Example: The Centre may not takeover all of Air India’s 52,000 crore debt as part of the airline’s strategic disinvestment process and private players eyeing the national carrier are likely to be saddled with some of its outstanding loans, according to a top official at the civil aviation ministry.
1. Saddle [sad-l]
Noun: a seat for a rider on the back of a horse or other animal; a similar seat on a bicycle, tractor, etc.
Verb: to put a saddle on; to load or charge, as with a burden; to impose as a burden or responsibility.
SynonymsSynonyms: adhered, baffled, caught, fixed, frozen, glued, joined, mired, perplexed.
2. Aviation [ey-vee-ey-shuh n, av-ee-]
Noun: the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft; military aircraft.
Synonyms: aeronautics, navigation, aerodynamics, flight, piloting.
Example: This assumes significance in light of the unsolicited expression of interest from India’s largest low-cost airline IndiGo for taking over Air India.
3. Unsolicited [uhn-suh-lis-i-tid]
Adjective: given or supplied without being requested or asked for.
Synonyms: spontaneous, uninvited, unwelcome, voluntary, free, freewilled, gratis, gratuitous, offered, uncalled-for.
Antonyms: asked, invited, requested.
Example: Air India has financed working capital through borrowings from a consortium of 25 banks.
4. Consortium [kuh n-sawr-shee-uh m, -tee-]
Noun: a combination of financial institutions, capitalists, etc., for carrying into effect some financial operation requiring large resources of capital; any association, partnership, or union; Law. the legal right of partners in a marriage to companionship and conjugal intercourse with each other.
Synonyms: conglomerate, corporation, gang, holding company, mob, monopoly, ring, syndicate, bunch, chain, combine.
Example: “The new owner will take the airline’s reasonable working capital of around 4,000-5,000 crore,” another official said on condition of anonymity.
5. Anonymity [an-uh-nim-i-tee]
Noun: the state or quality of being anonymous; an anonymous person.
Synonyms: inconspicuousness, invisibility, namelessness, anonymousness.
Example: “Air India’s real estate, including land and buildings, and art treasures may not be a part of the disinvestment process. It may be hived off to a shell company,” the official said.
6. Hive [hahyv]
Noun: a shelter constructed for housing a colony of honeybees; beehive; the colony of bees inhabiting a hive; something resembling a beehive in structure or use.
Verb: to gather into or cause to enter a hive; to shelter as in a hive; to store up in a hive.
Synonyms: amass, pick up, reap, assemble, cull, cumulate, deposit, extract, gather, glean, harvest, hive, hoard.
Antonyms: spend, disperse, distribute, divide, plant, scatter, separate, squander, throw away, use, waste.
Example: The Cabinet last week approved in-principle the strategic disinvestment of Air India and formed a group of Ministers to examine modalities of the stake sale, including selling the subsidiaries and restructuring its debts.
7. Modality [moh-dal-i-tee]
Noun: the quality or state of being modal; an attribute or circumstance that denotes mode or manner.
SynonymsSynonyms: method, procedure, process, manner, style, technique, tone.
8. Subsidiary 8. Subsidiary [suh b-sid-ee-er-ee]
Adjective: serving to assist or supplement; auxiliary; supplementary; subordinate or secondary.
Noun: a subsidiary thing or person; subsidiary company.
Synonyms: addendum, appendix, addition, adjunct, affix, arm, attachment, ell, subsidiary.
Antonyms: base, lessening, subtraction.
Example: An anguished farewell to austerity.
9. Anguished [ang-gwisht]
Adjective: feeling, showing, or accompanied by anguish; resulting from or produced by anguish.
Synonyms: distressed, heartbroken, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, devastated, down, heartsick, heavyhearted, hurting.
10. Austerity [aw-ster-i-tee]
Noun: austere quality; severity of manner, life, etc.; sternness; strict economy.
Synonyms: rigor, acerbity, asperity, astringence, coldness, exactness, formality, formalness, gravity, grimness, hardness, harshness, inclemency.
Antonyms: informality, kindness, mildness, unimportance, blandness, calmness, elaborateness, extravagance, gentility, indulgence.
