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Difficulty: MediumSecondary and High-Frequency Alternative Meanings

In analyzing the ecological impact of rapid industrial development, environmental scientists note that expanding infrastructure continues to exact a heavy toll on local biodiversity, demanding sacrifices from surrounding ecosystems that cannot easily be recovered.

Which of the following words is closest in meaning to the word 'exact' as it is used in the passage above?

  1. imposeAnswer
  2. B
    precise
  3. C
    measure
  4. D
    lessen
  5. E
    isolate

Answer

impose
In the context of the passage, 'exact' is used as a verb meaning to demand, inflict, or levy (e.g., 'to exact a toll'). Substituting 'impose' preserves the intended meaning that infrastructure expansion forces or inflicts a severe cost on biodiversity.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the target word and its grammatical role in the sentence
The word 'exact' follows the infinitive marker 'to' ('to exact a heavy toll'), indicating it functions as a verb, not an adjective.
Determining the part of speech filters out primary adjective definitions that do not fit the syntactical structure.
2
Analyze surrounding contextual clues
The clause 'demanding sacrifices from surrounding ecosystems' directly clarifies what 'exact a heavy toll' means.
The surrounding text provides an explicit restatement of the secondary verb meaning.
3
Substitute options to find the semantic match
Replacing 'exact' with 'impose' yields 'continues to impose a heavy toll', maintaining the exact meaning of demanding or inflicting a cost.
'Impose' correctly captures the secondary verb definition of requiring or inflicting something burdensome.

Key Concept

Secondary verb meanings of polysemous words in academic contexts
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Topics

Secondary and High-Frequency Alternative Meanings

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