Know your English | What does ‘stellar’ mean?

“There you are! Were you out of town last weekend? I didn’t see you at all. Did you…”

“No, I was very much here last weekend. Didn’t step out of the house, though. I was watching the Australian Open! After Alcaraz’s stellar performance in the semi-final, I just had to keep…”

“What performance?”

“Stellar. S…t…e…l…l…a…r. The first syllable rhymes with ‘tell’, ‘spell’ and ‘shell’. The word is pronounced ‘STELL-e’ with the stress on the first syllable.”

“I see! But what does the word mean?”

“The word literally means ‘like a star’. Here, we’re talking about the stars that we see in the night sky. When used with people, ‘stellar’ means ‘excellent’ or ‘extremely high standard’. For example, the movie that I saw yesterday had a stellar star cast.”

“The well-known sitar player gave a stellar performance at the festival.”

“That’s a good example. Our company is hoping to register stellar profits this year.”

“Meaning, immense profits, I suppose. How about this example? For five years, our company struggled. After that, we’ve had stellar growth.”

“That’s an excellent example. Let’s hope it continues to be stellar. It shouldn’t be a problem, given the fact that your company has a stellar reputation.”

“Oh my god! Could you please stop using ‘stellar’? I’m beginning to see stars! Did you watch the final between Djokovic and Alcaraz?”

“Of course, I did! It wasn’t as good as the semi-final between Sinner and Djokovic, but some of the rallies were truly jaw-dropping.”

“Jaw-dropping? Never heard that expression before. What does it mean?”

“How do you normally react when Alcaraz hits an amazing or unbelievable shot?”

“I scream or clap. Sometimes, I’m so amazed that I don’t say anything. I just sit there with my mouth wide open.”

“Exactly! You remain open-mouthed. You’re so impressed that your jaw drops!”

“So, when you say that something was ‘jaw-dropping’, what you mean is that you sat there with your mouth wide open.”

“Very good! Here’s an example. The view from Raj’s house was simply jaw-dropping.”

“Of course! That perhaps explains why Raj was willing to pay a jaw-dropping amount for the old house.”

“I didn’t know he’d paid a jaw-dropping amount of money. Here’s another example. According to my friends, the special effects in the film and the dialogue were jaw-dropping.”

“Is it okay to say, Alcaraz’s performance in the Australian Open final was jaw-dropping?”

“It certainly is. Here’s another, England’s performance in the recent Ashes series was anything but jaw-dropping.”

“I’m sure many of the experts would agree. England is definitely capable to do much better.”

“Capable of.”

“Capable of? What are you talking about?”

“You said ‘capable to do better’. It should be ‘capable of doing better’.”

“Does this sound ok? Many people in our country believe that our team is capable of winning the World Cup again.”

‘Sounds fine. I won’t be requiring any help. I may look weak, but I’m capable of carrying the two suitcases on my own.”

“My boss doesn’t like me at all. He thinks I’m incapable of doing anything.”

“I’m sure your parents think the same!”

“Hey, that’s not fair!”

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