The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 30.09.2025

‘Vocabulary’

Teeming (verb)
Meaning: be full of or swarming with. (भरा हुआ)

Synonyms: be full of, be filled with, be brimming with

Antonyms: blank, devoid, empty

Sentence: Every garden is teeming with wildlife.

Impermanence (noun)
Meaning: the state or fact of lasting for only a limited period of time. (अनस्थिरता)

Synonyms: ephemerality, evanescence, fleetingness

Antonyms: endurance, permanence, permanency

Sentence: Change, impermanence is characteristic of life.

Shilly-Shally (noun)
Meaning: a state or an instance of temporary inaction because of uncertainty about the right course of action (हिचकिचाहट)

Synonyms: faltering, hesitance, hesitancy

Antonyms: certainty, certitude, confidence

Sentence: The construction project was once again delayed by the bureaucratic shilly-shally of regulatory agencies.

Admonition (noun)
Meaning: an act or action of admonishing; authoritative counsel or warning. (चेतावनी)

Synonyms: reprimand, rebuke, reproof

Sentence: The old judge’s admonition to the jury on this point was particularly weighty.

Disseminate (verb)
Meaning: spread (something, especially information) widely. (प्रसार)

Synonyms: spread, circulate, distribute

Antonyms: cloak, conceal, enshroud

Sentence: The agency would collect and disseminate information.

Churlish (adj.)
Meaning: rude in a mean-spirited and surly way. (अशिष्ट)

Synonyms: rude, ill-mannered, discourteous

Antonyms: civil, courteous, polite

Sentence: It ‘seems churlish to refuse such a generous offer.

Perfervid (adj.)
Meaning: intense and impassioned. (उत्साही)

Synonyms: ardent, emotional, fervent

Antonyms: dispassionate, emotionless, impassive

Sentence: I feel the people of the city are perfervid.

Endurance (noun)
Meaning: the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way. (धैर्य)

Synonyms: toleration, bearing, sufferance

Antonyms: cessation, end

Sentence: She showed great endurance in the face of pain.

Epitome (noun)
Meaning: a person or thing that is a perfect example of a particular quality or type. (प्रतीक)

Synonyms: personification, embodiment, incarnation

Sentence: She looked the epitome of elegance and good taste.

Abstemious (adj.)
Meaning: not self-indulgent, especially when eating and drinking. (संयमी)

Synonyms: temperate, abstinent, austere

Antonyms: self-indulgent, gluttonous, greedy

Sentence: He is abstemious in life.

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 29.09.2025

‘Vocabulary’

Mellifluous (adj.)
Meaning: having a pleasantly flowing quality suggestive of music (मधुर)

Synonyms: melodic, sweet-toned, soothing

Antonyms: strident, harsh, dissonant

Sentence: I grew up around people who had wonderful, mellifluous voices.

Larder (noun)
Meaning: a small room or area where food is kept (भंडारघर)

Synonyms: pantry, cupboard

Sentence: There wasn’t much food left in the larder.

Frugal (adj.)
Meaning: sparing or economical with regard to money or food. (मितव्ययी)

Synonyms: economical, thrifty, prudent

Antonyms: wasteful, spendthrift, profligate

Sentence: As children we were taught to be frugal and hard-working.

Scintilla (noun)
Meaning: a very small amount (अंश)

Synonyms: glimmer, shred, bit

Antonyms: lot, bushel, plenty

Sentence: There isn’t a scintilla of evidence to prove it.

Complaisant (adj.)
Meaning: willing or eager to please other people (उदार)

Synonyms: gracious, acquiescent, agreeable

Sentence: She was a complaisant wife and dutiful daughter.

Eschew (verb)
Meaning: deliberately avoid using; abstain from. (त्याग करना)

Synonyms: avoid, evade, escape

Antonyms: seek, accept, pursue

Sentence: The minister eschews involvement in local politics, since he doesn’t want to diminish his moral authority in the community.

Snooty (adj.)
Meaning: being or characteristic of a person who has an offensive air of superiority and tends to ignore or disdain anyone regarded as inferior (दुष्ट)

Synonyms: arrogant, snobbish, haughty

Antonyms: democratic, humble, modest

Sentence: The actress plays a genteel yet faintly snooty older woman.

