Vocabulary: Meaning, Synonyms & Antonyms: previous-year questions

Answer: (D) Memories of objects collected because of their links with people or events

'Memorabilia' (from Latin memorabilis, 'worth remembering') means objects that are kept or collected because of their association with memorable people, places or events, such as autographs, match-worn jerseys, old concert tickets or wartime medals. Option D is the only choice that carries this 'objects linked to people or events' sense: A is too general, B wrongly restricts the word to war, and C describes memories instead of objects. Related words often tested: memento and souvenir (a single keepsake), relic (an object surviving from the past), memoir (a written account of one's own life) and memorandum (a written note).

Answer: (C) conform

The blank is followed by the preposition 'to', and among the four verbs only 'conform' takes it: we conform to rules or standards. The other verbs need different prepositions: abide by (the rules), comply with (the rules) and concur with (a person) or concur in (an opinion), so they fail on collocation even though 'abide' and 'comply' fit the meaning. Fixed verb + preposition pairs are a regular WBCS item, so learn them together: adhere to, conform to, accede to, comply with, abide by, concur with, acquiesce in.

Answer: (D) unbelievable or unreasonable

'Preposterous' means utterly absurd, contrary to reason or common sense, so 'unbelievable or unreasonable' (D) is the right meaning. The word comes from Latin prae (before) + posterus (coming after), literally 'back to front'. 'Debatable' (B) only means open to argument, which is far weaker; 'unacceptable' (C) means not satisfactory and 'improper judgment' (A) is a misjudgment, and neither carries the sense of absurdity. Synonyms: absurd, ludicrous, outrageous, nonsensical. Antonyms: sensible, reasonable, rational.

Answer: (D) makes arrangements for funerals.

An 'undertaker' is a person whose business is preparing the dead for burial or cremation and arranging funerals; the modern terms are 'funeral director' and (in American English) 'mortician'. The word looks like it should mean 'one who undertakes projects' (A), which is why it is a popular one-word-substitution trap. A person who hears confessions in a church (C) is a 'confessor', and there is no single common word for option B beyond 'bribe-taker'. Related vocabulary: pallbearer (carries the coffin), sexton (looks after a churchyard), coroner (officer who inquires into unnatural deaths), epitaph (words on a tomb) and obituary (death notice).

No option is correct as printed — this question is disputed. WBPSC awarded the mark to all candidates (final answer key No. 1104-PSC/CON(Q), 27.08.2026): the intended option C is misprinted as "wired or offbeat" instead of "weird or offbeat".

'Outlandish' means strange, bizarre or strikingly unconventional (originally 'from an outland', i.e. foreign-looking). The intended answer was clearly option C, but the booklet prints it as 'wired or offbeat' instead of 'weird or offbeat', and 'wired' (tense, or connected by wires) is not a meaning of outlandish. With no option strictly correct, PSC's final answer key marks this question '*' and awards 1 mark to every candidate irrespective of attempt. For revision: synonyms are eccentric, bizarre, freakish and offbeat; antonyms are ordinary and conventional. 'Antique' (A) means old and valuable, 'old school' (B) means traditional, and 'unavailable' (D) means not obtainable.

Answer: (C) compliment

'Compliment' (with an i) is an expression of praise, respect or admiration, so a book written in honour of one's teacher is 'a compliment to' the teacher. 'Complement' (with an e) is something that completes or goes well with another thing, 'supplement' is something added to make up a deficiency, and 'debt' does not fit the pattern 'is a ... to'. The same pair gives two more confusables: 'complimentary' (given free, or praising) and 'complementary' (completing each other, as in complementary angles that add up to $90^\circ$). Memory aid: I give a compliment; an e completes a complement.

Answer: (B) filial

'Filial' (Latin filius, son; filia, daughter) describes the duty, love or respect that children owe to their parents, so 'filial duty' is the fixed phrase. 'Parental' would mean the duty parents owe to children, 'fraternal' (frater, brother) relates to brothers, and 'ancestral' relates to forefathers or inherited property. Other relationship adjectives asked in exams: maternal and paternal (mother's and father's side), sororal (of a sister), avuncular (like an uncle), conjugal (of marriage) and sibling (brother or sister).

Answer: (B) Anthology

An 'anthology' is a collection of selected poems, stories or other writings, usually by different authors, published in one volume; the word comes from Greek anthos (flower) + legein (to gather), literally 'a gathering of flowers'. An 'epilogue' is the closing section of a book or play (opposite: prologue), a 'manuscript' is a handwritten or unpublished text, and a 'lexicon' is a dictionary or the vocabulary of a language. Related one-word substitutions: omnibus (several works of one author in a volume), compendium (a concise collection of information), glossary (list of difficult terms) and bibliography (list of books consulted).

Answer: (D) continuous

'Afoot' means in progress, under way, going on. 'The game is afoot' therefore says that something has begun and is currently happening, and among the options this is best matched by 'continuous', the answer in PSC's final key. Option A is the tempting distractor because Sherlock Holmes uses the line when a new case starts, but the word 'afoot' itself does not mean a case or an investigation; B and C are unrelated. The expression is from Shakespeare (Henry V), where 'game' is the hunted animal, and Conan Doyle later made it famous. Similar adverbs: under way, in motion, astir.

