Vocabulary & Usage — MPSC PYQ

Every Vocabulary & Usage question MPSC has actually asked in English Language, 2015–2025 — 19 questions, each with the correct answer from the official MPSC key and a full explanation. Newest papers first.

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Questions per year

2025 · 4 2024 · 4 2023 · 1 2022 · 2 2021 · 1 2020 · 1 2019 · 2 2018 · 2 2016 · 1 2015 · 1

MPSC Rajyaseva 2025 CSAT · Q46

Carpenters from time immemorial must have known that tree trunks have rings, which give rise to the grain in a piece of wood. We find them mentioned by associates of Aristotle, but Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to suggest that as trees grow, they add a new ring every year. Today, we understand that when spring arrives and Vegetation comes alive after the dormancy of winter, the cells just inside the bark of a tree start to be divided. They produce large, thin - walled cells that we see as the light - coloured material scientists call early wood. Later in the season, the growth slows down and the cells get smaller and thicker walled. This so - called latewood looks darker and is what makes up the dark rings in a tree trunk. After the latewood forms, the tree becomes dormant again for the winter and the whole cycle repeats. The result is that many species carry in their trunks a series of alternating dark and light bands, each pair corresponding to a year's growth. These contrasting bands are most evident in conifers; distinctions between rings are not as pronounced in most temperate deciduous species and are absent in many tropical trees. Trees are living archives, carrying within their structure a record not only of their age but also of precipitation and temperature for each year in which a ring was formed. The record might also include the marks of forest fires, early frosts and, incorporated into the wood itself, chemical elements the tree removed from its environment. Thus, if we only knew how to unlock its secrets, a tree could tell us a great deal about what was happening in its neighbourhood from the time of its beginning. Trees can tell us what was happening before written records became available. They also have a great deal to tell us about our future. The records of past climate that they contain can help us to understand the natural forces that produce our weather and this, in turn can help us plan.

Complete the analogy. Distinction : Distinct : : Structure : Structural Wood : Wooden : : Cycle : _________

1)Cyclic✓ Correct

2)Cycling

3)Encycle

4)Encycling

The analogy forms the adjective form of nouns. Distinction becomes distinct, structure becomes structural, wood becomes wooden, and cycle becomes cyclic.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2025 CSAT · Q48

The word 'grain' in the passage means __________.

1)Fruit or seed of a cereal

2)Small hard particle of substance

3)Smallest unit of weight

4)The natural pattern of lines in the surface of wood✓ Correct

In the context of wood and tree rings, 'grain' refers to the natural pattern of lines in the surface of wood.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2025 CSAT · Q49

Match the following words in A with their meanings in B.

(a)archive i. raining snowing

(b)dormant ii. trees shedding their leaves annually

(c)precipitation iii. a place where historical documents or records are kept

(d)deciduous iv. alive but not growing

1)iv iii ii i

2)iii iv i ii✓ Correct

3)iii ii i iv

4)iii i iv ii

Matching vocabulary words with their correct definitions: archive (iii), dormant (iv), precipitation (i), and deciduous (ii).

MPSC Rajyaseva 2025 CSAT · Q65

वाक्याचा अर्थ उत्तम अंमलात आणण्यासाठी योग्य शब्द निवडा. "काहीतरी कमी किंवा तीव्र करणे". Choose the word that best fits the meaning. "to make something less severe or intense".

a)तीव्र करणे (Intensity)

b)कमी करणे (Mitigate)✓ Correct

c)उत्तेजित करणे (Provoke)

d)वाढविणे (Amplify)

The word 'Mitigate' means to make something less severe, serious, or painful.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2024 CSAT · Q48

Match the following :

(a)inherently - (i) unreasonable dislike or preference

(b)dogmatism - (ii) cruelty

(c)persecution - (iii) narrow minded

(d)prejudice - (iv) by its very nature

(e)insular - (v) authoritarianism

1)(iv) (v) (ii) (i) (iii)✓ Correct

2)(i) (iv) (v) (ii) (iii)

3)(iii) (v) (ii) (iv) (i)

4)(ii) (iii) (i) (iv) (v)

Matching vocabulary words with meanings: inherently means 'by its very nature' (iv), dogmatism means 'authoritarianism' (v), persecution means 'cruelty' (ii), prejudice means 'unreasonable dislike or preference' (i), and insular means 'narrow minded' (iii).

MPSC Rajyaseva 2024 CSAT · Q59

दिलेल्या वाक्प्रचाराचा योग्य अर्थ निवडा. "टू पीक अ बोन वुईथ वन" Choose the correct meaning of the given idiom. "To pick a bone with one"

1)शिकणे / To learn

2)दोष देणे / To blame✓ Correct

3)टीका करणे / To criticise

4)मरणे / To die

The idiom "To pick a bone with one" means to have a grievance or complaint to discuss with someone, or to start a dispute.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2024 CSAT · Q61

"The end of the story" या विधानामध्ये “of” काय निर्देशित करते ? In the phrase "The end of the story". What does “of” indicate ?

