(strong elderly miserable) (glad wet part)

miserable, glad. Miserable means very unhappy; glad means happy.

(wise ample spread) (scatter gather little)

spread, gather. Spread and scatter mean the same: a trap.

(hide laugh hazardous) (woodland new reveal)

hide, reveal. Reveal means show; hide means keep out of sight.

11+ Verbal reasoning · Topic explained

Opposite meaning (antonyms)

What's the opposite of cautious?

The big idea

Find one word from each group that means the opposite: an antonym.

Picture it

Antonyms sit at opposite ends of a seesaw: when one goes up, the other comes down.

Key words

antonym: a word with the opposite meaning
opposite: as different as possible, at the other end
trap: a word in the list that means the same, not the opposite

Worked examples

1Warm-up
(clean doze leap) (mend tall dirty)
- Clean is the opposite of dirty.
- Answer: clean, dirty
211+ standard
(timid disperse chore) (spread assemble penniless)
- Disperse means scatter; assemble means gather.
- Answer: disperse, assemble
- Spread means nearly the same as disperse: a trap.
311+ standard
(enjoy modern cautious) (late reckless asleep)
- Cautious means careful.
- Reckless means not careful at all: cautious, reckless
411+ standard
(funny clamber complex) (solemn elderly idle)
- Solemn means serious.
- The opposite of serious is funny: funny, solemn

The common mistake

The mistake

A word with a similar meaning will do.

Instead

It must be the opposite. Words that mean the same are put in as traps.

Why: Spread and scatter mean the same, so they can't be opposites.

Where it comes up in the 11+

Antonyms appear in GL verbal reasoning and in CEM-style vocabulary questions. Knowing a word's exact meaning wins marks.

The video

Video coming soon

We're making a short video that explains opposite meaning (antonyms) step by step. Until then, everything it covers is on this page.

Free printable