Retired Moderator
Joined: 07 Jun 2014
Posts: 4813
Given Kudos: 0
WE:Business Development (Energy and Utilities)
Re: Free speech is often taken by the general population to be a
[#permalink]
17 Nov 2017, 20:15
Explanation
When you have a society in which dissenting opinions are socially stigmatized, valuing the right to dissent seems useless. A nostrum is “an ineffective remedy,” and is appropriately used metaphorically here. A catalyst helps a reaction or change to occur, and an adjuvant is “something that assists or aids,” bA nostrum, a nuisance. oth of which would be the opposite of what you need. In the second blank, you are looking for something that is negative but weaker than “outcast.” Nuisance works perfectly here. Assassin is too strong, while miser is unrelated in meaning.
A nostrum, a nuisance.