Drub (verb)
Meaning: hit or beat (someone) repeatedly. (पीटना)

Synonyms: hit, beat, smash

Sentence: The thief was severely drubbed for stealing the car.

Adjunct (noun)
Meaning: a person who helps a more skilled person (सहायक)

Synonyms: adjutant, apprentice, assistant

Sentence: He serves as an adjunct to the congressional delegation on its fact-finding mission.

Subjugated (verb)
Meaning: bring under domination or control, especially by conquest. (अधीन करना)

Synonyms: conquer, vanquish, overpowered

Antonyms: discharged, emancipated, enfranchised

Sentence: The invaders had soon subjugated most of the native population.

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 26.09.2025

'Vocabulary’

Fretting (verb)
Meaning: be constantly or visibly worried or anxious. (बेचैन रहना)

Synonyms: worry, be anxious, feel uneasy

Antonyms: calm, cool, easy

Sentence: What are you fretting about?

Recompense (noun)
Meaning: compensation or reward given for loss or harm suffered or effort made. (मुआवज़ा)

Synonyms: compensation, reparation, indemnification

Sentence: She received a gift as recompense.

Apprentice (noun)
Meaning: a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer, having agreed to work for a fixed period at low wages. (शिक्षु)

Synonyms: trainee, learner, adjunct

Sentence: He decided to be an apprentice to an electrician after he graduated.

Howbeit (adv.)
Meaning: nevertheless; however. (परन्तु)

Synonyms: even so, however, nevertheless

Antonyms: all the same

Sentence: I’ve never written a poem before; howbeit, I feel my first attempt is quite good

Thrall (noun)
Meaning: the state of being in someone’s power or having great power over someone. (ग़ुलाम)

Synonyms: bondage, enslavement, servility

Antonyms: freedom, liberty

Sentence: He treats his wife like a thrall.

Caliginous (adj.)
Meaning: being without light or without much light (अंधेरा)

Synonyms: black, dark, darkened

Antonyms: bright, brightened, illuminated

Sentence: Without a flashlight, there was no way to tell what kind of creatures lurked in the caliginous cave.

Giddy (adj.)
Meaning: having a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall or stagger; dizzy. (चक्कर)

Synonyms: dizzy, lightheaded, faint

Antonyms: clearheaded, stable, steady

Sentence: I feel giddy; I must sit down.

Esurient (adj.)
Meaning: having a huge appetite (लालची)

Synonyms: edacious, gluttonous, greedy

Antonyms: glutted, sated, satiated

Sentence: It would be silly to leave your esurient brother in charge of the three dozen cupcakes you baked for a birthday party.

Forgery (noun)
Meaning: the action of forging or producing a copy of a document, signature, banknote, or work of art. (जालसाजी)

Synonyms: counterfeiting, fraudulent copying, fraudulent imitation

Antonyms: original

Sentence: He spent 5 years in prison for forgery.

Alley (noun)
Meaning: a narrow passageway between or behind buildings. (गली)

Synonyms: passage, lane, path

Sentence: He took a short cut along an alley.

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 25.09.2025

'Vocabulary’

Antiquity (noun)
Meaning: The state of being something old (प्राचीन काल)

Synonyms: agedness, obsolescence, datedness

Antonyms: modernity, currency, freshness

Sentence: The museum contains the remains of Chinese antiquity.

Purloin (verb)
Meaning: to take (something) without right and with an intent to keep (चुराना)

Synonyms: steal, grab, snatch

Antonyms: buy, purchase, give

Sentence: He must have purloined a key from somewhere.

Privy (adj.)
Meaning: not known or meant to be known by the general populace (गुप्त)

Synonyms: confidential, secret, private

Antonyms: public, open, common

Sentence: He kept some things privy from family

Sway (noun)
Meaning: The right or means to command or control others (शासन)

Synonyms: control, dominion, authority

Antonyms: powerlessness, weakness, helplessness

Sentence: A time when Rome held sway over a vast empire that stretched from Britain to the Near East

Enticing (adj.)
Meaning: As in tempting (लुभाना)

Synonyms: charming, tempting, enchanting

Antonyms: boring, awful, distasteful

Sentence: The offer was too enticing to refuse.

