Select the most appropriate ANTONYM of the underlined word in the following sentence to fill in the blank. Most of the flowers bloom in the spring season but they start to ________ during summer.

Correct — D. But sets the two halves of the sentence against each other: the flowers bloom in spring, so what they do in summer must reverse blooming.

Wither means to dry up, shrivel and lose freshness — the exact reverse of coming into flower: option (d).

The other three words all belong to growth or to colour, and none of them contrasts with bloom.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  flush — Flush means to turn red in the face, or to rinse with a rush of water, and gardeners use it for a burst of new growth. Not one of those senses points at decline.
• (b)
  flourish — Flourish means to grow vigorously and thrive. It continues the idea of blooming instead of reversing it, which is precisely what but rules out.
• (c)
  blossom — Blossom means to come into flower, a near-synonym of bloom. Placed after but, it would make the sentence say the flowers bloom in spring but bloom in summer.

The blank is controlled by but, and the word the answer must oppose is the verb already in the first clause: bloom.

Sort the options by what they do to a plant. Flourish and blossom belong to growth, flush belongs to colour or to water, and only wither belongs to decline.

When three options crowd into one sense-group, the fourth is usually the key — the crowd is built deliberately.

Key facts

• Wither means to shrivel and dry up through loss of moisture or vitality.
• Bloom and blossom both mean to come into flower and are close synonyms.
• But signals contrast, so the word in the blank must oppose the word before it.

Common traps

• Choosing blossom because it is the closest word to bloom, when the item wants its opposite.
• Picking flush on the strength of its gardening sense, which is growth rather than decay.
• Answering from the season word summer instead of from the verb bloom.

No directly related past PYQ was found.