Antonyms and Synonyms are very commonly asked question in any competitive exam like AFCAT, CDS, NDA, TA etc and other Entrance Exams. Your total score can make a big difference if you score full marks in Antonyms and Synonyms questions. In order to answer and correct every one of them, you need to study and learn more words daily. It’s not a one day job. It requires time and practice.

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AFCAT CDS NDA General English Antonyms and Synonyms

• ABET: To encourage -or support – treacherously abetted the enemy.

Synonyms: spur, incite.

Antonym: deter

• ABRIDGE: To shorten – abridged his lengthy speech.

Synonyms: curtail, diminish, retrench.

Antonyms: protract, elongate, amplify

• ACRIMONIOUS: Sharp or harsh in language or temper – stung by the acrimonious remark.

Synonyms: caustic, acerb, pungent, tart, mordant, acrid; (noun) asperity.

Antonyms: suave, affable,

• ACUMEN: Keenness of mind or insight – showing exceptional business acumen.

Synonyms: perspicacity, discernment, perception.

Antonym: obtuseness.

• BLEMISH (verb): To scar or spoil – Bad associates blemished his character; (noun): A

disfigurement, defect – a character without a blemish.

• BLIGHT: To ruin or decay – the rotting wheat, blighted by incessant rain. Synonyms: wither,

blast

• BLITHE: Gay and light-hearted in spirit or mood – spread cheer with her blithe spirit.

Synonyms: jocund, merry, joyous. Antonyms: dejected, forlorn, abject.

• BOG: A swamp – sank into the spongy bog. Synonyms: morass, fen, quagmire, mire.
• CASTIGATE: To punish or criticize severely – castigated for using improper language.

Synonyms: reprove, upbraid, reprehend, censure, reprimand, chasten. Antonyms: commend,

eulogize, laud.

• CELESTIAL: Pertaining to the sky; heavenly-a celestial pageant of bright stars. Synonyms:

ethereal; (noun) firmament.

• CHAUVINIST. An extreme patriot-a chauvinist with most pride in his country. Synonym:

jingoist.

• CHICANERY: Trickery, deception,- practised chicanery all his shady dealings. Synonyms:

duplicity, craft, stratagem, wile, subterfuge.

• DEMURE: Affectedly or falsely modest or prim; serious demure as a Victorian maiden.

Synonyms: sedate, staid, decorous, prudish, coy. Antonyms: immodest, frivolous.

• DENOUNCE (noun: DENUNCIATION): To speak against – denounced by the press as a traitor.

Synonyms: stigmatize, censure, reprehend, castigate- Antonyms: laud, eulogize.

• DEPLETE: To empty or to use up – depleted the public treasury by vast building programs.

Synonyms: exhaust, drain. Antonyms: replenish; (adj.) replete.

• DEPLORE: To express sorrow or grief over – a lamentable situation deplored by all parties.

Synonyms: lament, decry, grieve.

• ERUDITE: Learned – an erudite person, an editor of many books. Synonyms: scholarly,

knowing.

• ESOTERIC: Understood by only a select few – an esoteric subject, discussed only by scholars.

Synonyms: abstruse, recondite.

• EXCEPTIONABLE: Objectionable – exceptionable behavior, universally criticized. Synonyms:

questionable, reprehensible, censurable. Antonym: laudable.

• EXCULPATE: To free from blame – exculpated by a jury. Synonyms: vindicate, exonerate,

absolve, acquit. Antonyms: arraign, indict, inculpate.

• FIASCO: A ludicrous and complete failure – all his glorious plans ending in a fiasco. Synonym:

debacle.

• FICTITIOUS: Unreal; made-up – used a fictitious name to avoid being recognized. Synonym:

fabricated.

• FLACCID: Lacking firmness – muscles grown flaccid after the illness. Synonyms: flabby, limp.

• FLAGRANT: Outstandingly bad – condemned for his glaring, scandalous, notorious, conspicuous, gross.

• GLUTTONOUS (noun. GLUTTON; verb: GLUT): Inclined to cat to excess – gulped down his food

in gluttonous fashion. Synonyms: voracious, intemperate.

• GOSSAMER (noun): A very thin gauzelike fabric or structure – a poem so delicate that it

seemed an unreal gossamer. (adj.): Thin and light – the gossamer wings of a dragon fly.

Synonyms: diaphanous, flimsy, gauzelike Antonyms: substantial, ponderous.

