Question

Choose the word opposite in meaning to the given word.
Despondency
A. Humility
B. Pleasure
C. Cheerfulness
D. Excitement

Answer 1

Hint: The word despondency means to feel bad because you have lost hope about something. It is a feeling of disappointment. Despondency is a noun. You feel despondent when you think you will win the race but you do not win any position.

Complete answer:
Now that we know the meaning of despondency, we can see which word from the options means opposite to feeling low because of lack of hope.

> Option a is humility. Humility is being humble. When you do not think of yourself as someone highly important, you are humble. This meaning has no relation, whether similar or opposite, to the given word. So we can reject this option as the correct answer.
> Option b, which is pleasure, refers to the satisfaction and happiness you get on doing something. Many people take pleasure from painting because they love painting. It does not seem to be the opposite of feeling sad about losing hope.

> Option c talks about cheerfulness. Cheerful is a state of being very happy about something. Her cheerfulness showed when she won the first prize in the debate competition. If she would not have won the debate competition, she would have been sad. So, cheerfulness is the opposite of despondency. Option c is the correct answer.

>Option d, excitement, means to be very enthusiastic or eager about something. When you are looking forward to do something, you are excited. She was excited to go to the party. This is not the opposite of the given word since excitement, though a state of happiness, refers to being happy about some future event and not about something which has already happened.

Thus, the correct option is option c.

Note: The most common mistake is that option d, excitement, might also be felt to be the correct option. As explained, excitement is more about eagerness and cheerfulness is a state of being complete happiness. This is in contrast to the meaning of despondency which means a state of sadness because of a feeling of hopelessness.