In questions given below out of four alternatives, choose the one which can be substituted for the given word/sentence.
The raison d'etre of a controversy is
Answer: C
It is the reason or justification of its existence.
Raison d'etre is French for reason for being. It names the purpose that makes a thing exist, not the manner in which it is conducted.
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A place where bees are kept.
Answer: A
It is an apiary.
An apiary is a place where beehives are kept, from the Latin apis, bee. A hive is the single container, not the place where they stand.
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A religious discourse.
Answer: D
It is a sermon.
A sermon is a religious discourse delivered from a pulpit. Preach is the verb, a stanza is a division of a poem, and sanctum is a holy place.
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The part of a country behind the coast or a river bank.
Answer: C
It is the hinterland.
Hinterland is German for the land behind, and names the country inland from a coast or river. An isthmus is a narrow neck of land and an archipelago a group of islands.
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The study of the evolution of man as an animal.
Answer: B
It is anthropology.
Anthropology studies human beings, including their physical evolution, from the Greek anthropos. Archaeology studies material remains, ethnology compares cultures and chronology orders events in time.
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A person who speaks many languages.
Answer: C
It is polyglot.
A polyglot speaks many languages, from the Greek for many tongues. A linguist studies language as a science, bilingual means two languages and monolingual one.
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One who does not believe in the existence of God.
Answer: A
It is an atheist.
An atheist denies the existence of God, from the Greek a-theos, without god. An egoist is self-centred, a stoic endures without complaint, and naive means unworldly.
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A disease of the mind causing an uncontrollable desire to steal.
Answer: C
It is kleptomania.
Kleptomania is a compulsion to steal, from the Greek kleptes, thief. Megalomania is a delusion of grandeur, claustrophobia a fear of enclosed spaces and schizophrenia a disorder of thought and perception.
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One who sacrifices his life for a cause.
Answer: C
It is a martyr.
A martyr dies for a belief or cause, from the Greek martys, witness - one who bears witness by dying. A soldier may die in battle without dying for a cause of his own choosing.
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A person who brings goods illegally into the country.
Answer: D
It is a smuggler.
A smuggler brings goods in secretly to avoid duty or prohibition. An importer brings them in lawfully, and a fraud is a deceiver of any kind.
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