Question

Choose the word that gives antonym of the word italicized.
She was in a state of anxiety when I met her.
a. Pleasure
b. Happiness
c. Relief
d. Laughter

Answer 1

Hint: The dictionary meaning of the word anxiety is a feeling caused by extreme stress or tension. For example; She was very anxious before the test.

Complete solution:
An antonym can be found out only when you know the exact meaning of the given word. Then, you'd be able to figure out and find the correct answer from the given options very efficiently. Here, the given word is "anxiety", which means, a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. It is a noun. For example; He felt a surge of anxiety.
Now, we will go through all the options and note down their meaning so that we can find out the near opposite of the given word. Option 'a' is pleasure, which is a feeling of happiness, satisfaction, and enjoyment. Option 'b' is happiness, which is a state of being happy or in the joy of something. Option 'c' is a relief, which is a feeling of reassurance and relaxation following release from anxiety or distress. Option 'd' is laughter, which means an action or sound of laughing, this is done when a person is happy or in a good mood but laughter cannot be used as the opposite of the word anxiety because anxiety is a feeling and laughter is an action. Now, as we know the meanings of all the options, we can easily see that option 'c', that is a relief. 

Hence, the correct option is 'c'.

Note: Sometimes, an antonym can also be found simply by adding "non-" or "un-" to the same word, but not always.