Daily Vocabulary Words: List of Daily Used Words
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Our endeavour here is straightforward: highlighting important daily vocabulary words, you would encounter in The Hindu. This is your repository of commonly used words; essentially, we are posting a list of daily used words. Hence, this has significant practical application as it teaches you words that are commonly used in a leading publication such as The Hindu.
Visit the website daily to learn words from The Hindu.
WORD-1: BECK and CALL
CONTEXT: The International Cricket Council, traditionally a governing body at the beck and call of the powerful teams — in the days leading up to the end of the veto power enjoyed by England and Australia, it was these two — is now beholden to India, now the sole super power in the game with its enormous television audiences, huge bank balance and rich tournaments like the IPL.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine if you had a magic bell, and every time you rang it, your favorite toy came to you. “Beck and call” is like that bell! If someone is at your “beck and call”, they are ready to help or do something for you whenever you want.
MEANING: Always ready to serve or obey someone (phrase).
PRONUNCIATION: bek and kawl
SYNONYMS: at one’s fingertips, at one’s disposal, on call, ready and waiting, on standby, at someone’s service, on hand
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. The boss expects everyone to be at his beck and call 24/7.
2. As a nanny, she was always at the child’s beck and call.
3. The hotel staff were at our beck and call during our stay.
4. He was tired of being at her beck and call and decided to quit.
WORD-2: BEHOLDEN
CONTEXT: The International Cricket Council, traditionally a governing body at the beck and call of the powerful teams — in the days leading up to the end of the veto power enjoyed by England and Australia, it was these two — is now beholden to India, now the sole super power in the game with its enormous television audiences, huge bank balance and rich tournaments like the IPL.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine if someone gave you a special gift and now you feel like you should do something nice for them in return. That feeling of wanting to give back because they did something for you is called “beholden”.
MEANING: Owing thanks or having a duty to someone because of a favor or service (adjective).
PRONUNCIATION: bih-HOHL-duhn
SYNONYMS: indebted, obliged, under obligation, bound, in someone’s debt
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. After helping her move, she felt beholden to him.
2. He didn’t want to be beholden to anyone, so he always paid his debts quickly.
3. The mayor was beholden to the businessmen for their generous donations.
4. Being beholden to someone can make things complicated.
WORD-3: PUSHED INTO A CORNER
CONTEXT: The fear that the ICC will soon abdicate its responsibility to owners of T20 franchises around the world, especially those from India who own teams in three or four countries is very real. Pushed into a corner with diminishing public interest and weakening finances, South Africa have already shown they realise which side their bread is buttered on. They hope their domestic T20 tournament, the SA20 — with six teams, all owned by IPL franchises from India — will solve both these issues. SA20 turned a profit in its opening year last season.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine you’re playing a game and someone keeps chasing you until you have nowhere else to go but a corner. “Pushed into a corner” means you’re in a situation where it’s hard to find a way out or you’re forced to make a decision.
MEANING: Forced into a difficult situation where choices are limited (phrase).
PRONUNCIATION: pushed into a kor-ner
SYNONYMS: backed against the wall, in a tight spot, in a bind, trapped, cornered
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. Feeling pushed into a corner, Jake had to make a quick decision.
2. The company was pushed into a corner with the new regulations.
3. She felt pushed into a corner with no way out of the argument.
4. With their demands, they pushed him into a corner.
WORD-4: DIMINISHING
CONTEXT: The fear that the ICC will soon abdicate its responsibility to owners of T20 franchises around the world, especially those from India who own teams in three or four countries is very real. Pushed into a corner with diminishing public interest and weakening finances, South Africa have already shown they realise which side their bread is buttered on. They hope their domestic T20 tournament, the SA20 — with six teams, all owned by IPL franchises from India — will solve both these issues. SA20 turned a profit in its opening year last season.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine you have a big chocolate bar, and every day you eat a piece. Day by day, there’s less chocolate left. That’s what “diminishing” means: getting smaller or less and less.
MEANING: Becoming smaller or less (verb).
PRONUNCIATION: di-MIN-ish-ing
SYNONYMS: decreasing, dwindling, reducing, lessening, shrinking
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. The noise from the party was diminishing as the night went on.
2. The importance of traditional phones is diminishing with the rise of smartphones.
3. As hours passed, her hopes were diminishing.
4. The resources on our planet are diminishing.
WORD-5: SIFTING
CONTEXT: Sifting through allegations of corruption and malfeasance against politicians, especially those in the Opposition, after cases are filed by a successor-government in Indian States is a knotty exercise.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine you have a toy that lets sand fall through tiny holes but keeps the big rocks out. That’s like “sifting”. When you’re sifting something, you’re separating the fine parts from the bigger ones.
