SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 9 of 100

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 6 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 synonym of the given word. Pugnacious

(a)Sly
(b)Dogmatic
(c)Belligerent
(d)Ally

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Pugnacious means eager to fight or to argue. It comes from Latin pugnus, 'fist', the root behind pugilist and impugn.

Belligerent carries the same charge: hostile, aggressive, ready for a quarrel, from Latin bellum, 'war'.

Both words describe a person spoiling for a fight, which makes option (c) the synonym.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Sly — Sly means cunning and secretive. Slyness works by avoiding open conflict, which is the opposite of a pugnacious approach.
(b)
Dogmatic — Dogmatic means asserting opinions as if beyond question. That is stubbornness of belief, not readiness to fight.
(d)
Ally — Ally is a partner or supporter. It is also a noun, where the other three options are adjectives.

Concept

Two Latin roots settle this item. Pugnacious comes from pugnus, 'fist', the family that also gives pugilist, impugn and repugnant.

Belligerent comes from bellum, 'war', which gives bellicose and antebellum as well. Both roots name a disposition towards conflict, so the two words match on sense and on strength.

SSC's synonym distractors are usually character adjectives from neighbouring vices, such as cunning or stubbornness, which feel related without sharing the core sense. Fix the core sense first, then match.

Key facts

Pugnacious means eager to fight or argue.
Belligerent means hostile and aggressive, from Latin bellum, war.
Pugnus, Latin for fist, also gives English pugilist and impugn.

Study next

The Latin roots of conflict, pugnus and bellum, and the words they generateAdjectives of temperament that get confused: dogmatic, obstinate, pugnacious, truculentSynonym items where one option is the wrong part of speech

Common traps

Choosing dogmatic because both words suggest an unyielding person.
Missing that 'ally' is a noun and cannot substitute for an adjective.

English Q.10 sets the same synonym slot with an everyday word read in its exact sense — 'stationary' matched to 'still' — where this one uses a hard Latinate adjective.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.