<u>Thrifty</u> as he is, he can well afford to live within his means.
- (a)careless
- (b)instinctive
- (c)sentimental
- (d)extravagant
Answer
Why
Correct: D, 'extravagant'. A thrifty person spends carefully and wastes nothing; an extravagant one spends freely and beyond need. That is the reversal the sentence's own logic asks for: thrift is what lets the man live within his means, and extravagance is what would carry him past them.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)careless: Reverses 'careful' in general. A spendthrift is careless with money, but carelessness itself is a habit of attention rather than the opposite of thrift.
- (b)instinctive: Describes acting without deliberation and has nothing to do with money at all.
- (c)sentimental: Describes a way of feeling rather than a way of spending.
Concept
'Thrifty' means careful and economical with money; its opposite is the free and wasteful spender.
Three of the options are words about temperament and only one is about money, which is the quickest route through the item: find the option on the same subject as the underlined word, then check its direction. English keeps a full set of words along this axis: thrifty, frugal and economical on one side; extravagant, prodigal, lavish and profligate on the other; with 'miserly' and 'stingy' marking the point at which thrift has turned into a fault.
Key facts
- 'Thrifty', 'frugal' and 'economical' all describe careful spending, without the disapproval carried by 'miserly'.
- 'Extravagant', 'prodigal', 'lavish' and 'profligate' describe spending beyond need.
- 'To live within one's means' is to spend no more than one earns.
Study next
Common traps
- Picking a general word about carelessness instead of the money word.
- Being distracted by the unusual word order of the opening clause.
Asked as an antonym item: pick the word most nearly opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
Related PYQs
Rakesh is an eccentric prodigal.
- (a) extravagant
- (b) profligate
- (c) wasteful
- (d) thrifty
Answer(d) thrifty
The identical pair three years later with the ends swapped: there 'prodigal' is underlined and 'thrifty' is the answer, here 'thrifty' is underlined and the free spender is wanted. Learning the whole axis once answers both.
Practice
- practice, not a real PYQ
Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to 'frugal'?
- (a)modest
- (b)lavish
- (c)punctual
- (d)cheerful
Answer(b) lavish: frugal spending is sparing, lavish spending is free and generous. - practice, not a real PYQ
A person who spends money recklessly is called a
- (a)philanthropist
- (b)spendthrift
- (c)miser
- (d)creditor
Answer(b) spendthrift: one who spends freely and wastefully.