The Vocab Weekly

Belittle

Belittle Mnemonic Aid to Learn Belittle A very veryvery simple mnemonic! Belittle = BE LITTLE. To make someone little! How do you do that? By not thinking they are important enough and by undervaluing them constantly, by BELITTLING them. Meaning of Belittle 1. To regard or portray as less impressive or important than appearances indicate; depreciate; disparage. Pronunciation bih-lit-l Sentence Examples for Belittle 1. Seniors are in the habit of belittling their juniors. 2. It is easy to belittle the work of another but very difficult to do something of your own. 3. We often belittle others without realizing our own weaknesses and how small does it make us look.

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Sept 16-Sept 23| Issue 47

The Vocab Weekly

Laconic

Laconic Mnemonic Aid to Learn Laconic A simple breakdown: Laconic: Lack a tonic How exactly do you lack this tonic? Well, in your speech and thus you use your words very sparingly and carefully. In general, we find such people all the time. They might even come across as rude at times but I guess it is simply in their nature to be precise and cut the crap out of all conversations. Imagine if the world consisted only of such human beings, well we would have no gossip, all to the point factual stuff would float around us. That would be a dreary life! Meaning of Laconic 1. Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise. Pronunciation: luh-kon-ik Sentence Examples for Laconic 1. Guys proposing to girls should be ready for a laconic response. 2. Teachers with laconic tendencies can be quite hard to understand. 3. He is in the habit of giving to the point and laconic replies.

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Sept 16-Sept 23| Issue 47

The Vocab Weekly

Ominous

Ominous Mnemonic Aid to Learn Ominous A simple equation to learn the word: Ominous: Bad omens! We all know what omens are, right? Omens are a sign of something about to happen and these are little things that we take out from our everyday life. Meaning of Ominous 1. Portending evil or harm; foreboding; threatening; inauspicious. 2. Having the significance of an omen. Pronunciation: om-uh-nuhs Sentence Examples for Ominous 1. Manchester United seems to be ominous form and this does not bode well for their competitors. 2. The weather seems to have taken a turn today we seem to be surrounded by a blanket of ominous dark clouds.

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Sept 16-Sept 23| Issue 47

Stipulate

The Vocab Weekly

Stipulate Mnemonic Aid to Learn Stipulate Mnemonic time! Love the breakdown for this word: Stipulate = Staple It. Staple what? The terms and conditions at the end of agreement, the ones that are made compulsory and obligatory by it. Meanings of Stipulate 1. To lay down as a condition of an agreement; require by contract. 2. To specify or arrange in an agreement: stipulate a date of payment and a price. 3. To guarantee or promise (something) in an agreement. Pronunciation stip-yuh-leyt Sentence Examples for Stipulate 1. Its not easy to get out of terms stipulated in the contract. 2. The judge stipulated some pretty tough conditions in the divorce agreement. 3. The government stipulates the conditions in a tender. 4. Lovers never stipulate terms and conditions, for theirs is bonds of love and not a contract.

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Sept 16-Sept 23| Issue 47

Adroit

The Vocab Weekly

Adroit has a fascinating origin story and the word has French origins. Maybe, that is why it has an exotic sound. Adroit breaks down to: a+droit, which means towards+ right. But what do we mean towards right? Well, mankind has a pretty http://wordpandit.com/2012/bias/biased history (something we all know, dont we) and we have always carried some forms of prejudice. One of those is against the left hand. Men always assumed the right-hand to be the forbearer of all positive virtues and conversely, the left to be a symbol of bad. Pronunciation: uh-droit Meanings of Adroit 1) Someone dexterous .i.e. expert or adept in using their hands or bodies. 2) Skilful, resourceful or clever. Masters Tip to learn Adroit The easiest way to learn adroit is remembering that you are really adept at. Further, adroit somehow sounds like Detroit, a city in United States of America. Sentence Examples for Adroit 1) He is an adroit Funambulist. (Adjective) 2) He is an adroit handler of tricky situations. . (Adjective)

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Sept 16-Sept 23| Issue 47

The Vocab Weekly

Annals

Annals Records, records and some more records! Annals is nothing else but a record of some or all historical events. Yeah, this is what this obscure sounding word actually means. And writers of annals can be called annalists. It is a noun. Its first usage dates back to 1542 and it has originated from a Latin word annals, which has originated from a plural of annalis meaning yearly. The class of writers on Roman history were called annalists whose activity lasted from the time of Second Punic War to that of Sulla. They wrote the history of Rome from the earliest times to their own days. Pronunciation: an-lz Meanings of Annals 1) Chronological record of events 2) Historical records 3) A journal or publication containing chronological record/reports of an organization or field Masters Tip to learn Annals Annals can be learnt easily by associating it with the words like camels and channels, as annals rhyme with these two Words. Further, annals can also be learnt by remembering your most favourite or the most hated subject of all time .i.e. history.

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Sept 16-Sept 23| Issue 47

The Vocab Weekly

Fiasco

Fiasco Sometimes some people are destined to move from one failure to another, not because they cant do anything right, but due to sheer carelessness that slowly becomes their tendency. And slowly these failures accumulate to form one grand one, the one grand fiasco that brings everything down, that one disaster or debacle that just cannot be avoided. Pronunciation: fee-as-koh The dictionary definitions for fiasco are as follows: 1) A complete failure 2) The biggest debacle 3) It can also be referred to as a round-bottomed glass flask for wine. Master tip to learn fiasco: Now, as you know the meaning of fiasco, it can easily be learnt by associating it with the wine flask itself. E.g. Wine flask was the biggest fiasco in the inventory of that glassmaker. Sounds odd, doesnt it? But the thing is that you can use this oddity to make this word stick to your minds. The world of words is filled with such intrigues and examples which seem to make no sense.

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Sept 16-Sept 23| Issue 47

The Vocab Weekly

Work Out Zone

Work Out 1: Match the following words with their respective meanings or synonyms. Word 1 Belittle 2 Laconic 3 Ominous 4 Stipulate 5 Adroit 6 Annals 7 Fiasco Meaning or Synonym A skilful B downgrade C chronicles D ill-fated E concise F failure G promise

Work Out 2: Did you really understand the word? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. I always feel belittled in front of cops Detectives talk in a laconic manner. Ominous signs represent good luck. Government stipulated to peoples demands. The TajMahal is perfect example of adroitness Annals are required to study history of places. A number of fiascos ruined the event. yes yes yes yes yes yes yes no no no no no no no

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The Vocab Weekly

Answers: Work Out Zone

Work Out 1 1-B, 2-E, 3-D, 4-G,5-A, 6-C, 7-F Work Out 2 1-yes, 2-yes, 3-no, 4-yes, 5-yes, 6-yes, 7-yes

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Sept 16-Sept 23| Issue 47