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Verbal Ability

1
Word Problems
(S y n o n y m s & A n t o n y m s )

Word is the basis of language and indispensable to understand it. Therefore all competitive entrance examinations give
an extra emphasis on word related problems.

The main types of word problems in the examinations are Before we start our discussion of such questions, we
1. Synonym would like to remind you that whenever a difficult word
2. Antonym comes in the way of your reading a newspaper, a book or
3. Sentence completion (Fill in the blanks) doing reading comprehension passages, first guess the
meaning of the word in the context, then consult a
4. Analogy
dictionary and note down the word and its meaning in a
5. Odd word out
note pad for revision. By practice, you can guess
It becomes desirable that the taker of these examinations accurately and less and less use of dictionary would be
start building his/her vocabulary at an early stage. A good required over time.
vocabulary is very important for success in these
examinations. In the course of discussing the above types The most important thing in such exercise is to first guess
of word problems, we will be suggesting you the ways to the general meaning the sentence conveys and then
improve your vocabulary. replace the underlined word with another meaningful word
The first and foremost method of improving vocabulary is in the context. You need to look for a similar word in the
reading books, magazines and newspapers. A word is option. You will be required to eliminate those choices
complete and meaningful only when it is used in a which are clearly different. Before you tick your answer
sentence. The sentence brings forth the complete meaning finally, check your choice by putting it in place of the
of a word. Therefore, we will start our discussion of underlined word and reading the sentence. The word
synonym and antonym with the contextual use of these should be meaningful in the sentence.
words. In such questions you are required to find a
The idea of choosing a correct word for a context can be
synonym or antonym to an underlined or a bold word in
the sentence. better understood if we consider some examples.

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4 | GATE Tutor: Mechanical Engineering

Synonym in Context 3 At times you may not be able to guess the meaning in the
context because of
Directions Choose the synonym from the four options (a) unfamiliar idea or language
for the underlined word in the sentence. (b) unusual usage of the word
In such cases, you are advised to take help of the root of
Example 1. Cacophony : Quarrelling people created a lot of the word, prefix-suffix or other such devices that we are
cacophony and so nobody was able to hear us. going to discuss further.
(a) fighting (b) hearing
(c) noise (d) bitterness
Explanation What quarrelling or fighting or arguing people
Antonym in Context
produce or create that makes hearing impossible? They The exercise on synonyms has made this clear to you how
created what? to locate a correct answer. In case of antonyms, you have to
The correct answer is (c) noise. first replace the underlined word with an easier word and
then make negative of the word by adding ‘no’ or ‘not’ to
Example 2. Fallacy : Don’t live under the fallacy that luck
it. Read the sentence again with the negative word. Then,
will do everything for you. look for the word in the choices that can fit in the sentence
(a) right belief without changing its meaning in the negative sense.
(b) weakness Follow the procedure explained below in finding
(c) pleasure antonyms to a word in a given context.
(d) wrong belief Directions Guess the meaning of the underlined words
Explanation Is depending on luck for everything right or good?
in the context and choose the antonym for the same.
You can re-read the sentences as ‘Don’t live under the
wrong or bad idea that …’.
The correct answer is (d) wrong belief. Example 1. Diligent : The student’s constant and diligent
efforts brought him great success.
(a) lucky (b) constant
Example 3. Desiccate : The washed and wet wheat was (c) lazy (d) slow
spread under the sun to desiccate.
Explanation ‘Constant and diligent’ can be read as ‘constant
(a) to dry (b) to shine
and labourious’ and converted into negative as ‘constant
(c) to pack (d) to break
but not labourious’. Another word for ‘not laborious’ is
Explanation Why do we spread washed clothes and grains lazy.
under the sun? The correct answer is (c) lazy.
The correct answer is (a) to dry.
Example 2. Bellicose : The bellicose countries finally
Example 4. Exacerbate : Drinking more and more stopped fighting.
exacerbated his already poor health. (a) friendly (b) fighting
(a) improved (c) peaceful (d) hateful
(b) worsened Explanation ‘Finally stopped fighting’ suggests that the
(c) killed countries were fighting. Bellicose means fighting.
(d) checked Therefore, you need ‘not fighting’ as opposite and another
Explanation Is it advisable to drink when somebody’s health is word for the same is peaceful.
already poor? What will it do to his health – improve or The correct answer is (c) peaceful.
make it further bad?
You can read it as ‘Drinking more and more deteriorated
…’
Example 3. Audacity : Encouraged by success, the soldier
moved with audacity and killed the enemy.
The correct answer is (b) worsened. (a) courage (b) boldness
(c) timidity (d) strength
Example 5. Ambiguous : He changed his statement so many Explanation Obviously, the soldier moves with confidence or
times that entire his message became ambiguous. courage or boldness as he was encouraged. Therefore, for
(a) clear (b) impressive ‘without courage’ there is only one option.
(c) unimpressive (d) unclear The correct answer is (c) timidity.
Explanation Will not change statements again and again
confuse the listeners and make it unclear to them? Example 4. Garrulous : She had to listen to her garrulous
You can re-read the sentence as ‘that entire his message guest for hours in courtesy.
became confusing’. (a) taciturn (b) talkative
The correct answer is (d) unclear. (c) funny (d) interesting

