Antonyms Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The antonym of PACIFY is excite.

To pacify a crowd is to calm it down and quieten its anger or agitation. The opposite is to stir it up, to excite it.

Antagonize is the near miss: it means to make someone hostile towards you, which is about relations with the speaker rather than the crowd's calm or agitation. Threaten and challenge describe actions towards someone, not the reverse of calming them.

Answer: C

The antonym of STRICT is lenient.

A strict officer insists firmly on rules and discipline. A lenient one is tolerant and permissive, inclined to let mistakes pass, which is the direct opposite.

Pleasant and open hearted describe a friendly temperament, which a strict person can also have. Indifferent means unconcerned, which is not the opposite of strictness either.

Answer: C

The antonym of AVERSION is liking.

An aversion is a strong dislike, so an aversion to milk means he dislikes it. The opposite is a liking for it.

Dear and loving are adjectives, and pet names a favourite animal or thing, so none of them can replace the noun 'aversion' in the sentence as its opposite.

Note that 'aversion' takes 'to' (an aversion to milk), while its opposite 'liking' takes 'for' (a liking for milk).

Answer: D

The antonym of MONOTONOUS is varied.

Monotonous means dull because it is the same all the way through, without change or variety, from the Greek for 'one tone'. Its opposite is varied, full of change and variety.

Agreeable and acceptable are about whether the account was pleasing or satisfactory, and indecent about whether it was proper. None of them is the reverse of sameness.

Answer: B

The antonym of DEROGATORY is complimentary.

Derogatory remarks are critical and belittling. Complimentary remarks express praise and admiration, the direct opposite.

Interesting and unnecessary say nothing about whether the remarks were critical or approving, and cheerful describes the speaker's mood rather than what the remarks said about the food.

The word comes from 'derogate', to take away from someone's worth or standing.

Answer: A

The antonym of REPUGNANT is pleasing.

Repugnant means extremely unpleasant or disgusting, causing strong dislike: pregnant women often find certain smells repugnant. The opposite is pleasing, agreeable to the senses.

Happy and loving describe a person's feelings, not the quality of a smell. Linking means connecting and is unrelated.

Since the sentence describes the smell itself, the antonym must also describe a smell, and only 'pleasing' does.

Answer: B

The antonym of ENTHUSIASM is indifference.

Enthusiasm is eager interest and excitement about something. Its opposite is indifference, a complete lack of interest or concern.

Fervour is a synonym, intense feeling. Hostility is active ill will, which is not the absence of interest but a different strong feeling. Amity means friendship, also unrelated to the opposite of eagerness.

A quick test for an antonym pair is to swap the word into the sentence: 'His indifference to social work' says the reverse of 'his enthusiasm for social work'.

Answer: A

The keyed antonym of DIVINE is earthly.

Divine means of or from God, heavenly. Its direct opposite is earthly, belonging to this earth and human life, as in the contrast between heavenly and earthly things.

Worldly is close but leans towards being concerned with material things or being sophisticated. Devilish is the opposite of saintly or good rather than of heavenly, and fleshy means plump, having much flesh. So 'earthly' is the best opposite of 'divine' in a phrase about a world.

Answer: C

The antonym of AFFINITY is antipathy.

Affinity is a natural liking for, or feeling of closeness with, someone. Antipathy is a deep-seated dislike, the opposite feeling.

Apathy and indifference mean a lack of feeling or interest, which is the absence of affinity rather than its opposite. Disunity describes a lack of agreement in a group, not a personal feeling towards others.

The prefixes help: affinity suggests nearness (Latin ad, to, and finis, border), while anti- in antipathy means against.

Answer: A

The keyed antonym of CONFIDENCE is doubt.

Here confidence is self-assurance: although he was short, he walked with the assurance of a tall man. The opposite of being sure of oneself is doubt, a feeling of uncertainty.

Distrust and mistrust are the opposites of confidence in the sense of trust in another person, which is not the meaning in this sentence. Entrust is a verb meaning to give someone responsibility for something, not an opposite at all.