Pick out the word which is nearest in meaning in the given word– ‘Animus’

The correct answer is C, Hostile feeling. Animus means strong ill will, hostility or resentment directed at someone. It is a negative, often long-held feeling, and that is the sense the question wants.

• A) Vulgarity is wrong. It means coarseness of manners, speech or taste, which is a quality of behaviour, not a feeling aimed at a person.
• B) Ambition is wrong. It is a strong desire to achieve something. It is positive and forward-looking, while animus is backward-looking and hostile.
• D) Enthusiasm is wrong. It is eager interest or zeal, which is the opposite emotional direction to animus.

The word also has a neutral legal sense, meaning intention or purpose. Lawyers use it in phrases like animus possidendi (intention to possess). Mens rea and criminal intent in Indian penal law rest on the same idea. For the prelims question, though, the hostile sense is the one to remember.

Trap: candidates who recall anima (spirit or life force) or who link the word to 'animated' and 'enthusiastic' often pick D. Learn the core meaning as hostility.