Words in Use-9

Which words should I study?
Wordlists feature a number of words, which ones are in use?
What kind of words appear in usage?

Troubled with these questions? Do not know which words you should learn? Well, I simplify that problem for you: the words in use are featured on this page. These are words that are culled from daily newspapers columns, editorials, online magazines etc. Featuring about 50 words a week, this post gives you an in-depth look at the words floating around us. You would begin to see that in some time, words start making a repeat appearance.

How to use this list?
Well, the first step is going through this list and identifying the words you do know. For this culled list, explore exact dictionary definitions, word-roots and mnemonics. These tools would help you learn these words and make sure you use these words on a regular basis, else they would soon disappear from the shelves of your memory.

List for this week
[list style=”list5″ color=”black”]

Affluent: wealthy
Albeit: a conjunction meaning although, even if
Amass: to come together
Ambiguity: uncertainty of intention
Anachronistic: something or someone that is not in its correct chronological time
Assert: to state with confidence
Assertion: a positive statement or declaration
Commendable: worthy of praise
Competence: sufficient quantity
Dazzle: to impress deeply
Dearth: lack of something
Decipher: to make out the meaning of something
Despotism: Absolute power or control
Doggedly: persistent in effort
Doled: distributing in charity
Dragnet: a network for finding someone
Drape: to cover with fabric gracefully
Environs: outskirts of a city
Envisage: to visualize
Envision: to mentally picture a future event
Ephemera: anything short-lived
Epileptic: a disorder of the nervous system
Evangelize: to preach the gospel to
Evocative: tending to evoke
Fledgling: an inexperienced person
Hogwash: worthless stuff
Impede: obstruction or hindrance
Intervene: to come between disputing people
Intriguing: to arouse the curiosity
Intrusion: illegal act of taking possession of another’s property
Lexicon: The vocabulary of a particular language
Maestro: an eminent composer of music
Olfactory: pertaining to the sense of smell
Panopticon: a building so designed that the interiors are visible from a single point
Paranoia: a mental disorder
Plunge: to bring suddenly into action
Profane: not devoted to holy
Reckon: to calculate in numbers
Reify: to regard something as concrete
Rendition: translation
Resurrected: to bring back to life
Sagging: to hang loosely
Serf: a slave
Subversion: to overthrow
Suffrage: the right to vote
Tantamount: equivalent in value or force
Troves: a collection of objects
Vigorous: energetic and forceful
Wane: to decrease in strength or intensity [/list]