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compulsory · CSS study notes

Bucket 11 — Time, Order & Duration

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Best for: History, Current Affairs, tracing the "evolution" of a policy. 10 words.

1. ANACHRONISM (n.)

  • Urdu: زمانے سے مطابقت نہ رکھنے والی چیز، فرسودہ چیز
  • Meaning: something belonging to a period other than the one in which it exists
  • Syn: relic, throwback, archaism · Ant: modernity, novelty, innovation
  • ✍️ Use: The colonial-era Frontier Crimes Regulation had become an anachronism long before its repeal.
  • 🧠 Hook: ana (against) + chronos (time) → against its time, like a mobile phone in a Mughal painting.

2. ANTEDATE (v.)

  • Urdu: پہلے کا ہونا، پچھلی تاریخ ڈالنا
  • Meaning: come before in time; put an earlier date on
  • Syn: precede, predate, come before · Ant: follow, postdate, succeed
  • ✍️ Use: The Indus civilisation antedates the Egyptian pyramids in its urban planning.
  • 🧠 Hook: ante (before) + date → before the date (a.m. = ante meridiem).

3. EPHEMERAL (adj.)

  • Urdu: عارضی، فانی، چند روزہ
  • Meaning: lasting for a very short time
  • Syn: fleeting, transient, transitory, short-lived · Ant: permanent, lasting, enduring, eternal
  • ✍️ Use: Growth fuelled by consumer imports has always proved ephemeral in Pakistan.
  • 🧠 Hook: epi + hemera (day) → lasts one day, like a mayfly.

4. ERSTWHILE (adj.)

  • Urdu: سابقہ، کبھی کا
  • Meaning: former
  • Syn: former, previous, one-time, onetime · Ant: current, present, future
  • ✍️ Use: Erstwhile allies turned into bitter rivals after the coalition collapsed.
  • 🧠 Hook: erst = first (German erst) → what things were at first.

5. NASCENT (adj.)

  • Urdu: ابھرتا ہوا، ابتدائی مرحلے میں
  • Meaning: just coming into existence and beginning to develop
  • Syn: emerging, budding, incipient, embryonic · Ant: mature, established, declining, dying
  • ✍️ Use: Pakistan's nascent electric-vehicle industry needs policy stability to survive.
  • 🧠 Hook: nasci (to be born), as in natal, renaissance → just born.

6. PERENNIAL (adj.)

  • Urdu: دائمی، مسلسل، سدا بہار
  • Meaning: lasting a long time or recurring again and again
  • Syn: enduring, recurrent, perpetual, chronic · Ant: ephemeral, temporary, occasional, transient
  • ✍️ Use: Water shortage is a perennial source of tension between the provinces.
  • 🧠 Hook: per (through) + annus (year) → lasts through the years, like perennial plants.

7. TRANSITORY (adj.)

  • Urdu: عارضی، گزر جانے والا
  • Meaning: not permanent
  • Syn: temporary, fleeting, ephemeral, passing · Ant: permanent, lasting, perpetual
  • ✍️ Use: Remittance-driven booms are transitory unless invested in production.
  • 🧠 Hook: in transit: just passing through.

8. BYGONE (adj.)

  • Urdu: گزرا ہوا، ماضی کا
  • Meaning: belonging to an earlier time
  • Syn: past, former, olden, departed · Ant: present, current, future, modern
  • ✍️ Use: Nostalgia for a bygone golden age is no substitute for a reform agenda.
  • 🧠 Hook: it has gone by. "Let bygones be bygones."

9. QUOTIDIAN (adj.)

  • Urdu: روزمرہ کا، معمولی
  • Meaning: of or occurring every day; ordinary
  • Syn: daily, everyday, mundane, routine · Ant: extraordinary, rare, exceptional, unusual
  • ✍️ Use: Load-shedding has become a quotidian reality for rural households.
  • 🧠 Hook: quotidie (Latin: every day). (Source spells it "Quotidien"; the English spelling is quotidian.)

10. SYNCHRONOUS (adj.)

  • Urdu: بیک وقت، ہم وقت
  • Meaning: existing or occurring at the same time
  • Syn: simultaneous, concurrent, coinciding · Ant: asynchronous, sequential, staggered
  • ✍️ Use: The synchronous collapse of both harvests triggered a food crisis.
  • 🧠 Hook: syn (together) + chronos (time) → sync your phones.