SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 1 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 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.

In the following question, select the related word from the given alternatives Liberty : Autonomy :: Equality : ?

(a)Legitimacy
(b)Neutrality
(c)Fairness
(d)Diversity

Answer

Why

Correct — C.
Rule: an ideal : the quality closest to it in meaning.

Autonomy is self-rule, the freedom to make your own choices, which is what liberty means.
Fairness is even-handed treatment of people, which is what equality asks for.

Equality : Fairness repeats Liberty : Autonomy → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Legitimacy — Legitimacy is the rightful basis of authority, a quality of governments and laws. It says nothing about people being treated alike, so it does not stand to equality as autonomy stands to liberty.
(b)
Neutrality — Neutrality is not taking sides in a dispute. It describes the stance of an onlooker, not the equal treatment of people that equality means.
(d)
Diversity — Diversity is variety, the presence of differences among people. Equality is about treating those people alike, so diversity sits beside equality rather than meaning the same.

Concept

A word analogy asks you to name the relation in the first pair, then find the option that bears the same relation to the third word.

Here both pairs are abstract civic ideals. Autonomy is the closest companion of liberty: self-rule. The word that stands in that place for equality is fairness, even-handed treatment.

Every option is a civic word, so recognising the topic is not enough. Test the relation.

The relation is closeness of meaning, not part : whole or cause : effect. Legitimacy is a civic value too, but it describes authority, not how people are treated.

Key facts

Autonomy means self-government: the freedom to make one's own decisions.
Fairness means impartial, even-handed treatment, the idea at the core of equality.
Legitimacy is the rightful, accepted basis of authority, a property of governments and laws.
Neutrality means not taking sides in a dispute.

Study next

Analogies between abstract nouns of politics and ethics, such as Justice : EquityNear-synonym analogies versus antonym analogiesSeparating a word's meaning from the topic it belongs to

Common traps

Choosing Legitimacy because it sounds like a constitutional value, as liberty and equality do
Reading neutrality, not taking sides, as equal treatment

15 Sep 2025, 16:00, Reasoning Q.2 pairs civic ideals the same way, Justice : Equity :: Governance : ?, and keys Legitimacy, the word that fits governance and a wrong answer here.

12 Sep 2025, 09:00, Reasoning Q.1 uses the same instruction for a unit analogy, Watt : Power :: Pascal : ?, keyed Pressure.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Semantic Analogy — all 45 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.