What does the word perfunctory mean in the excerpt below?
The safety board carried out only a perfunctory inspection of the construction site, failing to detect structural hairline fractures in the concrete pillars.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. carried out cursorily with minimum effort or thought
- Step 1: Analyze context: the inspection failed to detect visible fractures because it was superficial and careless.
- Step 2: 'Perfunctory' means carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection, hasty, superficial, and mechanical.
Answer
carried out cursorily with minimum effort or thought.
Why not the others: 'conducted with exhaustive and meticulous precision' is the direct antonym (strict); 'mandated by international maritime safety treaties' is irrelevant; 'delayed indefinitely due to budgetary shortfalls' confuses a careless completed inspection with a postponed one.
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