IPMAT Indore 2024 · Verbal Ability · Question 15

The idiom. Under the weather means slightly unwell.

Why it fits. The sentence gives the symptom (“had fever”) and needs a phrase restating his condition. Under the weather is the standard idiom for mild illness.

Why the others fail. All three are fabricated variants. The preposition in an idiom is not interchangeable with its near-synonyms:

beneath means much the same as under literally, but beneath the weather is not an English expression.

outside the weather and beside the weather are meaningless.

A note on origin (useful for remembering it): the phrase is nautical. A seasick sailor was sent below deck, literally under the weather rail where the ship’s motion was least severe.

Answer: Option 2

Shortcut. Prepositions in idioms are fixed and unswappable. This question type — one correct idiom plus three preposition swaps — appears in almost every IPMAT paper, so the drill is simply to recall the exact form.

A short list worth memorising in the same family: under the weather (unwell), under a cloud (in disgrace), over the moon (delighted), in the dark (uninformed), on the mend (recovering).