Select the most appropriate meaning of the given idiom. Radhika stood by Monica’s side through thick and thin.

Correct — D. Through thick and thin is a fixed phrase meaning in all circumstances, favourable and unfavourable alike, without withdrawing.

The support is already in the sentence — stood by Monica's side. What the idiom adds is the range: every condition, easy or hard.

Under all conditions, no matter how challenging or difficult states that range and nothing more → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Under easy situations wherein she could ensure Monica’s safety and security — This confines the loyalty to easy situations, which is the half of the range the idiom exists to rule out. Thick and thin includes the hard times by definition.
• (b)
  In all the happy moments, personally spending most of her time — Happy moments again keeps only the pleasant half, and spending most of her time adds a claim about quantity that the idiom never makes.
• (c)
  In the moments when Monica couldn’t complete some simple tasks — Simple tasks shrinks the idiom to one small kind of difficulty. The phrase speaks of the whole span of circumstances, not a category of task.

An idiom is a fixed unit: its meaning does not come from adding up its words, so thick and thin cannot be read as thickness and thinness.

The traditional explanation is a picture of travel — riding through dense thicket and through thin, open growth without turning aside — and that image is what the phrase kept: the going changes, the traveller does not.

In use it almost always attaches to a verb of loyalty: stand by someone, stick with someone, see someone through thick and thin. Spotting that verb in the sentence is often enough to eliminate the options that are about something other than support.

Key facts

• Through thick and thin means in all circumstances, favourable and unfavourable alike.
• It normally follows a verb of loyalty such as stand by, stick with or support.
• The traditional explanation of the phrase is woodland travel, through dense thicket and thin, open growth.

Common traps

• Choosing an option that captures only the good times or only the bad
• Reading thick and thin as a comment on how hard the tasks were rather than on the range of circumstances
• Being drawn to the longest option because it sounds the most detailed

No directly related past PYQ was found.