Synonyms Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The word is Accelerate.

Expedite, hasten and hurry all mean to make something happen or move faster. Accelerate, to increase speed, belongs to the same group: 'the new process will accelerate approvals'.

Retard means the opposite, to slow down or delay. Provide means to supply or make available, and disable means to make something unable to work; neither has anything to do with speed.

Answer: B

The closest meaning is Freedom.

Latitude, apart from its geographical sense, means scope or freedom to act or think as one chooses: 'the manager gave the team considerable latitude in choosing their methods'.

Eligibility is the state of meeting the conditions for something, such as a post or an award. Coercion is the opposite of latitude: forcing someone to act against their will. Meticulousness is great care and attention to detail, which has nothing to do with the freedom to choose.

Answer: C

To gesticulate is to make expressive gestures while speaking.

The verb comes from the Latin gesticulari, from gestus, a gesture. Someone who gesticulates uses hand and arm movements, usually with energy, to add emphasis to what they say.

The other options define different words. To think about a topic seriously is to ponder or deliberate. To abandon or forsake is to desert or relinquish. 'To neutralize fast' describes no English verb of this form and is a pure distractor.

Answer: B

The synonym of deference is Humble submission and respect.

Deference means polite respect shown to someone, often by yielding to their judgement because of their rank, age or experience. The sentence supports this: the young lawyer defers to the judge because he acknowledges her years of experience and wisdom.

The other options are wrong. A disrespectful attitude and aggressive opposition are the opposite of deference, and indifference or lack of concern is the absence of any attitude towards the judge, which does not fit a lawyer who is acknowledging her experience.

Answer: B

The synonym of disaster is Calamity.

A disaster is a sudden event causing great damage, loss or suffering, such as a flood or an earthquake. A calamity is the same: an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress.

Disease and illness are conditions of ill health, which can follow a disaster but do not mean one. A problem is a difficulty to be solved, far weaker than a disaster.

Answer: A

The closest meaning is Diminish.

To mitigate is to make something less severe, serious or painful, as in mitigating the effects of a flood or mitigating circumstances in a trial. To diminish is to make or become less, which is the same core idea.

The distractors share only the first letter. To divulge is to reveal a secret; to dedicate is to devote to a purpose or person; to denote is to indicate or stand for something. None of them involves lessening.

Answer: B

You would look horrified.

Aghast means filled with horror or shock, so the natural expression on hearing of a terror attack is horror.

'Pleased' and 'delighted' are the opposite emotions and would be inappropriate to the news. 'Ignorant' means lacking knowledge, which contradicts the premise that you have just heard of the attack.

Answer: B

The word closest to PREPOSTEROUS is ludicrous.

Preposterous means utterly absurd or contrary to reason (from Latin praeposterus, 'before-behind', that is, back to front). Ludicrous, so absurd as to be laughable, carries the same sense.

Sensible, practical and rational are all near opposites: they describe something reasonable, which is exactly what a preposterous idea is not.

Answer: C

The synonym of otiose is Unnecessary.

Otiose, from the Latin otium, leisure, means serving no practical purpose, superfluous or futile, as in 'an otiose clause in the contract'. An older sense is idle or lazy, but the current meaning is 'needless'.

Necessary is its antonym. Obese (very fat) is a sound-alike trap with an unrelated meaning, and automatic has no connection with the word.

Answer: A

The matching is R S P.

Inundated means flooded or overwhelmed, the same as swamped (R). A ruse is a deception or trick (S). A cornucopia, the horn of plenty, means an abundant supply, a plethora (P).

'Suffocated' is close to overwhelmed but means deprived of air, and 'sterility' is the opposite of the abundance a cornucopia stands for, so codes using Q or T are wrong.