NDA (II) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 12 of 146

Correct — D, 'impartial'. To be biased against a group is to lean against it before the case has been heard; an impartial person leans neither way. That is the exact reversal the item is after.

• (a)open — 'Open-minded' would come close, but 'open' on its own means unclosed or frank and is not the settled opposite of 'biased'.
• (b)prejudiced — A synonym of 'biased' rather than its opposite.
• (c)liked — Confuses being biased against people with being disliked by them; the item is about fairness, not popularity.

'Biased' means inclined towards one side; 'impartial' means favouring no side at all.

Two of the choices point the wrong way for two different reasons. 'Prejudiced' repeats the underlined word instead of reversing it, and 'liked' answers a question about feeling rather than about fairness. Between 'open' and 'impartial', the second is the word English pairs with a judge or an umpire, and fairness is exactly what 'biased' denies.

• 'Impartial' is built from 'partial', which in this sense means favouring one part or side.
• 'Prejudiced' and 'biased' are close in meaning, the first usually being the harsher word.
• Unbiased, neutral and disinterested are the other common opposites of 'biased'.

• Choosing 'prejudiced' by matching the sense of the underlined word.
• Reading the bare word 'open' as though it said 'open-minded'.

Asked as an antonym item on an underlined adjective.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  'Disinterested', used carefully, means

  • (a)bored
  • (b)impartial
  • (c)curious
  • (d)selfish

  Answer(b) impartial — a disinterested judge has no stake in the outcome.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which word is opposite in meaning to 'partial' in the sense of favouring one side?

  • (a)complete
  • (b)fair
  • (c)partly
  • (d)divided

  Answer(b) fair — 'complete' reverses the other sense of 'partial', the one that means incomplete.