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CSS 2023 — Synonyms & Antonyms (Solved)

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These are the regular February 2023 paper MCQs. The four-option sets were never reliably published, so each question shows the word and the keyed answer. Cover the green box to self-test.

(a) Synonyms

1. OMNISCIENT

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Answer: All-knowing

  • Urdu: عالمُ الغیب، ہر بات جاننے والا
  • Meaning (adj.): knowing everything
  • Synonyms: all-knowing, all-wise, all-seeing, infinitely wise, knowledgeable, prescient
  • Antonyms: ignorant, unaware, uninformed, unknowing, limited
  • Sentences:
    1. The novel is told by an omniscient narrator.
    2. No government is omniscient; it needs feedback from citizens.
  • Trap: omnipotent = all-powerful · omnipresent = everywhere.

2. RESUSCITATE

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Answer: Revive

  • Urdu: دوبارہ زندہ کرنا، ہوش میں لانا، بحال کرنا
  • Meaning (v.): to revive someone from unconsciousness or apparent death; to bring back to life
  • Synonyms: revive, revitalise, resurrect, restore, rejuvenate, bring round
  • Antonyms: kill, extinguish, let die, destroy, suppress
  • Sentences:
    1. Paramedics managed to resuscitate the drowning boy.
    2. The government is trying to resuscitate the textile industry.

3. AMBIVALENCE

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Answer: Uncertainty / indecision

  • Urdu: دو دلی، تذبذب، متضاد جذبات
  • Meaning (n.): having mixed or contradictory feelings about something
  • Synonyms: uncertainty, indecision, equivocation, hesitancy, doubt, irresolution
  • Antonyms: certainty, conviction, decisiveness, resolve, sureness
  • Sentences:
    1. Pakistan's ambivalence towards the new bloc showed in its abstention.
    2. He felt ambivalence about leaving his village for the city.

4. RHETORIC

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Answer: Eloquence / oratory

  • Urdu: فنِ خطابت، لفاظی، زورِ بیان
  • Meaning (n.): the art of persuasive speaking or writing; also impressive-sounding language that lacks substance
  • Synonyms: oratory, eloquence, grandiloquence, bombast, speechifying, verbosity
  • Antonyms: plain speech, candour, substance, sincerity, action
  • Sentences:
    1. Voters are tired of election rhetoric without delivery.
    2. Iqbal's rhetoric stirred the Muslims of the subcontinent.

5. EXONERATE

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Answer: Acquit

  • Urdu: بری کرنا، الزام سے پاک قرار دینا
  • Meaning (v.): to officially clear someone of blame or guilt
  • Synonyms: acquit, absolve, vindicate, clear, discharge, exculpate
  • Antonyms: convict, incriminate, blame, condemn, accuse
  • Sentences:
    1. The inquiry exonerated the engineers of negligence.
    2. DNA evidence exonerated the accused after ten years.

6. INERT

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Answer: Inactive

  • Urdu: بے حس و حرکت، غیر فعال، جامد
  • Meaning (adj.): lacking the ability or strength to move; chemically inactive
  • Synonyms: inactive, motionless, sluggish, dormant, static, lifeless
  • Antonyms: active, lively, reactive, dynamic, animated
  • Sentences:
    1. Neon is an inert gas.
    2. The committee remained inert while the crisis grew.

7. PRECIPITATION

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Answer: Rainfall

  • Urdu: بارش، برف باری (موسمیات)؛ عجلت
  • Meaning (n.): rain, snow, sleet or hail that falls to the ground; also sudden haste
  • Synonyms: rainfall, rain, showers, downpour, drizzle, snowfall
  • Antonyms: drought, aridity, dryness, evaporation
  • Sentences:
    1. Annual precipitation in Balochistan is extremely low.
    2. Heavy precipitation caused landslides on the Karakoram Highway.

8. ENTREPRENEUR

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Answer: Businessperson

  • Urdu: کاروباری شخص، صنعت کار، کاروبار شروع کرنے والا
  • Meaning (n.): a person who sets up a business and takes on financial risk in the hope of profit
  • Synonyms: businessperson, industrialist, founder, tycoon, enterpriser, venture capitalist
  • Antonyms: employee, salaried worker, labourer, wage-earner
  • Sentences:
    1. Young entrepreneurs in Lahore are building fintech start-ups.
    2. Government schemes offer loans to women entrepreneurs.

9. LUCRATIVE

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Answer: Profitable

  • Urdu: نفع بخش، منافع دینے والا
  • Meaning (adj.): producing a great deal of profit
  • Synonyms: profitable, gainful, remunerative, money-making, rewarding, fruitful
  • Antonyms: unprofitable, loss-making, unrewarding, costly
  • Sentences:
    1. Real estate remains a lucrative investment in Pakistan.
    2. He left a lucrative job abroad to serve at home.

