Select the word or group of words that is most opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters:
OFFENCE
(a)Preference
(b)Vengeance
(c)Defence
(d)Negligence

Hint: Recall the meaning of the given word, then go through the options and choose the one that means the opposite to the given word. You can use the elimination method to reject undesired options.

Complete answer: Antonyms are those words that express a meaning opposed to the meaning of another word, in which case the two words are antonyms of each other.
In the given question, the word ‘offence’ refers to the team that has the ball (or puck) and is trying to score.
Let us analyze the options given to us in this question:
Option (a.), 'preference', refers to a predisposition in favour of something; a strong liking.
Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as its meaning is not antonymous to that of the given word ‘offence’.
Option (b.), ‘vengeance', refers to the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done), especially in the next life. Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as its meaning is not antonymous to that of the given word ‘offence’.
Option (c.), ‘defence', refers to (sports) the team that is trying to prevent the other team from scoring. Therefore, option (c.) is correct as its meaning is antonymous to that of the given word ‘offence’.
Option (d.), ‘negligence', refers to a failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances. Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as its meaning is not antonymous to that of the given word ‘offence’.

Note: In a question where we have to find the opposite of the given word, we sometimes do not have options which exactly mean the opposite of the given word. In this case, we have to select the option which is the closest to being the opposite to the meaning of the word in the question.