{"id":2056,"date":"2015-06-15T15:09:51","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T10:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/jwt2015\/?p=2056"},"modified":"2016-02-17T18:00:25","modified_gmt":"2016-02-17T13:00:25","slug":"vocabulary-in-news-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/css-exclusive\/css-special\/vocabulary-in-news-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Vocabulary in News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vocabulary<\/a><\/p>\n

astound:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> astonish, stun, confound, dumbfound, flabbergast
The magician astounded the audience by conjuring spirits and talking with mummies.<\/p>\n

befitting:\u00a0<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> fitting, appropriate to, suited to, apt for
They offered him a post befitting his seniority and experience.<\/p>\n

bemused:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> bewildered, puzzled, baffled, stumped, muddled
He was looking at the boys with a bemused expression.<\/p>\n

blaze:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> fire, flames, conflagration, inferno, firestorm
Twenty firemen fought the blaze.<\/p>\n

callous:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> heartless, cold, insensitive, cruel, ruthless, brutal
His callous comments about the murder made me shiver.<\/p>\n

chuckle:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> chortle, giggle, titter, snicker, snigger
He chuckled appreciatively at her riposte.<\/p>\n

complacent:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> smug, pleased, contented, satisfied, serene, unconcerned
We cannot afford to be complacent about our health.<\/p>\n

conjecture:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> presumption, extrapolation, approximation,
Your assertion is merely a conjecture, not a fact.<\/p>\n

consort:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> agree, accord, square, correspond, tally, be consistent, harmonize
He should have thought a little harder before consorting with the enemy.<\/p>\n

consternation:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> dismay, perturbation, anxiety, angst, trepidation
His decision caused consternation among his colleagues.<\/p>\n

desist:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> abstain, refrain, stop, quit, forgo, eschew
Kindly desist from making so much noise.<\/p>\n

faltering:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> hesitant, uncertain, stumbling, stammering
Demand is faltering in the world’s largest car market.<\/p>\n

filibuster:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> stonewalling, procrastination, delaying, speechifying, dilly-dallying
The Senator used a filibuster to stop the bill.<\/p>\n

flabby:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> weak, ineffective, spineless, effete, enervated, wimpy
Many signs of flabby management remain.<\/p>\n

forestall:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> prevent, stop, frustrate, parry, thwart,
They had done little to forestall the attack.<\/p>\n

fortitude:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> strength, resolution, endurance, perseverance, intrepidity
He suffered his illness with dignity and fortitude.<\/p>\n

frenzied:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> frantic, hectic, feverish, hyperactive, tumultuous
In a night of frenzied selling, Christie’s New York racked up $658.5 million.<\/p>\n

grotesque:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> malformed, misshapen, gnarled, mangled, monstrous, bizarre
Poverty is ugly and the most grotesque form of slavery.<\/p>\n

heckle:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> jeer, taunt, boo, hiss, interrupt, harass
He was insulted and heckled mercilessly.<\/p>\n

huddle:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> crowd, gather, cluster, flock, throng
They huddled together for warmth.<\/p>\n

immaculate:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> clean, spotless, pristine, unsullied, gleaming
He was dressed in an immaculate white suit.<\/p>\n

indoctrination:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> brainwashing, schooling, drilling, inculcation
Rigid indoctrination leads to intolerance and fanaticism.<\/p>\n

insinuation:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> implication, inference, intimation, innuendo, allusion, aspersion
It isn’t right to bring a good man down by rumour and insinuation.<\/p>\n

kowtow:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> grovel, flatter, cringe, pander to
Nor did he kowtow to his editors.<\/p>\n

kingpin:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> grandee, honcho, panjandrum, heavyweight, big gun,
Venezuela’s powerful politicians are the kingpins of a big cocaine drug cartel.<\/p>\n

largesse:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> generosity, bounty, munificence, benefaction
His most recent act of largesse is the distribution of gifts among the poor.<\/p>\n

masquerade:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> pretence, pose, facade, dissimulation, subterfuge
He claimed that the elections would be a masquerade.<\/p>\n

