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Antonyms
Antonyms
GRE ANTONYMS
Test 01
1. VOLUBLE - vociferous; garrulous; talkative; fluent
A. capacious – huge; roomy; sizeable
B. involuntary - instinctive; spontaneous; unintentional
C. discursive
D. taciturn – reticent; aloof; silent; introverted
E. tender – affectionate; loving; fond; kindhearted
Explanation: Someone voluble talks a lot; someone taciturn does not say much.
2. FISSION
A. contrition – repentance; penitence; sorrow
B. split – crack; divide
C. joining – amalgamation; union; unification; fusion
D. spinning – whirling; rotating; rotary
E. ramification – consequence; implication; outcome
Explanation: Fission is splitting; hence, joining is the opposite.
9. AVOUCH
A. dilate – widen; expand; enlarge (antonym: contract)
B. conserve – protect; preserve; marmalade (antonym: destroy)
C. defer – postpone; adjourn; suspend (antonym: bring forward)
D. ingest – swallow; consume; gulp
E. recant – renounce; deny; revoke
Explanation: To avouch is to affirm (a statement etc.); to recant is to retract a statement.
20. ABRASIVE
A. morose – miserable; gloomy; depressed; pessimistic
B. captious
C. glaucous
D. complaisant
E. fatuous – stupid; childish; idiotic; inane
Explanation: A person who is abrasive in manner annoys people; someone complaisant is willing to please
others.
Test 02
1. INORDINATE - excessive; undue; unwarranted; immoderate; unreasonable
A. moderate – reasonable; modest; sensible; judicious (antonym: extreme)
B. excessive – extreme; unwarranted; disproportionate; undue (antonym: moderate)
C. venal
D. mundane – ordinary; routine; humdrum
E. preternatural
Explanation: Something inordinate is excessive; something moderate is not excessive.
2. CONTENTIOUS
A. irascible – irritable; hot-tempered; petulant
B. jaundiced – pessimistic; cynical; skeptical
C. placatory – soothing ; comforting (antonym: hostile; antagonistic; aggressive)
D. unrequited – unanswered; unreciprocated; unreturned
E. antipathetic – opposed; antagonistic (antonym: sympathetic)
Explanation: Something contentious will cause argument; something placatory will reduce anger or dissent.
5. MODERN - contemporary
A. moribund – declining; waning
B. antediluvian – obsolete; old-fashioned
C. salutary – beneficial; constructive
D. hidebound – narrow-minded; conservative; conventional (antonym: broadminded)
E. burgeoning - promising; escalating (antonym: dwindling)
Explanation: Something modern is not old-fashioned. Antediluvian means very old-fashioned.
6. OVERBEARING
A. sly- clever; furtive
B. industrious – productive; conscientious; assiduous (antonym: indolent)
C. hortatory
D. servile
E. subterranean – profound; cavernous; yawning (antonym: shallow)
Explanation: Someone overbearing is very domineering; someone servile is excessively humble
10. NONCOMBATANT
A. stalwart
B. warrior
C. proletarian
D. jester
E. correspondent
Explanation: A noncombatant does not fight; a warrior is a fighter.
Explanation: Something puerile is childish and silly; something profound is deeply meaningful.
12. SERPENTINE
A. spacious - roomy airy drudgery (antonym: cramped)
B. voluptuous
C. straight
D. equable
E. inerrant
Explanation: Serpentine means convoluted and winding and is therefore not straight.
13. CAUSTIC
A. inept
B. lurid
C. treacle
D. putative
E. tawdry
Explanation: Something caustic is sharply attacking; something treacly is too sentimental.
15. OBTUSE
A. prone
B. magnanimous
C. ineffable
D. perspicacious
E. dithering
Explanation: Someone obtuse is mentally dull; someone perspicacious is mentally sharp (insightful).
16. UPSHOT
A. palisade
B. gradient
C. inception
D. declivity
E. exclusion
Explanation: The upshot of a matter is the outcome; the inception is the beginning.
17. ESCHEW
A. prepossess
B. sear
C. taunt
D. jettison
E. embrace
Explanation: To eschew is to shun and avoid, and is the opposite of to embrace (to welcome).
18. GRATE
A. ravel
B. pacify
C. shear
D. traffic
E. pummel
Explanation: To grate on someone's nerves is to annoy them; to pacify is to appease.
19. ELLIPSIS
A. solecism – error; mistake; blunder; gaffe; blooper
B. tautology
C. eradication – abolition; purge; annihilation; obliteration; suppression
D. epistaxis
E. deception – trickery; fraud; ruse; sham; con
Explanation: Ellipsis is an error in which something is missed out; tautology is a form of redundancy (saying the
same thing twice).
20. LATITUDE
A. heading – caption; course; route
B. evolution – development; progress
C. limitation – curb; restraint
D. distance – aloofness; remoteness (antonym: warmth)
E. longevity – durability; endurance
Explanation: Giving someone latitude allows them scope to do things their own way, whereas limitation restricts
the scope.
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