CSS Prepare

compulsory · CSS study notes

Bucket 2 — Communication & Speech

🗣️

Best for: Précis tone questions, Composition, Interview (viva). 10 words.

1. ARTICULATE (adj./v.)

  • Urdu: واضح اور رواں بولنے والا؛ واضح طور پر بیان کرنا
  • Meaning: expressing oneself clearly and fluently; to express clearly
  • Syn: eloquent, fluent, lucid, coherent · Ant: inarticulate, incoherent, tongue-tied, muddled
  • ✍️ Use: Jinnah was an articulate advocate who argued the Muslim case in impeccable English.
  • 🧠 Hook: articulus (joint) → words joined neatly at the joints, each one clear.

2. BOMBASTIC (adj.)

  • Urdu: لفاظی سے بھرپور، شیخی بھری (تقریر)
  • Meaning: high-sounding but with little meaning; inflated
  • Syn: pompous, grandiloquent, turgid, pretentious · Ant: plain, simple, understated, modest
  • ✍️ Use: Bombastic election promises rarely survive the first budget.
  • 🧠 Hook: a bomb goes off: loud noise, no substance left behind.

3. COGENT (adj.)

  • Urdu: مدلل، قائل کرنے والا
  • Meaning: clear, logical and convincing
  • Syn: convincing, compelling, persuasive, sound · Ant: weak, unconvincing, flimsy, feeble
  • ✍️ Use: A cogent essay supports every claim with evidence, not emotion.
  • 🧠 Hook: co + agent: an argument that drives together (Latin cogere) all the facts toward one conclusion.

4. DIATRIBE (n.)

  • Urdu: تلخ اور سخت تنقید، زہریلی تقریر
  • Meaning: a bitter, forceful verbal attack
  • Syn: tirade, harangue, invective, rant · Ant: praise, eulogy, tribute, compliment
  • ✍️ Use: The minister's speech descended into a diatribe against the opposition instead of a policy statement.
  • 🧠 Hook: dia (through) + tribe (rub) → words that rub through your skin.

5. ELOQUENT (adj.)

  • Urdu: فصیح و بلیغ، خوش بیان
  • Meaning: fluent, forceful and moving in speech or writing
  • Syn: articulate, expressive, persuasive, silver-tongued · Ant: inarticulate, halting, faltering
  • ✍️ Use: Iqbal's eloquent verse awakened a sleeping nation.
  • 🧠 Hook: e (out) + loqu (speak) → speech flowing out beautifully (loqu = talk, as in loquacious).

6. GARRULOUS (adj.)

  • Urdu: بہت باتونی، فضول گو
  • Meaning: excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters
  • Syn: talkative, loquacious, chatty, verbose · Ant: taciturn, reticent, laconic, silent
  • ✍️ Use: A garrulous précis that repeats the author's examples will lose marks.
  • 🧠 Hook: Garry talks so much he uses up all our time.

7. LOQUACIOUS (adj.)

  • Urdu: باتونی، زیادہ بولنے والا
  • Meaning: talkative
  • Syn: garrulous, talkative, voluble, chatty · Ant: taciturn, reserved, reticent, quiet
  • ✍️ Use: Loquacious guests on talk shows often confuse volume with argument.
  • 🧠 Hook: loqu = speak (eloquent, soliloquy) → full of speaking.

8. LACONIC (adj.)

  • Urdu: کم گو، مختصر بات کرنے والا
  • Meaning: using very few words
  • Syn: concise, terse, brief, pithy · Ant: verbose, wordy, garrulous, long-winded
  • ✍️ Use: A laconic précis that keeps every key idea is exactly what the examiner rewards.
  • 🧠 Hook: from Laconia (Sparta). When Philip threatened "If I enter Laconia…", the Spartans replied: "If."

9. POMPOUS (adj.)

  • Urdu: شیخی خور، مغرور، نمائشی
  • Meaning: affectedly grand, solemn or self-important
  • Syn: self-important, pretentious, bombastic, arrogant · Ant: modest, humble, unassuming, simple
  • ✍️ Use: Pompous official language hides simple facts from the public it is meant to serve.
  • 🧠 Hook: pomp = grand show → a person always on parade. (Source's "rich voice" meaning is incorrect.)

10. RETICENT (adj.)

  • Urdu: کم گو، خاموش طبع، بات چھپانے والا
  • Meaning: not revealing one's thoughts or feelings readily
  • Syn: reserved, taciturn, restrained, tight-lipped · Ant: talkative, forthcoming, open, candid
  • ✍️ Use: The government remained reticent about the terms of the IMF agreement.
  • 🧠 Hook: re + tacere (be silent), related to tacit: someone who holds back.