Daily "The Hindu" Vocab & Editorial 7 February 2026 | English Notes for SSC

Daily The Hindu Vocab & Editorial – 7 February 2026 helps competitive exam aspirants strengthen their English skills through daily newspaper-based learning. This session focuses on important vocabulary, idioms and phrases, one-word substitutions, grammar rules, and reading comprehension drawn from The Hindu editorials. 

By learning words in real contexts and practicing exam-relevant questions, students can improve accuracy, confidence, and overall performance in SSC GD, SSC CGL, CHSL, RRB Group D, NTPC, ALP, and other competitive examinations.

Daily "The Hindu" Vocab & Editorial 7 February 2026 

This section focuses on crucial English language components essential for competitive exams, derived from daily editorial analysis. We explore vocabulary through pictorial representations, delve into idioms and phrases, clarify one-word substitutions, and conduct a detailed analysis of key terms, grammar rules, and reading comprehension from significant news topics.

Pictorial Vocabulary Practice

This section enhances vocabulary using visual aids.

• Fronted: To move forward.

• Synonym: Headed, Led.

• Milestone: A significant stage or event in a process.

• Synonym: Achievement.

• Accredited: To give official authority or sanction to.

• Synonym: Authorized.

• On its way: In the process of moving or progressing towards a destination.

• Meaning: Progressing towards.

• Graying Nation: A term for a country with an increasing proportion of older people.

• Meaning: Aging society.

• Component: A part or element of a larger whole.

• Synonym: Element.

• Languishing: To become weak or feeble; to decline.

• Synonym: Declining.

• Allied: Joined or working together for a common purpose.

• Synonym: Associated.

• Cope with: To deal effectively with something difficult.

• Synonym: To handle, To tackle.

• State-of-the-art: Incorporating the newest ideas and most up-to-date features.

• Synonym: High-tech, Latest.

• Note: The term caricature means a cartoon or comically exaggerated representation.

Idioms and Phrases

• Breath of fresh air: Someone or something new and refreshingly different.

• A brazen-faced fellow: A person who is impudent and shameless.

• Brazen: Shameless.

• Impudent: Rude.

• To commit to memory: To learn something so well that one can remember it perfectly.

• Meaning: To learn by heart.

• To see pink elephants: To experience hallucinations, typically from excessive alcohol consumption.

• To ride for a fall: To act recklessly, inviting disaster.

• Meaning: To court disaster.

One-Word Substitutions

• An excessively lengthy speech:

• Correct Answer: Verbiage

• Contrasted with: Concise (brief and comprehensive), Curt (rudely brief), Succinct (briefly and clearly expressed).

• To stay longer than intended; to delay leaving a place:

• Correct Answer: Tarry

• Contrasted with: Stroll (to walk leisurely), Sojourn (a temporary stay), Excursion (a short journey).

• A person preoccupied with an unrealistically optimistic approach to life:

• Correct Answer: Quixotic (impractical)

• Contrasted with: Pragmatic (practical), Rational (logical), Zealous (enthusiastic).

• The act of detaining and confining someone:

• Correct Answer: Internment (imprisonment)

• Contrasted with: Entrapment (luring into a crime), Interrogation (questioning), Emancipation (act of freeing).

Also Read:

• SSC Monthly Current Affairs
• SSC Weekly Current Affairs

Detailed Vocabulary Analysis

This section provides an in-depth look at key vocabulary, often from editorial contexts.

1. Distressing (Adjective): Causing anxiety, sorrow, or mental pain.

• Synonyms: Troubling, disturbing, upsetting, alarming.

• Antonyms: Comforting, reassuring, pleasant, soothing.

• Example: The news of the mine explosion was deeply distressing.

2. Grim (Adjective): Very serious, gloomy, or frightening.

• Synonyms: Harsh, bleak, dreadful, sober, severe.

• Antonyms: Cheerful, hopeful, pleasant, optimistic.

• Example: The accident is a grim reminder of poor enforcement.

• [Comparative Structure]: Grim means something very serious or frightening, while Grin refers to a broad smile. Do not confuse these two.

3. Patronage (Noun): The support, encouragement, or protection given by a powerful person or organization.

• Synonyms: Backing, sponsorship, favoritism, protection.

• Antonyms: Opposition, neglect, hostility, rejection.

• Example: Patronage shields illegal mining operators.

4. Intermediaries (Noun): People or bodies that act as a link between two parties.

• Synonyms: Middlemen, agents, brokers, go-betweens.

• Antonyms: Principals, direct dealers, end-users.

