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compulsory · CSS study notes

Set 8 — Pernicious to Recalcitrant

1. PERNICIOUS (adj.)

  • Urdu: مہلک، آہستہ آہستہ تباہ کرنے والا
  • Meaning: having a gradual harmful effect
  • Synonyms: harmful, destructive, insidious, deleterious, damaging
  • Antonyms: beneficial, harmless, wholesome, salutary
  • Use: Rumour-mongering has a pernicious effect on society.

2. PERPETUATE (v.)

  • Urdu: قائم رکھنا، جاری رکھنا
  • Meaning: to cause to continue indefinitely
  • Synonyms: maintain, preserve, sustain, prolong, keep alive
  • Antonyms: end, abolish, eradicate, discontinue
  • Use: Biased textbooks perpetuate stereotypes.

3. PERSPICACIOUS (adj.)

  • Urdu: زیرک، دور اندیش
  • Meaning: quick to notice and understand
  • Synonyms: shrewd, astute, discerning, sagacious, perceptive
  • Antonyms: obtuse, dull, undiscerning, slow
  • Use: A perspicacious reader spots the hidden assumption.

4. PERTINENT (adj.)

  • Urdu: متعلقہ، برمحل
  • Meaning: relevant
  • Synonyms: relevant, apposite, germane, apt, applicable
  • Antonyms: irrelevant, immaterial, extraneous, unrelated
  • Use: She asked a pertinent question about funding.

5. PERVASIVE (adj.)

  • Urdu: ہمہ گیر، ہر طرف پھیلا ہوا
  • Meaning: spreading widely throughout
  • Synonyms: widespread, prevalent, ubiquitous, rife, omnipresent
  • Antonyms: rare, limited, localized, confined
  • Use: Nepotism is pervasive in recruitment.

6. PETULANT (adj.)

  • Urdu: چڑچڑا، بدمزاج
  • Meaning: childishly sulky
  • Synonyms: peevish, irritable, sulky, querulous, cross
  • Antonyms: good-humoured, patient, cheerful, easy-going
  • Use: His petulant response ended the discussion.

7. PHILANTHROPIC (adj.)

  • Urdu: انسان دوست، مخیر
  • Meaning: seeking to promote others' welfare
  • Synonyms: charitable, benevolent, humanitarian, altruistic, generous
  • Antonyms: misanthropic, selfish, miserly, uncharitable
  • Use: Philanthropic trusts run many of our hospitals.

8. PHLEGMATIC (adj.)

  • Urdu: ٹھنڈے مزاج والا
  • Meaning: calm and unemotional
  • Synonyms: composed, placid, stolid, impassive, unexcitable
  • Antonyms: excitable, emotional, volatile, passionate
  • Use: His phlegmatic temperament suits crisis management.

9. PITHY (adj.)

  • Urdu: مختصر اور جامع
  • Meaning: brief and full of meaning
  • Synonyms: succinct, terse, concise, epigrammatic, compact
  • Antonyms: verbose, rambling, wordy, prolix
  • Use: A pithy conclusion leaves a strong impression.

10. PLACATE (v.)

  • Urdu: منانا، راضی کرنا
  • Meaning: to calm someone's anger
  • Synonyms: pacify, appease, mollify, conciliate, soothe
  • Antonyms: provoke, enrage, antagonize, anger
  • Use: Concessions were offered to placate the traders.

11. PLAUSIBLE (adj.)

  • Urdu: معقول لگنے والا
  • Meaning: seeming reasonable or probable
  • Synonyms: credible, believable, likely, convincing, reasonable
  • Antonyms: implausible, unlikely, far-fetched, incredible
  • Use: He offered a plausible explanation for the delay.

12. PLETHORA (n.)

  • Urdu: بہتات، ضرورت سے زیادہ
  • Meaning: an excess
  • Synonyms: excess, surplus, glut, abundance, profusion
  • Antonyms: dearth, paucity, scarcity, shortage
  • Use: A plethora of regulations discourages new business.

13. POIGNANT (adj.)

  • Urdu: دل کو چھو لینے والا، دردناک
  • Meaning: evoking a keen sense of sadness
  • Synonyms: moving, touching, heart-rending, affecting, sad
  • Antonyms: unmoving, cheerful, unaffecting
  • Use: The photograph of the flood victim was poignant.

14. PRAGMATIC (adj.)

  • Urdu: عملیت پسند
  • Meaning: dealing with matters realistically
  • Synonyms: practical, realistic, sensible, businesslike, down-to-earth
  • Antonyms: idealistic, impractical, dogmatic, unrealistic
  • Use: A pragmatic foreign policy serves national interest.

15. PRECARIOUS (adj.)

  • Urdu: غیر مستحکم، ڈانواں ڈول
  • Meaning: dangerously unstable
  • Synonyms: insecure, unstable, shaky, risky, perilous
  • Antonyms: secure, stable, safe, steady
  • Use: Daily wagers live in a precarious economic position.

