Question:
BRISTLE:
BRISTLE:
Show Hint
Many vocabulary words are based on physical metaphors. "Bristle" comes from the image of an animal raising its fur. "Cower" is the physical act of shrinking in fear. Visualizing these physical actions can help you see the antonym relationship.
Updated On: Oct 4, 2025
- cower
- feint
- equivocate
- coerce
- apprise
Show Solution
Verified By Collegedunia
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This question asks for an antonym of the verb "bristle."
Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Define "bristle." As a verb, it means to react angrily or defensively, typically by showing irritation. It implies standing up for oneself in an aggressive or stiff manner (like an animal's hair bristling).
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
- The opposite of reacting angrily and defensively is to react with fear and submission.
- (A) cower: This word means to crouch down in fear. It is a posture of submission and fear, the direct opposite of the aggressive, defensive posture of bristling.
- (B) feint is to make a deceptive movement.
- (C) equivocate is to use ambiguous language to conceal the truth.
- (D) coerce is to persuade by force.
- (E) apprise is to inform.
Step 4: Final Answer:
The antonym of to bristle (react with aggressive defense) is to cower (react with fearful submission).
This question asks for an antonym of the verb "bristle."
Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Define "bristle." As a verb, it means to react angrily or defensively, typically by showing irritation. It implies standing up for oneself in an aggressive or stiff manner (like an animal's hair bristling).
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
- The opposite of reacting angrily and defensively is to react with fear and submission.
- (A) cower: This word means to crouch down in fear. It is a posture of submission and fear, the direct opposite of the aggressive, defensive posture of bristling.
- (B) feint is to make a deceptive movement.
- (C) equivocate is to use ambiguous language to conceal the truth.
- (D) coerce is to persuade by force.
- (E) apprise is to inform.
Step 4: Final Answer:
The antonym of to bristle (react with aggressive defense) is to cower (react with fearful submission).
Was this answer helpful?
0
0
Top GRE Verbal Reasoning Questions
- Some activists believe that because the health-care system has become increasingly ---- to those it serves, individuals must ---- bureaucratic impediments in order to develop and promote new therapies.
- The acts of vandalism that these pranksters had actually ---- were insignificant compared with those they had ---- but had not attempted.
- Though one cannot say that Michelangelo was an impractical designer, he was, of all nonprofessional architects known, the most ---- in that he was the least constrained by tradition or precedent.
- Before adapting to changes in values, many prefer to ----, to ---- the universally agreed-on principles that have been upheld for centuries.
- Although the records of colonial New England are ---- in comparison with those available in France or England, the records of other English colonies in America are even more ----.
View More Questions
Top GRE Vocabulary Questions
View More Questions
Top GRE Questions
One pen costs \(\$\)0.25 and one marker costs \(\$\)0.35. At those prices, what is the total cost of 18 pens and 100 markers?
- Working alone at its constant rate, machine A produces kkk liters of a chemical in 10 minutes. Working alone at its constant rate, machine B produces kkk liters of the chemical in 15 minutes. How many minutes does it take machines A and B, working simultaneously at their respective constant rates, to produce kkk liters of the chemical?
- If the dollar amount of sales at Store P was $800,000 for 2006, what was the dollar amount of sales at that store for 2008?
- At Store T, the dollar amount of sales for 2007 was what percent of the dollar amount of sales for 2008? Give your answer to the nearest 0.1%.
- If the ratio of A to B is 3:4 and the ratio of B to C is 5:6, what is the ratio of A to C?
View More Questions