#69 provincial ~ putative

Question 1

provincial

/prəˈvɪnʃəl/

Answer 1

adj. limited in outlook to one’s own small corner of the world; narrow
- The farmers were provincial; they had no opinions about anything but the price of corn and no interest in anything except growing more of it.
- New Yorkers have reputations for being sophisticated and cosmopolitan, but most of them are actually provincial; they act as though nothing of interest had ever happened west of Hudson River.

Question 2

provisional

/prəˈvɪʒənl/

Answer 2

adj. conditional; temporary; tentative
- Louis had been accepted as a provisional member of the club. He wouldn’t become a permanent member until the other members had had a chance to see what he was really like.
- The old man’s offer to donate $10,000 to the charity was provisional; he said that he would give the money only if the charity could manage to raise a matching sum.

Question 3

proximity

/prɒkˈsɪmɪti/

Answer 3

n. nearness
- I can’t stand being in the proximity of a kid’s birthday party. There is just too much noise.
- In a big city, one is almost always in the proximity of a restaurant.

Question 4

prudent

/ˈprudnt/

Answer 4

adj. careful; having foresight
- Joe is a prudent money manager. He doesn’t invest heavily in racehorses, and he puts only a small part of his savings in the office football pool. Joe is the epitome of prudence.

Question 5

imprudent

/ɪmˈprudnt/

Answer 5

adj. not prudent

- It was imprudent of us to pour gasoline all over the floor of our living room and then light a fire in the fireplace.

Question 6

purported

/pərˈpɔrtɪd, -ˈpoʊr-/

Answer 6

adj. rumored; claimed
- The heiress is purported to have been kidnapped by adventurers and buried in a concrete vault beneath the busiest intersection in Times Square. No one believes this story except the psychic who was consulted by the police.

Question 7

purport

/pərˈpɔrt, -ˈpoʊrt, ˈpɜrpɔrt, -poʊrt/

Answer 7

v. to claim; to allege

Question 8

putative

/ˈpyutətɪv/

Answer 8

adj. commonly accepted; supposed; reputed
- The putative reason for placing the monument downtown is that nobody had wanted it uptown.
When you use the word putative, you emphasize that the reason is only supposed, not proven.