Question

Find the synonym of the underlined word.
The judge let the university student off with clemency and a stem warning.
A. Vengefulness
B. Revenger
C. brutality
D. Mercy
E. Culmination

Answer 1

Hint: In this question we need to look for the synonym of the given word ‘clemency’. Let us first understand what synonyms mean – Two words with a nearly common meaning or same meaning words are called synonyms.

Complete answer:
The word clemency means: showing kindness when someone is guilty or being punished, leniency, mercy, affection, grace, etc.

Now let’s examine and understand the given option above.
> Vengefulness: A strong wish to harm someone or punish someone who has done something wrong with you, a desire for revenge, revengeful, etc. As this word has exactly the opposite meaning of the given word so it can’t be an appropriate option.
Synonym: pitiless, harm, vindictive, revenge, etc.

> Revenger: Something you do to punish or harm someone because he/she has hurt you, etc. As this word also has exactly the opposite meaning of the given word so it can’t be an appropriate option.
Synonym: retaliate, vengeance, etc.

> Brutality: Cruelty, without showing mercy, one who is not kind and harms someone very badly, etc. As this word also has different meaning so it can’t be an appropriate option.
Synonym: savagery, viciousness, etc.

> Culmination: An activity that happens at the end. So this word has completely different meaning and it can’t be an appropriate answer for the given question.
Synonym: end up, close, finish, etc.

> Mercy: Here the word mercy has the same meaning “showing kindness when someone is guilty or being punished, leniency, affection, grace, etc”. As it is related and defining the sentence in most appropriate way

Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Note: For choosing the correct option knowing actual meaning is necessary of the given question because synonym is something which defines the word having the same meaning. Try to identify the meaning of the word and evaluate whether it has a positive negative or neutral connotation.