Synonyms
~13 min read
- What: Synonyms in NDA English asks you to pick the option closest in meaning to an underlined word in a sentence. Not "same" — closest. Context narrows the choice.
- Why it matters: Most NDA English papers carry 5 synonym questions in a dedicated block (worth 12.5 marks, roughly 10% of the paper). Year coverage runs 2015-I through 2024-II.
- Key habit: Read the sentence first, the underlined word second. The sentence tells you which sense of the word is in play — without it, two options often look correct.
Synonyms is one of the four vocabulary blocks NDA leans on year after year — alongside Antonyms, Idioms and Phrases, and Word Meanings. It is the most rewarding of the four for steady preparation because the question style barely changes across years: a sentence, one underlined word, four options, pick the closest.
What makes the chapter deceptively hard is the word "closest". The four options are rarely random — two of them usually are synonyms of the target word in some dictionary sense, but only one fits the sentence's register, tone, or shade of meaning. Mastering Synonyms in NDA is less about memorising a 5,000-word list and more about discriminating between options that all seem plausible.
This page is built from NDA Previous Year Questions, 2015-I through 2024-II — every Synonyms block from twenty papers. The method, the rules, the traps, and the word list below all draw from what NDA has actually asked. Pair this page with Antonyms (same question style, opposite direction) and Paired Words (which tests confusables — a different vocabulary skill but closely allied).
What Synonyms Tests in NDA
The format has been stable since at least 2015:
NDA Synonyms — Question Format
- Item type: One sentence with one underlined word. Four options labelled (a)–(d), each a single word or short phrase.
- Instruction: "Select the word or group of words that is most similar in meaning to the underlined word."
- Number: 5 items per paper (block), almost always grouped consecutively under a single Directions header.
- Difficulty: Roughly 1 easy + 2 medium + 2 hard per block. Hard items are not obscure words — they are common words tested in less-common senses.
- No negative marking distinction: Synonyms uses the same negative marking as the rest of NDA GAT-English — ⅓ mark per wrong answer.
NDA's testing instinct is consistent: the underlined word will not usually be exotic (no defenestrate, no obfuscate). It will be a moderately formal word — tacit, garrulous, exemplary, restive, fortitude, candid, acumen, ineffable, debilitated, laudable — the kind of vocabulary an educated newspaper reader meets every week and a casual reader meets every month. The trap lives in the options, not the stem.
Exam Pattern & Weightage
The block is identifiable on sight: a Directions paragraph, then 5 sentences, each with an underlined word. It usually appears in the second half of the paper, after Spotting Errors and Sentence Improvement.
| Year / Paper | No. of Synonym Items | Sample Underlined Words |
|---|---|---|
| 2015-I | 4 | negligence, obliterate, ineffable, edifying |
| 2015-II | 5 | garrulous, fortitude, tacit, meagre, exhilarated |
| 2016-I | 11 | deafening, exemplary, restive, dearth, retired, tactical, deviate, debilitated, laudable, reproach |
| 2016-II | 5 | hospitality, astronomical, appropriate, enamoured, yellow journalism |
| 2017-I | 5 | sever, countered, indiscriminately, acumen, candid |
| 2017-II | 5 | wound up, alive to, intimidate, … |
| 2018-I/II | 5 each | varied register, varied difficulty |
| 2019-I/II | 5 each | mostly mid-formal vocabulary |
| 2020-I | 5 | (2020-II not held — COVID merge) |
| 2021-I/II | 5 each | continued stable pattern |
| 2022-I/II | 5 each | continued stable pattern |
| 2023-I/II | 5 each | continued stable pattern |
| 2024-I/II | 5 each | continued stable pattern |
From 2016 onwards, NDA almost always puts the Synonyms block at 5 questions. The only exception was 2016-I, which carried a larger 10-item block. Plan your time budget on 5 items × ~30 seconds = 2.5 minutes for the whole block.
