📖Definition
In these questions, you're given two sets of three words. You must find the two words, one from each set, that are the most opposite in meaning.
✏️Example
( vague weary dreamy )
( lazy lively athletic )
Knowledge Required
A good vocabulary and a good knowledge of word types.
✅How To Answer
As you might guess, the techniques used for answering these are similar to those for solving Closest Meaning questions.
Method
Look at the words and see if the answer jumps out at you. If it doesn't, you'll have to take a more methodical approach and consider each possible combination.
Start with the first word in the first set and compare its meaning with that of each word in the second set. Repeat this using the second word in the first set and finally the third word.
Diagram
Some of the words in there can be easily confused, for example, athletic and lively. You have to think carefully about the meaning. Athletic implies a lean, muscular body whereas lively implies having a lot of energy. A person can be both athletic and weary, for example if they've just run a marathon! But, if someone is lively, they're not weary so those are the opposites and are the two answers you should choose.
Be careful you do select both answers and not just one.
Variation
Let's try a slightly different example.
✏️Example
( mourn grave bereaved )
( cheerful happily smile )
Looking at the words, the three in the first set are linked as are the three in the second. And each set seems to imply the opposite to the other. If you mourn then you're not very cheerful and if you're bereaved you don't tend to smile a lot.
In this instance we need to look at the word types as well as the meanings.
Verb - action word
Adverb - word describing a verb
Noun - an object or thing
Adjective - word describing a noun
So, let's see what each of our given words is.
Diagram
The words that are opposite in meaning will be the same word types so, we can eliminate happily as there is no adverb in the first group to go with it.
Then we only need consider possible pairings of the same word types. Our list is:
Diagram
So, grave (when it's used as an adjective meaning 'solemn') and cheerful are the opposites.