Department of English

One Word Substitutes - Worksheet

1. The Custom of having more than one husband at the same time.
(a) Polygamy (b) Polyandry ( c) Debauchery (d) Bigamy

2. The study of ancient societies

(a) History (b) Anthropology ( c) Ethnology (d) Archaeology

3. A Process involving too much official formality

(a) Nepotism (b) Diplomacy (c) Red-tapism (d) Bureaucracy

4. The place where public, government or historical records are kept

(a) Coffer (b) Pantry (c ) Sculler (d) Archives

5. Large scale departure of people

(a) Migration (b) Emigration (c ) Immigration (d) Exodus

6. Lottery in which an article is assigned by lot to one of those buying tickets.

(a) Auction (b) Raffle (c ) Audit (d) Transit

7. Voluntarily giving up throne by king in favour of his son.

(a) Abdication (b) Resurrection (c ) Accession (d) Renunciation

8. Gradual recovery from illness

(a) Hysteria (b) Amnesia (c ) Superannuation (d) Convalescence

9. A person who believes that pleasure is the chief good.

(a) Stoic (b) Hedonist (c ) Epicure (d) Sensual

10. Commencement of words with the same letter

(a) Rhyme (b) Alliteration (c) Pun (d) Oxymoron

11. A short, usually amusing, story about some real person or event.
(a) Anecdote (b) Antidote (c) Tale (d) Allegory

12. Life history of a person written by another

(a) Autobiography (b) Biography (c) Bibliography (d) Memoir

13. To cause troops etc. to spread out in readiness for battle.

(a) Align (b) Collocate (c) Deploy (d) Disperse

14. One who forcibly seizes control of a bus or an aircraft

(a) Pirate (b) Swindler (c ) Hijacker (d) Pilferer

15. Music sung or played at night below a person’s window

(a) Serenade (b) Sonnet (c ) Lyric (d) Primo
16. A government by the nobles
(a) Democracy (b) Bureaucracy (c) Autocracy (d) Aristocracy

17. An entertainer who performs difficult physical actions

(a) Clown (b) Gymnast (c) Magician (d) Acrobat

18. A small house with all rooms on one floor.

(a) Bungalow (b) Cottage (c) Flat (d) Castle

19. Government by a single person

( a) Monarchy (b) Autocracy (c ) Plutocracy (d) Aristocracy

20. Part of a church in which bells hang

(a) Minaret (b) Chapel (c ) Belfry (d) Spire

21. An office or post with no work but high pay

(a) Honorary (b) Sinecure (c ) Gratis (d) Ex-office

22. Person who is indifferent to both pleasure and pain

(a) Saint (b) Ascetic (c ) Stoic (d) Hermit

23. Murder of a brother

(a) Patricide (b) Regicide (c ) Homicide (d) Fratricide

24. Mental weariness for want of occupation

(a) Fatigue (b) Ennui ( c) Languor (d) Debility

25. One who loves all and sundry

(a) Optimist (b) Humanist (c ) Altruist (d) Philanthropist

26. Acutely affected by external impressions.

(a) Ingenious (b) Impressionable (c ) Credulous (d) Sensitive

27. An assembly of hearers

(a) Audience (b) Crowd ( c) Congregation (d) Assemblage

28. Regard for others as principle of action

(a) Cynicism (b) Nepotism (c ) Philanthropy (d) Altruism

29. A disease which spreads by contact

(a) Infectious (b) Contagious (c ) Contiguous (d) Contextual

30. Person who believes that God is everything and everything is God
(a) Agnostic (b) Theist ( c) Pantheist (d) Pantechnicon

31. Witty, clever retort

(a) Sarcasm (b) Repartee (c ) Platitude (d) Invective

32. Simplest and smallest form of plant life, present in air, water and soil; essential to life but may cause disease.
(a) Virus (b) Amoeba (c ) Bacteria (d) Toxin

33. A person who regards the whole world as his country

(a) Patriot (b) Nationalist (c ) Cosmopolitan (d) Metropolitan

34. A story in which ideas are symbolised as people

(a) Allegory (b) Fable ( c) Legend (d) Parable

35. A person who makes love without serious intentions

(a) Consort (b) Philanderer ( c) Romeo (d) Goon