Dear Readers,
Vocabulary is an important part of English that helps you deal with all kinds of questions in objective as well as descriptive papers of various exams. You can learn new words daily from our Daily Word List. Learn the words and make your own sentences on the basis of the given word list. Here are a few words and phrases from articles published in a reputed Newspaper.
When India celebrated the 49th anniversary of its independence from British rule in 1996, its then prime minister, HD Deve Gowda, stood at the ramparts of Delhi’s Red Fort and delivered the traditional independence day address to the nation. Eight other prime ministers had done exactly the same thing 48 times before him, but what was unusual this time was that Deve Gowda, a southerner from the state of Karnataka, spoke to the country in a language of which he did not know a word. Tradition and politics required a speech in Hindi, so he gave one – the words having been written out for him in his native Kannada script, in which they made no sense.
Such an episode is almost inconceivable elsewhere, but it was a startling affirmation of Indian pluralism. For the simple fact is that we are all minorities in India. There has never been an archetypal Indian to stand alongside the archetypal German or Frenchman. A Hindi-speaking Hindu male from Uttar Pradesh may cherish the illusion he represents the “majority community”. But he does not. As a Hindu, he belongs to the faith adhered to by four-fifths of the population. But a majority of the country does not speak Hindi. And, if he were visiting, say, my home state of Kerala, he may be surprised to realise that a majority there is not even male.
Worse, this stock Hindu male has only to mingle with the polyglot, multicoloured crowds – and I am referring not to the colours of their clothes but to the colours of their skins – thronging any of India’s major railway stations to realise how much of a minority he really is. Even his Hinduism is no guarantee of his majorityhood, because caste divisions automatically put him in a minority. (If he is a Brahmin, for instance, 90% of his fellow Indians are not.) If caste and language complicate the notion of Indian identity, ethnicity makes it worse. Most of the time, an Indian’s name immediately reveals where he is from or what her mother-tongue is: when we introduce ourselves, we are advertising our origins. Despite some intermarriage at the elite levels in our cities, Indians are still largely endogamous, and a Bengali is easily distinguished from a Punjabi. The difference this reflects is often more apparent than the elements of commonality. A Karnataka Brahmin shares his Hindu faith with a Bihari Kurmi, but they share little identity with each other in respect of their dress, customs, appearance, taste, language or even, these days, their political objectives. At the same time, a Tamil Hindu would feel he has much more in common with a Tamil Christian or a Tamil Muslim than with, say, a Jat from the state of Haryana with whom he formally shares the Hindu religion.
1. Rampart: (noun)-किले की दीवार/दुर्ग प्राचीर
Meaning: a defensive wall of a castle or walled city, having a broad top with a walkway and typically a stone parapet.
Synonyms: barricade, bulwark, embankment, bastion, fence, ridge
Antonyms: depression, ditch
2. Inconceivable: ( adjective)-समझ से बाहर/अचिंतनीय
Meaning: not capable of being imagined or grasped mentally; unbelievable.
Synonyms: extraordinary, implausible, improbable, incredible, unbelievable, unthinkable. incogitable
Antonyms: plausible, believable, credible, familiar, reasonable, tenable, conceivable, fathomable
3. Startling: (adjective)-चौंकाना
Meaning: very surprising, astonishing, or remarkable.
Synonyms: alarming, shocking, surprising, unexpected, astonishing
Antonyms: expected, predictable, ordinary
4. Affirmation: (noun)-प्रतिज्ञान/अभिपुष्टि
Meaning: declaration of the truth of something.
Synonyms: assertion, attestation, averment, asseveration, ratification, testimony
Antonyms: denial, negation, veto, nullification
5. Archetypal: (adjective)-मूल प्ररूप संबंधी
Meaning: very typical of a certain kind of person or thing.
Synonyms: conventional, exemplary, quintessential, representative, standard
Antonyms: atypical, unique
6. Adhere: (verb)-पालन करना
Meaning: believe in and follow the practices of.
Synonyms: comply, heed, obey, fulfill, follow, observe
Antonyms: disobey, condemn, overlook, ignore, disregard, disjoin, scorn, loosen, neglect
7. Mingle: (verb)-आपस में मिलना
Meaning: mix or cause to mix together.
Synonyms: blend, meld, alloy, admix, coalesce, commingle, nerge
Antonyms: divide, unmix, separate, disjoin
8. Throng: (verb)-भीड़
Meaning: (of a crowd) fill or be present in (a place or area).
Synonyms: bunch, congregation, flock, gathering, mob, horde, assemblage
9. Notion: (noun)-धारणा
Meaning: a conception of or belief about something.
Synonyms: approach, perception, opinion, impression, conception, conceit
Antonyms: concrete, reality, ignorance, misunderstanding
10. Apparent: (adjective)-स्पष्ट
Meaning: clearly visible or understood; obvious.
Synonyms: possible, probable, illusive, credible, ostensible, semblant, specious
Antonyms: doubtful, dubious, unlikely, hidden, improbable, uncertain
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