Question

Choose the word/phrase which is opposite in meaning to the bold word/phrase in the sentence.
With the advent of the Green revolution, India now produces sufficient quantities of food grains every year.
A) Short
B) Inadequate
C) Small
D) More

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 answer:
The meaning of the word sufficient is ‘enough; adequate’. So, as per the question we must find the word which is opposite in meaning to the word sufficient.
Option A) Short - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of short is ‘measuring a small distance from end to end or small or little or tiny’ and this is not antonym of the word sufficient. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option B) Inadequate - is the correct answer because the meaning of inadequate is ‘lacking the quality or quantity required; insufficient for a purpose or insufficient or deficient’ and this is the antonym of the word sufficient as they have different meanings or they are opposite in meaning to each other. Thus, this is the correct answer.
Option C) Small - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of small is ‘of a size that is less than normal or usual or tiny or little’ and this is not antonym of the word sufficient. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option D) More - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of more is ‘a greater or additional amount or degree of or additional or further or added’ and this is not antonym of the word sufficient. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Hence, the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note: Antonyms are the words that are opposite to each other i.e. antonyms of blanch are darkened and synonyms are the words that are similar in meaning. So, the synonym of sufficient is adequate. Here in this particular question, small and short are synonyms of each other because they have similar meaning. Thus, Option B is the most appropriate answer as compared to the other options as they do not have the opposite meaning to the given word.