Select the most appropriate ANTONYM of the given word. Epitome

Correct — A. Epitome carries two senses, and the options tell you which one is being tested.

In its older sense an epitome is a summary or abridgement — a longer work cut down to its essentials. It comes from Greek epitemnein, to cut short.

The reverse of cutting a text down is enlarging it, and expansion is the noun for that → option (a).

None of the other three reverses either sense of epitome, which confirms the reading: only the summary sense has an opposite on this list.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Precise — Precise means exact or sharply defined. A condensed summary is itself meant to be exact, so precise leans with epitome rather than against it.
• (c)
  Exhort — Exhort is a verb meaning to urge strongly. Epitome is a noun, and an antonym has to match the part of speech before anything else.
• (d)
  Lucid — Lucid means clear and easy to follow. It describes how a text reads, not how much of it there is, so it opposes obscurity rather than condensation.

Epitome is a two-sense word, and the answer turns on which sense the options activate.

Sense one is a perfect example — she is the epitome of patience. That sense has no clean single-word opposite, which is why nothing here reverses it.

Sense two is a summary or abridgement of a longer work, and condensing has an obvious reverse.

When a headword has two senses, let the options choose. Whichever reading makes exactly one option an opposite is the reading being tested.

Key facts

• Epitome means a summary or abridgement of a longer work, as well as a perfect example of a quality.
• It comes from Greek epitemnein, to cut short, which is why its opposite is a word for enlarging.
• Expansion is the noun for making something larger or fuller, the reverse of condensing a text.
• Exhort is a verb meaning to urge or strongly encourage, so it cannot pair with a noun headword.

Common traps

• Reading epitome only as a perfect example and then finding no opposite on the list.
• Choosing lucid because clarity feels like the opposite of something compressed.
• Ignoring part of speech and setting the verb exhort against a noun.

No directly related past PYQ was found.