VOCABULARY OF THE DAY – 31-01-2017

1. Mundane

Synonyms: (plain) vanilla, banal, banausic, boring, carnal, common, commonplace, customary, day-to-day, dull, earthly, everyday, fleshly, hackneyed, hacky, humdrum, material, monotonous, non-spiritual,  normal, ordinary, pedestrian, platitudinous, prosaic, quotidian, regular, repetitious, repetitive, routine, run-of-the-mill,  secular,  sensual,  stale,  sublunary,  tedious,  temporal,  terrestrial,  tiresome,  trite,  typical,  uneventful,   unexciting,  unimaginative,  uninteresting,  unremarkable,  unvaried,  unvarying,  usual,  vanilla,  wearisome, workaday, worldly

Antonyms: extraordinary, imaginative, spiritual

§             (adj) lacking interest or excitement; dull; “the mundane aspects of daily life”

§             (adj) of this earthly world rather than a heavenly or spiritual one; “the mundane world”

Mundane (मन्डेन / मन्डैन) meaning in Hindi (English to Hindi Dictionary)

§             नीरस, साधारण, सांसारिक

Mundane Origin

§             late Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French mondain, from late Latin mundanus, from Latin mundus ‘world’. Sense 1 dates from the late 19th century.

Mundane in a sentence (word usage in recent newspaper)

§             Ditch the Mundane: 5 Exciting Ways to Cook with Corn.

§             He tells touching tales from life’s mundane episodes.

§             Mr. Alex’s poems are ruminations over the seemingly mundane and the ordinary, which often attain extraordinary dimensions.

§             ‘Saanson Ke’ is the typically mundane, avoidable melancholy-driven song, that one has come to associate with a Pritam-KK collaboration.

§             Indo-US military logistics pact is mundane: Richard Verma.

Mnemonic trick to remember the meaning of mundane

§             monday = mundane .. another boring day..

2. Prosaic

Synonyms: banal, bland, boring, businesslike, clear, common, commonplace, conventional, dead, deadpan, 

dreary, dry, dull, everyday, factual, flat, hackneyed, heavy, ho-hum,  humdrum,  insipid,  jejune,  lacklustre,  lifeless, literal, matter-of-fact, monotonous, mundane, ordinary, pedestrian, plain, plodding, routine, run-of-the-mill,  spiritless,  stale,  straightforward,  tame,  tedious,  trite,  unadorned,  undistinguished,  unembellished,  unemotional, unimaginative, uninspired, uninspiring, unpoetic, unsentimental, unvarnished, usual, vacuous, vapid, workaday

Antonyms: imaginative, inspired, interesting

§             (adj) lacking imaginativeness or originality; “prosaic language can’t convey the experience”

§             (adj) commonplace; unromantic; “the masses were too preoccupied by prosaic day-to-day concerns”

Prosaic (प्रोज़ेइक / प्रोज़ैइक) meaning in Hindi (English to Hindi Dictionary)

§             नीरस, फीका, बेरस, मामूली, शुष्क, साधारण

Prosaic Origin

§             late 16th century (as a noun denoting a prose writer): from late Latin prosaicus, from Latin prosa ‘straightforward (discourse)’ (see prose). Current senses of the adjective date from the mid 18th century.

Prosaic in a sentence (word usage in recent newspaper)

§             While England’s batting is so strong, the same cannot be said for their bowling which can have a prosaic look to it.

§             Think of words that add emphasise to your sentence, instead of going for the prosaic and easy words.

§             Tired of his prosaic job, Mumbai-based writer Shatrujeet Nath took a similar plunge midway through his journalistic career.

§             His methods might seem prosaic and a throwback to another era, but he brought stability to the Caribbean side through the course of the year.

§             The reality was somewhat more prosaic.