Vitiate (verb)
Meaning: to affect slightly with something morally bad or undesirable (दूषित करना)

Synonyms: taint, spoil, stain

Antonyms: purify, cleanse, elevate

Sentence: Believed that luxury vitiates even the most principled person

Obviate (verb)
Meaning: As in to prevent (रोकना)

Synonyms: prevent, avert, avoid

Antonyms: permit, allow, assist

Sentence: Brushing regularly should obviate the need for frequent trips to the dentist

Numbness (noun)
Meaning: A lack of emotion or emotional expressiveness (स्तब्ध हो जाना)

Synonyms: emptiness, coldness, impassiveness

Antonyms: feeling, emotion, sympathy

Sentence: The prisoner exhibited the numbness of someone who had spent more years behind bars than he could remember

Farcical (adj.)
Meaning: Causing or intended to cause laughter (हास्यास्पद)

Synonyms: comedic, funny, comical

Antonyms: serious, unfunny, humorless

Sentence: The whole situation has become farcical.

Ruminate (verb)
Meaning: to give serious and careful thought to (चिंतन करना)

Synonyms: contemplate, entertain, debate

Antonyms: ignore, slight, disregard

Sentence: The minister hoped that the congregation would spend the remainder of the week ruminating the message of his sermon.

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 24.09.2025

‘Vocabulary’

Middling (adj.)
Meaning: moderate or average in size, amount, or rank. (मध्य)

Synonyms: average, standard, normal

Antonyms: excessive, extreme

Sentence: The village contained no poor households but a lot of middling ones.

Pelf (noun)
Meaning: money, especially when gained in a dishonest or dishonorable way. (धन)

Synonyms: bucks, cash, money

Sentence: He was a politician who seems more interested in pelf than in policy

Inimical (adj.)
Meaning: tending to obstruct or harm. (विरोधी)

Synonyms: adversarial, adversary, antagonistic

Antonyms: friendly, hospitable, nonantagonistic

Sentence: These policies are inimical to the interests of society.

Languor (noun)
Meaning: the state or feeling, often pleasant, of tiredness or inertia. (शिथिलता)

Synonyms: lassitude, lethargy, listlessness

Antonyms: vigor, enthusiasm, vivacity

Sentence: He remembered the languor and warm happiness of those golden afternoons.

Spry (adj.)
Meaning: (especially of an old person) active; lively. (फुर्तीला)

Synonyms: sprightly, lively, energetic

Antonyms: dull, lethargic, listless

Sentence: He continued to look spry and active well into his eighties.

Spurn (verb)
Meaning: reject with disdain or contempt. (अस्वीकार करना)

Synonyms: refuse, decline, say no to

Antonyms: accept, agree (to), approve

Sentence: She spurned my offers of help.

Miserliness (noun)
Meaning: excessive desire to save money; extreme meanness. (कंजूसी)

Synonyms: avarice, acquisitiveness, parsimony

Antonyms: bounty, generosity, largesse

Sentence: The party earned a damaging reputation for miserliness by cutting pensions.

Clandestine (adj.)
Meaning: kept secret or done secretively, especially because illicit. (गुप्त)

Synonyms: secret, covert, furtive

Antonyms: open, overt, public

Sentence: The group held weekly clandestine meetings in a church.

Revile (verb)
Meaning: criticize in an abusive or angrily insulting manner. (बुरा-भला कहना)

Synonyms: criticize, censure, condemn

Antonyms: acclaim, applaud, commend

Sentence: They feared that he would revile them if they displeased him.

Pluck (noun)
Meaning: spirited and determined courage. (साहस)

Synonyms: courage, bravery, daring

Antonyms: timidity, cowardice

Sentence: She showed a lot of pluck in dealing with the intruders.

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 23.09.2025

‘Vocabulary’

Wager (noun)
Meaning: an act of betting a sum of money on the outcome of an unpredictable event. (दांव)

Synonyms: bet, gamble, stake

Sentence: Lost her wager when the horse dropped out of the race.

Jollity (noun)
Meaning: lively and cheerful activity or celebration. (चहलपहल)

Synonyms: conviviality, festivity, gaiety

Antonyms: dolefulness, melancholy, depression

Sentence: It was a memorable night of riotous jollity.

