Directions (For the next five items) : In the following items a phrase has been given with a word that is underlined, followed by four words or group of words. Select the option that is closest in meaning to the given word : The fact that the deliberations were carried out in a cordial manner pleased the old guard very much.
- (a)joust
- (b)convivial
- (c)jocular
- (d)zestful
Answer
Why
Correct — B, (b) convivial.
The word underlined in the printed stem is 'cordial', and the item asks for the option closest to it in meaning.
Cordial means warm, friendly and sincere in manner. It comes from Latin cor, cordis - the heart - and the sense of warmth coming from the heart is still the whole of the word: a cordial welcome, cordial relations between two governments, a cordial handshake. Applied to deliberations, it says that the discussion was conducted in an atmosphere of goodwill.
Convivial means friendly, genial and pleasantly sociable. Its root is Latin convivium, a feast or banquet, from con- (together) and vivere (to live) - literally, the atmosphere of people living and eating together. A convivial gathering is one where people get on well.
The two words are not identical in every context: convivial keeps a flavour of sociability and enjoyment that cordial does not require, so a convivial dinner is more festive than a cordial one. But the item asks for the closest of the four, and among the options only convivial names friendliness of manner at all. The other three name a contest, a habit of joking, and enthusiasm - none of which is warmth. On the single dimension the underlined word occupies, convivial is the only candidate on the same axis, and the closeness of their shared sense, an atmosphere of goodwill among people, makes it a good match rather than merely the least bad one.
The sentence supports it. Deliberations carried out convivially - with the participants well disposed to one another - are exactly what would please 'the old guard very much'.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)joust — A joust was a combat between two mounted knights with lances, and the word survives as a noun and a verb for a contest or a duel, usually figurative: two ministers jousting over a policy. Its sense is opposition, not warmth, so it is not merely distant from 'cordial' but points the other way - deliberations conducted in a jousting manner would be adversarial. It is also the odd option grammatically: the other three are adjectives, and 'joust' is a noun or verb, so it cannot be substituted into 'carried out in a ______ manner' without change. That mismatch alone strikes it out.
- (c)jocular — 'Jocular' means given to joking, humorous, playful - from Latin jocus, a jest. It shares with 'cordial' the general territory of pleasant social manner, which is what makes it the strongest of the three wrong options, but it names a different quality within that territory. Cordial is about warmth of feeling; jocular is about humour. A discussion can be cordial and entirely serious, and it can be jocular while the participants dislike one another. Since the item asks for the closest in meaning and one option matches the axis of warmth exactly, an option that matches only the general register loses.
- (d)zestful — 'Zestful' means full of zest - keen, energetic, enthusiastic. It describes the vigour with which something is done rather than the feeling between the people doing it. Deliberations carried out in a zestful manner would be lively and eager, which says nothing about whether the participants were friendly; a bitter argument can be conducted with great zest. The option belongs to the family of energy words - spirited, ardent, animated - which is a different family from the one 'cordial' belongs to.
Concept
A synonym item is not answered by finding an option that could occur in the same kind of sentence. It is answered by identifying the exact dimension the tested word occupies and then finding the option on that dimension.
The words in this set cluster around 'pleasant social manner', which is broad enough to hold several distinct dimensions:
Warmth of feeling - cordial, convivial, genial, affable, amiable, hearty. Humour - jocular, jovial, facetious, waggish. Energy - zestful, spirited, animated, ebullient. Conflict - jousting, sparring, contentious.
An examiner builds an option list by taking one word from each dimension, so that all four feel available to a candidate who has placed the tested word only in the broad cluster. The work is to name the dimension precisely: cordial is about warmth, and warmth alone.
Etymology is a reliable shortcut here, because these adjectives wear their roots openly. Cordial holds cor, the heart. Convivial holds convivium, a shared feast. Jocular holds jocus, a jest. Two of the four options can be sorted by their Latin alone.
One caution about near-synonyms: closest does not mean identical. Convivial carries an extra note of festivity that cordial lacks, and in another option set a word like 'genial' or 'affable' would beat it. The instruction is to choose the closest available, not the perfect one.
This item heads the third five-item set of Part A and carries the Directions block that governs Q11 to Q15: a phrase is given with a word underlined, followed by four words or groups of words, and the candidate selects the option closest in meaning to the underlined word.