MEANING: To separate or sort through by using a sieve or filter (verb).
PRONUNCIATION: sifting
SYNONYMS: filtering, straining,
separating, sorting, screening
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. She was sifting flour to make a cake.
2. The detective spent hours sifting through evidence.
3. By sifting the data, we found the answers we needed.
4. The archaeologists were sifting through the soil to find ancient artifacts.
WORD-6: MALFEASANCE
CONTEXT: Sifting through allegations of corruption and malfeasance against politicians, especially those in the Opposition, after cases are filed by a successor-government in Indian States is a knotty exercise.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine someone doing something really wrong or bad, especially when they have an important job. “Malfeasance” is a fancy word for when someone does something bad or wrong while in a position of power or trust.
MEANING: Wrongdoing or misconduct, especially by a public official (noun).
PRONUNCIATION: mal-FEE-zuhns
SYNONYMS: misbehavior, wrongdoing, misconduct, misdeed, impropriety
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. The mayor was accused of malfeasance in office.
2. The committee is investigating any potential malfeasance by the CEO.
3. The auditor found no evidence of malfeasance in the company’s finances.
4. Reports of judicial malfeasance were taken very seriously by the government.
WORD-7: KNOTTY
CONTEXT: Sifting through allegations of corruption and malfeasance against politicians, especially those in the Opposition, after cases are filed by a successor-government in Indian States is a knotty exercise.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine a rope with lots of tight loops and twists that make it hard to untangle. That’s what “knotty” means. It can also mean a problem or situation that is tricky and hard to solve.
MEANING: Full of knots or complications; difficult to solve (adjective).
PRONUNCIATION: NOT-ee
SYNONYMS: tangled, complex, complicated, intricate, perplexing
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. The knotty branches of the old tree looked mysterious.
2. They faced a knotty problem that took weeks to solve.
3. The storyline of the book was knotty and intriguing.
4. She struggled with the knotty riddle all evening.
WORD-8: TRANSCENDED
CONTEXT: In States such as Andhra Pradesh, relations between the ruling regime and the Opposition have transcended political and ideological contestation and have veered deep into outright hostility and vendetta as seen in the ongoing rivalry between the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party and the Telugu Desam Party.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine if you could jump so high that you went over the moon! “Transcended” is like that. It means going beyond a limit or surpassing something, like being even better than the best.
MEANING: Went beyond the limits or surpassed (verb).
PRONUNCIATION: trans-SEN-ded
SYNONYMS: surpassed, exceeded, outshone, outdid, overstepped
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. Her talent transcended all expectations.
2. The beauty of the place transcended any photos he had seen.
3. His love for art transcended his love for anything else.
4. The concert transcended any performance we had seen before.
WORD-9: VENDETTA
CONTEXT: In States such as Andhra Pradesh, relations between the ruling regime and the Opposition have transcended political and ideological contestation and have veered deep into outright hostility and vendetta as seen in the ongoing rivalry between the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party and the Telugu Desam Party.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: You know when someone gets really mad at someone else and they want to get back at them, maybe because of a very old fight or argument? That long-lasting desire to get revenge is called a “vendetta”.
MEANING: A long-standing feud or conflict, often based on revenge (noun).
PRONUNCIATION: ven-DET-uh
SYNONYMS: feud, grudge, rivalry, conflict, animosity
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. The two families had a vendetta that lasted for generations.
2. She held a personal vendetta against him for the embarrassment he caused.
3. The movie is about a vendetta between two old friends.
4. Rumors said that the attack was the result of an old vendetta.
WORD-10: PRIME FACIE
CONTEXT: Prima facie, the allegations by the Andhra Pradesh CID (AP-CID) about malfeasance in the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation’s functioning in 2014, are grave.
SOURCE: The Hindu
EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH: Imagine looking at a picture and knowing right away that it’s a picture of a cat, without needing to study it too closely. “Prime facie” is a fancy way to say something seems true or obvious at first look, even if you haven’t checked it deeply.
MEANING: Based on the first impression or appearance; accepted as correct until proven otherwise (adjective/adverb).
PRONUNCIATION: pry-m FAY-shee-ee
SYNONYMS: on the face of it, apparently, evidently, seemingly, at first glance
USAGE EXAMPLE:
1. There was prime facie evidence that he was involved.
2. Based on the initial report, it seemed like a prime facie case of theft.
3. Prime facie, the deal looked good, but further inspection revealed issues.
4. The accusations were, at prime facie, quite shocking.