1)ताबा (Possession)

2)स्थान (Location)

3)वेळ (Time)

4)संबंध किंवा जोड (Relationship or connection)✓ Correct

In English grammar, the preposition 'of' is frequently used to indicate a relationship, connection, or association between two nouns, such as 'the end' and 'the story'.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2024 CSAT · Q72

कोणता संक्रमण शब्द मागील कल्पनेची निरंतरता सूचित करतो?

1)असे असले तरी / Nevertheless

2)परिणामी / Consequently

3)या व्यतिरिक्त / Additionally✓ Correct

4)शेवटी / In conclusion

Transition words or transitional phrases connect ideas. Words indicating continuity of a previous thought maintain the flow without introducing a contradiction or a new shift.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2023 CSAT · Q9

Match the following.

(a)exist

(b)enormous

(c)encounter

(d)annihilation

(e)myriad

(I)be faced with

(II)large number of something

(III)complete destruction

(IV)survive

(V)extremely large

1)II I III IV V

2)III II I IV V

3)IV V I III II✓ Correct

4)I III IV II V

Match each word to its synonym: exist → survive (IV), enormous → extremely large (V), encounter → be faced with (I), annihilation → complete destruction (III), myriad → large number of something (II). Reading the pairs in order a–e gives the sequence IV V I III II, which is option 3.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2022 CSAT · Q48

From the alternatives given, select the word closest in meaning to the underlined word. They are carrying out a charade of negotiations with the government.

1)series

2)charter

3)absurd pretence✓ Correct

4)spate

A 'charade' in this context means an absurd pretence or a false show intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance, making option 3 the correct choice.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2022 CSAT · Q49

Choose the correct antonym from the options given. "Termagant"

1)Charming✓ Correct

2)Turbulent

3)Brawling

4)Shrewish

'Termagant' refers to a harsh-tempered, scolding, or quarrelsome woman (a shrew). Its exact opposite (antonym) is a pleasant, agreeable person, represented by 'Charming'.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2021 CSAT · Q58

गाळलेली जागा भरून समानार्थी अर्थाची दोन वाक्ये मिळवण्यासाठी दिलेल्या पर्यायांून उचित शब्दजोडी निवडा. मित्राने व लोकशाही पद्धतीने संबोधले जाण्याची सवय असल्यामुळे अनेक अध्यापक नव्या विभाग प्रमुखाच्या सुरुवातीच्या भाषेच्या ________ शैलीमुळे अलिप्त राहिले. / Select the appropriate pair of words from given options for filling the space and make two sentences with equivalent meanings. Many senior faculty members who were accustomed to being addressed in a more collegial and egalitarian manner were alienated by the ________ tone of the new department chair's introductory remarks.

1)आशावादी आणि अनुकूल / Sanguine and Propitious

2)खिन्न आणि लाजिरवाणा / Saturnine and Ignominious

3)उद्दाम आणि लाजिरवाणा / Peremptory and Ignominious

4)अधिकारयुक्त आणि उद्दाम / Imperious and Peremptory✓ Correct

The term 'collegial and egalitarian' contrasts with a formal or authoritative tone, but in the context of the sentence completion, the correct pair matches the intended contextual gap for a strict or high-handed tone represented by the final option.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2020 CSAT · Q50

Choose the best option/s : The richness of great books shows itself in the many levels of meaning they ____________.

1)control

2)envelop✓ Correct

3)prevent

4)have

Great books contain multiple levels of meaning that they 'envelop' or hold within themselves, making option 2 the standard literary collocation.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2019 CSAT · Q49

Language is transmitted culturally; that is, it is learned. To a lesser extent it is taught, when parents, for example, deliberately encourage their children to talk and to respond to talk, correct their mistakes, and enlarge their vocabulary. But it must be emphasized that children very largely acquire their first language by "grammar construction" from exposure to a random collection of utterances that they encounter. What is classed as language teaching in school either relates to second-language acquisition or, insofar as it concerns the pupils' first language, is in the main directed at reading and writing, the study of literature, formal grammar, and alleged standards of correctness, which may not be those of all the pupils' regional or social dialects. All of what goes under the title of language teaching at school presupposes and relies on the prior knowledge of a first language in its basic vocabulary and essential structure, acquired before school age. If language is transmitted as part of culture, it is no less true that culture as a whole is transmitted very largely through language, insofar as it is explicitly taught. The fact that humankind has a history in the sense that animals do not is entirely the result of language. So far as researchers can tell, animals learn through spontaneous imitation or through imitation taught by other animals. This does not exclude the performance of quite complex and substantial pieces of acculturation, but the importance of the linguistic manifestations of social status and of social hierarchies is not lost on aspirants for personal advancement in stratified societies. The deliberate cultivation of an appropriate dialect, in its lexical, grammatical, and phonological features, has been the self-imposed task of many persons wishing "to better themselves" and the butt of unkind ridicule on the part of persons already feeling themselves secure in their social status or unwilling to attempt any change in it. Much of the comedy in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (first performed in 1913, with subsequent film adaptations) turns on Eliza Doolittle's need to unlearn her native Cockney if she is to rise in the social scale. Culturally and subculturally determined taboos play a part in all this, and persons desirous of moving up or down in the social scale have to learn what words to use and what words to avoid if they are to be accepted and to "belong" in their new position. The same considerations apply to changing one's language as to changing one's dialect. Language changing is harder for the individual and is generally a rarer occurrence, but it is likely to be widespread in any mass immigration movement. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the eagerness with which immigrants and the children of immigrants from continental Europe living in the United States learned and insisted on speaking English is an illustration of their realization that English was the linguistic badge of full membership in their new homeland at the time when the country was proud to consider itself the melting pot in which people of diverse linguistic and cultural origins would become citizens of a unified community. A reverse movement, typically by third-generation immigrants, manifests a concern to be in contact again with the ancestral language.

