SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 9 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 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.

Select the correct option: The reforms, while ostensibly motivated by economic exigencies, were in effect a veiled attempt to ___ dissent under the guise of austerity.

(a)quell
(b)swell
(c)rebut
(d)impugn

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Three signals set a hidden aim against a stated one: ostensibly, in effect a veiled attempt and under the guise of. The reforms looked economic but were really aimed at dissent.

The blank must say what that hidden aim did to dissent. Quell means to suppress or put an end to, as in quell a riot, so 'quell dissent' is the covert crackdown the sentence describes → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
swell — Swell means to increase, so 'swell dissent' would have the reforms feeding the opposition. Nothing in a veiled attempt under the guise of austerity points to that aim.
(c)
rebut — Rebut means to argue that a claim or charge is false. Reforms are measures, not arguments, and a rebuttal answers dissent openly rather than silencing it behind a pretext.
(d)
impugn — Impugn means to call into question the honesty or validity of something, as in impugn his motives. It is an attack in words, where the sentence describes measures that suppress.

Concept

This is a context-clue item: the sentence's logic decides the word, not the word's difficulty.

Ostensibly means apparently, on the surface. In effect means in reality. Under the guise of means using something as a cover. Together they say the reforms' real aim differed from the stated one, economic exigencies, meaning pressing needs.

The blank needs a verb that acts against dissent. Swell acts for it, and rebut and impugn act in words. Quell suppresses.

Key facts

Quell means to put an end to a rebellion or disorder, typically by force, or to suppress a feeling.
Ostensibly means apparently or on the surface, but perhaps not actually.
Under the guise of means using something as a cover or false appearance.
Impugn means to dispute the truth, validity or honesty of a statement or motive.

Study next

Suppression verbs: quell, stifle, suppress, quash, subduePretext signals: ostensibly, under the guise of, nominally, in the name ofRebut, refute and impugn: three ways of challenging a claim

Common traps

Choosing rebut because dissent sounds like an argument to be answered, when reforms act on dissent rather than reply to it
Reading impugn as a general word for attack and matching it to the sentence's hostile tone

The same idea, dissent being stifled, appears in the error-spotting item at 14 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.12, 'The fact that dissenting opinions are stifled', where the tested point is agreement.

A blank decided by the sentence's contrast, keyed undermined, is set at 15 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.9.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Fill in the blank — all 58 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.