Idioms

1) Food for thought - anything that provides mental stimulus for thinking

An idea or issue to ponder, as in That interesting suggestion of yours has given us food for thought. This metaphoric phrase, transferring the idea of digestion from the stomach to mulling something over in the mind, dates from the late 1800s, although the idea was also expressed somewhat differently at least three centuries earlier.

2) tongue-in-cheek - cleverly amusing in tone; in a bantering fashion

Ironically or as a joke, as in Was he speaking with tongue in cheek when he said Sally should run for president? This term probably alludes to the facial expression produced by poking one's tongue in one's cheek, perhaps to suppress a smile.

The term tongue-in-cheek refers to a style of humour in which things are said only half seriously, or in a subtly mocking way. To say something in a tongue-in-cheek way is to speak with irony.

3) slam dunk - (n)Something that is a sure to occur; a foregone conclusion

(v) A forceful, dramatic move, as in That indictment was a slam dunk if ever there was one. This expression is also often put as a verb, slam-dunk, meaning "make a forceful move against someone," as in This is a great chance for us to slam-dunk the opposition. The idiom comes from basketball, where it refers to a dramatic shot in which the ball is thrust into the basket from above the rim. It was transferred to other activities from about 1980 on.

4) Beating A Dead Horse

In American English, "beating a dead horse" is an idiom which is most often used as a retort used to make clear that a particular request or line of conversation is already foreclosed, mooted, or otherwise resolved. In Australian English and British English, the phrase is more usually rendered as "flogging a dead horse".

The linguistic roots of this phrase draw on an allusion to literally "whipping" or "beating" a deceased horse in order to make it get up and go. Such efforts, of course, would be utterly fruitless, as dead horses no longer move under their own power.

Likewise, when one is "beating a dead horse", one is flailing at a dead or useless idea.

5) Bedroom eyes

Someone who has a sexy look in their eyes

6) Bells and whistles

Attractive but unnecessary features; an often pejorative term often applied to features of a commercial product which are more useful in attracting customers than in performing the task which the product is designed to perform.

7) Black-hearted - Someone with evil intentions

8) Burning the midnight oil - Studying or working late into, or through, the night

9) (Open up a) can of worms
To create a situation that is hard to deal with, especially one that comes about unexpectedly and intractably. To "open a can of worms" is to get involved with something that is discomforting, hard to resolve, or not easily escaped (closing a container of worms, used as bait by fishermen, generally involves some tricky handling of the wriggling occupants)

10) Dead and buried - A settled issue. Something no longer needing consideration

11) Dark horse - A surprise candidate or competitor; someone who hides their talents or interests. From the metaphor: "He rode in as if on a dark horse in the night" or "No one saw him coming."

12) Dead as a doornail (or dodo) - Useless, very distinctly dead. A doornail is the strikeplate for most door knockers. To hold it in place, after it was driven through the door, the pointed end was bent over and buried in the door, to prevent movement. This nail was unrecoverable, so was considered dead to future reclamation, which was apparently common before modern time

13) (Having) deep pockets - Rich and/or generous

14) devil's advocate -

One who argues against a cause or position either for the sake of argument or to help determine its validity. For example, My role in the campaign is to play devil's advocate to each new policy before it's introduced to the public. This term comes from the Roman Catholic Church, where advocatus diaboli (Latin for "devil's advocate") signifies an official who is appointed to present arguments against a proposed canonization or beatification. It was transferred to wider use in the mid-1700s.

15) Dog and pony show
A presentation which aims to persuade by overwhelming the senses or appealing to fancy; generally a marketing presentation which offers little or no real informational content. May also refer to anything with more style than substance

16) Drop the ball -
Make a major mistake; often used when that mistake causes the failure or setback of a larger event

17) elephant in the room -

The problem or situation immediately obvious to all, but spoken of by none. Usually the topic in question is emotionally charged and so felt by most involved to be best ignored

The elephant in the room (also elephant in the living room, elephant in the corner, elephant on the dinner table, etc.) is an English idiom for a question or problem that very obviously stands, but which is ignored for the convenience of one or other party. It derives its symbolic meaning from the fact that an elephant would indeed be conspicuous and remarkable in a small room; thus the idiom also implies a value judgment that the issue should be discussed openly. The idiom is commonly used in addiction recovery terminology to describe the reluctance of friends and family of an addicted person to discuss the person's problem, thus aiding the person in his denial.

The idiom is also occasionally invoked as "pink elephant in the corner," possibly in reference to alcohol abuse, or for no other reason than a pink elephant is more visible than a normal elephant (not that pink elephants exist, obviously).

18) Eat crow - To suffer humiliation and/or reluctantly admit defeat

19) Fish out of water - A person in uncharted territory; in a confused state due to lack of experience with a situation

20) Hot potato -
In the common political usage the 'hot potato' represents an issue which is controversial and generally avoided. In a business setting it sometimes refers to a project or responsiblity that no one wants to assume, usually because the probability of failure is high

21) In the limelight/spotlight -
Possessing large amounts of attention. Originating from Victorian times when spotlights in theatres were used by burning quicklime

22) Iron out the difficulty
To resolve an issue. It suggests the problem is minor but is something that will need work (as in smoothing wrinkles out of cloth with an iron)

23) Killing two birds with one stone
Achieving two desirable effects with one process or action

24) Knock on wood/Touch wood
Knock on (or touch) unfinished wood to avert the bad luck evoked by making a confident statement (example: "I haven't been sick in twenty years, knock on wood.") By 'knocking on wood', the speaker hopes to prevent their remarkable good health from suddenly ending because they've bragged about it. The custom comes from the hope of evoking the care of spirits that live in trees (druids)

25) Let the cat out of the bag
Reveal a big secret, often unintentionally

26) Mind one's Ps and Qs

To be very careful and/or to behave correctly. It is tied to the fact that the lowercase letters "p" and "q" mirror each other. This is a term from typesetters in the printing industry. In the days of lead type, letters were set individually into a page, and they were placed one by one, upside down. They were pulled from a typecase, in which each letter had a designated space to reside. Problems came when pages were being taken apart and letters put away. If someone was in a hurry or was not paying attention to what he was doing, he could end up with p's and q's in the wrong slots in the typecase, which he wouldn't notice until the next time he was putting together a page, when he would unknowingly pick out the wrong letter. (This could also happen with b's and d's, but as they are more common than q's, typesetters were more accustomed to finding them, and they were mixed up less often.) Hence, pay attention to what you're doing now, so that you don't give yourself problems later on. In England this phrase is also associated with "p'ease" and "'k you" baby talk for 'Please' and 'Thank you', hence "Mind your P's and Q's" is sometimes used to mean "Remember to say 'Please' and 'Thank you.'"


27) (There is) more than one way to kill (or skin) a cat

Something can be achieved in several different ways. Often used upon the realization that one attempted method has failed or is about to fail (e.g. "This method has failed, but there's more than one way to skin a cat!")

28) No-brainer - A problem that is especially easy to solve, if not outright obvious

29) On the fence - Undecided between two options; vacillation between two ideas or choices

30) Only the tip of the iceberg -

A situation which is more complex than it first seems. Only a small fraction of an iceberg is visible above the surface

31) Over the moon -very happy

32) Penny pinching -
Being frugal with one's money, avoiding unnecessary expenses (can also mean stingy)

33) Piece of cake - Something done very easy

34) To piss on one's own feet -
To try to accomplish something beneficial to yourself but hurting yourself in the process so much that the original action is rendered worthless. (e.g. "There's no way I could have stolen Bill's TV because I was at home doing heroin that whole night.") Similar in meaning to 'shoot oneself in the foot'

35) To spit/piss into the wind -
To continue with an ineffective action, usually against the natural flow of things, when it is clear that said action will have no useful result. An exercise in futility

36) Rake it in -
To make a high profit or earning a high salary (example: She's raking it in on that new line of products). Humorous exaggeration which suggests the quantity of money is so great that it must be handled with yard implements

37) (Read/in) between the lines -
Inferring additional information or nuances not explicitly stated, perhaps revealing a hidden agenda or true motive. The lines here refers to lines of printed text

38) Read my lips: _____

Used to emphasize the statement or promise which immediately follows, often with slight aggression or beligerence. Example: George H.W. Bush's famous 1988 promise "Read my lips: No new taxes", meaning he absolutely would not raise taxes

39) Red Herring - A false clue or issue intended to lead one astray or a fallacious argument

40) Red tape - Bureaucratic obstacles to a desired result. Derived from the Civil War-era practice of binding records and files with red tape

41) Right under your nose
Something so obvious that it is easily overlooked

42) Sawbones - A physician, especially a surgeon

43) Six ways to (or from) Sunday -
In every possible manner; by every imaginable method

44) To spin a yarn - To tell a story, especially a long one with distorted truths or exaggerations

45) Speak of the devil (and he shall appear) -
Said aloud when someone who was being discussed in conversation enters the area of those conversing; from the belief that uttering the name of a demon could serve to summon it

46) Squaring the circle - Trying to do something which is impossible

47) Stick (or stuck) in the mud-

An old-fashioned idea or concept, or someone who moves or adapts slowly. Also used to describe a person who does not want to participate in activities suggested by one or more people

48) Stiff-necked - Stubborn. This is an example of metonymy. A stubborn person frequently does not turn his head to listen and appears stiff in the neck. Thus having a stiff neck and not turning both imply stubbornness; by the rule of metonymy, 'stiff necked' means stubborn

49) The cat's out of the bag - A secret or hidden thing has been discovered

50) This is not your father's ____
Despite similarities, there is a fundamental difference between the past and the present subject; usually implying a favorable updating. From an ad campaign for Oldsmobile in the 1980s

51) Under the weather - Feeling ill

52) Wake up on the wrong side of the bed -

Be very grumpy. Usually used in response to discovering someone is very grumpy. "Whoa! Looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!"

