Questões de Concurso Comentadas sobre vocabulário | vocabulary em inglês

Foram encontradas 2.337 questões

Q3818248 Inglês
Choose the incorrect alternative.
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Q3816236 Inglês

Para responder à questão, leia o texto a seguir:



How Long Does It Take to Get Fit Again?



    When it comes to cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength, the adage is true: Use it or lose it. While regular exercise can improve heart health and increase strength and mobility, taking weeks or months off can reverse many of those benefits.

    That’s not to say that rest days are not important. In general, short breaks can help you physically and mentally recharge, but whenever possible, you should avoid extending your time off for too long so that hopping back on the wagon doesn’t feel too daunting or miserable.

    “Your body adapts to the stimulus you provide,” said Dr. Kevin Stone, an orthopedic surgeon and the author of the book “Play Forever: How to Recover From Injury and Thrive.” “Your muscles become used to the stress and the testosterone, the adrenaline and endorphins — all the wonderful things that circulate from exercise. When you take that away, the body initiates a muscle loss program.”



Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/well/move/fitness-loss

exercise.html

In the sentence “Your body adapts to the stimulus you provide”, the word stimulus is used to express a specific meaning in the context of physical exercise. Considering the text, the word stimulus refers to:
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Q3815058 Inglês
Choose the alternative in which the idiomatic expression is used appropriately:  
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Q3813938 Inglês
Phrasal verbs are commonly used in spoken and written English, and they often pose challenges for learners because their meanings are not always literal. Effective teaching of phrasal verbs requires attention to context, collocation, and semantic nuance. Read the following sentence and choose the alternative that best explains the meaning of the phrasal verb highlighted in the sentence:
"After many months of training, the girls' soccer team pulled off an unexpected victory against their strongest adversary in the finals."
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Q3813291 Inglês
In the sentence below, one of the words is a false cognate that often leads to semantic interference among non-native speakers. Identify the option that correctly defines the misleading meaning of that word:
“The new manager was eventually introduced to the company’s actual policies, which surprised her deeply.”
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Q3810833 Inglês
The Cambridge Dictionary defines "idiom" as "a group of words in a fixed order that has a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word on its own". What does the idiom "to bite off more than you can chew" mean?
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Q3803574 Inglês
In the context of telephone communication, which phrasal verb completes the sentence correctly and precisely, keeping the meaning intended by the speaker?
“I couldn’t hear you clearly. Your voice began to ______ right before the call ended.” 
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Q3803573 Inglês
Considering the semantic groups — approaching, happening/creating, preparing, and disrupting/damaging — and the nuanced meanings of the phrasal verbs presented, which option best misinterprets the phrasal verb in context, creating a semantic mismatch with the intended meaning of the original sentence? 
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Q3793878 Inglês

Read the text to answer the question. 



   The archetype of the classic witch is a cornerstone of global folklore and fiction, often depicted as a formidable and sinister antagonist. These figures are deeply embedded in collective storytelling, usually characterized by their malevolent intentions towards protagonists, especially innocent children or virtuous heroes. Their narrative role is fundamentally to embody the forces of darkness, chaos, or forbidden knowledge, creating a clear moral contrast and a formidable obstacle for the main characters to overcome. From European fairy tales to modern pop culture, the classic witch serves as a powerful symbol of fear and the supernatural.


    Physically, the traditional witch is frequently described as an old, haggard woman with exaggeratedly ugly features, which visually symbolizes her inner corruption and alienation from societal norms. Common traits include a long, hooked nose, warts, disheveled gray hair, and crooked fingers. She is typically clothed in dark, ragged robes and a pointed, wide-brimmed hat, an image popularized and solidified by Western media. This distinct and fearsome appearance is designed to evoke immediate unease and signal her dangerous nature to the audience.


   The classic witch's power is intrinsically linked to specific magical tools and practices. The bubbling cauldron is her quintessential instrument, used for brewing potent potions, casting spells, and concocting mysterious elixirs. Her magic often involves ancient books ofspells, enchanted mirrors that show more than mere reflections, and the command over supernatural familiars like black cats, crows, or toads. These elements are not just props; they are extensions of her will and the sources of her power, which she uses to curse, transform, or deceive those who cross her path.


This archetype finds vivid expression in some of the most famous villains of literature and film. The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz menaces Dorothy with her command over flying monkeys and her thirst for revenge. The Evil Queen from Snow White, obsessed with being the "fairest of them all," uses a poisoned apple in her deadly scheme. Similarly, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty is a figure of pure vengeance, cursing an infant princess to a sleep-like death. Beyond Anglo-American tales, other cultures have their own versions, such as Brazil's Cuca, a child-eating alligator-witch from Sítio do Picapau Amarelo.


