SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 18 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 15 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 10 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 synonym of the given word. Condone

(a)Pardon
(b)Penalty
(c)Solace
(d)Solicitude

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Condone means to accept or overlook an offence, to let a wrong pass rather than punish it.

Pardon is the same movement: to forgive, to release someone from the consequences of a fault.

The other three answer a different question — what you impose or what you feel afterwards — while condone and pardon both name the withholding of blame → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Penalty — Penalty is a punishment imposed for a fault. It is precisely what condoning declines to impose, so it stands at the opposite end of the same situation.
(c)
Solace — Solace is comfort offered to someone in distress. Consoling a person is not excusing an offence, however close condone and console look.
(d)
Solicitude — Solicitude is anxious care or concern for another person's wellbeing. It describes how closely you attend to someone, not whether you excuse what they did.

Concept

Condone belongs to a small family of words about how a wrong is treated, and the item tests whether you can keep them apart.

Condone is to overlook or tacitly allow. Pardon and forgive release the offender. Absolve and acquit clear a person of blame or of a charge. Penalise and punish do the opposite.

The traps here are phonetic rather than semantic: condone sits close to console, and both solace and solicitude open with sol-. Choose on meaning, never on sound.

Condone is slightly weaker than pardon in careful use — it suggests letting something pass, sometimes with a hint of tacit approval, rather than formally forgiving it. The item asks for the most appropriate synonym, and Pardon is the only option in that field.

Key facts

Condone comes from Latin condonare, to remit or forgive, built on donare, to give.
Condone often implies overlooking or tacitly allowing a wrong.
Solace means comfort given to someone in distress.
Solicitude means anxious care or concern for another person.

Study next

Forgiveness verbs and their shades: condone, pardon, absolve, exonerate, acquitCondone against condemn, a pair separated by two lettersLatin donare in English: donate, donor, pardon, condone

Common traps

Confusing condone with console and choosing Solace.
Misreading condone as condemn and reaching for Penalty.

The same forgiveness field is worked from the antonym side at 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.17, where the antonym of Absolve is keyed as Accuse, and at 25 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.12, where the antonym of Forgive is keyed as Loathe.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.