Cling: (clung) (on) to sb/sth on together: hold on tightly to sb/sth; (on) to sth be unwilling to abandon sth, refuse to give sth up; (to sth) become attached to sth; stick to sth; to sb/sth stay close to sb/sth; (to sb) (esp derog) be emotionally dependent on sb; stay too close to sb.(‘kas kar lipat jana’; ‘tikay rehna’; çhipke rehna’; ‘jakda hona’)
In her early twenties seema clings to her mother and starts crying at the mention of her father-in-law.
Ordeal: difficult or painful experience (esp one that tests a person’s character or power of endurance) (ágni pariksha’; ‘katu anubhav’)
She was allowed to go to her parent’s house just once during her entire ordeal.
Parochial: (derog) showing interest in a limited area only; narrow. (‘simit’)
It is expected that the interest of the nation should be supreme (‘sarvo-pari’) and parochial considerations must take a back seat .(of secondary importance)
Vis-à-vis: (French) in relation to sth; in comparison with sth. (áamne samne’; ‘ki tulna me’’ke Vishay me’)
The new president , A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will be adjusting to his new role vis-à-vis his former political bosses.
Goof: (infml) silly or stupid person; stupid error; fail to do (sth) properly; make a mess (of); (phrase) goof about/around/ off behave stupidly or irresponsibly; mess around.(.bewakoof’’murkh’)
Fritter: sth away (on sth) waste (esp one’s time or money) foolishly (on small useless things); (usu in compounds) piece of fried bather (mixed eggs), usu containing sliced fruit, meat, etc.(‘fawana’; ‘pakora’)
In a speech Kant once told the Elders: “when you give up the question hour, you fritter away the sacrifices of all preceding (‘pichla’) generation who fought and suffered to secure for us the right to question the dictator, (‘tana-shah’) which lurks (chip kar baithna’) behind the government.”
But soon after the 120 odd passengers boarded the aircraft they created a ruckus
Purport :( of sth) (fml) general meaning or intention (of sth); (fml) be meant to seem (to be); claim or pretend. (ábhiprayah’árth’daawa karna, ‘lakshya hona’)
The purported telephone conversation between sanjay Dutt and chota shakeel are being publicized now in an attempt to jeopardize (‘jokhim me dalna’; áapatti me dalna’) Dutt’s senior peace mission on sadhbhavna ka sipahi launched recently.
Consternation: surprise and anxiety; great dismay (‘ghabrahat’; ‘vyakulta’)
Ill-omened: /ill-starred: unlucky (‘badkismat’)
Their consternation was further accentuated when at the meeting of parliamentary party leaders, lok sabha speaker Manohar Joshi recounted (bayan karna) the astrological predictions that had identified ill-omened the dates July, 27th (the day kant died).
Dabble: sth (in sth) splash (hands, feet, etc) around in water; (in/at sth) take part without serious intentions. (‘bhigona’; ‘san-na’; úpari taur se karna ya dilchaspi lena’)
Mayawati can decide the fate of BJP ministers in the coalition and dabble in the BJP’s internal affairs.
Scruple: feeling that prevents one from doing or allowing sth that one thinks may be wrong; weight unit of 20 grains; scruple (it) (used in negative sentences) hesitate (to do sth) because of scruples. (‘sankoch’)
While the Rajnath Singh government had brushed the issue under the carpet with the plea (tark) that it was under legal examination, Mayawati may have no such scruples.
Refute: prove (a statement, an opinion, etc or a person) to be wrong (refutable- that can be wrong) (‘khandan karna’)
Impromptu: (done) without preparation, rehersal or thought in an advance; musical composition, etc that is or appear to be improvised(‘tatkal taiyar karna’) (bina taiyari ke)
Kumar strongly refuted Banerjee’s charge of holding back information regarding Godhra train incident while replying to the impromptu debate on the issue during zero hour.
Sacrosanct: adj (often ironic) considered too important to be changed, argued about, etc (áti-pavitra’)
They all know that no one’s place is absolutely sacrosanct.
Resuscitate: bring (sb/sth) back to consciousness (‘pinar-jivit karna)
Vacuity: lack of purpose, meaning or intelligence, inane remarks, acts, etc [inane-without meaning, silly or stupid]
For a student in the classroom, time pass could mean vacuity.
