Denting ardent students – The Hindu (June 09, 2016)

Denting ardent students – The Hindu (June 09, 2016)

So all the Board and Entrance examination results are out.

Amazingly, many young men and women have achieved “cent per cent” scores. Unbelievable really. How can you score 100/100 in languages, or in English?

Is that a reflection on how much of learning is by rote now. And how little value there is for original thinking. These are troubling questions that we don’t ask ourselves. For further reading, visit “thREAD” (The Hindu blog).

Today’s Words:

1. Dent (verb) – diminish, weaken, reduce, undermine.
2. Ardent (adjective) – passionate, enthusiastic, dedicated.
3. Rote (noun) – without thinking, unthinking, from memory, mechanically.
4. Beaming (adjective) – bright, glowing, luminous, grinning.
5. Sweatshop (noun) – a place where people are paid low wages for working long hours in poor conditions.
6. On the cusp (idiom) – a point where something will change, a transition point.
7. afore- (prefix) – previously, before.
8. Anguished (adjective) – agonized, tormented, heartbroken, suffering, sad.
9. Goad (verb) – provoke, induce, pressurize, stimulate.
10. Nay (adverb) – indeed, actually, truly, verily, even.
11. Driven to despair (idiom) – to make someone to feel unhappy/depressed/annoyed/frustrated.
12. Defiance (noun) – resistance, opposition, confrontation.
13. Iota(noun) – an extremely small amount.
14. Hypocrite (noun) –  humbug, pretender, deceiver. a person who is behaving in a way against for which he have moral beliefs.
15. Beat one’s breasts (idiom) – breast-beating, to show anger, anguish, grip in public.
16. Wail (noun) – a long and loud cry of pain/grief/sadness/anger.
17. Proclamation (noun) – a public announcement.
18. Paraphrase (verb) – reword, rephrase, express in other words, express differently, restate.
19. Drift (verb) – stray, deviate, depart, get side tracked.
20. Potty-train (verb) – train (a child) to use toilet (potty).
21. Unceasingly (adverb) – endlessly, continuously.
22. Jittery (adjective) – nervous, hyperactive, fluttery.
23. Beckon (verb) – to appear inviting, attract, call.
24. At stake (noun) – at risk /in question.

Note:

• Click each one of the words above for their definition, more synonyms, pronunciation, example sentences, phrases, derivatives, origin and etc from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ .
• Synonyms provided for the words above are my personal work and not that of Oxford University Press.