SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 24 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 3 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 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 antonym of the given word. Pulverize

(a)Crumble
(b)Shatter
(c)Restore
(d)Crush

Answer

Why

Correct — C. To pulverize is to crush or grind something into powder or dust, destroying its form. The word comes from Latin pulvis, 'dust'.

The opposite process rebuilds what was broken. Restore, to bring something back to its former, undamaged condition, runs the other way → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Crumble — Crumble means to break into small fragments, which is what a pulverized thing does. It is a synonym, not an antonym.
(b)
Shatter — Shatter means to break suddenly into many pieces. It points the same way as pulverize, towards destruction, so it cannot be its opposite.
(d)
Crush — Crush is the very action that pulverizes: pressing or grinding something until it breaks down. It is a near-synonym.

Concept

An antonym question asks for the word opposite in meaning. Pulverize names total breaking down: stone to powder, or, figuratively, an opponent beaten completely.

Crumble, shatter and crush are all ways of breaking. They catch a candidate who answers as if the question asked for a synonym.

Pulverize has no exact one-word opposite, so pick the option that reverses the process: from broken back to whole.

Pulverize also has an informal sense: a team can be pulverized in a match, meaning beaten heavily. The antonym logic holds either way, since the opposite of destroying is restoring.

Key facts

Pulverize: to crush or grind into fine powder or dust.
Informally, pulverize also means to defeat someone completely.
Pulverize comes from Latin pulvis (pulveris), 'dust'.
Restore: to bring back to a former or undamaged condition.

Study next

Verbs of breaking: crumble, shatter, splinter, disintegrateVerbs of repair: restore, renovate, reconstruct, rehabilitate

Common traps

Picking the word closest to pulverize by habit. Here crumble, shatter and crush are synonyms, placed to catch that.
Rejecting restore because it is not a strict dictionary opposite. When no exact antonym is offered, choose the option that reverses the action.

The same shape, three synonyms of the given word and one reversal, appears at 14 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.3 (Extirpate, keyed Establish) and 17 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.3 (Abrogate, keyed Uphold).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Antonyms — all 137 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.