NCERT Solutions For Class 12 English
Vistas
Chapter 4 – The Enemy
Word meaning
Absolute state: a state run by kings having total powers
Amazement: surprise
Anatomy: the branch of science concerned with the
bodily structure of humans, animals, and other living organisms,
especially as revealed by dissection and the separation of parts.
Anesthetic: a substance that induces insensitivity to
pain
Assassins: professional killers
Assuage: decrease, reduce
Battered: torn and worn out
Beachcomber: a vagrant who makes a living by searching
beaches for articles of value and selling them
Blond: of light colour
Boughs: branches of trees
Briskly: quickly
Cardinal: basic, first
Chilled: freeze due to cold weather
Chrysanthemum: a flower
Compelled: forced
Concise: short
Contemptuously: disrespectfully
Conviction: firm belief
Courteously: politely
Crimson: bright red colour
Crouched: sit in a squatting position
Dereliction: failure to perform one’s duty
Despised: hated
Dismayed: shocked
Eaves: part of the roof that meets or overhangs the
wall of a building
Ebbing: decreasing gradually
Fathom: a unit of measuring the depth of the sea.
Fierce: dangerous
Fluttered: trembled
Fortifying: putting security at a place
Gasping: struggling to breathe, unable to speak
Gaunt: gloomy, weak
Gay: happy
Gripping: holding tightly
Haggard: looking exhausted and unwell, especially
from fatigue, worry, or suffering.
Heedlessly: carelessly
Hesitated: paused in indecision before saying or doing
something.
Hypodermic: needle, syringe, injection
impulsively: to do something suddenly without thinking
Incisions: surgical cuts
Indispensable: necessary
Kerchief: square piece of cloth
Kimono: a traditional Japanese garment.
Knelt: sat on her knees
Leaned: bent forward
Marred: spoiled
Menace: danger, threat
Moaned: a low cry in pain
Moaned: made low, soft sounds due to pain
Muttered: spoke
Nodded: lower and raise one’s head slightly and
briefly, especially in greeting, assent, or understanding, or to give someone a
signal.
Paid no heed: did not pay attention to
Pallor: an unhealthy pale appearance
Patriotism: love for one’s country
Peculiar: strange
Piteously: causing you to feel sad and sympathetic
Porcelain: a white vitrified translucent ceramic also
called China used for making utensils, pottery, etc.
Prick: slightest amount
Probed: searched
Quivered: shivered, trembled
Refrain: a sound that is repeated time and again
Retching: vomiting
Rugs: blanket
Rustling: the sound made by footsteps
Saturate: wet
Scars: marks
Sea moss: a kind of seaweed
Shaggy: hairy
Slatternly: dirty, untidy
Solemn: serious and concerned
.Spiked: covered with
sharp points
Staggered: walk unsteadily as if about to fall
Stanch: stop or restrict (a flow of blood) from a
wound.
Sterilized: disinfected
Stoop: bend forward
Stout: fat, big
Strewed: to be scattered untidily over a place or
area
Stubbly: unshaven, bearded
Stubbornness: firm determination
Stupor: a state of unconsciousness
Submerged: here, sink into the sea
Superstitious: irrational beliefs
Tended: cared for, looked after
Thrust: pushed
Timid: showing lack of courage or confidence
Traitor: a person who betrays his country
Twig: branch of tree
Twilighted: at the time of twilight i.e. sunset or
sunrise.
Unaccustomed labour: not used to perform hard work
Vial: a small container, typically cylindrical and
made of glass, used especially for holding liquid medicines.
Vitality: energy, life
Weary: tired
Wistaria wine: a flowering plant used for decoration
Yonder: at some distance in the direction pointed at
Zeal: great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a
cause or an objective
