Daily Vocabulary from Leading Newspapers and Publications: August 15, 2024

Daily Vocabulary Words: Enhance Your Lexicon with Leading Newspapers & Publications
Welcome to the Daily Vocabulary section at Wordpandit!
Our mission is straightforward: to bring you essential vocabulary words featured in top newspapers and publications worldwide. By focusing on words you’ll encounter in renowned sources, we aim to help you enhance your vocabulary effectively and practically.
Our selection includes words from:
– The New York Times
– The Washington Post
– Scientific American
– BBC
– The Guardian
– Psychology Today
– Wall Street Journal
– The Economist
– The Hindu
– The Times of India
– The Economic Times
– Hindustan Times
– Live Mint
– The Indian Express
– And many more.
We are committed to your vocabulary development. Simply visit this section regularly and explore the daily posts. This is your go-to repository for commonly used words, providing significant practical benefits by familiarizing you with vocabulary from the leading publications listed above.
Make it a habit to visit our website daily and expand your lexicon with words from top newspapers and publications.

WORD-1: CLENCHED
CONTEXT: It was this brief, unfinished aside — off-script, sandwiched around an extended silence during which the president clenched his fists in an effort to resist uttering the curse behind his teeth.
SOURCE: New York Times
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine holding something really, really tight in your hand, like when you’re scared or angry. That’s what it means to “clench” something—gripping it really hard.
MEANING: To close or squeeze tightly, especially the hand or teeth (verb).
PRONUNCIATION: KLENCHT
SYNONYMS: Gripped, squeezed, tightened, grasped, held, pressed, clenched
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. He clenched his fists in anger.
2. She clenched her teeth to stop herself from crying.
3. The little boy clenched the toy tightly in his hand.
4. He clenched the steering wheel as the car skidded on the icy road.

WORD-2: FLICKERED
CONTEXT: The needles have flickered but not moved much for over a year.
SOURCE: Guardian
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine you are in a room with a light bulb, and suddenly, the light goes on and off quickly, like it’s playing a game of peekaboo. That is what we call “flickering.” It’s when something like a light or even a small flame is shining, but not steadily—it’s like it’s winking at you!
MEANING: To shine unsteadily, especially with quick, brief changes in brightness (verb).
PRONUNCIATION: FLIK-erd
SYNONYMS: Blinked, shimmered, twinkled, glimmered, fluttered, sparkled, flashed
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. The candle flickered as the wind blew through the open window.
2. The lights flickered during the thunderstorm, making the room feel spooky.
3. Her hope flickered like a small flame in the dark.
4. The screen flickered before finally turning off.

WORD-3: REPUDIATION
CONTEXT: That doesn’t make his method infallible, but its repudiation has proved to be a reliable route to defeat.
SOURCE: Guardian
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine you built a tower of blocks, and someone comes along and says, “No, this isn’t right!” and knocks it down. When you strongly say “no” to something or refuse to accept it, that’s called “repudiation.”
MEANING: Rejection or denial of a proposal or idea; refusal to accept (noun)
PRONUNCIATION: rih-PYOO-dee-ay-shun
SYNONYMS: Rejection, denial, renunciation, disavowal, refusal, dismissal, negation
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. His repudiation of the accusation surprised everyone in the room.
2. The company issued a strong repudiation of the false claims made against it.
3. Her repudiation of traditional values caused a stir in the community.
4. The repudiation of the agreement led to a lengthy legal battle.

WORD-4: PERVERSION
CONTEXT: It is especially so when the pitch is skewed by a cultural habit of treating Conservative rule as Britain’s default setting – the norm from which Labour is a deviation, tending to perversion.
SOURCE: Guardian
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine a story that starts off nice and happy but then turns into something strange and not nice. When something good or normal is changed into something bad or wrong, that’s called “perversion.”
MEANING: The act of changing something good or normal into something bad or wrong (noun).
PRONUNCIATION: per-VUR-zhun
SYNONYMS: Distortion, corruption, misuse, deviation, misrepresentation, twisting, subversion
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. The perversion of the truth made the situation much worse.
2. His actions were seen as a perversion of justice.
3. The story was a perversion of what really happened.
4. Some people believe that certain forms of art are a perversion of beauty.

WORD-5: AVERTING
CONTEXT: The exceptional quality of Blair’s record is the straw at which Rishi Sunak clutches in hope of averting electoral catastrophe.
SOURCE: Guardian
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine you’re walking and you see a big puddle in front of you. Instead of stepping in it, you quickly turn to go around it. That’s called “averting”—when you change direction or avoid something.
MEANING: To turn away or prevent something from happening (verb).
PRONUNCIATION: uh-VUR-ting
SYNONYMS: Avoiding, preventing, dodging, sidestepping, shunning, evading, deflecting
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. She averted her eyes from the scary scene in the movie.
2. The quick-thinking driver averted a major accident by swerving.
3. The government took steps to avert a financial crisis.
4. He managed to avert a disaster by catching the falling vase.

