Synonyms, Antonyms and Prepositions (part 2)

One condoles with another by the expression of kindly sympathy in his trouble; he consoles him by considerations adapted to soothe and sustain the spirit, as by the assurances and promises of the gospel; he encourages him by the hope of some relief or deliverance; he comforts him by whatever act or word tends to bring mind or body to a state of rest and cheer. We sympathize with others, not only in sorrow, but in joy. Compare ALLEVIATE; PITY.

Antonyms:

annoy, distress, disturb, grieve, hurt, sadden, trouble, wound.

Contagion.

Synonym:

infection.

Infection is frequently confused with contagion, even by medical men. The best usage now limits contagion to diseases that are transmitted by contact with the diseased person, either directly by touch or indirectly by use of the same articles, by breath, effluvia, etc. Infection is applied to diseases produced by no known or definable influence of one person upon another, but where common climatic, malarious, or other wide-spread conditions are believed to be chiefly instrumental.

Continual.

Synonyms:

ceaseless, incessant, regular, uninterrupted,

constant, invariable, unbroken, unremitting,

continuous, perpetual, unceasing, unvarying.

Continuous describes that which is absolutely without pause or break; continual, that which often intermits, but as regularly begins again. A continuous beach is exposed to the continual beating of the waves. A similar distinction is made between incessant and ceaseless. The incessant discharge of firearms makes the ceaseless roar of battle. Constant is sometimes used in the sense of continual; but its chief uses are mental and moral.

Contract.

Synonyms:

agreement, cartel, engagement, pledge,

arrangement, compact, obligation, promise,

bargain, covenant, pact, stipulation.

All these words involve at least two parties, tho an engagement or promise may be the act of but one. A contract is a formal agreement between two or more parties for the doing or leaving undone some specified act or acts, and is ordinarily in writing. Mutual promises may have the force of a contract. A consideration, or compensation, is essential to convert an agreement into a contract. A contract may be oral or written. A covenant in law is a written contract under seal. Covenant is frequent in religious usage, as contract is in law and business. Compact is essentially the same as contract, but is applied to international agreements, treaties, etc. A bargain is a mutual agreement for an exchange of values, without the formality of a contract. A stipulation is a single item in an agreement or contract. A cartel is a military agreement for the exchange of prisoners or the like.

Contrast.

Synonyms:

compare, differentiate, discriminate, oppose.

To compare (L. con, together, and par, equal) is to place together in order to show likeness or unlikeness; to contrast (L. contra, against, and sto, stand) is to set in opposition in order to show unlikeness. We contrast objects that have been already compared. We must compare them, at least momentarily, even to know that they are different. We contrast them when we observe their unlikeness in a general way; we differentiate them when we note the difference exactly and point by point. We distinguish objects when we note a difference that may fall short of contrast; we discriminate them when we classify or place them according to their differences.

Preposition:

We contrast one object with another.

Conversation.

Synonyms:

chat, communion, converse, intercourse,

colloquy, confabulation, dialogue, parley,

communication, conference, discourse, talk.

Conversation (Latin con, with) is, etymologically, an interchange of ideas with some other person or persons. Talk may be wholly one-sided. Many brilliant talkers have been incapable of conversation. There may be intercourse without conversation, as by looks, signs, etc.; communion is of hearts, with or without words; communication is often by writing, and may be uninvited and unreciprocated. Talk may denote the mere utterance of words with little thought; thus, we say idle talk, empty talk, rather than idle or empty conversation. Discourse is now applied chiefly to public addresses. A conference is more formal than a conversation. Dialog denotes ordinarily an artificial or imaginary conversation, generally of two persons, but sometimes of more. A colloquy is indefinite as to number, and generally somewhat informal. Compare BEHAVIOR.

Prepositions:

Conversation with friends; between or among the guests; about a matter.

Convert.

Synonyms:

disciple, neophyte, proselyte.

The name disciple is given to the follower of a certain faith, without reference to any previous belief or allegiance; a convert is a person who has come to one faith from a different belief or from unbelief. A proselyte is one who has been led to accept a religious system, whether with or without true faith; a convert is always understood to be a believer. A neophyte is a new convert, not yet fully indoctrinated, or not admitted to full privileges. The antonyms apostate, pervert, and renegade are condemnatory names applied to the convert by those whose faith he forsakes.

Convey.

Synonyms:

carry, give, remove, shift, transmit,

change, move, sell, transfer, transport.

Convey, transmit, and transport all imply delivery at a destination; as, I will convey the information to your friend; air conveys sound (to a listener); carry does not necessarily imply delivery, and often does not admit of it. A man carries an appearance, conveys an impression, the appearance remaining his own, the impression being given to another; I will transmit the letter; transport the goods. A horse carries his mane and tail, but does not convey them. Transfer may or may not imply delivery to another person; as, items may be transferred from one account to another or a word transferred to the following line. In law, real estate, which can not be moved, is conveyed by simply transferring title and possession. Transport usually refers to material, transfer, transmit, and convey may refer to immaterial objects; we transfer possession, transmit intelligence, convey ideas, but do not transport them. In the case of convey the figurative sense now predominates. Compare CARRY.

Antonyms:

cling to, hold, keep, possess, preserve, retain.

Prepositions:

Convey to a friend, a purchaser, etc.; convey from the house to the station; convey by express, by hand, etc.

Convoke.

Synonyms:

assemble, call together, convene, muster,

call, collect, gather, summon.

A convention is called by some officer or officers, as by its president, its executive committee, or some eminent leaders; the delegates are assembled or convened in a certain place, at a certain hour. Convoke implies an organized body and a superior authority; assemble and convene express more independent action; Parliament is convoked; Congress assembles. Troops are mustered; witnesses and jurymen are summoned.

Antonyms:

adjourn, disband, dismiss, dissolve, scatter,

break up, discharge, disperse, prorogue, separate.

Criminal.

Synonyms:

abominable, flagitious, immoral, sinful, vile,

culpable, guilty, iniquitous, unlawful, wicked,

felonious, illegal, nefarious, vicious, wrong.

