Question

Choose the word/phrase which is opposite in meaning to the bold word/phrase in the sentence.
Of all the companions of your joyous ASCENT, there only the two of us left.
A) Decent
B) Descent
C) Descant
D) Descendant

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 ascent is ‘the act of climbing or going up.’ So, as per the question we must find the word which is opposite in meaning to the word ascent.

Option A) Decent - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of decent is ‘being of an acceptable standard; satisfactory’ and this is not antonym of the word ascent. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Option B) Descent - is the correct answer because the meaning of descent is ‘an act of coming or going down in location or condition’ and this is the antonym of the word ascent as they have different meaning or they are opposite in meaning to each other. Thus, this is the correct answer.

Option C) Descant - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of descant is ‘a tune that is sung or played at the same time as, and usually higher than, the main tune’ and this is not antonym of the word ascent. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Option D) Descendant - is an incorrect answer because the meaning of descendant is ‘a person who belongs to the same family as somebody who lived a long time ago’ and this is not antonym of the word ascent. 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. antonym of ascent is descent and synonyms are the words that are similar in meaning. So, the synonym of ascent is climb or conquest. 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.