Deepika Bhat on LinkedIn: When I was in school there was this beautiful idea of writing 'Thought for… (2024)

Perplexed’ is a great synonym for ‘confused’ or ‘puzzled’. Few examples:1. He had a perplexed look when he first saw the instruction manual of the device.2. I am perplexed in deciphering the map.3. He was perplexed to see the police at his doorstep.

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Put (someone) on a pedestal’ is to glorify someone or put them in a superior position. Few examples:1. I dread women’s day messages because they put women on a pedestal, and exerts unnecessary pressure on them.2. The manager claimed that he put me on a pedestal and demanded me to be grateful for it.3. I hate it when teenagers put the social media influencers on a pedestal unnecessarily

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Zest” s a great word which can be used as a synonym for enthusiasm. Few examples to understand it better:1. Her zest for life inspires me.2. I am in awe of my sister’s zest for travel.3. His zest for learning new skills keeps him happy.

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My husband sent a video which started off “A seemingly innocuous message sent by a teenager on snapchat caught attention of the security forces”. ‘Innocuous’ means harmless or safe. It is widely used in academic writing and reading. Few examples:1. Any gambling activity may see innocuous at the beginning.2. Escalators and elevators seem innocuous, but intimidate many.3. The doctor convinced me that the medicine is innocuous.

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”Impede” is a word that is commonly used in academic writing. It means ‘to obstruct’. Few examples:1. Gadgets impede the ability to focus.2. Floods impeded the progress of the road work.3. My daughter says that hungerimpedes the clarity of thought 🙂

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Devote time’ is different from ‘spend time’ as the former phrase means ‘to dedicate time to an activity’. It means to religiously allocate time for something. If we don’t devote time, we can barely manage time. Few examples1. He devotes time for yoga and has benefitted tremendously.2. In today’s fast paced world, we need to devote time to meet friends. 3. i devote time to read.

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I love the phrases ‘comfortable silence’ and ‘awkward silence’. Only with our close knit circle, we can have moments of comfortable silence. There would be no need to start a conversation. With acquaintances and not so close friends, there is a need to start a conversation and we may feel awkward otherwise. Hence the phrase awkward silence. Here are few sentences to understand it better.1. I enjoyed the comfortable silence with my friends during the train journey.2. There were moments of awkward silence during the interview.3. He broke the awkward silence by his witty comment

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I love the phrase ‘agree to disagree’ because this is a quality that comes with maturity and clarity of thought. When two individuals argue and when they cannot convince the other person, they come to a conclusion to let go of the matter . They decide to respect others’ opinions and stop the argument without trying to have a closure. Few examples:1. I agree to disagree with my daughter when it comes to style and fashion.2. To agree to disagree is a sign of healthy relationships.3. I can never agree to disagree on misogyny.

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Exacerbate’ is a less common word that is used in academic discourses and essays. It means ‘to worsen an existing problem’. Few examples:1. Diabetes exacerbated his kidney problems.2. Fierce competition exacerbated his stress levels.3. Online shopping has exacerbated the rubbish produced in terms of packaging material.

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’Gullible’ is a synonym for ‘naive’ which means that the person is too trusting and believes whatever is said to them easily. Few examples :1. The public is not gullible to believe these false promises made by the politicians.2. Lack of experience in the industry made him gullible.3. Viewers should stop being gullible and analyse the news reports.

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