English Language

Vocabulary and Synonyms

18,261 Questions

Vocabulary and synonyms are essential components of English language sections across competitive exams. This topic tests word associations, context meanings, and precise vocabulary skills. Regular practice helps test takers score higher in SSC, banking, and railway recruitment tests.

Finding exact synonymsWord substitutionVocabulary in contextAssociated word groups

Vocabulary and Synonyms Questions

Multiple choice softskills leadership

avuncular

  1. ancient paper made from stem of papyrus plant

  2. of or like an uncle

  3. of psyche

  4. include (as a member of a group)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Avuncular describes characteristics or behavior resembling an uncle, often implying kindly indulgence. It comes from the Latin word avunculus meaning uncle. The other options relate to paper, psychology, or inclusion.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

babble

  1. vessel in which substances are crushed with a pestle

  2. vex

  3. set aside (money or time) for a particular purpose

  4. chatter idly or foolishly
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

To babble means to talk idly, foolishly, or incoherently, like the sounds babies make before learning real language. It describes aimless or confused chatter. The other options refer to a vessel, to annoy, or to allocate.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

bacchanalia

  1. humiliate by embarassing excessively

  2. objectionable

  3. of this earth

  4. the ancient Roman festival in honor of Bacchus
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Bacchanalia was the ancient Roman festival celebrating Bacchus, the god of wine and fertility. It involved wild, ecstatic celebrations. The other options describe embarrassment, objection, or earthly nature.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

badger

  1. ability to move spontaneously

  2. cry out suddenly

  3. irregular

  4. pester
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

To "badger" someone means to repeatedly and annoyingly ask them to do something, or to pester them. Distractors like "irregular" or "cry out suddenly" (exclaim) are incorrect.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

badinage

  1. multi-colored (as of a garment worn by a jester)

  2. scold with biting harshness

  3. oddity

  4. teasing conversation
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Badinage (French origin) refers to playful, teasing conversation or witty banter. It is light-hearted and social, not harsh, critical, or strange like options A, B, and C suggest.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

baffle

  1. blotched in coloring

  2. clear from blame or guilt

  3. ecclesiastical

  4. frustrate
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Baffle means to utterly confuse, perplex, or frustrate someones understanding. It creates a mental block or obstacle that prevents comprehension, matching option D.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

bait

  1. brief statement used to express a principle

  2. very bad

  3. selective

  4. harass
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

While bait commonly means food to lure prey, it also means to deliberately annoy, torment, or harass someone (as in baiting them into anger). Option D captures this secondary meaning.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

baleful

  1. charlatan

  2. curse

  3. darken

  4. evil
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Baleful means threatening, menacing, or having a harmful malign influence. It describes something conveying evil, harm, or misfortune, making option D correct.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

ballast

  1. (of weather) warm and damp

  2. exclude

  3. person concerned with the interrelationship between living organisms and their environment

  4. heavy substance used to add stability or weight
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Ballast is heavy material (water, gravel, iron) placed in a ships hull to improve stability and control. It prevents capsizing and maintains balance, matching option D.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

balm

  1. defraud a person of something

  2. objectionable

  3. efficiency or conciseness in using something

  4. something that relieves pain
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Balm is a fragrant soothing ointment used to heal or relieve pain. Metaphorically, it means anything that comforts or soothes, making option D correct.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

balmy

  1. varied

  2. selected passage (written or musical) taken from a longer work

  3. ecological community together with its environment

  4. soft and mild (of air)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Balmy describes air or weather that is pleasantly warm, mild, and soothing. It suggests gentle comfortable conditions rather than stormy or harsh weather, matching option D.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

banal

  1. having many forms

  2. treasury

  3. rapture

  4. hackneyed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Banal describes something boring, obvious, or lacking originality due to overuse. It is synonymous with hackneyed, trite, or commonplace, making option D correct.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

bandy

  1. having many languages

  2. cut away

  3. swirling current of water, air, etc.

  4. discuss lightly or glibly
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Bandy means to discuss something lightly or casually, often without much depth or seriousness. It can also refer to exchanging words or arguments in a casual way. The other options don't match this definition.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

bane

  1. state of being numerous or multiple

  2. cry out suddenly

  3. decree (especially one issued by a sovereign)

  4. posion
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Bane refers to a cause of great distress or annoyance, or something that causes poison or death. The word is synonymous with poison or a curse. Note that option D contains a typo ('posion' should be 'poison') but is still the intended correct answer.

Multiple choice softskills leadership

bank

  1. worldly as opposed to spiritual

  2. scold with biting harshness

  3. building (of imposing size)

  4. heap
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In this context, bank means a heap or slope of something, like a bank of clouds or snow. It can also refer to a shelf or ridge of land. Option D 'heap' is the correct definition among the choices.