Select the most appropriate ANTONYM of the given word. Monotonous

Correct — C. Monotonous is built from Greek monos, single, and tonos, tone — literally in one tone, so unvarying and therefore dull.

Its opposite has to name something that holds attention, and engrossing does exactly that: absorbing the whole of a person's interest.

Tiresome and tedious repeat the dullness instead of reversing it, and rational belongs to a different axis of meaning, so option (c) is the antonym.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Tiresome — Tiresome is a synonym, meaning wearisome or annoying. Something monotonous is tiresome, so this option restates the word rather than opposing it.
• (b)
  Tedious — Tedious means tiresomely long and dull — the closest synonym in the list. It is planted for a reader who matches the mood of the word instead of its direction.
• (d)
  Rational — Rational means based on reason, and what it opposes is irrational. Nothing in it addresses variety or interest, which is the axis monotonous sits on.

Monotonous describes sameness that becomes wearying — one tone, one pace, the same thing repeated.

The antonym can be attacked from either end: varied against unvarying, or engrossing against dull. These four options offer only the second route, so the answer is the word that names held attention.

Engross began as a legal and commercial word — to write a document out in a large hand, and to buy up goods wholesale — and the modern sense of absorbing someone completely developed from that.

Key facts

• Monotonous means dull through lack of variety, from Greek monos (single) and tonos (tone).
• Engrossing means absorbing all of someone's attention or interest.
• Tedious and tiresome both mean wearisome, so both are synonyms of monotonous rather than antonyms.
• Rational means based on or in accordance with reason, and its opposite is irrational.

Common traps

• Choosing tedious, the nearest synonym, by reading for mood rather than direction
• Rejecting engrossing because it looks like a participle, when it functions as an ordinary adjective

No directly related past PYQ was found.