GRE Mini Exam1 - Confusing answer choice Text Completion Questions

GRE Verbal Problem Solving
1

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I have a doubt with the above answer choices.
Doesn’t underestimating, undervaluing and underpinning mean the same?
How can I approach questions like this?? Please let me know if I am wrong with my below approach.

My approach:
Used Math strategy to find out that the blank should be something related to belittling the team.
Then, when it came to selecting the answer choice, I selected undervaluing since it seemed more close to belittling.

Should I also invest time learning the second and third meanings of the same word?

2

Undervaluing is too passive for the context we are given. The sentence suggests that whatever Samuel is doing, it is causing “dysfunction”. Dysfunction means something is not working properly, so we should be filling the blank with a word more in line with “sabotage”.

You absolutely should learn all the definitions of a word; ETS loves using the lesser-known ones.

3

Thank you