Petrichor

#028
PETRICHOR
- A pleasant smell which accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm dry spell.
- The scent of rain on dry earth.

Word Of the Day : Petrichor

Usage :
- Other than the petrichor emanating , there was not a trace of evidence that it had rained.

Root Word - flu / flux / fluc

#027
ROOT WORD - FLU / FLUX /FLUC
All the words with FLU are about FLOWING.

Credits : Florida Fish and Wildlife

Usage:
Fluctuate         : Unstable ; To wave in an unsteady motion.
Flush : To flow freely, suddenly.
Influx : Mass arrival, flowing in.
Fluent:         : Flowing easily
Affluent         : A plentiful supply.
Influence         : Having power to make things flow their way.
Confluence : A gathering, meeting ; flowing together.

Onus

#026
ONUS
Responsibility, Task, Burden.

Examples :
- Onus on PM to accept responsibility for coal block: Arun Jaitley [Times Of India]
- The onus is on society to create zero tolerance for smoking

Root word : GREG

#025
Root word : GREG
All word having GREG has got some thing related to group / crowd / herd / flock

Photo Credit : Ruud Zwart 

Gregarious : Living and moving with herd.
Aggregate : To collect, to unite.
Segregate : To separate.
Congregate : To group together.
Egregious : Distinguished, mainly used in a bad sense.

Root Word - Tract

#024
Root word : TRACT
To drag or pull.

Photo Credit :  Ranveig

Tractor : A vehicle to pull/drag
Attract : To be pulled towards something
Distract : To pull one's attentions away.
Retract  : To pull back
Contract : An agreement that pulls people together.
Extract : To pull or make something
Substract : To pull away, like subtract 5 from 10
Protract : Drag further, drag out.

Cordoned

#023
CORDONED
- Divide my means of rope / ribbon.
- A cord or ribbon to prevent people from entering an area.

Photo Credit : rileyroxx

Photo Credit : Richard Croft 

Usage :
- Police have cordoned off the blast area and one person has been admitted to hospital.

Immaculate

#022
IMMACULATE
Perfectly clean, spotless, tidy.
Free from fault / error.

Usage :

- Immaculate FIAT Linea for sale. [From some classifieds]
- In her immaculate white uniform
- The apartment was immaculate

Nocturnal

#021
NOCTURNAL
Done, occurring, or active at night

Many animals, such as owls and bats, are nocturnal.

[Photo Credits : Sreejith K]

Usage :
- Most owls are nocturnal.
- Malabar pit vipers are usually nocturnal but are also seen during the day in the monsoon.

Indigenous

#020
INDIGENOUS
Originating or occurring naturally (in a country, region, etc); native.
Having originated in and being produced in particular region.

[ Photo Credit : Riju K ]

Usage :
- Mahindra Scorpio, one of India's best selling indigenously developed SUV.
- Indigenous knowledge a big help in disaster forecast, management, recovery.
- ISRO will be flying the GSLV rocket this time with indigenous cryogenic engine.

Maverick

#019
MAVERICK
A person who thinks and acts in an independent way, often behaving differently from the expected or usual way.
Unbranded, Independent, Odd man out. Black sheep, etc

Ecuador on Thursday granted asylum to maverick WikiLeaks founder Julian Assagne. [From today's Times Of India headlines]
Here TOI has referred to Assagne as Maverick, as he did very different in Journalism, The WikiLeaks.

Origin : 
This is originated from the person, Samuel Maverick.
In Texas ranchers used to brand their cattle to keep one herd separate from others.
And Samuel Maverick refused to do so, as it pains animals.
Hence the word Maverick was applied to all cattle without brands.

Usage :
Mavericks of Indian cinema.
Now a maverick scientist says she may have the answer.

Root Word - Dict

#018
DICT is a root word which is related speak/speaking.