53) The whole nine yards
The entire amount, everything. Frequently "Going the whole nine yards" to indicate completion to surfeit, sparing nothing, or employing procedures reserved for only the most important events. The etymology is ambiguous, with explanations ranging from the 9 yard machine gun belts used in some WWII military aircraft to an older use of 9 yards in the textile industry for ceremonious saris, normal saris comprising only 6 yards, dating back to English introduction to Indian tailoring in the 18th century. Another explanation is that the term is a sarcastic reference to American football, where ten yards is the length of a first down. With running nine yards being no real achievement, to say that someone ran 'the whole nine yards' would be to say that they almost achieved something. Like many words with ambiguous etymology, this phrase may have more than one derivation

54) Wrong end of the stick
Getting the wrong idea about something

55)

to buy a car OR to go on vacation

A friend of yours has received some money and plans to use all of itseither

• to go on vacation
• to buy a car

Your friend has asked you for advise. Compare your friend's two choices and explain which one you think your friend should choose. Use specific reasons and details to support your choice.

10.45

I would advice my friend to buy a car instead of going for vacation.There are three primary reasons to support my preference.
1) Tangible thing -you can use it for many years
2) Imporves the quality of your life
3) Helps you for rainy day

First, vacation is an event where as car is an object - tangible thing.. You can use the car to commute to work, go for local trip, shopping and so on. It stays with you for many years and helping you in day-to-day life.

Second, in general people making judgement based of few factors such as what type of car you drive and what kind of dress you wear,how you speak and so on. So nice car gives better outlook or opinion about you to others. Though it looks simple over the surface it has greater value in life. Also driving your own car gives you some kind of pleasure, which cannot be obtained through vacation. For example, last year I bought Honda car using by bonus and now I am proud of that decision whenever I drive that car.

Third, you never know when life will turn around against you. It is always better to have something in reserve that will alleviate the problem. For example, when I got laid off during 2000 dot com internet bubble, I sold my car and managed my bills for few months. If I did not have my car then I could have got into worst scenario than where I had been.

In conclusion, I always recommend or advise to buy or invest on something, which you can use it everyday. This will help you to improve the quality of the life and gives long lasting satisfaction.

Land to be kept in natural condition or to be developed for housing & indistry.

In your country, is there more need for land to be left in its natural condition or is there more need for land to be developed for housing and industry? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

What 21st century will bring?

The 21st century has begun. What changes do you think this new century will bring? Use examples and details in your answer.

10.15

In my view, the 21st century will bring two important things.
1) Medical improvement to eradicate deadly deceases
2) Latest technology will utilized to improve the quality of life

The medical field has advanced in the last century to address some of the deadly deceases but still some of the deceases such as AIDS, birld flu ,Cancer and so on should be erodicated. I hope 21st century will bring some solutions to this. The reason is that so many organizations understood the need for the cure. For example, Gates & Melinda Foundation and others non-profit organizations are spending billions of dollar to help companies who are trying to vaccination for these deadly deceases. Also the world leaders realized the magnitude of the issue and most of the countries are fighting to address this issue with the help of others. This will improve the quality if the people's life in poor nations such as Africa.

Second, Information Technology(IT) has started evolving in late 20th century and it is going to bring revolutionary changes to the world in 21st century.It will change, the way we do communicate,the way we do business , the way we interact between countries and so on.
For example, companies such as Google & Microsoft are trying to make university library books in digital format. This will change the way we educate our kids and the way we read books.
Very soon printing books would be an old-school style of reading. The whole world would be more inter-connected than ever before. This IT will bring equal opportunity for everyone and everywhere. Hence all the poeple can utilize the reasouce and will help improve the quality of the life.

Some qualities of a good parent

12:40

The importance of the qualities of a good parent is crucial in today's environment. The characteristics of the parent have direct impact on children's behavior and their future.
There are numerous qualities to be a good parent, I suggest these four are the primary among all.
1. Be a rolemodel to your kids.
2. Spend time with them
3. Llisten to them
4. Do not lecture them.

Firstly, parents are the rolemodel for their kids. Most of the time kids blindly copy what their parents do or speak or behave. Everyone expects their kids to be good and successful in the future but not all of them fails to understand how their characteristics is important factor to achive that.

Secondly, it is so valuable to spend time with kids. So that you have an opportunity to observe their behavior as well as establish friendliness with them. Also kids have an opportunity to express their inner feelings.

Thirdly, listen to what they say. It is more important than what you say or teach to your children. This gives you a chance to understand them. If you don't understand them then you cannot guide them or help them to succeed.


Last but not least, do not lecture them. Its human's natural resistance to others idea if you try to force them on. So try to explain the outcome of the activity in friendly manner and give them few choices. When they make a choice then most likely they will ascribed to that rather than you force them to do something.

Why movies are popular all over the world

The movies are popular all over the world for three main reasons. First, the power of media,easily reachable and understandable to everyone including laymen.Second, movie is a great afforable entertainment tool.Finally, people are interested in viewing and learning different culture,people and lifestyles.

The primary reason the movie became very popular is that because of the wide spread media. The cinema theaters and televeison channels are so powerful to reach every corner of the world.
In addition, the information can be easily conveyed to everyone through movies.

Secondly,people needs some entertainment. Cinema fulfills their need regardless of their affordability. Virtuall you can see everything through movies. Not all people can go and view all the popular places or events. We can simply say the movies are proxies for real-world.

Finally, some people likes to view different culture & countries. And some people are interested in imaginary things which is not possible in real-world. For instance, the classic example would be science-fiction movies such as "War of the Worlds" and cartoon movies such as "Finding Nemo".

In conclusion, the movies are popular because of the wide spread media and people's interest in different culture and imagination.

What you have learned about a country from watching its movies?

The movie is a great media to learn about the country, its culture and people. I have learnt a lot about United States through movies even before I visited the country. Basically, the movie gives you a peek view about the country in which they are made, similar to looking at the house from ouside through its window.

I am coming from India, of course, there are so many differences between my country and USA.
I have seen almost every single thing in USA through movies so when I came here nothing was suprising to me, though these two countries have so many differences.For example, Americans drive on right side of the road which is opposite to what we do in India. I have seen this in movie and when I came here it was not surprise to me.

There are so many things I learnt -how kids go to school & how they study, how poeple commute to work & how they work, how the infrastructures & houses are built up, and how the big cities, such as New York,Chicago,Los Angles, Boston,etc, look like, and so on.

I also learnt about families and their lifestyle through movies. How the people cook,how they dress, how they spend their vacation and free time,etc.

Thers are many great movies which taught me about this country's civil war, immigration and slavery issues. Few movies taught me about foreign affairs of this country. Few others taught me how big cities such as Chicago,Los Angles and New York were dominated by criminals and later how these cities are flourished.

In conclusion, I have learnt great deal of information about few countries, particularly USA, throught movies. Without these movies my knowledge could have been circumscribed about this country.

House or Business

You have enough money to purchase either a house or business. Which would you choose to buy? Give specific reasons to explain your choice.

Whether someone wants to purchase a buiness or a house would be different for different people based on their age,employment, risk tolerance,location and family situation. I would like to purchase business for may reasons.

Firstly, business generates higher income than that of house. House generates rental income however most of the time the owner end of spending most of the money in maintenance, property tax,association fee (if any), mortage interest,etc. So there is very little or no profit from rental income. The same may be true in buiness as well, but it might be only during the initial period. Over long run, once the owner establishes customer base, the buiness may be more profitable.

Second, business can be expanded to increase the revenue. Once business is established, it can be expand its horizon to generate more revenue. For example, FexEx and McDonalds started very small and later they turned into multi-billion dollar corporations.

Last but not least, business gives employment for the whole family. Also you can work at your own time and no need to afraid of your boss.

