Example: A particular brand of intelligentsia, finding itself marginalised in the national discourse, is visibly uncomfortable with the massive mandate of 2014.
1. Intelligentsia [in-tel-i-jent-see-uh, -gent-]
Plural noun: intellectuals considered as a group or class, especially as a cultural, social, or political elite.
Synonyms: circle, club, company, degree, family, grade, league, place, position, ancestry, birth.
Antonyms: unemployment, conclusion, consequence, death, effect, end, outgrowth, result.
2. Marginalize [mahr-juh-nl-ahyz]
Verb: to place in a position of marginal importance, influence, or power.
Synonyms: criticize, demean, deprecate, diminish, disparage, belittle, depreciate, dismiss.
Antonyms: elevate, praise, promote, celebrate, value, acclaim, adulate.
3. Discourse [noun dis-kawrs, -kohrs, dis-kawrs, -kohrs; verb dis-kawrs, -kohrs]
Noun: communication of thought by words; talk; conversation; a formal discussion of a subject in speech or writing, as a dissertation, treatise, sermon, etc.
Verb: to communicate thoughts orally; talk; converse.
Synonyms: communication, conversation, discussion, essay, lecture, monologue, rhetoric, speech.
Antonyms: quiet, silence.
4. Mandate [man-deyt]
Noun: a command or authorization to act in a particular way on a public issue given by the electorate to its representative; a command from a superior court or official to a lower one.
Verb: to authorize or decree (a particular action), as by the enactment of law; to order or require; make mandatory; to consign (a territory, colony, etc.) to the charge of a particular nation under a mandate.
Synonyms: authorization, command, decree, directive, injunction, instruction, sanction.
Antonyms: breach, break, denial, question, refusal, request.
Example: Following a convenient tweak of the rules, Maharashtra’s Social Justice Minister Rajkumar Badole and Social Justice Department Secretary Dinesh Waghmare have been able to enrol their offspring in a government scheme meant to help poor Scheduled Caste students study abroad.
5. Tweak [tweek]
Verb: to pinch and pull with a jerk and twist; to tweak someone’s nose; to pull or pinch the nose of, especially gently; to make a minor adjustment to.
Noun: an act or instance of tweaking; a sharp, twisting pull or jerk.
Synonyms: tease, twist, jerk, pinch, pluck, pull.
Example: Over 100 passengers on Wednesday got stuck inside a Lucknow Metro train for an hour due to a technical snag on the first day of its commercial run, drawing flak from former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
6. Snag [snag]
Noun: a tree or part of a tree held fast in the bottom of a river, lake, etc., and forming an impediment or danger to navigation; a short, projecting stump, as of a branch broken or cut off; any sharp or rough projection; a jagged hole, tear, pull, or run in a fabric, as caused by catching on a sharp projection.
Verb: to run or catch up on a snag; to damage by so doing.
Synonyms: barrier, bug, crunch, difficulty, disadvantage, drawback, glitch, hitch, holdup, hurdle, impediment, inconvenience, obstacle, stumbling block, bar, blockade, brake, catch, clog.
Antonyms: advantage, aid, assistance, benefit.
7. Flak [flak]
Noun: antiaircraft fire, especially as experienced by the crews of combat airplanes at which the fire is directed; criticism; hostile reaction; abuse.
Synonyms: abuse, brickbat, censure, condemnation, disapprobation, disapproval, disparagement, hostility, knock, opposition, pan, rap, swipe.
Antonyms: approval, commendation, compliment, endorsement.
Example: The police used batons to quell the protest and later arrested 11 persons for the violence.
8. Baton [buh-ton, ba-, bat-n]
Noun: a wand used by a conductor; a rod of lightweight metal fitted with a weighted bulb at each end and carried and twirled by a drum major or majorette.
Synonyms: protection
cudgel, mace, nightstick, rod, truncheon, wand, billy, blackjack, club, staff, billy club.
9. Quell [kwel]
Verb: to suppress; put an end to; extinguish; to vanquish; subdue; to quiet or allay (emotions, anxieties, etc.).
Synonyms: annihilate, conquer, crush, extinguish, overcome, put down, quench, silence, stamp out, stifle, subdue, kill, overpower, queer, stop, subjugate.
Antonyms: build up, compliment, encourage, help.
Example: In a span of two weeks, almost 300,000 Rohingya have crossed over to Bangladesh from the northern Rakhine state in Myanmar, putting Bangladesh under immense strain and compelling the refugees to find shelter in squalid, unsanitary camps scattered along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.
10. Squalid [skwol-id, skwaw-lid]
Adjective: foul and repulsive, as from lack of care or cleanliness; neglected and filthy; wretched; miserable; degraded; sordid.
Synonyms: dingy, fetid, filthy, grimy, muddy, musty, ramshackle, seedy, shabby, sordid, wretched, abominable, base, broken-down, decayed.
Antonyms: bright, clean, clear, good.
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