SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 3 · 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 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 most appropriate antonym of the given word. Oppugn

(a)Question
(b)Defend
(c)Dispute
(d)Challenge

Answer

Why

Correct — B. To oppugn is to call something into question or fight against it: to attack a claim, a policy or an argument.

The opposite is to stand up for it. Defend means to support or protect against attack or criticism → option (b).

The root makes it easy: Latin oppugnare, 'to attack', from ob-, 'against', and pugnare, 'to fight'.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Question — Question is a synonym: to oppugn a claim is to question it. The stem asks for the antonym, so this is the trap.
(c)
Dispute — Dispute is also a synonym. To dispute a finding is to oppugn it, so it sits on the same side as the given word.
(d)
Challenge — Challenge means the same as oppugn: to contest the truth or rightness of something. It is the word's meaning, not its opposite.

Concept

An antonym item is solved in two steps: find the given word's meaning, then find its opposite. Here the meaning is attacking or disputing something.

Question, Dispute and Challenge all mean that. When three options mean the same thing, check whether they mean the given word. Here they do, which leaves Defend as the opposite.

Impugn comes from the same root and is a close relative: it also means to challenge the truth or honesty of something.

Key facts

Oppugn means to call into question or to fight against.
It comes from Latin oppugnare, 'to attack', built on pugnare, 'to fight'.
Pugnacious and impugn come from the same root, pugnare.
Defend, support and uphold are antonyms of oppugn.

Study next

Words from Latin pugnare, 'to fight', such as pugnacious, impugn and repugnantOppugn versus impugn, two near-synonyms for challenging a claimVerbs of support that answer verbs of attack, such as uphold, champion and vindicate

Common traps

Picking Question, Dispute or Challenge because it is the word's meaning, when the stem asks for the antonym
Guessing from the opp- opening alone, when the part that carries the meaning is pugn-, 'fight'

Here three options are synonyms of the given word and one is its opposite. The same shape is asked at 14 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.3 (Extirpate, keyed Establish).

The root pugn- is tested through Pugnacious at 10 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.9 (keyed Belligerent) and 18 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.16 (keyed Waspish).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Antonyms — all 114 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.