In conclusion, by having our own buiness, gives both satisfaction, growth and income.

Word of the Day

Words from WSJ & Others

1) Use the following link to find out Tamil meaning for any English word.

http://www.lanka.info/dictionary/EnglishToSinhala.jsp

2)

Beady -- Small and round and shiny like a shiny bead or button
[It is incorrect in ETS' beady little eyes.]


3)
walking on air
cloud nine
being on cloud nine
seventh heaven
jumping for joy

dandy- very good

Feel extreme happiness or elation(An exhilarating psychological state of pride and optimism; an absence of depression)

4) adolescent -in the state of development between puberty and maturity;
"adolescent boys and girls"; being of the age 13 through 19;
[eating and exercise habits are different for adults and adolescents.]

5) linger - remain present although waning or gradually dying; leave slowly and hesitantly
[civil war lingered on for thirty months]

7) aberration -a state or condition markedly different from the norm; a disorder in one's mental state; an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image
[The Marines who reportedly killed as many as two dozen Iraqi civilians following a fatal attack on their unit in November are an "aberration" ]

8) leniency - mercifulness as a consequence of being lenient or tolerant; a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone; lightening a penalty or excusing from a chore by judges or
parents or teachers
[Hyundai chief appeals for leniency]

7)
Hazy \Ha"zy\, a. [From Haze, n.]
1. Thick with haze; somewhat obscured with haze; not clear or
transparent. ``A tender, hazy brightness.'' --Wordsworth.

2. Obscure; confused; not clear; as, a hazy argument; a hazy
intellect. --Mrs. Gore.

8)
allegation
n 1: (law) a formal accusation against somebody (often in a court
of law); "an allegation of malpractice"
2: statements affirming or denying certain matters of fact that
you are prepared to prove [syn: allegement]
9)
coercion
n 1: the act of compelling by force of authority
2: using force to cause something; "though pressed into rugby
under compulsion I began to enjoy the game"; "they didn`t
have to use coercion" [syn: compulsion]

The party's political opponents contend that it has sold out its principles, inflated its economic success and used coercion to dominate the state



10)
sabotage
n : a deliberate act of destruction or disruption in which
equipment is damaged
v : destroy property or hinder normal operations; "The
Resistance sabotaged railroad operations during the war"
[syn: undermine, countermine, counteract, subvert,
weaken]
Many oil traders worry that terrorists may sabotage oil facilities, sending prices to new highs that could throttle the economic recovery.

11)
shelve
v 1: hold back to a later time; "let's postpone the exam" [syn: postpone,
prorogue, hold over, put over, table, set back,
defer, remit, put off]
2: place on a shelve; "shelve books"

Oil companies have shelved hopes of even looking around Iraq soon because of the violence there and uncertainty about the future

12)
rebuked
adj : punished especially by reproof or reprimand [syn: admonished,
chastened, reprimanded, reproved]

Mr. Powell also rebuked the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat for urging Palestinians, in a speech on Saturday, to "find whatever strength you have to terrorize your enemy."

13)
ostracized (ostru`sIz)

2. To banish from society; to put under the ban; to cast out
from social, political, or private favor; as, he was
ostracized by his former friends. --Marvell.

Critics contend that opponents are ostracized and have even been killed.

14)
dogma
n 1: a religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without
proof [syn: tenet]
2: a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative; "he
believed all the Marxist dogma"
[also: dogmata (pl)]

"Dogma will not work," he said. "Learn truth from the facts."


15)
consumerism
n 1: the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically beneficial
2: a movement advocating greater protection of the interests of consumers

"Consumerism leads to selfishness, cynicism and sometimes pessimism," he said. "Michael Jackson: these are the typical products of consumerism."


16)
Evince \E*vince"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Evinced; p. pr. & vb.n. Evincing.] [L. evincere vanquish completely, prevail, succeed in proving; e out + vincere to vanquish. See Victor, and cf. Evict.]
1. To conquer; to subdue. [Obs.]

Error by his own arms is best evinced. --Milton.

2. To show in a clear manner; to prove beyond any reasonable doubt; to manifest; to make evident; to bring to light; to evidence.

Common sense and experience must and will evince the truth of this. --South.



The 36-member strong Samajwadi party, which is not part of the Congress-led alliance, has evinced interest in joining the Government but a section of Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh have raised objections.


17)incumbents -currently holding an office
[India just had a stunning election, with incumbents across the country thrown out, largely by rural voters.]

18)dreadful- causing fear or dread or terror; Exceptionally bad or displeasing;Very unpleasant

19)demise- The time when something ends

20)lackluster - Lacking luster or shine ; rampant; sagging; prophet;
behemoth;pace;furtive;maxims; stringent

21) tout --show off; Someone who buys tickets to an event in order to resell them at a profit

22)plough --A farm tool having one or more heavy blades to break the soil and cut a furrow prior to sowing

23)plowed --"Farmer Jones plowed his east field last week"

24) accrue -- Grow by addition,,"The interest accrues"

25) hypnotized -- mesmerized;Having your attention fixated as though by a spell; Attract strongly, as if with a magnet

26) fortified --Having something added to increase the strength,
Add nutrients to "fortified milk"

27) debacle -- A sudden and violent collapse

28)

wip - An instrument with a handle and a flexible lash that is used for whipping

whipping --Beat severely with a whip or rod; Subject to harsh criticism

29) fallow--Cultivated land that is not seeded for one or more growing seasons

30) Egregious -Conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
An example of an egregious lack of oversight by Disney's board.

31) implosion --A sudden inward collapse
Implosion of Enron

32) impediment --Any structure that makes progress difficult

33) extravagant --Someone who spends money prodigally(wastefully)

34) bolster --to support with or as if with a bolster
to give a boost to

35)exorbitant-- not coming within the scope of the law
exceeding in intensity, quality, amount, or size the customary or appropriate limits


36)cozy -Having or fostering a warm or friendly atmosphere; especially through smallness and informality

37) camouflage--concealment by means of disguise (Make unrecognizable)
Camouflage compensation through the use of corporate jets and cars as well as loans and huge retirement packages that do not have to be disclosed as compensation.


38) Procrastination
Do not Procrastinate your GMAT exam.


39) Obscenity -Vulgarism

40) Dubious - Doubtful, In Question

41) Busting Legal Cartels

Busting --Ruin completely
-- Search without warning, make a sudden surprise attack on
-- Raiding

Cartels --A consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service


42) Contour -- A feature (or the order or arrangement of features) of anything having a complex structure

43)Scarce -Not enough; Hard to find;

44) grapevines - Gossip spread by spoken communication (words of mouth)

45) Hanstrung -Make ineffective or powerless ("The teachers were hamstrung by the overly rigid schedules");

46) crippled-- Disabled in the feet or legs; Deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or worthless

47) Furor-- A sudden outburst (as of protest); An interest followed with exaggerated zeal (A feeling of strong eagerness ); Excessive fervor to do something or accomplish some end;

48) zest --Vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment

49) Relinquish -- Give up; Relinquish to the power of another; yield to the control of another; Turn away

50) redherring -Any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue

51)alleviated--(of pain or sorrow) made easier to bear;Provide physical relief, as from pain

52)flock --An orderly crowd; Come together as in a cluster or flock

53)touted --Advertize in strongly positive terms; Show off;
Someone who buys tickets to an event in order to resell them at a profit;

54)deluded --Be false to; be dishonest with;cozened;deceived;

55) patronage (patron)-- The act of providing approval and support; granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support;
[Operating with the patronage of politicians]

56) exuberance -- Joyful enthusiasm;Overflowing with enthusiasm; Ebullience;
[Stock boosted by year-end exuberance and falling oil prices]
Alan Greenspan - Irrational Exuberance

57) snarled --Utter in an angry, sharp, or abrupt tone; Make more complicated or confused through entanglements
[A winter storm snarled travel from New Mexico to the Great Lakes.]


58) fiercer --Marked by extreme and violent energy; Ruthless in competition; More furious
[With competition for skilled programmers getting fiercer in India.]


59) alluring-- Beguiling; Enticing; luring; Highly attractive and able to arouse hope or desire;Dispose or incline or entice to;
[With competition for skilled programmers getting fiercer in India. This makes China an alluring alternative to India for all types of programming.]

