He knew everything better than anybody else, and it was an affront to his . . . . . . . . vanity that you should disagree with him.

Solution (By Examveda Team)

The sentence describes a person who 'knew everything better than anybody else'. This tells us he is extremely proud and believes he is superior. His 'vanity' (which means excessive pride in oneself) is so strong that disagreeing with him is an 'affront' (an insult) to it. So, we need a word that describes a very strong, arrogant, and excessive kind of pride.

Now let's look at the options:

Option A: overwrought
This means being very nervous, anxious, or excessively excited.
Think: "She was overwrought with worry."
This doesn't describe the type of vanity that makes someone think they know everything; it describes a state of mind. So, it's not the best fit.

Option B: overwhelming
This means very great in amount or degree; overpowering.
Think: "The amount of work was overwhelming."
While his vanity might be large, this word is more general. It doesn't specifically capture the arrogant nature of his pride that the sentence implies.

Option C: overweening
This means excessively confident or proud; arrogant. It's often used with words like 'pride' or 'vanity'.
Think: "His overweening pride made him impossible to work with."
This word perfectly matches the description of someone who thinks they know everything better than anyone else. It's exactly the kind of arrogant and excessive vanity the sentence needs.

Option D: overstrung
This means excessively tense or nervous. It's similar to 'overwrought'.
Think: "He felt overstrung before his big presentation."
Again, this describes a nervous state, not the characteristic of someone's pride.

Therefore, the best word to complete the sentence is overweening. It perfectly describes the kind of arrogant and excessive vanity that makes someone believe they are superior and get offended when others disagree.