Question

Choose the word which is congruous (closest in meaning) to the capitalized word.

TARDY

• A. opportune
• B. belated
• C. slow
• D. overdue

Hint:

Think of the Latin root tardus and what tardy means at its most basic level, not just late.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Tardy comes from the Latin tardus, meaning slow, and it describes someone or something that moves or acts slowly and so falls behind time. The single-word equivalent that captures this core quality is slow.

• slow is correct because it is the direct, root-sense synonym of tardy, which literally means slow-moving or sluggish.
• opportune is wrong because it means well-timed or timely, which is close to the opposite of being late.
• belated is wrong here because it points only to something that arrives later than expected, a narrower late sense rather than the general quality of slowness.
• overdue is wrong because it describes something past its due time, again a specific late sense and not the plain meaning of slow.

So the word congruous to TARDY is slow.