• GREGARIOUS: Habitually fond of associating in a company or herd – gregarious sheep; that

gregarious animal, man. Antonyms: lone, aloof.

• GRIMACE: A distortion of the face to express an attitude or feeling – a grimace that was more

expressive than words.

• HOMONYM: Two words having the same sound but different meanings – confusing such

homonyms as mail add male.

• HOVEL: A dirty or wretched dwelling – born in a hovel, died in a mansion.

• HYPERBOLE: Extravagant exaggeration for effect – An example of hyperbole: “There are a

million objections to the project.” Synonym: overstatement. Antonym: understatement.

• HYPOTHESIS: An assumption made for the sake of argument – worked from a fantastic

hypothesis. Synonym: supposition.

• IMPOSTOR (noun: IMPOSTURE): One who pretends to be what he is not unmasked as an

impostor. Synonyms: quack, mountebank, charlatan, bogus, fraud.

• IMPRECATION: A curse – hurled imprecations at those who would not listen to him.

Synonyms: execration, malediction, anathema. Antonyms: benediction, benison.

• IMPREGNABLE: Unconquerable – an impregnable fortress. Synonym: invincible. Antonym:

vulnerable.

• IMPROPRIETY: Improper act, manners, or expression – guilty of impropriety in public office.

Synonyms: indecency, indecorum. Antonym: amenity.

• JARGON: Confused, unintelligible, meaningless talk; special vocabulary used only by members

of a group or trade – Variety, a newspaper written in theatrical jargon. Synonyms: gibberish,

argot, cant.

• JAUNTY: Having an air of easy carelessness or liveliness – walked with a jaunty step.

Synonyms: sprightly, airy, gay, nonchalant, debonair. Antonyms: somber, staid.

• JEOPARDY: Danger – His life was in jeopardy. Synonyms: hazard, peril.

• JETTISON: To throw overboard (as cargo); to throw off (as a burden or something in the way

)- jettisoned their old candidate as a political liability.

• LOW: To bellow softly like cattle – the lowing herd in the meadow. Synonym: moo.

• LUCID: Clear; transparent; easily understood – a lucid explanation of a difficult text.

Synonyms: pellucid, perspicuous, intelligible, limpid, luminous, translucent. Antonyms:

abstruse, obscure.

• LUDICROUS: Ridiculous; producing laughter – a ludicrous remark that set them all to roaring.

Synonyms: mirthful, droll, comical, absurd. Antonyms: doleful, lugubrious, dismal.

• LUMINARY: An eminent person; a celestial body – the platform graced by a number of

luminaries.

• MONOLOGUE: A speech by one person – The actor gave his views in a dramatic monologue.

Synonym: soliloquy. Antonyms: colloquy (adj. colloquial): conversation between two or more

persons; dialogue: conversation between two persons.

• MOROSE: Gloomy; ill-humored – shunned because of his morose temper. Synonyms: sulky,

crabbed, sullen, splenetic, saturnine. Antonyms: blithe, genial.

• MOTLEY: Of various colors; of mixed ingredients – a motley costume; a motley crowd.

Synonyms: checkered (referring to a varied career), piebald, variegated, diverse,

heterogeneous. Antonym: homogeneous.

• MOTTLED: Spotted or streaked with varied colors – a mottled pony. Synonyms: blotched,

dappled.

• NONCHALANT: Unmoved or indifferent; casual – reacted to the news in a nonchalant manner.

Synonym: apathetic. Antonyms: enthusiastic, zealous.

• NOSTALGIA: Homesickness – felt nostalgia for the old homestead.

• NOTORIOUS: Widely known (in a bad sense) – a notorious gambler.

• NOVICE: A beginner – conducted himself in politics like a novice. Synonyms: tyro, neophyte.

Antonym: virtuoso.

• OBVIATE: To prevent, dispose of, or make unnecessary by appropriate actions – an act which

obviated all objections. Synonyms: preclude, forestall.

• OMNIPOTENT: All-powerful – an omnipotent despot.

• ONUS: Burden; duty; obligation – bore the onus of his difficult office creditably.

• OSTENSIBLE: Apparent; pretended – his ostensible, though not actual, purpose. Synonyms:

professed, plausible (that is, appearing true, reasonable, or fair), specious.

