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compulsory · CSS study notes

Bucket 4 — Change, Increase & Decrease

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Best for: Economy, Sociology, Current Affairs. 10 words.

1. ABATE (v.)

  • Urdu: کم ہونا، تھمنا
  • Meaning: become less intense or widespread
  • Syn: subside, diminish, wane, ebb · Ant: intensify, escalate, surge, increase
  • ✍️ Use: Inflation will not abate until the fiscal deficit is brought under control.
  • 🧠 Hook: a re-bate lowers the price → abate lowers the intensity.

2. AMALGAMATE (v.)

  • Urdu: ضم کرنا، یکجا کرنا
  • Meaning: combine or unite to form one
  • Syn: merge, combine, unite, integrate · Ant: separate, divide, split, disperse
  • ✍️ Use: FATA was amalgamated with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through the 25th Amendment.
  • 🧠 Hook: an amalgam is a mixture of metals in a dental filling, several metals made one.

3. AMELIORATE (v.)

  • Urdu: بہتر بنانا، اصلاح کرنا
  • Meaning: make something bad or unsatisfactory better
  • Syn: improve, alleviate, mitigate, enhance · Ant: worsen, aggravate, exacerbate, impair
  • ✍️ Use: Targeted cash transfers under BISP ameliorate, but do not end, rural poverty.
  • 🧠 Hook: melior (Latin: better) → a-melior-ate = make better.

4. BURGEON (v.)

  • Urdu: تیزی سے بڑھنا، پھلنا پھولنا
  • Meaning: grow or increase rapidly; flourish
  • Syn: flourish, boom, mushroom, expand · Ant: decline, shrink, wither, dwindle
  • ✍️ Use: Pakistan's burgeoning IT exports are a rare bright spot in the economy.
  • 🧠 Hook: a burger bun rising in the oven, getting bigger and bigger.

5. DESICCATE (v.)

  • Urdu: مکمل خشک کرنا، نمی ختم کرنا
  • Meaning: remove moisture from; dry out completely
  • Syn: dehydrate, dry, parch, wither · Ant: moisten, hydrate, soak, wet
  • ✍️ Use: Prolonged drought has desiccated the once-fertile plains of Thar.
  • 🧠 Hook: think desert + cate: the desert makes everything dry. (Note: this is about drying, not decreasing.)

6. INUNDATE (v.)

  • Urdu: سیلاب میں ڈبونا، کسی چیز کی بھرمار کر دینا
  • Meaning: flood; overwhelm with things to deal with
  • Syn: flood, swamp, deluge, overwhelm · Ant: drain, trickle, dry up
  • ✍️ Use: The 2022 floods inundated a third of Pakistan.
  • 🧠 Hook: unda (Latin: wave) → waves pour in.

7. MITIGATE (v.)

  • Urdu: شدت کم کرنا، ہلکا کرنا
  • Meaning: make less severe, serious or painful
  • Syn: alleviate, lessen, ease, reduce · Ant: aggravate, worsen, intensify, exacerbate
  • ✍️ Use: Mangrove plantations help mitigate coastal erosion along the Sindh coast.
  • 🧠 Hook: mitis (Latin: soft, mild) → make it mild. Climate talks: "mitigation and adaptation".

8. PAUCITY (n.)

  • Urdu: قلت، کمی
  • Meaning: scarcity; the presence of something in only small quantities
  • Syn: dearth, scarcity, shortage, lack · Ant: abundance, plethora, profusion, surplus
  • ✍️ Use: A paucity of qualified teachers cripples rural schools.
  • 🧠 Hook: paucity → pauper (poor person) → poor in number.

9. PROLIFERATE (v.)

  • Urdu: تیزی سے پھیلنا، کثرت سے بڑھنا
  • Meaning: increase rapidly in numbers; spread
  • Syn: multiply, mushroom, spread, escalate · Ant: decrease, dwindle, diminish, decline
  • ✍️ Use: Nuclear weapons proliferated despite the NPT.
  • 🧠 Hook: proles (offspring) → producing offspring fast. "Non-proliferation" treaty.

10. STASIS (n.)

  • Urdu: جمود، ٹھہراؤ
  • Meaning: a state of inactivity or equilibrium; no change
  • Syn: stagnation, standstill, inertia, equilibrium · Ant: change, progress, flux, dynamism
  • ✍️ Use: Political stasis has kept long-overdue tax reforms on hold for decades.
  • 🧠 Hook: sta = stand (static, stable) → everything just stands still.