DAILY VOCABULARY FOR 20TH AUGUST

LOCUS (noun)
Meaning: a particular position or place where something occurs or is situated
Synonyms: arrangement, condition, circumstances
Antonyms: boon, disarrangement
Example: This time, the locus of the conflict had shifted to the north.
DISCORD (noun)
Meaning: disagreement between people.
Synonyms: strife, conflict, friction, hostility
Antonyms: agreement, accord, harmony
Example: A note of discord has crept into relations between the two countries.
INVASIVE (adjective)
Meaning: tending to spread very quickly and undesirably or harmfully.
Synonyms: nosy, interfering
Antonyms: confined, unintrusive, defensive
Example: The samples tested in this series may not include a high proportion of health care staff involved in invasive procedures.
OMINOUS (adjective)
Meaning: giving the worrying impression that something bad is going to happen; threateningly inauspicious.
Synonyms: threatening, menacing, baleful, forbidding
Antonyms: promising, auspicious, propitious
Example: There were ominous dark clouds gathering overhead.
VITIATE (verb)
Meaning: spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of.
Synonyms: annihilate, negate, quash, abate
Antonyms: allow, help, permit, affirm
Example: Changes at this point may actually vitiate the entire system.
INCUR (verb)
Meaning: become subject to (something unwelcome or unpleasant) as a result of one’s own behavior.
Synonyms: provoke, earn, arouse, induce.
Antonyms: avoid, shun, elude, evade.
Usage: The surgery wasn’t what scared the sick man, it was all of the medical bills he would incur from the procedure.
PANDER (verb)
Meaning: gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire or taste or a person with such a desire or taste)
Synonyms: indulge, gratify, satisfy, yield.
Antonyms: dissatisfy, deny, refuse, disturb.
Usage: I hate reality shows because I believe they pander to people who enjoy watching immoral activities.
BRACE (verb)
Meaning: prepare (someone) for something difficult or unpleasant.
Synonyms: nerve, gird, strengthen, fortify.
Antonyms: dampen, deaden, drain, debilitate.
Usage: Along with most of my neighbors in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, I was braced for the presidential transition.
BLOC (noun)
Meaning: a group of countries or political parties with common interests who have formed an alliance.
Synonyms: association, coalition, confederation.
Antonyms: terrorism, voice, expel, utter, inhibition.
Usage: A solid bloc of union members support the decision.
XENOPHOBIC (adjective)
Meaning: having or showing a dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.
Synonyms: racist, racialist, ethnocentrist.
Antonyms: bountiful, permissive, thoughtful, lenient.
Usage: Three xenophobic teenagers were just arrested for trying to burn down the homes of Chinese families new to their neighborhood.
IDIOMS
“crocodile tears”
ANIMAL IDIOM
Meaning: fake tears
Sentence:
Her little daughter always cries crocodile tears to get whatever she wants.
“dog days”
ANIMAL IDIOM
Meaning: very hot days
Sentence:
The dog days of summer are really humid and uncomfortable.
“don’t count chickens before they hatch”
ANIMAL IDIOM
Meaning: don’t plan for something that may not happen
Sentence: Zoe bought the dress, before anyone asked her to the prom. I told her not to count her chickens before they hatch.

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