SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 5 of 99

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.

Read the passage and answer the questions:
The metamorphosis of a butterfly epitomizes one of nature’s most intricate and captivating transformations. The life cycle initiates with the deposition of fragile eggs, often hidden on the underside of leaves, ensuring immediate access to nourishment upon hatching.
Once emerged, the larva — or caterpillar — enters a phase of relentless consumption, devouring foliage to fuel its rapid growth. During this stage, it undergoes multiple molts, shedding its rigid exoskeleton to accommodate its expanding form. This insatiable feeding period is essential for amassing the energy required for the subsequent, dramatic metamorphosis.
The transition into the pupal stage, encapsulated within a chrysalis, marks an extraordinary biological phenomenon. Inside, the caterpillar’s structures are enzymatically dismantled and reconstructed into entirely new forms — wings, antennae, and compound eyes emerge through a sophisticated process known as histogenesis.
Upon completing this hidden transformation, the adult butterfly struggles free, its crumpled wings needing to be inflated with hemolymph and dried before flight is possible. Once airborne, the butterfly’s existence centres on reproduction, perpetuating the species before its ephemeral life concludes.
Though often romanticized, the butterfly’s life cycle underscores a rigorous narrative of survival, adaptation, and evolutionary precision, offering profound insights into the fragile balance of ecosystems.

In the passage, the word "ephemeral" most nearly means:

(a)Everlasting
(b)Transient
(c)Powerful
(d)Fragile

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Ephemeral means lasting a very short time. It comes from Greek ephēmeros, "lasting only a day".

The sentence fits that sense: once airborne, the butterfly lives to reproduce, "perpetuating the species before its ephemeral life concludes".

Transient, lasting only a short time, carries the same meaning → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Everlasting — Everlasting means lasting for ever, the opposite of ephemeral. It also clashes with the sentence, which speaks of that life concluding.
(c)
Powerful — Powerful is about strength, not time. Nothing in ephemeral, or in the sentence around it, speaks of force.
(d)
Fragile — Fragile means easily broken. The passage does use it, for the eggs and the "fragile balance of ecosystems", but ephemeral is about how long something lasts, not how easily it breaks.

Concept

A word-in-context item wants the word's meaning as the passage uses it. Ephemeral describes anything short-lived: ephemeral fame, an ephemeral stream that flows only after rain.

Its close synonyms are transient, transitory, fleeting and short-lived. Its antonyms are everlasting, eternal and permanent.

A butterfly is delicate as well as short-lived, which is why Fragile tempts. Keep the two ideas apart: one is about time, the other about strength.

Fragile is a fair word for a butterfly, and the passage itself uses it for the eggs and for the balance of ecosystems. That makes option (d) the strongest distractor, but the stem asks what ephemeral means, and that is a matter of duration.

Key facts

Ephemeral: lasting a very short time.
It comes from Greek ephēmeros, "lasting only a day", from epi (on) + hēmera (day).
Synonyms: transient, transitory, fleeting, short-lived.
Mayflies belong to the order Ephemeroptera, named from the same Greek word for their short adult life.

Study next

The short-lived family: transient, transitory, evanescent, fleetingAntonyms at the long-lasting end: perennial, perpetual, everlasting

Common traps

Choosing Fragile because butterflies are delicate, when ephemeral is about time
Confusing ephemeral with ethereal, which means light and delicate, as if not of this world

Here the word is asked as the passage uses it, and the stem does not reprint the sentence. Its near-synonym transitory is the given word of an antonym item at 21 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.9, keyed Eternal.

Transient returns at 21 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.5, as a wrong option for immutable, which is keyed Unchanging.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Reading comprehension — all 128 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.

Read the passage and answer the questions:
The metamorphosis of a butterfly epitomizes one of nature’s most intricate and captivating transformations. The life cycle initiates with the deposition of fragile eggs, often hidden on the underside of leaves, ensuring immediate access to nourishment upon hatching.
Once emerged, the larva — or caterpillar — enters a phase of relentless consumption, devouring foliage to fuel its rapid growth. During this stage, it undergoes multiple molts, shedding its rigid exoskeleton to accommodate its expanding form. This insatiable feeding period is essential for amassing the energy required for the subsequent, dramatic metamorphosis.
The transition into the pupal stage, encapsulated within a chrysalis, marks an extraordinary biological phenomenon. Inside, the caterpillar’s structures are enzymatically dismantled and reconstructed into entirely new forms — wings, antennae, and compound eyes emerge through a sophisticated process known as histogenesis.
Upon completing this hidden transformation, the adult butterfly struggles free, its crumpled wings needing to be inflated with hemolymph and dried before flight is possible. Once airborne, the butterfly’s existence centres on reproduction, perpetuating the species before its ephemeral life concludes.
Though often romanticized, the butterfly’s life cycle underscores a rigorous narrative of survival, adaptation, and evolutionary precision, offering profound insights into the fragile balance of ecosystems.