One Word Substitution Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The correct matching is a-II, b-IV, c-I, d-III.

• A polyglot is a person who speaks many languages (II).
• An aviary is a large enclosure for keeping birds (IV).
• Avarice is extreme greed for wealth (I).
• An elixir is a magical or medicinal potion (III).

The other options pair avarice or aviary wrongly; for example, option A gives aviary the meaning of a potion.

Answer: D

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

• A manuscript is a book or document written by hand (ii).
• Theism is belief in the existence of God, and a theist is one who believes (iv).
• Utopia is an imagined state of ideal perfection (i).
• A stoic is one who endures pain or pleasure without showing feeling (iii).

The first option has manuscript right but swaps the others, which is the trap.

Answer: B

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

• Anarchy is the absence of rule, law and order (iii).
• Ornithology is the study of birds (i).
• Congenital means present from birth, as in a congenital defect (iv).
• Hydrophobia is the fear of water, also an old name for rabies (ii).

The other options give 'ornithology' or 'congenital' a wrong meaning.

Answer: A

The word is mirage.

A mirage is an optical illusion caused by the bending (refraction) of light through layers of air at different temperatures, typically over hot ground. Light from the sky is bent upward to the eye, so it looks like a sheet of water on a desert or a hot road.

An oasis is a real fertile spot with water in a desert, not an illusion. A delusion is a false belief held in the mind, not a visual effect of the atmosphere, so 'None of the above' is also wrong.

Answer: A

They are subsistence farmers.

Subsistence farming produces only enough food to meet the needs of the farmer's own family, with little or nothing left to sell. It contrasts with commercial farming, which grows crops for the market.

Tribes are social groups, not a type of farmer. Organic farmers are defined by their methods (no synthetic chemicals), and they may well grow for sale. Since the term exists, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: A

The best word is folk wisdom.

Folk wisdom is the practical knowledge, beliefs and sayings of a community, handed down from generation to generation, often by word of mouth. That is exactly traditional knowledge accumulated over generations.

Experience belongs to an individual and is gained in one lifetime. Farsightedness is the ability to plan for the future, and intelligence is a mental capacity; neither describes knowledge shared and inherited by a community.

Answer: B

You would be called a mediator.

A mediator is a neutral third party who helps two sides in a dispute talk to each other and reach a settlement they both accept, without imposing a decision on them.

An observer only watches and takes no part in resolving the dispute. An advocate argues for one side, which is the opposite of the neutral role described. Since the word exists, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: A

The word is Abdication.

Abdication is the act of a monarch formally giving up the throne, as Edward VIII of Britain did in 1936. The verb is abdicate.

The other words only look alike. Admiration is respect and approval, adulation is excessive praise or flattery, and addiction is dependence on a substance or habit.

Answer: B

A teetotaller is one who totally abstains from alcoholic drinks.

The word is usually explained as coming from 'T-total', a stress on total abstinence used in the temperance movement of the 1830s.

The other options are other one-word substitutions: a person with long experience of a service is a veteran, one who abandons his religious faith is an apostate, and one who abstains from animal food, especially meat, is a vegetarian.

Answer: C

A person who talks in sleep is a Somniloquist.

The word combines Latin somnus (sleep) and loqui (to speak).

A somnambulist walks in sleep (ambulare, to walk), which is the close trap. A philatelist collects postage stamps, and oneiromancy is divination through dreams.