A 4-Step Method to Pick the Closest Synonym
Most candidates approach Synonyms backwards — they read the underlined word, recall a meaning, then scan the options. This works on easy items and fails on every hard one. Reverse the order:
- Read the full sentence first. Ignore the options. The sentence will almost always pin down the word's sense. "He was fired for negligence on duty" tells you fired means dismissed, not literally burned, even before you look at choices.
- Predict your own answer in plain English. Before looking at (a)–(d), say to yourself: "The closest meaning is roughly dismissed." This anchor prevents the options from confusing you.
- Match your prediction to an option. If one option matches cleanly, that is almost certainly the answer. If two seem to match, you are in trap territory — go to Step 4.
- Use the discrimination rules below (register, connotation, collocation, exact-sense, etymology, intensity) to break the tie. If still split between two options, choose the one with the narrower meaning — closest is closer than broadly similar.
The "Closest" Principle
- Same meaning ≠ closest meaning. Two words can both be synonyms in a thesaurus, but only one will be the closest in a given sentence.
- Narrower beats broader. If scolded and dismissed are both available for fired, pick the one the sentence supports — here dismissed, because the sentence says "for negligence on duty".
- Register beats register-mismatch. A formal underlined word usually pairs with a formal option, not a colloquial one.
Six Discrimination Rules
When two options both seem to mean the right thing, one of these six rules will usually settle it. Memorise them as a checklist — you will run through it dozens of times by exam day.
Rule 1 — Register (formal vs. casual)
Match the formality level. If the target word is formal (ineffable, laudable, candid, acumen), the answer is almost always the more formal option. NDA rarely picks a slangy option for a formal stem.
Example: "His efforts at helping the poor are laudable." Options: welcome, sincere, good, praiseworthy. All four touch the idea positively, but only praiseworthy matches laudable's register. (2016-I, answer: praiseworthy.)
Rule 2 — Connotation (positive vs. negative)
Many words carry a tilt. Garrulous is negatively tinged (over-talkative, tiresome) while articulate is positively tinged. If the sentence shows the underlined word being criticised or praised, your synonym must carry the same tilt.
Example: "Many of his acquaintances avoid him because he is so garrulous." The sentence shows people avoiding him — clearly negative. Among unreasonable, talkative, quarrelsome, proud, only talkative is the literal meaning (over-talkative) — but the negative frame is preserved by context. (2015-II, answer: talkative.)
Rule 3 — Collocation (which words naturally pair)
English has fixed pairings. Tactical support pairs with strategic, not with expert. Yellow journalism pairs with sensational reporting, not with misrepresentation alone, because the fixed idiom is about sensationalism.
Example: "The navy gave tactical support to the marines." Among sensitive, strategic, immediate, expert, the natural military collocation is strategic. (2016-I, answer: strategic.)
Rule 4 — Exact sense in the sentence
A polysemous word (one with several meanings) takes its sense from the sentence. Fired can mean shot, dismissed, energised, or set ablaze. The sentence selects exactly one. Pick the synonym for that one, not for the most common meaning.
Example: "He was fired for negligence on duty." Context = dismissed. Options included scolded, rebuked, attacked, relieved of his job. Answer: relieved of his job. (2015-I.)
Rule 5 — Etymology hint (roots and cognates)
Many NDA targets share roots with their answers. Ineffable ↔ cannot be expressed in words (Latin effari = to speak out). Edifying ↔ instructive (Latin aedificare, originally "to build up" — figuratively, to build moral knowledge).
Example: "Divine grace is truly ineffable." Answer: that which is too great to be expressed in words. (2015-I.) The Latin root fari = to speak is the clue.
Rule 6 — Intensity (degree of the meaning)
A strong word needs a strong synonym. Astronomical (rents in Mumbai) needs exorbitant, not just commercial. Deafening needs very loud, not just terrifying or dangerous.
Example: "House rent in Mumbai has risen to astronomical figures." Answer: exorbitant. (2016-II.) Planetary is the literal-but-wrong trap; exorbitant matches both meaning and intensity.
Worked Examples from NDA PYQs
Each example walks through the 4-step method on a real NDA Synonyms item. The method is the point — the words will rotate, the method will not.
