‘Discrete’ and ‘Discreet’
- (a)‘Discrete’ means separate and distinct categories of objects, and ‘discreet’ means misuse of authority
- (b)‘Discrete’ means separate and distinct categories of objects, and ‘discreet’ means maintaining confidentiality
- (c)‘Discrete’ means being careful in what one says or does, and ‘discreet’ means separate and distinct categories of objects
- (d)‘Discrete’ means misuse of authority and ‘discreet’ means being careful in what one says or does
Correct — B, ‘Discrete’ means separate and distinct categories of objects, and ‘discreet’ means maintaining confidentiality. Discrete is the mathematician's word for things that come in separate units, as in discrete variables or discrete mathematics. Discreet describes a person who keeps a confidence and avoids drawing attention.
- (a)‘Discrete’ means separate and distinct categories of objects, and ‘discreet’ means misuse of authority — The first half is right, but misuse of authority is not a meaning of discreet or of any word in this pair.
- (c)‘Discrete’ means being careful in what one says or does, and ‘discreet’ means separate and distinct categories of objects — The two meanings are swapped: being careful in what one says is discreet, not discrete.
- (d)‘Discrete’ means misuse of authority and ‘discreet’ means being careful in what one says or does — Only the gloss for discreet survives; discrete is given a meaning it has never had.
Both spellings go back to the same Latin word discretus, meaning separated, and English later handed them different jobs. Discrete kept the sense of separate, while discreet took the sense of tactful and careful.
The standard mnemonic is that in discrete the two e's are themselves separated by the t, which fixes that spelling as the one meaning separate. Two of the four options here merely swap the halves, so a candidate who can pin one word down wins the item outright.
- Discrete mathematics deals with distinct, countable objects rather than continuous quantities.
- The noun formed from discreet is discretion, as in acting at one's own discretion.
- In discrete the letters e-t-e keep the two e's apart, the usual memory hook for the separate sense.
- Reading the second half of an option and skipping the first.
- Assuming a filler gloss like misuse of authority must belong to one of the two words.
Asked as a paired-words item — pick the option that defines both spellings correctly.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Fill in the blank with the correct word. She was __________ about the whole affair and told nobody.
- (a)discrete
- (b)discreet
- (c)discretion
- (d)discreetly
Answer(b) discreet — the adjective for someone who keeps a confidence.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the option that gives the correct meaning of ‘Elicit’ and ‘Illicit’.
- (a)‘Elicit’ means to draw out a response, and ‘illicit’ means forbidden by law
- (b)‘Elicit’ means forbidden by law, and ‘illicit’ means to draw out a response
- (c)‘Elicit’ means to draw out a response, and ‘illicit’ means openly permitted
- (d)‘Elicit’ means to conceal, and ‘illicit’ means forbidden by law
Answer(a) ‘Elicit’ means to draw out a response, and ‘illicit’ means forbidden by law.