Analogy Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The word that fits is starve.

The first group climbs in intensity: dry, then arid (very dry), then parched (extremely dry, scorched). The second group must climb the same way in the matter of eating: a diet restricts food, a fast gives it up for a time, and to starve is the extreme state of going without food until one suffers or dies.

Feast is the opposite direction, plenty rather than less. Reject and deny describe refusing in general and do not continue a scale of eating less. Only starve completes the progression.

Answer: A

The answer is Longing.

Courage and bravery are synonyms: both name the quality of facing danger without fear. The analogy therefore asks for a synonym of yearning, a strong, persistent desire for something, and longing means exactly that.

The distractors play on sound rather than meaning. 'Yelling' (shouting) and 'yawning' share the opening letters of yearning but have nothing to do with desire, and 'glaring' means staring angrily or shining harshly. None of them stands to yearning as bravery stands to courage.

Answer: D

The pair is P = Magnanimous; Q = Vindictive.

The analogy links an act to the disposition that produces it. Charity comes from a magnanimous (generous, big-hearted) nature, and retaliation comes from a vindictive one, a wish to take revenge.

Parsimonious means stingy, the opposite of charitable, even though vengeful would suit retaliation. Altruistic suits charity, but amicable (friendly) is the opposite of retaliation. Resentful and spiteful both fit retaliation, but resentful has nothing to do with charity. Only the last pair fits both halves.

Answer: A

The matching pair is Aggravate : Alleviate.

Exacerbate means to make a problem worse; mitigate means to make it less severe. The pair is therefore two opposites, in the order 'make worse : make less bad'. Aggravate means to make worse and alleviate means to ease, so the pair has the same relation in the same order.

Alleviate : Precipitate is the wrong way round and its second word does not mean 'worsen': precipitate means to bring on suddenly. Aggravate : Precipitate pairs two words that both push events on rather than opposites. Emancipate (set free) and exonerate (clear of blame) are not opposites and have nothing to do with making things worse or better.

Answer: A

The blank takes starve.

The first chain rises in intensity: dry is a mild lack of moisture, arid is severe dryness and parched is extreme. The second chain must rise the same way through eating less: a diet restricts food, a fast gives it up for a time, and to starve is the extreme, going without food to the point of suffering.

'Feast' is the opposite direction, eating a great deal. 'Reject' and 'deny' are general words for refusing something and are not degrees of going without food, so they do not continue the scale.

Answer: C

The word that fits is fazed.

Walk, jog and sprint are the same action at rising intensity, so the blank needs a word for being disturbed that sits between 'bothered' and 'daunted'. To be fazed is to be disconcerted or put off one's stride, stronger than bothered but short of daunted (intimidated, losing the will to go on).

The other options are near-homophones that do not mean that. Phased means arranged in stages, phrased means put into words, and fused means joined or melted together. None of them describes a degree of disturbance.

Answer: C

The answer is Hive.

A nest is the home a bird builds for itself and its young. The corresponding home of a bee is the hive, built by the colony.

A kennel is a shelter for a dog, and a lair is the den of a wild animal such as a lion or a fox. A hammock is a hanging bed for people, not an animal's dwelling at all.

Answer: A

The pair is P = Thirst; Q = Hunger.

Water relieves thirst, and food relieves hunger: each item is what satisfies the corresponding need. Water : Thirst :: Food : Hunger keeps the same relation on both sides.

'P = Drink' gives an action done with water, which does not parallel hunger as a need. 'Q = Satiated' is the state after eating, not the need food meets, so it breaks the parallel with thirst. 'Wet' is a property of water and 'Critic' has no link to food at all.

Answer: A

The answer is Judiciary.

Parliament is the body that makes up the legislature, the law-making branch of government. In the same way, the courts make up the judiciary, the branch that interprets law and decides disputes. Both pairs are an institution and the branch of government it forms.

The executive is the third branch, which carries out the law, and is formed by the government and its ministers, not the courts. Governmental and legal are adjectives, not names of a branch, so they break the pattern of the second pair.

Answer: D

The word that fits is vain.

The first series climbs in intensity from merely sick to infirm to moribund (close to death). The second must climb in the same way from silly to daft: the middle word should mean foolish, a step between the two. Vain in its older sense means foolish or senseless (as in 'vain hopes', 'vain talk'), which fits the slot.

Frown is a facial expression and fawn means to flatter or a young deer; vein is a blood vessel. All three are sound-alike distractors with no link to foolishness.