Question

Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the word printed in bold in the sentence.
Last fortnight the rains came to the parched soils of India after the merciless drought had already sapped the vitality and livelihood of millions of peasants.
A) Decreased
B) Demolished
C) Destroyed
D) Drained

Answer 1

Hint:Synonyms are the words that have the same or similar meaning and to avoid repetition synonyms are used. For example: the synonym of beautiful is pretty and adorable.

Complete answer:
We must find the meaning of sapped and the meaning of words that are given in the options. And both the words should have the same meaning or the exact sense.
The meaning of sapped is ‘gradually weaken or destroy a person's strength or power or deplete or reduce’ and we must find the correct answer from the options given whose meaning is the same as sapped.

Option A) Decreased - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of decrease is ‘make or become smaller or fewer in size, amount, intensity, or degree or reduction or lowering’ and this is not the synonym of sapped because their meanings are not same. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Option B) Demolished - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of demolished is ‘pull or knockdown or knock down or bring down’ and this is not the synonym of sapped because their meanings are not the same. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Option C) Destroyed - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of destroyed is ‘end the existence of (something) by damaging or attacking it or demolishing or knock down’ and this is not the synonym of sapped because their meanings are not same. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Option D) Drained - is the correct answer because the meaning of drained is ‘cause the water or other liquid in something to run out, leaving it empty or dry’ and this is the synonym of the word sapped and they can be used in place of each other because they have similar meaning. Thus, this is the correct answer.


Hence, the correct answer is Option ‘D’.

Note: Synonyms are the words that have the same or similar meaning i.e. synonym of sapped is drained, and antonym are the words that are opposite in meaning and the antonym of sapped is strengthened. Thus, Option D is the correct answer as the question is all about telling the same or similar meaning of the word sapped and other options are wrong.