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Difficulty: HardSecondary Meanings of Common Words

The sudden, unprecedented surge of retail investors into the digital stock market threatened to destabilize the trading platform's core infrastructure. In response, the exchange's chief engineer moved to check the influx of automated transactions by introducing a localized latency delay. While active day traders vocally decried this intervention as an artificial restriction on market efficiency, the intentional delay successfully stabilized server response times. This brief cooling-off period allowed the system's databases to process the backlog of orders, preventing a catastrophic network outage during peak trading hours.

As it is used in the passage, the word *check* most nearly means:

  1. restrainAnswer
  2. B
    verify
  3. C
    examine
  4. D
    record

Answer

restrain
The correct answer is 'restrain'. In the passage, the chief engineer introduces a delay to curb or limit the flow of incoming transactions to stabilize the platform. Thus, the word 'check' is used in its secondary sense meaning to hold back or control.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the context surrounding the target word 'check' in the passage.
The text states the engineer 'moved to check the influx... by introducing a localized latency delay' and that this intervention was an 'artificial restriction' that 'stabilized server response times.'
Identifying context clues helps determine the functional meaning of the word in this specific sentence.
2
Determine the meaning of the target word based on these clues.
Since the delay acted as a 'restriction' to stabilize the platform, 'check' must mean to limit, curb, or restrain the flow of transactions.
Connecting the action (latency delay) to its effect (stabilization/restriction) defines the secondary usage of 'check'.
3
Evaluate the answer choices to find the best match and eliminate distractors.
The word 'restrain' directly matches the meaning of limiting or curbing. The primary definitions of 'check' ('verify' and 'examine') are incorrect because the engineer is not auditing or inspecting the data. The word 'record' is incorrect because logging transactions would not prevent server overload.
Selecting the option that aligns with the contextual definition ensures the correct answer choice is chosen.

Key Concept

Identifying the secondary meaning of a common word using context clues rather than relying on its primary dictionary definition.
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Secondary Meanings of Common Words

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