The underlining is the item. It marks which word the four options are to be matched against, and it does not survive into any plain-text version of the paper - so the first thing to do with an item of this shape is to establish what is underlined. Here it is 'cordial' and nothing else; the sentence also contains 'deliberations' and 'the old guard', both of which are more unusual-looking words and neither of which is the target.
The set is a good example of the range EPFO expects. Over five items it tests a common adjective of manner, a formal verb of accusation, an adjective of moral judgement, a noun for a person who has abandoned a belief, and an abstract noun from philosophy. The vocabulary is that of serious journalism and academic prose rather than of specialist jargon, which is a fair description of the level these papers pitch at.
Key facts
- Cordial means warm, friendly and sincere in manner, from Latin cor, cordis - the heart; it describes the feeling between people rather than the energy or humour with which they act.
- Convivial means friendly and genial, from Latin convivium, a feast - literally con- (together) and vivere (to live), the atmosphere of people at table together.
- Jocular means given to joking, from Latin jocus, a jest; humour and warmth are different dimensions, and a discussion can have either without the other.
- 'Joust' is a noun or verb denoting a combat or contest, so it fails on part of speech as well as on sense in a phrase that needs an adjective before 'manner'.
- The instruction is to choose the option closest in meaning, not an exact equivalent - convivial keeps a note of festivity that cordial does not require, and is still the only option on the same axis.
Study next
Common traps
- Matching an option to the general register of the sentence rather than to the underlined word's precise sense; three of these four options belong to the same broad register.
- Choosing 'jocular' because it is pleasant and social, when it names humour and the tested word names warmth.
- Failing to identify what is underlined, in a sentence that contains two other unusual words.
- Ignoring part of speech: 'joust' cannot fill the slot the sentence supplies for the underlined word.
- Expecting an exact equivalent and rejecting the correct option because it carries a shade the tested word does not.
The synonym set is a fixture of EPFO's English section and appears in every paper in one of three formats - a word in capitals, a word underlined, or a phrase in italics. The tested words are consistently the vocabulary of educated prose: impugn, egregious, apostate, platitude, derelict, serendipitous, complacency. The option lists are built to defeat approximate knowledge, with one option from an adjacent dimension and one from the opposite direction. The productive preparation is not a long word list but a habit: for each new word, note the dimension it occupies and one word each on the adjacent dimensions, so that the option list can be sorted rather than guessed at.
Related PYQs
EPFO_APFC_2023_Q6Directions : Given below are five items, comprising sentences in which one word has been underlined. Choose the response (a), (b), (c) or (d) which is closest to the meaning of the underlined word and mark your response in the Answer Sheet accordingly. The essay was badly researched and contained several platitudes and generalizations.
- (a) Incorrect statements
- (b) Imprecise comments
- (c) Often used and unoriginal ideas
- (d) Vague, subjective statements
Answer(c) Often used and unoriginal ideas
Heads the 2023 paper's underlined-word set - 'platitudes' - and carries the same Directions, showing that this format is standard across EPFO papers.
EPFO_EOAO_2017_Q1Which one of the following is the synonym of the word written in capital letters in the sentence, “The FUNDAMENTAL character of an individual defines his entire life”?
- (a) Productive
- (b) Essential
- (c) Successful
- (d) Effective
Answer(b) Essential
FUNDAMENTAL against four positive adjectives, decided by which option carries the sense of 'basic' rather than of praise - the same dimension-naming discipline.
EPFO_APFC_2023_Q7The judgment of beauty is based on the human capacity for disinterested pleasure in the natural world.
- (a) Indifference
- (b) Free of all self-interest
- (c) Not caring for something
- (d) Extremely focused
Answer(b) Free of all self-interest
'Disinterested' with 'indifference' offered as a distractor, the classic near-miss built from a word's popular misuse.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
The chairman's affable manner put the youngest members of the committee at ease. The word 'affable' is closest in meaning to :
- (a)talkative
- (b)good-natured and approachable
- (c)witty and quick
- (d)formal and precise
Answer(b) good-natured and approachable - affable describes warmth and ease of manner towards others. 'Talkative' names quantity of speech, 'witty and quick' names humour, and 'formal and precise' names a manner opposed to affability.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following pairs is closest in meaning ?
- (a)cordial and contentious
- (b)jocular and mournful
- (c)convivial and genial
- (d)zestful and indifferent
Answer(c) convivial and genial - both describe a friendly, warm and sociable manner. Each of the other three pairs sets a word against something close to its opposite.