Precocious

Precocious
- Prematurely developed, as the mind, faculties, etc.
- Exceptionally smart, ahead of age in understanding.
- Showing mental development or achievement much earlier than usual.

Image Credits : Piyush Garyali 

Usage:
- The precocious Narasimhadasu began to compose poetry and songs extempore, besides playing on the khanjira even as a child.
- Trained in a hard school, he showed a precocious aptitude for war and government.

190 #WordOfTheDay

Duress

Duress
- Compulsion by threat or force.
- Threats used to force a person to do something.

Image Credits : xwingfighter2002 

Usage:
- My confession to police was under duress: Sreesanth
- Confession of Kasab was not given under duress: Court

189 #WordOfTheDay

Encomiums

Encomiums
- A formal expression of high praise.
- A piece of writing, speech, etc. that praises someone or something.

Image Credits : Elaine Faith https://www.flickr.com/photos/elaine_macc/

Usage:
- Encomiums to an ancient city of vibrant culture.
- Mr.Karunanidhi paid encomiums to Mr. Durai Murugan for nurturing his constituency.

188 #WordOfTheDay

Sacrosanct

Sacrosanct
- Treated as if holy :  immune from criticism or violation.
- Thought to be too important or too special to be changed.

Image Credits : Britta Frahm 

Usage:
- Minimum wage policy must be treated as sacrosanct.
- Religious doctrines are regarded as sacrosanct and this does not come as a surprise to anyone.

187 #WordOfTheDay

Chicanery

Chicanery
- The use of tricks to deceive someone.
- actions or statements that trick people into believing something that is not true.

Octopus, a master of deception.
Image Credits : Daedalus_23  

Usage:
- The world will be watching how this tale of political chicanery and authoritarianism unfolds and how it gets resolved.
- Chicanery involving revised rental for system installed in the home.
- The democratic system, especially the electoral process, remains open to misuse and chicanery.

186 #WordOfTheDay

Ebb

Ebb
- The movement of the tide out to sea.
- Move away from the land; recede.

Image Credits : criana 

Usage:
- Morale seems to have reached its lowest ebb.
- Woman workforce on the ebb.
- The country was at a low ebb due to the recent war.

185 #WordOfTheDay

Anathema

Anathema 
- Someone or something intensely disliked

Image Credits : zeevveez 

Usage:
- Computer games and education may not be anathema to each other after all.
- Jayalalithaa believes family rule anathema to democracy.
- Birth control still anathema for men

184 #WordOfTheDay

Plebiscite / Referendum

Plebiscite / Referendum
- The direct vote of all the members of an electorate

Image Credits : nodigio 

Usage:
- The issue will be decided by plebiscite.
- They are going to hold a plebiscite on the question of national independence.

183 #WordOfTheDay

Ablution

Ablution
- An act of washing oneself, especially as a religious ritual.

Image Credits : Phil McIver 

Usage:
- Swami Vivekananda emphasises the shedding of accumulated inner dirt to all pilgrims as against mere
external ablution, since the purpose of all spiritual endeavour should be to get closer to God.
- The twin cities have a few hundred mosques wherein a good amount of water is used for
ablution five times a day. “This water can also be preserved to recharge the groundwater,” says Mr. Kabeer.

182 #WordOfTheDay

Fiendish

Fiendish
- Excessively bad, unpleasant, or difficult.
- Diabolically cruel and wicked.

Image Credits : Michael Taggart 

Usage:
- Are You Smart Enough To Work At Google? Fiendish Puzzles And Impossible Interview Questions From The World’s Top Companies.
- Come December and the mercurial Chennai weather takes fiendish delight in triggering a cold-cough syndrome, targeting vocalists in particular.

181 #WordOfTheDay

Putrefaction

Putrefaction
- The state of being putrefied; decay.
- The process of decay or rotting in a body or other organic matter.

A Putrefied Crab
Image Credits : Lorenzo Maddalena

Usage:
- Putrefaction is slower in water than in air; slower in seawater than in fresh water, and slower in running water than in stagnant water.
- The smell of human putrefaction was becoming an issue and arrangements were made to move the bodies some distance away pending disposal.

180 #WordOfTheDay

Concomitant

Concomitant
- A phenomenon that naturally accompanies or follows something.
- Happening and connected with another thing.