60) peril -- A source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune;
For exmaple, power and peril

61)Coda --The closing section of a musical composition
[perfect coda to the collapse of a cynical business model]

62) cynical --Believing the worst of human nature and motives; having a sneering disbelief in e.g. selflessness of others

64) conduits --A passage (a pipe or tunnel) through which water or electric wires can pass
[Internet Explorer a major conduit for hackers and virus writers]

65) misbegotten -unlawfully conceived; Born out of wedlock

66) debase --Corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality;orrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones

67)duress --Compulsory force or threat;

68) chastised --Punished for misbehavior; Censure severely; Castigated; Objurgated; excoriated; condemned;

69) melancholy --depression; A feeling of thoughtful sadness

70) Amnesty --[A period during which offenders are exempt from punishment]

Supreme Court ruling puts Bhutto amnesty in doubt

71) purportedly --believed or reputed to be the case;supposedly

72) unveiled --Revealed; unveiled; especially by having a veil removed; {veil--A garment that covers the head and face}

73) impunity --Exemption from punishment or loss

Punitive damage

Punitive damages (termed exemplary damages in the United Kingdom) are damages not awarded in order to compensate the plaintiff, but in order to reform or deter the defendant and similar persons from pursuing a course of action such as that which damaged the plaintiff.

74) glimmer --A flash of light (especially reflected light)
[Finally, he felt a glimmer of hope]

75) CLING,clung -- Come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation; Hold on tightly or tenaciously
[the tree he clung to would take him]

76) cumulus - A globular cloud;A collection of objects laid on top of each other

77) buoyed --Float on the surface of water; Make more cheerful
[The life vest buoyed him up]

78) jostling --The passengers jostled each other in the overcrowded train;

79) inundated-- covered with water;
["the main deck was inundated"; "inundated farmlands"; tsunamis inundated about a dozen countries on Sunday]

80)receded --Pull back or move away or backward; retreat
[tsunami receded ]

81) grim - Shockingly repellent; inspiring horror;
[The grim tally of dead from sunday's tsunami continued to jump]
[Grim as those numbers were,..]

82) decimated --Kill in large numbers;eliminated;wiped out;
[rescuers finding whole towns and islands decimated]

83) strew/strewn --be dispersed over;Being distributed here and there without order;
["Dead bodies strewed the ground"]

84)feces --stool; ordure;Solid excretory product evacuated from the bowels
[Dead people are not the cause of disease; disease is caused by the feces of live people]


86) Purveyors-- Someone who supplies provisions (especially food)
[spyware purveyors]

87)Mitigation--a partial excuse to mitigate censure; an attempt to represent an offense as less serious than it appears by showing mitigating circumstances ;

88) potshots --A shot taken at an easy or casual target (as by a pothunter);Criticism aimed at an easy target and made without careful consideration;Criticism;
[Politicians already are taking potshots at Mr.Yudhoyono's(Indonesia's President) performance]

89)red tape --Needlessly time-consuming procedure; bureacratic procedure

90) edgy (edgier/edgiest) --Being in a tense state; uptight

91) dalliance --The deliberate act of wasting time instead of working;Playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest

92) Stingy--ungenerous;Selfishly unwilling to share with others;
[US is not stingy about tsunami relief fund]

93) cynics --faultfinders;

94) taboo --An inhibition or ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion; forbidden

95) It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.
--Wall Street Journal

96) conglomerate -- Composed of heterogeneous elements gathered into a mass
[Bershire, the omaha,NE., conglomerate..]
[TCS is the flagship of the Tata Group conglomerate]

97) ransacked -- Wrongfully emptied or stripped of anything of value;forayed;

98) apostasy -- The state of having rejected your religious beliefs or your political party or a cause (often in favor of opposing beliefs or causes)

99) manifestation -- A clear appearance; Expression without words; Reflection

100) A bitter joke circulates in Havana: A cuban child is asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up, a doctor, pilot, lawyer, fireman?" The child responds, "I want to be a foreigner."

101) scorned --Treated with contempt; Reject with contempt;
[Havana was never a place that scorned people from other provinces]

102) mendicant -- A beggar;
[India is no longer a mendicant nation dependent handouts]


103) haughty --Having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy;
[India is begin unnecessarily haughty in parrying(blocking) aid offers from U.S., Japan, Russia and even arch rival Pakistan]

104)Parrying --Avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
[India is begin unnecessarily haughty in parrying aid offers from U.S., Japan, Russia and even arch rival Pakistan]


105)Nascent --Commencing, or in process of development; beginning to
exist or to grow; coming into being; as, a nascent germ.
[India's emergence as a nascent economic powerhouse in Asia in recent years]

nascent - emerging; Being born or beginning; dissilient
[Get-well-soon cards to Fidel arrived from the nascent People's Democratic Republic of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela]

106) abate --To bring down or reduce from a higher to a lower state,
number, or degree; to lessen; to diminish; to contract; to
moderate; to cut short; as, to abate a demand; to abate
pride, zeal, hope.
[Not even 9/11 and a recession have done much to abate Albany's spending binge]

107) naysayer --Someone with an aggressively negative attitude

108) Mayhem -- Violent and needless disturbance;havoc;injury; deprivation of something essential.
[violence and mayhem]

109) huddle --(informal)A quick private conference; A disorganized and densely packed crowd
[Bush huddles with top Republicans tomorrow]

110) wane --A gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)
[ GM's sales fell as SUV demand appeared to wane]

111) tarnished --Make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically
[ U.S.'s tarnished image among the world's 1.3 billion Muslims]
["The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air"]
Tanning- Process in which skin pigmentation darkens as a result of exposure to ultraviolet light

112) clamoring --Loud and persistent outcry from many people
["They clamored the mayor into building a new park"]

113) sapped --Deplete; Excavate the earth beneath

114) renounce --abdicate; Repudiate;Relinguish; give up; leave(a job,post or position);quit;
["She renounced her husband"]

115) repudiating--renounce;Refuse to recognize or pay;Reject as untrue, unfounded, or unjust;Cast off or disown;Refuse to acknowledge, ratify, or recognize as valid;
["She repudiated the accusations"] ["The parents repudiated their son"]

116)denounce --Speak out against; Announce the termination of; Stigmatize
["If he can't denounce Hezbollah, which is a group that even the Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians don't like ... what kind of ally is this? I'm very upset about where Maliki(Iraq PM) is,'' New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said.]

117) frothy -- Emitting or filled with bubbles as from carbonation or fermentation; Relating to or containing gas bubbles;
[there is frothy in the housing market]

118) confounding --That confounds or contradicts or confuses; Be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly

119) malaise (ma`leyz) --Physical discomfort (as mild sickness or depression); unease
[ Mittal used the industry malaise as an opportunity to buy assets in Algeria]

120)flung --Throw with force or recklessness; Throw or cast away
[Mittal continued buying steel plants in far flung palces]

121) barter --An equal exchange; Exchange goods without involving money
[The Mittals ended the barter system and taught executives how to market and sell products]

122)tabloid --Newspaper with half-size pages

123) placards --A sign posted in a public place as an advertisement

124) gurgles (gurgul) --The bubbling sound of water flowing from a bottle with a narrow neck

125) precarious --Dangerously insecure
[His financial status, always fragile, is now precarious]

126)shriveling --Wither(Lose freshness), especially with a loss of moisture;Decrease in size, range, or extent
[The papaya trees in his yard are already shriveling and dying.]

127) subsisting --Support oneself; surviving; living
[ Seven adult members of the family are now subsisting on one schoolteacher's income]

128) miscues --faulty shot in billiards;slips;minor inadvertent mistakes
[Mr.Mindich experienced his first miscues when he moved off the trading floor]

129) prowess --superior skill that you can learn by study and practice and pbservation
[His management skills didnt match his trading prowess]

130) ballpark --Near to the scope or range of something;approximate range;facility in which ball games are played
[his answer wasn't even in the right ballpark]

131) hatched --produced from an egg;devise or invent;
[Mr.Mindich hatched a plan to put a chunk of his new fund in longer-term investments]

132) endownment --capital that provides income for an institution;Natural qualities or talents
[Harvard ponied up about $500 million or about 2.5% of its $22 billion endownment.

133) crest --top,peak,summit,crown,cap,top
[the deal came just as the bull market was cresting]

134) pedigree --The descendants of one individual; ancestry; origin; parentage; blood line
[Finding someone of this pedigree is difficult]

['Pedigreed' Comic Books -The interest in pedigreed books comes as vintage comic-book collecting has become big business.]

[The U.S. Congress in 2003 passed a law creating a "drug pedigree" for products considered at risk.]

