CSS 2020 — Synonyms & Antonyms (Solved) — English (Precis & Composition)

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Option sets for 2020 were never published, so each question shows the word and the keyed answer. Two published lists disagree on one synonym slot (Guile vs Sinister), so both are included.

(a) Synonyms

1. GUILE

✅

Answer: Slyness / cunning

Urdu: مکاری، چالاکی، فریب
Meaning (n.): sly or cunning intelligence
Synonyms: cunning, craftiness, slyness, wiliness, deceit, trickery
Antonyms: candour, honesty, naivety, sincerity, frankness
Sentences:
1. He won the deal through guile, not merit.
2. The fox is a symbol of guile in folk tales.

2. ESSAY (v.)

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Answer: Attempt

Urdu: کوشش کرنا
Meaning (v.): to attempt or try
Synonyms: attempt, try, endeavour, venture, undertake, strive
Antonyms: abandon, give up, neglect, quit
Sentences:
1. She essayed a smile despite the bad news.
2. The young actor essayed the role of an old king.
🔁 Also asked in 2010. Watch the verb sense.

3. INCEPTION

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Answer: Beginning

Urdu: آغاز، ابتدا، شروعات
Meaning (n.): the establishment or starting point of an institution or activity
Synonyms: beginning, start, commencement, genesis, outset, origin
Antonyms: end, conclusion, termination, finish, close
Sentences:
1. Since its inception in 1947, PIA has seen many ups and downs.
2. The project was troubled from its inception.
🔁 Asked as an antonym in 2018.

4. EXPATRIATE

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Answer: Emigrant

Urdu: تارکِ وطن، بیرونِ ملک مقیم
Meaning (n.): a person who lives outside their native country
Synonyms: emigrant, émigré, overseas national, migrant, exile, expat
Antonyms: native, citizen at home, resident, local
Sentences:
1. Remittances from Pakistani expatriates prop up the economy.
2. Expatriates in the Gulf can now vote online.

5. SINISTER

✅

Answer: Malevolent / menacing

Urdu: منحوس، بدنیت، خطرناک نظر آنے والا
Meaning (adj.): giving the impression that something harmful or evil will happen
Synonyms: menacing, ominous, malevolent, wicked, evil, threatening
Antonyms: benign, harmless, auspicious, innocent, friendly
Sentences:
1. There was something sinister about the unmarked van outside.
2. The rumour had a sinister purpose behind it.

6. CONTRAPTION

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Answer: Device

Urdu: عجیب و غریب مشین، جگاڑ
Meaning (n.): a machine or device that appears strange or unnecessarily complicated
Synonyms: device, gadget, contrivance, apparatus, mechanism, invention
Antonyms: (no true antonym)
Sentences:
1. He built a strange contraption to water his plants automatically.
2. The rickshaw was a contraption of old parts and wires.

7. ANIMOSITY

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Answer: Enmity

Urdu: دشمنی، عداوت، بغض
Meaning (n.): strong hostility
Synonyms: enmity, hostility, antagonism, rancour, hatred, ill will
Antonyms: friendship, goodwill, amity, affection, harmony
Sentences:
1. Old animosities resurfaced during the election campaign.
2. There was no personal animosity between the rivals.

8. CONDONE

✅

Answer: Overlook / pardon

Urdu: نظر انداز کرنا، معاف کرنا (غلط کام کو)
Meaning (v.): to accept or forgive behaviour that is morally wrong
Synonyms: overlook, excuse, pardon, tolerate, disregard, forgive
Antonyms: condemn, censure, punish, denounce, disapprove
Sentences:
1. The school cannot condone cheating in exams.
2. Silence can seem to condone injustice.

9. PLAGIARISM

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Answer: Copying / literary theft

Urdu: سرقہ، ادبی چوری
Meaning (n.): taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own
Synonyms: copying, piracy, literary theft, borrowing, cribbing, infringement
Antonyms: originality, attribution, creativity, invention
Sentences:
1. HEC revoked the degree after plagiarism was proven.
2. Software can now detect plagiarism in theses.

10. IMPEACHMENT

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Answer: Indictment

Urdu: مواخذہ، سرکاری عہدیدار پر فردِ جرم
Meaning (n.): the charging of a public official with misconduct
Synonyms: indictment, arraignment, accusation, charge, prosecution
Antonyms: acquittal, exoneration, vindication, absolution
Sentences:
1. Article 47 lays down the procedure for the President's impeachment.
2. Donald Trump faced impeachment twice.

