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Idioms and Phrases Questions and Answers

11.

Replace the underlined word segment with the most appropriate idiom.

The girl was in a state of intense delight after achieving her goal.

Exam Year(s)

DSSSB PGT - 2023,

Answer: C

In seventh heaven is the idiom for a state of intense delight. On pins and needles means anxious or in suspense, under the weather means slightly ill, and chilled out means relaxed, so none of these means intense joy. The idiom in seventh heaven comes from the old belief of seven heavens, the seventh being the highest; so to be in seventh heaven is to be in a state of the highest joy. The other idioms in the options have different meanings; on pins and needles is nervous waiting, and under the weather is mildly ill, so only one idiom matches intense delight.

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12.

In the following question, out of the given four alternatives, select the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the Idiom/Phrase. With a grain of salt

Exam Year(s)

DSSSB - 2023,

Answer: D

To take something with a grain of salt means to consider it with reservation, that is, not to accept it as wholly true without doubt. It does not mean adding salt to improve taste, and it is not the same as trusting without doubts, which is the opposite. Gentrification is the movement of better-off people into a poorer area, which has nothing to do with the idiom. The answer is To consider with reservation, option (D).

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13.

Select the most appropriate option that can substitute the underlined word in the given proverb. If there is no need to substitute it, select 'No substitution required'.

Keep your face always toward the clouds, and shadows will fall behind you.

Exam Year(s)

DSSSB - 2023,

Answer: B

The word that can replace 'clouds' is 'sunshine'. The proverb is 'Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you'. The picture is of a person who turns to the light so that the shadows are cast behind. Facing clouds would not make shadows fall behind.

'Sky' and 'ground' do not give the same sense of turning to the light, and 'No substitution required' is wrong because the sentence with 'clouds' does not make sense as a proverb: clouds do not cast shadows behind the person who faces them. The second option is the answer.

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14.

Select the most appropriate meaning of the underlined idiom. It cost me an arm and a leg to study in the UK.

Exam Year(s)

DSSSB - 2023,

Answer: C

The idiom means very expensive.

'An arm and a leg' means a very high price. Studying in the UK cost a great deal.

'Very convenient', 'very affordable' and 'very difficult' are not the meaning of the idiom.

The idiom comes from the idea of paying so much that you lose parts of your body. It is used for something that costs far more than expected. The sentence says it cost this much to study in the UK, so the meaning is very expensive.

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15.

Select the most appropriate idiom for the highlighted words in the given sentence. She wants to get this award by any means.

Exam Year(s)

DSSSB - 2023,

Answer: C

The idiom is By hook or by crook.

It means by any means, fair or foul. 'At sixes and sevens' means in confusion, 'again and again' means repeatedly and 'by fits and starts' means in irregular bursts.

So only 'by hook or by crook' matches 'by any means'.

The phrase 'by hook or by crook' means in whatever way is necessary, whether honest or not. The highlighted words 'by any means' have the same sense. 'At sixes and sevens' means in disorder and 'by fits and starts' means not continuously.

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16.

Select the most appropriate idiom for the highlighted words in the given sentence. All friends and relatives were invited to the marriage of her daughter.

Exam Year(s)

DSSSB - 2023,

Answer: C

The idiom is Kith and kin.

'Kith and kin' means friends and relatives. 'Ivory tower' means a place cut off from real life, 'ins and outs' means the details and 'neck and crop' means completely or roughly.

So only kith and kin means relatives and friends.

'Kith and kin' means friends and relatives, which is exactly the highlighted phrase 'friends and relatives' in the sentence. 'Ins and outs' means the details of something, 'ivory tower' means a place of withdrawal, and 'neck and crop' means completely.

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17.

Select the most appropriate meaning of the given idiom. Up a creek without a paddle

Exam Year(s)

DSSSB TGT - 2023,

Answer: C

'Up a creek without a paddle' means to be in an unlucky or bad situation with no means of getting out of it, just as a person in a boat on a creek with no paddle is stuck. It does not mean taking revenge, wishing for something good, or working hard to achieve success, so only the third option is correct. The idiom pictures a person on a creek who has lost the paddle, so there is no way to steer or return.

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18.

Select the most appropriate meaning of the underlined proverb.

By arresting all the group leaders, they nipped the rebellion in the bud.

