Choose the correct word from the options given below for the following statement:
One who is very indifferent to pleasure or pain.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Stoic
A stoic is a person who bears pleasure and pain alike without showing feeling or complaining. The word comes from the Stoics, Greek philosophers who taught that a wise person stays calm and unmoved by joy and suffering, which is the person described as "very indifferent to pleasure or pain".
Example: The old soldier bore the pain of his wounds like a true stoic.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Ascetic — Incorrect. An ascetic is a person who gives up comforts and pleasures, usually for religious reasons. He denies himself pleasure on purpose; the word says nothing about being unmoved by pain.
Example: The ascetic lived on fruit and water in a mountain cave.
Option 3: Esoteric — Incorrect. Esoteric is an adjective meaning understood by only a small group with special knowledge; it does not describe a person's attitude to pleasure or pain.
Example: The lecture on ancient scripts was too esoteric for most of the students.
Option 4: Sceptical — Incorrect. Sceptical means doubtful; not easily convinced; it concerns belief, not feelings of pleasure or pain.
Example: Many doctors were sceptical about the new miracle cure.