• PERVERSE: Willfully bent on doing the wrong thing – a perverse lad, always disobeying his

parents. Synonyms: headstrong, froward, refractory, wayward, fractious.

• PETRIFY: To paralyze with horror, fear, or surprise – petrified by the enemy bombardment.

Synonyms: stupefy, stun, bewilder, amaze.

• PLAGIARISM. Adopting and reproducing, without acknowledgment, the writings or ideas of

another and passing them off as one’s own – denied the charge of deliberate plagiarism.

• PLATITUDE: A dull and commonplace remark – bored people by his pompous phrases and

platitudes. Synonyms: bromide, truism, axiom.

• QUASH: To crush; to render void – quashed a rebellion; quashed an indictment. Synonyms:

suppress, extinguish, quell; annul.

• QUERULOUS: Given to fault-finding and complaining – Her querulous nature estranged many

people. Synonyms: fretful, whining, captious, carping, peevish, petulant. Antonym: affable.

• QUIXOTIC: Extravagantly romantic or idealistic; highly impractical – a quixotic scheme that

can never materialize. Synonyms: utopian, visionary, fantastic.

• REMUNERATIVE: Profitable – a remunerative job. Synonyms: lucrative, gainful.

• RENEGADE: One who forsakes political or party principles or his religious faith – a renegade

from his former allegiance. Synonyms: turncoat, apostate, recreant, traitor.

• REPRISAL: Injury inflicted in turn for one received – took action in reprisal against his

neighbor. Synonym: retaliation.

• RESENTMENT: Feeling of displeasure or indignation resulting from mistreatment or abuse –

showed resentment at what he considered an unwarranted insult. Synonyms: umbrage,

dudgeon, animosity.

• SAGACIOUS (noun: SAGACITY): Wise; shrewd – proved to be sagacious in his judgment.

Synonyms: perspicacious, astute, sapient, discerning, sage.

• SALLOW: Sick – a sallow complexion. Synonym: pallid. Antonyms: rubicund, ruddy, florid.

• SALLY: (verb): To rush forth suddenly – sallied out to meet the enemy. (noun): A Witty remark

– amused the audience with his sallies against his opponent. Synonyms: quip, banter.

• SANCTIMONIOUS: Pretending to be religious – showed his hypocrisy in a sanctimonious

display of piety.

• TEMERITY: Unwise or reckless boldness – leaped into battle with thoughtless temerity.

Synonyms: audacity, presumptuousness, effrontery, rashness; (adj.) temerarious, foolhardy,

venturesome. Antonyms: prudence, circumspection, wariness.

• TEMPORAL: Worldly, as opposed to spiritual; existing for a time only – a man preoccupied

with temporal matters. Synonyms: mundane, secular, civil.

• TEMPORIZE: To delay or refuse to commit oneself in order to gain time – temporized while his

friends hurried to his aid. Synonym: equivocate.

• TENET: A principle of belief held as true – a tenet of religion which be maintained loyally.

Synonyms: creed, doctrine, dogma.

• UBIQUITOUS: Existing everywhere – The common cold is a ubiquitous complaint. Synonyms:

omnipresent, universal.

• UNTENABLE: Incapable of being defended or held – withdrew the argument as untenable.

• UTILITARIAN (adj.): Materially or practically useful – beautiful, but not utilitarian.

• VANQUISH: To subdue or conquer -an army vanquished with heavy losses.

• VAUNT: To boast – proudly vaunted his strength. Synonyms: brag (noun: braggadocio,

braggart), proclaim.

• VENEER: A superficial appearance or show designed to impress one with superiority – pierced

beneath his thin veneer of elegance. Synonym: gloss.

• VENERABLE: Deserving respect or reverence because of age – a venerable leader.

• WAIVE: To give up (privileges, etc.); to do without – waived his rights to the property.

Synonyms: relinquish, forgo, forsake.

• WHIM (adj.: WHIMSICAL): A sudden notion or passing fancy -frequently acted on the whim of

the moment. Synonyms: caprice, vagary, crotchet.

• WRITHE: To twist about (usually with pain) – writhed in agony on the floor. Synonyms:

contort, squirm.

• ZEALOUS (noun: ZEALOT: fanatic): Full of enthusiasm or eagerness -a zealous student, first in

his class. Antonym: perfunctory.

• ZENITH: The highest point – the zenith of his career. Synonyms: acme, apex, culmination,

summit. Antonym: nadir.