Pejorative: rarely, expressing criticism or scorn; disparaging (‘nindatmak’)
Evocative: that evokes (‘taja karna’) or is able to evoke memories, feelings, etc (of sth)
No, time pass is not a pejorative. It is purely descriptive and hugely evocative.
Necropolis: cemetery , esp a large ancient one (‘kabristan’)
Phoenix: mythical bird of the Arabian desert, said to live for several hundred years before burning itself and then rising born again from its ashes. (ámar-pakshi’)
Do we want to create a necropolis or phoenix?
Voyeurs: person who gets pleasure from watching in secret others undressing or engaging in sexual activities, (‘drishya-ratik’)
This devdas is not about loving a woman to despair (‘nirsasha’; ‘hatasha’). It’s about ‘voyeuring’the beauty (Aishwarya) from frame to frame.
Expletive: (fml) violent (often meaningless) exclamation said in anger, pain, etc, swear-word: Damn! Is an expletive (áp-shabd’; ‘nir-arthak chill-ahat’)
You won’t have heard the language of course. We censored (ádhishodhan karna’) it out of our reports but believe me, you needed an expletive deleted’after each phrase.
But the reason most of us are philosophical about the tape is because we believe that the tapes and transcripts will remain with the spooks.
Govt being spooked by troop movement.
Idm muddy the waters: (derog) make a situation confused and unclear. (‘halaat bigad dena’)
Innocuous: causing no harm; not intended to offend (‘haani na karne wala’; ‘seedha sadha’)
The most innocuous conversation lines could acquire sinister undertones (
Spar: strong wooden or metal pole used as a mast(khambha), yard, boom( lambi balli wala), etc on a ship. (with sb) box (sb) using light blows, usu for practice only; argue or dispute (with sb), usu in a friendly way. (mukkebazi)
BJP leaders spar at party council meet.
Trample: sth/sb (down) tread heavily on sth/sb so as to cause damage or destruction; on sth/sb , crush or harm sth by treading on it; disregard sb unfeelingly (‘nish-thurta-purvak) or contemptuously (tiras-kar-purval); walk with heavy or cfrushing steps. (‘kuchalna’tiraskar karna’raund dena’dham dham karte hue jaana’)
“they (opposition MP’s) are trampling on my democratic rights as cabinet minister and MP”.
Pot-shot: shot made without taking careful aim; random attempts at sth. (ánayas nishana’)
The BJP leaders were so candid about what they thought was wrong with the party, they could not help (rok nahi paana’; ‘ke alawa koi chara nahi hona’) taking pot shots at one another.
Cliché: phrase or idea which is used so often that it has become stale or meaningless (çhalan se bahar hua muhawra’)
The clichés you hear about rape victims that she asked for it, that she did not resist, and the mother of all clichés, she has a loose character.
Hapless: unlucky, unfortunate (ábhaga’)
Although the government had announced a rehabilitation package, after more than four months nothing is being done to rehabilitate these hapless people.
Jaded: adj (derog) tired and lacking zest (útsah’), usu after too much of sth (thaka hua)
Zest: (for sth) great enjoyment or excitement (josh) ; gusto
Indian team is looking jaded.
Defiance: open disobedience or resistance; refusal to give way to authority or opposition; defying. (idm) glare defiance at sb /sth . glare- (shine) stare angrily or fiercely ) in defiance of sb/sth- in spite of sb/sth; ignoring sb/sth. (çhunauti’; áwagya’)
Defiant: showing defiance
Defiant Naik won’t resign.
Rave: (at/against/about sb/sth) talk wildly or furiously as if in a fever or mad; about sb/sth (infml) speak or write about sb/sth with enthusiasm (úllas’; úmang’) or admiration (‘prasansa’; áchraj’); [esp attrib] (infml) enthusiastic praise. (‘jaandar party nritya aadi’; ‘’atiprasansa’; ‘garajna)
Rant: (at sb/sth) (derog) speak loudly, violently or theatrically. (‘garajna’; ‘halla macha kar dosha-ropan karna’)
Rant and rave: (idm) (at sb/sth) condemn or censure sb/sth loudly and forcefully. (çhillana’)
The belief was that while the opposition raved and ranted (also a typical behavior), the ruling party, as well as its subservient (çhaap-lus’) allies, will try to brazen it out. (= nirlajta-purvak vyawhar karna)
Brazen: (derog) shameless; insolent; (phr) brazen it out: behave, after doing wrong, as if one has nothing to be ashamed of. (‘nirlaz’; ‘be-sharm’)
Refurbish: make (sth) clean or bright again; redecorate (‘sajawat karna’ refurbishment= ‘navini-karan karna’)
Dispel: drive (sth) away; cause to vanish (‘door karna’)
In addition to refurbishing his image, the step is bound to dispel the assumption that he was increasingly becoming resigned to letting L.K. Advani run the show.
