Daily Vocabulary Test – 16 July 2026
✓ Editorials Covered: 2
✓ Total Questions: 80
✓ Difficulty: Tough–Advanced
✓ Estimated Time: 45 Minutes
Covers:
✓ Vocabulary MCQs
✓ Synonyms
✓ Antonyms
✓ Idioms & Phrases
✓ One Word Substitution
✓ Fill in the Blanks
✓ Word Formation
✓ Spotting the Error
✓ Spelling Test
✓ Cloze Test
Start Test ↓
SECTION A/10: VOCABULARY MASTERY
1. In the context of India’s trade weaknesses being described as “episodic,” what does the word mean?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Occurring occasionally and at irregular intervals
💡 Explanation: Episodic refers to something happening intermittently or unevenly, as opposed to being structural or permanent.
2. What does the term “meticulous” signify in the phrase “meticulous organisation”?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Showing great attention to detail
💡 Explanation: Meticulous means being extremely careful, conscientious, and precise in planning or execution.
3. How is the word “buoyancy” best defined in an economic context?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. A high level of activity, growth, or resilience
💡 Explanation: In economics, buoyancy indicates resilience, vitality, and an upward trend in market activity.
4. The phrase “sterile headlines” uses the word “sterile” to mean:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Lacking in imagination, creativity, or vitality
💡 Explanation: Metaphorically, sterile means uninspiring, lifeless, and devoid of true human emotion or reality.
5. If an action is taken under a “pretext,” it is done:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Using a false reason given to justify the real motive
💡 Explanation: A pretext is a guise, false excuse, or pretense used to hide true intentions.
6. What is the meaning of “annihilation” in the context of warfare?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Complete destruction or obliteration
💡 Explanation: Annihilation means total destruction, extinction, or wiping out of existence.
7. An “ostentatious” lifestyle is characterized by:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Vulgar or pretentious display of wealth
💡 Explanation: Ostentatious means showy, flamboyant, and designed to impress or attract notice.
8. A “defiant” contrast implies a contrast that is:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Showing open resistance and bold disobedience
💡 Explanation: Defiant means uncooperative, resistant, and proudly refusing to conform to expectations.
9. What does the adjective “skyrocketing” describe?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Increasing rapidly to a very high level
💡 Explanation: Skyrocketing means escalating, soaring, or surging quickly in amount or value.
10. “Complacency” in a competitive environment usually leads to:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. A feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction that invites failure
💡 Explanation: Complacency is carelessness arising from self-approval, which can rob one of an advantage.
11. If a society is “fractured by sectarian divides,” it means the divides are based on:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Factions, sects, or religious/political affiliations
💡 Explanation: Sectarian relates to conflict arising from deep-seated differences between sects or religious factions.
12. What does “austerity” mean in the phrase “live in such austerity”?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Sternness or extreme plainness and simplicity
💡 Explanation: Austerity indicates severe simplicity, lack of luxuries, and plainness in lifestyle.
13. A “caricature” is typically used to:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Exaggerate or distort the essence of a person or thing for effect
💡 Explanation: A caricature is a distorted, simplified, or mocking portrayal that misrepresents reality.
14. “Poetic eloquence” refers to a speaking or writing style that is:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. Fluent, persuasive, and expressively graceful
💡 Explanation: Eloquence means fluency and articulateness, particularly in a moving or poetic manner.
15. If someone acts with “unyielding” pride, their pride is:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Resolute and not giving way to pressure
💡 Explanation: Unyielding means inflexible, uncompromising, steadfast, and refusing to surrender.
SECTION B/10: SYNONYMS
16. Choose the closest synonym for “frantic”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Frenzied
💡 Explanation: Frantic means hurried, excited, and disorganized; synonymous with panicked or frenzied.
17. Choose the closest synonym for “robust”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. Vigorous
💡 Explanation: Robust means strong, sturdy, tough, or vigorous.
18. Choose the closest synonym for “commend”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: D. Praise
💡 Explanation: To commend is to praise, compliment, or applaud someone for their actions.
19. Choose the closest synonym for “stark”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Clear
💡 Explanation: Stark means severe or bare in appearance; sharp, clear, and unmistakable.
20. Choose the closest synonym for “astonished”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Amazed
💡 Explanation: Astonished means greatly surprised or impressed; astounded or amazed.
21. Choose the closest synonym for “shatter”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Smash
💡 Explanation: To shatter is to break suddenly and violently into pieces; to smash or destroy.
22. Choose the closest synonym for “revere”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Respect
💡 Explanation: To revere means to feel deep respect, admiration, or veneration for something.
23. Choose the closest synonym for “deficient”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. Inadequate
💡 Explanation: Deficient means lacking, wanting, insufficient, or inadequate.
24. Choose the closest synonym for “prospect”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Likelihood
💡 Explanation: Prospect refers to the hope, expectation, possibility, or likelihood of a future event.
25. Choose the closest synonym for “insight”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Perception
💡 Explanation: Insight means deep understanding, realization, revelation, or perception.
