The company was <u>liquidated</u> within five years.
- (a)bankrupt
- (b)closed down
- (c)flourishing
- (d)privatised
Answer
Why
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.
Why the others are wrong
- (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.
Concept
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.
Key facts
- '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.
Study next
Common traps
- 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.
Related PYQs
The Managing Director of the company declared that he is broke and there is a need to seek support from the government.
- (a) bankrupt
- (b) rich
- (c) making profit
- (d) having liabilities
Answer(a) bankrupt
The same corporate-failure vocabulary from the other side: there 'bankrupt' was the answer to a synonym item on 'broke', while here it is the near-synonym decoy that has to be rejected.
Practice
- 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.