SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 1 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 synonym of the given word: FELICITOUS

(a)Odd
(b)Irrelevant
(c)Unsuitable
(d)Appropriate

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Felicitous means well chosen and suited to the occasion, and is said especially of words: a felicitous phrase is one that fits exactly.

Appropriate means suitable for the purpose or situation. Both name a good fit, so the synonym is Appropriate → option (d).

The root helps. Felicitous comes from Latin felix, happy or lucky, the source of felicity.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Odd — Odd means strange or unusual. An odd choice of words jars with its setting, which is the reverse of a felicitous one.
(b)
Irrelevant — Irrelevant means not connected with the matter at hand. A felicitous remark is exactly suited to the matter, so irrelevance sits on the wrong side.
(c)
Unsuitable — Unsuitable means not right for the purpose or occasion. That is the opposite of felicitous, close to its negative infelicitous, so it would answer an antonym item.

Concept

A synonym item is decided by the word's core sense. For felicitous that sense is a good fit: apt, well chosen, right for the moment.

The options split three to one. Odd, Irrelevant and Unsuitable all describe something that does not fit. Appropriate is the lone option on the fitting side.

Felicitous has a second sense, pleasing and fortunate, as in a felicitous outcome. That sense is positive too, so it rescues none of the negative options.

Appropriate is not a perfect match. Felicitous praises the choice as well as the fit, while appropriate simply means suitable. The gap is one of warmth, not of direction, so the key stands.

Key facts

Felicitous means well chosen or suited to the circumstances, and is often said of words or remarks.
Its second sense is pleasing and fortunate.
Its negative, infelicitous, means inappropriate or unfortunate.
Felicitous and felicity both come from Latin felix, happy or lucky.

Study next

Words for a good fit: apt, apposite, germane and pertinentTheir negatives: infelicitous, inapt and inappositeWords from Latin felix: felicity and felicitate

Common traps

Treating felicitous as only 'happy' and hunting for a joyful option, when the tested sense is apt or well chosen
Picking Unsuitable after losing the instruction under time pressure: it would answer an antonym item on felicitous, not a synonym item

The negative form is a wrong option at 17 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.3, an antonym item on predictable keyed unexpected.

A synonym item in the same format is 15 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.1: PROPITIOUS, keyed Favorable.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Synonyms — all 112 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.