• Example: Intermediaries help illegal coal enter legal markets.

5. Engineered (Adjective): Designed and built using scientific or technical planning.

• Synonyms: Designed, structured, planned, constructed.

• Antonyms: Improvised, unplanned, crude, makeshift.

• Example: Rat-hole mines lack engineered safety features.

6. Cessation (Noun): The act of stopping something completely.

• Synonyms: Termination, halt, discontinuation, stoppage.

• Antonyms: Continuation, tolerance.

• Example: The tribunal ordered the cessation of rat-hole mining.

7. Fragmented (Adjective): Broken into parts or lacking unity; scattered.

• Synonyms: Divided, scattered, split, disjointed.

• Antonyms: Unified, consolidated, integrated, whole.

• Example: Fragmented ownership weakens accountability. (Accountability means responsibility).

8. Prone to (Adjective): Likely to suffer from something undesirable.

• Synonyms: Susceptible, vulnerable, sensitive, inclined, exposed.

• Antonyms: Resistant, immune, protected, safe.

• Example: Rat-hole mines are prone to collapse.

9. Underreport (Verb): To report something as being less than the actual number or quantity.

• Synonyms: Suppress, conceal, minimize, downplay.

• Antonyms: Disclose, reveal, exaggerate, highlight.

• Example: Mine owners underreport accidents.

10. Degraded (Adjective): Reduced in quality or condition; deteriorated.

• Synonyms: Deteriorated, damaged, ruined, eroded.

• Antonyms: Improved, restored, upgraded, enhanced.

• Example: Mining has degraded local roads and land.

11. Prohibitive (Adjective): So costly or difficult that it prevents an action from happening.

• Synonyms: Restrictive, deterrent, excessive, discouraging.

• Antonyms: Affordable, permissible, easy, feasible.

• Example: Penalties must be prohibitive to stop illegal mining.

12. Integrate (Verb): To combine parts into a whole.

• Synonyms: Merge, unify, combine, incorporate.

• Antonyms: Separate, isolate, divide, disconnect.

• Example: Data should be integrated with control rooms.

Phrasal Verbs Practice

• Sign off on: To give formal approval to something.

• Example: He signed off on the final proposal.

• Put on: To pretend to have a particular feeling or quality.

• Example: The accused tried to put on an innocent appearance.

• Ram home: To emphasize a point forcefully.

• Example: The speaker rammed home his point with examples.

• Peter out: To diminish or end gradually.

• Example: The protest gradually petered out.

Grammar, Antonym, and Spelling

• Grammar Rule 1 (Subject-Verb Agreement)

• Sentence: Illegal mining in India (are) a long-running problem...

• Correction: Illegal mining is a singular subject, so the verb must be is.

• Grammar Rule 2 (Uncountable Nouns)

• Sentence: ...because of high local (dependences).

• Correction: Dependence is typically used as an uncountable noun in this context. The correct form is dependence.

• Antonym Question

• Word: Earthly (relating to life on earth).

• Antonym: Heavenly.

• Spelling Question

• Task: Identify the correctly spelled word.

• Correct Answer: Commencement (beginning).

• Errors in other options: Announ**ce**ment, Establish**i**shment, Commi**t**ment.

Reading Comprehension: Distressing Regularity

The explosion in an illegal rat-hole mine in Meghalaya on February 5, which trapped 18 workers, is a grim reminder that court supervision alone cannot substitute for good governance. Illegal coal mining in India is a long-running problem, but the North-East, especially Meghalaya’s coal belt, has a distinct ecosystem of small, privately or community-owned landholdings, thin coal seams, weak local enforcement, and supply chains that can launder illegal coal into legitimate markets through intermediaries.

Rat-hole mining is the norm for these illegal setups, and they are prone to collapsing because they lack engineered roofs and sidewall protection. The National Green Tribunal ordered its cessation in 2014, but illegal mines have continued due to high local dependence for income, fragmented ownership that spreads accountability, and political patronage. Operators of illegal mines also underreport accidents and keep workers off formal records. While workers' deaths hit the headlines, injuries due to polluted water, acid drainage, unstable landscapes, degraded roads, and the use of child labor often do not. (The passage continues for self-reading.)

Practice Questions (based on the passage):

1. What is the "grim reminder" mentioned in the passage?

2. Why do rat-hole mines continue to operate despite the 2014 NGT order?

3. According to the passage, what is rat-hole mining?

4. What are the broader negative consequences of illegal mining besides accidents?

5. What does the term "prohibitive" mean in the context of stopping illegal mining?.