SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 8 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.

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: GRUMPY

(a)Irritable
(b)Friendly
(c)Polite
(d)Calm

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Grumpy means bad-tempered and easily annoyed.

Irritable means easily annoyed or made angry, the same short fuse. You could swap one for the other in "He is always grumpy before his morning tea" without changing the meaning.

Both are adjectives describing mood → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Friendly — Friendly points the other way: warm and pleasant towards others. A grumpy person is short with people, not warm to them.
(c)
Polite — Polite is about manners, not mood: courteous and well-behaved. Someone can be grumpy and still say please, so politeness does not measure temper.
(d)
Calm — Calm means not easily disturbed, the opposite of easily annoyed. It is an antonym of irritable, and so of grumpy.

Concept

A synonym item wants the option that means the same thing as the given word, in the same part of speech.

Grumpy is an informal word for a bad-tempered, easily annoyed mood. Irritable is its more formal equivalent. Near synonyms include grouchy, cranky, testy and peevish.

Friendly, Polite and Calm all point at good temper or good manners. Sort the options into the two camps and pick from the right one.

Polite is the least obvious wrong option. It is not an antonym of grumpy, since manners and mood are separate things, but it is not a synonym either.

Key facts

Grumpy: bad-tempered and easily annoyed.
Irritable: easily annoyed or made angry.
Near synonyms: grouchy, cranky, testy, peevish.
Antonyms: good-humoured, cheerful, even-tempered.

Study next

Formal words for bad temper: irascible, choleric, cantankerousMood antonym pairs: morose and cheerful, sullen and genial

Common traps

Choosing Calm by reading grumpy as quiet and withdrawn, when it means easily annoyed
Mixing up irritable (easily annoyed) with irritating (causing annoyance)

Here the given word is printed in capitals, with one synonym among options that point the other way. Grumpy itself is the keyed word for blank 3 of the cloze at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.23: "People smile and smile, yet prove to be (3) _________".

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Synonyms — all 129 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.