Exam Year(s)

DSSSB TGT - 2023,

Answer: C

'Nipped the rebellion in the bud' means that the rebellion was stopped at an early stage, before it could grow, which is what arresting all the group leaders did. To fight back, to punish the opponents and to create a commotion are not what the proverb means, so only 'to halt something at an early stage' is correct. The phrase 'in the bud' pictures stopping a plant before it flowers, and so means stopping a trouble before it develops.

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Direction for [ Question No: 19 To 19 ] :

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate options.

The contacts between India and the western world which Chandragupta Maurya had established continued during the reign of his son, Bindusara. Ambassadors came to the court at Pataliputra from Ptolemy of Egypt and Antiochus, the son and successor of Seleucus Nicator of Western Asia. Ashoka, grandson of Chandragupta, added to these contacts, and India became in his time an important international centre, chiefly because of the rapid spread of Buddhism.

Ashoka succeeded to this great empire in about 273 BC. He had previously served as Viceroy in the North-Western province of which Taxila, the university centre, was the capital. Already the empire included the greater part of India and extended right into Central Asia. Only the South-East and a part of the South were beyond its sway. The old dream of uniting the whole of India under one supreme government fired Ashoka and forthwith he undertook the conquest of Kalinga on the east coast, which corresponds roughly with modern Orissa and part of Andhra. His armies triumphed in spite of the brave and obstinate resistance of the people of Kalinga. There was a terrible slaughter in the war, and when news of this reached Ashoka, he was stricken with remorse and disgusted with war. Unique among the victorious monarchs and captains in history, he decided to abandon warfare in the full tide of victory. The whole of India acknowledged his sway, except for the southern tip, and that tip was his for the taking. But he refrained from any further aggression, and his mind turned, under the influence of the Buddha's gospel, to conquests and adventures in other fields.

19.

What does the underlined idiom in the expression '... that tip was his for the taking' mean ?

Exam Year(s)

CTET - 2026,

Answer: D

The idiom means available for taking.

If something is 'yours for the taking', you can have it simply by deciding to take it; nothing stands in your way. Said of the southern tip of India, it means Ashoka could easily have conquered it had he wished.

'Difficult to get' is the opposite meaning. 'To take at face value' means to accept something as it appears without questioning it, and 'to take for granted' means to assume something without thinking about it or to fail to appreciate it. Neither fits here.

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Direction for [ Question No: 20 To 20 ] :

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

We sallied out at three o'clock in the afternoon, having finished our tiffin and coffee. The main job for the day was to mount and frame the photograph. Uncle carried it in his hand delicately, enclosed in an old envelope, as if it were fragile and likely to perish at a finger's pressure. As we went down the street, a neighbour standing at his door hailed us and demanded, "Where are you taking the young fellow?" He was an engineer who worked in some distant projects on the hills, coming home once in a while and then again disappearing from our society. He was a particular friend of my uncle as they occasionally gathered for a game of cards in my house. He asked, "I am here for a few days. Can't we have a session some time?"

"Of course, of course," said my uncle without much fervour, "I will let you know", and moved on.

"Won't aunt get angry?" I asked, remembering the arguments they had had after every card session. The card players would have been sitting around in the middle of the hall, demanding coffee and edibles, and playing far into the night. My aunt would complain after the company had dispersed, "Sitting there with your friends, you lock me up in the kitchen all day! What madness seizes you people when you touch a pack of cards, I wonder!" Worn out by her attacks, my uncle began to avoid his friends, the company gradually dwindled and disappeared. But it did not prevent them from dreaming about cards or luxuriating in visions of a grand session. Somewhere my uncle was supposed to have lost a lot of money through the card games, and my aunt was very definite that he should never go near cards again, although he kept saying, "We play only Twenty-eight, and not Rummy, after all, Twenty-eight...".

20.

What does the expression, 'We sallied out ...' mean in the context?

Exam Year(s)

CTET - 2026,

Answer: D

'We sallied out' means to leave in a determined manner.

To sally out is to set out briskly and with purpose, from the old sense of a sudden rush out of a fortress. Here the narrator and his uncle leave at three o'clock with a clear job, framing the photograph, and the word suggests purposeful starting.

It does not mean a casual outing, as 'jaunt' would, nor a lethargic walk, which is the opposite. 'To rush out in a hurry' overstates the idea, since nothing in the passage shows any hurry.

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