Sic: adv (placed in bracket after a quoted word or phrase that seems to be or is incorrect , in order to show that it is quoted accurately)
The best course for him is to vow (‘shapath’; ‘pratigya’), like Charles II , never “to go again to (sic) my travels” again.
Sentinel: (fml or dated) sentry: soldiers posted outside a building , etc in order to watch or guard it. (‘pahredaar’; ‘santri’)
Amnesty International is an internationally recognized sentinel of human rights and its observance (‘riti-riwaz’; ánu-palan’) is recognized by international law to be a matter of legitimate (‘vaidhya’) international concern (‘firm’ as in company or business)
Obscure: (adj) not easily or clearly seen or understood; indistinct; hidden; not well-known (‘dhundhla’; ágyaat’; áprasidh’; ‘samajhne me kathinai’)
A day after an obscure party man slapped legal notices on people responsible for allegedly mischievous TV spoof on Laloo Yadav, the RJD boss entered the battle for his dignity himself, threatening to sue (‘kisi par mukadma kayam karna’) the serial makers.
What is obscure for the world today would be very obvious once the truth would be divulged.
Sue: (sb) (for sth) make a legal claim (against sb); for sth (fml) formally ask for sth, often in a law court.
Suitor: man courting (pranay-nivedan’) a woman
Aapke mummy daddy ko kaisi bahu chahiye? The young lady in last wek’s show asked one of her suitors.
Muzzle: nose and mouth of an animal (eg a dog or fox) ; guard of straps or wires placed over this part of an animal’s head to prevent it from biting, etc; open end of a fire arm, out of which the bullet , etc, come [esp passive] (derog) prevent a person, society , newspaper, etc from expressing opinions freely. (‘muh bandhna’; ‘jaab lagana’; ‘muh band karna’; ‘thothan’; ‘naal mukh’)
Gag: [gg] thing, esp a piece of cloth, put in or over a person’s mouth to prevent him from speaking or shouting; thing placed in a patients mouth by a dentist , doctor, etc to keep it open, joke or funny story , esp as a part of comedian’s act; deprive (sb/sth) of free speech (‘muh band karna’; ‘bolne ki azadi par pratibandh’; ‘hasya katha’)
Opposition party members were arrested ; the media were gagged and all dissenting (á-sahmat’) voices were muzzled
Placate: make (sb) less angry, soothe or pacify (‘manana’; ‘shant karna’)
Modi’s strategy will be to play the hindutva card and to project the congress as a party which tries to placate the Muslim.
Fickle: (adj) often changing; not constant (fickle weather) (çhanchal’; á-sthir’)
Surreal: adj unlike reality; esp in having combinations or strange distortions of things , as in a dream; fantastic; bizarre. (áti-yathart-wadi’; á-vaast-av-ik’)
We have been witnessing something surreal.
Repugnant: adj (to sb) (fml) causing a feeling of strong opposition or dislike; abhorrent (‘ghrinit’; ‘ka virodhi’; ‘vi-bhats’) causing a feeling of strong disgust (‘ghrina’; ‘gussa’) ; nauseating (‘ghrinaspad’; ‘michli paida karne wala’;) (‘virudh’; ‘ghi-nau-na’)
During the following 100 hours, Modi rationalized (‘punar gathan karna’; ‘tark sangat thahrana’) the utterly (‘purn/sampurn roop se) notion of collective punishment of innocent citizens for the misdeeds (‘bura kaam’) of a handful of people”.
