[Word Powers] Daily Words - March 2009

Natation (ney-tey-shuhn) (Noun): Swimming The Red cross emphasizes the need for courses in natation.

Natty (nat-ee) (Adjective): Neatly or smartly dressed Priding himself on being a natty dresser, the gangster Bugsy siegel collected a wardrobe of imported suits and ties.

Perpetual (per-pech-oo-uhl) (adjective): 1. Lasting an indefinitely long time: perpetual snow. 2. Continuing or continued without intermission or interruption; ceaseless: a perpetual stream of visitors all day. Night and day we live with the perpetual noise of the city.

Perpetrate (pur-pi-treyt) (verb): To commit: to perpetrate a crime. To present, execute, or do in a poor or tasteless manner: Who perpetrated this so-called comedy? He vowed revenge for the crime perpetrated on his family.

	Peruse (p-rz) (noun): To read or examine, typically with great care The librarians checked to see which titles had been perused in the last month and which been left untouched.
	Perforate (pûrf-rt) (verb): To pierce, punch, or bore a hole or holes in; penetrate Shaped charges are used to perforate a well by blowing holes in the casing or liner, cement and producing zone.
	Spoonerisms (spoon·er·ism) (Noun): Spoonerisms are words or phrases in which letters or syllables get swapped. This often happens accidentally in slips of the tongue. Tease my ears (Ease my tears) A lack of pies (A pack of lies) It's roaring with pain (It's pouring with rain) Wave the sails (Save the whales) Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Archibald_Spooner
	Oxymorons (ox·y·mo·ron) (Noun): A rhetorical figure in which contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist Ever noticed that it's simply impossible to find seriously funny oxymorons online? The only choice is to ask one of those paid volunteers at the library – the ones in the long-sleeved T-shirts – for an original copy of some obviously obscure documents that were found missing amongst some paperwork almost exactly one hundred years ago.
	Precipitance (pri-sip-i-tuhn-see) (noun): 1. Hasty or rash acts. 2. Action or thought marked by impulsiveness or rash haste. The old wholly trust gradual progression but the youth expects to force his way by genius, vigor and precipitance.
	Precipitin (pri-sip-i-tin) (noun): An antibody that reacts with its specific antigen to form an insoluble precipitate. The precipitin test takes advantage of specific binding of the antigens for the purpose of forensic testing.
	Conflagration (kon-fluh-GREY-shuhn) (noun): 1 A large destructive fire In the conflagration that followed the 1906 earthquake, much of San Francisco was destroyed. 2 A large and violent event, such as a war, involving a lot of people They may succeed in turning a little local difficulty into a full-blown regional conflagration
	Retinue (RET-n-oo, -yoo) (noun): A group of helpers and followers who travel with an important person. The President travels with a large retinue of aides and bodyguards.
	Apparition (ap-uh-rish-uhn) (noun): A ghostly appearing figure. Floating down the stairway was the apparition of an old woman wearing a pale blue dress and what appeared to be a head veil.
	Apportion (uh-pohr-shuhn) (verb): To give out as one's portion or share The broadcasting council has powers in regulating programming on radio and television, allocating broadcasting frequencies, and apportioning subscription revenues to public media.
	Thespian (thes-pee-uhn) (Adj): Pertaining to tragedy or to the dramatic art in general. Tamil actor Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan is a legend in the Indian film fraternity, hailed for his thespian talents.
	Tribulation (trib-yuh-ley-shuhn) (Noun): Grievous trouble; severe trial or suffering. In life, people come across many trials and tribulations in the pursuit of happiness.
	Cruciverbalist (kroo-suh-vur-buh-list) (noun): 1. Lover of crossword puzzles. 2. A constructor of crosswords. 3. An enthusiast of word games, especially of crosswords. Cruciverbalist is a word constructed from two Latin words, crucis (cross) and verbum (word). In case that wasn’t a big enough clue, it refers to one who compiles or likes to solve crosswords.
	Nictitate (nik-ti-teyt) (verb): to wink Leena couldn’t tell if Manish was nictitating because he was flirting with her or because he had something in his eye.
	Abet (uh-bet) (verb): To encourage, support, or countenance by aid or approval, usually in wrongdoing: to abet a swindler; to abet a crime The spy succeeded only because he had a friend on the inside to abet him.
	Abate (uh-beyt) (verb): To reduce in amount, degree, intensity, etc.; lessen; diminish: to abate a tax; to abate one's enthusiasm. To deduct or subtract: to abate part of the cost. The rain poured down for a while, then abated.
