An Antonym is the ‘opposite’ of the given word. In the GRE exam you are expected to read the word aloud in your mind and once you comprehend its meaning, look for a word from the five given answer options that is ‘nearly’ the opposite of the given word. For example if the given word is ‘Beautiful’, the option that is ‘nearly’ the opposite of the word will be ‘Ugly’. Hope this elucidates the above mentioned point.

LearnWordlist.com has GRE antonym and synonyms.

Tests of Antonym-Synonyms
GRE Synonym Vocabulary

You will find 13 questions on Antonyms Section in the GRE Computer Based Test. This is how the question appears in the actual GRE:

Directions: Each sample question in this section consists of a word printed in capital letters followed by five lettered words or phrases. Choose the lettered word or phrase that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters. Since some of the questions require you to distinguish fine shades of meaning, be sure to consider all the choices before deciding which one is best. (There are 13 questions in this section.)

Let us now work on a sample GRE Antonyms question. This will explain the question type and the ways to answer it better.

1. Loquacious ( That is the Question)

Now let us look at the answer choices

1. whimsical
2. gloomy
3. taciturn
4. gregarious
5. vociferous

If you had gone through all the word lists at Learnwordlist.com you would instantly know the opposite of the word. Now that’s an ideal situation isn’t it? So let us imagine a situation where in you (the student) are unaware of the meaning of the word. This is the time to pool up all your learning tools and strategies for gaining points for that question. Look at the word closely. Can you relate this word to any other word that has the part of the given word ‘loq’? And ‘acious’ suggests that it is a person’s character. The word is an adjective, describing a person or the quality of a person. Now technically speaking that is the ‘root’ of the word. The words that most of us remember at this juncture are: eloquent, grandiloquent, magniloquent etc…so obviously the meanings of these words relate to speech, talk etc, don’t they? Apparently a person who talks (more at that) is loquacious. How intelligently you guessed the meaning of the word! Congratulations! Now you need to identify the ‘opposite’ of the word. Let us now consider the options: Option A: Whimsical…whimsical, an adjective suggests a person full of whimsy (peculiarity, fancy). Can that be opposite of the word ‘Loquacious’? Obviously NO! Option B: gloomy…the word gloomy means sad, dull…. well again it is the wrong option. Let us go to the Option C: taciturn. Taciturn means reserved, recluse, silent…can that be the answer choice for the given word? Is it nearly the opposite of the word? Well do not jump to conclusions, it could prove risky. The word could possibly be the opposite of the given word. Let us hold it for a while. We have two more options to consider, haven’t we? Option D: the word gregarious means highly sociable and outgoing. This cannot be the opposite of the given word. So we can strike it off coolly. The last option choice has some thing to do with voice, talk, speech…Vociferous; ( think of other words like vocal etc that mean sound) the meaning of this word is close to vocalization a vehement vocalization that too… so it is something close to the given word but not the opposite. So what’s the right answer choice? C…and no doubt in that!

Dear Students, you are supposed to intelligently guess the opposites of the words that you are not familiar with. The Process of eliminating (POE) close options, synonyms and irrelevant options will help you reach the right answer choice that is nearly the opposite of the given word. Underneath are mentioned a few strategies as stated by the ETS. Please do run through, and register them in your mind!

**(Here are some approaches that may be helpful in answering antonym questions:

• Remember that you are looking for the word that is the most nearly opposite to the given word; you are not looking for a synonym (meaning). Many words do not have a precise opposite, so you must look for the answer choice that expresses a concept most nearly opposite to that of the given word.
• In some cases, more than one of the answer choices may appear at first to be opposite to the given word. When this happens, try to define more precisely or in greater detail the meaning of the given word.
• In weighing answer choices, it is often useful to make up a sentence using the given word or words. Substitute the answer choices in the phrase or sentence and see which best fits. The best answer will be the one that reverses the meaning or tone of the sentence or phrase.
• Remember that a particular word may have more than one meaning.
• Use your knowledge of root, prefix, and suffix meanings to help you determine the meanings of unfamiliar words.))**

It doesn’t mean you spend a chunk of time guessing. You should be smart and brisk at that. Do you realize you have only half-a-minute to answer one question in GRE? Can you keep guessing then? What do you understand from this?

1. Start preparing for your GRE well in advance.
2. Familiarize yourself with most of the roots, prefixes and suffixes
3. Please do not mug up. Instead spend some time with the word.
4. Dissect a word to understand the word root, prefix and suffix
5. Relate the word you ‘kind of know’ or ‘don’t know’ to words having similar roots, sounds, prefixes, suffixes etc

You can now use these strategies and take the Antonyms’ Tests displayed on the website. Get back to me in case you could not determine the opposite of the word using the above mentioned techniques.

Wishing you great success!!

Anu Veluri

Learnwordlist.com

(** these lines are taken from the site www.ets.org)