cachet
Category: Vocabulary words
cachet [noun]: prestige; high status.
Example: He thoroughly exploited the social cachet that came with being a close friend of the Prime Minister.
cacophony
Category: Vocabulary words
cacophony [noun]: harsh or discordant sound.
Example: His powers of concentration were such that he could work even amidst the greatest din and cacophony.
Related words: cacophonic [adjective]
callow
Category: Vocabulary words
callow [adjective]: immature or inexperienced.
Example: Seeing that the accused was a callow youth, the judge gave him a light sentence.
Related words: callowness [noun], callowly [adverb]
canon
Category: Vocabulary words
canon [noun]: a rule or fundamental principle.
Example: The priest warned the gathering that a terrible fate awaited those who defied the holy canon.
Related words: canonlike [adjective]
Notes: A cannon is a large artillery gun. A canon is a law or set of laws established by an authority like the church. Interestingly, a cannon is a piece [...]
capacious
Category: Vocabulary words
capacious [adjective]: spacious or roomy.
Example: The officer was given a luxury sedan, a capacious bungalow, and a number of attendants.
Related words: capaciously [adverb], capaciousness [noun]
capitulate
Category: Vocabulary words
capitulate [verb]: surrender.
Example: The Nano project at Singur had to be scrapped when neither side was prepared to capitulate to the other’s demands.
Related words: capitulator [noun]
Notes: A similar-sounding word is recapitulate. To recapitulate (informally, “to recap”) means to summarize and repeat something said earlier
castigate
Category: Vocabulary words
castigate [verb]: criticize or rebuke severely; punish.
Example: The official was castigated by his superior for not being punctual.
Related words: castigation [noun], castigator [noun]
cathartic
Category: Vocabulary words
cathartic [adjective]: purgative, purifying.
Example: I regret losing my temper at the post-office; but I must say the experience was cathartic.
Related words: catharsis [noun], cathartically [adverb]
Notes: catharsis is the process purifying oneself physically or spiritually by expelling material that is impure.
catholic
Category: Vocabulary words
catholic [adjective]: wide-ranging (in tastes and interests); broad-minded, liberal.
Example: She was a woman of catholic tastes; she listened to Bach, Semmangudi, and the Pussycat Dolls.
Related words: catholically [adverb], catholicity [noun]
..morecaustic
Category: Vocabulary words
caustic [adjective]: capable of burning; sarcastic, biting.
Example: Your caustic remarks are not going to win you any friends.
Related words: caustically [adverb], causticity [noun]
censure
Category: Vocabulary words
censure [noun]: expression of disapproval; hostile criticism.
Example: He quit soon after the scandal, unable to bear the silent censure of his colleagues.
Related words: censure [verb], censurer [noun]
chagrin
Category: Vocabulary words
chagrin [noun]: a feeling of vexation arising from disappointment; annoyance.
Example: Much to her chagrin, she did not top the class this year.
charlatan
Category: Vocabulary words
charlatan [noun]: a trickster or fraud; a quack.
Example: Many knew that the business tycoon was a charlatan, but nobody dared to say it in the press.
Related words: charlatanistic [adjective], charlatanism [noun]
chary
Category: Vocabulary words
chary [adjective]: cautious, wary.
Example: We knew he played fast and loose with the facts, so we were chary about everything he said.
Related words: charily [adverb], chariness [noun]
coagulate
Category: Vocabulary words
coagulate [verb]: to thicken into a mass; clot, curdle, congeal.
Example: Haemophilia is a disease in which the ability of the blood to coagulate is severely reduced.
Related words: coagulation [noun], coagulant [noun]
coda
Category: Vocabulary words
coda [noun]: an independent passage at the end of a literary or musical piece; a concluding remark.
Example: I liked the coda very much - it captures the essence of the whole composition.
cogent
Category: Vocabulary words
cogent [adjective]: able to persuade; convincing or believable.
Example: The argument was cogent and well-articulated.
Related words: cogently [adverb]
collusion
Category: Vocabulary words
collusion [noun]: a secret agreement or conspiracy, esp. for illegal purposes.
Example: The collusion of business and political interests is inevitable in a liberal democracy.
commensurate
Category: Vocabulary words
commensurate [adjective]: proportional; of equal extent.
Example: The CEO made it clear that the pay-hikes would be commensurate with performance.
Related words: commensurately [adverb], commensurateness [noun]
commiserate
Category: Vocabulary words
commiserate [verb]: express sorrow or sympathy for; condole.
Example: After any big tragedy, politicians are in a hurry to be seen commiserating with the victims.
Related words: commiserable [adjective], commiseration [noun], commiserative [adjective]
compensatory
Category: Vocabulary words
compensatory [adjective]: counterbalancing a loss or injury.
Example: Whenever we work on a Sunday, the company lets us take a weekday off, as a compensatory gesture.
compliant
Category: Vocabulary words
compliant [adjective]: obeying, yielding, conforming.
Example: The mall owner said that his building was fully compliant with all the fire-safety and zoning laws.
Related words: compliantly [adverb]
conciliatory
Category: Vocabulary words
conciliatory [adjective]: showing friendship and offering to make peace.
Example: One of the superpowers adopted a conciliatory tone and narrowly averted a nuclear conflict.
Related words: conciliatorily [adverb], conciliatoriness [noun]
condone
Category: Vocabulary words
condone [verb]: to forgive or ignore something objectionable.
Example: No matter how genuine the political cause, attacks on civilians cannot be condoned.
Related words: condonable [adjective], condoner [noun]
conducive
Category: Vocabulary words
conducive [adjective]: helping to promote or encourage.
Example: The soil and climate of Nasik are conducive to the growing of grapes.
Related words: conduciveness [noun]
connoisseur
Category: Vocabulary words
connoisseur [noun]: an expert in any matter of taste (food, wine, the fine arts).
Example: A connoisseur of Hindustani music, my uncle has an extensive collection of rare recordings.
Related words: connoisseurship [noun]
consensus
Category: Vocabulary words
consensus [noun]: majority of opinion.
Example: We could not take a decision because we were unable to arrive at any consensus on the issue.
Related words: consensual [adjective]
contentious
Category: Vocabulary words
contentious [adjective]: involving dispute (of an issue); quarrelsome, argumentative (of a person).
Example: The meeting between the coalition partners was very cordial; contentious issues were deliberately avoided.
Related words: contentiously [adverb], contentiousness [noun]
conundrum
Category: Vocabulary words
conundrum [noun]: something puzzling; a riddle.
Example: One of the basic conundrums that has bothered philosophers has been: why is there something instead of nothing?
convoluted
Category: Vocabulary words
covenant
Category: Vocabulary words
covenant [noun]: a promise; a formal agreement or contract.
Example: By tasting the forbidden fruit, Adam broke his covenant with God.
covert
Category: Vocabulary words
covert [adjective]: hidden, secret, disguised.
Example: Countries that have given covert assistance to militant groups have always paid a heavy price.
Related words: covertly [adverb], covertness [noun]
credence
Category: Vocabulary words
credence [noun]: trustworthiness, believability.
Example: The discovery of a bottle of whisky under the front seat lent credence to the theory that the driver had been drunk at the time of the accident.
credulous
Category: Vocabulary words
credulous [adjective]: willing to believe without adequate evidence; gullible.
Example: The world is full of quacks and god-men waiting to swindle the credulous public.
Related words: credulously [adverb], credulousness [noun]
cynical
Category: Vocabulary words
cynical [adjective]: distrustful of the goodness of others.
Example: While we may be cynical about politicians, we must also accept that they are democracy’s only hope.
Related words: cynically [adverb], cynic [noun]