Match the following : A a. Cockney b. Acculturation c. Hierarchies d. Taboos e. Manifestation B I. Prohibited words II. Clearly seen III. Dialect IV. System of levels V. Mixing of cultures

(a)Cockney

(b)Acculturation

(c)Hierarchies

(d)Taboos

(e)Manifestation

1)a-III, b-V, c-IV, d-I, e-II✓ Correct

2)a-I, b-II, c-IV, d-V, e-III

3)a-IV, b-V, c-III, d-II, e-I

4)a-II, b-III, c-V, d-I, e-II

Cockney is a dialect, Acculturation means mixing of cultures, Hierarchies refer to systems of levels, Taboos are prohibited words, and Manifestation means clearly seen.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2019 CSAT · Q62

अनुक्रमे (a) आणि (b) या जागांसाठी उचित शब्द वा शब्दसमूह जोडी निवडा. नव्या औषधावर जरी भरमसाठ प्रमाणात (a) स्रोत खर्ची घातले ले असूनही मानवी चाचणीत मिळालेल्या विपरीत परिणामांमुळे त्याचा विकास थांबवण्यात आला. एके काळी ज्याचे एक प्रकारे अनेक शारीरिक व मानसिक विकारांवर (b) उपचार करण्यासाठी उपयुक्त म्हणून स्वागत झाले होते ते औषध आता फक्त त्याच्या विकासांकांना दिवाळे काढायला लावणारा आर्थिक पांढरा हत्ती म्हणून आठवले जाण्याची शक्यता आहे. (1) नैसर्गिक व विनाकाम पगारे (2) नैसर्गिक व भिकारलक्षणी (3) आर्थिक व भिकारलक्षणी (4) आर्थिक व रामबाण Select the appropriate pair of words or group of words to fill places (a) and (b) respectively. Although considerable (a) resources had already been expended on the new drug, development had to be halted due to adverse effects during human testing; once hailed as a kind of (b) that could be used to treat numerous physical and mental aliments, the drug will likely be remembered only as a financial albatross that bankrupted its developers. (1) wholesome and sinecure (2) wholesome and mendicant (3) pecuniary and mendicant (4) pecuniary and panacea

1)नैसर्गिक व विनाकाम पगार / wholesome and sinecure

2)नैसर्गिक व भिकारलक्षणी / wholesome and mendicant

3)आर्थिक व भिकारलक्षणी / pecuniary and mendicant

4)आर्थिक व रामबाण / pecuniary and panacea✓ Correct

The correct English translation terms are 'pecuniary' (financial/economic resources) and 'panacea' (a cure-all solution), which correspond to 'आर्थिक' and 'रामबाण' in Marathi.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2018 CSAT · Q47

Umbrage means

(a)Shady

(b)Appreciate

(c)Resent

(d)Offended

1)Only a, b and c

2)Only a, c and d✓ Correct

3)Only a

4)All of the above

Umbrage means offence, annoyance, or resentment. The synonyms provided in options a (shady in a metaphorical sense of doubt/suspicion or resentment), c (resent), and d (offended) align with this definition, while appreciate is an antonym.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2018 CSAT · Q48

'Upside-down' means

1)Crazy

2)Straight

3)Settled

4)Topsy-turvy✓ Correct

'Upside-down' means completely disordered, inverted, or in a state of confusion, which is synonymous with 'Topsy-turvy'.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2016 CSAT · Q50

Fill the blank space with the best among the given alternatives : "It is no comfort to be assured that he does not mean to" can be re-written as ____________________.

1)It is a comfort to be assured that he means to

2)The assurance does not help✓ Correct

3)The assurance is not honest

4)Comfort cannot be assured

Paraphrasing requires retaining the exact core meaning while changing sentence structure without altering intent.

MPSC Rajyaseva 2015 CSAT · Q50

What is the meaning of the word “appallingly” as used in the passage ?

1)unpleasantly✓ Correct

2)abundantly

3)appealingly

4)necessarily

The word 'appallingly' generally conveys a sense of shock, dismay, or unpleasantly extreme conditions, making option 1 the closest synonym in contextual meaning.

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