Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow. Just as you…
2023
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
Just as you can ruin the stomach and impair the whole body by taking too much nourishment, so you can overfill and cook the mind by feeding it too much. The more you read, the fewer are the traces left by what you have read : the mind becomes like a tablet crossed over with writing. There is no time for ruminating, and no other way can you assimilate what you have read. If you read on and on without setting your own thoughts to work what you have read cannot strike root and is generally lost. It is, in fact, just the same with mental as with bodily food : hardly the fifth part of what one takes is assimilated. The rest passes out in evaporation, respiration and the like.
Another word for ‘impair’ is
Answer: A. obstruct — In a multiple-choice synonym item, choose the offered word whose contextual sense is closest; two words need not be interchangeable in every usage. ‘Impair’…
- A.
obstruct
- B.
strengthen
- C.
fortify
- D.
More than one of the above
- E.
None of the above
Attempted by 5 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
In a multiple-choice synonym item, choose the offered word whose contextual sense is closest; two words need not be interchangeable in every usage.
‘Impair’ primarily means to weaken, damage, or reduce effectiveness. ‘Obstruct’ means to block or hinder, so the relevant overlap is interference with normal functioning.
Application
In the passage, ‘impair the whole body’ means to weaken the body or reduce how effectively it functions, not necessarily to place a physical obstacle before it.
Among the offered lexical choices, ‘obstruct’ is the nearest because its ‘hinder normal operation’ sense overlaps with that loss of effectiveness; the official BPSC key also selects this value.
Contrast
‘Strengthen’ means to make stronger or more effective, which moves in the opposite semantic direction.
‘Fortify’ means to strengthen or protect against weakness, also opposite in direction here.
‘More than one of the above’ would require at least two listed words to share the contextual meaning.
‘None of the above’ would require no listed word to share the contextual meaning.
Cross-check
Dictionary definitions give ‘weaken’ or ‘make worse’ as the core sense of ‘impair’ and include ‘hinder’ among its related synonyms. ‘Obstruct’ reaches that hinder sense, whereas ‘strengthen’ and ‘fortify’ reverse the direction.
Therefore, the best offered synonym is ‘obstruct’.