Select the most appropriate ANTONYM of the given word. Triumphant

Correct — B. Triumphant carries two things at once: the fact of having won, and the elation of having won. An antonym has to reverse the fact.

Option (b) Unsuccessful does exactly that — it denies the victory that triumphant asserts.

The other three either share triumphant's positive charge or belong to a different field altogether, so none of them reverses anything.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Tender — Tender means gentle or affectionate. It is a word about warmth, not about winning, so it stands in no relation — opposite or otherwise — to triumphant.
• (c)
  Jubilant — Jubilant means openly rejoicing, especially after a success. It is a companion of triumphant rather than its opposite, and it catches anyone who read the word as a mood rather than an outcome.
• (d)
  Flourishing — Flourishing means thriving or doing well. It points the same way as triumphant, which is why it looks attractive to a candidate skimming an ANTONYM item.

An antonym item is settled by deciding which sense the opposite must attack.

Triumphant reports an outcome (victorious) and an emotion (exulting). Reverse the emotion and you get something like subdued. Reverse the outcome and you get defeated or unsuccessful, and that is the reading the option list supports.

Once the outcome is chosen as the target, Jubilant and Flourishing fall together, because neither reverses anything — both restate the pleasant side of the word.

Key facts

• Triumphant means victorious, or rejoicing over a victory.
• Jubilant means showing great happiness, typically after a success, so it sits with triumphant rather than against it.
• Unsuccessful is the plain negation of successful, and success is what a triumph consists in.

Common traps

• Answering the synonym you expected and choosing Jubilant.
• Reversing the emotion instead of the outcome, which makes every cheerful option look wrong and every gentle one look right.

No directly related past PYQ was found.