Paryayvachi and Vilom Shabd
Synonyms and Antonyms in Hindi
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Overview
Paryayvachi Shabd (पर्यायवाची शब्द) and Vilom Shabd (विलोम शब्द) form a core component of Hindi grammar tested in UPTET Language I. Paryayvachi refers to synonyms—words with similar meanings—while Vilom refers to antonyms—words with opposite meanings. These questions test vocabulary depth, contextual understanding, and the ability to distinguish subtle differences in meaning.
In UPTET Paper I and Paper II, 2–4 questions typically appear from this section. Questions may ask directly for synonyms or antonyms of given words, or test them indirectly through passage-based comprehension. Mastery here also strengthens performance in unseen passages (gadyansh/padyansh), sentence completion, and teaching pedagogy questions about vocabulary instruction.
Students must memorise high-frequency word pairs systematically. Beyond rote learning, understanding word roots (mool shabd), prefixes (upsarg), and suffixes (pratyay) helps predict synonyms and antonyms logically.
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Key Concepts
- **Paryayvachi Shabd** are words that share the same or nearly the same meaning. Example: जल, पानी, नीर, वारि, अम्बु all mean water.
- **Vilom Shabd** are words with opposite meanings. They may be formed by adding prefixes (अ-, अन-, निर्-, दुर्-) or may be entirely different words.
- Many vilom pairs are formed using the prefix **अ-** (negation) before words starting with consonants. Example: न्याय → अन्याय.
- The prefix **अन्-** is used before words starting with vowels. Example: आदर → अनादर.
- **Contextual synonyms**: A word may have different synonyms in different contexts. For example, "हाथ" in the sense of hand has paryayvachi like कर, हस्त, पाणि.
- **Tatsam-Tadbhav connection**: Many synonym groups include both tatsam (Sanskrit-origin) and tadbhav (Hindi-evolved) forms. Recognising this helps expand vocabulary.
- **Gender and number sensitivity**: When using paryayvachi or vilom in sentences, ensure gender (ling) and number (vachan) agreement is maintained.
- **Common exam patterns**: Questions often present four options and ask which is NOT a synonym, or give a word and ask for its exact antonym from a list.
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Key Facts / Must-Remember Lists
### High-Frequency Paryayvachi Shabd (Synonyms)
| Word | Paryayvachi (Synonyms) | |------|------------------------| | सूर्य | रवि, भानु, दिनकर, भास्कर, आदित्य | | चन्द्रमा | शशि, राकेश, हिमांशु, इन्दु, निशाकर | | पानी/जल | नीर, वारि, अम्बु, तोय, उदक | | अग्नि | आग, पावक, अनल, वह्नि, दहन | | पृथ्वी | धरा, भूमि, धरती, वसुधा, अवनि | | हवा | वायु, पवन, समीर, अनिल, मरुत | | आकाश | गगन, नभ, अम्बर, व्योम, आसमान | | राजा | नृप, भूपति, नरेश, महीप, भूपाल | | फूल | पुष्प, सुमन, कुसुम, प्रसून | | आँख | नेत्र, नयन, लोचन, चक्षु, दृग | | रात | रात्रि, निशा, रजनी, यामिनी, विभावरी | | शरीर | देह, काया, तन, गात्र | | मनुष्य | मानव, नर, आदमी, मनुज | | स्त्री | नारी, महिला, औरत, वनिता, अबला |