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99 free Synonym trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Synonym trivia is the vocabulary round of a pub quiz: you are given a word and asked which of four options means the same thing. This quiz runs from everyday words like frugal, candid and feasible up to the ones that decide spelling bees and SAT scores: impecunious, taciturn, umbrage, magnanimous. Every question has exactly one true synonym among the four options; the distractors are usually an antonym and two unrelated words, so guessing is harder than it looks. Each explanation adds where the word came from. Laconic honours the famously terse Spartans of Laconia, candid comes from the Latin for white, exuberant began life describing an overflowing udder, and myriad was the Greek word for ten thousand. There are also a few questions on the thesaurus itself: Peter Mark Roget, the 1852 publication and what the word thesaurus originally meant. Every synonym was checked against the dictionary entry before publishing, and each question links to the source so you can look up the full list of related words.
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Q 01Which word is a synonym of "frugal"?
thrifty
It comes from the Latin frugalis, meaning virtuous or thrifty, and displaced the Old English spærhende, literally 'spare-handed'.
Q 02Which word is a synonym of "candid"?
frank
Frank is the synonym: candid comes from the Latin candidus, white, the same root as candidate, an office-seeker who once wore a whitened toga.
Q 03Which word is a synonym of "feasible"?
doable
It descends from the Old French faisable, from faire, to do, so it literally means 'do-able'.
Q 04Which word is a synonym of "tedious"?
monotonous
Monotonous is the synonym: tedious comes from the Latin taedium, weariness, the same root that gives English tedium.
Q 05Which word is a synonym of "tranquil"?
serene
The Latin tranquillus is built on the root of quies, rest, the source of quiet.
Q 06Which word is a synonym of "obsolete"?
antiquated
Antiquated is the synonym: obsolete comes from the Latin obsoletus, worn out or gone out of use, from obsolescere, to grow old.
Q 07Which word is a synonym of "arrogant"?
conceited
Conceited is the synonym: arrogant comes via Old French from the Latin arrogans, present participle of arrogare, to claim for oneself.
Q 08Which word is a synonym of "mundane"?
commonplace
Commonplace, banal, everyday; its older sense was simply 'worldly' as opposed to spiritual.
Q 09Which word is a synonym of "jubilant"?
elated
Elated is the synonym: jubilant comes from the Latin iubilans, shouting for joy, the present participle of iubilare.
Q 10Which word is a synonym of "docile"?
submissive
Submissive, or compliant, meek, tractable; docilis comes from docere, to teach.
Q 11Which word is a synonym of "callous"?
heartless
Heartless is the synonym: callous comes from the Latin callosus, hard-skinned, from callum, hardened skin, the same root as a callus on the foot.
Q 12Which word is a synonym of "hostile"?
unfriendly
Unfriendly is the synonym: hostile comes from the Latin hostis, stranger or enemy, the same root as host in the old sense of an army.
Q 13Which word is a synonym of "abhor"?
loathe
Loathe is the synonym: abhor comes from the Latin abhorrere, to shrink back in horror, built on horrere, to bristle or shudder.
Q 21Which word is a synonym of "nefarious"?
wicked
Wicked is the synonym: nefarious comes from the Latin nefas, an act contrary to divine law, from ne, not, and fas, what religion permits.
Q 22Which word is a synonym of "zealous"?
fervent
Fervent is the synonym: zealous goes back to the Greek zelos, meaning both zeal and jealousy, which makes zealous a doublet of jealous.
Q 23Which word is a synonym of "morose"?
sullen
Sullen is the synonym: morose comes from the Latin morosus, peevish or particular, from mos, custom or self-will, the same root as moral.
Q 14Which word is a synonym of "audacious"?
daring
Daring is the synonym: audacious comes from the Latin audax, bold, from audere, to dare, the same root that gives audacity.
Q 15Which word is a synonym of "belligerent"?
combative
Combative is the synonym: belligerent comes from the Latin belligerare, to wage war, from bellum, war, and gerere, to carry on; a treaty's belligerents are its warring parties.
Q 16Which word is a synonym of "arduous"?
strenuous
Strenuous, laborious, uphill; arduus is akin to the Irish ard, meaning high.
Q 17Which word is a synonym of "dearth"?
scarcity
Scarcity is the synonym: dearth probably comes from an unrecorded Old English noun built on dear in its old sense of costly, so it first meant high prices or famine.
Q 18Which word is a synonym of "ephemeral"?
fleeting
Fleeting is the synonym: ephemeral comes from the Greek ephemeros, lasting only a day, from epi and hemera, day; the mayfly order Ephemeroptera is named for the same reason.
Q 19Which word is a synonym of "hackneyed"?
trite
Trite is the synonym: a hackney was a horse, later a carriage, hired out for ordinary use, so anything worn out by overuse became hackneyed; hack for a jobbing writer shares the root.
Q 20Which word is a synonym of "meticulous"?
painstaking
Painstaking, or fastidious; the sense of careful precision came later, from metus, the Latin for fear.
Q 24Which word is a synonym of "laconic"?
terse
Terse is the synonym: laconic comes from Laconia, the region ruled by Sparta, whose people were famous for their brevity of speech.
Q 25Which word is a synonym of "capricious"?
fickle
Fickle is the synonym: capricious comes via French and Italian from capriccio, a sudden whim, the same word that names the free-form musical capriccio.
Q 26Which word is a synonym of "clandestine"?
covert
Covert is the synonym: clandestine comes from the Latin clandestinus, secret or concealed, built on clam, secretly; French keeps the same word as clandestin.
Q 27Which word is a synonym of "garrulous"?
talkative
Talkative is the synonym: garrulous comes from the Latin garrulus, built on the verb garrire, to chatter.
Q 28Which word is a synonym of "placid"?
cool-headed
Cool-headed is the synonym: placid comes from the Latin placidus, peaceful, from placere, to please, the root of please and placebo.
Q 29Which word is a synonym of "obstinate"?
stubborn
Stubborn is the synonym: obstinate comes from the Latin obstinare, to set one's mind firmly on something, and has been recorded in English since the 1300s.
Q 30Which word is a synonym of "insipid"?
bland
Bland is the synonym: insipid comes from the Latin insipidus, tasteless, from in, not, and sapidus, savoury, the root of sapid and sapor.