Every criminal act is illegal or unlawful, but illegal or unlawful acts may not be criminal. Offenses against public law are criminal; offenses against private rights are merely illegal or unlawful. As a general rule, all acts punishable by fine or imprisonment or both, are criminal in view of the law. It is illegal for a man to trespass on another's land, but it is not criminal; the trespasser is liable to a civil suit for damages, but not to indictment, fine, or imprisonment. A felonious act is a criminal act of an aggravated kind, which is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary or by death. A flagitious crime is one that brings public odium. Vicious refers to the indulgence of evil appetites, habits, or passions; vicious acts are not necessarily criminal, or even illegal; we speak of a vicious horse. That which is iniquitous, i. e., contrary to equity, may sometimes be done under the forms of law. Ingratitude is sinful, hypocrisy is wicked, but neither is punishable by human law; hence, neither is criminal or illegal. Compare SIN.

Antonyms:

innocent, lawful, meritorious, right,

just, legal, moral, virtuous.

Daily.

Synonym:

diurnal.

Daily is the Saxon and popular, diurnal the Latin and scientific term. In strict usage, daily is the antonym of nightly as diurnal is of nocturnal. Daily is not, however, held strictly to this use; a physician makes daily visits if he calls at some time within each period of twenty-four hours. Diurnal is more exact in all its uses; a diurnal flower opens or blooms only in daylight; a diurnal bird or animal flies or ranges only by day: in contradistinction to nocturnal flowers, birds, etc. A diurnal motion exactly fills an astronomical day or the time of one rotation of a planet on its axis, while a daily motion is much less definite.

Antonyms:

nightly, nocturnal.

Danger.

Synonyms:

hazard, insecurity, jeopardy, peril, risk.

Danger is exposure to possible evil, which may be either near and probable or remote and doubtful; peril is exposure to imminent and sharply threatening evil, especially to such as results from violence. An invalid may be in danger of consumption; a disarmed soldier is in peril of death. Jeopardy is nearly the same as peril, but involves, like risk, more of the element of chance or uncertainty; a man tried upon a capital charge is said to be put in jeopardy of life. Insecurity is a feeble word, but exceedingly broad, applying to the placing of a dish, or the possibilities of a life, a fortune, or a government. Compare HAZARD.

Antonyms:

defense, immunity, protection, safeguard, safety, security, shelter.

Dark.

Synonyms:

black, dusky, mysterious, sable, somber,

dim, gloomy, obscure, shadowy, swart,

dismal, murky, opaque, shady, swarthy.

Strictly, that which is black is absolutely destitute of color; that which is dark is absolutely destitute of light. In common speech, however, a coat is black, tho not optically colorless; the night is dark, tho the stars shine. That is obscure, shadowy, or shady from which the light is more or less cut off. Dusky is applied to objects which appear as if viewed in fading light; the word is often used, as are swart and swarthy, of the human skin when quite dark, or even verging toward black. Dim refers to imperfection of outline, from distance, darkness, mist, etc., or from some defect of vision. Opaque objects, as smoked glass, are impervious to light. Murky is said of that which is at once dark, obscure, and gloomy; as, a murky den; a murky sky. Figuratively, dark is emblematic of sadness, agreeing with somber, dismal, gloomy, also of moral evil; as, a dark deed. Of intellectual matters, dark is now rarely used in the old sense of a dark saying, etc. See MYSTERIOUS; OBSCURE.

Antonyms:

bright, crystalline, glowing, lucid, shining,

brilliant, dazzling, illumined, luminous, transparent,

clear, gleaming, light, radiant, white.

Compare synonyms for LIGHT.

Decay.

Synonyms:

corrupt, decompose, molder, putrefy, rot, spoil.

Rot is a strong word, ordinarily esteemed coarse, but on occasion capable of approved emphatic use; as, "the name of the wicked shall rot," Prov. x, 7; decay and decompose are now common euphemisms. A substance is decomposed when resolved into its original elements by any process; it is decayed when resolved into its original elements by natural processes; it decays gradually, but may be instantly decomposed, as water into oxygen and hydrogen; to say that a thing is decayed may denote only a partial result, but to say it is decomposed ordinarily implies that the change is complete or nearly so. Putrefy and the adjectives putrid and putrescent, and the nouns putridity and putrescence, are used almost exclusively of animal matter in a state of decomposition, the more general word decay being used of either animal or vegetable substances.

Deception.

Synonyms:

craft, dissimulation, finesse, lie,

cunning, double-dealing, fraud, lying,

deceit, duplicity, guile, prevarication,

deceitfulness, fabrication, hypocrisy, trickery,

delusion, falsehood, imposition, untruth.

Deceit is the habit, deception the act; guile applies to the disposition out of which deceit and deception grow, and also to their actual practise. A lie, lying, or falsehood, is the uttering of what one knows to be false with intent to deceive. The novel or drama is not a lie, because not meant to deceive; the ancient teaching that the earth was flat was not a lie, because not then known to be false. Untruth is more than lack of accuracy, implying always lack of veracity; but it is a somewhat milder and more dignified word than lie. Falsehood and lying are in utterance; deceit and deception may be merely in act or implication. Deception may be innocent, and even unintentional, as in the case of an optical illusion; deceit always involves injurious intent. Craft and cunning have not necessarily any moral quality; they are common traits of animals, but stand rather low in the human scale. Duplicity is the habitual speaking or acting with intent to appear to mean what one does not. Dissimulation is rather a concealing of what is than a pretense of what is not. Finesse is simply an adroit and delicate management of a matter for one's own side, not necessarily involving deceit. Compare ARTIFICE; FICTION; FRAUD; HYPOCRISY.

Antonyms:

candor, frankness, honesty, simplicity, truth,

fair dealing, guilelessness, openness, sincerity, veracity.

Defense.

Synonyms:

apology, guard, rampart, shelter,

bulwark, justification, resistance, shield,

fortress, protection, safeguard, vindication.

The weak may speak or act in defense of the strong; none but the powerful can assure others of protection. A defense is ordinarily against actual attack; protection is against possible as well as actual dangers. We speak of defense against an assault, protection from the cold. Vindication is a triumphant defense of character and conduct against charges of error or wrong. Compare APOLOGY.

Antonyms:

abandonment, betrayal, capitulation, desertion, flight, surrender.

Prepositions:

Defense against assault or assailants; in law, defense to an action, from the testimony.

Defile.

Synonyms:

befoul, corrupt, pollute, spoil, sully, tarnish,

contaminate, infect, soil, stain, taint, vitiate.

