In each of the following questions, out of the given alternatives,choose the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word.
Epitaph
Answer: D
It is an inscription on a tomb.
An epitaph is written on a grave, from the Greek for upon a tomb. An epigram is the witty saying, an epigraph the quotation at the head of a book - three words often mistaken for one another.
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Entice
Answer: B
It is attract.
To entice is to attract by offering something desirable, usually to do what one should not. Disobey is what the enticed person ends by doing, not what the word means.
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Dauntless
Answer: D
It is bold.
Dauntless means not to be discouraged by danger, from daunt with the negative suffix. Modest and lazy are unrelated.
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Calumniate
Answer: A
It is to accuse falsely.
To calumniate is to make false and damaging statements about someone. To denounce may be perfectly truthful, which is the difference the question turns on.
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Contradict
Answer: D
It is to oppose by words.
To contradict is to assert the opposite of what has been said, from the Latin for speaking against. To support is its opposite, and predict merely shares the prefix.
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Sage
Answer: A
It is wise man.
A sage is a person of profound wisdom. Fool is its opposite; the herb of the same name is a separate word, from the Latin for healing.
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Ludicrous
Answer: B
It is ridiculous.
Ludicrous means laughably absurd, from the Latin ludus, a game - the same root as ludo and interlude. Profitable and excessive are unrelated.
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Delete
Answer: B
It is erase.
To delete is to remove written matter, from the Latin for blotting out. Reveal is its opposite in effect.
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Atrophy
Answer: A
It is wither.
To atrophy is to waste away from disuse or lack of nourishment, from the Greek for without nourishment. Grow and spread are its opposites.
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Deteriorate
Answer: C
It is to make worse.
To deteriorate is to become worse, from the Latin deterior, worse. Recover, strengthen and appreciate - in the sense of rising in value - are all its opposites.
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