I will teach you 13 difficult words using a touching story.
Word 1 Explicit
Explicit(adjective) means something that has been said or expressed very clearly so that there is no doubt about it. When you say something is explicit, that means it has been communicated very clearly without any confusion.
Diane’s manager gave her very clear instructions on how and when the report needs to be created. He explained every little detail without missing anything.
In this case we can say, Diane’s manager gave her “explicit” instructions about the report.
More examples using Explicit:
- The terms & conditions must be explicitly stated on the contract.
- The newspaper published an article explicitly discussing the scam.
- John gave the pizza delivery guy explicit directions on how to reach his house.
- The kidnapper gave us explicit instructions about where to deliver the bag of money.
Word 2 Implicit
Implicit(adjective) means something that is suggested and understood, but it is not said or communicated directly. For example, if you say there is an implicit agreement between us, it means the agreement is understood, but it is never stated directly.
After giving explicit instructions about the report, Diane’s manager said,
“This report is extremely important. John always used to send this report late, so I fired him. Same with Lucas.”
Even though the manager did not say it directly, he indirectly communicated to Diane that if she missed sending the report on time, he may fire her.
In this case, The manager gave an “implicit” warning to Diane.
More examples using Implicit:
- John was angry that his team missed the deadline. Even though he did not shout at anyone, it was very implicit in his voice.
- She implicitly said that money is more important than love.
- When Emily winked at me, I took that as an implicit invitation to join her.
Word 3 Callous
Callous(adjective) means showing no sympathy or feelings for other people, in an unkind and cruel way.
One afternoon Diane got a call from her neighbor. The neighbor said, “I am terribly sorry. Your dog has just died in a car accident.”
In a shock, Diane went crying to her manager and said, “I just heard my dog had died. I need to go home. Sorry, I cannot finish the report today.”
The manager replied, “Oh, if the dog has already died, there is nothing you can do now, right?”
“Can you please finish the report before leaving?”
In this situation, the manager was very insensitive towards Diane’s feelings and suffering.
This is called Callousness. The manager was callous.
More examples using Callous:
- I don’t mean to be callous, but I cannot let a homeless man sleep in my house.
- John always carried a callous attitude towards others.
- It’s unbelievable how he callously laughed when she cut her finger.
- David was so callous that he went to work as usual the day after his wife died.
Word 4 Appalled
Diane was extremely offended and disappointed when her manager callously forced her to finish the report before leaving.
In this case, Diane was appalled to hear what the manager said.
Diane was appalled by the manager’s callousness.
More examples using Appalled:
- I am appalled by the salesman’s arrogant attitude.
- John was appalled that the teacher slapped his son.
- People were appalled by the government’s decision to cut down nine trees in their neighborhood.
Word 5 Excruciating
Excruciating(adjective) means very painful. If you ever had a toothache, you know exactly what excruciating means.
Even though it was very painful for her, Diane kept working on the report while tears continued to roll down her face. She finished the report, submitted it, and then went home.
We can all imagine Diane’s pain. We can say it was excruciatingly painful.
The word excruciating is not limited to physical pain, any kind of intense or extreme pain can be described using the word Excruciating.
- excruciating boredom in class
- excruciatingly long wait times
- excruciating humidity in summer
More examples using Excruciating:
- If I knew the root canal treatment would be so excruciating, I would have brushed thrice a day.
- I had excruciating pain in my back, these tablets gave me temporary relief.
- I just faced excruciating embarrassment in front the entire class.
Word 6 Console
Console(verb) means making someone feel better when they are very sad.
The next morning, Diane came back to work and went straight to the HR manager. She filed a complaint against her manager and explained his callous behavior and how he implicitly threatened to fire her if she didn’t finish the report.
After hearing Diane’s concern, the HR manager said, “Oh dear, I am extremely sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how you must be feeling right now. I hope your dog rests in peace. Please be strong, let me know how I can help. I want to assure you that right action will be taken.”
In this case, the HR manager made a great effort to make Diane feel better. This is called consoling. She consoled Diane.
When someone is in pain, we naturally say things like,
“Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
“I am so sorry to hear that.”
“I hope you find the strength to deal with this.”
This is called Consoling someone.
More examples using Console:
- I tried my best to console her, but she was truly heartbroken.
- I always try to console myself by remembering that I did my best.
- The minister personally met and consoled the flood victims.
Word 7 Reprimand
Reprimand(verb) means telling someone seriously and officially that their behavior is wrong and not acceptable.
The following day, the HR manager severely reprimanded the manager for his behavior. She said that he should have immediately sent Diane home when she heard the bad news.
The HR manager told the manager official that his behavior was wrong and totally unacceptable. She reprimanded him.
But, if this happens between friends, we cannot use the word reprimand, because it is not official and there is no authority between friends.
