{"id":237897,"date":"2025-06-17T17:54:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T17:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=237897"},"modified":"2025-06-17T17:54:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T17:54:42","slug":"commend-verb-synonyms-praise-compliment-congratulate-applaud-salute-honor-antonyms-criticize-scorn-condemn-based-on-the-thesaurus-entry-which-word-would-best-replace-the-underlined-word-withou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/17\/commend-verb-synonyms-praise-compliment-congratulate-applaud-salute-honor-antonyms-criticize-scorn-condemn-based-on-the-thesaurus-entry-which-word-would-best-replace-the-underlined-word-withou\/","title":{"rendered":"commend verb Synonyms praise, compliment, congratulate, applaud, salute, honor Antonyms criticize, scorn, condemn Based on the thesaurus entry, which word would best replace the underlined word without changing the overall meaning of this sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>commend verb Synonyms praise, compliment, congratulate, applaud, salute, honor Antonyms criticize, scorn, condemn Based on the thesaurus entry, which word would best replace the underlined word without changing the overall meaning of this sentence? The principal commended the winner of the essay contest by awarding her a certificate of excellence. A. criticized B. thanked C. awarded D. honored<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-1-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The correct answer is: <strong>D. honored<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explanation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the sentence, \u201cThe principal <em>commended<\/em> the winner of the essay contest by awarding her a certificate of excellence,\u201d the word <em>commended<\/em> means to <strong>express approval or praise<\/strong> for someone, often in a formal way. The context of the sentence shows that the principal is giving positive recognition to the winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the thesaurus entry provided, synonyms of <em>commend<\/em> include <strong>praise, compliment, congratulate, applaud, salute,<\/strong> and <strong>honor<\/strong>. These words all suggest that the speaker is showing admiration or approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let us evaluate the answer choices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A. criticized<\/strong> \u2013 This is an antonym of <em>commend<\/em>. To criticize someone is to point out faults, which contradicts the positive tone of the sentence. It changes the meaning entirely.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>B. thanked<\/strong> \u2013 Although related to showing appreciation, <em>thanked<\/em> does not fully match <em>commended<\/em>, which implies <strong>public or formal recognition<\/strong>, not just gratitude.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>C. awarded<\/strong> \u2013 This word describes <strong>giving something<\/strong> (like a certificate) but does not fully capture the idea of <strong>praise or recognition in speech or gesture<\/strong>. In the sentence, the act of awarding is already mentioned separately, so replacing <em>commended<\/em> with <em>awarded<\/em> would be repetitive and weaken the sentence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>D. honored<\/strong> \u2013 This is a close synonym to <em>commended<\/em> and fits the tone of <strong>formal recognition<\/strong>. It means to show great respect or admiration, especially publicly. The sentence would read: \u201cThe principal <em>honored<\/em> the winner of the essay contest by awarding her a certificate of excellence,\u201d which maintains the original meaning and keeps the sentence natural and coherent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, <strong>&#8220;honored&#8221;<\/strong> is the best replacement for <em>commended<\/em> in this sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-938.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-237898\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>commend verb Synonyms praise, compliment, congratulate, applaud, salute, honor Antonyms criticize, scorn, condemn Based on the thesaurus entry, which word would best replace the underlined word without changing the overall meaning of this sentence? The principal commended the winner of the essay contest by awarding her a certificate of excellence. A. criticized B. thanked C. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}