Vocabulary Made Easy series: Learn a new word and update your knowledge

There are many ways where an individual could improve their language skills. Reading is one among them.

Have you wondered how to update your vocabulary? Does reading help? There are many ways where an individual could improve their language skills. Reading is one among them.

Check out the words for the day and a small quiz to push yourself to improve your word power and language skills. (HT)

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.

Zenith (Noun)

Meaning: the time at which something is most powerful or successful

Example: It was a goal worthy of George Best at his zenith

Vitriol (Noun)

Meaning: bitter criticism or malice

Example: The body lies down and then the brain pours bitter vitriol on the day

Vanguard (Noun)

Meaning: a group of people leading the way in new developments or ideas

Example: His carefully negotiated product loyalties place him in the vanguard of a powerful new industry

Whimsical (Adjective)

Meaning: playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way

Example: A whimsical sense of humour

Wary (Adjective)

Meaning: feeling or showing caution about possible dangers or problems

Example: Shrewd and wary was Leofric, careful and measured in all things, nothing beyond him

Whet (Verb)

Meaning: sharpen the blade of (a tool or weapon)

Example: She took out her dagger and began to whet its blade in even, rhythmic strokes

Usury (Noun)

Meaning: the action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest

Example: The religion condemns usury

Tome (Noun)

Meaning: a book, especially a large, heavy, scholarly one

Example: It looks, in short, like a general reader's fantasy of a scholarly tome

Tenuous (Adjective)

Meaning: very weak or slight

Example: The dictator has managed to retain his tenuous hold on power

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

1. His philosophy has a ____________ connection with Plato. Which of the following words fits best in the sentence? (Tenuous, Tome)
2. As Mongolian incomes tended to be seasonal there was ample opportunity for ____________. Which of the following words fits best in the sentence? (Usury, Whet)
3. Can you think of some antonyms for the words Wary and Vanguard?
4. Can you think of some synonyms for the words Zenith and Whimsical?

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

(Definitions and examples are from Oxford Languages)