Vocabulary Made Easy series: Aim at improving your word skills to succeed

Hard work and consistency are the two important factors that will help individuals who aim to improve their skills in this competitive world.

Hard work and consistency are the two important factors that will help individuals who aim to improve their skills in this competitive world. Vocabulary skills is one such skill that every student and professional should aim to improve with time.

Vocabulary skills is one such skill that every student and professional should aim to improve with time. (HT FILE)

Here's a way to improve your vocabulary and communication skills. Check out the words for the day and a small quiz to push yourself to improve your word power and language skills.

Guttural (Adjective)

Meaning: (of a speech sound) produced in the throat; harsh-sounding

Example: The whatever-it-was uttered something in a harsh, guttural language

Gumption (Noun)

Meaning: shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness

Example: The president would hire almost any young man who had the gumption to ask for a job

Grotesque (Adjective)

Meaning: comically or repulsively ugly or distorted/incongruous or inappropriate to a shocking degree

Example: He had a mug with a grotesque caricature of a human face

Grovel (Verb)

Meaning: lie or crawl abjectly on the ground with one's face downwards/act in an obsequious way in order to obtain someone's forgiveness or favour

Example: They criticized leaders who grovelled to foreign patrons

Put your thinking cap on and try to answer the following questions to understand how much you have grasped.

1. I had to ________________ to the manager for a loan. Which of the following words fits best in the sentence? (Grovel, Grotesque)
2. There were __________________ figures carved on the battlements. Which of the following words fits best in the sentence? ( Grotesque, Gumption)
3. Can you think of some antonyms for the word Gumption?
4. Can you think of some synonyms for the word Guttural?

Watch out for this space for your weekly update on improving word power.

(Definitions and examples are from Oxford Languages)