SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 12 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 synonym of the given word. Derogatory

(a)Delegation
(b)Insulting
(c)Salutary
(d)Derivative

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Derogatory describes words or remarks that belittle — that show a critically disrespectful attitude towards somebody.

Insulting carries the same charge: it describes speech or behaviour meant to offend or demean. Both are adjectives, and both attach to the same nouns — a derogatory comment, an insulting comment.

Substitution is the test that settles it: swap insulting into any phrase built on derogatory and the phrase keeps its meaning. That is option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Delegation — Delegation is a noun — the act of handing a task to someone else, or a group sent to represent others. The stem asks for a synonym of an adjective, so it fails on part of speech before meaning is reached.
(c)
Salutary — Salutary means producing a good effect, usually through a warning or a hard lesson, as in a salutary reminder. Its charge is the reverse: derogatory belittles, salutary benefits.
(d)
Derivative — Derivative shares only the opening letters. As an adjective it means copied from something else and so lacking originality — a criticism of freshness, not a slur on a person.

Concept

A bare synonym item gives you no sentence, so two filters have to do all the work.

Part of speech first. Derogatory is an adjective, which removes any noun on the list before you weigh meaning at all.

Then register. Derogatory is not neutral — it carries contempt. A synonym has to carry the same negative charge, which is what separates insulting from a merely formal-sounding word like salutary.

Three of the four options are seeded to look like the target rather than mean it.

Delegation and derivative both open on de-, and salutary sounds severe enough to pass for negative. None of that is evidence, and a look-alike is the commonest way this item is lost.

Key facts

Derogatory means showing a critically disrespectful attitude — belittling or disparaging.
Salutary means beneficial, especially of a warning or experience that produces a good effect.
Derivative, as an adjective, means imitative and lacking originality.
Delegation is a noun and so cannot be the synonym of an adjective.

Study next

Adjectives of negative register: disparaging, pejorative, denigrating, scathingLook-alike words built on a shared prefix: derogatory, derivative, derelictSubstitution as a synonym test — replace the word in a phrase and check the sense survives

Common traps

Choosing Delegation on the shared opening letters without checking part of speech
Taking Salutary as negative because it sounds formal and severe
Treating Derivative as an insult because it is used critically

The word is given bare, with no sentence to narrow it, so part of speech and register are the only filters available.

The sentence-bound form is also asked in this paper at English Q.19 (legitimate) and English Q.20 (affiliated), where the surrounding words pin the sense down.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.