SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 6 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 6 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 option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. Morbid compulsion to consume alcohol continuously

(a)Maniac
(b)Dipsomania
(c)Kleptomania
(d)Satyromania

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The definition has two halves: a morbid compulsion, not a mere habit, and alcohol as its object.

The Greek ending -mania supplies the compulsion and the root dipsa, thirst, supplies the drink, so dipsomania is an uncontrollable craving for alcohol.

Three of the four options end in that same -mania or -maniac shape, so the ending cannot decide the item — the root does, and only option (b) has the root for thirst.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Maniac — Maniac names a person, while the definition asks for the compulsion itself. It also carries no reference to alcohol, so it fails on both halves.
(c)
Kleptomania — Kleptomania has the right ending and the wrong root: Greek klepto, to steal. It is the compulsion to steal, which answers a different definition.
(d)
Satyromania — Satyromania, more usually satyriasis, names excessive sexual desire in men. The satyr root points to lust, not to drink.

Concept

The -mania words are built the same way every time: a Greek root naming the object, plus -mania naming the compulsion. Learn the roots and the family opens.

dipsa is thirst, klepto is stealing, pyr is fire, biblio is books — hence dipsomania, kleptomania, pyromania, bibliomania.

The paired ending is -phobia, the irrational fear of the same kinds of object: hydrophobia, claustrophobia, acrophobia. SSC sets both families, and the roots carry across.

The words morbid compulsion in the stem are the signal that a clinical -mania term is wanted rather than an everyday word such as drunkard. Match the register the definition uses.

Key facts

dipsomania comes from Greek dipsa, thirst, plus mania, madness.
kleptomania is the compulsion to steal, from Greek klepto.
-mania names a compulsion and -phobia the matching fear, both from Greek.

Study next

The -mania family (pyromania, bibliomania, megalomania)The -phobia family (acrophobia, claustrophobia, xenophobia)Greek roots that recur in SSC vocabulary (phil, phobia, mania, cracy)

Common traps

Choosing Maniac because it looks like the plain form of the same word.
Reading -mania as rage rather than as compulsion.
Matching only the second half of the definition and ignoring morbid compulsion.

One-word substitutes recur through the English section, and the option set is often built from one shared ending so that only the root discriminates. The same shift sets the type at English Q.2 (Curfew) and Q.9 (are inaccessible), and 9 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.8 (Stoic) is another.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.