[Word Powers] Today's Words

Purview [pur-vyoo] (noun):

The range of operation, authority, control; range of vision, insight, or understanding.

The provisions of the Income Tax Act extend the purview of taxation to include not only the owner, but even the deemed owner of a property.
   
Pinnacle [pin-uh-kuhl] (adjective) :

 A lofty peak, the highest or culminating point.

As old man Wilson reached the pinnacle of his homemade roller coaster track, he realized there was a fatal flaw.

[Word Powers] Today's Words

Jape ( jeyp):

1. (noun) To joke; jest

2. (verb) To play tricks on; fool

He tried to defuse each petty crisis with a merry jape.
  
Nocuous (nok-yoo-uh s) (Adj): Harmful; poisonous; noxious

The bile of nocuous or venomous snakes is the most powerful antidote to their venom.

 

[Word Powers] Today's Words

 Chortle (CHAWR-tl) (verb):

1.       (verb) To laugh, showing pleasure and satisfaction, often at someone else's bad luck

 2.       (noun) A snorting, joyful laugh or chuckle.

I thought I heard a chortle at the back of the room.

Exultant  (ig-zuhl-tnt) (adj):

1.       Marked by great joy or jubilation; triumphant.

 2.       Very happy, especially at someone else's defeat or failure

 The news of Jeremy's failure made her chortle exultantly.

 

[Word Powers] Today's Words

Garnish (gahr-nish)  (verb): To provide (a food) with something that adds flavor, decorative color.

Fresh black pepper is used to garnish our soups.

Exacerbate (ig-zas-er-beyt) (Adj): To increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of

The IPL appears like a roadside tamasha, where excessive attention away from cricket exacerbates and bemuses in equal measure.

[Word Powers] Today's Words

Trepidation (trep-i-dey-shuhn) (Noun):

 1)    Tremulous fear, alarm or agitation, perturbation

 Once the enemy launched its nuclear missiles, the trepidation of facing death became very evident on the faces of the natives.

2)    Involuntary trembling or quivering movement, tremor, shaking

 Bodily trepidations are very easily visible in people suffering from Parkinson's disease.

Azure (azh-er) (Adj):

 1)    Of or having a light, purplish shade of blue, like that of a clear and cloudless sky

The most beautiful fish in that aquarium has a deep azure tinge to its skin.

 

[Word Powers] Today's Words

Whet (wet) (verb):

    1. Make keen or more acute

    2. Sharpen by rubbing, as on a whetstone


The book should certainly whet your appetite to learn more about the remarkable colony of Australia.
   
Incessant (in-sesunt) (Adjective):

1. Uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing

Irritants like incessant power cuts, bad roads and delayed projects seem to have hardly affected the voters.

[Word Powers] Today's Words

Methuselah (muh-thoo-zuh-luh) (noun):

   1. An extremely old man.

   2. A large wine bottle, esp. one for champagne, holding about 6 liters.

Methuselah is a Pine tree that grows in the White Mountains of California, and is almost 5,000 years old. The tree is named after the Biblical figure, Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years old.
   
Barrack (bar-uh k) (noun):

1.    A building or group of buildings for lodging soldiers, esp. in garrison.

2.    A large, plain, often temporary building for housing workmen, police, etc.

 They all slept in one room in the old barrack where they were living until the new house was habitable.