Directions : Each item in this section consists of a sentence with an underlined word followed by four words. Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word and mark your response in your Answer Sheet accordingly. She always organises lavish parties on birthdays.

Correct — A, (a) frugal.

The Directions printed above this item ask for the word OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined one, and the underlined word is ‘lavish’. Lavish describes spending or giving on a generous, even extravagant scale: a lavish party, lavish hospitality, lavish praise, money lavished on a wedding. Its exact contrary is ‘frugal’, which describes spending sparingly and carefully, avoiding waste — a frugal household, a frugal meal, frugal habits. The two words answer the same question, ‘how freely is money or effort given?’, and give opposite answers. That is what makes them a true antonym pair rather than merely two words of different tone.

The sentence supplies the frame that keeps the pair honest. ‘She always organises ______ parties’ is about the manner in which the hostess spends, and both lavish and frugal can fill it. A word that changes the subject — from how much is spent to how good the taste is, or how odd the occasion is — cannot be the opposite of ‘lavish’ however unflattering it sounds.

The most important thing on this page is not the vocabulary at all. This item and the four that follow it are printed as a bare sentence with one word underlined and four words beneath, and the next set on the following page is printed in exactly the same shape. Nothing in the sentence itself tells you whether the examiner wants the opposite or the nearest match. Only the Directions do, and they are printed once — here, over this item. In the booklet the words ‘opposite in meaning’ are set in bold italic for that reason.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)decent — ‘Decent’ means conforming to accepted standards of behaviour or taste, or, in a milder everyday use, adequate and reasonably good — a decent man, decent clothes, a decent meal, a decent salary. It sits on the axis of propriety and sufficiency, not on the axis of expenditure. A lavish party can be perfectly decent, and a frugal one can be indecent, which shows the two words are not opposed at all. The option is placed here because it feels like a mild word set against an extravagant one, and mildness is not the same thing as opposition.
• (c)cheap — ‘Cheap’ answers a different question from ‘lavish’. It reports what something cost — low in price — or, very often in English, what it is worth: shoddy, of poor quality, or, of a person, mean and stingy. Its natural opposite is ‘expensive’ or ‘costly’, not ‘lavish’, and its second sense carries a contempt that ‘frugal’ does not: frugality is a virtue and cheapness is a fault. A frugal party is one on which little is spent by choice and with care; a cheap party is one that looks poor. In an antonym item the option to take is the one that reverses the underlined word on its own axis, and here that word is ‘frugal’.
• (d)strange — ‘Strange’ means unusual, unfamiliar or hard to account for, and its opposites are ‘familiar’, ‘ordinary’ and ‘usual’. It has no bearing at all on how much money is spent on a party. The option is a reminder that in every set of four at least one is simply from another field, and that recognising it costs no time — a candidate who checks each option against the axis of the underlined word rather than against the general mood of the sentence eliminates it at sight.

An antonym item asks for the word that reverses the underlined word along its OWN axis of meaning. Every word sits on some scale — quantity, quality, speed, temper, propriety — and the true opposite is the far end of that same scale, not a word from a neighbouring scale that happens to sound unfavourable.

‘Lavish’ sits on the scale of how freely money or effort is given: lavish, generous, liberal, adequate, sparing, frugal, miserly, niggardly. Frugal is the plain contrary, with ‘thrifty’, ‘economical’ and ‘sparing’ beside it and ‘parsimonious’ and ‘miserly’ further along into the pejorative. Notice that the scale carries approval at both ends and disapproval at both extremes — extravagant at one end and miserly at the other — which is why an examiner can use it to separate a careful reader from a hasty one.

‘Lavish’ also works as a verb, and it takes the pattern ‘lavish something ON somebody’: he lavished attention on his guests, praise was lavished on the film. That construction is worth learning with the word.

One more fact of usage. ‘Frugal’ describes the person or the habit as much as the thing: a frugal man, a frugal meal, frugal living. It is a word of approval in English, as its Latin ancestor ‘frugalis’, meaning useful or worthy, suggests.

Key facts

• The Directions printed over this item govern Q6 to Q10 and ask for the word OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined one; the following set, Q11 to Q15, is printed in the same shape and asks for the nearest in meaning.
• ‘Lavish’ means given or spent in great abundance — a lavish party, lavish praise — and as a verb takes the pattern ‘lavish something on somebody’.
• ‘Frugal’ means sparing and economical, avoiding waste, and is a word of approval in English: a frugal meal, frugal habits.
• The scale the pair sits on runs extravagant – lavish – generous – adequate – sparing – frugal – parsimonious – miserly, with disapproval at both extremes.
• ‘Cheap’ reports low price or poor quality and is opposed to ‘expensive’; unlike ‘frugal’ it carries contempt, and stinginess is one of its ordinary senses.
• ‘Decent’ belongs to the axis of propriety and sufficiency, and ‘strange’ to the axis of the unfamiliar; neither is opposed to lavish at all.

Common traps

• Answering the wrong question. This set asks for the opposite and the next set asks for the nearest match, and the two are printed identically, so the Directions have to be read before the first of the five is attempted.
• Choosing the most negative-sounding option. ‘Cheap’ is unflattering, but an insult is not an antonym; the opposite of lavish spending is careful spending.
• Shifting axis without noticing. ‘Decent’ answers a question about taste and propriety, not about how much was spent.
• Deciding on the general feel of the sentence rather than on the underlined word. The sentence exists only to fix which sense of ‘lavish’ is in play.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word : The committee was praised for its frugal use of the funds placed at its disposal.

  • (a)careful
  • (b)extravagant
  • (c)dishonest
  • (d)inadequate

  Answer(b) extravagant — frugal means sparing and economical, so its opposite on the same scale is spending freely and beyond need, which is what extravagant names. ‘Careful’ is a synonym rather than an opposite, ‘dishonest’ moves to the axis of honesty, and ‘inadequate’ describes an amount that falls short rather than a habit of spending.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word : The critic lavished praise on a first novel that few others had noticed.

  • (a)showered
  • (b)heaped
  • (c)withheld
  • (d)invited

  Answer(c) withheld — used as a verb, ‘lavish’ means to give something abundantly and freely, so the opposite is to hold it back, which is what ‘withheld’ names. ‘Showered’ and ‘heaped’ are near synonyms in the same pattern of giving in abundance, and ‘invited’ describes asking for something rather than giving it.