10. CYNOSURE

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Answer: Centre of attention

  • Urdu: مرکزِ نگاہ، توجہ کا مرکز
  • Meaning (n.): a person or thing that is the centre of attention or admiration
  • Synonyms: centre of attention, focus, focal point, attraction, highlight, spotlight
  • Antonyms: nonentity, obscurity, the unnoticed, nobody
  • Sentences:
    1. The new stadium became the cynosure of the city.
    2. The bride was the cynosure of all eyes.

(b) Antonyms

11. INNOCUOUS

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Answer: Harmful

  • Urdu: بے ضرر، بے آزار
  • Meaning (adj.): not harmful or offensive
  • Synonyms: harmless, inoffensive, benign, safe, bland, innocent
  • Antonyms: harmful, injurious, offensive, dangerous, noxious
  • Sentences:
    1. An innocuous remark was twisted into a controversy.
    2. Most spiders in Pakistan are innocuous to humans.

12. MISANTHROPIST

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Answer: Philanthropist

  • Urdu: انسان بیزار، مردم گریز
  • Meaning (n.): a person who dislikes and distrusts humankind
  • Synonyms: misanthrope, cynic, loner, hater of mankind, recluse
  • Antonyms: philanthropist, humanitarian, altruist, benefactor, well-wisher
  • Sentences:
    1. Years of betrayal had turned him into a misanthropist.
    2. Gulliver becomes a misanthropist by the end of his travels.

13. PRAGMATISM

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Answer: Idealism

  • Urdu: عملیت پسندی، حقیقت پسندی
  • Meaning (n.): dealing with things practically rather than theoretically
  • Synonyms: practicality, realism, common sense, sensibleness, matter-of-factness
  • Antonyms: idealism, romanticism, utopianism, impracticality
  • Sentences:
    1. Foreign policy demands pragmatism over slogans.
    2. China's pragmatism in trade has served it well.

14. PIVOTAL

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Answer: Insignificant / minor

  • Urdu: کلیدی، مرکزی، نہایت اہم
  • Meaning (adj.): of crucial importance to the success or development of something
  • Synonyms: crucial, central, critical, key, vital, decisive
  • Antonyms: insignificant, minor, peripheral, trivial, unimportant
  • Sentences:
    1. Gwadar is pivotal to CPEC.
    2. The 1940 resolution was a pivotal moment in our history.

15. COMMEMORATE

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Answer: Forget / ignore

  • Urdu: یاد منانا، یادگار قائم کرنا
  • Meaning (v.): to recall and show respect for someone or something, especially in a ceremony
  • Synonyms: honour, celebrate, memorialise, observe, pay tribute, remember
  • Antonyms: forget, ignore, disregard, neglect, dishonour
  • Sentences:
    1. 6 September is commemorated as Defence Day.
    2. A plaque commemorates the martyrs of the earthquake.

16. HUMANE

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Answer: Inhumane / cruel

  • Urdu: رحم دل، انسان دوست
  • Meaning (adj.): showing compassion and kindness
  • Synonyms: compassionate, kind, merciful, benevolent, gentle, charitable
  • Antonyms: inhumane, cruel, uncaring, brutal, callous
  • Sentences:
    1. Prisoners must be treated in a humane manner.
    2. Humane treatment of animals is a sign of civilisation.
  • Trap: don't confuse humane (kind) with human.

17. CLANDESTINE

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Answer: Open / transparent

  • Urdu: خفیہ، چوری چھپے
  • Meaning (adj.): kept secret or done secretly, especially because it is illicit
  • Synonyms: covert, secret, surreptitious, underground, furtive, hidden
  • Antonyms: open, overt, transparent, public, above-board
  • Sentences:
    1. The agency ran a clandestine operation across the border.
    2. They held clandestine meetings at night.

18. COMMUNISM

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Answer: Capitalism

  • Urdu: اشتراکیت، کمیونزم
  • Meaning (n.): a system in which property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to ability and need
  • Synonyms: collectivism, Marxism, Bolshevism, state ownership
  • Antonyms: capitalism, individualism, free-market system, private enterprise
  • Sentences:
    1. The collapse of Soviet communism reshaped Central Asia.
    2. The Cold War was a struggle between communism and capitalism.
  • Trap: socialism is close to communism, so it cannot be the antonym.

19. FICTITIOUS

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Answer: True / factual

  • Urdu: فرضی، من گھڑت، جعلی
  • Meaning (adj.): not real or true; invented
  • Synonyms: invented, false, imaginary, bogus, fabricated, made-up
  • Antonyms: real, true, factual, genuine, authentic
  • Sentences:
    1. The loan was taken in the name of a fictitious company.
    2. All characters in this novel are fictitious.

20. REVERE

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Answer: Disrespect / scorn

  • Urdu: تعظیم کرنا، عقیدت رکھنا
  • Meaning (v.): to feel deep respect or admiration for
  • Synonyms: venerate, esteem, honour, respect, idolise, worship
  • Antonyms: disrespect, scorn, despise, disdain, deride
  • Sentences:
    1. Allama Iqbal is revered as the Poet of the East.
    2. Students revered their old teacher.

Source: CSS Exam Desk year-wise list