How to Score Well in Synonyms Questions

As we explained in our previous article on Antonyms, we will talk about Synonyms here. Strategies to solve them are more or less same but yes, fundamentally they differ.

What are Synonyms?

Two set of words, which mean exactly same or similar are termed as synonyms. Thus, a single word can have many synonyms. A state of being synonyms is called synonymy.

For example, words Beautiful, Pretty and Attractive are synonyms of each other.

Verb: buy and purchase

Adjective: big and large

Adverb: quickly and speedily

Preposition: on and upon

Tips and Tricks to answer synonyms correctly in your exam:

1. If you do not know the exact meaning of the word. Try and understand it in the context of the paragraph.
2. Sometimes, if the meaning of the word is not clear, then reading all the options in the answer is a good idea. You can go through all the other options and start negating them one by one.
3. If the word sounds more like a tongue twister to you, try and break it into meaningful parts. Chances are that the full word will start making more sense to you.
4. A very effective way of knowing and fairing well in this section is regularly reading synonyms and making your own list. Revise the list regularly so that you remember the words more often.
5. When you replace a certain word in a sentence using its synonym, keep in mind that the context does not change or the whole meaning of the sentence will change.

Let us go through a small list of Synonyms:

• Smart, bright, intelligent, brilliant
• Shy, bashful, introverted, quiet, withdrawn
• Downy, silky, dull, low, weak, spongy, limp, malleable
• Cling, Clench, Wait, Grip, grasp, clasp

Question: What is the Synonym of Embezzle

a) Misappropriate    
b) Balance
c) Remunerate
d) Clear

Answer: a is the right option as embezzle means stealing money.

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