SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · 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.

Select the most appropriate synonym of the given word: ABNEGATE

(a)Demand
(b)Accept
(c)Renounce
(d)Support

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Abnegate means to renounce: to give up, or deny yourself, something you value or have a claim to.

The root shows it. Latin abnegare is ab- 'away' + negare 'to deny', the verb behind negate. To abnegate is to deny something away from yourself.

Renounce means to give up or reject, often formally. It names the same act → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Demand — Demand runs the other way. To demand is to assert a claim and ask for something, while abnegate means giving a claim or a comfort up.
(b)
Accept — Accept is the opposite act. Accepting takes something on, and abnegating gives it up or turns it down, so Accept is closer to an antonym.
(d)
Support — Support means to back or hold up a person or cause. It has nothing to do with giving something up, which is the core of abnegate.

Concept

A synonym item turns on the word's core sense, and abnegate has one: giving something up, or denying it to yourself.

Its noun is abnegation, and self-abnegation means self-denial, setting your own interests aside.

When the word is unfamiliar, split it. ab- 'away' plus neg- 'deny' is enough to rule out Demand, Accept and Support, none of which is about giving anything up.

Dictionaries give abnegate two senses: to deny yourself or renounce something, and to relinquish or surrender it. Both are forms of giving up, and Renounce covers both.

Key facts

Abnegate means to renounce, deny or give up something one values or has a claim to.
It goes back to Latin abnegare, 'to refuse, deny': ab- 'away from' + negare 'to deny', the verb behind negate.
The noun is abnegation, and self-abnegation means self-denial.
Renounce means to give up or reject, often by formal declaration.

Study next

Synonyms of renounce, such as relinquish, forgo, abjure and forswearWords built on Latin negare, 'to deny', such as negate, abnegation and renegadeSelf-abnegation against self-indulgence as an antonym pair

Common traps

Confusing abnegate with abrogate, which means to repeal or abolish a law or agreement
Confusing abnegate with negate, which means to nullify or deny the truth of something, not to give it up

A give-up word is also asked as a synonym at 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.4, where Forsake is keyed Abandon.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Synonyms — all 129 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.