SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 1 · 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 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Choose the correct one-word substitute for: 'An official reprimand or strong criticism'.

(a)Accusation
(b)Denunciation
(c)Censure
(d)Indictment

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The phrase has two halves: official reprimand and strong criticism.

Censure covers both. As a noun it means formal disapproval, the reprimand an official body delivers, and also harsh criticism more generally.

The deciding word is reprimand, a rebuke for something done. Accusation, denunciation and indictment all charge someone with a fault; censure rebukes them for it → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Accusation — Accusation is a claim that someone has done wrong. It alleges the fault, where a reprimand rebukes someone for it, and the phrase asks for the rebuke.
(b)
Denunciation — Denunciation is public condemnation or accusation. It matches strong criticism, but it is not an official reprimand, and the word asked for has to cover the whole phrase.
(d)
Indictment — Indictment is a formal charge of a serious crime: official, but a charge to be tried, not a rebuke. Its figurative sense, a damning criticism, is still not a reprimand.

Concept

Four words of blame sit in this set, so the phrase has to be read for its defining element. Here that is reprimand, a formal rebuke delivered to someone for what they did.

Accusation, denunciation and indictment all say that someone did wrong. Censure tells them off for it, and in its formal use it comes from an authority such as a legislature or a professional body.

That is why the phrase pairs official with reprimand: censure is the word that carries both.

Censure is also a verb: to criticise harshly, or to rebuke formally. In the Lok Sabha, a censure motion expresses disapproval of specific policies or actions of the government.

Key facts

Censure means formal disapproval or an official reprimand, and also harsh criticism.
It comes from Latin censura, the office or assessment of a censor.
An indictment is a formal accusation of a serious crime.
A denunciation is a public condemnation or accusation.

Study next

Words of blame compared: reproach, rebuke, reprimand and censureLegal one-word substitutes such as indictment, affidavit, acquittal and summonsCensure against censor, which means to suppress or cut material

Common traps

Choosing Denunciation because it matches strong criticism, without checking the official-reprimand half
Choosing Indictment because it is official, when it is a charge rather than a rebuke
Confusing censure with censor

Legal and official vocabulary with near-miss options also appears at 13 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.4 (a written statement made under oath, keyed Affidavit, against Testimony and Affirmation).

9 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.2 asks for an order of law requiring people to remain indoors, keyed Curfew.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: One-word substitution — all 77 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.