The hand may be defiled by a touch of pitch; swine that have been wallowing in the mud are befouled. Contaminate and infect refer to something evil that deeply pervades and permeates, as the human body or mind. Pollute is used chiefly of liquids; as, water polluted with sewage. Tainted meat is repulsive; infected meat contains germs of disease. A soiled garment may be cleansed by washing; a spoiled garment is beyond cleansing or repair. Bright metal is tarnished by exposure; a fair sheet is sullied by a dirty hand. In figurative use, defile may be used merely in the ceremonial sense; "they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled," John xviii, 28; contaminate refers to deep spiritual injury. Pollute has also a reference to sacrilege; as, to pollute a sanctuary, an altar, or an ordinance. The innocent are often contaminated by association with the wicked; the vicious are more and more corrupted by their own excesses. We speak of a vitiated taste or style; fraud vitiates a title or a contract.

Antonyms:

clean, cleanse, disinfect, hallow, purify, sanctify, wash.

Prepositions:

The temple was defiled with blood; defiled by sacrilegious deeds.

Definition.

Synonyms:

comment, description, exposition, rendering,

commentary, explanation, interpretation, translation.

A definition is exact, an explanation general; a definition is formal, a description pictorial. A definition must include all that belongs to the object defined, and exclude all that does not; a description may include only some general features; an explanation may simply throw light upon some point of special difficulty. An exposition undertakes to state more fully what is compactly given or only implied in the text; as, an exposition of Scripture. Interpretation is ordinarily from one language into another, or from the language of one period into that of another; it may also be a statement giving the doubtful or hidden meaning of that which is recondite or perplexing; as, the interpretation of a dream, a riddle, or of some difficult passage. Definition, explanation, exposition, and interpretation are ordinarily blended in a commentary, which may also include description. A comment is upon a single passage; a commentary may be the same, but is usually understood to be a volume of comments.

Delegate.

Synonyms:

deputy, legate, proxy, representative, substitute.

These words agree in designating one who acts in the place of some other or others. The legate is an ecclesiastical officer representing the Pope. In strict usage the deputy or delegate is more limited in functions and more closely bound by instructions than a representative. A single officer may have a deputy; many persons combine to choose a delegate or representative. In the United States informal assemblies send delegates to nominating conventions with no legislative authority; representatives are legally elected to Congress and the various legislatures, with lawmaking power.

Deliberate.

Synonyms:

confer, consult, meditate, reflect,

consider, debate, ponder, weigh.

An individual considers, meditates, ponders, reflects, by himself; he weighs a matter in his own mind, and is sometimes said even to debate with himself. Consult and confer always imply two or more persons, as does debate, unless expressly limited as above. Confer suggests the interchange of counsel, advice, or information; consult indicates almost exclusively the receiving of it. A man confers with his associates about a new investment; he consults his physician about his health; he may confer with him on matters of general interest. He consults a dictionary, but does not confer with it. Deliberate, which can be applied to a single individual, is also the word for a great number, while consult is ordinarily limited to a few; a committee consults; an assembly deliberates. Deliberating always carries the idea of slowness; consulting is compatible with haste; we can speak of a hasty consultation, not of a hasty deliberation. Debate implies opposing views; deliberate, simply a gathering and balancing of all facts and reasons. We consider or deliberate with a view to action, while meditation may be quite purposeless.

Prepositions:

We deliberate on or upon, also about or concerning a matter: the first two are preferable.

Delicious.

Synonyms:

dainty, delightful, exquisite, luscious, savory.

That is delicious which affords a gratification at once vivid and delicate to the senses, especially to those of taste and smell; as, delicious fruit; a delicious odor; luscious has a kindred but more fulsome meaning, inclining toward a cloying excess of sweetness or richness. Savory is applied chiefly to cooked food made palatable by spices and condiments. Delightful may be applied to the higher gratifications of sense, as delightful music, but is chiefly used for that which is mental and spiritual. Delicious has a limited use in this way; as, a delicious bit of poetry; the word is sometimes used ironically for some pleasing absurdity; as, this is delicious! Compare DELIGHTFUL.

Antonyms:

acrid, bitter, loathsome, nauseous, repulsive, unpalatable, unsavory.

Delightful.

Synonyms:

acceptable, delicious, pleasant, refreshing,

agreeable, grateful, pleasing, satisfying,

congenial, gratifying, pleasurable, welcome.

Agreeable refers to whatever gives a mild degree of pleasure; as, an agreeable perfume. Acceptable indicates a thing to be worthy of acceptance; as, an acceptable offering. Grateful is stronger than agreeable or gratifying, indicating whatever awakens a feeling akin to gratitude. A pleasant face and pleasing manners arouse pleasurable sensations, and make the possessor an agreeable companion; if possessed of intelligence, vivacity, and goodness, such a person's society will be delightful. Criminals may find each other's company congenial, but scarcely delightful. Satisfying denotes anything that is received with calm acquiescence, as substantial food, or established truth. That is welcome which is received with joyful heartiness; as, welcome tidings. Compare BEAUTIFUL; CHARMING; DELICIOUS.

Antonyms:

depressing, distressing, horrible, miserable, painful, woful,

disappointing, hateful, melancholy, mournful, saddening, wretched.

Delusion.

Synonyms:

error, fallacy, hallucination, illusion, phantasm.

A delusion is a mistaken conviction, an illusion a mistaken perception or inference. An illusion may be wholly of the senses; a delusion always involves some mental error. In an optical illusion the observer sees either what does not exist, or what exists otherwise than as he sees it, as when in a mirage distant springs and trees appear close at hand. We speak of the illusions of fancy or of hope, but of the delusions of the insane. A hallucination is a false image or belief which has nothing, outside of the disordered mind, to suggest it; as, the hallucinations of delirium tremens. Compare DECEPTION; INSANITY.

Antonyms:

actuality, certainty, fact, reality, truth, verity.

Demolish.

Synonyms:

destroy, overthrow, overturn, raze, ruin.

A building, monument, or other structure is demolished when reduced to a shapeless mass; it is razed when leveled with the ground; it is destroyed when its structural unity is gone, whether or not its component parts remain. An edifice is destroyed by fire or earthquake; it is demolished by bombardment; it is ruined when, by violence or neglect, it has become unfit for human habitation. Compare ABOLISH; BREAK.

Antonyms:

build, construct, create, make, repair, restore.