SECTION C/10: ANTONYMS
26. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “inclusive”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Restrictive
💡 Explanation: Inclusive means welcoming and all-embracing. Restrictive or exclusive is the opposite.
27. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “vibrant”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Dull
💡 Explanation: Vibrant implies full of energy and life. Dull means lacking interest, energy, or brightness.
28. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “effortless”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Strenuous
💡 Explanation: Effortless means requiring no physical or mental exertion. Strenuous implies requiring great effort.
29. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “polite”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Rude
💡 Explanation: Polite means showing respectful behavior. Rude or discourteous is its opposite.
30. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “composed”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Agitated
💡 Explanation: Composed implies calmness and control. Agitated means feeling or appearing troubled or nervous.
31. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “structural”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Superficial
💡 Explanation: Structural implies deep-seated and foundational. Superficial means existing only on the surface.
32. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “certainty”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Unpredictability
💡 Explanation: Certainty is a firm conviction. Unpredictability or doubt is its antonym.
33. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “ostentatious”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Modest
💡 Explanation: Ostentatious means vulgarly displaying wealth. Modest or plain is the opposite.
34. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “oppressive”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Gentle
💡 Explanation: Oppressive means unjustly inflicting hardship. Gentle or lenient represents the opposite approach.
35. Choose the most appropriate antonym for “crumble”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Consolidate
💡 Explanation: To crumble is to break apart or fall apart. To consolidate is to build up and strengthen.
SECTION D/10: IDIOMS & PHRASES
36. What does the idiom “the cat is out of the bag” mean?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. A secret has been revealed or facts are exposed
💡 Explanation: The phrase means that a truth, plan, or secret previously hidden is now known publicly.
37. If someone’s thoughts “turn to” something, they:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Direct their attention, thoughts, or focus onto it
💡 Explanation: To “turn to” implies shifting one’s mental focus or looking toward a specific matter.
38. What does the phrase “far to go” indicate?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Much progress is still needed before achieving a goal
💡 Explanation: It means there is a lot left to accomplish or significant progress is required.
39. The phrase “catch the breeze” is used metaphorically to mean:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. To take advantage of the wind, experiencing a sense of freedom
💡 Explanation: It conveys enjoying movement, sailing smoothly, or feeling a sense of liberation.
40. What does the phrasal verb “dawn on” signify?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. To become evident or apparent to the mind of someone
💡 Explanation: When something “dawns on” you, you suddenly realize or understand it.
SECTION E/10: ONE WORD SUBSTITUTION
41. A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: D. Stereotype
💡 Explanation: A stereotype is a conventional, preconceived notion or cliché about someone or something.
42. A point of congestion or blockage, especially in a strategic navigable waterway:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Choke point
💡 Explanation: A choke point is a bottleneck or narrow passage vital to global transport or strategy.
43. Complete destruction, obliteration, or extinction:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. Annihilation
💡 Explanation: Annihilation refers to totally destroying or wiping something out of existence.
44. A place regarded as holy because of its associations with a divinity or a sacred person:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Shrine
💡 Explanation: A shrine is a holy site, temple, or sanctuary associated with religious devotion.
45. The quality of being humane; benevolence, compassion, or brotherhood:
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Humanity
💡 Explanation: Humanity encompasses benevolence, compassion, and the shared values of the human race.
SECTION F/10: FILL IN THE BLANKS
46. The Iran that exists beyond ________ and western media headlines is a land of faith.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. stereotypes
💡 Explanation: “Stereotypes” refers to the fixed, oversimplified images portrayed by international media.
47. India’s trade data for June offers ________ into how the country is weathering the West Asia crisis.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. insights
💡 Explanation: “Insights” provide a deep understanding or revelation about the economic situation.
48. The value of crude oil imports rose 40% in June 2026, ________ the skyrocketing prices of oil.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. reflecting
💡 Explanation: “Reflecting” means indicating or showing the impact of the high oil prices.
49. I braced myself for an atmosphere ________ fear and wartime paralysis.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. thick with
💡 Explanation: “Thick with” is a phrase meaning heavily filled with a particular quality or emotion.
50. In a region so often fractured by ________ divides, this gesture of inclusive solidarity made the honour all the more profound.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. sectarian
💡 Explanation: “Sectarian” refers to factional or religious divides that split the region.
51. Indian exporters are to be ________ for diversifying so quickly.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. commended
💡 Explanation: “Commended” means praised or applauded for their quick adaptation.
52. The ________ of gold import duties in May would also have pushed up prices in June.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. doubling
💡 Explanation: “Doubling” means a twofold increase, directly pushing the prices up.
53. But what ________ my preconceptions most was the sheer presence of women in the public arena.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. shattered
💡 Explanation: To “shatter” preconceptions means to completely destroy previously held biased beliefs.
54. They are a testament to the fact that nations cannot be understood through television screens, geopolitical ________, or satellite imagery.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. rhetoric
💡 Explanation: “Rhetoric” signifies persuasive speaking or political bombast that fails to capture human reality.
