Example: The journey by road, which often entailed a nightmarish three hours in rush hour traffic, may soon be completely avoidable as is all set to get India’s first dedicated helicopter-taxi (heli-taxi) service.
1. Entail [verb en-teyl; noun en-teyl, en-teyl]
Verb: to cause or involve by necessity or as a consequence; to impose as a burden; Law. to limit the passage of (a landed estate) to a specified line of heirs, so that it cannot be alienated, devised, or bequeathed; Law. to cause (anything) to descend to a fixed series of possessors.
Noun: the act of entailing; Law. the state of being entailed.
Synonyms: bring about, call for, encompass, involve, lead to, necessitate, require, cause, demand, entangle, evoke, impose, occasion.
Antonyms: exclude, untangle, untwist.
Example: Sensing that the bill was hefty for the couple and lack of excitement in the parents about the arrival of another daughter, a nursing home employee and the ASHA worker put forth a proposal before them to sell the baby and buyers would foot the bill on their behalf.
2. Hefty [hef-tee]
Adjective: heavy; weighty; big and strong; powerful; muscular; impressively large or substantial.
Synonyms: colossal, fat, heavy, large, massive, robust, sizable, substantial, tremendous, weighty, ample, awkward, beefy, brawny, burly, cumbersome, extensive.
Antonyms: easy, impoverished, inconsequential, insignificant, light.
Example: Mr. Bisi said the childless parents, who had bought the girl, have been identified, but they had absconded after the matter came to the fore.
3. Abscond [ab-skond]
Verb: to depart in a sudden and secret manner, especially to avoid capture and legal prosecution.
Synonyms: escaped, fled.
4. To the fore:
Idioms: into a conspicuous place or position; to or at the front; at hand; ready; available; still alive.
Example: According to the police, the parents, who did not want to have another girl child as they already had two girls, would have kept mum, had fellow villagers not castigated them for selling the child to a couple belonging to the minority community.
5. Mum [muhm]
Adjective: silent; not saying a word.
Interjection: say nothing! be silent!
Synonyms: bashful, mute, quiet, shy, still, buttoned up, clammed up, closemouthed, hushed, muted, nonvocal, not forthcoming, not talkative, reserved, secretive.
Antonym: agitated.
6. Castigate [kas-ti-geyt]
Verb: to criticize or reprimand severely; to punish in order to correct.
Synonyms: berate, censure, chastise, criticize, excoriate, flog, lambaste, lash, penalize, pummel, punish, rebuke, reprimand, scold, upbraid, baste, beat, blister, cane, chasten, correct, discipline, drub.
Antonyms: approve, compliment, exonerate, flatter, forgive.
Example: Thereafter, passionate advocacy by women’s rights activists resulted in the insertion of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, making the offence of dowry harassment cognizable and non-bailable, thereby bringing enormous relief to women who face virtually insurmountable obstacles in the public space, especially when taking complaints to the police or facing long-winded judicial proceedings.
7. Cognizable [kog-nuh-zuh-buh l, kon-uh-, kog-nahy-]
Adjective: capable of being perceived or known; being within the jurisdiction of a court.
Synonyms: appreciable, audible, detectable, discernible, distinct, distinguishable, observable, palpable, apparent, clear, conspicuous, evident, lucid.
Antonyms: hidden, imperceptible, indistinct, obscure.
8. Insurmountable [in-ser-moun-tuh-buh l]
Adjective: incapable of being surmounted, passed over, or overcome; insuperable.
Synonyms: hopeless, impassable, impregnable, invincible, overwhelming, unbeatable, forget it, inaccessible, indomitable.
Antonyms: beatable, attainable, defeatable, possible, surmountable.
Example: However, as with all laws relating to women, the patriarchal, self-fulfilling argument that Section 498A had created a bunch of monstrous, disgruntled women determined to destroy family values and drag innocent husbands and in-laws to jail for their own nefarious purposes began to dominate the discourse.
9. Disgruntled [dis-gruhn-tld]
Adjective: displeased and discontented; sulky; peevish.
Synonyms: annoyed, irritated, testy, bellyaching, crabbing, disappointed, discontent, discontented, displeased, dissatisfied, griping, grousing, kicking, kvetching, peeved, vexed, bad tempered.
Antonyms: contented, happy, pleased, satisfied.
10. Nefarious [ni-fair-ee-uh s]
Adjective: extremely wicked or villainous; iniquitous.
Synonyms: heinous, horrible, odious, outrageous, shameful, vicious, vile, abominable, atrocious, base, corrupt, criminal, degenerate, depraved, detestable, dreadful, evil, execrable, flagitious.
Antonyms: delightful, gentle, good, kind.