Collusion: (with sb) ; (between sb and sb) (fml) secret agreement or co-operation between two or more people with the aim of deceiving or cheating others (‘saath-gaath ya mili-bhagat’)
The legislators, willfully, consciously, pro actively violated that right, through its collusion in the massacre of over 2000 innocent citizens, razing of tens of thousands of homes, rape of countless women, and even the spearing of foetuses. (‘garbh’’bhrun’)
Raze: (also rase)(esp passive) destroy (a building , town, etc) completely , usu by leaving no walls, etc standing (used esp in the expression show) (‘puri tarah nasht kar dena’’mitana’)
Exculpate: sb (from sth) (fml) free sb from blame; say that sb is not guilty. (‘dosh mukt’; ‘baa-izzat bari’)
Epilogue: part or section added at the end of a book, play, film, programme, etc, as a comment on the main action. Short speech or poem spoken by one of the characters at the end of a play. (‘bharat vakya’; úp-sanghar’)
Now it is busy filing charge sheets which begin with a self-exculpating epilogue even before they list the culprits and their alleged (‘kathit’) crime.
Reich: Germany under the Nazi regime (1933-1945)(german rajya)
It is ludicrous to expect the voter to exercise a rational choice in these abnormal, intimidating (‘darane wala’) and communally-charged circumstances.
Ire: (fml) anger (kroadh)
Ostensible: adj[attrib] stated (as a reason, etc) though perhaps not true; apparent (‘pratyaksh’; ‘tatha-kathit’)
Lallo yadav is angry. The target of his ire is SAB TV’s new tv show Ram Khilawan CM’s Family, which is , pretty clearly, a send up (‘nakal kar ke hansi udane ki prakriya’) of Laloo, his lady wife the ostensible chief minister of Bihar, and the way In which they run their state.
Fret: cause of irritation; worry (‘khij’; çhinta’)
When you and I get anfry, when we are annoyed by jokes about us we fret and we fume (áag baboola hona’)
Tuft: bunch of hair, feather, grass, etc growing or held together at the base. (‘pankh, ghaas, baal aadi ka guchcha’)
Shekhar Suman or anybody else who dares make fun of the great man or the tuft of hair that sprouts (ánkurit hona’ úgana ya phootna’)
Sprout: (out/up) (from sth) begin to grow or appear; develop or produce (sth)
Rogue: (dated) dishonest or unprincipled man; mischievious person; wild animal driven or living apart from the herd. (áawara’; ‘shararti’; ‘durjan’; ádiyal jaanwar’)
Laloo manages to come across , on TV as a loveable rogue.
Deprecate: feel and express disapproval of (sth) ; feel embarrassed or displeased by (sb’s flattery, etc)(‘ki ninda karna’; áwmanit karna’)
Rustic: (approv) typical of the country or country people; rough and unrefined; made of rough timber or untrimmed branches; (esp derog) peasant or yoke (peasant =’kisan’; ‘dehati’; á-sabhya’ yokel = ‘dehati’; ‘ganwar’) (‘dehati’; ‘sadharan’; ‘gramin’)
He knows when to play the Buffon, when to indulge (‘lipt hona’) in a bit of self deprecatory humour and when to turn on the rustic charm.
Pummel: (also pommel) strike (sb/sth) repeatedly; esp with the fist(s) ; beat (‘thukiyana’)
Groin: (anatomy)lower part of the abdomen, where the tops of the legs meet containing the sexual organs.(‘kamar’)
But the moment we poke fun at them, they respond as though we’ve pummeled them in the groin with pick-axes. (‘gainti’; ‘kudali’)
Sine-die: (fml esp law) without a date being fixed; indefinite. (ánischit-kaalin’)
Both houses of parliament adjourn sine die.
Heretical: adj of heresy or heretics (heretically adv)
Heresy: belief or opinion that is contrary to what is generally accepted, esp in religion; holding of such opinion. (á-pramanik-ta’; ‘virudh mat’)
Heretic: person who is guilty of heresy or who supports heresy (ápdharmi’; ‘swa-dharm-bhrast’)
Discord: (fml) disagreement; quarelling; instance of this (‘matbhed’; á-sahmati’; ‘be-sura-pan’)
Is unity really so central to democracy (‘lok-tantra’) like ours? Or, heretical as it may sound, is discord actually a better idea?
Foist: (phr) foist sth on sb –force sb into accepting sth not wanted. (foist= bewakoof banana) (foist on/upon= par thopna)
Is it better to live together, in however fragile (‘nazuk’; ‘kamjor’’sukumar’) a peace as hindus and muslims, Sikhs and isais rather thrying to foist hindutva or, for that matter, boring new age secularism on everyone, under the pretext of fostering oneness?
