APPLY THE MEANING

Familiar words. A different situation.

8 questions that use guided words beyond their original reading. Choose the best answer before opening a definition, then read the explanation.

YOUR CHECKPOINT SET

8 words to put to work

Read the situation carefully. Look for the exact sense and tone, not just a loosely related word.

1,565guided words with a checkpoint

Set 194 of 196 / Words 1545-1552 of 1565. Choose specific words in the dictionary

1Members of a club voluntarily share a tedious cleanup task on equal terms and treat one another respectfully. An observer calls the task degrading solely because it is tiring. Which defining feature of degrading has not been established?A. The possibility that shared work can be both tiring and respectful.B. The fact that the task requires effort, which the account already supplies.C. A loss of dignity, respect, or self-worth caused by the arrangement.D. A guarantee that every member enjoys every minute of cleanup.

2A visitor enters a rehearsal without permission, takes the director's chair, and brazenly demands that the cast serve him refreshments. Which quality makes the conduct impudent?A. A carefully reasoned objection delivered with courtesy.B. A respectful request made after asking whether a visit is convenient.C. Rudely bold disrespect toward the people and setting.D. Quiet confidence while following the group's stated expectations.

3A tutor calmly explains a well-supported mathematical rule, welcomes questions, and acknowledges the limits of its use. A student calls the manner pontifical solely because the tutor knows the answer. Which defining feature of pontifical has not been established?A. Any relevant knowledge, although the tutor's explanation is supported.B. Proof that questions were forbidden, despite their being welcomed.C. The pompous, dogmatic expression of opinion implied by pontifical.D. A requirement that an informed explanation must always be arrogant.

4In a novel, an aunt delivers a severe rebuke after a character abandons a promised task, and the narrator calls it her stricture. No new household rule is issued. Which sense applies?A. A severe criticism of the conduct.B. A compliment for the character's reliability.C. A neutral description of the task's materials.D. A newly enacted restriction governing every future task.

5In a historical kitchen scene, a cook removes a fish's internal organs before preparing it, and the narrator uses disembowel. Which sense applies?A. The figurative removal of an institution's essential functions.B. A claim that the cook has merely criticized the fish's appearance.C. The literal removal of internal organs.D. The act of moving the intact fish to another table without changing it.

6A fictional software archive loses a few unnoticed links after each small update; over months, the accumulating failures make many records unreachable before anyone recognizes the pattern. Why is insidious apt?A. Any event is insidious merely because it involves a computer.B. The entire archive openly disappears in one immediately obvious event.C. The harmful effect develops subtly and gradually, escaping early notice.D. The changes are harmless and improve every record's availability.

7A novelist adds a month to the period her characters must spend apart before a reunion. What does prolong mean about their separation?A. Change only the place of reunion while leaving the duration unchanged.B. Make it last longer.C. End it earlier than originally planned.D. Guarantee that the characters' eventual reunion will be happier.

8In an invented collection, one box contains twenty cards and another contains thirty. A note calls this an inequality in quantity. What can be concluded from that phrase alone?A. The larger box is necessarily better suited to every purpose.B. Someone must have acted unjustly in every unequal arrangement.C. The quantities differ; the phrase does not by itself establish unfair treatment.D. The two quantities must be identical because both are boxes of cards.

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