Sabre-rattling – The Hindu (Sep 05, 2017)

Sabre-rattling – The Hindu (Sep 05, 2017)

North Korea’s adventurism continues unabated. On Sunday, it tested what it claims was a “hydrogen bomb”, its sixth nuclear weapons test, cocking a snook at….. For further reading, visit “The Hindu”.

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Word List-1 (To Improve English Vocabulary)

1. sabre-rattling (noun) – the display of military force; aggressive/belligerent, warmongering.
2. de-escalate (verb) – reduce, diminish, decrease.
3. adventurism (noun) – the inclination/readiness to take risks in business or politics.
4. unabated (adjective) – persistent, non-stop, unending.
5. cock a snook (phrase) – showing contempt/lack of respect for someone.
6. non-proliferation (noun) – the action of stopping something (particularly of nuclear weapons by the countries).
7. rhetoric (noun) – heroics, hyperbole/extravagant language.
8. fury (noun) – rage, anger, wrath.
9. imply (verb) – suggest, hint, say indirectly.
10. ratchet up (verb) – to increase something by a series of small amounts.
11. call out (phrasal verb) – summon, order or advise.
12. appeasement (noun) – conciliation, pacification, reconciliation.
13. totalitarian (adjective) – authoritarian, autocratic, dictatorial/one-party.
14. provocative (adjective) – annoying, provoking, inflaming/arousing.
15. quest (noun) – search, pursuit.
16. de facto (adjective) – Latin word; actual, real, effective.
17. exacerbate (verb) – aggravate, make worse/worsen.
18. prowess (noun) – courage, bravery, boldness/audacity.
19. ploy (noun) – a cunning plan, course of action, tactic.
20. citizenry (noun) – all the people/citizens (of a place/country considered as a whole).
21. parity (noun) – equality, unity, evenness.
22. in (the) light of (phrase) – taking into consideration/account, keeping in mind, in view of.
23. unpalatable (adjective) – uninviting, unappealing, unsavoury.
24. prospect (noun) – probability, odds, chance.
25. escalation (noun) – rapid increase, rise; intensification.
26. stave off (verb) – avert, prevent, avoid (something dangerous or from serious situations).
27. sanctions (noun) – action taken, or an order given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country, etc (Courtesy: VOA Learning English).
28. crippled (adjective) – severely damaged.
29. beleaguered (adjective) – troubled, hard-pressed, under-stressed.
30. multilateral (adjective) – involving many different countries or groups.

Note:  

1. Click each one en.oxforddictionaries.com/…ition/foremostof the words above for their definition, more synonyms, pronunciation, example sentences, phrases, derivatives, origin and etc from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/.

2. Definitions (elementary level) & Synonyms provided for the words above are my personal work and not that of Oxford University Press. Tentative definitions/meanings are provided for study purpose only and they may vary in different context. Use it with the corresponding article published on the source (website) via the link provided. 

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