   However, the portrayal of the witch is not monolithic and has evolved to include more nuanced or comedic figures. In the Mexican sitcom El Chavo del Ocho, Doña Clotilde, nicknamed "La Bruja del 71," is a neighborhood eccentric whose witch persona is more a source of gossip and lighthearted fear than genuine evil. Furthermore, modern narratives like the film Hocus Pocus present the Sanderson sisters as a blend of the classic tropes—complete with spell books and a thirst for youth—but with a comedic and less terrifying demeanor, showcasing the adaptability and enduring fascination with this iconic character type. 

In the second paragraph, the text describes the physical appearance of the traditional witch as an "old, haggard woman." Considering the semantic field of physical description and the context of "alienation" and "ugliness," the term "haggard" is best defined as describing someone who looks:
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Q3793870 Inglês

Read the text to answer the question. 



   The archetype of the classic witch is a cornerstone of global folklore and fiction, often depicted as a formidable and sinister antagonist. These figures are deeply embedded in collective storytelling, usually characterized by their malevolent intentions towards protagonists, especially innocent children or virtuous heroes. Their narrative role is fundamentally to embody the forces of darkness, chaos, or forbidden knowledge, creating a clear moral contrast and a formidable obstacle for the main characters to overcome. From European fairy tales to modern pop culture, the classic witch serves as a powerful symbol of fear and the supernatural.


    Physically, the traditional witch is frequently described as an old, haggard woman with exaggeratedly ugly features, which visually symbolizes her inner corruption and alienation from societal norms. Common traits include a long, hooked nose, warts, disheveled gray hair, and crooked fingers. She is typically clothed in dark, ragged robes and a pointed, wide-brimmed hat, an image popularized and solidified by Western media. This distinct and fearsome appearance is designed to evoke immediate unease and signal her dangerous nature to the audience.


   The classic witch's power is intrinsically linked to specific magical tools and practices. The bubbling cauldron is her quintessential instrument, used for brewing potent potions, casting spells, and concocting mysterious elixirs. Her magic often involves ancient books ofspells, enchanted mirrors that show more than mere reflections, and the command over supernatural familiars like black cats, crows, or toads. These elements are not just props; they are extensions of her will and the sources of her power, which she uses to curse, transform, or deceive those who cross her path.


This archetype finds vivid expression in some of the most famous villains of literature and film. The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz menaces Dorothy with her command over flying monkeys and her thirst for revenge. The Evil Queen from Snow White, obsessed with being the "fairest of them all," uses a poisoned apple in her deadly scheme. Similarly, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty is a figure of pure vengeance, cursing an infant princess to a sleep-like death. Beyond Anglo-American tales, other cultures have their own versions, such as Brazil's Cuca, a child-eating alligator-witch from Sítio do Picapau Amarelo.


   However, the portrayal of the witch is not monolithic and has evolved to include more nuanced or comedic figures. In the Mexican sitcom El Chavo del Ocho, Doña Clotilde, nicknamed "La Bruja del 71," is a neighborhood eccentric whose witch persona is more a source of gossip and lighthearted fear than genuine evil. Furthermore, modern narratives like the film Hocus Pocus present the Sanderson sisters as a blend of the classic tropes—complete with spell books and a thirst for youth—but with a comedic and less terrifying demeanor, showcasing the adaptability and enduring fascination with this iconic character type. 

In the third paragraph, the author employs specific lexical choices to establish the relationship between the witch and her tools. When describing the bubbling cauldron as the witch's "quintessential instrument," the author uses this adjective to discursively emphasize that the cauldron is: 
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Q3793169 Inglês

False cognates (or "false friends") are words that look similar in Portuguese and English but have different meanings. Analyze the following statements about common false cognates:



I. "Library" in English means "biblioteca" (a place to borrow books), not "livraria" (a place to buy books, which is "bookstore").


II. "Parents" in English means "pais" (father and mother), not "parentes" (which is "relatives").


III. "Actually" in English means "na verdade" or "de fato", not "atualmente" (which is "currently" or "nowadays").



What is stated in the following is correct: 

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Q3790623 Inglês
No contexto de um relatório acadêmico sobre evasão escolar, o enunciado Researchers are still trying to pin down the variables that intensify dropout rates emprega pin down com o sentido de:  
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Q3790083 Inglês
Lexico-grammar focuses on the interdependence of vocabulary and syntax, emphasizing that language consists of chunks and collocations rather than isolated words inserted into grammatical slots. Regarding the usage of delexicalized verbs (do, make, take, have) and their fixed collocations, mark T for true and F for false:

(__) The verb "make" is correctly collocated in expressions such as "make a decision", "make an effort", and "make progress", often implying creation or producing a result.
(__) The verb "do" is typically used with tasks, work, and general activities, forming correct collocations in "do a favor", "do business", and "do research".
 (__) The expression "take a mistake" is a standard collocation in academic English, synonymous with "commit an error".
(__) The verb "have" is used to describe events or experiences, as seen in "have a look", "have a party", and "have a meeting".

