My Science School

Meaning

Fiasco is a noun which means a complete failure of some attempt, especially an ambitious project. The failure is often a big embarrassment.

Origin of the word

It comes from the French phrase, faire fiasco meaning “turn out a failure” often used in the 19th Century. In Italian the word ‘far fiasco’ meant “suffer a complete breakdown in performance.” In 1855, the word was often used among theater artistes to mean “a failure in performance”, but in time, it has acquired the general sense of “any ignominious failure or dismal op,” on or off the stage.

Used in a sentence

The leader took responsibility for the electoral fiasco.

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Meaning

The adjective refers to the nature of any liquid that’s fizzy and bubbling. It also describes a lively person.

Origin

The word is derived from the noun effervescence. It has Latin roots – it comes from the word effervescere, which roughly translates to “to boil up, boil over”. Though the word is said to have originated in the 17th Century, its use to describe a vivacious person is believed to have come up several decades later.

Example

Her effervescent nature made her likeable.

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Meaning

Insouciane is a feeling of careless indifference. It is a lack of concern shown by someone towards something they might be expected to take seriously. The term conveys a certain degree of lightheartedness.

Origin

Originating from the French in the late 18th Century, the word is a combination of the negative prefix in- and soucier, meaning “to trouble or disturb.” Soucier in turn came from the Latin sollicitus meaning “anxious”. The word “unsouciance” is a noun and it has been part of the English language since the 1800s.

Example sentence

She entered the conference hall with complete insouciane to the fact that she was late.

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Meaning

As an adjective, the word “nonchalant” is used to describe someone who has an air of unconcern or indifference. It also means behaving in a calm manner, without getting excited or frightened.

Origin

Nonchalant comes from an Old French word “nonchaloir”, meaning “to disregard.” It is not the opposite of chalant.

Examples

1. Wanting to appear humble, Pratik feigned nonchalance as he walked up to the stage to collect hisprize.
2. The nonchalant attitude of the people towards the flood-affected regions is a cause for concern.

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Meaning

The word jejune is an adjective that conveys the meaning ‘naïve, simplistic and superficial.” When used with ideas or writings, it can correspond to them being dull and uninteresting or even simple and childish.

Origin

The word which has been around since the early 17th Century has steadily decreased in usage since the 19th Century.

The word is derived from the Latin word ieiunus – a word of obscure origin that means “dry, barren” and literally “hungry, fasting”.

It is believed that it could be from a word whose root meaning is to “worship, reverence”, with cognates (words with common etymological origins) including Sanskrit yajati and Greek agios. The original sense of the word was thus “without food” and hence “not intentionally nourishing”.

Usage

The politician made jejune generalizations about the public that he was elected to serve.

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Meaning

Pronounced ra-pawr, the word rapport means relation or connection. It is especially used when the relationship it corresponds to has signs of harmony or sympathy.

Origin

The word, which is in use from the 1660s, comes from the French word rapport that means “bearing, yield, harmony, agreement”. The French word is a derivative or back-formation from rapporter, which means “to bring back or report.”

The psychological meaning associated with rapport – intense harmonious accord as between a therapist and patient – was first arrested only as late as 1894.

The word, however, has been employed in a very similar sense from 1845, when used in reference with mesmerism.

Usage

A good teacher usually tries to establish close rapport with students.

 

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Meaning

As a noun, inferno means a large fire that is dangerously out of control. It also means hell or hell fire. The word is also used to refer to a place or a situation that is too hot, chaotic or noisy.

Origin

As a name of Hell, or a word for things which resemble it, the Italian form inferno has been used in English since 1834. Italian poet Dante Alighieri first used the word ‘inferno’ in his 14th century epic poem “Divine Comedy”. Inferno is the first part of the poem followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno tells the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil.

Usage

1. The wildfire turned into an inferno because of strong winds.
2. During summers, the crowded train turns into an inferno.

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Meaning

The occurrence of something that happens quite by chance; it is usually a happy instance.

Origin

The word was coined by English author Horace Walpole, as is evident in a letter he wrote on January 28, 1754. In the letter he refers to the discoveries in a fairytale called “The Three Princes of Serendip”.