Clench: close (sth) tightly or press (two things) firmly together; sb/sth (in/with sth) grasp or hold sb/sth firmly. (‘kaskar pakarna’; ‘mutthi bandhna’; ‘jakadna’)
There is, in fact, a popular saying that one finger can be easily broken by the enemy but when you clench all the fingers of your hand together to form a fist, you can hit back and demolish the strongest assailant. (áakraman-kari’)
Dissension: angry disagreement (‘matbhed’)
Contend: with/against sb/sth; -for sth- struggle in order to overcome (‘harana’; ‘vashibut karna’) a rival (‘prati-dwandi’), competitor or difficulty; put forward (sth) as one’s opinion. (‘vivad karna’; ‘prati-spardha me hiona’; ‘sanghursh karna’)
The idea is to encourage conflict (‘sanghursh’; ‘virodh’), breed (‘kul’; ‘nasl’; ‘badhana’; ‘palan poshan karna’; ‘paida karna/karwana’) dissension, allow every school of thought to flourish (‘samridh hona’; ‘falna foolna’) and contend.
Dialectic :( philosophy) art of discovering and testing truths by discussion and logical argument ; criticism that deals with metaphysical contradictions and how to solve them. (dwandatmak padaatih’; ‘tark-shast-eh’)
Camaraderie: friendship and mutual trust; comradeship (‘sauhard’)
Whenever there is connivance (‘maun sahmati’)or forced camaraderie between our democratic institutions, the truth suffers. Our freedom are jeopardized (‘jokhim me dalna’). Like during the emergency , when the media was forced to play whore to the executive.
Whore: (dated or derog) prostitiute; sexually immoral woman.
Whore-house: (dated or derog) brothel.
Fugitive: (fml sb/sth) person who is running away or escaping; [usu attrib] (fml) lasting only a short time; fleeting (‘tadipar’; ‘bhagora’; ‘farar’; sharnarthi’)
As fugitive IGP R.K. Sharma continues to elude the Delhi Police dragnet (‘maha-jaal’), speculation (anuman’; átkal-bazi’) about his political clout (prabhav -influence) has grown.
Ajar: adj [pred] (of a door) slightly open (ádh-khula’)
The board, however, left the door ajar for the ‘rebels’to return.
Beatify: (fied) (of the pope) honor (a dead person) by stating officially that he or she is in heaven or he or she was a saint.
Teresa may not be beatified before October –vatican.
Admonish: sb (for/against sth) give a mild (‘saumya’; ‘vinamra’) but firm warning or scolding to sb; advise or urge (sb) seriously (çhetawni dena’; ‘datna’)
Intemperate: adj (fml) showing lack of self-control : intemperate habits, ie esp excessive drinking of alcohol. (á-sayamit’)
Union Human Resource Develiopmemt Minister M.M. Joshi on Friday admonished Gujarat chief Minister Narendra Modi for his intemperate attack on chief election commission J.M. Lyngdoh.
Tandem: bicycle with seats and pedals for two or more people, one behind another. (ék ke peeche ek’)
Intandem: (idm) one behind another (ék ke eeche ek’)
He has also insinuated (çhalaki bhara sanket dena’; íshara karna’) that CEC was acting intandem with Congress president Sonia Gandhi who is also a Christian.
Adj (usu derog) (of work) suitable to be done by servants; unskilled; servant (çhota kaam’; ‘naukar’; ‘tuchch’)
In a television interview , Lyngdoh described the criticism of the EC order on Gujarat as the “gossip of menials” (gossip=gup, afwah, chugli. Gap-shap)
Mysticism: belief or experience of a mystic (of hidden meaning or spiritual power, esp in religion) teaching and belief that knowledge of God and of real truth may be reached through meditation or spiritual insight, independently of reason and the senses. (‘rahasya-waad’)
It is difficult for earthy (áshlil’; ‘matiyala’) men like me to understand mysticism.
Rapture: intense delight; (idm) be in, go into, etc raptures. (about/over sb/sth) feel or express great delight or enthusiasm (‘harsho-unmad’)
They exclude sex from heir concept of love as did Mira Bai when she went into raptures over lord Krishna.
