Q39: GOA Prelims 2021 Screening Test: Previous Year Question with Answer

Animals use the weapons nature has furnished, and those only-the beak, the claw, the tusk, the teeth. The barbarians use a club, a stone. As man advances, he makes tools with which to fashion his weapons. He discovers the best material to be used in their construction. He next finds some power to assist him--- that is to say the weight of water or the force of the wind. He then creates a force so to speak, by changing water to steam, and with that he impels machines that can do everything but think. You will observe that the ingenuity of man is first exercised in the construction of weapons. There were splendid Damascus blades when ploughing was done with a stick. There were complete suits of armour on backs that had never felt a shirt. From the options provided below, identify the farthest synonym for the term “ingenuity” as used in the given passage