UPSC Engineering Services- English Vocab Questions (GAT)

This is summary of Vocabulary asked in ESE in past decade which I prepared during my preparations. This may serve as a ready reckoner and a check list. Have fun...

2010

• BEMOAN : To express grief, disapproval, deplore
• PROSAIC : Lacking in imagination and spirit; dull
• OMINOUS: portending evil
  or harm; foreboding; threatening; inauspicious
• ELOQUENT : Characterized by persuasive, powerful discourse
• FRAIL : fragile, weak
• DERELECT : 1. Run-down; dilapidated  2. Neglectful of duty or obligation; remiss
• INJUNCTION : a command,
  directive, or order  (legal)
• IMPLORE : To beg for urgently; entreat, beseech
• GROTESQUE : ludicrous or incongruous distortion ; Outlandish or bizarre
• PERTINENT : having precise or logical relevance ; apt; germane (suitable, relevant & appropriate)
• PAROCHIAL : religious; narrow-minded; provincial  ( a parochial outlook)
• FICKLE  : liable to change; unstable, capricious (fickle minded) ; mercurial
• DISGRUNTLED  : displeased and
  discontented
• VIBRANT : vigorous, full of life
• FORBIDDING : Unpleasant; disagreeable ; make approach or passage difficult (forbidding walls)
• REPRIMAND : an act or expression of criticism and censure; To reprove severely; to reprehend
• TENTATIVE
• MARVELLOUS
• RAMSHACKLE : in deplorable condition; derelict; dilapidated;
  tatterdemalion; tumble-down
• LUSH  : Abundant; plentiful
• SINISTER : threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; ominous (sinister remark, smile, purpose)
• ENTREAT : to plead with especially in order to persuade
• REPROACH : To express disapproval of,
  criticism of, or disappointment in

(it means reproach or reviling; in the latter, blasphemy in the
usual sense of that term, denoting reproachful words concerning God)

Blasphemy : is irreverence toward holy personages, religious artifacts, customs

2009

·       ESCALATE

·       FLIPPANT : frivolously disrespectful, shallow, or lacking in seriousness; characterized by
levity

·       ALACRITY

·       BLEMISHES

·       INCESSANT

·       CRYPTIC

·       CLEMENCY : A merciful, kind, or lenient act

·       ABOMINABLE

·       RETRIBUTION : a justly deserved penalty, comeuppance

·       RESURRECTION : The act of rising from the dead or returning to life

·       SCOWL : To express with a frowning facial expression

·       EXONERATE

·                                                              ARRAIGN : (legal) Either way, at some point, before a case can formally begin, a person must be
arraigned. This simply means that the Defendant is brought before a Judge

·       IMPUDENCE : The quality of being
offensively bold

·       NAIVE

·       ABORTIVE

·       DAMNATION : The state of being damned; condemnation ( Salvation is opposite)

·       CARNAL : fleshly; sensual; given to sensual indulgence; lustful

2008

·       BEAVER AWAY : work hard on something

·       BADGER : pester, To tease or annoy

·       SWISH

·       SURREPTITIOUS

·       SURROGATE

·       UP THE CREEK : in deep trouble

·       CAVEAT

·       NIP AND TUCK : close in race, inconclusive

·       COMEUPPANCE : well deserved retribution, punishment

·       CELERITY : Swiftness of action or motion, legerity

·       SLOTH : Carelessness, disinclined at work

·       SALACIOUS : lecherous, Appealing to or stimulating sexual desire; lascivious

·       SEDULOUS : Diligent in application or pursuit

·       SWINGEING: very large, high, or severe <swingeing fines> <swingeing taxes>

      -Homeowners now face swingeing increases in their bills.

