NDA (I) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 20 of 150

Correct — C, 'flourishing'. To liquidate a company is to wind it up — its assets are sold, its debts settled and the business ceases to exist — so the reverse is a company that is thriving and doing well.

• (a)bankrupt — Bankruptcy is a cause of liquidation rather than its opposite; both words describe a business in trouble.
• (b)closed down — This is the plain synonym of the underlined word and is the standard decoy in an antonym block.
• (d)privatised — Privatisation is a change of ownership from the state to private hands, and a privatised company carries on trading.

In business English 'liquidate' means to wind up a company by turning its assets into cash and paying off what it owes, so the opposite state is a business that is thriving.

Two options describe the same misfortune as the underlined word and a third describes a change of ownership, so only one option moves to the other end of the scale from failure. Reading 'within five years' as the sad end of a short life makes it easier to picture what the reverse would look like — a company still growing.

• 'Liquidity' is the ease with which an asset can be turned into cash.
• 'Liquidate' can also mean to pay off a debt in full.
• 'Flourish' and 'thrive' are the usual words for a business doing well.

• Choosing 'bankrupt', which names the trouble rather than reversing it.
• Choosing 'closed down', which restates the underlined word.

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

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the word closest in meaning to 'wound up' in 'The firm was wound up last year.'

  • (a)started
  • (b)closed
  • (c)sold
  • (d)expanded

  Answer(b) closed — winding up a firm brings its existence to an end.

• practice — not a real PYQ

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

  • (a)prospering
  • (b)failing
  • (c)growing
  • (d)booming

  Answer(b) failing — the other three all describe success.