TARGET- AFCAT 2017 English Revision

Defence Academy Coimbatore A leading coaching academy for Sainik, Military and RIMC Schools, NDA, IMA, AFCAT SSB, FSB Interview http://www.ssbcoaching.com call 094437 20076

• ABET: To encourage -or support – treacherously abetted the enemy.

Synonyms: spur, incite.

Antonym: deter

• ABRIDGE: To shorten – abridged his lengthy speech.

Synonyms: curtail, diminish, retrench.

Antonyms: protract, elongate, amplify

• ACRIMONIOUS: Sharp or harsh in language or temper – stung by the acrimonious remark.

Synonyms: caustic, acerb, pungent, tart, mordant, acrid; (noun) asperity.

Antonyms: suave, affable,

• ACUMEN: Keenness of mind or insight – showing exceptional business acumen.

Synonyms: perspicacity, discernment, perception.

Antonym: obtuseness.

• BLEMISH (verb): To scar or spoil – Bad associates blemished his character; (noun): A

disfigurement, defect – a character without a blemish.

• BLIGHT: To ruin or decay – the rotting wheat, blighted by incessant rain. Synonyms: wither,

blast

• BLITHE: Gay and light-hearted in spirit or mood – spread cheer with her blithe spirit.

Synonyms: jocund, merry, joyous. Antonyms: dejected, forlorn, abject.

• BOG: A swamp – sank into the spongy bog. Synonyms: morass, fen, quagmire, mire.
• CASTIGATE: To punish or criticize severely – castigated for using improper language.

Synonyms: reprove, upbraid, reprehend, censure, reprimand, chasten. Antonyms: commend,

eulogize, laud.

• CELESTIAL: Pertaining to the sky; heavenly-a celestial pageant of bright stars. Synonyms:

ethereal; (noun) firmament.

• CHAUVINIST. An extreme patriot-a chauvinist with most pride in his country. Synonym:

jingoist.

• CHICANERY: Trickery, deception,- practised chicanery all his shady dealings. Synonyms:

duplicity, craft, stratagem, wile, subterfuge.

• DEMURE: Affectedly or falsely modest or prim; serious demure as a Victorian maiden.

Synonyms: sedate, staid, decorous, prudish, coy. Antonyms: immodest, frivolous.

• DENOUNCE (noun: DENUNCIATION): To speak against – denounced by the press as a traitor.

Synonyms: stigmatize, censure, reprehend, castigate- Antonyms: laud, eulogize.

• DEPLETE: To empty or to use up – depleted the public treasury by vast building programs.

Synonyms: exhaust, drain. Antonyms: replenish; (adj.) replete.

• DEPLORE: To express sorrow or grief over – a lamentable situation deplored by all parties.

Synonyms: lament, decry, grieve.

• ERUDITE: Learned – an erudite person, an editor of many books. Synonyms: scholarly,

knowing.

• ESOTERIC: Understood by only a select few – an esoteric subject, discussed only by scholars.

Synonyms: abstruse, recondite.

• EXCEPTIONABLE: Objectionable – exceptionable behavior, universally criticized. Synonyms:

questionable, reprehensible, censurable. Antonym: laudable.

• EXCULPATE: To free from blame – exculpated by a jury. Synonyms: vindicate, exonerate,

absolve, acquit. Antonyms: arraign, indict, inculpate.

• FIASCO: A ludicrous and complete failure – all his glorious plans ending in a fiasco. Synonym:

debacle.

• FICTITIOUS: Unreal; made-up – used a fictitious name to avoid being recognized. Synonym:

fabricated.

• FLACCID: Lacking firmness – muscles grown flaccid after the illness. Synonyms: flabby, limp.

• FLAGRANT: Outstandingly bad – condemned for his glaring, scandalous, notorious, conspicuous, gross.

• GLUTTONOUS (noun. GLUTTON; verb: GLUT): Inclined to cat to excess – gulped down his food

in gluttonous fashion. Synonyms: voracious, intemperate.

• GOSSAMER (noun): A very thin gauzelike fabric or structure – a poem so delicate that it

seemed an unreal gossamer. (adj.): Thin and light – the gossamer wings of a dragon fly.

Synonyms: diaphanous, flimsy, gauzelike Antonyms: substantial, ponderous.

• GREGARIOUS: Habitually fond of associating in a company or herd – gregarious sheep; that

gregarious animal, man. Antonyms: lone, aloof.

