GS-1 Verbal Reasoning Question 25

[kimmyb2201994]

the answer key to this question makes sense. however, i looked up prosthetize to see the definition, and found that it is not a word. i was familiar with "prosthelytize," which is a real word, and assumed that they were somehow related. Prosthelytize, means attempting to convert people to another opinion, especially a religion, and therefore i thought was associated with teaching. anyway, i guess i'm curious if there is actually a real definition for prosthetize, so that i can feel more comfortable with the answer. or is it just made up?

[jeanne7524]

Hi!

The term "prosthetize" in the passage would somehow fall into the category of neologism - a kind of invented word by an author of which the meaning mainly applies within the context of the write-up.

Most often, and especially with scholarly articles, authors resort to "creating" their own term(s) due to a lack of an appropriate word (from the already existing vocabulary reservoir) that would accurately equate their concept(s). For further explanation about neologism, you may go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism

I hope this clarifies your concern.