Final answer:
The word 'insult' best completes the analogy: Praise is to criticize as flatter is to insult, because both pairs are opposites.
Step-by-step explanation:
Which word best completes the analogy? Praise is to criticize as flatter is to: The answer is a) Insult. This analogy compares two pairs of antonyms. Praise and criticize are opposites, just as flatter and insult are. While praise and flatter both involve commending someone, criticize and insult are both forms of negative feedback. Therefore, the word that best completes this analogy, creating a pair of words with opposite meanings, is 'insult'.