The experts' <u>minute</u> examination brought to light some important clues. (Select the word or group of words that is most similar in meaning to the underlined word.)
- (a)quick
- (b)detailed
- (c)superficial
- (d)prolonged
Correct — B, 'detailed'. As an adjective, 'minute' means extremely small, and applied to an examination it describes one that goes down to the smallest particulars. That is why the examination turned up clues everyone else had missed, and 'detailed' says the same thing.
- (a)quick — An examination that reaches the smallest details takes time, so speed is the reverse of what the word suggests.
- (c)superficial — A superficial look stays on the surface and would not have brought important clues to light.
- (d)prolonged — This is the trap for anyone reading 'minute' as the unit of time; the word here measures fineness of attention, not how long the work lasted.
English has two quite different words spelt 'minute'. The noun, stressed on the first syllable, is the unit of time; the adjective, stressed on the second, means very small and, of an inspection or account, very finely detailed.
Two options pull in opposite wrong directions. 'Prolonged' tempts anyone who hears the noun, and 'quick' tempts anyone who thinks a minute is a short span. Both are about duration, and the underlined word is not about duration at all — the clue is the result, since only a fine-grained examination brings small clues to light.
- The adjective 'minute' is stressed on the second syllable, unlike the noun.
- 'In minute detail' is the standard phrase for an account that leaves nothing out.
- The plural noun 'minutes' means the written record of a meeting, a third use of the same spelling.
- Reading 'minute' as the unit of time and choosing an option about duration.
- Assuming the answer must be a single-word swap for the commonest sense of the word.
Asked as a synonym item — choose the word or group of words most similar in meaning to the underlined word.
His views on the subject are microscopic.
- (a) broad-based
- (b) minute
- (c) precise
- (d) fine
Answer(a) broad-based
The same adjective on the other side of the table. That paper asks for the opposite of 'microscopic' and offers 'minute' as a decoy precisely because it is a near-synonym of it — confirming that adjectival 'minute' means tiny or finely detailed, never long.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word nearest in meaning to 'minute' in 'He gave a minute description of the room.'
- (a)brief
- (b)detailed
- (c)boring
- (d)written
Answer(b) detailed — the adjective 'minute' means going into the smallest particulars.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the word nearest in meaning to 'microscopic' in 'The sample held microscopic particles.'
- (a)coloured
- (b)tiny
- (c)harmful
- (d)heavy
Answer(b) tiny — microscopic means too small to be seen without a microscope.