English: Vocabulary Set 9

1. Soporific – tending to induce drowsiness or sleep.

Synonyms: sleeping pill, sleeping potion, sedative, calmative, tranquillizer, narcotic, opiate.

Antonyms: upsetting, awake, exciting, invigorating, stimulating

Sentence Usage: The soporific effect of milk (at bedtime) is an age old tested truth.

2. Insatiable – impossible to satisfy.

Synonyms: unquenchable, unappeasable, uncontrollable, voracious, prodigious, gluttonous, greedy, hungry

Antonyms: fulfilled, full, pleased, satiable, satisfied

Sentence Usage: Hazare was an insatiable run-gatherer.

3. Unnerve – make (someone) lose courage or confidence.

Synonyms: demoralize, discourage, dishearten, dispirit, deject, daunt, cow, alarm, frighten, unman, dismay, distress, disconcert
Antonyms: calm, clarify, clear up, comfort, encourage, explain
Sentence Usage: Geopolitical tension does unnerve FIIs, but India will still be preferred

4. Kerfuffle – a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views.

Synonyms: commotion, disorder, disruption, disturbance, brouhaha, convulsion, fracas, melee

Antonyms: order, calm, peacefulness, tranquility

Sentence Usage: The kerfuffle began when a lowly security guard, waved down the car.

5. Embargo – an official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country

Synonyms: ban, restrain, barrier, blockage, check, hindrance

Antonyms: aid, assistance, help

Sentence Usage: Hillary accuses Trump of violating Cuba embargo in 1990s

6. Disparage – regard or represent as being of little worth.

Synonyms: belittle, denigrate, deprecate, depreciate, downgrade, play down, deflate, trivialize, minimize, make light of, treat lightly, undervalue

Antonyms: admire, approve, commend, compliment, exaggerate, exalt, flatter

Sentence Usage: Gandhiji’s focus was on the absurdity of a policy of revenge, not on blindness, and his intent was not to disparage the blind

7. Rue – bitterly regret (something one has done or allowed to happen) and wish it undone.

Synonyms: regret, be sorry about, feel apologetic/remorseful about, feel remorse for, repent of; reproach oneself for, kick oneself for; deplore

Antonyms: be happy, delight, praise

Sentence usage: People throng Delhi trade fair, but traders rue low sales

8. Rapport – a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well.

Synonyms: affinity, close/special relationship, (mutual) understanding, bond, empathy, harmony, sympathy, link, accord

Antonyms: discord, incompatibility, disagreement, coldness

Sentence Usage: R. K. Laxman, the compulsive doodler, built a rapport with the common man through his works

9. Myriad – a countless or extremely great number of people or things.

Synonyms: multitude, a large/great number/quantity, a lot, scores, quantities, mass, crowd, throng

Antonyms: bounded, calculable, countable, limited

Sentence Usage: Myriad shades of art.

10. Stint – supply a very ungenerous or inadequate amount of (something)., a person’s fixed or allotted period of work.

Synonyms: spell, stretch, period, time, turn, run, session, term

Antonyms: entertainment, failure, fun, pastime

Sentence Usage: The CM had said a seven-year stint should be made compulsory for medical graduates from government colleges in the State.