1. Defiant – open disregard, showing daring or bold disobedience
Synonyms: intransigent, resistant, obstinate, uncooperative, recalcitrant, confrontational, belligerent, pugnacious
Antonyms: apologetic, cooperative, acquiescent
Usage: India warns of consequences if Jadhav is hanged, Pakistan defiant.
2. Stifle – make (someone) unable to breathe properly; suffocate.
Synonyms: muzzle, repress, smother, squelch, strangle, suffocate, asphyxiate
Antonyms: allow, encourage, loose, release
Usage: Because of the stifling chains, the prisoner found it difficult to walk.
3. Contrition – the state of feeling remorseful, feeling sorry
Synonyms: humiliation, penance, repentance, sorrow, attrition, compunction
Antonyms: happiness, hurtfulness. indifference
Usage: Don’t you have any contrite in your heart for murdering him?!
4. Ghastly – causing great horror or fear; awful
Synonyms: appalling, gruesome, frightening, frightful, ghoulish, grisly
Antonyms: beautiful, comforting, delightful, pleasant
Usage: There is no way I can swallow the ghastly medicine.
5. Partake – to take or have a part or share along with others
Synonyms: devour, engage, ingest, participate, receive, sample, savor
Antonyms: abstain, collect, gather, give
Usage: I will not partake of your party because it attracts a lot of criminals.
6. Retaliate – make an attack in return for a similar attack.
Synonyms: reciprocate, recompense, repay, requite, retrospect, return, revenge
Antonyms: depart, leave, pardon
Usage: Although he wants to retaliate against the man who killed his wife, he is going to wait for the court to administer justice.
7. Dire – extremely serious or urgent.
Synonyms: terrible, dreadful, appalling, frightful, awful, horrible, atrocious
Antonyms: calm, unimportant, fortunate
Usage: Misuse of drugs can have dire consequences
8. Severity – the fact or condition of being severe.
Synonyms: harshness, acerbity, austerity, grimness, hardness, sternness
Antonyms: gentility, kindness. mildness
Usage: Treatment is dependent on the severity of the disease, and the most critical is treated aggressively.
9. Splice – interweave, join/connect/insert.
Synonyms: graft, braid, entwine, hitch, interlace, intertwine, knit
Antonyms: disconnect, disjoin, divorce, separate, unfasten
Usage: So smooth is the splice that you can’t see the join
10. Extrapolate – estimate or conclude (something)
Synonyms: deduce, hypothesize, anticipate, assume, envision, figure, predict
Antonyms: doubt
Usage: One should extrapolate the growth rate.