SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 September 2025, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 9 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. Vindicate

(a)Justify
(b)Carefree
(c)Forgive
(d)Accuse

Answer

Why

Correct — D. To vindicate someone is to clear them of blame or suspicion, or to show that they were right.

The opposite act is to charge someone with a fault or offence, and that is accuse. Vindicate lifts blame; accuse lays it → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Justify — Justify is a synonym, not an antonym. To vindicate a decision is to justify it: to show that it was right or reasonable.
(b)
Carefree — Carefree is an adjective meaning free from worry, while vindicate is a verb. It shares no scale with the given word, so it cannot be its opposite.
(c)
Forgive — Forgive pardons a fault that is accepted as real. Vindicate says there was no fault to begin with, so the two differ without being opposites.

Concept

Vindicate has two linked senses: to clear someone of blame or suspicion, and to show that a claim or decision was right. The noun is vindication.

An antonym must oppose the word on the same scale. On the blame scale, vindicate removes blame and accuse assigns it.

This set mixes a synonym (Justify), a neighbour on the blame topic (Forgive), an unrelated adjective (Carefree) and the true opposite (Accuse).

Vindicate and vindictive look alike but mean different things: vindictive means wanting revenge. Mix them up and Forgive starts to look like an opposite, which it is not.

Key facts

Vindicate means to clear someone of blame or suspicion, or to show something to be right or justified.
Its noun is vindication.
Accuse means to charge someone with an offence or a fault.
Absolve and exonerate are close synonyms of vindicate in its blame-clearing sense.

Study next

Blame-scale verbs: exonerate, absolve and acquit against accuse, incriminate and indictLookalike pairs such as vindicate and vindictive

Common traps

Picking Justify because it sits on the same topic, when it is a synonym of vindicate
Confusing vindicate with vindictive (revengeful) and then choosing Forgive as its opposite

The same opposite is keyed at 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.17, where the ANTONYM of Absolve is Accuse.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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