SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 24 September 2024, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 2 of 100

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 ANTONYM of the given word. Foment

(a)Separation
(b)Remoteness
(c)Proximity
(d)Regulate

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Foment means to stir up or incite — you foment unrest, discontent, a rebellion. Its opposite is to hold something in check, and regulate, to control or keep within limits, is the only word on the list that does that.

The other three are all about distance or division, which is a different field entirely. Separation, remoteness and proximity would be answering some other word.

So option (d) is the answer, reached on meaning and confirmed by the fact that nothing else is even a candidate.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Separation — Separation is the act of parting or dividing. Foment is about inciting, not about joining or splitting, so separation is neither its synonym nor its opposite.
(b)
Remoteness — Remoteness is distance — being far off. It opposes nearness, and has nothing to say about stirring trouble up.
(c)
Proximity — Proximity is nearness. It is simply the opposite of remoteness in option (b), and the pair is there to pull you into answering a distance question.

Concept

Foment comes from Latin fovere, to warm — the same root behind fomentation, a warm compress laid on an injury. In modern use the warming is figurative: you foment unrest by keeping it warm until it flares.

An antonym item asks for the best available opposite, not a perfect one. When no textbook opposite is offered, ask what each option is the opposite of, and keep the one whose field matches the given word.

The textbook antonyms of foment are quell, suppress and pacify, and none of them is on offer. This item is therefore decided by elimination: regulate is the only option about bringing something under control.

Key facts

Foment means to stir up or incite trouble, unrest or discord.
It comes from Latin fovere, to warm, which also gives fomentation, a warm compress.
Regulate means to control or keep within limits, which is how it reads as foment's opposite here.

Study next

Verbs of inciting against verbs of suppressing: instigate, provoke and kindle against quell, suppress and pacifyThe Latin root fovere and the English words built on it, foment and fomentationAnswering an antonym item by elimination when no exact opposite is listed

Common traps

Confusing foment with ferment, which is the chemical process of bubbling and souring.
Hunting for quell or suppress, failing to find it, and then guessing at random.
Being pulled by the remoteness and proximity pair, which is a self-contained opposite and answers nothing here.

This frame gives the bare word with no sentence, so context cannot rescue you and the meaning has to be known — also asked 11 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.14 (Brittle, keyed Resilient) and 10 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.5 (Risible, keyed Serious).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.