\"Best<\/a>mayhem:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> chaos, havoc, bedlam, pandemonium, tumult, turmoil, hullabaloo
High spirits often get out of control and lead to violence and mayhem.<\/p>\n

melancholy:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> sadness, depression, misery, gloom, despondency, pensiveness
He watched the process with an air of melancholy.<\/p>\n

milieu:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> surroundings, scene, environment, background, sphere
They stayed within their own social milieu.<\/p>\n

modicum:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> little bit, crumb, grain, mite, tinge, iota
I like to think I have had a modicum of success.<\/p>\n

mumbo jumbo:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> gibberish, nonsense, jargon, humbug, cant
It’s all full of psychoanalytic mumbo jumbo.<\/p>\n

mutant:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> freakish, crooked, distorted, warped, misshapen
Children hate stories about strange mutant beasts.<\/p>\n

oblivion:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> obscurity, limbo, nothingness, nihility, neglect, disregard
Most of these performers will fail and sink into oblivion.<\/p>\n

pacifist:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> peacemaker, appeaser, peacenik, conchie
His experiences had made him a pacifist.<\/p>\n

palpable:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> obvious, evident, conspicuous, salient
The tension between them is palpable.<\/p>\n

pontificate:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> expound, preach, pronounce, declaim, expatiate
Politicians like to pontificate about falling standards.<\/p>\n

precipice<\/span>: (n)<\/strong> cliff, crag, rock face, brink, scarp
The path had sheer rock on one side and a precipice on the other.<\/p>\n

purveyor:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> seller, trader, retailer, supplier, provider
America is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.<\/p>\n

reiterate:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> repeat, restate, recapitulate,
He reiterated his opposition to the creation of a central bank.<\/p>\n

roam:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> wander, rove, ramble, meander, maunder, traipse
They were encouraged not to let their cattle roam freely.<\/p>\n

scourge:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> affliction, curse, pest, torment, bane
Drugs are a scourge that is devastating our society.<\/p>\n

scramble:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> clamber, climb, crawl, scrabble,
He scrambled up a steep bank.<\/p>\n

scum:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> rabble, trash, riffraff, rubbish, dross,
They’re cultureless scum drifted from elsewhere.<\/p>\n

smoulder:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> seethe, fume, boil, fester
He smouldered as he drove home for lunch.<\/p>\n

snipe:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> criticize, carp, bitch, jeer, denigrate, disparage
She kept sniping at her husband all through dinner.<\/p>\n

splinter:<\/span> (n)<\/strong> sliver, shiver, chip, shard, fragment, bit
Small splinters of wood are scattered on the floor.<\/p>\n

swoop:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> pounce, attack, charge, rush, raid, descend,
The terror ended when armed police swooped on the car.<\/p>\n

unerring:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> unfailing, infallible, unswerving, impeccable
These designs demonstrate her unerring eye for colour and detail.<\/p>\n

vile:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> nasty, horrid, abominable, obnoxious, repellent, nauseating
The terrorists have struck a cruel blow with this vile act of terrorism.<\/p>\n

woozy:<\/span> (adj)<\/strong> dizzy, giddy, groggy, muzzy, vertiginous,
The fumes made us feel a bit woozy.<\/p>\n

yearn:<\/span> (v)<\/strong> desire, pine, pant, crave, covet, suspire
She yearned to be with him.

<\/div>
<\/div>\n

Idioms<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

cat-o’-nine-tails:<\/strong><\/span> a rope whip with nine knotted cords<\/p>\n

claw your way:<\/strong> <\/span>to move forward with difficulty<\/p>\n

have a heart of stone:<\/strong><\/span> to be cold and unfriendly<\/p>\n

big cheese:<\/strong><\/span> an important person<\/p>\n

kick the can down the road:<\/strong><\/span> procrastinate, delay, dilly-dally<\/p>\n

ne’er-do-well:<\/span><\/strong> an idle, irresponsible person.<\/p>\n

the big daddy:<\/strong> <\/span>the biggest or the most important person in a group<\/p>\n

the dregs of society:<\/strong><\/span> riffraff, rabble, hoi polloi<\/p>\n

ragtag and bobtail:<\/strong> <\/span>the lowest social class; the rabble.<\/p>\n

sow dragon’s teeth:<\/strong><\/span> sow seeds of strife<\/p>\n

take up the baton:<\/strong><\/span> accept a particular duty or responsibility<\/p>\n

the witching hour:<\/strong> <\/span>midnight; twelve o’clock at night<\/p>\n

give eye teeth for:<\/strong><\/span> like something very much<\/p>\n

shot in the dark:<\/strong> <\/span>a very general attempt; a wild guess<\/p>\n

the dog days:<\/strong> <\/span>the hottest days of the summer<\/p>\n

Indian summer:<\/strong> <\/span>a period of mild, sunny weather<\/p>\n

make a splash:<\/strong> <\/span>to get a lot of public attention<\/p>\n

hot off the press:<\/strong> <\/span>freshly printed<\/p>\n

take the heat:<\/strong> <\/span>to accept criticism or scolding<\/p>\n

bucket down:<\/strong><\/span> to rain heavily<\/p>\n

282<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

astound: (v) astonish, stun, confound, dumbfound, flabbergast The magician astounded the audience by conjuring spirits and talking with mummies. befitting:\u00a0 (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. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":2058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31,1324,36],"tags":[1526,574,72,1060,1150],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jworldtimes.com\/old-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}