	Ombudsman (OM-buhdz-muhn) (noun): Someone who works for a government or large organization and deals with the complaints made against it. The Government of India has designated several ombudsmen sometimes called Chief Vigilance Officer or CVO. In India, Ombudsman is called as Lokpal or Lokayukta. Lokpal at the Centre and one Lokayukta each at the State level for redressal of people's grievances.
	Chutzpah (KHOOT-spuh, HOOT-spuh) (noun): 1. Courage bordering on arrogance. Utter nerve or audacity 2. Imaginative and shocking behaviour, involving taking risks but not feeling guilt. It took a lot of chutzpah to make such a controversial statement.
	Deplete (di'pleet) (verb): Use up (resources or materials); Consume “The problem of groundwater depletion in India is worsened because Indian farmers’ electricity bills are either free or heavily subsidized. As a result, many run their pumps with abandon, further depleting water tables” – Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency.
	Deplorable (di'plorubul) (Adj): Of very poor quality or condition; Bad; Unfortunate “The Kind of statement Varun Gandhi has come out with is highly deplorable and deserves proper action” – Congress leader on BJP candidate Varun Gandhi’s recent controversial statement (still a question) against the minorities during a election campaign.
	Acid rain (Noun): Rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic. It has harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. The principal cause of acid rain is sulfur and nitrogen compounds from human sources, such as electricity generation, factories, and motor vehicles.
	Biosphere (bahy-uh-sfeer) (Noun): The part of the earth's crust, waters, and atmosphere that supports life. The ecosystem comprising the entire earth and the living organisms that inhabit it. The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems
	Aquifer (ak-wuh-fer) (noun): Underground bed or layer yielding ground water for wells and springs etc. An underground layer of permeable rock, sediment (usually sand or gravel), or soil that yields water. Sandstones, unconsolidated gravels, and porous limestone make the best aquifers and can range from a few square kilometers to thousands of square kilometers in size.
	Carbon Footprint (kahr-buhn foot-print) (noun): The total set of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product. Once the size of carbon footprint is known, strategies such as carbon offsets can be devised to reduce it.
	Desertification (di-zur-tuh-fi-KAY-shuhn) (noun): Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Currently over 250 million people experience the direct consequences of desertification. Many of them are the world’s most destitute and vulnerable citizens.
	Eutrophication (yoo-troh-fi-KAY-shuhn) (noun): Over-enrichment of a water body with nutrients, resulting in excessive growth of organisms ,especially algae, and depletion of oxygen concentration. Eutrophication plagues more than half the lakes in Europe and Asia, 41 percent of those in South America, and 28 percent in North America.
Bioremediation (beye-oh-ri-mee-dee-ay-shuhn) (Noun): The use of biological agents, such as bacteria or plants, to remove or neutralize contaminants, as in polluted soil or water. Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation, the process of using mushrooms to return an environment (usually soil) contaminated by pollutants to a less contaminated state.
Hypoxia (hahy-pok-see-mee-uh) (Noun): is a phenomenon that occurs in aquatic environments as dissolved oxygen becomes reduced in concentration to a point detrimental to aquatic organisms living in the system Hypoxia occurs when water flowing from a river into the sea does not mix with the underlying saline water, thereby reducing the oxygen concentration in the bottom layer.
Ordinance (awr-dn-uhns) (noun): An authoritative rule or law; a decree or command A public injunction or regulation: a city ordinance against excessive horn blowing. When both Houses of Parliament are not in session, and the circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action, The President of India may promulgate ordinances applicable for a limited period and having the same force and effect as an act of parliament.
Ordnance (awrd-nuhns) (noun): 1) Cannon or artillery. 2) The branch of an army that procures, stores, and issues, weapons, munitions, and combat vehicles and maintains arsenals for their development and testing. Army’s supply chain of ordnance stores comprises a multi tiered distribution system in which “mother depots” are connected to troops deployed throughout the country through a network of regional and field depots besides other store holding units.