Valedictory   - formal speech of saying good bye.
Dictate -  to give orders
Predict -  to say that event/action will occur in future
Verdict - decision made after judging the facts.
Maledict - Speaking bad, cursing (mal means bad)
Contradict - Speaking against

Nefarious

#017
NEFARIOUS
Evil, Wicked, Bad, Villainous,

Usage : 

- They allege that terrorists have used journalism and politics as a cover for their nefarious activities.
- The government is doing all it can to prevent such nefarious acts by the terrorists
- The nefarious gangster was finally brought to justice.

You can map this with the root word : MAL 

Diaspora

#016
DIASPORA
People settled far from their ancestral homelands.

Below is the image where you can see Indian Diaspora, observing Candlelight Vigil for the victims of Gurudwara Temple Killings, Wisconsin, USA [Photo Credit : Karaminder Ghuman]

Residents in and around gathered to honor the victims of the Wisconsin Gurdwara shooting [ source: Karaminder Ghuman ]

Origin :
Diaspora is a greek word, which is originated from dispersion( scatter / spread out).

Usage :
- Sikh diaspora point to US apathy.
- Delhi asks US to ensure security to Indian diaspora.

Exodus

#015
EXODUS
Mass departure of people.

Exodus 1947 was a ship that carried Jewish emigrants that left France

Usage:
- The mass exodus from the cities for the beaches and the mountains on most summer weekends.
- Exodus of the israelites is widely believed to have occurred in this period.
- Health insurers face patient exodus

Purple Patch

#014
PURPLE PATCH
A period of time when someone or something is successful and doing well.
A period of excellent performance.

Origin :
"Purple patches ", the literary equivalent of adding a patch of purple material to an otherwise undecorated garment. Purple was chosen because, as well as being a distinctive color, it was the color reserved for emperors and other distinguished statesmen in imperial Rome.

Usage : 
- The 22-year-old is enjoying a purple patch after winning back-to-back titles last month and is keen on grabbing a podium finish here. [Times Of India on Saina Nehwal]

Eat crow

#0013
EAT CROW
To admit that you are wrong at something.
An idiom,meaning humiliation by admitting wrongness.
Having been proved wrong after taking a strong position

The origin of "EAT CROW" is unknown, but is believed to began in similar lines of "EAT DIRT" "EAT YOUR HAT" and all probably originating from "TO EAR ONE'S WORDS"

EAT DIRT : To accept another`s insults or bad treatment

EAT YOUR HAT : A statement made when you are positive that something will (not)happen.

EAT ONE'S WORDS : To take back what has been said.

Examples:
- I had to eat crow once again.
- Call a spade a spade in politics, and you end up eating crow.
- You have to eat crow to start and be completely willing to learn, but not just from anyone.
- The accountant had to eat dirt because of the problems that he had caused.
- This time, you have to eat your words, because, like it or not, you lost.
- If you hit this ball, I'll eat my hat!

Catch-22

#0012 Catch-22A situation in which paradoxical rules make a desired outcome impossible to achieve.
Unsolvable logical dilemma.

This word was first coined by Joseph Heller in his novel Catch-22

Examples:
- So it’s a Catch-22: You can’t get hired unless you have experience; but you can’t get experience unless you’re hired.
- If you don't have a place to stay, you can't get a job and with no job, you can't get an apartment. It's a Catch 22 situation.

LIAISE / LIAISON

#011
LIAISE : Speak to people.
LIAISON:Communication between people.

Examples :
- Our head office will LIAISE with suppliers 2 ensure delivery
- She served as a LIAISON between the different groups.
-LIAISE confidently with users and other support staff.

Repertoire

#010 REPERTOIRE
Entire stock of skills or techniques.
A stock of plays, songs, etc.

Below is a REPERTOIRE  of a photographer, in which they are specialized and all.

Repertoire of a photographer.  Photo Credit: Mathias

Exmaples:

- Google Search Adds Scientific Calculator to Repertoire?
- A fascinating REPERTOIRE of Indian handicrafts.