythm, rising and falling each 24 hours. When you…

Meaning: Enjoy oneself in a lively and noisy way, especially with drinking and dancing. Synonyms:  Celebration, festivity, jollification, merrymaking, carousing, spree, have a party, roister. In Hindi:  आमोद-प्रमोद,  हंगामा करना,  आनंद लेना Use: I like to eat but I don’t revel in food. I don’t love going to restaurants or trying new flavours. The stingy old man would revel in every penny he…

Meaning: Absurd, unreasonable, foolish or out of place as to be amusing; ridiculous. Synonyms:  Absurd, ridiculous, farcical, laughable, risible, preposterous, foolish, mad, insane, idiotic, stupid, inane, silly, asinine, nonsensical, crazy. In Hindi: ऊटपटांग, हास्यास्पद, बेढंगा. Use: I’d been meditating faithfully, when one morning, while on a business trip, I woke up at 4.20 a.m., because of…

Meaning: Occurring in an erratic manner, done in brief, irregular bursts or irregular intervals. Synonyms:  Intermittent, fitful, irregular, sporadic, erratic, occasional, infrequent, scattered, patchy, isolated, periodic, periodical, on and off, herky-jerky. In Hindi: अनियमित, अकड़नेवाला. Use: A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.…

Meaning: Establish or settle (someone) in a comfortable, safe, or secret place. Synonyms:  Settle, install, plant, position, seat, sit. In Hindi: विराजमान,  स्थापित करना,  छिपाना. Use: Santa Claus is ensconced in the armchair and waiting for the first child to arrive. Ensconced in the closet, the woman hoped the home invader would not find her.…

Meaning: Gradually decrease in value or intensity (vigor, power, or extent); become weaker. Synonyms: Decline, diminish, dwindle, shrink, tail off, ebb, fade (away), lessen, peter out, fall off, recede, slump, flag, weaken, give way, wither, crumble, evaporate, disintegrate, die out, evanesce. In Hindi:  क्षय, फीका, घटता हुआ. Use: When the package arrived in the mail, my enthusiasm waned. Since…

Meaning: Lie or move abjectly on the ground with one’s face downward. To be kind to someone in order to gain something. Act in an obsequious manner in order to obtain someone’s forgiveness or favor. Synonyms: Prostrate oneself, lie, kneel, cringe, be obsequious to, fawn on, kowtow to, bow and scrape to, toady to, truckle to, abase oneself to, humble oneself to. In Hindi: गिड़गिड़ाना Use: The…

Meaning: Wild or distraught with fear, anxiety, or other emotion. Conducted in a hurried, excited, and chaotic way, typically because of the need to act quickly. Synonyms: Panic-stricken, panicky, beside oneself, at one’s wits’end, distraught, overwrought, worked up, agitated, distressed. In Hindi: उत्तेजित, उन्मत्त, दीवाना. Use: My early morning cup of coffee has now became a part of my daily…

Meaning: Damage the reputation of (someone or something) in the opinion of others. Make (something) dirty or discolored. Synonyms: Sully, tarnish, blacken, drag through the mud/mire, stain, taint, smear, disgrace, dishonor, bring discredit to, damage, debase, ruin. In Hindi: कीचड़ उछालना, मैला करना. Use: After being kicked out of the country club, Michael did everything within his power to…

Meaning: An absurd pretense intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance. A game in which players guess a word or phrase from pantomimed clues. Synonyms: Farce, pantomime, travesty, mockery, parody, pretense, act, masquerade. In Hindi: शब्द पहेली. Use: An example of charade is when a dysfunctional family pretends to be a happy family on the outside. An example of charade is a game you…

Meaning: Persuade (someone) gradually or manipulate (something) carefully into a particular shape or position. Synonyms: Persuade, wheedle, cajole, get around. In Hindi: मनाना, फुसलाना. Use: I resented the fact that my company thought they could coax me into accepting a demotion amicably. The trainees were coaxed into doing hard, boring work.…