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Difficulty: MediumLeveraging Secondary and Obscure Word Definitions

The chief archivist maintained an uncompromising stance regarding document preservation; she would ________ no handling of fragile manuscripts without protective gloves, regardless of a researcher's seniority. Which of the following words, if substituted into the blank, best completes the meaning of the sentence?

  1. A
    stream
  2. brookAnswer
  3. C
    encourage
  4. D
    penalize
  5. E
    overlook

Answer

The word 'brook' best completes the sentence, utilizing its secondary verb definition meaning 'to tolerate or allow.'
The sentence describes an archivist with an 'uncompromising stance.' The blank requires a verb that, when combined with 'no handling,' expresses that she does not allow or tolerate ungloved handling. The word 'brook,' used as a verb, means 'to tolerate' or 'allow' (most commonly used in negative constructions like 'brook no interference'). Thus, 'would brook no handling' correctly conveys that she would tolerate no violation of protocol.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the sentence structure and contextual clues.
The phrases 'uncompromising stance' and 'regardless of a researcher's seniority' indicate that the archivist strictly forbids improper manuscript handling.
Establishing the tone and logical direction determines the required meaning of the missing verb.
2
Evaluate the syntactic context around the blank.
The blank precedes 'no handling', meaning the verb must pair with 'no' to express 'allow zero' or 'tolerate no' improper handling.
The presence of 'no' requires a positive verb meaning 'tolerate' or 'allow' so that the combination produces the negation 'not tolerate'.
3
Identify the word leveraging a secondary definition.
While 'brook' commonly refers to a small stream when used as a noun, its secondary definition as a verb means 'to tolerate' or 'bear'. 'Would brook no handling' means 'would tolerate no handling'.
Secondary definitions of high-frequency words are frequently tested on the GRE to assess vocabulary depth and context recognition.

Key Concept

Leveraging secondary verb definitions of familiar words in sentence completion contexts.
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Topics

Leveraging Secondary and Obscure Word Definitions

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