NDA (II) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 10 of 146

Correct — B, 'infuriating'. Behaviour called deliberately provocative is behaviour meant to get a rise out of somebody, and the reaction it aims at is anger — to provoke is to rouse. 'Infuriating' names that effect exactly, since it is built on 'fury'.

• (a)exciting desire — A real second sense of 'provocative', but the sentence offers no hint of attraction; what it reports is behaviour aimed at somebody.
• (c)pitiable — Describes what deserves pity, which is the opposite of what a deliberate provocation invites.
• (d)creating frustration — Frustration follows from being blocked or thwarted; a provocation works by rousing, not by blocking.

'Provocative' means tending to provoke — most often to rouse anger or argument, and in a narrower use to arouse desire.

A word with two senses is settled by the sentence around it. 'Deliberately' tells you the behaviour was aimed at somebody, and provoking somebody in ordinary English means angering them. The first option is placed where it is to catch a reader who chooses on the word alone rather than on the sentence it sits in.

• 'Provoke' comes from the Latin provocare, to call forth.
• 'Infuriate' is built on 'fury' and means to make very angry.
• 'Provocative' also describes a book or a speech meant to start an argument.

• Choosing the first plausible sense without reading the sentence.
• Treating 'frustrating' and 'provocative' as interchangeable.

Asked as a synonym item on an adjective that carries two senses.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which word is nearest in meaning to 'exasperate'?

  • (a)to praise
  • (b)to irritate greatly
  • (c)to explain
  • (d)to expand

  Answer(b) to irritate greatly — to exasperate is to try somebody's patience past bearing.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  'Evoke' means

  • (a)to call forth
  • (b)to cancel
  • (c)to avoid
  • (d)to shout

  Answer(a) to call forth — the root vok carries the idea of calling.