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Jeff_999 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Antonym/equivocate

EQUIVOCATE:
(A) communicate straightforwardly
(B) articulate persuasively
(C) instruct exhaustively
(D) study painstakingly
(E) reproach sternly


(Choose a lettered word that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in the capital letters.)


Equivocate means to avoid making an explicit statement, so I think "C. instruct/explain exhaustively/explicitly" would serves best as the opposite. However some A-preference would argue only "straightforward" is the exact opposite to "equivocate". I agree. But I still don’t think "communicate" fits well here. What do you think? Thank you.
  

Top answer

Hi again, I think A. 'Communicate' is not bad here, and it certainly fits better than 'instruct'. The key, as you suggest, is 'straightforwardly'.

  • Hi again, I think A.
  • 'Communicate' is not bad here, and it certainly fits better than 'instruct'.
  • The key, as you suggest, is 'straightforwardly'.
  • Clive
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7 Answers
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Hi again,

I think A. 'Communicate' is not bad here, and it certainly fits better than 'instruct'. The key, as you suggest, is 'straightforwardly'.

Clive
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Thank you Clive. Does "communicate" here mean "to convey an idea, or information to"?
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Hi,

'Equivocate' means to speak with two voices to someone, so that's where the communication comes in.

Clive
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Sorry, Clive, could you please explain it a little more clearly?
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Hi,

EQUIVOCATE:
(A) communicate ...
(B) articulate ...
(C) instruct ...
(D) study ...
(E) reproach ...


What I meant was that, of these five verbs, 'communicate' seems the best choice to answer the original question. 'Equivocation' suggests making the meaning inclear, while 'communication' suggests clarity.

All four ot
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Actually, Jeff, I think the verbs act like decoys. They are not the determiners, since they can be exchanged amongst themselves with little impact on the answer.
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I believe Assertion is the correct word here.

Notice how I cleverly equivocated with "I believe" where I could have made a declaration (another good option) that Assertion is the opposite of equivocation.

-Department of redundancy department

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