SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 13 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 3 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 antonym of the given word. Lachrymose

(a)Tearful
(b)Mournful
(c)Weepy
(d)Jovial

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Lachrymose means given to tears or weeping, and by extension mournful.

An antonym must point the other way on that mood scale. Jovial means cheerful and good-humoured, the mood of someone who laughs easily → option (d).

Tearful, Mournful and Weepy all sit on the same side as lachrymose. They are its synonyms, not its opposites.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Tearful — Tearful is the literal meaning of lachrymose, so it is a synonym. An antonym item punishes the option that matches.
(b)
Mournful — Mournful is lachrymose's extended sense, sorrowful and sad. It stands on the same side of the mood scale, so it cannot be the opposite.
(c)
Weepy — Weepy is an informal word for inclined to cry, so it is another synonym. Only Jovial points away from tears.

Concept

Lachrymose comes from Latin lacrima, 'tear'. The same root names the lachrymal glands, which produce tears.

The word has two senses: given to tears or weeping, and tending to cause tears, as in a lachrymose ballad.

In an antonym item, sort the options before you pick. Three here agree with the given word, so the one that disagrees, Jovial, is the answer.

Jovial comes from Latin jovialis, 'of Jupiter'. It goes back to the old astrological belief that people born under the planet Jupiter were cheerful.

Key facts

Lachrymose means given to tears or weeping, or tending to cause tears.
It comes from Latin lacrima, tear, and the lachrymal glands produce tears.
Jovial means cheerful and good-humoured.
Tearful, mournful and weepy are synonyms of lachrymose, not antonyms.

Study next

Latin-derived gloom words, such as morose, lugubrious and dolefulCheer words that make antonyms of them, such as jovial, jocular and genialOther words from lacrima, such as lachrymal

Common traps

Picking Tearful or Weepy because it matches the word, after reading 'antonym' as 'synonym'
Knowing only the 'tearful' sense and missing that Mournful is a synonym too

The given word follows the instruction on the same line, and three of the options are its synonyms.

Jovial itself is the given word at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.19, a synonym item keyed Cheerful. At 19 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.17, the antonym of Desolate is keyed Festive, with Melancholic as a wrong option.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Antonyms — all 137 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.