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Word Problems (Synonyms & Antonyms) | 5

Explanation If the host is forced to listen for hours, it means the • incognito = not known, in disguise; spies remain
guest is talkative. With ‘not talkative’ no option matched incognito
but one. • acknowledge = to confirm knowledge, to confirm;
The correct answer is (a) taciturn. Taciturn is a person who please acknowledge the receipt of the letter
prefers to remain quiet. • diagnosis = to know before, to forecast; diagnosis of
the disease was accurate
Example 5. Stingy : The stingy old man, despite being rich, • prognosis = to know before, to forecast; treatment
never spent a penny on his own well being. depends on a correct prognosis of a disease
(a) miser (b) generous
(c) careful (d) narrow-minded
Example 2. cord, cor, cardi = heart
Explanation If one does not spend money even on urgent needs
• cordial = hearty, heartfelt; a cordial invitation
despite having enough, such a person is called miser and
opposite to miser is generous. • concord = put heart into, harmony and friendliness;
The correct answer is (b) generous. absence of discord among people
• discord = quarrel, lack of harmony; a noisy discord
between the neighbours
Synonym and Word Root • core = central part; from the core of my heart
The big words that we read today are developed from very • cardiac = related to the heart or heart disease; died
small parts of them. These small parts are still there in the because of cardiac arrest
word and are called roots. From one common root, many
words have been derived over time and all these words Example 3. cred = believe
belong to the same root family. These words are not
• creed = a particular belief or sect; no discrimination on
exactly similar in meaning but they have some common
the basis of colour, caste or creed
hidden similarity. This similarity helps us to know the
meaning of the words and remember them. Therefore, • credence = believe something; I don’t give credence to
knowing the roots of words of the same family is a very such gossip
effective way of learning and retaining words for long. • credit = praise, believe, deposit; he got all the credit, I
As the contextual understanding and elimination of don’t credit what he says, money was credited in his
options is helpful in solving synonym and antonym account
questions, knowing the root of the word is also very • credulous = one who easily believes, simpleton; a
helpful, especially when the questions are without context. credulous village boy cheated by all
The very big words like intimidation, congregation, • incredible = so amazing and fantastic that cannot be
circumambulate or incontrovertible are reduced to their easily believed; incredible miracle
roots such as tim, greg, amble and contra. You need to
know their meaning such as tim means fear as in timid, Example 4. cur, curs = run/flow
that is, fearful. Another similar word is timorous. By • Current = flow
adding prefix in and suffix ation, the word becomes
intimidation meaning to frighten, to terrorise. Similarly, • Concurrent = happening at the same time; concurrent
the root greg means group or gather and the word incidents
congregation means to gather together. Amble means to • Concur = agree, coincide; he fully concurs to the
walk or move and contra means opposite or against. The proposal
word circumambulatory means to take or walk through a • Incur = cause oneself to suffer; he incurred great losses
very long or indirect path and incontrovertible means the in gambling
one that cannot be contradicted or disputed. • Recur = happen again, come back to mind; the same
You need to know the roots of certain words before you incident recurs in the movie, those pleasant moments
can use the skill effectively in synonym and antonym recur in my mind
exercises. In the following examples, first see how the • Precursor = thing or person coming before something
root makes a relation among all the words of its family else, forerunner; the smaller incidents were the
and then understand the special meaning of the word. precursor of a great revolution
Finally, notice how the knowledge of root words is
applied in synonym questions. Example 5. dict = say, speak
Directions In the following examples learn the words • diction = style of speaking or writing
before you go through the solved questions. • dictate = to order authoritatively
• predict = to say before something happens, forecast
Example 1. cognosc/gnosi = know • verdict = to say the correct thing, judgement
• recognize = to know again, to identify; to recognize a • contradict = to say or go against something said
very old friend

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6 | GATE Tutor: Mechanical Engineering