WORD-6: PREPOSTEROUS
CONTEXT: Pleading for continuity in volatile times is probably the best campaign available to Sunak, which is to say the only one that isn’t preposterous given that his party has been in power for the past 14 years.
SOURCE: Guardian
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine someone telling you that dogs can fly like birds. That idea would be so silly and unbelievable! When something is really, really silly and doesn’t make sense at all, we call it “preposterous.”
MEANING: Contrary to reason or common sense; utterly absurd or ridiculous (adjective)
PRONUNCIATION: pri-POS-ter-us
SYNONYMS: Ridiculous, absurd, nonsensical, ludicrous, outrageous, foolish, unbelievable
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. The idea that the earth is flat is preposterous.
2. It’s preposterous to think that we can finish the project in one day.
3. His excuse for being late was so preposterous that no one believed him.
4. The preposterous claim made everyone in the room laugh.

WORD-7: SNUFFING
CONTEXT: There will be no premature victory rally like the one that Kinnock addressed in Sheffield the week before polling, which has entered Westminster folklore as a parable of vote-snuffing hubristic grandiosity.
SOURCE: Guardian
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine you have a candle burning, and you gently pinch the flame to put it out. That’s called “snuffing”—when you stop something from burning or shining.
MEANING: Extinguishing something. especially a flame; putting an end to something (verb)
PRONUNCIATION: SNUF-ing
SYNONYMS: Extinguishing, dousing, quenching, putting out, smothering, stifling, blowing out
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. He snuffed the candle before going to bed.
2. The fire was quickly snuffed out by the firefighters.
3. She snuffed the match after lighting the stove.
4. The wind snuffed the small flame before it could grow.

WORD-8: RETREADING
CONTEXT: Wariness of retreading old errors gives Starmer’s approach to the election a ponderous gait, which critics interpret as morbid timidity and supporters identify as judicious pace.
SOURCE: Guardian
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine you have an old tire that has been used a lot, and instead of buying a new one, you fix the old one so it can be used again. That’s called “retreading”—making something old or worn out ready to be used again.
MEANING: Putting a new tread on a worn tire; renewing or revitalizing something (verb)
PRONUNCIATION: ree-TRED-ing
SYNONYMS: Recycling, refurbishing, renewing, reusing, reworking, revamping, restoring
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. He decided to retread his old shoes instead of buying new ones.
2. The company specializes in retreading tires to save money.
3. Retreading the old path, she realized how much had changed over the years.
4. The film retreads familiar themes but adds a new twist.

WORD-9: FORTHRIGHTLY
CONTEXT: Mr. Biden’s address performed a crucial civic service not only by channeling the public’s revulsion at a flagrant narcissist who won’t take no for an answer but also by forthrightly stating just what could happen to the United States if that narcissist wins again.
SOURCE: New York Times
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine if you always told the truth and said what you were thinking, even if it was hard to say. That’s what “forthrightly” means—speaking honestly and directly.
MEANING: In a direct and straightforward manner (adverb).
PRONUNCIATION: FORTH-ryt-lee
SYNONYMS: Honestly, directly, frankly, candidly, openly, straightforwardly, bluntly
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. She answered the question forthrightly, without hesitation.
2. He spoke forthrightly about the issues facing the company.
3. The teacher forthrightly addressed the concerns of the parents.
4. In the meeting, he expressed his opinions forthrightly.

WORD-10: REVULSION
CONTEXT: Mr. Biden’s address performed a crucial civic service not only by channeling the public’s revulsion at a flagrant narcissist who won’t take no for an answer but also by forthrightly stating just what could happen to the United States if that narcissist wins again.
SOURCE: New York Times
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine smelling something so yucky that it makes you want to turn away really fast. That feeling of being very grossed out is called “revulsion.”
MEANING: A sense of disgust and loathing (noun)
PRONUNCIATION: rih-VUHL-shun
SYNONYMS: Disgust, repulsion, aversion, loathing, abhorrence, distaste, antipathy
USAGE EXAMPLES:
1. She felt a wave of revulsion at the sight of the rotten food.
2. His cruel behavior filled her with revulsion.
3. The idea of harming animals caused him great revulsion.
4. The crowd reacted with revulsion to the disturbing scene.