1. Sops (Noun)
- Meaning: A thing of no great value given or done as a concession to appease someone whose main concerns or demands are not being met.
- Synonyms: drench, drown, soak, sodden
- Antonyms: dehumidify, Desiccate, Dry, Parch, Sear
- Usage: The interim budget casts away established conventions and targets votes with sops.
2. Expedient (Adjective)
- Meaning: (of an action) convenient and practical although possibly improper or immoral.
- Synonyms: judicious, sensible
- Antonyms: Inexpedient, Ill-advised
- Usage: As election-eve budgets go, Interim Budget 2019-20 must rank as one of the most politically expedient ones this country has seen.
3. Condemnation (Noun)
- Meaning: The expression of very strong disapproval; censure.
- Synonyms: Censure, Criticism
- Antonyms: Praise, Plaudits
- Usage: Zimbabwe’s defence forces have come under severe condemnation for the general crackdown, involving arbitrary detentions, torture and a country-wide Internet blackout.
4. Vicious (Adjective)
- Meaning: Deliberately cruel or violent.
- Synonyms: Brutal, Ferocious, Savage, Violent, Dangerous
- Antonyms: Gentle, Kindly, Benevolent
- Usage: The electronic alternative, “bond notes” that were introduced without physical backing, unleashed a vicious cycle of hoarding and price inflation.
5. Curtail (Verb)
- Meaning: Reduce in extent or quantity; impose a restriction on.
- Synonyms: Reduce, Cut, Drop
- Antonyms: Increase, Lengthen
- Usage: Many businesses have folded up for want of adequate foreign currency. Mr. Mnangagwa’s government has moved to reduce the issue of electronic debt, and to curtail the ballooning fiscal deficit.
6. Entice (Verb)
- Meaning: Attract or tempt by offering pleasure or advantage.
- Synonyms: Tempt, Allure, Lure, Attract
- Usage: While these may be steps in the right direction, they are too small as incentives to entice a deeply sceptical investor community that was once turned away.
7. Retrograde (Adjective)
- Meaning: Directed or moving backwards
- Synonyms: Backward, Backwards, Reverse, Rearward
- Antonyms: Forward
- Usage: The Donald Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the IntermediateRange Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia is a retrograde step.
8. Covert (Adjective)
- Meaning: Not openly acknowledged or displayed.
- Synonyms: Secret, Furtive, Clandestine, Surreptitious
- Antonyms: Overt, open
- Usage: Russia appears to have been covertly violating it in letter and spirit.
9. Retaliatory (Adjective)
- Meaning:(of an action) characterized by a desire for revenge.
- Synonyms: Payback, Reprisal, Requital
- Antonyms: Clemency, Grace, Leniency
- Usage: The U.S. response cannot be regarded as purely retaliatory.
10. Scupper (Verb)
- Meaning: Sink (a ship or its crew) deliberately.
- Synonyms: Sink, Scuttle, Submerge,
- Antonyms: Float, Raise
- Usage: Mr. Trump, who scuppered the nuclear agreement with Iran, has hinted he would refuse to abide by a treaty that other parties were disregarding.