After analysis, select the alternative that presents the correct sequence of the items above, from top to bottom:
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Q3784583 Inglês
Semantics is the study of meaning. Antonyms are words with opposite meanings. The pair of words that represents an antonym relationship is: 
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Q3784581 Inglês
To learn vocabulary effectively, students can use "cognates". Cognates are: 
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Q3784573 Inglês
Idioms are expressions with figurative meanings. The idiom "It's raining cats and dogs" means:
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Q3783583 Inglês
Vocabulary study: Match column 2 with the correct meanings of the words from the text in column 1.
Column 1 Words 1. a backlash 2. a pact 3. surplus 4. figures 5. an unethical act

Column 2 Meanings ( ) excess; extra; oversupply. ( ) numbers. ( ) a strong negative reaction by a large number of people. ( ) an action that is morally wrong. ( ) a formal agreement between parties.

Choose the alternative which presents the correct sequence, from top to bottom.
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Q3783582 Inglês

Reading Comprehension


Modern supermarkets


Many of the major supermarket chains have come under fire with accusations of various unethical acts over the past decade. They’ve wasted loads of food, they’ve underpaid their suppliers and they’ve contributed to excessive plastic waste in their packaging, which has had its impact on our environment.


But supermarkets and grocers are starting to sit up and take notice. In response to growing consumer backlash against the huge amounts of plastic waste generated by plastic packaging, some of the largest UK supermarkets have signed up to a pact promising to transform packaging and cut plastic wastage. In a pledge to reuse, recycle or compost all plastic wastage by 2025, supermarkets are now beginning to take some responsibility for the part they play in contributing to the damage to our environment, with one major supermarket announcing their plan to eliminate all plastic packaging in their own-brand products by 2023.


In response to criticisms over food waste, some supermarkets are donating some of their food surplus. However, charities estimate that they are only accessing two per cent of supermarkets’ total food surplus, so this hardly seems to be solving the problem. Some say that supermarkets are simply not doing enough. Most supermarkets operate under a veil of secrecy when asked for exact figures of food wastage, and without more transparency it is hard to come up with a systematic approach to avoiding waste and to redistributing surplus food.


Some smaller companies are now taking matters into their own hands and offering consumers a greener, more environmentally friendly option. Shops like Berlin’s Original Unverpakt and London’s Bulk Market are plastic-free shops that have opened in recent years, encouraging customers to use their own containers or compostable bags. Online grocer Farmdrop eliminates the need for large warehouses and the risk of huge food surplus by delivering fresh produce from local farmers to its customers on a daily basis via electric cars, offering farmers the lion’s share of the retail price.


There is no doubt that we still have a long way to go in reducing food waste and plastic waste. But perhaps the major supermarkets might take inspiration from these smaller grocers and gradually move towards a more sustainable future for us all.


(adapted from www.britishcouncil.org)

Read the following paragraph about supermarkets:
Two of the things that major supermarkets have been ................................ for are the waste of large amounts of excess food and unnecessary plastic usage in a lot of product packaging. Some supermarkets have ................................ to try and reduce plastic wastage, and one supermarket has said that it would get ................................ of all plastic packaging from its own in-house brands. Meanwhile, many supermarkets are not very transparent about the exact amount of food that is going to waste and so it’s hard for charities to know how to redistribute this surplus .................................
Select the alternative that correctly completes the blanks in the sentence.
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Q3780404 Inglês
Read the following text and answer the questions.


Artificial Intelligence: The “lethal trifecta”

    LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS (LLMs), a trendy way of building artificial intelligence, have an inherent security problem: they cannot separate code from data. As a result, they are at risk of a type of attack called a prompt injection, in which they are tricked into following commands they should not. Sometimes the result is merely embarrassing, as when a customer-help agent is persuaded to talk like a pirate. On other occasions, it is far more damaging.

    The worst effects of this flaw are reserved for those who create what is known as the “lethal trifecta”. If a company, eager to offer a powerful AI assistant to its employees, gives an LLM access to untrusted data, the ability to read valuable secrets and the ability to communicate with the outside world at the same time, then trouble is sure to follow. And avoiding this is not just a matter for AI engineers. Ordinary users, too, need to learn how to use AI safely, because installing the wrong combination of apps can generate the trifecta accidentally. 

   Better AI engineering is, though, the first line of defence. And that means AI engineers need to start thinking like engineers, who build things like bridges and therefore know that shoddy work costs lives.

  The great works of Victorian England were erected by engineers who could not be sure of the properties of the materials they were using. In particular, whether by incompetence or malfeasance, the iron of the period was often not up to snuff. As a consequence, engineers erred on the side of caution, overbuilding to incorporate redundancy into their creations. The result was a series of centuries-spanning masterpieces.