Demonstration.

Synonyms:

certainty, consequence, evidence, inference,

conclusion, deduction, induction, proof.

Demonstration, in the strict and proper sense, is the highest form of proof, and gives the most absolute certainty, but can not be applied outside of pure mathematics or other strictly deductive reasoning; there can be proof and certainty, however, in matters that do not admit of demonstration. A conclusion is the absolute and necessary result of the admission of certain premises; an inference is a probable conclusion toward which known facts, statements, or admissions point, but which they do not absolutely establish; sound premises, together with their necessary conclusion, constitute a demonstration. Evidence is that which tends to show a thing to be true; in the widest sense, as including self-evidence or consciousness, it is the basis of all knowledge. Proof in the strict sense is complete, irresistible evidence; as, there was much evidence against the accused, but not amounting to proof of guilt. Moral certainty is a conviction resting on such evidence as puts a matter beyond reasonable doubt, while not so irresistible as demonstration. Compare HYPOTHESIS; INDUCTION.

Design.

Synonyms:

aim, final cause, object, proposal,

device, intent, plan, purpose,

end, intention, project, scheme.

Design refers to the adaptation of means to an end, the correspondence and coordination of parts, or of separate acts, to produce a result; intent and purpose overleap all particulars, and fasten on the end itself. Intention is simply the more familiar form of the legal and philosophical intent. Plan relates to details of form, structure, and action, in themselves; design considers these same details all as a means to an end. The plan of a campaign may be for a series of sharp attacks, with the design of thus surprising and overpowering the enemy. A man comes to a fixed intention to kill his enemy; he forms a plan to entrap him into his power, with the design of then compassing his death; as the law can not read the heart, it can only infer the intent from the evidences of design. Intent denotes a straining, stretching forth toward an object; purpose simply the placing it before oneself; hence, we speak of the purpose rather than the intent or intention of God. We hold that the marks of design in nature prove it the work of a great Designer. Intention contemplates the possibility of failure; purpose looks to assured success; intent or intention refers especially to the state of mind of the actor; purpose to the result of the action. Compare AIM; CAUSE; IDEA; MODEL.

Prepositions:

The design of defrauding; the design of a building; a design for a statue.

Desire.

Synonyms:

appetency, concupiscence, hankering, proclivity,

appetite, coveting, inclination, propensity,

aspiration, craving, longing, wish.

Inclination is the mildest of these terms; it is a quiet, or even a vague or unconscious, tendency. Even when we speak of a strong or decided inclination we do not express the intensity of desire. Desire has a wide range, from the highest objects to the lowest; desire is for an object near at hand, or near in thought, and viewed as attainable; a wish may be for what is remote or uncertain, or even for what is recognized as impossible. Craving is stronger than hankering; hankering may be the result of a fitful and capricious appetite; craving may be the imperious and reasonable demand of the whole nature. Longing is a reaching out with deep and persistent demand for that which is viewed as now distant but at some time attainable; as, the captive's longing for release. Coveting ordinarily denotes wrong desire for that which is another's. Compare APPETITE.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for ANTIPATHY.

Prepositions:

The desire of fame; a desire for excellence.

Despair.

Synonyms:

desperation, despondency, discouragement, hopelessness.

Discouragement is the result of so much repulse or failure as wears out courage. Discouragements too frequent and long continued may produce a settled hopelessness. Hopelessness is negative, and may result from simple apathy; despondency and despair are more emphatic and decided. Despondency is an incapacity for the present exercise of hope; despair is the utter abandonment of hope. Despondency relaxes energy and effort and is always attended with sadness or distress; despair may produce a stony calmness, or it may lead to desperation. Desperation is energized despair, vigorous in action, reckless of consequences.

Antonyms:

anticipation, cheer, courage, encouragement, expectation, hopefulness,

assurance, confidence, elation, expectancy, hope, trust.

Dexterity.

Synonyms:

adroitness, aptitude, cleverness, expertness, readiness, skill.

Adroitness (F. à, to, and droit, right) and dexterity (L. dexter, right, right-hand) might each be rendered "right-handedness;" but adroitness carries more of the idea of eluding, parrying, or checking some hostile movement, or taking advantage of another in controversy; dexterity conveys the idea of doing, accomplishing something readily and well, without reference to any action of others. We speak of adroitness in fencing, boxing, or debate; of dexterity in horsemanship, in the use of tools, weapons, etc. Aptitude (L. aptus, fit, fitted) is a natural readiness, which by practise may be developed into dexterity. Skill is more exact to line, rule, and method than dexterity. Dexterity can not be communicated, and, oftentimes can not even be explained by its possessor; skill to a very great extent can be imparted; "skilled workmen" in various trades are numbered by thousands. Compare ADDRESS; CLEVER; POWER; SKILFUL.

Prepositions:

Dexterity of hand, of movement, of management; with the pen; in action, in manipulating men; at cards.

Diction.

Synonyms:

expression, phrase, style, vocabulary,

language, phraseology, verbiage, wording.

An author's diction is strictly his choice and use of words, with no special reference to thought; expression regards the words simply as the vehicle of the thought. Phrase and phraseology apply to words or combinations of words which are somewhat technical; as, in legal phraseology; in military phrase. Diction is general; wording is limited; we speak of the diction of an author or of a work, the wording of a proposition, of a resolution, etc. Verbiage never bears this sense (see CIRCUMLOCUTION.) The language of a writer or speaker may be the national speech he employs; as, the English or French language; or the word may denote his use of that language; as, the author's language is well (or ill) chosen. Style includes diction, expression, rhetorical figures such as metaphor and simile, the effect of an author's prevailing tone of thought, of his personal traits—in short, all that makes up the clothing of thought in words; thus, we speak of a figurative style, a frigid or an argumentative style, etc., or of the style of Macaulay, Prescott, or others. An author's vocabulary is the range of words which he brings into his use. Compare LANGUAGE.

DIE.

Synonyms:

cease, decline, expire, perish,

decease, depart, fade, wither.

Die, to go out of life, become destitute of vital power and action, is figuratively applied to anything which has the appearance of life.

Where the dying night-lamp flickers.

Tennyson Locksley Hall st. 40.

