Vocabulary Made Easy series: Learn a new word and update your knowledge | Competitive Exams
Have you wondered how to update your vocabulary? Does reading help? There are many ways where an individual could improve their language skills. Reading is one among them.
Here’s a way to improve your vocabulary and communication skills. Check out the words for the day and a small quiz to push yourself to improve your word power and language skills.
Zenith (Noun)
Meaning: the time at which something is most powerful or successful
Example: It was a goal worthy of George Best at his zenith
Vitriol (Noun)
Meaning: bitter criticism or malice
Example: The body lies down and then the brain pours bitter vitriol on the day
Vanguard (Noun)
Meaning: a group of people leading the way in new developments or ideas
Example: His carefully negotiated product loyalties place him in the vanguard of a powerful new industry
Whimsical (Adjective)
Meaning: playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way
Example: A whimsical sense of humour
Wary (Adjective)
Meaning: feeling or showing caution about possible dangers or problems
Example: Shrewd and wary was Leofric, careful and measured in all things, nothing beyond him
Whet (Verb)
Meaning: sharpen the blade of (a tool or weapon)
Example: She took out her dagger and began to whet its blade in even, rhythmic strokes
Usury (Noun)
Meaning: the action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest
Example: The religion condemns usury
Tome (Noun)
Meaning: a book, especially a large, heavy, scholarly one
Example: It looks, in short, like a general reader’s fantasy of a scholarly tome
Tenuous (Adjective)
Meaning: very weak or slight
Example: The dictator has managed to retain his tenuous hold on power
Put your thinking cap on and try to answer the following questions to understand how much you have grasped.
- His philosophy has a ____________ connection with Plato. Which of the following words fits best in the sentence? (Tenuous, Tome)
- As Mongolian incomes tended to be seasonal there was ample opportunity for ____________. Which of the following words fits best in the sentence? (Usury, Whet)
- Can you think of some antonyms for the words Wary and Vanguard?
- Can you think of some synonyms for the words Zenith and Whimsical?
Also Read: Vocabulary Made Easy series: Brush up your language skills to score well in exams
Watch out for this space for your weekly update on improving word power.
(Definitions and examples are from Oxford Languages)
