Word meanings

Pick the option whose meaning is nearest to the given word

提示Two of the answers might share a topic — you want the one that could swap in for it.

为什么A word from the same topic is the trap: "teacher" and "school" go together, but they do not mean the same thing. Test each choice by swapping it into a sentence in place of the question word.

An option that means the same as the question word

提示It is the reverse trap — a rushed reader picks a synonym by mistake.

为什么The answer is the option that means the reverse of the given word, so slow down and check the direction: "generous" sits near "kind", but its opposite is "mean" or "selfish".

Take each word out in turn and see if the other three still make a tight group

提示Remove one at a time — the odd one leaves a happy family behind.

为什么Three of the four words are close in meaning. The odd one may still be on the same topic — what matters is whether it shares the meaning, not the subject.

Work out how the first two words are related

提示The opening pair sets the pattern — same meaning, or opposites?

为什么The first pair might mean the same or be opposites. Whatever links them, the answer must go with the third word in exactly the same way.

Vast

提示Think of the open sea, or space — stretching further than you can see.

为什么Vast is the writer’s word for enormous size or extent: a vast desert, a vast crowd. In a closest-meaning question it sits beside huge, enormous and immense.

Attempt

提示You make one when you have a go at something difficult.

为什么You can attempt a question, or make an attempt at a record — the same word works as a doing word and a naming word, which is why it appears so often.

Cease

提示When the rain does this, it stops falling.

为什么Cease means to stop or come to an end: a bell may cease ringing. Papers love it because children meet it far less often than "stop".

Purchase

提示The formal word a shop receipt might print at the top.

为什么Purchasing something means getting it by paying for it. Formal words like this one are exactly the vocabulary the meaning questions reach for.

Repair

提示What a garage does to a broken-down car.

为什么You mend a sock and a garage repairs an engine — the meaning is the same, but one word is homely and one is formal. Meaning questions often pair them.

Error

提示A computer message often reports one when something goes wrong.

为什么An error is a mistake — in spelling, in sums, in a machine. "Fault" lives in the same family, so expect all three to appear together as options.

Gradual

提示A slope that rises gently, little by little.

为什么A gradual change creeps up in small steps; a sudden one arrives all at once. Opposite-meaning questions like this pair because both words describe how quickly things happen.

Deny

提示To say firmly that you did not do it.

为什么Admitting something means agreeing it is true; denying means saying it is not. Watch the trap option "confess", which means nearly the SAME as admit.