antonyms_img1.gif antonyms
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The antonym question consists of a single word in capital letters followed by five answer choices. You are required to choose the word which is most nearly opposite that of the capitalized word. This section tests your vocabulary in terms of your ability to understand the meanings of words and to distinguish between fine shades of meaning.
Suggested Answering Approach:
1. Read the word and look for the most nearly opposite.
2. If the word is unfamiliar, try to use it in a sentence, or break the word up using knowledge of roots, prefixes, suffixes, and check for positive or negative connotation associated with the word.
3. If the word has a positive connotation, its antonym is negative, and vice-versa.
4. To be an opposite, the word should not be too broad or too limited.
    • The verbal section of your GRE will contain around 9 antonym items.
    • If you have a big vocabulary, you’ll do well on antonyms. If you have a limited vocabulary, you’ll have trouble. Techniques can help, but the size and strength of your GRE vocabulary is the main factor in antonyms. Get to work on it.
    • You must never mark an answer without reading all the choices.
    • Pay attention to the question word's part of speech. Words on one side of the colon will all be the same part of speech. On the other side of the colon, they will all be the same. Across the colon, they may be different, however.
    • Easy antonyms have easy answers. Don’t fret over difficult choices on the questions you know are easy questions. But beware: hard antonyms often have easy answers, too.
    • You may have to work backward, turning the answers into their opposites to see if they might be synonyms of the question word.
    • If you don’t know the meaning of the word in capital letters but do have some sense of whether it has positive connotations or negative connotations, you can eliminate similarly positive or negative words among the choices.
    • Eliminate words that have no clear opposite.
    • Beware of pseudo-roots!
    • On questions you know are hard, if three or more choices have the same ending as the word in capital letters, you should select your answer from among those choices.
    • Don’t spin your wheels on the hard antonyms. If you run out of ideas, guess and go on.
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