SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 8 of 98

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Select the most appropriate ANTONYM of the underlined word. She was elated about her promotion, but her colleague felt quite disheartened.

(a)proud
(b)delighted
(c)cheerful
(d)discouraged

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The tested word is elated. Proud, delighted and cheerful are all near-synonyms of it, so none of them can be its opposite.

Discouraged is the one word on the list that opposes elated: elated is thrilled and high-spirited, discouraged is deflated and out of heart.

The sentence confirms it. Her colleague 'felt quite disheartened' — and discouraged is what disheartened means. Option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
proud — Proud is a positive feeling sitting close to elated, not against it. A promotion could leave her proud and elated at the same time.
(b)
delighted — Delighted is a plain synonym of elated, a degree lower in intensity. A synonym cannot answer an antonym stem.
(c)
cheerful — Cheerful describes steady good spirits — milder than elated but on the same side of the line, so it is no opposite either.

Concept

An ANTONYM item asks for the opposite, and SSC has built this set so that the wrong choices cluster on one side of the meaning.

That clustering is also a tool. When three of the four choices agree with each other, read them as a group: here they describe the tested word, and the odd one out is the answer.

Elated means lifted into high spirits by something that has gone well. Its opposites run through discouraged, dejected, downcast and disheartened.

The sentence contrasts two people and so carries a word on each side, elated and disheartened. The option set is built around elated: proud, delighted and cheerful all restate it, and only discouraged reverses it.

Key facts

Elated means very happy and excited, especially after a success.
Disheartened and discouraged both mean having lost confidence or hope.
An antonym stem is not answered by a word that restates the tested word.

Study next

Antonym pairs for mood: elated and dejected, cheerful and moroseReading the option set as a group to see which side of the meaning it clusters onWords built on heart: disheartened, hearten, hearty

Common traps

Answering an antonym stem with delighted because it is the closest word to elated
Taking disheartened as the tested word, which leaves three defensible opposites

SSC's ANTONYM items print the word inside a sentence and expect a reversal, not a restatement. 'Cruel' keys to Kind at 11 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.3.

'Inquisitive' keys to Disinterested at 9 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.7, another set where the wrong choices sit together on one side of the meaning.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.