Answer: (B) A state of pain, distress or grief

'Affliction' is a state of pain, suffering, distress or grief, or the thing that causes it, so option B is correct. It is wider than a 'deadly disease' (A): poverty, blindness or bereavement can all be afflictions. Options C and D are invented meanings. Synonyms: suffering, misery, tribulation, woe, adversity; antonyms: comfort, relief, blessing. Usage trap: the verb is 'afflict' (to be afflicted with a disease), which must not be confused with 'inflict', meaning to impose something unpleasant on someone else (to inflict a wound or a penalty).

Answer: (D) extremely large and huge

'Humongous' (also spelt humungous) is an informal word, originally American slang, meaning extremely large; it is probably a blend of 'huge' and 'monstrous'. So a humongous building is a gigantic one, option D. The other options describe instability, weakness or emotion, none of which the word suggests. Synonyms worth learning in ascending order of size: big, huge, enormous, gigantic, colossal, mammoth, gargantuan. Antonyms: tiny, minute, minuscule, diminutive.

Answer: (D) Represent something as being less important than it really is

To 'underplay' something is to make it seem less important, serious or impressive than it really is, which is option D word for word. 'Intrigue' and 'conspire' (A, B) both mean to plot secretly, and option C describes complicating a matter, the opposite of playing it down. Synonyms: downplay, play down, understate, soft-pedal, make light of. Antonyms: overplay, exaggerate, overstate, blow out of proportion. The same prefix gives 'underestimate' (judge too low), 'undermine' (weaken gradually) and 'underscore' (emphasise).

Answer: (A) web log

"Blog" is a clipped form of "weblog" (web + log), an online journal whose entries appear in reverse chronological order. The word "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger in 1997, and Peter Merholz shortened it to "blog" in 1999. The other three options put the cart before the horse: "blogger" and "blogging" were formed later from "blog", and "web blog" is simply a redundancy. Similar tech coinages worth remembering: e-mail (electronic mail), modem (modulator-demodulator), pixel (picture element) and bit (binary digit).

Answer: (B) regicide

"Regicide" (Latin rex/regis = king + -cide = killing) is the killing of a king, or the person who does it. "Homicide" is the killing of any human being, "parricide" is the killing of a parent or near relative (patricide = father, matricide = mother) and "fratricide" is the killing of one's brother (sororicide = sister). Other "-cide" words asked in exams: infanticide (infant), uxoricide (wife), genocide (a whole people) and suicide (oneself).

Answer: (C) fit

"Fit" works in both sentences because it is both an adjective and a verb: "did not find him fit for the job" (suitable) and "was not able to fit all his belongings into one suitcase" (find room for). "Good" and "apt" can stand in only for "suitable" in sentence (i), while "cram" (to stuff in by force) can go only into sentence (ii) and even there changes the meaning. Questions of this type test homonyms, i.e. one word with two unrelated uses.

Answer: (A) Kidney diseases – urologist

Kidney diseases are treated by a nephrologist (Greek nephros = kidney). A urologist is a surgical specialist for the urinary tract (bladder, ureter, stones, prostate) and the male reproductive system, so the first pair is the mismatch. The other three pairs are correct: haematologist for blood disorders, gastroenterologist for the stomach and intestines, and oncologist for cancer. Also remember cardiologist (heart), hepatologist (liver), dermatologist (skin), neurologist (nerves), ophthalmologist (eyes) and rheumatologist (joints).

Answer: (B) Additional

An "adjunct" is something joined or added to a larger thing as a supplement rather than as an essential part (for example, an adjunct professor), so "additional" is the nearest in meaning. "Admonish" means to warn or reprimand, "amorphous" means shapeless or without clear structure, and "ambiguous" means open to more than one interpretation. Useful synonyms of adjunct are appendage, accessory, supplement and auxiliary; in grammar an adjunct is an optional adverbial that can be removed without making the sentence ungrammatical.

Answer: (C) Praise

To "chide" is to scold or rebuke someone, usually mildly, so its opposite is "praise" (also commend, applaud, laud). "Scold" and "chastise" (to reprimand or punish severely) are synonyms of chide, and "arraign" means to call someone before a court to answer a charge, or to find fault with — again closer to a synonym. Note that the booklet misprints the word "antonym" as "anonym" in this question; the intended meaning is clear from the options.

Answer: (A) Someone who specializes in statistical studies of voting patterns in elections

Psephology is the statistical study of elections, voting patterns and electoral trends; the word comes from the Greek "psephos" (pebble), because the ancient Greeks cast votes with pebbles. It was coined at Oxford in the late 1940s and popularised by election analysts such as David Butler. The other options describe a neuropsychologist, an astrophysicist and a psychoanalyst (psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud). Related terms: exit poll, opinion poll, swing, anti-incumbency and gerrymandering.

Answer: (C) not been; overseeing; giving; many

The sentence reads: He has not been meticulous in overseeing the project, giving rise to many irregularities. "Has not been" is the present perfect of "be"; a preposition ("in") must be followed by a gerund ("overseeing"); "giving rise to" is a participle phrase showing the result; and "many" goes with the countable plural "irregularities" ("much" is used with uncountable nouns). The other options break down at once: "has not being", "has not meticulous" and "has not be" are all ungrammatical.