Some Important English word with detail explanation

Spike is a noun and a verb.

As a common noun, ‘a spike’ is a nail or any other pointed projection. There are spikes in the shoes worn by professional athletes. The spikes help them develop a more secure foothold on the ground as they move about.

Also as a common noun, ‘a spike’ is a sudden rise in prices of specific things or services. A spike in the price of onions is a major political issue in a country like India.   

And as a verb, the transitive verb ‘to spike’ a drink is to ‘adulterate’ or ‘lace’ a drink. Ambitious athletic coaches often secretly spike drinks that their athletes take with banned drugs in order to improve the latter’s performance. 

Also as a verb, ‘to spike’ is to smash an airborne object straight down to the ground, as volley ballers do. Not surprising then that volley ball players are called spikers.

The verb ‘to spike’ also means ‘to surround and thus delimit a space with spikes.’ Thus roses are spiked by thorns.

Note: It is ironical that ‘spike’ means both ‘go up’ and ‘bring down.’

‘Plunge’ is a noun and a verb. Thus sustained overproduction of crude oil by Saudi Arabia and Venezuela eventually led to a plunge (here used as a noun) in the international price of petrol and diesel. And the intrepid man took a plunge (again used as a noun) in the swirling waters of the mountain river to rescue two drowning strangers.

‘Denote’ is a verb. ‘To denote’ is ‘to mean,’ ‘to signify,’ etc. ‘To denote’ would thus be ‘to stand for.’ The word forest denotes a jungle, just as the word greed denotes avarice. Similarly, a tick mark denotes a correct answer whereas a cross mark denotes a wrong answer.

‘Adept’ is an adjective that is also used as a noun. The adjective adept means ‘highly skilled.’ The adjective is typically followed by the preposition ‘at,’ as in ‘Magicians are adept at creating visual illusions.’ In other words, ‘magicians create illusions with adept use of light and shadows.’ And as a common noun, an adept is a person who is proficient at something. Thus Lionel Messi is an adept at selling dummies to defenders, just as David Beckham was an adept at free kicks.

‘Scotch’ is a proper noun that is more commonly used as a common noun. It is also a verb. As a proper noun, scotch is high quality whiskey that takes its name from the country in which it has been produced for hundreds of years, Scotland. Thus scotch mixes with cocaine at rave parties, sometimes with fatal effect. And most of the beverage that passes for scotch in India is cheap liquor spiked with additives. And as a verb, ‘to scotch’ is ‘to rule out conclusively,’ i.e. ‘to put an end to,’ etc. Thus rumors of the ten-rupee coin being illegal were scotched by the government through a public notification to the contrary in prominent newspapers all across the country.

‘Booty’ is a noun. Booty is looted and plundered material of high value, especially valuables stolen in war. Thus Mahmud Ghazni, who raided India nearly twenty times, was primarily attracted by the booty of gold, silver and precious stones to be plundered from temples in Gujarat. And when the Germans captured Paris during the Second World War, they carried away some precious paintings from the Louvre museum as booty.

Directions: The following question contains a highlighted word followed by a list of words as options. The right answer is the listed word that is either a synonym or an antonym of the highlighted word.

Q. SPIKE

1.       Plunge

2.       Denote

3.       Adept

4.       Scotch

5.       Booty

Answer: 1

Spike is a noun and a verb.

As a common noun, ‘a spike’ is a nail or any other pointed projection. There are spikes in the shoes worn by professional athletes. The spikes help them develop a more secure foothold on the ground as they move about.

Also as a common noun, ‘a spike’ is a sudden rise in prices of specific things or services. A spike in the price of onions is a major political issue in a country like India.   

And as a verb, the transitive verb ‘to spike’ a drink is to ‘adulterate’ or ‘lace’ a drink. Ambitious athletic coaches often secretly spike drinks that their athletes take with banned drugs in order to improve the latter’s performance. 

Also as a verb, ‘to spike’ is to smash an airborne object straight down to the ground, as volley ballers do. Not surprising then that volley ball players are called spikers.

The verb ‘to spike’ also means ‘to surround and thus delimit a space with spikes.’ Thus roses are spiked by thorns.

Note: It is ironical that ‘spike’ means both ‘go up’ and ‘bring down.’

1.       ‘Plunge’ is a noun and a verb. Thus sustained overproduction of crude oil by Saudi Arabia and Venezuela eventually led to a plunge (here used as a noun) in the international price of petrol and diesel. And the intrepid man took a plunge (again used as a noun) in the swirling waters of the mountain river to rescue two drowning strangers.

2.       ‘Denote’ is a verb. ‘To denote’ is ‘to mean,’ ‘to signify,’ etc. ‘To denote’ would thus be ‘to stand for.’ The word forest denotes a jungle, just as the word greed denotes avarice. Similarly, a tick mark denotes a correct answer whereas a cross mark denotes a wrong answer.

3.       ‘Adept’ is an adjective that is also used as a noun. The adjective adept means ‘highly skilled.’ The adjective is typically followed by the preposition ‘at,’ as in ‘Magicians are adept at creating visual illusions.’ In other words, ‘magicians create illusions with adept use of light and shadows.’ And as a common noun, an adept is a person who is proficient at something. Thus Lionel Messi is an adept at selling dummies to defenders, just as David Beckham was an adept at free kicks.

4.       ‘Scotch’ is a proper noun that is more commonly used as a common noun. It is also a verb. As a proper noun, scotch is high quality whiskey that takes its name from the country in which it has been produced for hundreds of years, Scotland. Thus scotch mixes with cocaine at rave parties, sometimes with fatal effect. And most of the beverage that passes for scotch in India is cheap liquor spiked with additives. And as a verb, ‘to scotch’ is ‘to rule out conclusively,’ i.e. ‘to put an end to,’ etc. Thus rumors of the ten-rupee coin being illegal were scotched by the government through a public notification to the contrary in prominent newspapers all across the country.

5.       ‘Booty’ is a noun. Booty is looted and plundered material of high value, especially valuables stolen in war. Thus Mahmud Ghazni, who raided India nearly twenty times, was primarily attracted by the booty of gold, silver and precious stones to be plundered from temples in Gujarat. And when the Germans captured Paris during the Second World War, they carried away some precious paintings from the Louvre museum as booty.

It is clear from this that the right answer is option 1 (plunge), which is an antonym of spike. No other listed option is a synonym or antonym of the highlighted word.

S             source  Oureducity                                                                        direct  link   https://goo.gl/ryVIFx