There were streaks of both arrogance and (i) ___________ in the artist's approach. Not only did she believe that she was by far the best contemporary painter, but she also constantly decried all conventional approaches to the medium.

Blank (i)
insolence
esurient
meekness
egotism
peremptoriness

i thought egotism since she decried all other and she also considered here by far the best.

why not egotism?

The artist in question exhibits both arrogance and some other quality, and each quality is described in the subsequent clauses.

Choice (D), egotism, is misleading because it is similar to arrogance, and we do have already as her first (bad) quality. The final clause, however, does not call for a synonym of arrogance in the blank.

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I understand your explanation but as each quality is described later in the sentence, I do not understand how Insolence = Rejecting others way of work ?

Insolence means Rude and How can rude mean to reject other traditional works?

Because she decried the conventional ways, does not mean she was self centered or full of ego. Hence insolence fits here, she was disrespectful towards conventional ways. We should not make assumptions about what ways she supports.

Egotism and Insolence are so close in meaning it might be hard to mistake one for the other in this context. I strongly feel even Egotism as a word fits this context. Carcass

Detailed Explanation & Logic Breakdown

1. The Logical Skeleton

The Core Parallel Structure: The opening sentence sets up a compound description: "streaks of both arrogance and [i] ______ in the artist's approach."


The Two-Part Evidence ("Not only... but also..."):

Part 1 (Arrogance): "Not only did she believe that she was by far the best contemporary painter..." (This directly justifies the word "arrogance").
Part 2 (Blank i): "...but she also constantly decried all conventional approaches to the medium."

Blank (i): Describes her attitude of openly mocking, criticizing, and showing contempt or disrespect toward established traditions ("decried all conventional approaches"). We need a noun that captures rude, disrespectful, or contemptuous defiance.


2. Why the Correct Option Works

insolence (noun): Rude, disrespectful, or contemptuous behavior toward established authority, traditions, or conventions. Openly decrying and insulting all conventional artistic methods exhibits blatant insolence.



3. Why the Distractors Fail


esurient (adjective): Hungry, greedy, or voracious. Apart from being an adjective where a noun is grammatically required, "greediness" is irrelevant to decrying artistic conventions.

meekness (noun): Submissiveness, gentleness, or quiet compliance. This is the exact opposite of arrogance and active criticism.

egotism (noun): Excessive self-centeredness or conceit. While this matches the "arrogance" part of the sentence, the structure requires a second, distinct trait to pair with "arrogance" that specifically corresponds to her active disrespect for conventional approaches.

peremptoriness (noun): Insisting on immediate obedience or submission; imperious or dictatorial behavior. Describing her as dictatorial/commanding doesn't align as closely with criticizing/decrying tradition as insolence (disrespectful defiance) does.