135) ludicrous --Broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce;nonsensible,laughable.ridiculous
[absolutely ludicrous]

136) culinary --relating to cooking;
[New York base culinary institute]

137) embezzlement --The fraudulent appropriation of funds or property entrusted to your care but actually owned by someone else
[Mr.Spitzer wont settle for pursuing routine embezzlement]
[Embezzlement case may total more than $120 Million]
138) tycoons --A very wealthy or powerful businessman; mogul; baron; top executive;
[Nervous Tycoons in Ukraine]

139)adorn --Make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.;

140) clans --Group of people related by blood or marriage; A social division of (usually preliterate) people
[Ukraine's economy has largely fallen under the sway of a handful of so-called industrial clans]

141) sway --Controlling influence; persuade;

142) lame duck -- An elected official still in office but not slated to continue; Lame duck (stock Exchange), a person who can not fulfill his contracts.

dunk -A basketball shot in which the basketball is propelled downward into the basket

slame dunk or slam-dunk -- sure thing;certainty;Something that is a sure to occur;

[But banning trans fats, or even just dissing them by implication on doughnut labels, is neither a slam dunk for the food police nor a salvation for KFC addicts]

["Two months ago, it looked like this was a slam dunk. Now it's bogged down," says John Hassell,HP ]

[It's not a slam dunk. And it is not a done deal]

conundrum (ku`nun`drum) -A difficult problem

143)extrapolate --interpolate;infer;Estimate the value of; Gain knowledge of (an area not known or experienced) by extrapolating; Draw from specific cases for more general cases

144) "hunky-dory" -- Being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition; okay; all right; fine ;
[ This is not to say all is hunky-dory in Washington]

142) swastika --The official emblem of the Nazi Party and the Third Reich; a cross with the arms bent at right angles in a clockwise direction;

143) oxymoron --Conjoining contradictory terms (as in 'deafening silence')
[ The modern private bank. It's not an oxymoron]

144) extolled --Praise, glorify, or honor;
[As long as a nation makes sincere efforts and uses its best resources to be helpful, it should be extolled]
[Re-elected president is a lame-duck long before his second term ends, leaving littel time to get much done.]

145) marguee --pavilion; Large and often sumptuous {deluxe;opulent;Rich and superior in quality} tent
[TCS signed on marguees customers such as Italian-car maker Ferari]

146)archipelago -- A group of many islands in a large body of water; earth;
[Archipelago Holdings Inc]

147) duel --A prearranged fight with deadly weapons by two people (accompanied by seconds) in order to settle a quarrel over a point of honor;
Any struggle between two skillful opponents (individuals or groups)
["In the 19th century, men often dueled over small matters"]

148) Avalanche --A slide of large masses of snow and ice and mud down a mountain;A sudden appearance of an overwhelming number of things
[The body of one of five lost in Utah avalanche was found]

149) rein --One of a pair of long straps (usually connected to the bit or the headpiece) used to control a horse; Any means of control;
[complicationg Washington's plans to rein in the companies]

150)hypocrisy --An expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction

151) pigeons--Wild and domesticated birds having a heavy body and short legs
[Sounded like a covey(flock, small group of people)of pigeons,cooing(soft cry)]

152) untenable--(of theories etc) incapable of being defended or justified;indefensible
[The current pay as you go system would become even more untenable]

153) impugning --Choose no to consume; Not do something
[I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity]

154) tyranny -- A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.); Stalinism
[Countries such as Iran and North Korea, which she put amoung a list of "outposts of tyranny"]

155) provost -- A high-ranking university administrator
[Ms. Rice, the former provost of Stanford University, will succeed Colin Powell]

156) woo --Seek someone's favor
[SAP is rolling out a plan to woo Peoplesoft users]

161)Wobbly -- A member of the Industrial Workers of the World;

Wobble - An unsteady rocking motion; Move unsteadily
[As expected, soaring oil prices played a large role in causing the trade balance to wobble]

157)lull --A pause during which things are calm or activities are diminished;A period of calm weather
[India accused Pakistan of cross-border mortar fire in Kasmir,breaking a 14-month lull]

158)somersault -- An acrobatic feat in which the feet roll over the head (either forward or backward) and return; Do a somersault; flip
[The people of Tamil Nadu will not be fooled by these double somersault gimmicks indulged in by Thiru Karunanidhi.]

159) Besmirch --Charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone;
[Thiru Karunanidhi has neatly done this somersault and gone back on his words because his only mission is to somehow besmirch the fair name of my Government.]

160) eschewed --Avoid and stay away from deliberately; stay clear of;
[Attempts by some organisations and individuals to politicise the issue should completely be eschewed]

162) Vandal --Someone who willfully destroys or defaces property
Vandalism--Willful wanton and malicious destruction of the property of others

163) emboldens --Give encouragement to

164) Herald -- person who announces important news; harbinger; precursor;
[A general election will take place . as heralded, on January 30th]
[Deccan Herald - Bagalore Daily]


165) derided --Treat or speak of with contempt; mocked
[the election result will be widely derided as flawed or even worthless]

166) oppressed --Burdened psychologically or mentally
[long-oppressed Shias and the defiant{Boldly resisting authority or an opposing force} Kurds, fervently desire{want} it]

167)damnedest -- Use for emphasis of how surprising something is
[the insurgents do their damnedest to intimidate those wanting to vote]

168)naive --Lacking experience of life; callow;
[It would be naive to expect a dramatic turing-point]

169) obdurate --Stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing
[The insurgents remain obdurate]

170)puny --Inferior in strength or significance
[It is crucial, on this score, that Iraq's own puny pro-government forces are beefed up fast]

171) fatigue -- weariness--
[Temporary loss of strength and energy resulting from hard physical or mental work]


172) blather --To talk foolishly
[Sitting presidents rarely campaign on a revolutionary agenda, just feel-good blather: Ronald Regans's "Morning in America", or Bill Clinton's "Bridge to the 21st century".]


173) fiduciary-- A person who holds assets in trust for a beneficiary;


174)wiggling --Having a twisting or snake-like or worm-like motion; move to and fro;

175) fortitude --Strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity with courage; courage; bravery
[He showed a lot of fortitude]

176) repercussion --A remote or indirect consequence of some action; backlash; A movement back from an impact
[What Charles Dolan does now could have major repercussions for the future of Cablevision]

177)subpoena --A writ issued by court authority to compel the attendance of a witness at a judicial proceeding;
[MedQuist received a subpoena from U.S. attorney]

178) filibuster --A tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches
[Democrats' unprecedented filibuster]

179)stodginess --Dull and pompous gravity; stuffiness

180)impetus -- A force that moves something along; drift; The act of applying force suddenly
[ The impetus for many of the changes is coming from investors]

181) tamer --Flat and uninspiring; Very restrained or quiet;An animal trainer who tames wild animals
[The wild west of Hedge funds becomes tamer]

182) leeway -- allowing some freedom to move within limits
[That gave hedge funds the leeway to play the markets more aggressively than mutual funds]

183)arbitrage--A kind of hedged investment meant to capture slight differences in price;
[to capture small gains from atbitrage plays in the convertible-bond market]

184) bootleg --Sell illicit products such as drugs or alcohol
[File swaping software,which is used to get bootleg movies]



186) gospel --An unquestionable truth
[Television executives accept that as gospel, largely because of underlying truth]

187) treble (the one we find old radios) -- three fold(v); The pitch range of the highest female voice(n)
[As a result, the network has been able to nearly treble its proce for a 30-second spot on "Deserate Housewives" to $350,000]

188) errands --short trip;

189) unearth --Bring to light;
[The CIA unearthed a plot to kill the President]
[Greek archaeologists believe they have unearthed a shrine to the mythological hero Hercules. Experts say a site in Thebes, about about 45 miles north of Athens, may have been held to be the mythological hero's birthplace by ancient Greeks.]

190) anthropologist--anthropologist --A social scientist who specializes in anthropology;
anthropology --The social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings

191)frown--A facial expression of dislike or displeasure

192) truce --A state of peace agreed to between opponents so they can discuss peace terms
[While calling for the military truce]

193)substantive --Being the essence or essential element of a thing
[Mr. Sharon has expressed skepticism about whether such steps are substantive]

194)swaggering--Flamboyantly adventurous
[For more than four years, swaggering Palestinian gunmen have routinely carried weapons on Palestinian streets.]

