Question

Choose the word that gives the antonym of the word italicized.
Everyone wanted to be the harbinger of the good news to the king.
A) Precursor
B) Tender
C) Opponent
D) Follower

Answer 1

Hint: Antonyms are the words that are opposite in meaning to another. The root words for the word 'antonym' are the words 'anti' meaning 'against' or 'opposite' and 'onym' meaning 'name’. For instance: the antonym of ‘hot’ is ‘cold’.

Complete step by step answer:
The meaning of the word harbinger is ‘indication or indicator or signal or forerunner of something’. So, as per the question we have to find the word which is opposite in meaning to the word harbinger.
Option A) Precursor - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of precursor is ‘forerunner or predecessor or forefather’ and this is not antonym of the word harbinger. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option B) Tender - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of tender is ‘showing gentleness or kindness or affection’ and this is not antonym of the word harbinger. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option C) Opponent - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of opponent is ‘the opposition or rival or adversary’ and this is not antonym of the word harbinger. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option D) Follower – is the correct answer because the meaning of follower is ‘person who supports and admires a particular person or set of ideas or companion or attendant’ and this is the antonym of the word harbinger as they have different meaning or they are opposite in meaning to each other. Thus, this is the correct answer.

So, the correct answer is “Option D”.

Note:
Antonyms are the words that are opposite to each other i.e. antonym of harbinger is follower and synonyms are the words that are similar in meaning. So, the synonym of the word harbinger is precursor and this is option A. Thus, Option D is the most appropriate answer as compared to the other options. However, in this question antonym and synonym of the word is already given and i.e. Harbinger – Follower (Antonym) and Harbinger – Precursor (Synonym).