However, if it happens between a child and a parent, we can still use the word reprimand because parents have authority over their children. Parents can reprimand children.
More examples using Reprimand:
- The teacher reprimanded Ethan for sleeping in the class.
- The minister was severely reprimanded by the PM for getting involved in a fraud.
- A manager can reprimand his associate for making a racist joke in the office.
Word 8 Irony
Irony(noun) is a situation where you expect something, but you get a completely different or opposite result.
For example, if you expected to pass the test and you failed it, that is not irony. But if the friend who copied from you has passed the test, and you have failed, that is irony.
Everybody in the company started talking about Diane’s incident especially because it happened on April 11th which was International Pets day.
Diane’s incident can be called irony because, on an International Pets day, we would expect that Pets are treated well. But the complete opposite thing has happened.
So the incident can be called ironic.
Here is one more example to explain the word irony better.
William Phelps Eno invented the Stop sign, the cross walk, one-way streets etc. He was even called the “Father of traffic safety”. But he never learned to drive a car.
In this case, you would expect that a person who invented so many traffic related things, would obviously know how to drive. But you got an opposite result. This is called irony.
More examples using Irony:
- There was a fire accident in the fire station.
- A heart surgeon died of a heart attack.
- A traffic police officer got a parking ticket.
- Duct tape should not be used for sealing ducts.
Word 9 Escalate
Escalate (verb) is to make something greater or more serious.
For example, two friends started a silly fight in the morning. By afternoon they were very angrily shouting at each other. A silly fight became more serious. A silly fight escalated into a serious argument.
Diane’s issue quickly became more and more serious in the company. And, the CEO came to know about what had happened to Diane.
Diane’s issue escalated into a big issue in the company.
More examples using Escalate:
- It started as a funny prank but quickly escalated into a huge fight.
- A minor conflict between countries now escalated into a war.
- When a bunch of people protested in front of the parliament, the officials didn’t take it seriously. But the protest escalated into a nationwide movement.
Word 10 Commend
Commend(verb) is to praise someone formally and officially.
The CEO commended Diane for taking the issue to the HR manager instead of keeping silent.
More examples using Commend:
- I have to commend you for your bravery.
- John was commended by his manager for being punctual.
- The Mayor commended the nurses for their dedication towards work.
Word 11 Disgruntled
Disgruntled(adjective) means being unhappy and disappointed about the way things are happening.
If you say an employee is disgruntled, it means they are unhappy with the employer.
The CEO said, “Instead of just turning into an unhappy employee, you chose to do the right thing. We need more people like you.”
Instead of becoming a disgruntled employee, Diane stood up for herself and did the right thing.
More examples using Disgruntled:
- The disgruntled shareholders demanded an explanation from the company.
- The Sales manager ordered us to call all the disgruntled customers and offer a discount.
- The players were disgruntled with the umpire.
- Party members were disgruntled because they were neglected.
Word 12 Proclaim
Proclaim(verb) means announcing something publicly and officially.
The CEO set up a meeting with the entire staff and he proclaimed the company’s decision to introduce mandatory sensitivity training throughout the organization.
More examples using Proclaim:
- The state officials proclaimed the decision to build a new highway.
- The producer proclaimed the release date of the movie.
- The CEO proclaimed the company’s plans to enter the US market next year.
Word 13 Dilemma
Dilemma(noun) is a situation where you have to make a difficult choice between two or more options.
Generally, the choice in a dilemma is difficult because the options seem to be equal.
While addressing the employees, the CEO said that whenever they face a dilemma between productivity and kindness, always choose kindness.
More examples using Dilemma:
- The pandemic has put the government in a huge dilemma.
- She got two job offers and now she is in a dilemma.
- John faced the dilemma of choosing between money and love.
- The doctors were in a terrible moral dilemma about removing the life support.
No words to describe your great work.I request you to please make videos consistently. You don’t give space to either criticize or suggestion. It’s on the top notch
Thanks for your kind words !
Helpful
Thank you!
Absolutely brilliant! The best way to learn English!
Thanks Gabriele 🙂
Really helpful 👌
Thank you !!
It’s great!! Just with one story we’ve learned so many words. It was really helpful and fun to read as well.
Thanks very much !
The best way of learning new vocabularies! I enjoyed every bit of the lesson. Extremely helpful!
Thanks very much !!
Another great and unique topic! 👍👍👍 With real examples that make your difficult words easy to follow. 😊😊😊 Thank you very much for sharing this information. It’s really helpful! 👏👏👏
What nice way to learn words waw it is above any other way to learn
Thank you very much !
Thanks for the vocabularies, but that would be so much better if you add how to pronounce them too.
You’re welcome, sure, soon I will add pronunciations too.
The way you explained that, the meaning of the difficult words were understood easily and memorized
Appreciate your work but wanna say something you should do something for pronunciation of these words too. So could you do this for us. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!☺️☺️☺️