An echo, a strain of music, a tempest, a topic, an issue, dies. Expire (literally, to breathe out) is a softer word for die; it is used figuratively of things that cease to exist by reaching a natural limit; as, a lease expires; the time has expired. To perish (literally, in Latin, to go through, as in English we say, "the fire goes out") is oftenest used of death by privation or exposure; as, "I perish with hunger," Luke xv, 17; sometimes, of death by violence. Knowledge and fame, art and empires, may be said to perish; the word denotes utter destruction and decay.

Antonyms:

be born, come into being, flourish, rise again,

begin, come to life, grow, rise from the dead,

be immortal, exist, live, survive.

Prepositions:

To die of fever; by violence; rarely, with the sword, famine, etc. (Ezek. vii, 15); to die for one's country; to die at sea; in one's bed; in agony; die to the world.

Difference.

Synonyms:

contrariety, discrimination, distinction, inequality,

contrast, disparity, divergence, unlikeness,

disagreement, dissimilarity, diversity, variation,

discrepancy, dissimilitude, inconsistency, variety.

Difference is the state or quality of being unlike or the amount of such unlikeness. A difference is in the things compared; a discrimination is in our judgment of them; a distinction is in our definition or description or mental image of them. Careful discrimination of real differences results in clear distinctions. Disparity is stronger than inequality, implying that one thing falls far below another; as, the disparity of our achievements when compared with our ideals. Dissimilarity is between things sharply contrasted; there may be a difference between those almost alike. There is a discrepancy in accounts that fail to balance. Variety involves more than two objects; so, in general, does diversity; variation is a difference in the condition or action of the same object at different times. Disagreement is not merely the lack, but the opposite, of agreement; it is a mild word for opposition and conflict; difference is sometimes used in the same sense.

Antonyms:

agreement, harmony, likeness, sameness, uniformity,

consonance, identity, resemblance, similarity, unity.

Prepositions:

Difference between the old and the new; differences among men; a difference in character; of action; of style; (less frequently) a difference (controversy) with a person; a difference of one thing from (incorrectly to) another.

Difficult.

Synonyms:

arduous, hard, onerous, toilsome,

exhausting, laborious, severe, trying.

Arduous (L. arduus, steep) signifies primarily so steep and lofty as to be difficult of ascent, and hence applies to that which involves great and sustained exertion and ordinarily for a lofty aim; great learning can only be won by arduous toil. Hard applies to anything that resists our endeavors as a scarcely penetrable mass resists our physical force. Anything is hard that involves tax and strain whether of the physical or mental powers. Difficult is not used of that which merely taxes physical force; a dead lift is called hard rather than difficult; breaking stone on the road would be called hard rather than difficult work; that is difficult which involves skill, sagacity, or address, with or without a considerable expenditure of physical force; a geometrical problem may be difficult to solve, a tangled skein to unravel; a mountain difficult to ascend. Hard may be active or passive; a thing may be hard to do or hard to bear. Arduous is always active. That which is laborious or toilsome simply requires the steady application of labor or toil till accomplished; toilsome is the stronger word. That which is onerous (L. onus, a burden) is mentally burdensome or oppressive. Responsibility may be onerous even when it involves no special exertion.

Antonyms:

easy, facile, light, pleasant, slight, trifling, trivial.

Direction.

Synonyms:

aim, bearing, course, inclination, tendency, way.

The direction of an object is the line of motion or of vision toward it, or the line in which the object is moving, considered from our own actual or mental standpoint. Way, literally the road or path, comes naturally to mean the direction of the road or path; conversationally, way is almost a perfect synonym of direction; as, which way did he go? or, in which direction? Bearing is the direction in which an object is seen with reference to another, and especially with reference to the points of the compass. Course is the direction of a moving object; inclination, that toward which a stationary object leans; tendency, the direction toward which anything stretches or reaches out; tendency is stronger and more active than inclination. Compare AIM; CARE; ORDER; OVERSIGHT.

Discern.

Synonyms:

behold, discriminate, observe, recognize,

descry, distinguish, perceive, see.

What we discern we see apart from all other objects; what we discriminate we judge apart; what we distinguish we mark apart, or recognize by some special mark or manifest difference. We discriminate by real differences; we distinguish by outward signs; an officer is readily distinguished from a common soldier by his uniform. Objects may be dimly discerned at twilight, when yet we can not clearly distinguish one from another. We descry (originally espy) what is difficult to discover. Compare DISCOVER; LOOK.

Discover.

Synonyms:

ascertain, detect, disclose, ferret out, find out,

descry, discern, expose, find, invent.

Of human actions or character, detect is used, almost without exception, in a bad sense; discover may be used in either the good or the bad sense, oftener in the good; he was detected in a fraud; real merit is sure to be discovered. In scientific language, detect is used of delicate indications that appear in course of careful watching; as, a slight fluttering of the pulse could be detected. We discover what has existed but has not been known to us; we invent combinations or arrangements not before in use; Columbus discovered America; Morse invented the electric telegraph. Find is the most general word for every means of coming to know what was not before certainly known. A man finds in the road some stranger's purse, or finds his own which he is searching for. The expert discovers or detects an error in an account; the auditor finds the account to be correct. Compare DISCERN.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for HIDE.

Disease.

Synonyms:

affection, disorder, indisposition, sickness,

ailment, distemper, infirmity, unhealthiness,

complaint, illness, malady, unsoundness.

Disease is the general term for any deviation from health; in a more limited sense it denotes some definite morbid condition; disorder and affection are rather partial and limited; as, a nervous affection; a disorder of the digestive system. Sickness was generally used in English speech and literature, till the close of the eighteenth century at least, for every form of physical disorder, as abundantly appears in the English Bible: "Jesus went about ... healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people," Matt. iv, 23; "Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died," 2 Kings xiii, 14. There is now, in England, a tendency to restrict the words sick and sickness to nausea, or "sickness at the stomach," and to hold ill and illness as the only proper words to use in a general sense. This distinction has received but a very limited acceptance in the United States, where sick and sickness have the earlier and wider usage. We speak of trifling ailments, a slight indisposition, a serious or a deadly disease; a slight or severe illness; a painful sickness. Complaint is a popular term, which may be applied to any degree of ill health, slight or severe. Infirmity denotes a chronic or lingering weakness or disability, as blindness or lameness.

Antonyms:

health, robustness, soundness, strength, sturdiness, vigor.

Disparage.

