SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 8 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 philosopher’s stance was diametrically ___ to the prevailing orthodoxy.

(a)adverse
(b)averse
(c)converse
(d)opposed

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The trigger is the adverb diametrically. It pairs with opposed (and opposite): diametrically opposed means completely opposed, as far apart as the two ends of a diameter.

Opposed also takes to, which the sentence supplies: diametrically opposed to the prevailing orthodoxy → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
adverse — Adverse means harmful or unfavourable, as in adverse effects. A stance that disagrees with orthodoxy is not harmful to it, and the fixed pairing is diametrically opposed.
(b)
averse — Averse means strongly disliking or unwilling, as in averse to risk. It describes a person's feelings, and a stance does not dislike anything.
(c)
converse — Converse means reversed in order or relation: the converse of a statement swaps its parts. It names a reversal, not disagreement, and diametrically pairs with opposed.

Concept

This is a collocation item: the answer is decided by which word habitually goes with diametrically.

The fixed pairing is diametrically opposed (or diametrically opposite), meaning completely different or in total disagreement.

The distractors are look-alikes. Adverse (harmful) and averse (unwilling) differ by one letter, and converse shares their -verse ending.

The to after the blank does not settle it: adverse to and averse to both exist. The adverb and the meaning do.

Key facts

Diametrically opposed means completely opposed.
Adverse means harmful or unfavourable.
Averse means strongly disliking or unwilling, as in averse to risk.
Adverse, averse and converse all come from Latin vertere, 'to turn'.

Study next

Adverse against averse, and other one-letter confusables such as affect and effectAdverb-adjective collocations: diametrically opposed, bitterly disappointed, highly unlikely

Common traps

Choosing averse because the sentence is about disagreement, and missing that averse describes a person's dislike
Choosing converse because it sounds like opposite, without checking what diametrically pairs with

The options are look-alike words, and the adverb before the blank decides.

15 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.10 asks directly for the right collocation (a ___ critique, keyed thorough going), and 15 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.7 turns on the word after subordinated (keyed to).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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