The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 18th June 2025

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary is highly useful for Bank and SSC exams, especially for the English section. Regular reading improves vocabulary, comprehension, and grammar. Editorials contain high-quality language, idioms, phrasal verbs, and advanced vocabulary frequently asked in exams. Learning 10–15 new words daily from editorials helps in scoring better in Cloze Tests, Reading Comprehension, Fill in the Blanks, and Synonyms-Antonyms. It also boosts confidence in descriptive writing and interviews. Consistent practice with these words, along with usage in sentences, enhances retention. Hence, the Hindu editorials serve as a rich and reliable source for English preparation in competitive exams.

Reading Comprehension passages are an integral part of the English section of government exams. However, for beginners, such passages can seem difficult. The Hindu Editorial is an excellent tool to improve the reading and understanding of passages. The language is very similar to the passages that generally appear in the English section of government exams, and each paragraph is filled with exam-relevant vocabulary and real-world topics. First, go through the vocabulary section and read the meanings of the words, their Hindi translations, synonyms, and antonyms. Once you know the meanings of the words, read the passage carefully, and you will feel that it is much easier to understand the main idea and tone of the passage. This method not only improves the understanding of reading comprehension passages but also builds a strong vocabulary base for cloze tests and sentence fillers in the exam. Doing this every day will boost your confidence in the English section and help improve your scores in sections such as Reading Comprehension, Cloze Tests, and Sentence Fillers.

A free hand: on scientific institutes and GEM norms
Science must be unfettered if it is to be useful

Last week, the government issued a set of orders that scientists have heralded as ‘revolutionary’. A major change is in allowing scientific institutions to bypass the Government e-Marketplace (GEM), a Commerce Ministry initiative that is meant to prioritise made-in-India equipment. GEM norms require all government purchases — from laptops to furniture — to be routed through the GEM-portal, with a mandate to buy from the vendor offering the lowest price. While technocrats in government amplified this bypass as a “landmark” initiative to promote ‘ease of doing research and development,’ the fact is that until GEM-based procurement was made mandatory from 2020, the default option was to allow individual scientific institutions the freedom to make their choices regarding the vendors they procure. Take for example, sodium chloride. Something as common as table salt must be available in infinite supply and it is only proper that laboratories — they require great quantities for its myriad applications in research — source it from the supplier who offers it the cheapest. However, much like the avatars of salt — kosher, flat or sea — are uncommonly unique to the chef, the differences in purity even within common salt are critical to scientific research as well as the manufacture of pharmaceuticals. This translates to some vendors being more reliable and, therefore, more preferred.

A major aspect of scientific research is about being able to reproduce results of experiments described in publications. Often, this requires fidelity to the methods and materials of the original experimenter. Given the challenge of budgets, the inability to source the right material results in experiments being junked halfway, or crimping on experimental ambition, resulting, overall, in a net loss of resources, time and effort. If this is extended to materials more complicated than salt — precision lathes, customised lab-produced diamonds, biological molecules, for example — it is easy to understand the gripe of scientists. It is understandable, and pardonable, when a government experiments with an untested policy and runs into uncharted waters or unknown unknowns. In the case of GEM, it was a known fact that India lacked an industrial base for sophisticated machinery, and it was inevitable that the hammer-head policy that saw all products as cookie-cutter nails would impede scientific research. India’s scientific ministries are unique in that they are led by scientists, instead of the usual norm of having career bureaucrats. This was due to a recognition, dating back to the early years of the republic, that while science and technology can be employed to serve the state, science itself is unfettered and must be specially nurtured to be useful. A free hand is worth more than two fettered arms.

1. Unfettered: not limited in any way
Synonyms: unrestrained, unbound
Antonyms: constrained, restricted

2. Heralded: said in public that somebody or something was good or important
Synonyms: acclaimed, lauded
Antonyms: criticised, censured

3. Bypass: to ignore a rule, an official system or somebody in authority, especially in order to get something done quickly
Synonyms: circumvent, skip
Antonyms: follow, observe

4. Mandate: an official order given to somebody to perform a particular task
Synonyms: instruction, directive
Antonyms: prohibition, interdiction

5. Amplified: added details to a story, statement, etc.
Synonyms: stated, mentioned
Antonyms: concealed, hid

6. Landmark: an event, a discovery, an invention, etc. that marks an important stage in something
Synonyms: milestone, watershed
Antonyms: setback, disappointment

7. Myriad: very large in number, or having great variety
Synonyms: innumerable, manifold
Antonyms: meagre, scarce

8. Critical: extremely important because a future situation will be affected by it
Synonyms: crucial, vital
Antonyms: trivial, trifling

9. Fidelity: the quality of being accurate
Synonyms: precision, exactness
Antonyms: inaccuracy, imprecision

10. Gripe: a strong complaint:
Synonyms: grumble, grievance
Antonyms: compliment, praise

11. Inevitable: certain to happen
Synonyms: inexorable, fated
Antonyms: avoidable, preventable

12. Impede: to delay or stop the progress of something
Synonyms: hinder, hamper
Antonyms: facilitate, expedite

Phrasal verb:

13. Crimping on: disrupting or interfering with something.
Idioms & Phrases:

14. Uncharted waters: a situation that is not well known and may be dangerous

15. Unknown unknowns: things we do not know and do not realise that we do not know them.

16. Free hand: freedom to do or decide as one sees fit

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