Synonyms:

belittle, depreciate, discredit, underestimate,

carp at, derogate from, dishonor, underrate,

decry, detract from, lower, undervalue.

To decry is to cry down, in some noisy, public, or conspicuous manner. A witness or a statement is discredited; the currency is depreciated; a good name is dishonored by unworthy conduct; we underestimate in our own minds; we may underrate or undervalue in statement to others. These words are used, with few exceptions, of things such as qualities, merits, attainments, etc. To disparage is to belittle by damaging comparison or suggestion; it is used only of things. A man's achievements are disparaged, his motives depreciated, his professions discredited; he himself is calumniated, slandered, etc. Compare SLANDER.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for PRAISE.

Displace.

Synonyms:

confuse, derange, disturb, mislay, remove,

crowd out, disarrange, jumble, misplace, unsettle.

Objects are displaced when moved out of the place they have occupied; they are misplaced when put into a place where they should not be. One may know where to find what he has misplaced; what he has mislaid he can not locate.

Antonyms:

adjust, assort, dispose, order, put in order, set in order,

array, classify, group, place, put in place, sort.

DO.

Synonyms:

accomplish, carry out, discharge, perform,

achieve, carry through, effect, perpetrate,

actualize, commit, execute, realize,

bring about, complete, finish, transact,

bring to pass, consummate, fulfil, work out.

Do is the one comprehensive word which includes this whole class. We may say of the least item of daily work, "It is done," and of the grandest human achievement, "Well done!" Finish and complete signify to bring to an end what was previously begun; there is frequently the difference in usage that finish is applied to the fine details and is superficial, while complete is comprehensive, being applied to the whole ideal, plan, and execution; as, to finish a statue; to complete a scheme of philosophy. To discharge is to do what is given in charge, expected, or required; as, to discharge the duties of the office. To fulfil is to do or to be what has been promised, expected, hoped, or desired; as, a son fulfils a father's hopes. Realize, effect, execute, and consummate all signify to embody in fact what was before in thought. One may realize that which he has done nothing to bring about; he may realize the dreams of youth by inheriting a fortune; but he can not effect his early designs except by doing the utmost that is necessary to make them fact. Effect includes all that is done to accomplish the intent; execute refers rather to the final steps; consummate is limited quite sharply to the concluding act. An officer executes the law when he proceeds against its violators; a purchase is consummated when the money is paid and the property delivered. Execute refers more commonly to the commands of another, effect and consummate to one's own designs; as, the commander effected the capture of the fort, because his officers and men promptly executed his commands. Achieve—to do something worthy of a chief—signifies always to perform some great and generally some worthy exploit. Perform and accomplish both imply working toward the end; but perform always allows a possibility of not attaining, while accomplish carries the thought of full completion. In Longfellow's lines, "Patience; accomplish thy labor," etc., perform could not be substituted without great loss. As between complete and accomplish, complete considers rather the thing as done; accomplish, the whole process of doing it. Commit, as applied to actions, is used only of those that are bad, whether grave or trivial; perpetrate is used chiefly of aggravated crimes or, somewhat humorously, of blunders. A man may commit a sin, a trespass, or a murder; perpetrate an outrage or a felony. We finish a garment or a letter, complete an edifice or a life-work, consummate a bargain or a crime, discharge a duty, effect a purpose, execute a command, fulfil a promise, perform our daily tasks, realize an ideal, accomplish a design, achieve a victory. Compare TRANSACT; TRANSACTION.

Antonyms:

baffle, defeat, fail, mar, miss, ruin,

come short, destroy, frustrate, miscarry, neglect, spoil.

Docile.

Synonyms:

amenable, manageable, pliant, teachable,

compliant, obedient, submissive, tractable,

gentle, pliable, tame, yielding.

One who is docile is easily taught; one who is tractable is easily led; one who is pliant is easily bent in any direction; compliant represents one as inclined or persuaded to agreement with another's will. Compare DUTY.

Antonyms:

determined, firm, intractable, opinionated, self-willed, wilful,

dogged, inflexible, obstinate, resolute, stubborn, unyielding.

Doctrine.

Synonyms:

article of belief, belief, precept, teaching,

article of faith, dogma, principle, tenet.

Doctrine primarily signifies that which is taught; principle, the fundamental basis on which the teaching rests. A doctrine is reasoned out, and may be defended by reasoning; a dogma rests on authority, as of direct revelation, the decision of the church, etc. A doctrine or dogma is a statement of some one item of belief; a creed is a summary of doctrines or dogmas. Dogma has commonly, at the present day, an offensive signification, as of a belief arrogantly asserted. Tenet is simply that which is held, and is applied to a single item of belief; it is a neutral word, neither approving nor condemning; we speak of the doctrines of our own church; of the tenets of others. A precept relates not to belief, but to conduct. Compare FAITH; LAW.

Dogmatic.

Synonyms:

arrogant, doctrinal, magisterial, positive,

authoritative, domineering, opinionated, self-opinionated,

dictatorial, imperious, overbearing, systematic.

Dogmatic is technically applied in a good sense to that which is formally enunciated by adequate authority; doctrinal to that which is stated in the form of doctrine to be taught or defended. Dogmatic theology, called also "dogmatics," gives definite propositions, which it holds to be delivered by authority; systematic theology considers the same propositions in their logical connection and order as parts of a system; a doctrinal statement is less absolute in its claims than a dogmatic treatise, and may be more partial than the term systematic would imply. Outside of theology, dogmatic has generally an offensive sense; a dogmatic statement is one for which the author does not trouble himself to give a reason, either because of the strength of his convictions, or because of his contempt for those whom he addresses; thus dogmatic is, in common use, allied with arrogant and kindred words.

Doubt, v.

Synonyms:

distrust, mistrust, surmise, suspect.

To doubt is to lack conviction. Incompleteness of evidence may compel one to doubt, or some perverse bias of mind may incline him to. Distrust may express simply a lack of confidence; as, I distrust my own judgment; or it may be nearly equivalent to suspect; as, I distrusted that man from the start. Mistrust and suspect imply that one is almost assured of positive evil; one may distrust himself or others; he suspects others. Mistrust is now rarely, if ever, used of persons, but only of motives, intentions, etc. Distrust is always serious; mistrust is often used playfully. Compare SUPPOSE. Compare synonyms for DOUBT, n.

