Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: Aversion
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This question examines your knowledge of antonyms in higher level English vocabulary. The word "predilection" commonly appears in reading passages about preferences, habits, and personal tastes. Understanding such nuanced words and their opposites helps you read advanced texts with ease and score better in verbal sections of competitive exams.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
Predilection means a special liking for something, a preference, or a strong inclination toward a particular thing or activity. Its antonym should therefore express dislike, disinclination, or lack of interest. Words like oblivion, objectivity, and defeat do not directly represent the opposite of liking. Aversion, however, clearly means strong dislike or disinclination.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Verification / Alternative check:
You can verify this by placing the words in a single sentence. "He has a predilection for sweets" clearly speaks of liking. If we change it to "He has an aversion to sweets", the meaning reverses to strong dislike, fitting an antonym. Using objectivity, oblivion, or defeat in the same place does not produce a clear opposite meaning. Standard dictionaries also show aversion as dislike, confirming the relationship of predilection and aversion as opposites.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Common Pitfalls:
A common mistake is to pick "objectivity" because students think that having a predilection is like being biased, so being objective must be the opposite. However, the question is about liking, not bias alone. A person can have preferences and still be objective in judgment. The truest opposite to predilection as a liking is aversion as a dislike.
Final Answer:
The word nearly opposite in meaning to "PREDILECTION" is Aversion.
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