Antonym and Word Root Synonym and Prefix

In order to find the antonym of the given word, first make Some prefixes render negative meaning to a word. If you
sure the meaning of the word with the help of its root and can identify a word with such prefixes in the question
think of an opposite word. To do so either add a negative stem, you will immediately get to know what kind of
prefix like a, un, in, im or no or not at the beginning of word you have to look for in the answer stem. The
the word. Then, match your negative word with the given synonym of a word with negative prefix will have to be
answer choices. negative in meaning and the antonym of a word with
negative prefix will have to be positive in meaning.
Directions In the following examples learn the words
Let us see what these prefixes are and what kind of words
before you go through the solved questions. they form.
Example 1. Fid = trust Prefix Meaning Word Meaning
• fidelity = loyalty, trustworthiness ab away from abject abduct hopeless, very bad
• confident = trust in oneself kidnap
• diffident = lack of trust in oneself
an without anarchy anachronism lawlessness dated
• infidelity = being disloyal to one’s husband or wife
wrongly
• infidel = non believer in one’s religion
anti against anti-government forces against
Example 2. Flu/flux = flow antipathy government feeling
• influence = effect, power to effect against, hostility
• confluence = flow of rivers coming together; meeting contra against contradict to say or go against
of two of more rivers controversy dispute
• fluid = liquid dis not disqualified dislike not remaining
• fluency = flow in speech; flowless speech qualified not like
• fluctuate = change in flow of current, prices etc
il/in/im/ir not illegal insufficient not legal not
Example 3. Form = shape impossible irrelevant sufficient or enough
• uniform = having sameness in shape, size, speed etc not possible not
• deform = losing original shape; decompose relevant or suitable
• reform = to bring changes for betterment; form the old mis wrong misspell misplaced wrongly spell placed
system into a better one again or kept wrongly
• perform = present or show; bring forth in a form non not nonentity unimportant person
• formation = making or giving a form or shape noncommittal undecided
Example 4. Fort = strength ob/op against object obnoxious to be against
• fort = castle; strength opposition extremely
• fortress = castle; large fort unpleasant
• fortify = strengthen, to make strong opponent, against
• forte = one’s strong point re against, reject retreat disapprove move
• fortitude = courage, endurance back back
un not unpleasant not pleasant not
Example 5. Fract/frag = break unwanted wanted, unwelcome
• fracture = break, crack
• infraction = breaking of law or rule
• fragile = easily breakable, delicate Directions Choose the synonym for the given word.
• fraction = a small part
• refraction = bend in the ray of light Example 1. Controversy
(a) Dissention (b) Control
3 1. Word roots are only suggestive of the common
(c) Command (d) Calm
Explanation The synonym of a negative word has to be a
origin of some words and are quite helpful in negative word. Control, command, calm are not negative.
remembering and understanding the word of the same Dissent means disagreement.
family. However, over the time the words of the same The answer is (a) Dissention.
family have acquired quite different meanings. Knowing
each of them by constant practice is important.
2. There are many words whose roots cannot be traced
Example 2. Disagreement
(a) Accord (b) Concord
and on the basis of resemblance, a part of a word cannot
(c) Difference (d) Unanimity
be treated as its root.

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Word Problems (Synonyms & Antonyms) | 7

Explanation Again accord, concord and unanimity are not Directions Choose the word that is not synonymous to
negative. the rest of the three in each group.
The answer is (c) Difference.
Example 1. (a) amity (b) animosity
Example 3. Illegible (c) harmoniousness (d) amicableness
(a) Illegal (b) Unreadable Explanation You can make a relation either between amity and
(c) Ill (d) Allege amicableness or between harmonious and friendliness; or
Explanation Here, knowing the root – legible meaning readable any other you like. Let us consider the second choice.
– can be helpful. Harmonious and friendliness both give peace and pleasure.
The answer is (b) Unreadable. Do amity and amicableness also give the same? Yes, they
do.
Example 4. Obnoxious But for our purpose one pair is enough. Check what does
(a) Noxious (b) Attractive not give peace and pleasure. Animosity is enmity or
(c) Popular (d) Repulsive hostility.
Explanation Only negative word in the options is repulsive In case, you find this question difficult, consider their
meaning unpleasant. sounds. Amity and amicableness are similar sounding
The answer is (d) Repulsive. whereas animosity is close to animal or enemy.
The required odd word is (b) animosity.
Example 5. Regress
(a) Progress (b) Revert Example 2. (a) beast (b) brute
(c) Convert (d) Against (c) animal (d) divine
Explanation Progress and convert are not negative. But the root Explanation You might know beast and animal to be same.
gress means move and vert also means the same. Convert They are against divine.
= to move or change into, divert = to move away from and The required odd word is (d) divine.
invert = to move inward. Similarly, progress = to move
forward, regress = to move backward and egress = to go Example 3. (a) cacophonous (b) dissonant
out. Obviously, revert is to go backward.
(c) content (d) raucous
The answer is (b) Revert.
Explanation You already know the relation between
cacophonous and noisy. They are unpleasant, discordant
Synonym and Odd confusion of sound. Content is, of course, not a sound and
not unpleasant either.
Word Out The required odd word is (c) content.
Odd word out is another category of word problem which
the examinees may face in an MBA entrance examination. Example 4. (a) dirty (b) filthy
(c) soiled (d) disabled
In a cluster of four words, one word is odd. It means three
Explanation Dirty and soiled are easy to relate. But disabled is
of them are alike. In a synonym problem, three will be
neither dirty nor soiled.
synonyms and one will be odd. Therefore, if a candidate
The required odd word is (d) disabled.
can identify at least two alike or synonymous words, it
would become an easier task for him. He needs to
establish the relation between the two words and check Example 5. (a) enhance (b) grievance
which one of the remaining does not follow the same (c) strengthen (d) boost
Explanation We have already learnt the words strengthen and
relation. In the following cluster of words, identify two
fortify. If you remember, they are same. They boost or
similar words:
make strong. Which one does not have the same element –
(a) amusing (b) hilarious enhance or grievance?
(c) humorous (d) dull The required odd word is grievance. It means a reason for
complaint or protest.
Explanation
Let us assume you know that amusing and entertaining are 3 We need to use shortcuts to cope with the high difficulty
similar and their relation is that both mean levels in these examinations. However, it is always
something pleasing to mind. In such a case, you have to advisable that
check the word out that does not mean pleasing to mind. 1. Don’t forget to check other options before ticking your
For sure you can say it is dull that does not please your answer finally.
mind. You can go for this choice even if you don’t know 2. Take the tips and enough exercises to improve your
the meaning of hilarious and humorous. Thus, the answer vocabulary as there’s nothing like a good vocabulary for
is (d) dull. improving language.

