LNAT · Section A
LNAT meaning in context questions
Say what a word or phrase means where the author uses it, which may not be its dictionary meaning.
How to spot it
- In the context of the passage, what does the author mean by ...?
- The phrase ... is used to suggest that ...
Try one
Original example
The committee's report was, in the minister's word, "exhaustive". Reporters who had sat through its four hundred pages suspected he meant the readers rather than the research.
What does the reporters' remark suggest about the report?
The method
- Cover the options and read the whole sentence around the phrase.
- Put your own meaning in its place.
- Pick the option that fits this sentence, not the usual definition.
The trap
Watch forChoosing the dictionary meaning when the sentence uses the word with a twist.
Now a harder one
Harder
After a long dispute, the union called the new settlement a pyrrhic victory. The pay rise it had won, members were told, would be funded by the jobs the company now planned to cut.
In the context of the passage, what does "pyrrhic victory" mean?