Antonyms Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The opposite of QUIESCENT is active.

Quiescent means in a state of inactivity or rest, quiet and still for the time being: a quiescent volcano, a quiescent disease. Its exact opposite is active.

'Dormant' is a near synonym of quiescent, not an opposite, and is the usual trap. 'Weak' describes lack of strength, not inactivity, and 'unconcerned' describes indifference, a state of mind rather than activity.

Answer: C

The antonym of concealed is unveiled.

To conceal is to hide something or keep it secret. To unveil is to uncover it or make it known, the exact opposite: They unveiled the matter.

Denied is close in tone to concealing, since it means refusing to admit something, so it is not an opposite. Respected and trusted are attitudes towards a person or thing and have no connection with hiding or revealing. Other antonyms of conceal are reveal, disclose and expose.

Answer: C

The antonym of peak is Nadir.

A peak is the highest point, of a mountain or figuratively of a career or a graph. The nadir is the lowest point, as in 'the nadir of his fortunes'. In astronomy the nadir is the point directly below the observer, opposite the zenith.

Pinnacle, acme and zenith all mean the highest point, so they are synonyms of peak, not antonyms.

Answer: B

The antonym of BLATANT given in the key is Quiet.

Blatant means glaringly obvious and done openly without shame (a blatant lie), and in an older sense loud, noisy and offensive. The options are built on that second sense, so its opposite is quiet, unobtrusive and restrained.

Loud is close to a synonym of blatant in that sense, not an antonym. Decency is a noun meaning propriety, not the opposite of an adjective, and darken is a verb meaning to make dark. Neither fits as an antonym.

Answer: C

The opposite of 'veracity' is Mendacity.

Veracity means truthfulness or accuracy, from Latin verax, truthful. Mendacity means untruthfulness, the habit of lying, from Latin mendax, lying.

Truthfulness is a synonym of veracity, not an antonym. Probity and integrity mean honesty and uprightness, which are close in meaning to veracity, so they are also not opposites.

Answer: A

The antonym of 'Proclaim' is suppress.

To proclaim is to announce publicly and officially. To suppress is to keep something from being known or expressed, the opposite.

'Pretend' means to make believe, 'attend' to be present at or give attention to, and 'distend' to swell outwards; none is opposed to making something public.

Answer: B

The antonym of fertile is barren.

Fertile land or a fertile mind produces abundantly; barren land produces nothing, so barren is its direct opposite.

Fecund and fruitful are synonyms of fertile, not antonyms: both mean productive. Feverish means having a fever or being frantically excited, and is chosen only because it looks like fertile; it has no opposite meaning.

Answer: A

The antonym of senior is junior.

Senior means older or higher in rank or standing; junior means younger or lower in rank. The two form a direct pair, as in senior and junior officers, or senior and junior classes.

Superior is close to a synonym of senior, meaning higher in rank or quality. Inferior is the opposite of superior, not of senior. Prior means earlier in time and has no opposite relation to senior. All five words are Latin comparatives that take to rather than than (senior to, prior to), which is why they are grouped together in such questions.

Answer: B

The antonyms of 'bleak' are b and d: cheerful and bright.

'Bleak' means cold, cheerless and without hope, as in a bleak landscape or a bleak future. Its opposites describe something hopeful and full of light: cheerful and bright.

Dismal, dreary and desolate are synonyms of bleak, all meaning gloomy or empty, so every option containing a, c or e is wrong.

Answer: C

The correct matching is (a)-(iv), (b)-(i), (c)-(ii), (d)-(iii).

• Barren (unable to produce) is the opposite of fertile (iv).
• Despair (loss of hope) is the opposite of hope (i).
• Flexible (easily bent or adapted) is the opposite of rigid (ii).
• Humble (modest) is the opposite of arrogant (iii).

The other options pair words that are unrelated, such as 'barren' with 'hope'.