Loss of memory is a natural concomitant of old age.
Image Credits :  Neil Moralee

Usage:
- In an increasingly inter-connected world, globalisation had become a necessary concomitant.
- Loss of memory is a natural concomitant of old age.

179 #WordOfTheDay

Entwine

Entwine
- To twist something together or around something.

Image Credits :  Paul Hudson

Usage:
- The snake entwined itself around the branch.
- Nishath opted to entwine these experiences into her embroidery through explorations of technique, not as mere embellishment.

178 #WordOfTheDay

Bellwether

Bellwether
- One that takes the lead or initiative
- A male sheep that leads the flock, usually bearing a bell.

Image Credits : Simone A. Bertinotti 

Usage:
- The lubricants industry serves as a bellwether of economic activity as lubricants are used in all kinds of machinery, power equipment, mining and automobiles.
- Both the Indian bellwether indices had opened lower due to negative import-export data coming out of China.

177 #WordOfTheDay

Stymie

Stymie
- To hinder, block, or thwart.
- To present an obstacle to.

Investigators have been stymied again and again in their efforts to find the aircraft since it vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
Image Credits : US Pacific Fleet

Usage:
- Film shooting in Ooty stymied by red tape
- Even if the president wins reelection, he could still be stymied by Republicans in Congress.

176 #WordOfTheDay

Effigy

Effigy
- A sculpture or model of a person.
- A crude representation of someone disliked, used for purposes of ridicule.

Effigy of Ravana to be burnt on Vijayadashami festival in Jaipur along with an effigy of Kumbhakarna.
Image Credits : Sameer Goyal

Usage:
- Crowds marched through the streets carrying burning effigies of the president.
- No, Lady Gaga Didn't Burn Trump In Effigy, But Her Super Bowl Set Was Still Political

175 #WordOfTheDay

Trounce

Trounce
- To thrash or punish severely.
- To defeat a competitor by a large amount:

Image Credits : istolethetv 

Usage:
- Trounced in India,England skipper Cook resigns, calls decision ‘sad’ but right.
- Our candidate trounced her opponent in the election, winning with 76% of the votes.

174 #WordOfTheDay

Repartee

Repartee
- A quick and witty reply.
- The two comedians engaged in witty repartee.
- He had a quick mind and a splendid gift of repartee

Some fun repartee with Juan Enriquez around post humanism
Image Credits : Steve Jurvetson

Usage:
- BJP defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dig at Manmohan Singh saying "fun, pun and repartee" are part of parliamentary debate
- Priyanka Chopra And Dwayne Johnson's Twitter Repartee Makes Us Want To Hang Out With Them.

173 #WordOfTheDay

Emeritus

Emeritus
- Honorably retired from assigned duties.

Gerry McGovern, Land Rover Chief Design Officer, credited the final product to Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata.
Image Credits : landrover.in

Usage:
- Emeritus physics professor Gottfried honored by AAAS
- James Dye, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of chemistry, has been named a National Academy Inventors Fellow.

172 #WordOfTheDay

Phalanx

Phalanx
- A body of troops in close array

Image Credits : Mark Skevington 

Usage:
- A solid phalanx of armed guards stood in front of the castle.
- She had to go through a phalanx of television cameras.

171 #WordOfTheDay

Trepidation

Trepidation
- A nervous or fearful feeling of uncertain situation.
- A feeling of alarm or dread

Image Credits :   popofatticus

Usage:
- Iran’s Trepidation Over Entering Uncharted Trump Territory
- Members still have some trepidation about the impact of the bill introduced.

170 #WordOfTheDay

Retinue

Retinue
- A group of retainers or attendants
- A retinue is a group of people that accompany an important person. If you're a king or queen, you can think of a retinue as your royal crew or posse.

Discovered in 1974, the terracotta statues at Xian represent the armed retinue
of unified China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Ti

Image Credits : Kevin Poh

Usage:
- The president travels with a large retinue of aides and bodyguards.
- The visit of Netanyahu and his retinue of business luminaries will elevate the importance of the ­Israel-Australia relationship.

169 #WordOfTheDay

Herculean

Herculean
- A mythical Greek hero renowned for his great strength.
- Any job or task that's extremely difficult or calls for enormous strength.

Image Credits : Jason Wilson

Usage:
- It's going to be a Herculean task to emulate Dhoni, says Ashwin.
- Tax authorities will appoint data processing and analytics agencies for this Herculean task.

168 #WordOfTheDay