Antonyms:

believe, confide in, depend on, depend upon, rely on, rely upon, trust.

Doubt, n.

Synonyms:

disbelief, incredulity, perplexity, suspense,

distrust, indecision, question, suspicion,

hesitancy, irresolution, scruple, unbelief,

hesitation, misgiving, skepticism, uncertainty.

Doubt is a lack of conviction that may refer either to matters of belief or to matters of practise. As regards belief, while doubt is lack of conviction, disbelief is conviction, to the contrary; unbelief refers to a settled state of mind, generally accompanied with opposition of heart. Perplexity is active and painful; doubt may be quiescent. Perplexity presses toward a solution; doubt may be content to linger unresolved. Any improbable statement awakens incredulity. In theological usage unbelief and skepticism have a condemnatory force, as implying wilful rejection of manifest truth. As regards practical matters, uncertainty applies to the unknown or undecided; doubt implies some negative evidence. Suspense regards the future, and is eager and anxious; uncertainty may relate to any period, and be quite indifferent. Misgiving is ordinarily in regard to the outcome of something already done or decided; hesitation, indecision, and irresolution have reference to something that remains to be decided or done, and are due oftener to infirmity of will than to lack of knowledge. Distrust and suspicion apply especially to the motives, character, etc., of others, and are more decidedly adverse than doubt. Scruple relates to matters of conscience and duty.

Antonyms:

assurance, certainty, conviction, determination, resolution,

belief, confidence, decision, persuasion, resolve.

Draw.

Synonyms:

allure, drag, haul, induce, lure, tow,

attract, entice, incline, lead, pull, tug.

One object draws another when it moves it toward itself or in the direction of its own motion by the exertion of adequate force, whether slight or powerful. To attract is to exert a force that tends to draw, tho it may produce no actual motion; all objects are attracted toward the earth, tho they may be sustained from falling. To drag is to draw against strong resistance; as, to drag a sled over bare ground, or a carriage up a steep hill. To pull is to exert a drawing force, whether adequate or inadequate; as, the fish pulls on the line; a dentist pulls a tooth. To tug is to draw, or try to draw, a resisting object with a continuous straining motion; as, to tug at the oar. To haul is to draw somewhat slowly a heavy object; as, to haul a seine; to haul logs. One vessel tows another. In the figurative sense, attract is more nearly akin to incline, draw to induce. We are attracted by one's appearance, drawn to his side. Compare ALLURE; ARRAY; INFLUENCE.

Antonyms:

alienate, estrange, rebuff, reject, repel, repulse.

See synonyms for DRIVE.

Prepositions:

To draw water from or out of the well; draw the boat through the water, to the shore; draw air into the lungs; draw with cords of love; the wagon is drawn by horses, along the road, across the field, over the stones, through the woods, to the barn.

Dream.

Synonyms:

day-dream, fantasy, reverie, trance,

fancy, hallucination, romance, vision.

A dream is strictly a train of thoughts, fantasies, and images passing through the mind during sleep; a vision may occur when one is awake, and in clear exercise of the senses and mental powers; vision is often applied to something seen by the mind through supernatural agency, whether in sleep or wakefulness, conceived as more real and authoritative than a dream; a trance is an abnormal state, which is different from normal sleep or wakefulness. A reverie is a purposeless drifting of the mind when awake, under the influence of mental images; a day-dream that which passes before the mind in such condition. A fancy is some image presented to the mind, often in the fullest exercise of its powers. Hallucination is the seeming perception of non-existent objects, as in insanity or delirium. In the figurative sense, we speak of dreams of fortune, visions of glory, with little difference of meaning except that the vision is thought of as fuller and more vivid. We speak of a trance of delight when the emotion almost sweeps one away from the normal exercise of the faculties.

Antonyms:

certainty, fact, reality, realization, substance, verity.

Dress.

Synonyms:

apparel, clothes, garb, habit, uniform,

array, clothing, garments, raiment, vestments,

attire, costume, habiliments, robes, vesture.

Clothing denotes the entire covering of the body, taken as a whole; clothes and garments view it as composed of separate parts. Clothes, clothing, and garments may be used of inner or outer covering; all the other words in the list (with possible rare exceptions in the case of raiment) refer to the outer garments. Array, raiment, and vesture are archaic or poetic; so, too, is habit, except in technical use to denote a lady's riding-dress. The word vestments is now rare, except in ecclesiastical use. Apparel and attire are most frequently used of somewhat complete and elegant outer clothing, tho Shakespeare speaks of "poor and mean attire." Dress may be used, specifically, for a woman's gown, and in that sense may be either rich or shabby; but in the general sense it denotes outer clothing which is meant to be elegant, complete, and appropriate to some social or public occasion; as, full dress, court dress, evening dress, etc. Dress has now largely displaced apparel and attire. Garb denotes the clothing characteristic of some class, profession, or the like; as, the garb of a priest. Costume is chiefly used for that which befits an assumed character; as, a theatrical costume; we sometimes speak of a national costume, etc.

Antonyms:

bareness, disarray, dishabille, exposure, nakedness, nudity, undress.

Drive.

Synonyms:

compel, propel, repel, resist, thrust,

impel, push, repulse, ride, urge on.

To drive is to move an object with some force or violence before or away from oneself; it is the direct reverse of draw, lead, etc. A man leads a horse by the halter, drives him with whip and rein. One may be driven to a thing or from it; hence, drive is a synonym equally for compel or for repel or repulse. Repulse is stronger and more conclusive than repel; one may be repelled by the very aspect of the person whose favor he seeks, but is not repulsed except by the direct refusal or ignoring of his suit. A certain conventional modern usage, especially in England, requires us to say that we drive in a carriage, ride upon a horse; tho in Scripture we read of riding in a chariot (2 Kings ix, 16; Jer. xvii, 25, etc.); good examples of the same usage may be found abundantly in the older English. The propriety of a person's saying that he is going to drive when he is simply to be conveyed in a carriage, where some one else, as the coachman, does all the driving, is exceedingly questionable. Many good authorities prefer to use ride in the older and broader sense as signifying to be supported and borne along by any means of conveyance. Compare BANISH; COMPEL; INFLUENCE.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for DRAW.

Prepositions:

Drive to market; to despair; drive into exile; from one's presence; out of the city; drive by, with, or under the lash; drive by or past beautiful estates; along the beach; beside the river; through the park; across the field; around the square; to the door; into the barn; out of the sunshine.

