Vocabulary in News

astound: (v) astonish, stun, confound, dumbfound, flabbergast
The magician astounded the audience by conjuring spirits and talking with mummies.

befitting:  (adj) fitting, appropriate to, suited to, apt for
They offered him a post befitting his seniority and experience.

bemused: (adj) bewildered, puzzled, baffled, stumped, muddled
He was looking at the boys with a bemused expression.

blaze: (n) fire, flames, conflagration, inferno, firestorm
Twenty firemen fought the blaze.

callous: (adj) heartless, cold, insensitive, cruel, ruthless, brutal
His callous comments about the murder made me shiver.

chuckle: (v) chortle, giggle, titter, snicker, snigger
He chuckled appreciatively at her riposte.

complacent: (adj) smug, pleased, contented, satisfied, serene, unconcerned
We cannot afford to be complacent about our health.

conjecture: (n) presumption, extrapolation, approximation,
Your assertion is merely a conjecture, not a fact.

consort: (v) agree, accord, square, correspond, tally, be consistent, harmonize
He should have thought a little harder before consorting with the enemy.

consternation: (n) dismay, perturbation, anxiety, angst, trepidation
His decision caused consternation among his colleagues.

desist: (v) abstain, refrain, stop, quit, forgo, eschew
Kindly desist from making so much noise.

faltering: (adj) hesitant, uncertain, stumbling, stammering
Demand is faltering in the world’s largest car market.

filibuster: (n) stonewalling, procrastination, delaying, speechifying, dilly-dallying
The Senator used a filibuster to stop the bill.

flabby: (adj) weak, ineffective, spineless, effete, enervated, wimpy
Many signs of flabby management remain.

forestall: (v) prevent, stop, frustrate, parry, thwart,
They had done little to forestall the attack.

fortitude: (n) strength, resolution, endurance, perseverance, intrepidity
He suffered his illness with dignity and fortitude.

frenzied: (adj) frantic, hectic, feverish, hyperactive, tumultuous
In a night of frenzied selling, Christie’s New York racked up $658.5 million.

grotesque: (adj) malformed, misshapen, gnarled, mangled, monstrous, bizarre
Poverty is ugly and the most grotesque form of slavery.

heckle: (v) jeer, taunt, boo, hiss, interrupt, harass
He was insulted and heckled mercilessly.

huddle: (v) crowd, gather, cluster, flock, throng
They huddled together for warmth.

immaculate: (adj) clean, spotless, pristine, unsullied, gleaming
He was dressed in an immaculate white suit.

indoctrination: (n) brainwashing, schooling, drilling, inculcation
Rigid indoctrination leads to intolerance and fanaticism.

insinuation: (n) implication, inference, intimation, innuendo, allusion, aspersion
It isn’t right to bring a good man down by rumour and insinuation.

kowtow: (v) grovel, flatter, cringe, pander to
Nor did he kowtow to his editors.

kingpin: (n) grandee, honcho, panjandrum, heavyweight, big gun,
Venezuela’s powerful politicians are the kingpins of a big cocaine drug cartel.

largesse: (n) generosity, bounty, munificence, benefaction
His most recent act of largesse is the distribution of gifts among the poor.

masquerade: (n) pretence, pose, facade, dissimulation, subterfuge
He claimed that the elections would be a masquerade.

mayhem: (n) chaos, havoc, bedlam, pandemonium, tumult, turmoil, hullabaloo
High spirits often get out of control and lead to violence and mayhem.

melancholy: (n) sadness, depression, misery, gloom, despondency, pensiveness
He watched the process with an air of melancholy.

milieu: (n) surroundings, scene, environment, background, sphere
They stayed within their own social milieu.

modicum: (n) little bit, crumb, grain, mite, tinge, iota
I like to think I have had a modicum of success.

mumbo jumbo: (n) gibberish, nonsense, jargon, humbug, cant
It’s all full of psychoanalytic mumbo jumbo.

mutant: (adj) freakish, crooked, distorted, warped, misshapen
Children hate stories about strange mutant beasts.

oblivion: (n) obscurity, limbo, nothingness, nihility, neglect, disregard
Most of these performers will fail and sink into oblivion.

pacifist: (n) peacemaker, appeaser, peacenik, conchie
His experiences had made him a pacifist.

palpable: (adj) obvious, evident, conspicuous, salient
The tension between them is palpable.

pontificate: (v) expound, preach, pronounce, declaim, expatiate
Politicians like to pontificate about falling standards.

precipice: (n) cliff, crag, rock face, brink, scarp
The path had sheer rock on one side and a precipice on the other.

purveyor: (n) seller, trader, retailer, supplier, provider
America is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.

reiterate: (v) repeat, restate, recapitulate,
He reiterated his opposition to the creation of a central bank.

roam: (v) wander, rove, ramble, meander, maunder, traipse
They were encouraged not to let their cattle roam freely.

scourge: (n) affliction, curse, pest, torment, bane
Drugs are a scourge that is devastating our society.

scramble: (v) clamber, climb, crawl, scrabble,
He scrambled up a steep bank.

scum: (n) rabble, trash, riffraff, rubbish, dross,
They’re cultureless scum drifted from elsewhere.

smoulder: (v) seethe, fume, boil, fester
He smouldered as he drove home for lunch.

snipe: (v) criticize, carp, bitch, jeer, denigrate, disparage
She kept sniping at her husband all through dinner.

splinter: (n) sliver, shiver, chip, shard, fragment, bit
Small splinters of wood are scattered on the floor.

swoop: (v) pounce, attack, charge, rush, raid, descend,
The terror ended when armed police swooped on the car.

unerring: (adj) unfailing, infallible, unswerving, impeccable
These designs demonstrate her unerring eye for colour and detail.

vile: (adj) nasty, horrid, abominable, obnoxious, repellent, nauseating
The terrorists have struck a cruel blow with this vile act of terrorism.

woozy: (adj) dizzy, giddy, groggy, muzzy, vertiginous,
The fumes made us feel a bit woozy.

yearn: (v) desire, pine, pant, crave, covet, suspire
She yearned to be with him.

Idioms

cat-o’-nine-tails: a rope whip with nine knotted cords

claw your way: to move forward with difficulty

have a heart of stone: to be cold and unfriendly

big cheese: an important person

kick the can down the road: procrastinate, delay, dilly-dally

ne’er-do-well: an idle, irresponsible person.

the big daddy: the biggest or the most important person in a group

the dregs of society: riffraff, rabble, hoi polloi

ragtag and bobtail: the lowest social class; the rabble.

sow dragon’s teeth: sow seeds of strife

take up the baton: accept a particular duty or responsibility

the witching hour: midnight; twelve o’clock at night

give eye teeth for: like something very much

shot in the dark: a very general attempt; a wild guess

the dog days: the hottest days of the summer

Indian summer: a period of mild, sunny weather

make a splash: to get a lot of public attention

hot off the press: freshly printed

take the heat: to accept criticism or scolding

bucket down: to rain heavily