Identify the word closest in meaning to the word:- MAUL
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Lacerate
To maul means, of an animal, to attack and wound by scratching and tearing with claws or teeth. It can also mean to handle someone or something roughly. Its synonym is lacerate.
Example: The villager was mauled by a leopard while working in the fields.
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Lacerate (answer) | to tear or cut the skin deeply (the wounds left by a mauling are torn wounds) | His arm was badly lacerated by the broken glass. |
| (2) Shield | to protect from harm (the reverse of attacking and wounding) | She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. |
| (3) Extricate | to free someone or something from a tight spot or a difficult situation (it has nothing to do with wounding) | Firemen worked for an hour to extricate the driver from the wreck. |
| (4) Trample | to tread heavily on something and crush it under the feet (an elephant may trample a person, but that is crushing, not the tearing with claws and teeth that maul describes) | The cattle trampled the young crops. |
Note: In the original NTA paper, Option 3 read "Pummel". NTA accepted this option as a correct answer as well. To leave only one correct answer and avoid confusion for students, it has been changed here to "Extricate".
Advice for the exam: In the real exam, mark the answer that is grammatically or factually correct. If NTA’s provisional answer key marks a different option, challenge it during the answer-key challenge window and give the reason in one or two lines.
| Also asked in CUET (UG): trample – 21-05-2026 Slot 1, 12-06-2023 Slot 2 |