IPMAT Indore 2023 · Verbal Ability · Question 2

The idiom. Ill at ease means uncomfortable, uneasy, awkward.

Why it fits. Nasty public comments would leave someone uncomfortable and self-conscious — precisely this state.

Why the others fail:

(a) ill in heart — not an English idiom.

(b) ill at heart — not standard either. The real phrase in that family is sick at heart, meaning deeply unhappy or disillusioned, which is stronger and differently built.

(c) ill and ache — not an expression at all; it reads as two mismatched words.

Answer: Option 4

Shortcut. Three of the four do not exist in English. That is the design of most IPMAT idiom questions: one genuine expression and three plausible-looking fabrications made by swapping a preposition or a noun.

So the test is recall, not reasoning. Say each aloud — ill at ease is the only one you have ever heard. When none feels familiar, pick the one whose preposition matches a phrase you do know (at ease is itself a standard phrase, as in “stand at ease”).