Worked Example 1 — tacit (NDA 2015-II, Q19)
Stem: "He gave his tacit approval to the proposition."
Options: (a) loud (b) implied (c) clean (d) revealed
Step 1 — Read the sentence. Someone gave approval, but with a qualifier — tacit. The word modifies approval, so we want the kind of approval he gave.
Step 2 — Predict. Tacit = silent, unspoken, understood-without-being-said. Predict: unspoken.
Step 3 — Match. Closest to unspoken is (b) implied. (a) loud is the opposite. (d) revealed is the opposite — what's tacit is precisely not revealed openly. (c) clean is unrelated.
Answer: (b) implied.
Worked Example 2 — fortitude (NDA 2015-II, Q18)
Stem: "He bore the pain with great fortitude."
Options: (a) pain (b) courage (c) indifference (d) forbearance
Step 1 — Read. He bore pain with X. So X is what he used to bear it — a quality, not the pain itself.
Step 2 — Predict. Fortitude = strength of mind in adversity. Predict: courage / endurance.
Step 3 — Match. Two options are close: (b) courage and (d) forbearance. (a) pain is the noun he is bearing, not how. (c) indifference implies not feeling the pain — but the sentence says he bore it, meaning he did feel it.
Step 4 — Tie-break. Forbearance means patient self-restraint when wronged (often by others). Courage means strength to face fear or hardship. The Latin root fortis = strong points to strength — courage.
Answer: (b) courage.
Worked Example 3 — obliterate (NDA 2015-I, Q44)
Stem: "Democracy is not the standardising of everyone so as to obliterate all peculiarity."
Options: (a) demolish (b) extinguish (c) erase (d) change
Step 1 — Read. What is being obliterated? Peculiarity — a quality, not a physical object or a fire.
Step 2 — Predict. Obliterate (Latin litterae, letters; literally "blot out the letters") = wipe out completely.
Step 3 — Match by collocation. (a) demolish pairs with buildings. (b) extinguish pairs with fires or hopes. (d) change is too weak — obliterate is total, not partial. (c) erase pairs with marks, traces, qualities — exactly what we need.
Answer: (c) erase.
Worked Example 4 — restive (NDA 2016-I, Q43)
Stem: "When the new teacher entered the classroom, he found the pupils restive."
Options: (a) at rest (b) idle (c) quiet (d) impatient
Step 1 — Read. The teacher walks in and finds the pupils in some state.
Step 2 — The classic trap. Restive looks like resting. It is the exact opposite: restless, fidgety, unable to keep still. The "rest-" in restive comes from a different sense (refusing to move = stubborn → fidgety in modern use).
Step 3 — Match. (a) at rest and (c) quiet are the false-friend traps. (b) idle is unrelated. (d) impatient matches.
Answer: (d) impatient.
Lesson: Never trust a word just because it looks like a familiar one. Restive, ingenious/ingenuous, noisome, fulsome — all common NDA traps.
Worked Example 5 — candid (NDA 2017-I, Q20)
Stem: "His candid opinions have won him many friends."
Options: (a) kind (b) courteous (c) generous (d) frank
Step 1 — Read. Opinions that won him friends — a positive quality of opinions.
Step 2 — Predict. Candid = frank, openly honest. (Same root as candidate — once meant "wearing white", showing nothing hidden.)
Step 3 — Match. (a), (b), (c) are all positive social qualities but none mean frank. Only (d) hits the exact sense.
Answer: (d) frank.
Lesson: When all four options are positive, do not be swayed by general positivity. Pick the one closest in specific meaning, not in general flavour.
Worked Example 6 — indiscriminately (NDA 2017-I, Q18)
Stem: "The police fired indiscriminately at the crowd, killing many innocent women and children."
Options: (a) continuously (b) without distinguishing (c) foolishly (d) rapidly
Step 1 — Read. The result tells the story — innocent women and children were killed. So the firing did not separate guilty from innocent.
