Question

Difficulty: MediumMultiple-Meaning Words

Context determines the specific sense of a multiple-meaning word in a sentence. For the statements below, match each usage of the word 'strain' with its correct contextual definition.

  • Lifting heavy crates without proper form will strain your lower back muscles.To injure or impair by stretching or overexerting beyond safe limits
  • The medical laboratory isolated an antibiotic-resistant bacterial strain from the sample.A specific biological variety or genetic lineage of an organism
  • The sudden surge in supply chain shipments placed a severe strain on depot operations.A state of severe pressure, tension, or overburdening demand
  • The technician used a fine wire mesh to strain impurities from the cooling fluid.To pass liquid through a filter to separate solid particles

Answer

Muscle injury corresponds to overexertion; bacterial sample corresponds to a biological lineage; depot overload corresponds to operational pressure; and cooling fluid filtering corresponds to solid-liquid separation.
Each sentence provides domain-specific clues that unambiguously define 'strain': lower back lifting reflects physical overexertion and injury; antibiotic-resistant bacteria reflects a genetic subtype; depot workload surge reflects intense system demand; and fluid wire mesh cleaning reflects physical filtration.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Examine the context clues surrounding the word 'strain' across each sentence.
Identify four distinct fields: muscular mechanics, microbiology, operational workload, and mechanical fluid filtration.
Surrounding nouns such as 'muscles', 'bacterial', 'depot operations', and 'cooling fluid' dictate which specialized denotation is being used.
2
Align each context-specific usage with its matching formal definition.
Pair musculoskeletal exertion with physical injury, bacterial classification with biological lineage, depot workload with operational pressure, and fluid cleaning with porous filtration.
Polysemous words require differentiating literal physical meanings, figurative operational stresses, and scientific classifications based on contextual syntax.

Key Concept

Multiple-Meaning Words in Context
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