SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 6 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.

Choose the correct one-word substitute for: 'A statement that appears self-contradictory yet may be true'.

(a)Axiom
(b)Maxim
(c)Paradox
(d)Irony

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The definition has two halves: the statement appears self-contradictory, and yet it may be true.

A paradox is exactly that. 'Less is more' sounds like a contradiction, yet it makes sense: fewer, better things can achieve more → option (c).

The second half is the trigger. A real contradiction is simply false. A paradox only seems to contradict itself.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Axiom — Axiom is a statement accepted as true without proof, such as 'things equal to the same thing are equal to each other'. It is self-evident, not self-contradictory.
(b)
Maxim — Maxim is a short saying that states a rule of conduct, such as 'honesty is the best policy'. Nothing in a maxim has to seem contradictory.
(d)
Irony — Irony is a gap between what is said and what is meant, or between what is expected and what happens. It is not a statement that contradicts itself.

Concept

Paradox comes from Greek para, 'contrary to', and doxa, 'opinion': a statement that runs against expectation and seems to contradict itself, yet on reflection may be true.

Keep it apart from its neighbours. An axiom is accepted as true without proof. A maxim is a short rule for living. Irony says one thing and means another.

An oxymoron squeezes the contradiction into two words: deafening silence, bittersweet.

Irony and paradox both have a surface that misleads. The difference is what misleads: irony hides the meaning behind the words, while a paradox looks logically impossible and turns out not to be.

Key facts

Paradox: a statement that seems self-contradictory but may be true, such as 'Less is more'.
Axiom: a statement accepted as true without proof.
Maxim: a short statement of a general truth or rule of conduct.
Oxymoron: two contradictory words placed side by side, such as deafening silence.

Study next

Figures of speech: oxymoron, irony, hyperbole, understatementKinds of saying: axiom, maxim, aphorism, adage, proverb

Common traps

Latching onto 'may be true' and choosing axiom, when the first half, 'appears self-contradictory', rules it out
Choosing irony because both irony and paradox mean something other than they first seem

The same wording, 'Choose the correct one-word substitute for:' with the definition in quotes, sets Pacifist at 17 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.7.

A neighbouring logic word, Fallacy for 'a false idea or belief', is keyed at 12 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.20.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: One-word substitution — all 91 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.