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Difficulty: Very hardIdioms and Idiomatic Expressions

Which word correctly completes the idiomatic expression in the sentence below?

Answer:Rather than confronting the systemic financial irregularities directly, the committee was accused of merely tilting at 【windmills】, wasting valuable resources on imaginary problems.

Answer

The correct word to complete the blank is 'windmills', forming the idiomatic expression 'tilting at windmills'.
The word 'windmills' completes the idiom 'tilting at windmills', which means spending energy fighting imaginary, exaggerated, or futile enemies/problems.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the context of the sentence to determine the intended figurative meaning.
The context describes a committee wasting effort and resources on imaginary or non-existent issues rather than real financial problems.
Identifying context clues helps determine the precise idiom that signifies confronting illusory opponents or futile tasks.
2
Identify the standard fixed idiomatic structure that fits the prepositional frame 'tilting at ...'.
The fixed idiomatic expression is 'tilting at windmills', derived from Cervantes' novel Don Quixote.
Idioms are conventionalized fixed expressions where words cannot be arbitrarily substituted with literal synonyms.

Key Concept

Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions
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Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions

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