Learn Vocabulary from Newspaper Articles (ECONOMIC TIMES)

NATO LOSES ITS GRIP

Brussels summit of leaders of the free world made news — on its sidelines

Last week’s Brussels NATO summit made news — but not for what transpired in its meetings. Rather, the headlines were all about NATO’s sidelines. US President Donald Trump, an acrid critic of NATO’s European members, claiming they don’t pay their full share, leaving the US with an oversized bill, eschewed traditional pleasantries and made his displeasure clear. Addressing the NATO leaders — assembled in a line-up evoking errant children, including British PM Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others — Trump spoke to the Europeans like the proverbial Dutch uncle, rubbing in his point about Europe not going Dutch.

But Trump, who also pushed past Montenegro’s PM in an abrasive power-strut, didn’t stop there. Refusing to endorse NATO’s stand on the Paris climate deal or on Russia, Trump left NATO leaders shaking their heads. Indeed, Merkel stated that Europe cannot rely any longer on the US, and Europeans must take their future into their own hands.

The European leader who has apparently taken this most literally is French President Emmanuel Macron. His participation at NATO caused a stir from kick-off itself when Macron, striding up to join the older kids on the block, ignored Trump’s outstretched arms and headed, with marked deliberation, to greet Merkel, demonstrating a French mustard-like warmth. Perhaps Trump imagined he’d get his own back by subjecting Macron to his famous handshake, the US president reportedly treating challenging acquaintances to a bone-crushing squeeze. But Macron decided to duel and at NATO, the two shared a tense handshake that only grew tighter with each refusing to cede, their knuckles growing whiter. Macron reportedly stated that the handshake was “a moment of truth”, where he wanted to show he’d not make even symbolic concessions. NATO’s certainly made news, but mostly for its leaders failing to get a grip. Source: ECONOMIC TIMES


1) Transpired (मालूम) - Trans-pire-ed
Meaning - 
(of a secret or something unknown) come to be known, be revealed - Verb
Synonyms 
- arise, befall
Antonyms - cause, stop
Example -
 I arrived at the concert early because I did not want to miss any unannounced events that might transpire.
2) Acrid (तीखा) - Ac-ridMeaning - unpleasantly bitter or pungent - Adjective
Synonyms 
- pungent, bitter
Antonyms - kind, nice
Example -
 The room was filled with acrid smoke.
3) Eschewed (परहेज) - Es-chew-edMeaning - deliberately avoid using, abstain from - Verb
Synonyms - 
abandon, renounce
Antonyms - face, keep
Example - 
True vegetarians eschew food items that come from living animals.
4) Evoking (आह्वान) - Evo-kingMeaning - bring or recall (a feeling, memory, or image) to the conscious mind - Verb
Synonyms 
- arouse, conjure
Antonyms - calm, decrease
Example - This book was apparently designed to evoke an interest in ancient sculpture.
5) Errant (भटकनेवाला) - Arr-antMeaning - erring or straying from the accepted course or standards - Adjective
Synonyms 
- offending, guilty
Antonyms - normal, correct
Example - 
The errant student was given a warning for not going directly to class.
6) Proverbial (लौकिक) - Pro-verb-e-alMeaning - well known, especially so as to be stereotypical - Adjectiveused to stand for a word or phrase that is normally part of a proverb or idiom but is not actually uttered - Noun
Synonyms - 
accepted, current
Antonyms - abnormal, atypical
Example - 
My grandmother always followed the awful cough medicine with the proverbial spoon of sugar.
7) Abrasive (अपघर्षक) - Ab-ray-siveMeaning - (of a substance or material) capable of polishing or cleaning a hard surface by rubbing or grinding - Adjectivea substance used for grinding, polishing, or cleaning a hard surface - Noun
Synonyms - 
annoying, biting
Antonyms - calm, kind
Example - 
Rub the table down with a fine abrasive paper before painting it.
8) Striding (लांघना) - Stri-dingMeaning - walk with long, decisive steps in a specified direction - Verb
Synonyms - 
tramp, stalk
Example - 
This is the bridge striding between the two countries.
9) Ideologue (विचारक) - I-deo-log
Meaning - an adherent of an ideology, especially one who is uncompromising and dogmatic - Noun
Synonyms - ideologist, proponent
Antonyms - dabbler, cynic
Example (English) - PM Modi paid tribute to RSS ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar on his 134th birth anniversary.
Example (Hindi) - प्रधान मंत्री मोदी ने आरएसएस के विचारक विनायक दामोदर सावरकर को 134 वीं जयंती पर श्रद्धांजलि अर्पित की।

Now considering the article above as a Reading Comprehension question, try to answer the following -
  • What should we expect from the NATO leaders' summit in Brussels?
  • Currently, what is the greatest problem with NATO?
Given below are some words to check your vocabulary you can make sentences with those words in the comment section which will be reviewed by us.
  • Endorse
  • Apparently
  • Outstretched
  • Demonstrating

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