16. PRECEDENT (n.)

  • Urdu: نظیر
  • Meaning: an earlier case used as a guide
  • Synonyms: example, model, standard, pattern, exemplar
  • Antonyms: novelty, departure, exception
  • Use: The decision set a dangerous precedent.

17. PRECLUDE (v.)

  • Urdu: روک دینا، ناممکن بنانا
  • Meaning: to prevent from happening
  • Synonyms: prevent, rule out, prohibit, bar, exclude
  • Antonyms: allow, permit, enable, facilitate
  • Use: A criminal conviction precludes him from contesting.

18. PREDILECTION (n.)

  • Urdu: خاص رغبت، ترجیح
  • Meaning: a preference or special liking
  • Synonyms: preference, liking, penchant, partiality, inclination
  • Antonyms: aversion, dislike, disinclination
  • Use: He has a predilection for classical Urdu poetry.

19. PRODIGAL (adj.)

  • Urdu: فضول خرچ
  • Meaning: spending money wastefully
  • Synonyms: extravagant, wasteful, spendthrift, profligate, lavish
  • Antonyms: thrifty, frugal, economical, prudent
  • Use: Prodigal spending on protocol drew criticism.

20. PRODIGIOUS (adj.)

  • Urdu: حیرت انگیز حد تک بڑا
  • Meaning: remarkably great
  • Synonyms: enormous, colossal, immense, remarkable, phenomenal
  • Antonyms: small, modest, ordinary, insignificant
  • Use: She has a prodigious memory for dates.

21. PROFOUND (adj.)

  • Urdu: گہرا، عمیق
  • Meaning: very deep or intense
  • Synonyms: deep, intense, far-reaching, penetrating, weighty
  • Antonyms: shallow, superficial, trivial, slight
  • Use: The judgment had profound constitutional implications.

22. PROLIFERATE (v.)

  • Urdu: تیزی سے بڑھنا
  • Meaning: to increase rapidly in number
  • Synonyms: multiply, mushroom, burgeon, spread, escalate
  • Antonyms: decrease, dwindle, decline, diminish
  • Use: Private tuition centres have proliferated in every town.

23. PROLIFIC (adj.)

  • Urdu: کثیر التصنیف، زرخیز
  • Meaning: producing much work or fruit
  • Synonyms: productive, fruitful, creative, fertile, abundant
  • Antonyms: unproductive, barren, sterile, unfruitful
  • Use: He is the most prolific columnist of his generation.

24. PROPENSITY (n.)

  • Urdu: رجحان، فطری میلان
  • Meaning: a natural tendency
  • Synonyms: tendency, inclination, proclivity, disposition, bent
  • Antonyms: aversion, disinclination, reluctance
  • Use: The report notes a propensity to under-report income.

25. PROSAIC (adj.)

  • Urdu: روکھا، غیر دلچسپ
  • Meaning: dull and ordinary
  • Synonyms: mundane, pedestrian, humdrum, dull, commonplace
  • Antonyms: poetic, imaginative, exciting, inspired
  • Use: The reason was prosaic: no one had signed the file.

26. PRUDENT (adj.)

  • Urdu: محتاط، دور اندیش
  • Meaning: acting with care for the future
  • Synonyms: wise, judicious, cautious, sensible, far-sighted
  • Antonyms: reckless, rash, imprudent, careless
  • Use: It is prudent to keep three months' savings.

27. PUGNACIOUS (adj.)

  • Urdu: جھگڑالو، لڑاکا
  • Meaning: eager to fight or argue
  • Synonyms: combative, belligerent, aggressive, quarrelsome, truculent
  • Antonyms: peaceable, conciliatory, gentle, docile
  • Use: His pugnacious style suits opposition, not office.

28. QUANDARY (n.)

  • Urdu: مخمصہ، شش و پنج
  • Meaning: a state of uncertainty over what to do
  • Synonyms: dilemma, predicament, impasse, plight, fix
  • Antonyms: certainty, solution, resolution
  • Use: Rising fuel prices left the ministry in a quandary.

29. QUIXOTIC (adj.)

  • Urdu: خیالی، غیر حقیقت پسند
  • Meaning: unrealistically idealistic
  • Synonyms: idealistic, impractical, visionary, romantic, utopian
  • Antonyms: pragmatic, realistic, practical, hard-headed
  • Use: The plan was noble but quixotic.

30. RECALCITRANT (adj.)

  • Urdu: سرکش، نافرمان
  • Meaning: stubbornly refusing to obey authority
  • Synonyms: defiant, unruly, intractable, refractory, obstinate
  • Antonyms: obedient, compliant, docile, cooperative
  • Use: Recalcitrant departments ignored the circular.