(b) Antonyms

11. ETERNITY

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Answer: Transience

Urdu: ابدیت، ہمیشگی
Meaning (n.): infinite or unending time
Synonyms: perpetuity, infinity, everlastingness, endlessness, immortality
Antonyms: transience, moment, instant, impermanence, mortality
Sentences:
1. The wait for the results felt like an eternity.
2. Poets long for their words to last for eternity.

12. PANDEMONIUM

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Answer: Quietude / calm

Urdu: ہنگامہ، ہلڑ بازی، افراتفری
Meaning (n.): wild and noisy disorder or confusion
Synonyms: chaos, uproar, bedlam, tumult, turmoil, commotion
Antonyms: quietude, calm, order, peace, tranquillity
Sentences:
1. Pandemonium broke out when the lights failed.
2. There was pandemonium in the assembly after the vote.

13. RELINQUISH

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Answer: Assume / retain

Urdu: دستبردار ہونا، چھوڑ دینا
Meaning (v.): to voluntarily give up
Synonyms: surrender, renounce, cede, yield, abandon, hand over
Antonyms: assume, retain, keep, seize, hold
Sentences:
1. He refused to relinquish control of the party.
2. The general relinquished command after forty years.

14. HENPECKED

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Answer: Assertive / dominant

Urdu: زن مرید، بیوی کا تابع
Meaning (adj.): (of a man) continually criticised and ordered about by his wife
Synonyms: browbeaten, submissive, meek, dominated, bullied
Antonyms: assertive, dominant, domineering, masterful, independent
Sentences:
1. The sitcom's henpecked husband never wins an argument.
2. He pretended to be henpecked to avoid late meetings.

15. CONSISTENCY

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Answer: Anomaly / inconsistency

Urdu: یکسانیت، ہم آہنگی، تسلسل
Meaning (n.): conformity in the application of something; uniformity
Synonyms: uniformity, regularity, constancy, steadiness, stability
Antonyms: anomaly, inconsistency, irregularity, variability
Sentences:
1. Consistency in policy attracts foreign investors.
2. A good batsman needs consistency, not flashes of brilliance.
🔁 2019 asked the reverse (Anomaly ↔ Consistency).

16. LAUDABLE

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Answer: Unworthy / blameworthy

Urdu: قابلِ تعریف، لائقِ ستائش
Meaning (adj.): deserving praise
Synonyms: praiseworthy, commendable, admirable, creditable, meritorious
Antonyms: blameworthy, reprehensible, unworthy, shameful, disgraceful
Sentences:
1. The volunteers' flood-relief work was laudable.
2. Her aims were laudable, but the plan failed.

17. EXAGGERATE

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Answer: Understate

Urdu: مبالغہ کرنا، بڑھا چڑھا کر بیان کرنا
Meaning (v.): to represent something as larger, better or worse than it really is
Synonyms: overstate, inflate, magnify, embellish, overdo, amplify
Antonyms: understate, minimise, play down, downplay, belittle
Sentences:
1. Politicians often exaggerate their achievements.
2. Don't exaggerate; the damage was minor.

18. EXTEMPORE

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Answer: Prepared / rehearsed

Urdu: فی البدیہہ، بغیر تیاری کے
Meaning (adj./adv.): spoken or done without preparation
Synonyms: impromptu, ad-lib, off-the-cuff, unrehearsed, spontaneous, improvised
Antonyms: prepared, rehearsed, planned, scripted, premeditated
Sentences:
1. In the interview he gave an extempore talk on climate change.
2. The poet recited extempore verses at the mushaira.

19. HYPOTHETICAL

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Answer: Actual / real

Urdu: فرضی، قیاسی
Meaning (adj.): based on a suggested idea rather than proven fact
Synonyms: theoretical, supposed, conjectural, assumed, speculative, imaginary
Antonyms: actual, real, proven, factual, concrete
Sentences:
1. Take a hypothetical case of a 20% currency devaluation.
2. The minister refused to answer hypothetical questions.

20. POOH-POOH

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Answer: Praise / take seriously

Urdu: مذاق اڑانا، ٹھکرا دینا، حقیر سمجھنا
Meaning (v.): to dismiss an idea as foolish or impractical
Synonyms: dismiss, scoff at, belittle, ridicule, disparage, sneer at
Antonyms: praise, take seriously, endorse, applaud, respect
Sentences:
1. Experts once pooh-poohed the idea of electric cars.
2. Don't pooh-pooh his warning about the dam.

Sources: CSS Exam Desk list · Scribd 2014–2020 compilation