Analogy Practice

1. TINGE: SATURATION
A. Trickle: flood
B. Wetness: dryness
C. Soaking: moisture
D. Flow: stagnation
E. Vibrancy: pallor

2. DEFENDANT: PLEAD
A. Plea: guilty
B. Plaintiff: accuse
C. Judge: bench
D. Motion: attorney
E. Case: court

3. SCOURGE: BOON
A. Blessing: curse
B. Bestow: benefit
C. Affliction: gift
D. Bane: malady
E. Eliminate: add

4. QUENCH: SLAKE
A. Deny: satisfy
B. Drink: thirst
C. Thirst: relieve
D. Seek: water
E. Satisfy: quell

5. BELLICOSE: PACIFISTIC
A. Cheerful: apathetic
B. Jocular: serious
C. Active: passive
D. Hostile: amicable
E. Beautiful: tranquil

6. COURIER: DELIVERY
A. Secretary: typing
B. Bicycle: pedal
C. Automobile: drive
D. Receive: package
E. Messenger: place

7. AILUROPHOBIA: CATS
A. Xenophobia: dogs
B. Gamophobia: games
C. Agoraphobia: outside
D. Acrophobia: flying
E. Leukophobia: cancers

8. DYNE: FORCE
A. Joule: energy
B. Rad: awesome
C. Lumen: size
D. Foot: mile
E. Iron: element

9. EROSION: WEATHER
A. Evaporation: gas
B. Liquid: condensation
C. Decay: decomposition
D. Mountains: dirt
E. Oceans: sands

10. HISTOLOGY: TISSUES
A. Ethology: humans
B. Speleology: speech
C. Cytology: cells
D. Herpetology: fish
E. Entomology: words

Answers

1. A: A tinge is a hint, a touch, or a little bit, as in a tinge of color. Saturation is complete soaking; something drenched with color is saturated with color. This corresponds best with trickle: flood. With water, a trickle is a little bit, while a flood is a lot, or a complete soaking. The relationship is less: more. Wetness and dryness are complete opposites, not less: more. Soaking: moisture is the opposite relationship of the target analogy. Flow and stagnation are opposites related to water. Vibrancy: pallor is a more: less relationship, and would correspond to saturation: tinge.

2. B: A defendant accused of a crime pleads (e.g. guilty, not guilty, or no contest) in a court case. The relationship is actor: action. A plaintiff accuses a defendant of a crime; this corresponds with the target analogy. Plea: guilty is not actor: action, but action: type. A judge sits on a bench; the relationship is actor: object. An attorney files a motion; the relationship is the reverse of the target analogy. A case cannot take any action, and court is where cases are heard; the relationship is thing: place.

3. C: A scourge is an affliction, curse, plague, or bane. A boon is a blessing, benefit, or gift. The relationship is the opposition of bad: good. Affliction: gift is bad: good, and corresponds to the target analogy. Blessing: curse is the reverse of the target analogy (good: bad). Bestow: benefit is an action: object relationship meaning give: gift. Bane and malady are similar, as they can both mean disease or illness. The relationship is bad: bad. Eliminate is to get rid of, and add is the opposite. They are antonyms, but do not correspond to scourge: boon.

4. E: Quench and slake are synonyms meaning to satisfy, as with thirst. The corresponding analogy is satisfy: quell (quell is another synonym for quench). Deny: satisfy are antonyms. Drink: thirst is a relationship of response: stimulus or action: condition. It can also be viewed as a solution: problem relationship, since thirst motivates us to drink and drinking relieves thirst. Thus thirst: relieve is a relationship of stimulus: response, problem: solution, or condition: action. These words are not synonyms. Seek: water is an action: object analogy.

5. D: Bellicose means warlike or hostile. Pacifistic means amicable, peaceable, or peaceful. The analogy is one of opposites, corresponding best with hostile: amicable. Cheerful does not correspond to bellicose, and apathetic, meaning uninterested or unmotivated, does not correspond to pacifistic. Also, these words are dissimilar, but not opposites. Jocular means joking, funny, or playful, and serious is an antonym. However, these opposites do not correspond with warlike and peaceable in meaning as hostile and amicable do. Beautiful and tranquil (peaceful) are not antonyms.

6. A: Delivery is something a courier does; typing is something a secretary does. The relationship is agent: action or occupation: job duty. Bicycle: pedal and automobile: drive are both relationships of object: action. Each verb is what you do to operate each noun. Receive: package is an analogy of action: object. Messenger: place is a relationship of agent: indirect object; a messenger goes to or from a place, but does not act upon it. A place is not what a messenger does.

7. C: Ailurophobia is a fear of cats. Agoraphobia is a fear of going outside. Xenophobia is not a fear of dogs, but a fear of the strange or unknown. Gamophobia is not a fear of games, but a fear of marriage. Acrophobia is not a fear of flying, but a fear of heights. The technical terms for phobias involving fear of flying are aerophobia and pteromerhanophobia. Leukophobia is not a fear of cancers, but a fear of the color white. (Phobias are mental disorders characterized by irrational and excessive fears, often traumatically induced, of specific things.)

8. A: A dyne is a unit of force used as a measurement in physics. A joule is a unit of electrical energy, so these are both scientific measurement units of certain quantities. A rad is a unit of radiation, not of awesome[ness]. (In slang, “rad,” short for “radical,” is a synonym for “awesome,” but is not a unit of anything.) A lumen is a unit of light, not size. A foot is a unit of distance and so is a mile, so this does not correspond to the target analogy. To match dyne: force and joule: energy, it would have to be foot: distance or mile: distance. Iron is one of many elements, not a unit of an element. This pair reflects a relationship of specific: general or member: category, not unit: quantity.

9. B: Weather produces erosion, or the wearing away of soil and mountains. Condensation produces liquid by converting vapor from a gaseous to a liquid form, so these two analogies correspond with relationships of effect: agent. Evaporation is conversion from a liquid to a gaseous form, so evaporation: gas has the reverse relationship of agent: effect. Decay and decomposition are synonyms. Mountains are converted to dirt by erosion, so mountains: dirt has a relationship of object: effect. There is no agent (like erosion) included. Oceans can erode mountains to sands (agent: effect); oceans also transport sands (agent: object); and oceans border and wash onto sands (agent: object). Sands do not cause or produce oceans.

10. C: Histology is the scientific study of living tissues. Cytology is the scientific study of cells, so these two correspond. Ethology is not the study of humans, but of animal behavior. The study of humans is anthropology. The study of human behavior and cognition is psychology. Speleology is not the study of speech, but the study or exploration of caves. (Spelunkers are cavers.) Relative to speech, phonology is the study of linguistic speech sounds. Herpetology is the study of reptiles, not the study of fish, which is ichthyology. Entomology is the study of insects, not words. Etymology is the origin or derivation of a word.

 

Last Updated: June 21, 2021