Vocab Flashcards
Antipathy
Defn. deep-seated feeling of aversion
Eg. the media echoes this antipathy by lamenting the way technology reduces daily life to a stream of distractions
Lament
Defn. express regret or disappointment about something
Eg. she lamented the lack of shops in the town
Quintessential
Defn. representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class
Eg. the four wildlife parks in Singapore are run with Singapore’s quintessential bureaucratic efficiency
Ameliorate
Defn. make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better
Eg. the reform did much to ameliorate living standards
Panacea
Defn. a solution or remedy for all difficulties/ diseases
Eg. Technology has been perceived by many as the panacea to all human problems.
Bulwark
Defn. a defensive wall
Eg. Can family still be the bulwark against the vagaries of life it used to be?
Vagary
Defn. an unexpected or inexplicable change in a situation or someone’s behaviour
Eg. the vagaries of the weather
Nascent
Defn. just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential
Eg. the nascent space industry, the nascent carbon capture technology
Unviable
Defn. not capable of working successfully. not feasible
Eg. Renewable energy is heavily dependent on weather patterns and can be unpredictable and inconsistent, making renewable energy an unviable source of energy to replace fossil fuels fully
Judicious
Defn. having, showing good judgement or sense
Eg. Sustainable development ensures judicious use of resources to ensure continued economic growth and avoid burdening future generations with the cost of rectifying these problems
Eg. judicious use of public investments
Vernacular
Defn. spoken as one’s mother tongue
Eg. The NCPC also taps on Crime Prevention Ambassadors to regularly engage the elderly, through customised content in vernacular languages such as Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.
Onus
Defn. one’s duty or responsibility
Eg. Some believe the onus of keeping public toilets clean is on the cleaners or operators of premises where the toilets are located
Take a leaf out of ___’s book
Defn. imitate/ emulate someone in a particular way
Eg. Perhaps, SG should take a leaf out of Japan’s book.
Blight
Defn. have a severely detrimental effect on
Eg. A study by Independent Age shows that severe loneliness in England blights the lives of 700000 men and 1.1k women over 60 and is rising with astonishing speed