• GRIMACE: A distortion of the face to express an attitude or feeling – a grimace that was more

expressive than words.

• HOMONYM: Two words having the same sound but different meanings – confusing such

homonyms as mail add male.

• HOVEL: A dirty or wretched dwelling – born in a hovel, died in a mansion.

• HYPERBOLE: Extravagant exaggeration for effect – An example of hyperbole: “There are a

million objections to the project.” Synonym: overstatement. Antonym: understatement.

• HYPOTHESIS: An assumption made for the sake of argument – worked from a fantastic

hypothesis. Synonym: supposition.

• IMPOSTOR (noun: IMPOSTURE): One who pretends to be what he is not unmasked as an

impostor. Synonyms: quack, mountebank, charlatan, bogus, fraud.

• IMPRECATION: A curse – hurled imprecations at those who would not listen to him.

Synonyms: execration, malediction, anathema. Antonyms: benediction, benison.

• IMPREGNABLE: Unconquerable – an impregnable fortress. Synonym: invincible. Antonym:

vulnerable.

• IMPROPRIETY: Improper act, manners, or expression – guilty of impropriety in public office.

Synonyms: indecency, indecorum. Antonym: amenity.

• JARGON: Confused, unintelligible, meaningless talk; special vocabulary used only by members

of a group or trade – Variety, a newspaper written in theatrical jargon. Synonyms: gibberish,

argot, cant.

• JAUNTY: Having an air of easy carelessness or liveliness – walked with a jaunty step.

Synonyms: sprightly, airy, gay, nonchalant, debonair. Antonyms: somber, staid.

• JEOPARDY: Danger – His life was in jeopardy. Synonyms: hazard, peril.

• JETTISON: To throw overboard (as cargo); to throw off (as a burden or something in the way

)- jettisoned their old candidate as a political liability.

• LOW: To bellow softly like cattle – the lowing herd in the meadow. Synonym: moo.

• LUCID: Clear; transparent; easily understood – a lucid explanation of a difficult text.

Synonyms: pellucid, perspicuous, intelligible, limpid, luminous, translucent. Antonyms:

abstruse, obscure.

• LUDICROUS: Ridiculous; producing laughter – a ludicrous remark that set them all to roaring.

Synonyms: mirthful, droll, comical, absurd. Antonyms: doleful, lugubrious, dismal.

• LUMINARY: An eminent person; a celestial body – the platform graced by a number of

luminaries.

• MONOLOGUE: A speech by one person – The actor gave his views in a dramatic monologue.

Synonym: soliloquy. Antonyms: colloquy (adj. colloquial): conversation between two or more

persons; dialogue: conversation between two persons.

• MOROSE: Gloomy; ill-humored – shunned because of his morose temper. Synonyms: sulky,

crabbed, sullen, splenetic, saturnine. Antonyms: blithe, genial.

• MOTLEY: Of various colors; of mixed ingredients – a motley costume; a motley crowd.

Synonyms: checkered (referring to a varied career), piebald, variegated, diverse,

heterogeneous. Antonym: homogeneous.

• MOTTLED: Spotted or streaked with varied colors – a mottled pony. Synonyms: blotched,

dappled.

• NONCHALANT: Unmoved or indifferent; casual – reacted to the news in a nonchalant manner.

Synonym: apathetic. Antonyms: enthusiastic, zealous.

• NOSTALGIA: Homesickness – felt nostalgia for the old homestead.

• NOTORIOUS: Widely known (in a bad sense) – a notorious gambler.

• NOVICE: A beginner – conducted himself in politics like a novice. Synonyms: tyro, neophyte.

Antonym: virtuoso.

• OBVIATE: To prevent, dispose of, or make unnecessary by appropriate actions – an act which

obviated all objections. Synonyms: preclude, forestall.

• OMNIPOTENT: All-powerful – an omnipotent despot.

• ONUS: Burden; duty; obligation – bore the onus of his difficult office creditably.

• OSTENSIBLE: Apparent; pretended – his ostensible, though not actual, purpose. Synonyms:

professed, plausible (that is, appearing true, reasonable, or fair), specious.

• PERVERSE: Willfully bent on doing the wrong thing – a perverse lad, always disobeying his

parents. Synonyms: headstrong, froward, refractory, wayward, fractious.

• PETRIFY: To paralyze with horror, fear, or surprise – petrified by the enemy bombardment.

