I did not understand the ans. "Anything but (except) dishonest" means that they were honest? Carcass

I always get confused with all but.. anything but.. everything but... Any shortcut to understand that? Carcass

All but = I did all aside from one thing

Metallica plays all but gospel. They are able to play every type of music on earth but NOT the gospel you hear into the church

Anything but = you are not this at all or whatsoever

You are anything but smart

You are ALL but NOT smart

Everything but is pretty much the same of the second one or everything with the exception of

it depends on the context and the sentence in which you have to use one or the other

See here https://jakubmarian.com/all-but-vs-anyt ... n-english/

The best fit for blank (i) in the sentence is "unscrupulous."
Explanation:
- The critics accused the start-up of blatantly appropriating (copying without ethics) the laptop design.
- The sentence counters this accusation by saying the start-up had been anything but (i) $\qquad$
- The report shows the start-up was actually the first to market and had original design pictures public first, meaning they acted ethically and innovatively.
- Therefore, the start-up was not "unscrupulous" (which means unethical or dishonest), so that word fits the blank best.
- Other options like hesitant, dominant, innovative, or posthumous do not fit the contrast to "blatantly appropriated" as effectively.

Answer: unscrupulous

Answer: (D)
The key to this sentence is to notice 'blatantly appropriated', which, in common parlance, means to rip off. The latter part of the sentence 'not only was...', and 'initially surfaced...'. Therefore, the company did not steal the design. They were anything but thieves or unscrupulous people.
(A) is a great trap. But the focus of the sentence is not whether the start-up was hesitant, but whether it stole the design.

The sentence suggest that the start-up had been innovative. 'Anything but' means 'not.' Therefore (C) is out.
(D), which means unethical, best creates a meaning that is consistent with the information in the passage: the startup did not steal the design because they were the first ones to come up with it. Therefore, the startup was anything but unethical.