   AI-security providers do not think like this. Conventional coding is a deterministic practice. Security vulnerabilities are seen as errors to be fixed, and when fixed, they go away. AI engineers, inculcated in this way of thinking from their schooldays, therefore often act as if problems can be solved just with more training data and more astute system prompts.

   These do, indeed, reduce risk. The cleverest frontier models are better at spotting and refusing malicious requests than their older or smaller cousins. But they cannot eliminate risk altogether. Unlike most software, LLMs are probabilistic. Their output is driven by random selection from likely responses. A deterministic approach to safety is thus inadequate. A better way forward is to copy engineers in the physical world and learn to work with, rather than against, capricious systems that can never be guaranteed to function as they should. That means becoming happier dealing with unpredictability by introducing safety margins, risk tolerance and error rates.

   Overbuilding in the AI age might, for instance, mean using a more powerful model than is needed for the task at hand, to reduce the risk it will be tricked into doing something inappropriate. It might mean imposing limits on the number of queries LLMs can take from external sources, calibrated to the risk of damage from a malicious query. And mechanical engineering emphasises failing safely. If an AI system must have access to secrets, then avoid handing it the keys to the kingdom.

   In the physical world, bridges have weight limits – even if they are not always stated clearly to drivers. And, importantly, these are well within the actual tolerances that calculations suggest a bridge will bear. The time has now come for the virtual world of AI systems to be similarly equipped.

Adapted from The Economist, September 27th, 2025, p. 10
The phrase shoddy work costs lives (3rd paragraph) refers to work that is 
Alternativas
Q3780403 Inglês
Read the following text and answer the questions.


Artificial Intelligence: The “lethal trifecta”

    LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS (LLMs), a trendy way of building artificial intelligence, have an inherent security problem: they cannot separate code from data. As a result, they are at risk of a type of attack called a prompt injection, in which they are tricked into following commands they should not. Sometimes the result is merely embarrassing, as when a customer-help agent is persuaded to talk like a pirate. On other occasions, it is far more damaging.

    The worst effects of this flaw are reserved for those who create what is known as the “lethal trifecta”. If a company, eager to offer a powerful AI assistant to its employees, gives an LLM access to untrusted data, the ability to read valuable secrets and the ability to communicate with the outside world at the same time, then trouble is sure to follow. And avoiding this is not just a matter for AI engineers. Ordinary users, too, need to learn how to use AI safely, because installing the wrong combination of apps can generate the trifecta accidentally. 

   Better AI engineering is, though, the first line of defence. And that means AI engineers need to start thinking like engineers, who build things like bridges and therefore know that shoddy work costs lives.

  The great works of Victorian England were erected by engineers who could not be sure of the properties of the materials they were using. In particular, whether by incompetence or malfeasance, the iron of the period was often not up to snuff. As a consequence, engineers erred on the side of caution, overbuilding to incorporate redundancy into their creations. The result was a series of centuries-spanning masterpieces.

   AI-security providers do not think like this. Conventional coding is a deterministic practice. Security vulnerabilities are seen as errors to be fixed, and when fixed, they go away. AI engineers, inculcated in this way of thinking from their schooldays, therefore often act as if problems can be solved just with more training data and more astute system prompts.

   These do, indeed, reduce risk. The cleverest frontier models are better at spotting and refusing malicious requests than their older or smaller cousins. But they cannot eliminate risk altogether. Unlike most software, LLMs are probabilistic. Their output is driven by random selection from likely responses. A deterministic approach to safety is thus inadequate. A better way forward is to copy engineers in the physical world and learn to work with, rather than against, capricious systems that can never be guaranteed to function as they should. That means becoming happier dealing with unpredictability by introducing safety margins, risk tolerance and error rates.

   Overbuilding in the AI age might, for instance, mean using a more powerful model than is needed for the task at hand, to reduce the risk it will be tricked into doing something inappropriate. It might mean imposing limits on the number of queries LLMs can take from external sources, calibrated to the risk of damage from a malicious query. And mechanical engineering emphasises failing safely. If an AI system must have access to secrets, then avoid handing it the keys to the kingdom.

   In the physical world, bridges have weight limits – even if they are not always stated clearly to drivers. And, importantly, these are well within the actual tolerances that calculations suggest a bridge will bear. The time has now come for the virtual world of AI systems to be similarly equipped.

Adapted from The Economist, September 27th, 2025, p. 10
The word tricked (1st paragraph) means that LLMs can be
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Respostas
321: C
322: C
323: B
324: D
325: C
326: A
327: B
328: C
329: B
330: B
331: E
332: C
333: C
334: B
335: B
336: A
337: C
338: E
339: E
340: D