Synonyms: stupefy, stun, bewilder, amaze.

• PLAGIARISM. Adopting and reproducing, without acknowledgment, the writings or ideas of

another and passing them off as one’s own – denied the charge of deliberate plagiarism.

• PLATITUDE: A dull and commonplace remark – bored people by his pompous phrases and

platitudes. Synonyms: bromide, truism, axiom.

• QUASH: To crush; to render void – quashed a rebellion; quashed an indictment. Synonyms:

suppress, extinguish, quell; annul.

• QUERULOUS: Given to fault-finding and complaining – Her querulous nature estranged many

people. Synonyms: fretful, whining, captious, carping, peevish, petulant. Antonym: affable.

• QUIXOTIC: Extravagantly romantic or idealistic; highly impractical – a quixotic scheme that

can never materialize. Synonyms: utopian, visionary, fantastic.

• REMUNERATIVE: Profitable – a remunerative job. Synonyms: lucrative, gainful.

• RENEGADE: One who forsakes political or party principles or his religious faith – a renegade

from his former allegiance. Synonyms: turncoat, apostate, recreant, traitor.

• REPRISAL: Injury inflicted in turn for one received – took action in reprisal against his

neighbor. Synonym: retaliation.

• RESENTMENT: Feeling of displeasure or indignation resulting from mistreatment or abuse –

showed resentment at what he considered an unwarranted insult. Synonyms: umbrage,

dudgeon, animosity.

• SAGACIOUS (noun: SAGACITY): Wise; shrewd – proved to be sagacious in his judgment.

Synonyms: perspicacious, astute, sapient, discerning, sage.

• SALLOW: Sick – a sallow complexion. Synonym: pallid. Antonyms: rubicund, ruddy, florid.

• SALLY: (verb): To rush forth suddenly – sallied out to meet the enemy. (noun): A Witty remark

– amused the audience with his sallies against his opponent. Synonyms: quip, banter.

• SANCTIMONIOUS: Pretending to be religious – showed his hypocrisy in a sanctimonious

display of piety.

• TEMERITY: Unwise or reckless boldness – leaped into battle with thoughtless temerity.

Synonyms: audacity, presumptuousness, effrontery, rashness; (adj.) temerarious, foolhardy,

venturesome. Antonyms: prudence, circumspection, wariness.

• TEMPORAL: Worldly, as opposed to spiritual; existing for a time only – a man preoccupied

with temporal matters. Synonyms: mundane, secular, civil.

• TEMPORIZE: To delay or refuse to commit oneself in order to gain time – temporized while his

friends hurried to his aid. Synonym: equivocate.

• TENET: A principle of belief held as true – a tenet of religion which be maintained loyally.

Synonyms: creed, doctrine, dogma.

• UBIQUITOUS: Existing everywhere – The common cold is a ubiquitous complaint. Synonyms:

omnipresent, universal.

• UNTENABLE: Incapable of being defended or held – withdrew the argument as untenable.

• UTILITARIAN (adj.): Materially or practically useful – beautiful, but not utilitarian.

• VANQUISH: To subdue or conquer -an army vanquished with heavy losses.

• VAUNT: To boast – proudly vaunted his strength. Synonyms: brag (noun: braggadocio,

braggart), proclaim.

• VENEER: A superficial appearance or show designed to impress one with superiority – pierced

beneath his thin veneer of elegance. Synonym: gloss.

• VENERABLE: Deserving respect or reverence because of age – a venerable leader.

• WAIVE: To give up (privileges, etc.); to do without – waived his rights to the property.

Synonyms: relinquish, forgo, forsake.

• WHIM (adj.: WHIMSICAL): A sudden notion or passing fancy -frequently acted on the whim of

the moment. Synonyms: caprice, vagary, crotchet.

• WRITHE: To twist about (usually with pain) – writhed in agony on the floor. Synonyms:

contort, squirm.

• ZEALOUS (noun: ZEALOT: fanatic): Full of enthusiasm or eagerness -a zealous student, first in

his class. Antonym: perfunctory.

• ZENITH: The highest point – the zenith of his career. Synonyms: acme, apex, culmination,

Defence Academy Coimbatore A leading coaching academy for Sainik, Military and RIMC Schools, NDA, IMA, AFCAT SSB, FSB Interview http://www.ssbcoaching.com call 094437 20076