     -a swingeing criticism of the government's policies

·       TEDIUM:  the state of being bored

·       TENDENTIOUS : biased, having or marked by a
strong tendency especially a controversial one

                                     Where tempers flare
and a partisan/tendentious spirit provokes new hostility

·       TEMERITY : fearless, daring, audacious

·       CAPRICE : sudden, unpredictable or whimsical change; impulse  ( Capricious - impulsiveness)

      2007

·         GARISH : Marked by strident color or excessive ornamentation; gaudy

·         WRAITH : apparition, specter, ghost

·         TIMOROUS : Full of apprehensiveness; timid

·         EXPLICATE : explaining; explanation; exposition;
interpretation

·         EXACTION : Excessive or unjust demand; extortion

·         DANK : moist and wet

·         PORTENTIOUS : foreboding: 'The present
aspect of society is portentous of great change'

·         SURREPTITIOUS

·         CONSCIENTIOUS

·         CUT TO THE QUICK : to hurt deeply, usually in an emotional way;

·         FASTIDIOUS : extremely critical hard to please

·         GRATUITIOUS : grateful means feeling or showing gratitude or feeling thankful; gratified
means having received what was desired; gratuitous means costing nothing

When people refer to gratuitous violence or gratuitous sex they are usually criticizing violence or sex that didn't add anything to the plot but instead was just thrown in as a 'freebie.'

·         SEQUESTERED

·         MARTINET : strict disciplinarian

·         PARSIMONIOUS : miser

·         KNACKERED : exhausted

      She was too knackered to join them for dinner.
absolutely knackered, so no pub-crawling for me    tonight

·         CHARLATAN : person claiming more knowledge than he has

·         QUIXOTIC : extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical,

·         IMPECUNIOUSNESS

·         FECKLESS : Careless and irresponsible

·         PROLIX : wordy ( Opposite is :Terse)

·         CRAVEN : Coward, Characterized by abject fear; cowardly; poltroon

      coward, craven, dastard, milksop, varlet, weakling, yellowbelly

·         INCHOATE : Incipient, Rudimentary, Inceptive(inception)

·         SUPERCILIOUS : Feeling or showing haughty disdain

·         TO PULL WOOL OVER EYES

·         CHAPERON: A person, especially an older or
married woman, who accompanies a young unmarried woman in public

·         RAMBUNCTIOUS : difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child

2006

• CAPRICE : sudden, unpredictable or whimsical change; impulse  ( Capricious - impulsiveness)
• VESTIGE : visible trace, evidence, or sign of something that once existed but exists or
  appears no more
• ADVENTITIOUS : Not inherent but added extrinsically; associated by chance and not an integral part

      accidental, fortuitous, contingent, incidental, adventitious

• OBSTREPEROUS : Noisily and stubbornly defiant, marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness :
  clamorous

       she is not referring to the stress associated with the presence of recalcitrant
children and an obstreperous spouse

• PUERILE
• NIT-PACKING : Minute, trivial, unnecessary, and unjustified criticism or
  faultfinding
• SPICK AND SPAN : Immaculately clean;
  spotless ( neat & clean)
• DILETTANTE : admirer of the fine arts; dabbler; amateur;
  nonprofessional
• UNBRIDLED
• ERUDITE
• APPROABATION : An expression of warm approval; praise
• CONTUMACIOUS : is an obstinate disobedience of the lawful
  orders of a court.
• STERILE
• PRODIGIOUS
• ASSIDUITY
• CHOLERIC : Easily angered; bad-tempered

2005

·                                     HIATUS

·                                     HEARSAY : Unverified information; rumor; grapevine; scuttlebutt

·                                     DEFT : skillful agile, clever, adept, dexterous, adroit    (Opposite: Inept)  Adept-Inept

·                                     IMPLICATE

·                                     VENERATION : Reverence, (izzat dena )

·                                     THWART

·                                     TENUOUS : weak , thin

·                                     VEHEMENCE : zealous; ardent; impassioned: a vehement defense; vehement enthusiasm

·                                     VEXED

·                                     MIFFED

·                                     PREPOSSESSING : Serving to impress favorably; pleasing: a prepossessing
appearance

·                                     SLEUTHS : detectives

·                                     OPPROBRIUM : disgrace, a state of extreme dishonour.

