Question

select the correct answer
based on the excerpt, what is the contextual meaning of the word jostle?

although, as we walked to the cova through the tough part of town, walking in the dark, with light and singing coming out of the wine - shops, and sometimes having to walk into the street when the men and women would crowd together on the sidewalk so that we would have had to jostle them to get by, we felt held together by there being something that had happened that they, the people who disliked us, did not understand.

a. to struggle or competes forcefully for
b. to dodge or go around
c. to quarrel or argue with
d. to push, elbow, or bump against

Explanation:

To determine the contextual meaning of "jostle", we analyze the excerpt. The situation is that people are crowded on the sidewalk, so the narrator and others need to get by. When a space is crowded, to get through, one would typically push, elbow, or bump against others. Option A implies a struggle for something, which isn't indicated here. Option B (dodge/go around) doesn't fit as the sidewalk is crowded, so going around isn't easy or implied. Option C (quarrel/argue) is irrelevant to the physical action of moving through a crowd. Option D matches the physical action needed to navigate a crowded sidewalk.

Answer:

D. to push, elbow, or bump against