Desolation (noun)
Meaning: a state of complete emptiness or destruction. (वीरानी)

Synonyms: barrenness, bleakness, starkness

Antonyms: blissfulness, ecstasy, elatedness

Sentence: His desolation after his twin brother died was incurable.

Decrying (verb)
Meaning: publicly denounce. (निंदा)

Synonyms: denounce, condemn, criticize

Antonyms: acclaiming, applauding, praising

Sentence: The prophets weren’t decrying the ritual of the temple.

Pander (verb)
Meaning: gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire, need, or habit or a person with such a desire, etc.). (बढ़ावा देना)

Synonyms: indulge, gratify, satisfy

Sentence: Don’t pander to such people.

Ebullient (adj.)
Meaning: cheerful and full of energy. (जोशीला)

Synonyms: exuberant, buoyant, cheerful

Antonyms: indolent, lazy, stolid

Sentence: My father is a naturally ebullient personality.

Phalanx (noun)
Meaning: formal a large collection of people, animals, or things often placed close together (झुंड)

Synonyms: brigade, crew, platoon

Antonyms: individual, single

Sentence: A solid phalanx of armed guards stood in front of the castle.

Contumacious (adj.)
Meaning: (especially of a defendant’s behavior) stubbornly or willfully disobedient to authority. (अवज्ञाकारी)

Synonyms: balky, contrary, defiant

Antonyms: amenable, biddable, compliant

Sentence: The judge threatened to charge the contumacious witness with contempt of court.

Shrewdness (noun)
Meaning: the quality of having or showing good powers of judgement. (चतुराई)

Synonyms: sharpness, acuteness, acuity

Antonyms: guilelessness, ingenuousness, innocence

Sentence: The coach showed considerable tactical shrewdness.

Knack (noun)
Meaning: an acquired or natural skill at performing a task. (आदत)

Synonyms: aptitude, aptness, skill

Antonyms: inability, incapacity

Sentence: He has a knack for saying the wrong thing.

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 18.09.2025

'Vocabulary’

Busybody (noun)
Meaning: a person who meddles in the affairs of others (वाधा डालनेवाला)

Synonyms: intruder, meddler, interloper

Sentence: That busybody across the street is always telling me how to tend to my own garden.

Confutation (noun)
Meaning: something (as an argument) that serves to disprove (खंडन)

Synonyms: refutation, rebuttal, counterargument

Antonyms: confirmation, validation

Sentence: He crafted an elegant confutation to the argument that animals do not feel pain.

Callow (adj.)
Meaning: lacking in adult experience or maturity (अनुभवहीन)

Synonyms: immature, inexperienced, naive

Antonyms: mature, experienced

Sentence: He was a callow youth when he joined the newspaper.

Grudging (adj.)
Meaning: given, granted, or allowed only reluctantly or resentfully. (अनिच्छुक)

Synonyms: reluctant, unwilling, forced

Antonyms: allowing, authorizing

Sentence: He even earned his opponents’ grudging respect.

Extemporize (verb)
Meaning: to perform, make, or do without preparation (बिना तैयारी के)

Synonyms: improvise, devise, concoct

Antonyms: prepare, ready

Sentence: I’d lost my notes and had to extemporize.

Proliferate (verb)
Meaning: to become greater in extent, volume, amount, or number (संख्या में बढ़ना)

Synonyms: increase, rise, accelerate

Antonyms: decrease, diminish, recede

Sentence: Rumors about the incident proliferated on the Internet.

Melee (noun)
Meaning: a confused fight, skirmish, or scuffle. (हाथापाई)

Synonyms: brawl, scuffle, clash

Sentence: Several people were hurt in the melee.

Forfend (verb)
Meaning: to drive danger or attack away from; as in to protect (दूर करना)

Synonyms: protect, defend, safeguard

Antonyms: attack, assault, assail

Sentence: It’s a place of refuge where the settlers could forfend themselves from attack.

Ken (noun)
Meaning: one’s range of knowledge or sight. (ज्ञान)

Synonyms: knowledge, awareness, understanding

Antonyms: illiteracy, inexperience

Sentence: Such determination is beyond my ken.

Tendentious (adj.)
Meaning: expressing or intending to promote a particular cause or point of view, especially a controversial one. (विवादास्पद)

Synonyms: preference, favoritism

Sentence: He made some extremely tendentious remarks.