Select the most appropriate ANTONYM of the underlined word in the given sentence. The appearance of most of the animals in jungle is deceptive in nature.
- (a)honest
- (b)ugly
- (c)illusive
- (d)beautiful
Answer
Why
Correct — A. The underlined word is deceptive, which means giving a false impression. Its opposite therefore has to sit on the truth axis, not the looks axis.
An honest appearance is one that shows the animal as it really is, and that is the exact reversal of an appearance that misleads.
The sentence supports the reading: the writer is saying the animals are not what they look like, so the opposite state is one in which the look tells the truth.
Why the others are wrong
- (b)ugly — Ugly answers a different question — how the animal looks, not whether its look tells the truth. A creature can be ugly and perfectly honest-looking at the same time.
- (c)illusive — Illusive means based on illusion, that is, deceiving. It is a synonym of the cue word planted where the antonym should be, and reading ANTONYM in capitals is what saves you.
- (d)beautiful — Beautiful is pulled in by the word appearance, but it rates attractiveness, not truthfulness. An appearance can be beautiful and still mislead, which is the sentence's whole point.
Concept
An antonym item is decided by the axis the cue word sits on, not by general opposition. Deceptive belongs to the truth-and-falsehood axis: it describes something that creates a false impression.
So the answer has to be a word about truthfulness — honest, genuine, candid — and an option on any other axis is out however negative or positive it feels.
The set in front of you mixes one true antonym with a synonym of the cue word and two words taken from the neighbouring axis of appearance.
Honest is used more often of people than of appearances, which makes option (a) feel odd at first reading.
It is ordinary English of things too — an honest account, an honest day's work — and it is the one option here that reverses deceptive.
Key facts
- Deceptive means giving an appearance that misleads, from the verb deceive.
- Illusive means based on illusion, so it is close in meaning to deceptive rather than opposite to it.
- Illusive and elusive are different words: elusive means hard to catch or hard to define.
Study next
Common traps
- Picking illusive because it echoes the cue word, when it is a synonym of deceptive rather than its opposite.
- Answering the word appearance instead of the word deceptive, which sends you to beautiful or ugly.
The plant-a-synonym trap is set again at 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.9, where Independence stands among the options for the antonym of Autonomy. The same one-word antonym instruction is used at 17 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.5 (Synthetic).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.