Egalitarian

Word for the day is: Egalitarian

adjective of, relating to, or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities

Taken from this article:
The egalitarian nature of the internet is under threat, argues internet law professor Michael Geist.

Pliant

Words for the day are: Pliant and pliable.

Pliant

adjective pliable

Taken from this article:
The gel allows the battery to be extremely pliant, with a thickness of 300 microns.

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Pliable

adjective easily bent; flexible

Venerate

Word for the day is: Venerate

verb [with obj.] (often be venerated) regard with great respect

Taken from this article:
We should not dismiss Wikipedia, but we should not venerate it either.

Portent

Word for the day is: Portent

noun a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen

Taken from this article:
Parker's effort was merely a portent of what was to come two minutes before the interval when Owen struck again to re-establish their lead.

Bereavement

Word for the day is: Bereavement

Derivation from the verb bereave.

verb (be bereaved) be deprived of a close relation or friend through their death

Taken from this article:
Benitez to stay in Japan despite bereavement.

Loquacious

Word for the day is: Loquacious

adjective talkative.

Taken from this article:
Mr Durkan has been characterised by his political enemies as lacking charisma in a political environment dominated by more than its fair share of media personalities.

But he can hold his own in any political debate and despite being rather loquacious is also widely regarded for his one-liners. As finance minister, he would quip: "Does my budget look big in this?"

Assiduous

Word for the day is: Assiduous

adjective showing great care and perseverance

Taken from this article:
Mr Grieve was praised for his "skilled and assiduous performances in the House of Commons where he has continued all year to harass the government and call ministers to account".

Curdle

Word for the day is: Curdle

verb separate or cause to separate into curds or lumps

e.g. The sauce may curdle if you add too much lemon juice.

Tortuous

Word for the day is: Tortuous

adjective full of twists and turns

Taken from this article:
Liverpool fans endured a tortuous route to the final, with only a late goal from Gerrard against Olympiakos in the group stages keeping them in the tournament with Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea all seen off along the way.

Purview

Word for the day is: Purview

noun [in sing.] the scope of the influence or concerns of something

Taken from this article:
e.g. It said it should be able to implement the justice system as it involved religious matters which come under state purview.

Cold

Today is: COLD

adjective - of or at a low or relatively low temperature, especially when compared with the human body

Example:
It is a very cold day today.

Repudiate

Word for the day is: Repudiate

verb [with obj.] refuse to accept or be associated with

Taken from this article.
e.g. Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel on Thursday called the remarks "an outrageous gaffe, which I want to repudiate in the sharpest manner", while in Washington for a meeting with George W. Bush.

Week 3

Words learnt last week:

contrite, decrepit, ominous, assuage, wan , dissemble, sunny

Allay

Word for the day is: Allay

verb [with obj.] diminish or put at rest (fear, suspicion, or worry)

e.g. Experts are trying to allay fears that salmon and fish in the South are under threat from a foreign fish species.

Sunny

Word for the day is: Sunny

adjective (of a person or their temperament) cheery and bright
adjective (sunnier, sunniest) bright with sunlight
adjective (of a place) receiving much sunlight

e.g. (of a person or their temperament) He seems to be quite sunny today.

Dissemble

Word for the day is: Dissemble

verb [no obj.] conceal one's true motives, feelings, or beliefs

dissemblance noun
dissembler noun

e.g. In my experience, Cameron never gave a straight answer when dissemblance was a plausible alternative.

verb [with obj.] disguise or conceal (a feeling or intention)

e.g. He smiled, dissembling his true emotion.

Wan

Word for the day is: Wan

adjective (of a person's complexion or appearance) pale and giving the impression of illness or exhaustion

e.g. I would do anything to bring a smile to her wan face.

Assuage

Word for the day is: Assuage

verb [with obj.] make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense

e.g. Home Affairs Minister Datuk Azmi Khalid and his 14-member delegation arrived yesterday morning on a goodwill tour to assuage China’s concern of the recent spate of incidents involving Chinese nationals in Malaysia.

Ominous

Word for the day is: Ominous

adjective giving the worrying impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threateningly inauspicious

e.g. Celtic charged back to the top of the Premier League and went 17 points clear of arch rivals Rangers after staging an ominous second-half comeback to win 3-1 at Aberdeen.

