Select the most appropriate synonym of the given word: IRREPRESSIBLE

Correct — A. Split the word: ir- (not) + repress (hold back, restrain) + -ible (able to be).

So irrepressible means not able to be held back: an irrepressible laugh escapes however hard you try to stop it.

Uncontrollable carries the same sense, something that cannot be restrained → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Forgettable — Forgettable means easily forgotten. Irrepressible is about restraint, not memory: nothing in repress points to forgetting.
• (c)
  Unbearable — Unbearable means too painful or unpleasant to endure. It is about how hard something is to tolerate, not how hard it is to hold back.
• (d)
  Avoidable — Avoidable means able to be avoided or prevented. It leans the other way: an irrepressible urge is one you cannot stop.

On a long word, the fastest route to a synonym is its parts: ir- + repress + -ible.

ir- is the form the negative prefix in- takes before r, as in irregular and irresponsible. -ible means 'able to be', as in visible and flexible.

All four options end in -able, so the suffix cannot choose. The root does: repress means to restrain, and irrepressible is what cannot be restrained.

Key facts

• Irrepressible: not able to be controlled or restrained.
• ir- is the negative prefix in- before r: irregular, irrelevant, irresponsible.
• Repress means to restrain or hold back, and its noun is repression.

Common traps

• Treating ir- as an intensifier, as if the word meant 'very repressed'. It negates: not able to be repressed.
• Choosing Unbearable because both words describe something overwhelming, when unbearable is about enduring and irrepressible about restraining.

No directly related past PYQ was found.