Step 2 — Predict. Indiscriminately = without distinction, without selecting targets.
Step 3 — Match by root. Discriminate = to distinguish. Indiscriminate = without distinguishing. (b) is a literal translation.
Answer: (b) without distinguishing.
Lesson: If you can break the word into in- + discriminate + -ly, the option that paraphrases the root is almost always right.
Worked Example 7 — acumen (NDA 2017-I, Q19)
Stem: "Businessmen who lack acumen cannot be expected to be very successful."
Options: (a) fairness (b) sharpness (c) boldness (d) righteousness
Step 1 — Read. A quality businessmen need for success.
Step 2 — Predict. Acumen = keenness of perception, especially in practical matters. (Latin acuere = to sharpen — same root as acute.)
Step 3 — Match. All four are positive business qualities. But fairness, boldness, and righteousness are about character. Sharpness is about mental acuity — exactly acumen.
Answer: (b) sharpness.
Worked Example 8 — dearth (NDA 2016-I, Q44)
Stem: "There is no dearth of talent in this country."
Options: (a) scarcity (b) availability (c) plenty (d) absence
Step 1 — Read. No dearth — a double-negative construction. Dearth means lack; "no dearth" means plenty.
Step 2 — Caution. The question asks for the synonym of dearth, not the sense of the sentence. Read the instruction line again — they always want the synonym of the underlined word in isolation.
Step 3 — Predict. Dearth = serious lack, shortage.
Step 4 — Match. (a) scarcity is exact. (b) availability and (c) plenty are opposites — these are the traps for candidates who got fooled by "no dearth = plenty". (d) absence is too strong (absence = total lack; dearth = partial).
Answer: (a) scarcity.
Lesson: Watch out for no, not, never in stems. They flip the sentence sense but not the synonym you're being asked to find.
Worked Example 9 — enamoured of (NDA 2016-II, Q14)
Stem: "He was enamoured of his own golden voice."
Options: (a) Very fond of (b) Concerned with (c) Obsessed with (d) Imbued with
Step 1 — Read. He liked his own voice a lot.
Step 2 — Predict. Enamoured of (Latin amor) = in love with, very fond of.
Step 3 — Match by intensity. (a) very fond of and (c) obsessed with both fit the meaning, but at different intensities. (a) is moderate, (c) is extreme. Enamoured is closer to moderate-strong fondness — not pathological obsession.
Step 4 — Tie-break by collocation. "Enamoured of" is the standard pairing; "obsessed with" is the standard pairing. The Latin root amor = love points to (a).
Answer: (a) very fond of.
Worked Example 10 — sever (NDA 2017-I, Q16)
Stem: "It is unwise to sever diplomatic relations with a neighbouring country over small matters."
Options: (a) engage (b) estrange (c) cut off (d) twist
Step 1 — Read. What you do to diplomatic relations — and the advice is unwise, so this is a strong action.
Step 2 — Predict. Sever = cut, separate. Severance is the noun form.
Step 3 — Match. (a) engage is the opposite. (b) estrange means to make distant — softer than severing. (c) cut off is literal. (d) twist is unrelated.
Answer: (c) cut off.
Across 14 papers (2015-I to 2024-I) we extracted, NDA used ~78 distinct synonym items. Of those, roughly 40% had a "false-friend" option — a word that looks or sounds like the target but means something different (restive/at rest, laudable/loud, noisome/noisy, fulsome/full). Train the discrimination, not just the vocabulary.
Six Traps NDA Exploits
The same six trap types recur across years. Knowing them in advance is half the defence.
- The look-alike trap. Options that share spelling with the target but mean something different. Restive ≠ resting; fulsome ≠ full; noisome ≠ noisy (it means foul-smelling); enormity ≠ enormousness (it means great wickedness).
- The literal-sense trap. A word used figuratively gets a literal option offered. Astronomical rent → "planetary" is the literal trap; exorbitant is the figurative answer NDA wants.
- The intensity trap. Two options differ only in strength. The right one matches the underlined word's strength. Enamoured = moderate; obsessed = extreme. Match the level.
