Vocabulary Exercise – 3

English Skill Building – 3

For CBSE, ICSE, ISC, CHSE, NCERT and all state board students – Learn new words and phrases with practical examples

Barrel [as verb]

It means moving too fast, almost in an uncontrolled way.  The minister’s son was at the wheels in the newly-acquired Jaguar along with his girl friend and a bottle of Whisky. To impress her, he pressed the accelerator too hard. The car raced ahead and hit a divider before overturning. The scene was captured by a pedestrian’s phone camera. It clearly showed how the car barreled down the highway before turning turtle. The young man and his friend are now battling for their lives.

Apocalyptic

The fire in the famed Paris Cathedral Notre Dame, has left the Parisians shell-shocked. Some of the believers think this apocalyptic inferno is God’s retribution for the sins of the human race.

To leave something in one’s wake

The hurricane Michael passed over Florida leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.

Moorings

Meaning 1 – The fisherman went home for lunch tying his boat to the mooring.

Metaphoric meaning – The man was a devout Muslim. His religious moorings were laid quite early in his life when he studied in a Madrassa.

Brackish

The waters of the lake Chilika in the eastern coast of India is connected to the Bay of Bengal. The adjoining sea makes the waters mildly salty. Certain species of prawns grow well in such brackish water.

Obliterate

It is so very heartening to see how the recent military conflict between India and Pakistan was very quickly contained, thanks to international intervention. If the conflict had spiraled into a nuclear exchange, the whole of South Asia would have been obliterated.

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