ENGLISH Improve Your Word Power

ENGLISH

Improve Your Word Power

1.    altruism: (a) selflessness (b) shamelessness (c) carelessness (d) faithless ness.

2. burnish: (a) pine (b) dine (c) fine (d) shine.

3. chiaroscuro: (a) light and shade (b) pain and pleasure (c) loss and gain (d) day and night.

4. de facto: (a) in fact (b) in need (c) in doubt (d) in crisis.

5. extant: (a) passive (b) existing (c) remote (d) historical.

6. frazzle: (a) excite (b) exhaust (c) explore (d) exploit.

7. genuflect: (a) stand at ease (b) move with speed (c) bend for worship (d) beg for mercy.

8. hypsophobia: (a) fear of high places (b) fear of wild animals (c) fear of ghosts (d) fear of strangers.

9. ingenious: (a) deceptive (b) talkative (c) profitable (d) original.

10. laundromat: (a) washing process (b) witness box (c) circumstantial evidence (d) fearful sight.

11. motley: (a) natural (b) logical (c) diverse (d) uniform.

12. neophyte: (a) umpire (b) beginner (c) experienced (d) mountaineer.

13. obituary: (a) death warrant (b) death sentence (c) deadly deal (d) death notice.

14. provenance: (a) place of worship (b) hour of glory (c) place of origin (d) guilty of theft.

15. quandary: (a) state of uncertainty (b) state of ignorance (c) state of readiness (d) state of bankruptcy.

16. ramble: (a) work for livelihood (b) read for knowledge (c) travel for pleasure (d) walk for pleasure.

17. spigot: (a) devil (b) department (c) device (d) development.

18. tidbit/titbit: (a) speech (b) scholarship (c) gossip (d) scandal.

19. voyeuristic: (a) ugly sight (b) sexual pleasure (c) sick mind (d) healthy body.

20. whimsy: (a) strange behaviour (b) firm opinion (c) sufficient space (d) imaginary flight.

Improve Your Word Power

ANSWERS
1. altruism: (a) selfless-ness, benevolence.
-The truth is that the Doha (Qatar) meeting has stripped the veneer (polish/mask) of altruism from the face of globalisation.
2. burnish: (d) shine, brighten.
-The American President's reputation has been burnished by his response to September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
3. chiaroscuro: (a) light and shade (painting/drawing).
-The subjects of drawings vary from a coke-bottle shaped body to chiaroscuro renderings of houses and monuments.
4. de facto: (a) in fact.
-The city is rapidly becoming the de facto centre of world diplomacy.
5. extant: (b) existing.
-His books have radically altered extant thinking on Indian politics and society.
6. frazzle: (b) exhaust.
-The court order in his favour has soothed his frazzled nerves.
7. genuflect: (c) bend(ing) for worship or respect.
-It is painfully amusing to see some visitors genuflecting before the exquisitely carved stone idols dumped in a police-station/lock-up room.
8. hypsophobia: (a) fear of high places.
-He suffers from hypsophobia since his childhood.
9. ingenious: (d) original.
-Sufism is both ingenious and assimilative cutting across creed, culture and classes.
10. laundromat: (a) washing/cleaning process, improvement/trans-formation.
-Most major religions of the world have gone through the laundromat of humanism and enlightenment.
11. motley: (c) diverse, assorted.
-The alliance of so many parties may be a motley group, but they can also boast of much stronger links with the ordinary people.
12. neophyte: (b) beginner, novice.
-He came to office as a neophyte with little experience or interest in foreign affairs.
13. obituary: (d) death notice.
-Without the coincidence, her recovery may well have been her obituary.
14. provenance: (c) place of origin.
-A small museum was set up where the relics (of the past) were displayed with a brief description of their adventure filled provenance.
15. quandary: (a) state of uncertainty.
-He is evidently in a quandary and does not know how to act or react.
16. ramble: (d) walk for pleasure.
-It is time to give back to the few remaining animals in the wild the space to ramble and roar unhindered.
17. spigot: (c) device.
-Infiltration is no longer a spigot that can be turned on and off in order to leverage a more favourable political outcome.
18. tidbit: (c) gossip.
-The scholar does not titillate the reader with tidbits/titbits about the many powerful personalities who have crossed his path.
19. voyeuristic: (b) sexual pleasure (seeking).
-The story narrates the plight of a set of voyeuristic friends who gloat over pornographic collection.
20. whimsy: (a) fanciful or strange behaviour.
-A regime prone to whimsy follows certain policies that may confuse many an analyst.

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