195) besieged --Surrounded by hostile forces
[suicide car bombings in the besieged cities of Samarra and Baquba]

196) ebb- A gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)
[Once Iraqis have chosen their own leaders,civil war will ebb]

197) arbitrators --Someone chosen to judge and decide a disputed issue
[Arbitrators May Have to Put That in Writing]

198) decoy --Something used to lure victims into danger
[Avoid the decoy; Several decoys ETS uses to distract you]

Urban Decay - Cisco's co-founder started nail polishing company called urban decay
http://www.urbandecay.com/

199) cagey --canny;clever;Showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others
{ETS uses several cagey tricks to get you to pick the wrong answers]

200) palpitation --A rapid and irregular heart beat

201)banter --Light teasing repartee
[But anough of this banter]

202) stymied (stImee) --Hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of;blocked
{In GMAT, your quest for the perfect sentence may be stymied]


203) contumacious --Wilfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient
[Don't be so contumacious to take note of any words you haven't seen before]

204) enervating --Weaken mentally or morally
[Most parents agree that raising children can be enervating experience]

205) recalcitrance --The trait{A distinguishing feature of your personal nature} of being unmanageable;
[Avoid recalcitrance and nescience {ignorance}]

206) litigation --A legal proceeding in a court; a judicial contest to determine and enforce legal rights
[Restructring and litigation costs led to a 4th-quarter loss]

207) peddle, wares
[eBay sellers will peddle{Sell or offer for sale from place to place} their wares{Commodities offered for sale} elsewhere]

208) destitution --A state without friends or money or prospects;poverty
[fear of elderly destitution]

209) ponder --Reflect deeply on a subject; mediate;chew over; Look at thoughtfully;
[The ink-stained finger is now a symbol of freedom and bravery. Tunku Varadarajan ponders its power]

210) aggravates -- make worse
[The U.S. fell out with German and France over the Iraq war,EU diplomates are eager to see whether Iran issue aggravates the rift or heals it]

211) Hem In --Surround in a restrictive manner;Circumvented

212) splurge --Any act of immoderate indulgence{Enjoy to excess}
[As Consumers Fine Other Ways To Splurge, Apparel Hits a Snag{An unforeseen obstacle}]


313) immense --Unusually great in size or amount or degree or especially extent or scope;
[the action parameter - due to Oracle's immense shortsightedness - is only 32 bytes long]


214) conclave -- A confidential or secret meeting
[FDA Conclave Will Assess Cardiac Risks of Painkillers]

cancave-Curving inward
convex- Curving or bulging outward

215) rudimentary --Being or involving basic facts or principles; fundamental;
Not fully developed in mature animals("rudimentary wings")

216) hagemony -- The domination of one state over its allies
[Sony,IBM and Toshiba are trying to slow Intel and Microsoft Corp. from extending their hegemony into the living room]

217) raucous(rokus) -- rowdy;Unpleasantly loud and harsh; Disturbing the public peace; loud and rough
[Disney's last year's raucous meeting in Philadelphia]

218)abscess --Symptom consisting of a localized collection of pus surrounded by inflamed tissue

219)awash -- Covered with water

220) Epitaph -- A summary statement of commemoration for a dead person
[Epitaph on Tyrant (Iraq's electionnews headline)]

221) meager -- Deficient in amount or quality or extent; Barely adequate;

222) dissidents --A person who dissents(protests) from some established policy
[A former dissident warns that Iraq's new leaders must overcome a sense of political entitlement arising from their previous suffering]

223) mends -- (v)Restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken;(n)The act of putting something in working order again
[Rice mends fences on European Trip]

224) staunchest -- Firm and dependable especially in loyalty
[Germany, one of the staunchest opponents of the U.S. -led invasion of Iraq]

225)protestation --protest; A strong declaration of protest
[Despite Ms.Rice's protestations that the U.S has no intention of attacking Iran]

226) cradle -- A baby bed with sides and rockers; place of origin;
[cradle of civilization]

227)perpetrators -- culprit; Someone who perpetrates wrongdoing

228) martyrs --One who suffers for the sake of principle; sufferers;

229) stifle -- (v) Conceal or hide
[will do all they can to stifle it]

230)sabotage -- weaken; undermine; A deliberate act of destruction or disruption in which equipment is damaged
[by boycott and other forms of sabotage]

231)litigated --Engage in legal proceedings; actioned
[If there's one issue other than Irag that was clearly litigated in last year's election, it was tax cut]

232) fret -- Worry unnecessarily or excessively;
[Most employees fret about how much they're worth]

233) plausible -- Apparently reasonable and valid; likely
[H-P Breakup looks Plausible; that looks increasingly plausible]

234) amiss -- Not functioning properly; haywire; imperfectly;

235) riddled -- screened
[Audio books are riddled for mispronounced words]

236) vicarious -- abnormal;
[Vicarious Living]

237)espionage --The systematic use of spies to get military or political secrets;spying;
[To arrest them for espionage and slandering the state]

238) hunker down -- Sit on one's heels; Take shelter; Hold stubbornly to a position
[Bush and Jacques (French President) know when to hunker down and make peace]

239) dodging -- avoidance; circumventing; fudging
[Mr. Bush joked, dodging the question]

240) moribund --Not growing or changing; without force or vitality;stagnant;
[American commitment to restart the moribund peace effort has been warmly received in Paris]

241) debut -- The act of beginning something new; First appearance
[Netflix, the company celeberated its 2002 stock-market debut]

242) absurd --Inconsistent with reason or logic or common sense; idiotic
[ dispatching DVD's by mail was quaintly absurd]

243) surfeit -- The state of being more than full; repletion
[GOP has a surfeit of plausible candidates]

244) heir/heiress -- A person who inherits some title or office;inheritor; successor
[There is no heir apparent to Mr. Bush]

245) attenuated -- faded;weakened;
pretension --A false or unsupportable quality
[Russia's imperial pretension and attenuated civil liberties]

246)sanguine -- Confidently optimistic and cheerful
[There are reasons to be sanguine about the future of trans-Atlantic relations]

247)tumultuous -- turbulent; disruptive; troubled;
[ Aftre six tumultuous years in power]

248) charisma --personal magnetism; A personal attractiveness that enables you to influence others

249)pernicious -Exceedingly harmful;subtle
confiscation --Seizure by the government
[Another economically pernicious measure introduced by this government is property confiscation]

250)repressed -conceal; hide;

251) destined -- intended; specified; doomed; Headed or intending to head in a certain direction;
[a flight destined for New York]

252) stranded --Cut off or left behind
[soldiers rescued stranded villagers]

253) frail --weak; easily broken
[Although frail,she stayed slim and healthy until she died]

254) svelteness(svelte) -slim
[Frenchwomen's svelteness resides in their eating smallportion of healthy,often home cooked food]

255) callous -- thick-skinned, deaden feelings or morals
[this is the most callous thing I have ever seen]

"Is this what the international community calls self-defense?...Can the international community stand by while such callous retribution(the act of correcting for your wrongdoing) by the state of Israel is inflicted on us?"
-- Fuad Siniora, Lebanese prime minister

255)albeit -- even though

556) palpable -- tangible; real; touchable;

257) innocuous -- harmless; Not injurious to physical or mental health
[That innocuous statement]

258) rant -Pompous or pretentious talk or writing; Talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
[even now nobody in China is likely to openly critize the government's anti-Taiwan rants]

259) repelling -- Highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust;
[diplomatically China is actually repelling many of its neighbors]

260) siege -- The action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place and isolates it while continuing to attack

261) salvage -- Save
[Mr. Jackson is trying to salvage his fortune and his career]

262)culminated -- End, especially to reach a final or climactic stage;climaxed;
[Marches over the past two weeks here culminated in a huge demonstration]

263) defiance -- Intentionally contemptuous behavior or attitude

264) avail -- help; service

265) scion -- heir; descendant
[Mr.Karami, scion of the Lebanese independence hero Abdul Hamid Karami]
[Infoscion]

266) carnage --The savage and excessive killing of many people; massacre
[Witness described a scene of horrific carnage,with huge pools of blood visible on the pavement]

267) fudging --false

268) lopsided -- Turned or twisted toward one side;wonky
[election in Tajikistan gave an unexpectedly lopsided victory to the ruling party]

269) holler -- Shout out; A very loud utterance
[Qwest shouldn't Holler for government rescue]

270) pared -- Decrease gradually or bit by bit; whittled
[Expectations were pared by a percentage point due to low rainfall from July,2004]

271) enshrining -- Enclose in a shrine(A place of worship hallowed by association with some sacred thing or person)
[The enshrining of democratic principles in a newly independent country might have involved some initial "fixed costs".]

272) reaping -- harvesting; gathering
[now appears to be reaping the dividends]

273) plagiarize -- Take without referencing from someone else's writing or speech; of intellectual property
[I'm not looking too plagiarize, but just get a better feel for this type of document]

274) piercingly -- Extremely and sharply
[The point became piercingly clear to me in 1996]

275) confided -- Reveal in private; tell confidentially
[He leaned over and casually confided "Build to Last is useless"]

276) per se --in and of itslef; With respect to its inherent nature; as such

277) alchemy -- interpersonal chemistry; The way two individuals relate to each other;

278) sequel --Something that follows something else;
[I now see Good to Great not as a sequel to Build to Last]
prequel -- Like a sequel, but where the story takes place at an earlier time than in the previous work
[I now see Good to Great not as a sequel to Build to Last, but as more of a prequel]

279) steward -- Someone who manages property or other affairs for someone else;
[Kimberly-Clark, a stodgy old paper company under his stewardship]

280) venerable -- Impressive by reason of age; Profoundly honored
[ Kimberly-Clark outperformed venerable companies like GE,Coca-cola]

281) eccentric -- A person with an unusual or odd personality; A person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities)

282) helm -- A position of leadership; Steering mechanism for a vessel; a mechanical device by which a vessel is steered
[We found leaders of this type at the helm of every Good-to-Great company]

283) ascribed --Attribute or credit to; imputed ; assigned'
[In the 1500s, people ascribed all events there didn't understand to God]

284) nurture -- Help develop, help grow; Bring up ; Raising someone to be an accepted member of the community
[What percentage of people have the seed within OR how many of those cannurture it]

285) mortals -- A human being
[It is just waht us mortals want to hear]

286) cohorts -- A company of companions or supporters
[Mr. P. Chidambaram and his cohorts in the DMK were hell bent on picking up every issue to run down my Government]

287) pontificating --talk in a dogmatic and pompous manner;
reprehensible -- condemnable
[Mr. P. Chidambaram is now pontificating about the State Government's role in the matter. This is more reprehensible.]

