Question

Choose the word(s) which has the same meaning and can be used in the same context as the italicized word/phrase in both the given sentences.
I. The officer lost his sense of integrity and managed to embezzle a large amount of money from the public funds.
II. The remarks he made in the presence of members of the Board were really not opportune.
a. Defalcate
b. Opine
c. Proper
d. Divest
e. appropriate

Answer 1

Hint: There are millions of words in English. Each word has a specific meaning of its own. Also, the same words may mean different things depending upon the context in which it is used.
Complete Answer:
I. Words have specific meanings. But depending upon the context in which the word is used, the words changes its meaning. Say, for example, the word ‘head’. Depending upon the context in which it is used, the meaning of the word may differ. Such as, the word head usually means the top-most part of a human body. But in a different context, it can also mean the head of an organization. The basic meaning remains the same i.e. top of something, but the context changes. These words are known as homophones. Similarly, for the above-mentioned question, we can replace embezzle with word defalcate as it means the same and will be perfect in the same context.
II. Let us look at another example here. The word bank has two different meanings depending upon the context. First, it refers to a financial institution. Second, it refers to the riverbanks. These words are known as homonyms. But here we have to find out the replacement of the word opportune which will mean the same in the given context. Here, we can use both proper and appropriate in place of opportune keeping the meaning of the sentence intact.

Note: It is not necessary that only one word can replace the given word. Here, we can see that in the first sentence both defalcate and appropriate share the same meaning as embezzle, but in the context defalcate matches better. In the second sentence, both the word proper and appropriate can be used simultaneously.