- The connotation trap. A word with negative tone gets a positively-toned option. Garrulous (negative) ≠ articulate (positive) — even though both relate to talking.
- The collocation trap. Two options are dictionary-synonyms, but only one is the natural English pairing. Tactical support → strategic, not expert.
- The polysemy trap. A word with two meanings is tested in its less common sense. Wound up can mean ended or agitated. The sentence picks the sense.
Build a 200-word "false-friend list" — words whose meaning differs from what they look like — and revise it weekly. Twenty minutes a week here will catch more NDA Synonyms questions than a thousand-word general vocabulary list.
High-Frequency NDA Synonym Word List
This list is drawn from words that appeared in the 2015-I to 2024-II Synonyms blocks. They are not the rarest words in English — they are the ones NDA actually uses. Cover the meaning column with your hand, see if you can recall it from the word alone, then test yourself the other way.
Bank A — Character & Behaviour
| Word | Closest Meaning | NDA Sample Sense |
|---|---|---|
| candid | frank, open | opinions that win friends |
| garrulous | over-talkative | tiresome conversationalist |
| laudable | praiseworthy | efforts to help the poor |
| exemplary | commendable, model-worthy | courage in a crisis |
| astute | shrewd, mentally sharp | business judgement |
| diligent | hardworking, careful | attentive worker |
| fortitude | courage in adversity | bearing pain |
| acumen | keen mental sharpness | business success |
| aversion | strong dislike | habitual reaction |
| audacity | boldness (often reckless) | brazen behaviour |
Bank B — Speech, Thought & Communication
| Word | Closest Meaning | NDA Sample Sense |
|---|---|---|
| tacit | implied, unspoken | tacit approval |
| ineffable | too great for words | divine grace |
| edifying | instructive, uplifting | a convocation address |
| candid | frank, openly honest | (see Bank A) |
| discourse | formal discussion | academic / political talk |
| deride | mock, ridicule | contemptuous reaction |
| denounce | condemn publicly | indict an action |
| reproach | rebuke, blame | brought reproach on him |
| articulate | express clearly | well-spoken |
| vociferous | loud and forceful | vocal protest |
Bank C — Action & Result
| Word | Closest Meaning | NDA Sample Sense |
|---|---|---|
| obliterate | erase, wipe out | destroy peculiarity |
| sever | cut off, separate | diplomatic relations |
| demolish | destroy (a structure) | tear down |
| defile | contaminate, profane | desecrate a sacred place |
| debilitate | weaken | attack of influenza |
| deviate | differ, depart from | routine thinking |
| countered | opposed, met head-on | bad tendencies |
| intimidate | frighten, threaten | witness in a case |
| obliterate | (see above) | |
| abjure | renounce, give up formally | renounce a creed |
Bank D — State & Quality
| Word | Closest Meaning | NDA Sample Sense |
|---|---|---|
| restive | restless, impatient | pupils in a classroom |
| meagre | scanty, very small | a meagre yield |
| dearth | scarcity, lack | no dearth of talent |
| astronomical | exorbitant, very large | house rent |
| tactical | strategic | military support |
| exhilarated | overjoyed, thrilled | election outcome |
| deafening | very loud | explosion |
| fruitful | productive, useful | discussion of views |
| authentic | genuine, reliable | a true document |
| imminent | about to happen | an approaching storm |
Bank E — Tricky False Friends
These words look like one thing and mean another. The most efficient revision in vocabulary.
| Word | What It Looks Like | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| restive | resting / at rest | restless, impatient |
| fulsome | full, abundant | excessive to the point of insincerity |
| noisome | noisy | foul-smelling, offensive |
| enormity | enormousness (size) | great wickedness |
| ingenuous | ingenious (clever) | naïve, innocent |
| obnoxious | noxious (poisonous) | offensive, unpleasant |
| inveterate | veteran (experienced) | long-established (often a bad habit) |
| moot | mute (silent) | debatable, open to argument |
| nonplussed | not plussed → unfazed | perplexed, baffled |
| peruse | browse / glance through | read carefully |
Preparation Strategy
The temptation with Synonyms is to chase a giant word list. Resist it. NDA's vocabulary range is wide but not deep — they want recurring mid-formal English, not Word Power Made Easy's rarest entries. Spend your time on three habits.