55. Complacency will ________ India of its advantage in this area.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. rob
💡 Explanation: To “rob” means to deprive or strip the country of its competitive edge.
SECTION G/10: WORD FORMATION
56. What is the noun form of the adjective “devastating”?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Devastation
💡 Explanation: Devastation is the noun representing great destruction or damage.
57. Which of the following is the adjective form of the noun “complacency”?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. Complacent
💡 Explanation: Complacent describes a person showing smug or uncritical satisfaction.
58. Select the noun form of the adjective “defiant”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. Defiance
💡 Explanation: Defiance is the noun form meaning open resistance and bold disobedience.
59. What is the adverb form of the adjective “meticulous”?
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. Meticulously
💡 Explanation: Meticulously means doing something in a way that shows great attention to detail.
60. Identify the adjective form of the noun “resilience”.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: D. Resilient
💡 Explanation: Resilient describes the ability to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.
SECTION H/10: SPOTTING THE ERROR
61. Spot the error in the sentence: “The fact that the trade deficit jumped 430% in June would seems alarming.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. in June would seems
💡 Explanation: The modal auxiliary “would” must be followed by the base form of the verb: “seem”.
62. Spot the error in the sentence: “There was no chaos, no frantically mobilisation at the airport.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. frantically mobilisation
💡 Explanation: The noun “mobilisation” must be modified by an adjective (“frantic”), not the adverb “frantically”.
63. Spot the error in the sentence: “I saw this warmth reflected in the vibrant diverse of everyday Tehran.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. vibrant diverse of
💡 Explanation: A noun is required after the adjective “vibrant”. It should be “vibrant diversity”.
64. Spot the error in the sentence: “These are essential if India want to boost its manufacturing of high-end electronics.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. if India want
💡 Explanation: The singular proper noun “India” requires the singular verb form “wants”.
65. Spot the error in the sentence: “Gold prices have also been rise as uncertainty over the West Asia situation persists.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. also been rise as
💡 Explanation: To form the present perfect continuous tense, “rising” is needed instead of “rise”.
66. Spot the error in the sentence: “The only one of these categories that have seen imports rise sharply is electronic goods.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. these categories that have
💡 Explanation: The relative pronoun “that” refers back to “The only one”, requiring the singular verb “has”.
67. Spot the error in the sentence: “She only calm down after extracting a promise from me that I would return.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. She only calm down
💡 Explanation: The narrative is in the past tense, so the verb must be “calmed down”.
68. Spot the error in the sentence: “It was during these quiet moments of observation that I truly understand why Kashmir is called Little Iran.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. that I truly understand
💡 Explanation: Because the context is “It was…”, the past tense verb “understood” should be used.
69. Spot the error in the sentence: “The government is encouraging this, as seen in its decision last week to removed the basic customs duty.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. decision last week to removed
💡 Explanation: The infinitive form “to remove” must be used instead of the past tense “removed”.
70. Spot the error in the sentence: “What I took home with me was the quiet, steel-like resiliences of ordinary Iranians.”
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. the quiet, steel-like resiliences
💡 Explanation: Resilience is an uncountable abstract noun in this context and should not be pluralized.
SECTION I/10: SPELLING TEST
71. Choose the correctly spelled word.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. complacency
💡 Explanation: Complacency means a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction.
72. Choose the correctly spelled word.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. meticulous
💡 Explanation: Meticulous indicates showing great attention to detail.
73. Choose the correctly spelled word.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: C. annihilation
💡 Explanation: Annihilation refers to complete destruction or obliteration.
74. Choose the correctly spelled word.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. ostentatious
💡 Explanation: Ostentatious means characterized by vulgar or pretentious display.
75. Choose the correctly spelled word.
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: B. resilience
💡 Explanation: Resilience denotes the capacity to withstand or recover from difficulties.
SECTION J/10: CLOZE TEST
Directions: Read the passage below and fill in the blanks (76-80) using the exact vocabulary from the supplied editorial.
The Iran that exists beyond (76) ________ and western media headlines is a (77) ________ of faith, resilience, culture, and quiet human (78) ________. Finally, the (79) ________ is out of the bag. With United States President Donald Trump first announcing a 20% surcharge for facilitating the (80) ________ of commercial shipping…
76. Choose the correct word for blank (76).
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. stereotypes
💡 Explanation: Stereotypes represent the oversimplified, fixed images propagated by western media.
77. Choose the correct word for blank (77).
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. land
💡 Explanation: The text describes Iran structurally as a “land of faith” and resilience.
78. Choose the correct word for blank (78).
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. dignity
💡 Explanation: “Human dignity” refers to the intrinsic value and respect accorded to the people.
79. Choose the correct word for blank (79).
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. cat
💡 Explanation: “The cat is out of the bag” is the specific idiom meaning a secret is revealed.
80. Choose the correct word for blank (80).
✓ Check Answer
✓ Correct Answer: A. passage
💡 Explanation: “Passage” refers to the safe transit or movement of commercial shipping.
Test Completed
You have completed today’s Editorial Words Daily Vocabulary Test.