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Question

The word similar in meaning to ‘dreary’ is

The correct answer is

Dismal

Dreary: Understanding Its Meaning

The word "dreary" describes something that is dull, bleak, and depressing. It often conveys a feeling of gloominess, a lack of cheerfulness, or an absence of vibrancy and excitement. When a place, situation, or even weather is described as dreary, it typically suggests it is sad, uninspiring, and perhaps monotonous. For instance, a "dreary day" implies a dull, grey, and depressing day, often associated with bad weather.

Options for 'Dreary' Synonym

Let's examine each of the provided options to determine which word shares the most similar meaning with "dreary."

  • Cheerful: This word means noticeably happy and optimistic. It conveys a sense of joy, brightness, and liveliness. This is the direct opposite of "dreary."
  • Dreamy: This word relates to being lost in pleasant thought, or having a magical, wonderfully pleasant, or ideal quality. While it involves imagination, it does not carry the negative, depressing, or dull connotation that "dreary" does.
  • Hard: This word can refer to something that is firm and solid, difficult to do or understand, or severe and strict. It has no direct relationship to the emotional or atmospheric meaning of "dreary."
  • Dismal: This word means depressing, gloomy, or miserable. It describes something that causes or shows a feeling of gloom or depression, often characterized by a lack of cheer or hope.

Dismal: The Closest Match to Dreary

The word "dismal" is a strong synonym for "dreary" because both words evoke a very similar sense of sadness, gloom, and a lack of hope or positive feeling. For example, just as a "dreary day" suggests a dull and depressing day, a "dismal day" conveys the same feeling. Similarly, one might describe "dismal prospects" to mean very poor and depressing chances, which could easily be interchanged with "dreary prospects" in many contexts.

Similar Word Selection Explained

Based on the definitions and comparisons, "dismal" is clearly the word that is most similar in meaning to "dreary." Both terms effectively describe conditions, moods, or environments that are dull, depressing, and lacking in any positive or hopeful qualities. Therefore, when seeking a synonym for "dreary," "dismal" is the most accurate and suitable choice among the given options.

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Important Questions from Verbal Deduction

  1. Lamenting the gradual sidelining of the arts in school curricula, a goup of prominent artists wrote to the Chief Minister last year, asking him to allocate more funds to support arts education in schools. However, no such increase has been announced in this year`s Budget. The artists expressed their deep anguish at their request not being approved, but many of them remain optimistic about funding in the future.

    Which of the statement(s) below is/are logically valid and can be inferred from the above statements?

    (i) The artists expected funding for the arts to increase this year.

    (ii) The Chief Minister was receptive to the idea of increasing funding for the arts.

    (iii) The Chief Minister is a prominent artist.

    (iv) Schools are giving less importance to arts education nowadays,
  2. Read the following paragraph and choose the correct statement.

    Climate change has reduced human security and threatened human wellbeing. An ignored reality of human progress is that human security largely depends upon environmental security. But on the contrary, human progress seems contradictory to environmental security. To keep up both at the required level is a challenge to be addressed by one and all. One of the ways to curb the climate change may be suitable scientific innovations, while the other may be the Gandhian perspective on

    Small scale progress with focus on sustainability.
  3. Choose the most appropriate phrase from the options given below to complete the following sentence.

    The aircraft_______ take off as soon as its flight plan was filed.

  4. Once the team of analysts identifies the problem, we _________ in a better position to comment on the issue.
    Which one of the following choices CANNOT fill the given blank? 

  5. “If you are looking for a history of India, or for an account of the rise and fall of the British Raj, or for the reason of the cleaving the subcontinent into two mutually antagonistic parts and the effects this mutilation will have in the respective sections, and ultimately on Asia, you will to find it in these pages; for though I have spent a lifetime in the country, I lived too near the seat of events, and was too intimately associated with the actors, to get the perspective needed for the impartial recording of these matters.”

    Which of the following is closest in meaning to ‘cleaving’?
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