Synonyms Questions and Answers

Answer: C

A sycophant is a servile flatterer.

A sycophant is someone who seeks favour from powerful people by excessive flattery and obedience, a toady or yes-man. Princes who 'lend their ears to sycophants' listen to such flatterers.

A mentor or a guide and philosopher gives honest advice, which is the opposite of flattery, and a strong opponent resists rather than fawns.

Answer: C

The word opposite in meaning to PLEBEIAN is Prominent.

Plebeian comes from the plebs, the common people of ancient Rome as distinct from the patrician aristocracy. As an adjective it means belonging to the common people, ordinary or lowly. Of the choices, prominent, meaning important, distinguished or well known, is the one that stands at the opposite end.

Commoner is a synonym of plebeian, not its opposite. Humble and impoverished describe low status or poverty, which are close to the meaning of plebeian rather than contrary to it.

Answer: B

The word closest in meaning to ABOLITION is Extermination.

Abolition is the act of doing away with something completely, such as the abolition of slavery or of a law. Extermination likewise means destroying or getting rid of something entirely, so it is the nearest of the choices, although it is usually said of living things.

Fixation is an obsession or the act of fixing something in place, the reverse of removal. Instigation means stirring something up or starting it. Inaction means doing nothing. None of them carries the sense of ending something completely.

Answer: B

The word closest in meaning to CRAVE is Desire.

To crave something is to want it very strongly, as one craves food when hungry or craves attention. Desire, a strong wish or longing for something, is the closest synonym; craving is simply an intense desire.

Disdain is the opposite feeling, contempt for something considered unworthy. Collapse means to fall down or fail suddenly. Serious means grave or earnest and is an adjective, not a word for wanting. None of them shares the meaning of crave.

Answer: C

A baffling problem is a puzzling one.

To baffle is to bewilder or perplex someone completely, so a baffling problem is one that leaves you unable to understand or explain it, which is exactly what puzzling means.

Difficult is close but weaker: a difficult problem may be hard work yet perfectly clear, whereas a baffling one confuses. Simple is the opposite, and new says only that the problem has not been met before, not that it perplexes.

Answer: D

A prevalent disease is a widespread one.

Prevalent means widely existing or common at a particular time or place; the prevalence of a disease is the proportion of a population that has it. So a prevalent disease is one found widely.

Contagious describes how a disease spreads (by contact), not how common it is, and a contagious disease may be rare. Dangerous and fatal describe how serious a disease is, which has nothing to do with how widely it occurs.

Answer: C

An incredible story is an unbelievable one.

Incredible comes from the Latin in (not) and credibilis (believable), so in its strict sense it means impossible or hard to believe, which is unbelievable.

True is close to the opposite, since an incredible story is one that seems untrue. Interesting is a loose modern use of 'incredible' to mean amazing, but it is not the definition. Unknown means not known, which is a different idea altogether.

Answer: A

A dishevelled appearance is an untidy one.

Dishevelled (spelt disheveled in American English) describes hair, clothes or a person that are disordered and messy, as if not combed or arranged, so the closest definition is untidy.

Fierce means savage or intense, foolish means lacking good sense, and peculiar means strange or odd. A dishevelled person may look odd, but the word is about disorder, not strangeness.

Answer: A

In this context incorrigible means unreformed.

Incorrigible (from Latin in-, not, and corrigere, to correct) describes someone whose bad habits cannot be corrected. A year in jail was meant to reform the man, and the sentence says he stayed the same: unreformed.

'Reformable' is the opposite, someone who can be corrected. 'Regretful' and 'penitent' both mean sorry for wrongdoing, which is the state a reformed prisoner might reach, not the one the sentence describes.

Answer: C

Disheveled means untidy.

A disheveled person has messy hair and rumpled clothes; after long working hours the officer looks tired and unkempt. The word comes from the Old French deschevele, with the hair undone.

'Well-groomed' is the opposite, neat and tidy. 'Happy' and 'enthusiastic' describe mood, and they also clash with 'tired' in the same sentence.