Although every one of these answers is tempting, the clear indication is the fact that Maurice knows he will be doing “battle.” One who is an “antagonist” is clearly an adversary—it is even stronger than “critic.” The word is made up of two bases that you likely recognize. The “anti-” is the same “anti” meaning “against” in expressions like “anti-slavery” and “anticoagulant.” The “agon” comes from Greek roots meaning “to struggle” and is found rather closely in “protagonist” (the main character in a story) and even in words like “agony.”

The sense of our sentence is that many people think that one law overrides antecedent laws.  (This is brought out by the counterfactual “when in fact . . .”). Although perhaps “destruction” or “denunciation” sound good, “revocation” is a much closer word, meaning “to call back” or “to end the binding force of something.” It comes from roots that are very familiar. “Re-,” in addition to meaning “again” likewise means “back,” and the “-voc-” can be found in many words about “calling” or “speaking” such as “vocation,” “vocal,” and “advocate.”

The one key word to note is “change,” which gives some specificity to the lycanthrope’s action. (A lycanthrope is another werewolf.  You do not need to know this in order to answer, though it would help). The best word for “change” is the word “transmute,” which means “to change in form.” Even if you did not know it at first, its meaning could be guessed by looking at its parts. We know “trans-” means “across” and “-mute” is related to words like “mutation” (which implies change). To “trans+mute” is to change “across” from one form to another.

The gadfly is an annoying stinging fly, and when this is used to describe a person, it is meant to imply that said person is a “stinging” annoyance to others (perhaps for their own good, even if it is not noticed).

Socrates was the “gadfly of Athens” because he questioned many people regarding things that they took for granted without any real intelligible basis, and in Greek myth, the gadfly was sent to sting the Pegasus when it was carrying an arrogant human rider in an attempted flight to the heavens. (Thus, a gadfly can also sting those who arrogantly think they know it all and are soaring to godlike knowledge).

Here, the best term is “exponent” because this term implies that one promotes a given idea—not necessarily defensively but with a certain devotion and zeal.  The word often is used in mathematics, but here, it shows its relationship to its Latin roots very clearly.  The composite ex+ponent literally means “to place out” (in the sense of expressing outwardly).  The “-ponent” portion is related to numerous words related to the Latin base “to place or put,” not only those like “postpone” and “component” but also words that have “-pos-” such as “propose,” “expose,” and “exposition” (among many others).

The key term in the second sentence is “burden.” The roommate’s request is not burdensome, which means that it does not “impose” on William or, in our sentence, that it is not an “imposition.” The composite im + position literally means to place upon (the “im” being a form of “in”). The “-position” portion of the word is clearly related to a number of words like “propose,” “expose,” and “exposition” but is also related to certain “-pon-” words such as “postpone,” “component,” and “exponent.” All of these words (and many others) are derived from Latin roots that mean to place or put.

Do not be fooled into thinking either that the student’s manner of thinking is overbearing (i.e. imperialist) or that it is detached because of certain stereotypes about mathematics. Instead, the sentence expresses that the student gives her thoughts of reality a certain “coloring” because of her mathematical work. Such a “coloring” could be called a “cast” in the sense of being the general character of something. Think of the word as a metaphorical usage of “cast” in the strong sense of “physical mold” but becoming somewhat loosened in meaning to mean much more generally the “character” (i.e. the physical, emotional, intellectual, etc. shape) of something.

The key point to note is that academic positions were seen to be limited to the members of the clergy, who were the specific group to whom this work fell. A “preserve” is used at times to describe a place set aside for private hunting. More generally, we can think of it as a given activity (or group of activities) that are reserved for a specific group. In our example, it is as though the academic world was a preserved location for the clergy to do their supposed jobs.

The key phrase that helps to discern the closest term from the less proper ones is “with great east.” If someone can do something with facility, they are able to do so well and with ease. The word is related to others like “facile” and “facilitate” that are derived from the Latin for to do or make, but the sense of “facile” includes the notion of being easily accomplished.

Based on the data provided in this sentence, the most that can be said about the annual event is indicated by the key expression “gathered together.”  A “convocation” is a “calling together” or a meeting of this sort where a group comes together, often as a formal ceremony.  The word comes from the prefix “con-,” meaning “with” or (by extension) “together” and “vocation,” meaning “to call.”  The former is found in words like “contiguous” and “congruent,” as well as “colloquy” and “cooperate.”  The later is related to words like “vocal,” “vocative,” and “advocate.”