NDA (II) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 15 of 150

Correct — C, 'correct'. An unjust decision is one that is wrong — it gets the rights of the matter the wrong way round — so the option that reverses it must lie on the axis of right and wrong, and only 'correct' does. None of the four is the textbook antonym 'just', so the block is asking for the best available reverse.

• (a)serious — Seriousness measures how grave a decision is, not whether it was fair; a serious decision can be unjust and a trivial one can be just.
• (b)lenient — Lenient is the opposite of harsh, not of unjust — and a decision that lets the guilty off lightly is itself a standard example of injustice.
• (d)imbecile — This is about stupidity, so it judges the intelligence behind a decision rather than its fairness.

'Unjust' means contrary to justice, so its reverse is a decision that is right in the sense of being properly arrived at and fair to those affected.

'Lenient' is the trap because unjust decisions by officers are often imagined as harsh ones, and 'lenient' looks like the mirror of harshness. Naming the axis first is the safeguard — the underlined word judges rightness, so an option about severity, gravity or intelligence cannot be the answer whatever else it has going for it.

• 'Correct' is broader than 'just', and this item works by elimination rather than by an exact match.
• Leniency is mildness in punishment, and its true opposite is severity.
• 'Imbecile' is an old term for foolishness and is out of use in careful modern writing.

• Choosing 'lenient' by assuming an unjust decision must have been a harsh one.
• Rejecting 'correct' because it is not the perfect dictionary opposite of 'unjust'.

Asked as an antonym item — choose the word most opposite in meaning to the underlined word.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the word most opposite in meaning to 'unjust'.

  • (a)strict
  • (b)equitable
  • (c)sudden
  • (d)unwise

  Answer(b) equitable — an equitable decision is a fair one.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the word most opposite in meaning to 'lenient'.

  • (a)kind
  • (b)severe
  • (c)unfair
  • (d)brief

  Answer(b) severe — leniency is mildness, so its reverse is severity.