The decision of the Union Government to <u>repeal</u> the Urban Land Ceiling Act has been welcomed by all. (Select the word or group of words that is most similar in meaning to the underlined word.)
- (a)suppress
- (b)amend
- (c)cancel
- (d)withhold
Answer
Why
Correct: C, 'cancel'. To repeal a law is to revoke it formally, so that it ceases to have effect; cancelling is the plain word for that. The sentence describes a government decision about a statute, and repeal is the technical step by which a legislature undoes a law it earlier enacted.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)suppress: Suppressing means putting something down by force or keeping it from being known, which is not what happens to a statute that is repealed.
- (b)amend: Amending alters parts of a law while leaving it standing; repeal removes the whole of it, and the two are separate parliamentary steps.
- (d)withhold: To withhold is to hold something back or refuse to grant it, which cannot apply to an Act already in force.
Concept
'Repeal' is the formal term for the withdrawal of a law by the authority that made it, so it belongs to the same family as revoke, rescind and annul.
'Amend' is the tempting choice because both words describe a legislature acting on an existing statute, and both are welcomed by whoever disliked the old law. The difference is how much survives: an amended Act is still on the statute book, a repealed one is not.
Key facts
- The Act named in the sentence is the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976, and it was withdrawn by the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Repeal Act, 1999.
- A legislature repeals a law, a court strikes it down as unconstitutional, and the executive revokes an order: three different words for three different actors.
- 'Repeal' is used of laws and rules; the everyday word for cancelling an arrangement is 'call off'.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing 'amend' because it is the other thing governments do to Acts.
- Treating 'suppress' as a general word for stopping anything at all.
Asked as a synonym item: choose the word or group of words most similar in meaning to the underlined word.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.
Practice
- practice, not a real PYQ
Choose the word nearest in meaning to 'repeal' in 'Parliament voted to repeal the ordinance.'
- (a)extend
- (b)abolish
- (c)publish
- (d)translate
Answer(b) abolish: repealing a law does away with it. - practice, not a real PYQ
Choose the word nearest in meaning to 'revoke' in 'The authority revoked his licence.'
- (a)renewed
- (b)withdrew
- (c)inspected
- (d)issued
Answer(b) withdrew: to revoke is to take back something formally granted.