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Difficulty: MediumIdentifying Synonym and Near-Synonym Pairs

Although the committee chairman was initially revered for his uncompromising principles, subsequent archival discoveries revealed that his public stance had been largely ______ , calculated more to cultivate a pious reputation than to express genuine moral conviction.

Which TWO of the following words, when inserted into the blank, produce sentences that are equivalent in meaning?

  1. sanctimoniousAnswer
  2. B
    austere
  3. C
    spartan
  4. hypocriticalAnswer
  5. E
    disingenuous
  6. F
    pious

Answer

The words 'sanctimonious' and 'hypocritical' complete the sentence by creating logically coherent and equivalent sentences.
The sentence contrasts the chairman's public reputation for uncompromising principles with the reality that his stance was motivated by a desire to appear devout without holding genuine conviction. The terms 'sanctimonious' and 'hypocritical' both describe a false or affected display of virtue and moral superiority, ensuring that both selections result in sentences with identical meaning.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze structural pivots and sentence context
The opening transition 'Although' signals a shift between the chairman's perceived 'uncompromising principles' and the reality. The clause 'calculated more to cultivate a pious reputation than to express genuine moral conviction' indicates that the blank must describe false, insincere, or affected moral uprightness.
Identifying the target tone and meaning required to complete the contrast setup.
2
Evaluate candidate words for contextual fit
'Sanctimonious' (making a show of being morally superior or pious) and 'hypocritical' (insincerely professing virtues one does not possess) both accurately fill the blank.
Both words match the requirement of insincere moral pretense.
3
Verify pair equivalence and eliminate distractors
'Sanctimonious' and 'hypocritical' form a valid near-synonym pair in this context. While 'austere' and 'spartan' form a synonym pair, they mean strict/severe and fail contextual fit. 'Disingenuous' fits context individually but lacks a synonym partner. 'Pious' creates a logical contradiction.
Sentence Equivalence requires selecting two words that produce identical overall sentence meanings.

Key Concept

Identifying Synonym and Near-Synonym Pairs in Context
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Topics

Identifying Synonym and Near-Synonym Pairs

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