·                                     ANNALS : a record of events arranged in yearly sequence

·                                     INSOLENT : Audaciously rude or disrespectful, Arrogance

·                                     PROCRASTINATION

·                                     COGITATE

·                                     CLEMENT : Inclined to be lenient or merciful

2004

·       CRAVEN : Coward

·       CARPING : tending to make petty complaints; fault-finding. nit packing; captious

·       SAGE :Seer

·       CONNUBIAL

·       PRESCIENT: person having foreknowledge of events

·       MISSIVE : written communication, letter, epistle

·       AMELIORATION : to make better or more tolerable

      trying to ameliorate the suffering of people who have lost their jobs

      This medicine should help ameliorate the pain.

·       ALACRITY

·       ASSUAGE

·       PEJORATIVE : Disparaging, belittling or derogatory, dissed

·       HOLLER : to shout, to yell

·       GARNER

·       BLAND

·       LATENT

·       JADED : Worn out; wearied

·       INGRATIATE : bring oneself into favor with someone by flattering or
trying to please them

·       EXTORTIONATE : extremely expensive, exacting  (extortionate costs may affect project)

·       LAMPOON : a harsh satire, ridicule

·       SPUNK : courage or spirit, pluck

·       PROVIDENTIAL : marked by foresight , divine intervention ( providential purpose for mankind)

·       DEMEANOUR

·       GENESIS

2003

·       LAMPOON : satire, ridicule

·       NEBULOUS : cloudy, misty, hazy

·       TRUCULENT: Disposed to fight; pugnacious, Expressing bitter
opposition; scathing: a truculent speech

·       TYRO : beginner, rookie.

·       TRACTABLE: Easily managed or controlled; governable

·       ETHERAL: Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible. delicate

·       RICKETY : Tatterdemalion, Ramshackle, Dilapidated

·       STARK : Wholly; entirely; absolutely

·       IMPROVIDENT: not given careful consideration; shortsighted; not foreseeing or providing for the future; negligent; thoughtless

·       ADJUDICATE : To hear and settle (a case) by
judicial procedure.

·       OSTRACIZE : To banish from society; to put under the
ban; pariah

·       CAPTIOUS : Marked by a disposition to find and point out trivial faults: a captious
scholar

·       TOUR DE FORCE : A feat requiring great virtuosity or
strength, often deliberately undertaken for its difficulty

·       TRENCHANT : Forceful, effective, and vigorous: a trenchant
argument

      Caustic; cutting: trenchant criticism

2002

·       Surveillance, Instill, Conservation, Coincide, Retreat, Tentative, Adopted, Impromptu,Reluctantly,Abadon

2001

·       Spectacular, Deteriorating, Refurbished, Infiltrated, Fastidious, Pernicious, Precarious, Recklessly, Adverse ,Altruistic

2000

·       Surreptitious, Remonstration (Argue, Protest), Sanguine, Ramification, Supercilious (haughty, disdain), Obscured, Craftiness, Placate, Adversaries, Cogent

2011

·       Diffidence (Shy, timid) , Superficial, Reckless, Scorn, Grandiose, Judicious, Transpired, Obstinate, Emulate, Trivial, Lurid, Loquacious, Unscrupulous, Confiscate, Sundry, Menial, Impetus.

Lurid : glowing through haze; shocking; sensational;
appalling; horrible.

Example

1. A lurid sun shone upon them as they watched the
sun set.

2. Marked by sensationalism: a lurid account of the crime

3. Glowing or shining with the glare of fire through a haze: lurid flames

Livid: Angry

Dissed:  We have privately dissed(disparage, belittle, affront, show disrespect) their parents, reassuring ourselves that we'd not be such a wimp

(coward, timid)

Canoodle : I love to canoodle( act of love making, caressing etc ) with my girlfriend in public.

Mooching: act of taking advantage of another person., try or obtain by begging.

Subterfuge : Deceit, blind,

Something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity; "he wasn't sick--it was just a subterfuge"

Clobbered: 1. To strike
violently and repeatedly; batter or maul. 2. To defeat decisively. 3. To criticize
harshly.

-He was clobbered to death by four unidentified men.