Select the most appropriate synonym of the underlined word in the given sentence. Even when he was left with plenty of fortune, he lived a frugal life.
- (a)Hardworking
- (b)Purposeless
- (c)Thrifty
- (d)Extraordinary
Answer
Why
Correct — C. Frugal means sparing in the use of money or resources — careful, plain, not given to spending.
Thrifty carries the same idea with an approving tone: managing money so that little is wasted. Option (c) matches in sense and in part of speech.
The sentence backs it up: 'even when he was left with plenty of fortune' sets what he could spend against what he did spend, which is what a frugal life describes.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Hardworking — Hardworking is about effort, not about spending. A frugal person may work little and still be frugal, so the two words do not translate each other.
- (b)Purposeless — Purposeless means without aim. Frugality is a habit of spending and says nothing about whether a life has direction.
- (d)Extraordinary — Extraordinary means unusual or remarkable. It might be said of the man in the sentence, but it does not carry the meaning of the underlined word.
Concept
Synonym items are settled by the core sense of the word, not by the mood of the sentence around it.
Frugal belongs to a family about spending. Thrifty and economical are close and approving, while miserly and stingy are close and disapproving.
The wrong options here come from other families — effort, purpose, distinction — which a sympathetic reading of the sentence may suggest but the word itself does not carry.
The sentence invites admiration for the man, and that invitation is the trap: it makes any complimentary word look plausible.
Key facts
- Frugal = sparing with money and resources, avoiding waste.
- Thrifty is its neutral-to-approving synonym, while miserly carries the disapproval.
- Frugal describes things as well as people: a frugal meal, a frugal life.
Study next
Common traps
- Reading approval into the sentence and choosing 'Hardworking' as a compliment
- Accepting any word that could fairly describe the man as a synonym of the underlined word
The same paper asks synonym again at English Q.10, where the option set — Sincere against Deceptive, Fake and Biased — fixes the target as honest and keys Sincere.
SSC also prints the word bare: 11 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.15 asks for a synonym of 'Adversity' and keys 'Misfortune', and 12 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.2 keys 'Concur' for 'Acquiesce'.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.