Direction: Select the odd word/letters/number/number pair from the given…

Concept: In an odd-one-out vocabulary question, three of the four words belong to one shared semantic group — usually a set of near-synonyms — while the fourth word carries a meaning from an entirely different semantic field. The task is to identify the word whose core meaning does not fit the shared group.

Application: Serious, Severe, and Harsh all describe intensity, strictness, or gravity — they form one synonym group centred on ‘strictness/severity’. Deceptive, however, means intended to mislead or trick, which belongs to the semantic field of honesty/dishonesty rather than intensity or strictness.

• Serious — means grave, solemn, or severe in degree; part of the strictness/severity group.

• Severe — means intense, strict, or extreme in degree; part of the same group.

• Harsh — means unpleasantly severe or rough; also part of the same group.

• Deceptive — means intended to mislead or trick; belongs to a different semantic field (honesty), so it does not fit the strictness/severity group.

Since three words share a ‘strictness/severity’ meaning and one relates to ‘misleading’, the word from a different semantic field is the odd one out among the given alternatives.