Habit 1 — One PYQ block per day, with reasoning
Do one 5-item block, but do not stop at "I got 4/5". Write down why each option was wrong using one of the six discrimination rules. Over 30 days you will internalise the rules without trying.
Habit 2 — Build your own false-friend list
Every time a question tricks you with a look-alike, add the pair to a personal list (Bank E above is a starter). By exam day this list, not a textbook list, is your single highest-value asset.
Habit 3 — Daily exposure beats weekly cramming
Read one editorial or one long-form piece per day (The Hindu, Indian Express, BBC). Highlight any word you would not use in your own writing. Look it up. Use it in one spoken sentence within 24 hours. This is how vocabulary survives an exam — through use, not memorisation.
4-Week Synonyms Plan
- Week 1: Banks A and B (character, communication). One PYQ block per day. False-friend list from any errors.
- Week 2: Banks C and D (action, state). Continue PYQs. Begin daily reading.
- Week 3: Bank E (false friends) + revise Banks A–D in mixed order. Two PYQ blocks per day.
- Week 4: Mixed daily quiz of 10 items (5 synonyms + 5 antonyms) under timed conditions. Target 4/5 minimum on synonyms.
Drill NDA Synonyms with Method
NDA-pattern Synonyms blocks with explanations using the 4-step method and six discrimination rules. Every item is from real NDA PYQs or close-pattern items modelled on them.
Start Free Mock TestFrequently Asked Questions
How many synonym questions come in NDA English?
Almost every NDA paper from 2015 onward has a dedicated Synonyms block of 5 items in the General Ability Test (English section). The only larger block we saw was NDA 2016-I, which had ten items. Plan for five.
What is the best book for NDA Synonyms?
For grounding: S.P. Bakshi — Objective General English (Chapter 4 of Part B is dedicated to Synonyms and Antonyms with a keyword-Syn-Ant table). For application: NDA Previous Year Papers from 2015 onward. Avoid generic vocabulary books — they overshoot NDA's actual range.
Should I memorise 5,000 words for synonyms?
No. The marginal return falls steeply after about 1,000–1,200 well-chosen words. The five high-frequency banks on this page (roughly 50 words) cover the majority of the NDA Synonyms range. Add to the list as you read editorials, not from a generic vocabulary book.
What is the difference between synonyms and one-word substitutions in NDA?
Synonyms ask "which option is closest in meaning to this underlined word in a sentence" — focus is sense-in-context. One-word substitutions ask "which single word means this whole phrase" — focus is condensation (e.g. "one who studies birds" → ornithologist). Different skill, different prep.
How is "closest meaning" decided when two options seem right?
Use the six discrimination rules in this order: (1) Exact sense in the sentence, (2) Register match, (3) Connotation match, (4) Intensity match, (5) Collocation, (6) Etymology hint. If two options still feel equal after all six, choose the one with the narrower meaning — "closest" is closer than "broadly similar".
Are NDA synonyms easier than CDS or SSC synonyms?
NDA tends to use slightly more formal vocabulary than SSC CGL but is comparable to CDS in difficulty. The biggest difference is volume: SSC has 10+ synonyms in some papers; NDA almost always has exactly five. The depth, not the breadth, is what matters for NDA.
Should I guess if I'm unsure?
Eliminate at least two options first. With two options left, the expected value of a guess is positive (50% chance of +2.5, 50% chance of −0.83). With three or four options still live, skip — the expected value is negative or near zero.
Which NDA English topics connect to Synonyms?
Antonyms uses identical question structure with opposite-meaning options. Paired Words trains the false-friend discrimination directly. Word Meanings and Definitions reinforces vocabulary range. Cloze Test tests the same word-sense skill in passage form.