Decrepit

Word for the day is: Decrepit

1. adjective (of a person) elderly and infirm
2. adjective worn out or ruined because of age or neglect

e.g. Business chiefs and Nigerian political leaders have rescued a landmark deal aimed at replacing the country's scarce and decrepit phone line coverage.

Contrite

Word for the day is: Contrite

adjective feeling or expressing remorse at the recognition that one has done wrong

e.g. "It was out of frustration, a folly that he is deeply contrite about. He has never tried to escape the consequences."

Week 2

Words learnt last week:

nascent, xenophobia, supercilious, harangue, fawn, destitute, remorse

Remorse

Word for the day is: Remorse

noun [mass noun] deep regret or guilt for a wrong committed

e.g. A former US church leader who confessed to the notorious "Bind, Torture, Kill" (BTK) serial murders in Kansas has expressed remorse at the deaths.

Destitute

Word for the day is: Destitute

adjective without the basic necessities of life

e.g. The fighting caused several million people to become destitute refugees.

Fawn

Word for the day is: Fawn

verb [no obj.] (of a person) give a servile display of exaggerated flattery or affection, typically in order to gain favour or advantage.

e.g. As soon as they realised that Wahab is a Dato', they began to fawn over him unashamedly.

Author's note: I think 'to fawn' is 'bodek' in Malay. I am not sure though.

Harangue

Word for the day is: Harangue

noun a lengthy and aggressive speech.
e.g. His long harangue was punctuated with emotions that were meant to tug at the voters’ heartstrings.

verb [with obj.] lecture (someone) at length in an aggressive and critical manner
e.g. I was harangued by my lecturer for being too stupid for his class.

Supercilious

Word for the day is: supercilious

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary of English

adjective behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others

Example:
Malaysians are not racists, they just do not like supercilious people.

Xenophobia

Word for the day is: Xenophobia

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary of English

noun - intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.

Example:
A british columnist living in Malaysia claims that there is a wide and ugly sense of racism and xenophobia amongst Malaysians. If he actually stops looking down on them maybe he would see things differently.

Derivatives:
xenophobe
noun- someone who is suffering from xenophobia
xenophobic
adjective

Nascent

Word for the day is: Nascent

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary of English:

adjective - (especially of a process or organization) just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential.

Example:
Mr Cohen has reportedly raised $8.75m in financing to turn the BitTorrent technology and the associated website into a commercial download service. The deal is widely seen as giving that nascent service official approval.

Week 1

Words learnt last week:

sapodilla, julienne, inauspicious, apathetic, grasp the nettle, culpable, curmudgeon

Curmudgeon

Word for the day is: Curmudgeon

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary

noun a bad-tempered or surly person

Even the greatest curmudgeon can't deny the brief thrill on opening the bedroom curtains and seeing the drabness of a British winter transformed into a pearly whiteness.

Culpable

Word for the day is: Culpable

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary:

adjective - deserving blame

Example:
Liverpool missed a catalogue of chances with both strikers Peter Crouch and Fernando Morientes culpable.

Grasp the nettle

Idiom for the day: Grasp the nettle

Taken from The Oxford New English Dictionary:

idiom to tackle a difficulty boldly.

Explanation:
A nettle stings when touched lightly, but not when grasped firmly.

Example:
The government must grasp the nettle and make some tough decisions.

Apathetic

Word for the day is: apathetic

adjective - showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern

Originated from the noun apathy; lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern

Example:
Pompey's apathetic display lent weight to the adage that a team always loses after its boss is named manager of the month.

Inauspicious

Word for the day is: Inauspicious

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary:
adjective not auspicious; not conducive to success, unpromising

Example:
In what could be termed an inauspicious start to their World Cup campaign, Togo finished bottom place in a four-nation tournament in Tehran on Sunday.

Julienne

Word for the day would be: Julienne

Taken from dictionary.com:

noun Consommé or broth garnished with long thin strips of vegetables.

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary:

noun a portion of food cut into short, thin strips

Example: a julienne of vegetables

verb [with obj.] cut (food) into short, thin strips.

Example: Could you julienne the carrot for me? I need it julienned for the coleslaw.

adjective - julienned

Sapodilla

Word for the day would be: Sapodilla.

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary of English:

noun a large evergreen tropical American tree which has edible fruit and hard durable wood and yields chicle.

Example of usage:
- The weird malaysian student asked me to give you this fruit. I think its a sapodilla.

Malay word for Sapodilla: Buah Ciku.