Mnemonic trick to remember the meaning of prosaic

§             Prosaic – Prozac is a tablet given to depressed people. Depressed people are dull and unimaginative

3. Siesta

Synonyms: a bit of shut-eye, afternoon sleep, catnap, doze, drowse, forty winks, kip, lie-down,  nap,  rest,  slumber, snooze, zizz

§              (noun) an afternoon rest or nap, especially one taken during the hottest hours of the day in a hot climate; “everyone had a siesta for a few hours”

Siesta (सीएस्ट) meaning in Hindi (English to Hindi Dictionary)

§             दोपहर का आराम

Siesta Origin

§             mid 17th century: Spanish, from Latin sexta (hora ) ‘sixth hour’.

Siesta in a sentence (word usage in recent newspaper)

§             A lunchtime siesta is also said to improve cognitive processing, reinforce memory, boost creativity and balance emotions.

§             Chaurasia, who has a shop near the building, used to saunter on to the terrace every afternoon for a siesta.

§             Is a midday siesta good for you?

§             That might keep the boss at bay while you take an afternoon siesta at work!

§             She has no time for afternoon siesta and two prime-time soap operas on television are her only entertainment of the day.

Mnemonic trick to remember the meaning of siesta

§             ford fiesta mein siesta

4. Subjugate

Synonyms: break, bring someone to their knees, bring to heel, bring under the yoke,  clobber,  colonize,  conquer,  crush, defeat, enslave, gain ascendancy over, gain control of, gain mastery over,  hammer,  hegemonize,  humble, lick, oppress, overcome, overpower, quash, quell, repress, subdue,  suppress,  tame,  tyrannize,  vanquish, walk all over, wipe the floor with

§             (verb) bring under domination or control, especially by conquest;“the invaders had soon subjugated most of the population”

§             (verb) make someone or something subordinate to;“the new ruler firmly subjugated the Church to the state”

Subjugate (सब्जगेट / सब्जगैट) meaning in Hindi (English to Hindi Dictionary)

§             अधीन करना, जीतना, ग़ुलाम बनाना, दास बनाना

Subjugate Origin

§             late Middle English: from late Latin subjugat- ‘brought under a yoke’, from the verb subjugare, based on jugum ‘yoke’.

Subjugate in a sentence (word usage in recent newspaper)

§             Cricket was becoming a business, and historically, businesses that subjugate their workers more often than not end up with industrial action.

§             Modi wants to subjugate the judiciary and the media: AAP on JNU row.

§             His was a talent none could subjugate or restrict,” says Salim Kumar.

§             But u know, the Islam tells to kill or subjugate, or convert non-muslims, it’s written in their book.

§             It has fought the wars evenly, we were never able to subjugate them convincingly.

Mnemonic trick to remember the meaning of subjugate

§             subjugate = “Sub” + “jhug” gaye mere saamne..

5. Misconstrue

Synonyms: be at cross purposes, be barking up the wrong tree, be mistaken, be under a delusion,  confound,  confuse,  err, get (hold of) the wrong end of the stick, get it/someone wrong, get the wrong idea,  misapprehend,  miscalculate, misconceive, misinterpret, misread, miss, mistake, misunderstand, put a wrong interpretation on,  receive a false impression, take amiss

§             (verb) interpret (a person’s words or actions) wrongly; “his indifference can easily be misconstrued as arrogance”

Misconstrue (मिस्कन्स्ट्रू) meaning in Hindi (English to Hindi Dictionary)

§             गलत समझना, अशुद्ध अर्थ करना, गलत अर्थ लगाना

Misconstrue Origin

§             1350-1400; Middle English; mis-, construe

Misconstrue in a sentence (word usage in recent newspaper)

§             However, unfortunately, a scarily large number of people misconstrue completely unrelated behaviour and traits as sexual consent.

§             Don’t misconstrue religion as communalism: Badal

§             Lot of things I say are misconstrued: Shah Rukh Khan.

§             Don’t misconstrue SC order: Sanjiv Bhatt to Modi.

§             They must not misconstrue individual mistakes as political issues and put pressure on the courts.

Mnemonic trick to remember the meaning of misconstrue

§             miscontrue = missing the truepart