288) pretence -- A false or unsupportable quality
[ a pretence is made as if the Centre had offered Rs.1000 crores for the plant]
precursor -forerunner;A person who goes before or announces the coming of another;harbinger

289) highbrow -- A person of intellectual or erudite tastes

290) lament -- A cry of sorrow and grief

291) beleaguered -- circumvent

292) coffer-- To secure from leaking; A chest especially for storing valuables

293) ecstatic -- Feeling great rapture or delight.
[Having new baby is ecstatic]

294) trounced --Beat severely with a whip or rod
[In NJ, Jon Corzine, a US senator, decidedly trounced Doug Forrester, his Republican rival, by nine percentage points in the race for governor]

295) venomous --Bitter; Extremely poisonous or injurious; Harsh or corrosive in tone;
[The campaign, aggressive from the start, turned especially venomous in the days before the election, with negative ads, character attacks and accusations of extra-marital affairs galore {in great number}]

296) dwindling -A becoming gradually less;Tapering
[But a dwindling number of Americans are behind him]

297)whopping - very large; Extremely; Hit Hard;Bopping;Bashing
[A whopping 88% of the elite cited Iraq as one of the main factors driving anti-americanism, as did 71% of the general public]

298) Opacity -the phenomenon of not permitting the passage of electromagnetic radiation
299) Disdain -A communication that indicates lack of respect by patronizing the recipient
[China's opacity and disdain for democracy]

299) anecdotal - report,account
[anectotal evidence suggests that it is now growing at a faster pace than ever]

300) trinket - Cheap showy jewelry or ornament or clothing

bounty - Payment or reward (especially from a government) for acts such as catching criminals or killing predatory animals or enlisting in the military

301) congruent - Appropriate
[The statement is not congruent for Decimals numbers and Integers.]

402) elope - Run away secretly with one's beloved
[a young socialite and a Jesuit priest eloped and were later arrested.]

403) irony - Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs

404) farce - A comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations

405) barrow - A cart for carrying small loads; has handles and one or more wheels

406)disguise - The act of concealing the identity of something by modifying its appearance

407) indelible - Cannot be removed, washed away or erased

[The image, in most Kansans’ minds, is indelible]

408)ascribe - Attribute or credit to

409)treatise - A formal exposition;written material;

410)terrain - A piece of ground having specific characteristics or military potential;parcel; piece of land;

411)nomadic - (of groups of people) tending to travel and change settlements frequently;
[ At the age of 18, he decided he wanted a teepee. Since then, he has been living a nomadic lifestyle]

412)reciprocity - A relation of mutual dependence or action or influence; [although the Minnesota-Wisconsin reciprocity agreement saw its annual reapproval come without much noise this year, next year Wisconsin-native students might]

413)hawk - An advocate of an aggressive policy on foreign relations; Diurnal bird of prey typically having short rounded wings and a long tail

414)invincibility - The property being difficult or impossible to defeat;

[Israel's Military Invincibility Dented by Hezbollah]

415)resilient - live; Recovering readily from adversity, depression, or the like; Elastic; rebounds readily;

[after bomb explosion, Resilient Mumbai traders, executives back at work]

416)bombardment - The heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area rather than hit a specific target;

417) confiscation - Seizure by the government; [Senate approves measure to bar emergency gun confiscation]

418) jot - A brief (and hurriedly handwritten) note; A slight but appreciable addition [We opened the clinic Friday morning, and patients streamed in. While one volunteer checked them in, my job was to jot down their symptoms]

419) endowment - Natural abilities or qualities; gift; talent ; The capital that provides income for an institution

420) indulgence - An inability to resist the gratification of whims and desires; craziness; Foolish or senseless behavior;
[too much indulgence spoils a child]

421) earmarked - Give or assign a resource to a particular person or cause
[In December, Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. made investment commitments exceeding $1 billion each, with the funds earmarked for research and the hiring of thousands of employees.]

422) paparazzi - A freelance photographer who pursues celebrities trying to take candid photographs of them to sell to newspapers or magazines;photographers

423) rhetoric - Using language effectively to please or persuade; High-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation; Study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking)

424) Blue - Low in spirits;
[John really looks blue today]

425) Green - Looking pale and unhealthy
[John is looking a bit green]

426) Celsius,centigrade to fahrenheit & vice versa
http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm

427) gerrymander --cheat;An act of gerrymandering (dividing a voting area so as to give your own party an unfair advantage)

428) pare - Decrease gradually or bit by bit
[UAL its headquarters staff to downtown Chicago early next year, after scouting locations that included San Francisco and Denver, as the carrier continues to try to pare expenses]

429) antidote - A remedy that stops or controls the effects of a poison

430) esoteric - arcane; Confined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circle

431) shenanigan - The use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them); Reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others

432) dichotomies -dualities; Being twofold; a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses

433) traits - A distinguishing feature of your personal nature; attributes

444) equivocally -In an ambiguous manner

445) vehement - Marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions; inclined to react violently; fervid [Vehement Protest Against Denial of Water for Cultivators]

446) protrude - Extend out or project in space; Bulge outward

447) cognitive -knowledge; The psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning;noesis

448) resilient - Elastic; rebounds readily; Recovering readily from adversity, depression, or the like

449) invincibility - The property being difficult or impossible to defeat

450) hawk - An advocate of an aggressive policy on foreign relations; pitch; war hawk

451) barrow - The quantity that a barrow will hold

452) disguise - Make unrecognizable; camouflage; An outward semblance that misrepresents the true nature of something

451) reciprocity

452) flyspeck - very small; A tiny dark speck made by the excrement of a fly.

[Well, it costs less than $50,000 to convert a pump. Assuming 20,000 conversions in the U.S., this is a $1 billion problem -- a flyspeck on a $12 trillion economy.]

453)digerati -(informal) individuals who are well versed in computer use and technology
[Like most Silicon Valley digerati, Mr. Khosla spent years ignoring politics. But last week he was bouncing between Senate offices]

454) wobble -An unsteady rocking motion

[ Stocks Wobble on Mixed Earnings News]

454) Relationship words
nephew - A son of your brother or sister
niece - A daughter of your brother or sister
cousin - The child of your aunt or uncle

455) perrenial - enduring, persisting for several years

456) augment (verb): to increase, to add to (aug + ment)
[He had to augment his salary by taking another job. ]

457)

• brevity (noun): short or concise expression
  • brev + ity
  • The politician gave short speeches and he became known for his brevity

458)

• recede (verb): to move back, to withdraw
  • re + cede
  • The water receded five days after the flood.

459)

• eternal (adjective): not effected by time, without beginning or end, ceaseless
  • etern + al
  • The lecture seemed eternal and many in the audience had fallen asleep.

460) confide (verb): to trust, to trust another person with a secret

• con + fide
• Joan confided in her friend and told her a secret.

470)

• jettison (verb): to throw away, to cast off
  • jett + ison
  • The captain of the sinking ship jettisoned the cargo.

471)

• nascent (adjective): just born
  • nasc + ent
  • The nascent kittens curled up with their mother.

472)

• novice (noun): a newcomer, a beginner, someone new to something
  • nov + ice
  • Bjorn is a novice when it comes to playing poker or other card games.

473)

• novelty (noun): something new
  • novel + ty
  • After six months the novelty of Pierre's new car is starting to wear off.

474)

• pathology (noun): the study of diseases
  • patho + log + y
  • Blaise is studying pathology because he wants to learn about diseases.

475)

• impede (verb): to hinder, to slow down
  • im + pede
  • The shackles and chains impeded the prisoner's escape.

476)

• phantom (noun): something seen but having no physical existence, a ghost.
  • phan + tom
  • The children told horror stories about phantoms and ghosts.

477)

• exquisite (adjective): carefully selected, marked by beauty
  • ex + quis + ite
  • Everyone noticed the exquisite diamond Toni was wearing.

478)

• ensue (verb): to happen afterward
  • en + sue
  • After a disagreement in the restaurant, a fight ensued in the parking lot.

479) auricular

480) triumvirate - A group of three men responsible for public administration or civil authority

[The Pfizer board put in place a triumvirate of candidates to succeed Mr.McKinnell, settiing up a race that was supposed to last through 2008.]

