Words in Context

SAT Reading and Writing· difficulty 3/5

By the late 1970s the magazine had lost its bearings. Editors who had once known exactly which audience they served drifted from one redesign to another, each new look more anxious than the last.

As used in the text, what does the phrase "lost its bearings" most nearly mean?

  • A

    fired its leadership

  • B

    gone bankrupt

  • C

    become disoriented

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  • D

    broken its mechanical parts

Explanation

Editors no longer know their audience and drift between redesigns, so "lost its bearings" means become disoriented, not the mechanical, financial, or personnel senses.

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