Dictionary Definition Vocabulary Questions

1
Dictionary Definition Vocabulary Questions

• Throwing out one more vocabulary curve ball

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Brief Explanation

• In addition to the types of vocabulary questions
  you have already been exposed to during
  vocabulary quizzes, you will now be expected to
  contend with a dictionary definition-style
  question. For this type of question you will be
  given several different dictionary definitions
  for the same word and an example sentence. Your
  task is to select the provided definition that is
  exemplified in the usage of the word within the
  example sentence.

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Example Question

• Read the dictionary definition below and decide
  which definition of the vocabulary term best
  reflects the words usage within the example
  sentence.
•  
•  Main Entry 1night
• Function noun
• Etymology Middle English, from Old English
• Date before 12th century
• 1 the time from dusk to dawn when no sunlight
  is visible2 a an evening or night taken as an
  occasion or point of time ltthe opening nightgt b
  an evening set aside for a particular purpose3 a
  the quality or state of being dark b a
  condition or period felt to resemble the darkness
  of night as (1) a period of dreary inactivity
  or affliction (2) absence of moral values
• Example sentence As Elie loses his strong
  sense of faith, he is plunged into spiritual
  darkness and enters an interior night.
•  
• Which definition best reflects the vocabulary
  terms usage?
•  
• A) 1
• B) 2
• C) 3a
• D) 3b

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Answer and Explanation

• The correct answer is D. Within the example
  sentence the word night is not used literally.
  In this instance it does not mean the opposite of
  day nor is it being used to describe a certain
  evening.
• It is also not being used to describe a
  personality trait of being dark.
• Within the example sentence, the vocabulary term
  in question is being used instead to describe
  Elies sense of dreary affliction and the
  threatening absence of morality that he begins to
  experience.
• Example sentence As Elie loses his strong
  sense of faith, he is plunged into spiritual
  darkness and enters an interior night.
• 3b a condition or period felt to resemble the
  darkness of night as (1) a period of dreary
  inactivity or affliction (2) absence of moral
  values
•