481) sinecure - A benefice to which no spiritual or pastoral duties are attached; An office that involves minimal duties

[The CEO post(corner suite) is a sinecure with huge rewards and little accountability bears no resemblance to present reality.

482) menacing - Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

[It seems extremely nice, with nothing obviously aggressive or menacing about them.]

483) putative - reputed; purported; supposed

[Bill Gates who chose to drop out of putatively superior schools(in his case, Harward)]

484) artillery - large but transportable armament

485) maelstrom (meylstrum) - the powerful circular current of water(usually the result of conflicting tides);vortex;whirlpool
[The U.N. has stepped into the Arab-Israeli maelstrom five times]

486) polyglot - A person who speaks more than one lanuage
[NATA troops are trained to fight together which gives them a huge advantages over polyglot U.N. forces]

487) chutzpah (xootzpu) - unbelievable gall; insolence; audacity; The trait of being rude and impertinent; inclined to take liberties
[But it sure takes chutzpah to accuse the Bush Administrationof "politicizing the FDA," as Mrs. Clinton and Washington Democrat Patty Murray did.]

488) pander -Someone who procures customers for whores; gratify;indulge
[Yet Mrs.Clinton wants all this to wait so she can pander for the feminist vote]

489) intransigent - adament;Impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason
[If Senator Clinton is still intransigent over minor issues]

490) grueling -laborious; hard; heavy; arduous; operose;Characterized by toilsome effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort
[The work at Arvind Hospital is grueling, and while pay is comparable to that of government surgeons]

491) cataract -eye disease;Clouding of the natural lens of the eye;waterfall

492) prepped - Prepare for something;
[Each surgeons works two tables, one for the patient having surgery, the other for a patient being prepped]

493) gnarled(naarld) - Used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or knots
494) scalpel - surgical knife; A thin straight surgical knife used in dissection and surgery
[It was only after long threaphy that he trained his gnarled fingers to manipulate a surgeon's scalpel]


494) peasants - A country person; One of a (chiefly European) class of agricultural laborers;
[began organizing rural fairs where peasants gathered for eye treatment]

495) quixotic - unrealistic; Not sensible about practical matters;
[Dr.V,his sister and her husband, all three took pay cuts to pursue what at the time must have seemed an almost quixotic venture]

496) bravura - Brilliant and showy technical skill
[The era of Fidel Castro finally winding down towards the dictator's final bravura performance]

497) dissident - objector; protester; Disagreeing, especially with a majority
498) dungeons - A dark cell (usually underground) where prisoners can be confined
[Though the revolution ended decades ego with Cuba's economy in ruins and its dissident voices in dungeons, the international left then and now has kept the flame of romance burning beneath Castro's carefully nurtured reputation]

499)


500) apologitics - theology; The branch of theology that is concerned with the defense of Christian doctrines
501) travails - work hard; Use of physical or mental energy; hard work
[The standard apologetics for the sorry state of the Cuban economy begin from the premise that America, not socialism, is responsible for Cuba's travails]

502) sluicing

503)clique - An exclusive circle of people with a common purpose; camp; inner circle
[All income goes to the ruling clique or to the military, bypassing the population]

504) despots - tyrants;autocrats
505)hobnob - socialize;
[Fedal used his recent tour through Europe and Asia not only to hobnob with despots in Belarus and Iran, but also to stock up on Russian weaponary]

506) afar -(old-fashioned) at or from or to a great distance; far

507) egalitarian - A person who believes in the equality of all people; Favoring social equality;equalitarian
[more egalitarian way of life]

508) plateau (pla'tow) - A relatively flat highland; reach a stable state of little change
[If house prices plateau or fall, homeowners will feel poorer, and thus less willing to go out and buy more cars , boats and refrigerators]

509) euphoria - A feeling of great (usually exaggerated) elation (A feeling of joy and pride / high spirits)
[Euphoria could turn into abject pessimism very quickly]

510) cessation - a stopping
[calls for "cessation of hostilities"]

511)Vesper - late afternoon or evening worship service

[In the Vesper light of the morning Anil Ambani went to Puri temple]

512)bevy- group of people

513)beeline- the most direct route; itinerary

514) barrages -

515)scribes - Informal term for journalists

[this market reaction came as surprise to various newspaper scribes and politicians]

516) holocaust - An act of great destruction and loss of life
[Israelis have made the necessary arrangements for a counter-strike even after a nuclear holocaust in Israel]

517) incarcerate - Lock up or confine, in or as in a jail
[As an excuse to incarcerate a foreign national just passing through,it smacks (A blow from a flat object, for example,as an open hand ) of a politically opportunistic prosecution]

518) festering - growing; To be inflamed; to grow virulent, or malignant; to grow in intensity; to rankle.
[We are trying to deal with a problem that has been festering and brewing in Lebanon now for years and years and years]

519) delineating - Show the form or outline of
Mr. Annan to come up with suggesting for delineating Israel's border with Lebanon]

520) sobriety - The state of being sober and not intoxicated by alcohol

521) apocalyptic - pointing out or revealing clearly;Prophetic of devastation or ultimate doom

522) martyrdom (maarturdum)- Death that is imposed because of the person's adherence of a religious faith or cause
[Either we all become free or we well go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom]


523) infidels - A person who does not acknowledge your god
[hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers]


524) quelled -Suppress or crush completely; overcome
acceding - To agree or express agreement
[Israel quelled two Palestinian insurgencies but ended up retreating from Gaza and acceding to the creating of Palestinian state]

525) honcho- A person who exercises control over workers [At the Nasscom's CEO forum held in Pune, for which global head honcho Victor Tsau, co-founder and senior vice-president, Linksys was present ]

526) enmeshed - Caught as if in a mesh [ Congress remains enmeshed in discussions on immigration reform]

527) omnibus - Providing for many things at once [omnibus immigration bill] [A vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport]

528) counterfeit - A copy that is represented as the original;fake; forge; imitation[Counterfeit vintages invade the cellar (basement or wine cellar)]

Words from http://www.impacttdf.com/ - All these words are about one's character or behavior

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529) meek - modest;mild; Humble in spirit or manner; suggesting retiring mildness or even cowed submissiveness;tame

530) resolute - Firm in purpose or belief; characterized by firmness and determination

531) discreet - Marked by prudence or modesty and wise self-restraint; Heedful of potential consequences; circumspect

532) impetuous - Marked by violent force; Quickly aroused to anger

534) timid - People who are fearful and cautious; Lacking self-confidence;Lacking conviction or boldness or courage;fainthearted; horrid;horrific;dreaded;fearful;horrid; timidity;

535) meticulous - Marked by precise accordance with details; Marked by extreme care in treatment of details

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536) intricacy- Marked by elaborately complex detail;elaboration

15 held in Pakistan as scale and intricacy of threat is revealed

537) liaison - A channel for communication between groups; inter-group communication

538) folklore -The unwritten literature (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture

539) disseminator - Someone who spreads the news;propagator

540) reclusive - Withdrawn from society; seeking solitude; Providing privacy or seclusion
541) extroverted - At ease in talking to others

[I've worked with leaders, whose personalities ranged from extroverted to nearly reclusive, from easygoing to controlling, from generous to parsimonious.]

542) ablest - having the necessary means or skill or know-how or authority to do something;Have the skills and qualifications to do things well; most able-bodied; most capable
[The first practice is to ask what needs to be done. Note that tbe question is not "What do I want to do?" Asking what has to be done, and taking the question seriously, is crucial for managerial success. Failure to ask this question will render even the ablest executive ineffectual.]

IMF
===

543) communique -An official report (usually sent in haste)
IMFC) of the Board of governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a communique after a one-day meeting here Sunday, calling for a series of IMF reforms.

544) plenary -comprehensive; Full in all respect

If being approved on the plenary meeting next week, the IMF will initiate an integrated set of reforms, to be completed no later than by 2008.

545) muster -Gather or bring together;rally

The proposal needs to win 85% of members' votes to pass, and opponents of the measure say they have not been able to muster the 15% necessary to kill the proposal.

546) detrimental -causing harm or injury;damaging;

[ Tata Steel can still go up to 540 pence without having a detrimental effect on their earnings per share, EPS.]

Re: Hindsight is 20/20

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/21/messages/686.html

It means that it's very easy to be wise/knowledgeable after events have happened. The 20/20 is a way of medically recording perfect vision.

Idle hands are the devil's workshop?
a chain is only as strong as its weakest link
I'll show you the ropes- to show someone the basics/how something is done



perturbed -Thrown into a state of agitated confusion; ('rattled' is an informal term)
[

kindergarten [kindur`gaart(u)n] - A preschool for children age 4 to 6 to prepare them for primary school

Cliche
“The cliché has been that when America sneezes, emerging markets catch cold,” Mr. Hallett said.