Question

read the passage. then, select the synonym of the word in bold. scurvy is a nutritional disorder caused by a diet lacking in vitamin c. near the end of the fifteenth century, scurvy was the major cause of illness and death among sailors on lengthy ocean voyages, because their diets were often deficient in fresh fruits and vegetables. in 1753, scottish surgeon james lind showed that scurvy could be treated and prevented by consuming citrus fruits.

Explanation:

Since the problem is about finding a synonym for "deficient" and involves language and vocabulary analysis, the subfield from Arts is Linguistics (specifically semantics, as it deals with word meanings and synonyms). But as per the format for Arts (Answer - Explanation Format):

To find the synonym of "deficient", we analyze the context. The passage says scurvy is caused by a diet lacking vitamin C, and sailors' diets were "deficient" in fresh fruits/vegetables. "Deficient" here means lacking or insufficient. A common synonym is "lacking" (matches the context of diet lacking nutrients) or "insufficient".

Answer:

A possible synonym for "deficient" (based on context) is "lacking" (or "insufficient", "inadequate" etc.). If we assume options (even though not provided, but from typical synonym questions), the correct option would be the one with a word like "lacking" or "insufficient" to match the meaning of "deficient" (meaning not having enough, lacking in quantity/quality needed).