Question

Diving is known to be the leading cause of spinal-cord injuries. Find the synonym of the underlined word.
(A) Primary
(B) Ultimate
(C) Conductive
(D) Utmost
(E) Restrictive

Answer 1

Hint: In linguistics, there are many words which closely resemble each other in their meanings. But they are not exactly the same. These words are synonyms which are thousands in number. One can be baffled by the degree of similarity in these, but they are meant to be used in different contexts. We just have to keep in mind their usage. This will clear all the confusions we have about these synonyms.

Complete answer:
1. The meaning of the underlined word leading can be expressed as an adjective. It refers to something that is the most important and significant of others of its type. Its use in a sentence can be, “Gucci is one of the leading clothing brands”.
2. In order to find the correct answer, we need to go through all the options one by one and find their meaning in order to get the right word that resembles the meaning of the given word.
3. The first option, ‘primary’ refers to being of chief importance. For example, “His primary goals in life include a trip to the US”.
4. The second option 'ultimate’ is an adjective that refers to the final step at a process. It can be used in a sentence such as, “their ultimate aim was to force his resignation”.
5. The third option 'conductive’ can be used for a material that allows things, especially heat and electricity to pass through it. For instance, “Silver and copper are examples of conductive materials”.
6. The fourth option, 'utmost’ is an adjective which is used for something that is the most extreme or greatest amongst others of its type. For instance, “My utmost priority for the year is spending time with the people I love most dearly”.
7. Something which imposes restrictions on someone’s activity or freedom is described as being ‘restrictive’. For example, “Undoubtedly these restrictive laws had their effect upon the temper of the people”.
8. Hence, we can clearly say that ‘primary’ is the perfect synonym of 'leading’. Therefore, option A is correct.
Hence the correct answer is option ‘A'.

Note: In this question, we saw that some of the words that have been given to us are similar in meanings whereas some are not. We understood the meaning and the usage of each word. This enabled us to pick the correct answer from them.