Trendy word of the day: Pep talk
Pronunciation: pep-tok
Meaning: a short speech intended to encourage
Sentence:
1. A kid gave his mom the ultimate motivational pep talk “You can be rich, you could even live in the White House someday,” he said.
2. I thought he would need a pep talk after his breakup, but I was pleasantly surprised to see him coming out of it on his own.
3. I gave myself a pep talk in the mirror.
Paranoid
Pronunciation: Paru-noyd
Meaning: A person who has an extreme and unreasonable feeling that other people do not like him/her or are going to harm or criticize him/her
Sentence:
1.Brandon, the founder of a famous US company, Deciem, often felt that somebody was trying to kill him. Everyone thought he was just being Paranoid. Eventually he died mysteriously.
2. Nitya often feels paranoid about her relationship with Anil. She keeps asking for assurance that he would marry her.
Poignant
Pronunciation: poyn-yunt
Meaning: causing sharp feeling of sadness, severely painful, deeply moving
Sentence:
1. The poignant documentary on child labour made me cry.
2. The movie awakened the poignant memories of happy childhood.
Petrichor
Pronunciation: ‘pe-tri-kor
Meaning: the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil
Sentence:
1. My sister loves petrichor, the scent of rain.
2. The petrichor scent is very pleasant and appealing.
Patronize
Pronunciation: pa-tru’nIz
Meaning: 1. To speak or behave towards someone as if they are stupid and not important (to act superior)
2. To frequently visit as a customer
Sentence:
1. Don’t patronize me. I know what I’m doing.
2. Abhay felt that he was often patronized by his tutors.
3. Don’t patronize businesses that don’t support women’s rights.
Pushover
Meaning: someone who is easily persuaded or influenced
Sentence: 1. Jazz is no pushover. She knows how to stand firm on her stand.
2. Since Kiara is desperate to get a full time job with the advertising company, she does everything everyone tells her from bringing coffee to xerox. Everyone thinks she is a pushover.
Plausible
Pronunciation: plo-zu-bul
Meaning: believable, convincing
Sentence:
1. The movie review is quite plausible; I think we should watch the movie.
2. Nick came up with a plausible excuse to leave office early.
Photobomb
Pronunciation: fow-tow-bóm
Meaning: Spoil a photograph by unexpectedly appearing in the photo’s frame
Sentence:
1. I wanted a solo picture with Priyanka Chopra, but my cousin photobombed us.
2. I could not take a good selfie with The Taj Mahal, as many tourists kept interrupting and photobombed me.
3. “Dude, can you move away? You are photobombing us.”
Palpable
Pronunciation: pal-pu-bul
Meaning: So strong or obvious that can be seen or touched
Sentence:
1. There is a palpable excitement in the city during one of its most loved festival: Vinayka Chaturthi.
2. Ryan made palpable efforts to comfort her grieving sister.
3. Sumit Paul has described the novel ‘Ninth House’ as a palpable mystery with a cliff-hanger.
Synonym: detectable, tangible, visible
Antonym: intangible, inconspicuous
Ponder
Pronunciation: pòn-du
Meaning: meditate or think carefully about something for a noticeable length of time
Sentence:
After coming home, Anil pondered his performance in the interview.
Pipe dream
Meaning: fantastic but impossible or unrealistic dream
Sentence:
1. When I said I would become an entrepreneur, it seemed like a pipe dream to my parents, but I knew I had potential.
2. Living a life like Cindrella is nothing less than a pipe dream. But who knows?
Pull a rabbit out of the hat
Meaning: To do something surprising and seemingly impossible
Sentence: Everyone thought mission Mars was impossible for India, but our elite team of scientists pulled a rabbit out of the hat and made India the first country to reach Mars in its first attempt
Pen Pal
Meaning: Pen Pals are usually strangers who write to each other especially via postal mail.
Sentence:
1. Many websites help you find pen pals from all over the world to make new friends.
2. Since I wanted to learn English, I found myself a pen pal from England.
Polyglot
Pronunciation: pólee-glót
Meaning: A person who knows and uses more than one language.
Sentence:
1. Due to the regional and linguistic diversity in India, majority of the students and professionals are polyglots.
2. Are you a polyglot?
Pro bono
Pronunciation: prow ‘bow-now
Meaning: done for public good without money
Sentence:
1. Bhaskar doesn’t take pro bono cases. He only accepts cases which make him a lot of money.
2. Ridhi does a lot of activities which are pro bono because she feels happy.
Paparazzi
Pronunciation: pa-pu-‘rat-si
Meaning: a freelance photographer who follows high profile people to take pictures and sell to a magazine/newspaper
Sentence:
1. Paparazzi hounded Taylor Swift after her show.
2. Taimur Khan is always followed by paparazzi wherever he goes.
Put your foot in your mouth
Meaning: To say or do something wrong which is offensive or embarrassing, to make matters worse
Sentence:
1. Jane put her foot in her mouth when she asked her boss about the wig he was wearing.
2. Ryan was scolded by his mom for always putting his foot in his mouth.
Preposterous
Pronunciation: pripó-stu-rus
Meaning: Silly, contrary to reason, making little or no sense
Sentence:
1. When Andrew told that he got late for the class because he could not find his socks, the tutor glared at him for giving such preposterous excuse.
2. When Ridhi suggested to her friends that they should all jump in the cold water of Han river in the chilly winter, everyone scoffed at her preposterous idea.