Investigating the Scorpene leak – The Hindu (Aug 26, 2016)

Investigating the Scorpene leak – The Hindu (Aug 26, 2016)

How much our security has been compromised by the leak of thousands of pages of confidential documents related to the Scorpene submarines, under production in Mazagon Dock Ltd., must be seriously investigated. For further reading , visit “The Hindu”.

Word List:

1. compromise (verb) – undermine, weaken, be detrimental to, damage, harm.
2. turf-protective tactics – Tactics which a department uses to take decisions on its own by opposing support coming from outside the department. The department considers that its authority & resources will be lost if it gets support from the outside.
3. come to light (phrase) – be discovered, become known, come out, appear.
4. conventional (adjective) – non-nuclear.
5. submarine (noun) – a warship submerged in the water.
6. combat (noun) – active battle, fighting, war, warfare.
7. stealth (noun) – furtiveness, secretiveness, secrecy, sneakiness.
8. intelligence (noun) – (of military/political value) information gathering, spying, espionage, undercover work, infiltration.
9. endurance (noun) – lasting power, durability, longevity; stability.
10. torpedo (noun) – a tube-shaped weapon/missile launched above/below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target.
11. foolhardy (adjective) – reckless, incautious, careless, irresponsible.
12. bipartisan (adjective) – involving cooperation between two (opposite & big)  political parties.
13. pertain to (verb) – concern, relate to, be related to, be connected with, be relevant to.
14. mainstay (noun) – central component, centrepiece, chief support; tower of strength, key player.
15. sub-surface (noun) – underground, belowground, a layer below the ground.
16. fleet (noun) – a group of military ships (submarines here) work together under a control.
17. ballistic missile (noun) – a missile, which is shot from the ground, takes a long distance to travel well outside the atmosphere and falls to the earth to explode on its target (due to the gravity).
18. second-strike capability (noun) – a second-strike capability is a country’s assured ability to respond to a nuclear attack with powerful nuclear retaliation (revenge, counter attack) against the attacker. (Courtesy: Wikipedia).
19. intrusive (adjective) – intruding, obtrusive, interrupting, trespassing.
20. surveillance (noun) – observation, scrutiny, monitoring, supervision.
21. sneak (verb) – creep, steal, slip, move furtively/secretively.
22. carry out (phrasal verb) – conduct, perform, implement, execute.
23. on the face of it (phrase) – ostensibly, on the surface; apparently, seemingly.
24. adversary (noun) – opponent, rival, nemesis, competitor.
25. liability (noun) – accountability, responsibility; disadvantage, downside, weakness, problem, weak spot/point.

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/ .
• Definitions (elementary level)  & Synonyms provided for the words above are my personal work and not that of Oxford University Press.