Vocabulary Made Easy series: Improve your word skills to excel in exams

Students preparing for competitive exams often neglect to prepare for the verbal section assuming that it is easy to answer them.

Students preparing for competitive exams often neglect to prepare for the verbal section assuming that it is easy to answer them. Candidates need to remember that scoring well in the verbal section is important to secure better ranks in the exams.

Candidates need to remember that scoring well in the verbal section is important to secure better ranks in the exams. (ANI/For representation)

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

Pervade (Verb)

Meaning: Spread through and be perceived in every part of

Example: Disbelief, anger, worry and fear now pervade rural communities throughout the country

Petulance (Noun)

Meaning: the quality of being childishly sulky or bad-tempered

Example: A slight degree of petulance had crept into his voice

Phlegmatic (Adjective)

Meaning: Having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition

Example: He is also phlegmatic on the subject of his dealings with Hollywood

Piquant (Adjective)

Meaning: having a pleasantly sharp taste or appetizing flavour

Example: Les Noces is one of the Ballets Russes’ most piquant works

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

1. They add a sharp, pungent flavour to dishes with a ___________ base. Which of the following words fits best in the sentence? (Piquant, Phlegmatic)
2. Can you think of some antonyms for the word Petulance?
3. Can you think of some synonyms for the word Pervade?

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

(Definitions and examples are from Oxford Languages)