|Question 4Verbal

Source Texts

Text
A conclusive demonstration of the logical certainty of the honeycomb conjecture, posed in the first century BCE, _______ mathematicians' efforts until Thomas C. Hales presented the first valid proof of the conjecture in 1999.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
defied
A
prefigured
B
epitomized
C
displaced
D