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Unit Exercise
11.
Directions (Q. Nos. 1-11) Guess the meaning of the
underlined words in the context and choose the synonym
for the same.
Directions (Q. Nos. 12-25) Choose the correct meaning
1. of the given word.

12.

13.
2.

14.
3.
15.

4. 16.

17.
5.

18.

19.
6.

20.

7.
21.

22.

8.

23.

9. 24.

25.

10.
Directions (Q. Nos. 26-30) Choose the appropriate
word closest in meaning to the italic word.

26.

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Word Problems (Synonyms & Antonyms) | 9

27. 38.

28.
39.

29.
40.

30.

Directions (Q. Nos. 41-50) Guess the meaning of the

underlined words in the context and choose the antonym
for the same.
Directions (Q. Nos. 31-35) Each question is followed by
four alternatives. Select the most appropriate alternative 41.
which is closest in meaning to the given word.

31.

42.

32.

33. 43.

34.
44.

35.

45.

Directions (Q. Nos. 36-40) Mark the correct meaning of

the given word.
46.
36.

47.

37.
48.

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49. 65.

66.
50.

67.

Directions (Q. Nos. 51-80) Tick the word that is not a

synonym of the given word. 68.
51.

69.
52.

53.
70.

54.

71.
55.
72.

56. 73.

57. 74.

58.
75.

59.

76.

60.

77.
61.

78.
62.

79.
63.

80.
64.

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Word Problems (Synonyms & Antonyms) | 11

Answers with Solutions

1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (a) 4. (c) 5. (b) 26. (b) 27. (c) 28. (a) 29. (c) 30. (c)
6. (b) 7. (d) 8. (b) 9. (d) 31. (a) 32. (c) 33. (b) 34. (a) 35. (b)
10. (b) Denouncing democratic rights and censorship on 36. (c) 37. (d) 38. (a) 39. (b) 40. (c)
media are the symptoms of dictatorship.
Accountable is that government which is 41. (b) 42. (c) 43. (d) 44. (a) 45. (c)
responsible to answer the questions of the public. 46. (c) 47. (a) 48. (c) 49. (b) 50. (b)
Perfectionist is someone who tries to be best in his
performance and teetotaler is the one who has 51. (b) 52. (a) 53. (d) 54. (c) 55. (a)
denounce drinking wine. Therefore, dictatorial is 56. (a) 57. (c) 58. (d) 59. (b) 60. (c)
the synonym of totalitarian.
61. (c) 62. (a) 63. (b) 64. (c) 65. (a)
11. (b) 12. (a) 13. (b) 14. (b) 15. (d)
66. (c) 67. (c) 68. (a) 69. (c) 70. (d)
16. (a) 17. (a) 18. (b) 19. (a) 20. (d)
71. (d) 72. (a) 73. (b) 74. (d) 75. (a)
21. (d) 22. (a) 23. (d) 24. (d) 25. (c)
76. (d) 77. (c) 78. (c) 79. (b) 80. (b)

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