Serendip refers to what is now Sri Lanka, and the tale narrates the unexpected discoveries they make during their travels. The author likens a discovery of his to the ones in the tale and calls it Serendipity, and the word is born. Apparently, the word was hardly used till the 20th Century, the word also got as adjective – serendipitous.

Example

It was serendipity that brought me to this island.

 

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Meaning

Anathema is something or someone vehemently disliked, if something is anathema to you, you strongly hate it.

Origin

The term comes from Latin anathema, meaning “anything dedicated to evil” via Greek anatithenai (ana meaning “up” + tithenai meaning “to place”). The original Greek meaning of the word was simply “an offering”. The term “anathema” is commonly used without “an” or “the”. The first-known use of the term in English was in the early 16th Century.

Example sentences:

Crowds are anathema everywhere in these COVID-19 days.

The noise of the mixer-grinder is anathema to me.

 

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Meaning

Do you ever find yourself talking about the past as if it was perfect and glossing over the unhappy parts? Well, that’s called romanticizing. As a verb, the word ‘romanticise’ refers to dealing with ordescribing something in an unrealistic or idealistic fashion. It means to talk about something in a way that makes it sound more appealing than it actually is.

Origins

The term ‘romanticise’ is connected to Romanticism, which was an artistic and literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th Century. Romanticism emphasized on emotion as well as glory cation of the past and nature.

Usage

1. Shruti romanticisedthe life of a soldier, ithout knowing how lonely it can be.
2. Films often romanticize poverty through ragstoriches stories.

 

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Meaning

An action or a decision is described as arbitrary when it is taken based on chance or individual discretion rather than reason. The word could also be used to describe a ruling body that exercises its power without any limitation, often autocratic its approach.

 Origin

Arbitrary is derived from the Latin word arbiter meaning “judge”. In English, the word was initially used to indicate the sort of decision left up to the determination of a judge rather than defined by law. Today, it can also be used for anything that’s based on a personal choice or whim.

Usage

The arrest of the activist was seen as an arbitrary move by the authorities.

 

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Meaning

A palindrome is a word, number or sequence of words that reads the same either forward or backward. For example, racecar.

Origin

The term ‘palindrome’ is derived from the Greek rots palin meaning “again or back” and dromos meaning “course, direction, walkway.” It was coined by English poet and playwright Ben Jonson in the 17th Century.

Example sentences

Do you know “Never odd or even” is a palindrome?

When my teacher asked me to come up with a palindrome using five letters, I said “level”. She said, “Good.”

 

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Meaning

Minimalism was an art movement that began in the U.S. in the mid 20th Century.

Origin

As the self-explanatory word suggests, the art created during the time focused on keeping the depiction and creation to a bare minimum. This was evident in not just visual arts such as painting, sculpture, photography, films, etc. it was visible in music too. Gradually, the idea of minimalism spread to one’s lifestyle. In the last decade or so, many people across the world have begun embracing minimalism as a way of life, and are living a simple life only with things they absolutely weed. It is believed that the resultant clutter-free life can have positive impact on not just human well-being but also on the planet, since it is seen as a sustainable way of living.

Example

Minimalism can help us appreciate what we really value in life.

 

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The word chic means stylish or smart, elegance, especially of a dress or manner.

Origin

Chic is a French word commonly used in English. It is related to German word “schick” meaning “tact, skill, and aptness”. It can also be traced back to the French word “chicane”, from “chicanerie”, which means “trickery”.

Examples

1. A chick restaurant has opened up in our neighbourhood.
2. Meena looked chic in her new haircut.

 

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The word relegation refers to the action of assigning someone or something to an inferior rank or position. It is popularly used in sports, where it corresponds to the transfer of a sports team or player to a lower division of the league.

Origin

In use from the 1580s, the word has seen a steady increase in usage over time. In fact, the usage has multiplied manifold since the 1800s and has peaked since the second half of the 20th Century – probably due to its association with sports.

The root word of relegation is relegate, which comes from the Latin word relegates or relegare. The word relegare can be broken down into re for “back” and legare for “send with a commission”. Initially used to mean “to banish or to send into exile”, the meaning “to place in a position of inferiority” was recorded from 1790.

Usage

As we approach the end of any Premier League season, there is always a tussle between the clubs at the bottom of the table to avoid relegation.

 

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