SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 14 of 99

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 meaning of the underlined word in the given sentence. He is an atheist, although he respects everyone’s belief.

(a)One who believes in nature
(b)One who does not believe in God
(c)One who believes in God
(d)One who is extremist

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The underlined word is atheist, built from the Greek a- ('without') and theos ('god').

An atheist is one who does not believe in God. What is denied is belief, not tolerance, which is exactly why the sentence can add 'although he respects everyone's belief' as a contrast.

That contrast is the clue the sentence plants: it separates disbelief from disrespect, and option (b) is the one reading that states disbelief.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
One who believes in nature — 'One who believes in nature' points at a pantheist or naturalist. Atheism denies belief in a god and says nothing about what else a person may revere.
(c)
One who believes in God — 'One who believes in God' is a theist, the exact opposite. The prefix a- means 'without', and it reverses theos rather than affirming it.
(d)
One who is extremist — 'One who is extremist' describes the intensity of a view, not its content. The sentence in fact shows the man respecting other people's beliefs.

Concept

The Greek prefix a- negates the root it attaches to: amoral, apolitical, atypical, atheist.

Theos is 'god', which gives a small set SSC returns to. A theist holds that God exists, an atheist holds that God does not, and an agnostic holds that the question cannot be settled either way.

The middle term is the one that costs marks, because 'unsure about God' reads like a softer atheism and is in fact a separate word with a separate entry.

The concessive clause 'although he respects everyone's belief' is there to stop you reading 'atheist' as 'hostile to religion'. Disbelief and disrespect are different claims, and only the first is part of the word's meaning.

Key facts

Atheist = one who does not believe in the existence of God, from Greek a- ('without') plus theos ('god').
Theist = one who believes that God exists.
Agnostic = one who holds that God's existence cannot be known.
The prefix a- negates the root: amoral, apolitical, atypical, asymmetric.

Study next

Greek negative prefixes: a-, an-, anti-, dys-Belief vocabulary: theist, deist, agnostic, sceptic, hereticOne-word substitutions built on theos: monotheism, polytheism, pantheism

Common traps

Confusing an atheist with an agnostic, which is uncertainty rather than disbelief.
Letting the concessive clause push you towards 'extremist' because the sentence sounds as if it is defending the man.

The atheist and agnostic pair is worked from both directions. Here the word is given and its meaning asked; at 13 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.2 the definition 'A person who is unsure about God's existence' is given, Agnostic is keyed, and Atheist sits in the options as the trap.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.