Duplicate.

Synonyms:

copy, facsimile, likeness, reproduction,

counterpart, imitation, replica, transcript.

A copy is as nearly like the original as the copyist has power to make it; a duplicate is exactly like the original; a carbon copy of a typewritten document must be a duplicate; we may have an inaccurate copy, but never an inaccurate duplicate. A facsimile is like the original in appearance; a duplicate is the same as the original in substance and effect; a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence is not a duplicate. A facsimile of a key might be quite useless; a duplicate will open the lock. A counterpart exactly corresponds to another object, but perhaps without design, while a copy is intentional. An imitation is always thought of as inferior to the original; as, an imitation of Milton. A replica is a copy of a work of art by the maker of the original. In law, a copy of an instrument has in itself no authority; the signatures, as well as other matters, may be copied; a duplicate is really an original, containing the same provisions and signed by the same persons, so that it may have in all respects the same force and effect; a transcript is an official copy, authenticated by the signature of the proper officer, and by the seal of the appropriate court. While strictly there could be but one duplicate, the word is now extended to an indefinite number of exact copies. Reproduction is chiefly applied to living organisms.

Antonyms:

archetype, model, original, pattern, prototype.

Duty.

Synonyms:

accountability, function, office, right,

business, obligation, responsibility, righteousness.

Etymologically, duty is that which is owed or due; obligation, that to or by which one is bound; right, that which is correct, straight, or in the direct line of truth and goodness; responsibility, that for which one must answer. Duty and responsibility are thought of as to some person or persons; right is impersonal. One's duty may be to others or to himself; his obligations and responsibilities are to others. Duty arises from the nature of things; obligation and responsibility may be created by circumstances, as by one's own promise, or by the acceptance of a trust, etc. We speak of a parent's duty, a debtor's obligation; or of a child's duty of obedience, and a parent's responsibility for the child's welfare. Right is that which accords with the moral system of the universe. Righteousness is right incarnated in action. In a more limited sense, right may be used of what one may rightly claim, and so be the converse of duty. It is the creditor's right to demand payment, and the debtor's duty to pay. Compare BUSINESS.

Eager.

Synonyms:

animated, desirous, glowing, importunate, longing,

anxious, earnest, hot, intense, vehement,

ardent, enthusiastic, impatient, intent, yearning,

burning, fervent, impetuous, keen, zealous.

One is eager who impatiently desires to accomplish some end; one is earnest with a desire that is less impatient, but more deep, resolute, and constant; one is anxious with a desire that foresees rather the pain of disappointment than the delight of attainment. One is eager for the gratification of any appetite or passion; he is earnest in conviction, purpose, or character. Eager usually refers to some specific and immediate satisfaction, earnest to something permanent and enduring; the patriotic soldier is earnest in his devotion to his country, eager for a decisive battle.

Antonyms:

apathetic, cool, indifferent, regardless, unconcerned,

calm, dispassionate, negligent, stolid, uninterested,

careless, frigid, phlegmatic, stony, unmindful,

cold, heedless, purposeless, stupid, unmoved.

Prepositions:

Eager for (more rarely after) favor, honor, etc.; eager in pursuit.

Ease.

Synonyms:

easiness, expertness, facility, knack, readiness.

Ease in the sense here considered denotes freedom from conscious or apparent effort, tax, or strain. Ease may be either of condition or of action; facility is always of action; readiness is of action or of expected action. One lives at ease who has no pressing cares; one stands at ease, moves or speaks with ease, when wholly without constraint. Facility is always active; readiness may be active or passive; the speaker has facility of expression, readiness of wit; any appliance is in readiness for use. Ease of action may imply merely the possession of ample power; facility always implies practise and skill; any one can press down the keys of a typewriter with ease; only the skilled operator works the machine with facility. Readiness in the active sense includes much of the meaning of ease with the added idea of promptness or alertness. Easiness applies to the thing done, rather than to the doer. Expertness applies to the more mechanical processes of body and mind; we speak of the readiness of an orator, but of the expertness of a gymnast. Compare COMFORTABLE; DEXTERITY; POWER.

Antonyms:

annoyance, constraint, discomfort, irritation, trouble, vexation,

awkwardness, difficulty, disquiet, perplexity, uneasiness, worry.

Education.

Synonyms:

breeding, discipline, learning, study,

cultivation, information, nurture, teaching,

culture, instruction, reading, training,

development, knowledge, schooling, tuition.

Education (L. educere, to lead or draw out) is the systematic development and cultivation of the mind and other natural powers. "Education is the harmonious development of all our faculties. It begins in the nursery, and goes on at school, but does not end there. It continues through life, whether we will or not.... 'Every person,' says Gibbon, 'has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one more important, which he gives himself.'" John Lubbock The Use of Life ch. vii, p. 111. [Macm. '94.] Instruction, the impartation of knowledge by others (L. instruere, to build in or into) is but a part of education, often the smallest part. Teaching is the more familiar and less formal word for instruction. Training refers not merely to the impartation of knowledge, but to the exercising of one in actions with the design to form habits. Discipline is systematic and rigorous training, with the idea of subjection to authority and perhaps of punishment. Tuition is the technical term for teaching as the business of an instructor or as in the routine of a school; tuition is narrower than teaching, not, like the latter word, including training. Study is emphatically what one does for himself. We speak of the teaching, training, or discipline, but not of the education or tuition of a dog or a horse. Breeding and nurture include teaching and training, especially as directed by and dependent upon home life and personal association; breeding having reference largely to manners with such qualities as are deemed distinctively characteristic of high birth; nurture (literally nourishing) having more direct reference to moral qualities, not overlooking the physical and mental. Knowledge and learning tell nothing of mental development apart from the capacity to acquire and remember, and nothing whatever of that moral development which is included in education in its fullest and noblest sense; learning, too, may be acquired by one's unaided industry, but any full education must be the result in great part of instruction, training, and personal association. Study is emphatically what one does for himself, and in which instruction and tuition can only point the way, encourage the student to advance, and remove obstacles; vigorous, persevering study is one of the best elements of training. Study is also used in the sense of the thing studied, a subject to be mastered by study, a studious pursuit. Compare KNOWLEDGE; REFINEMENT; WISDOM.

Antonyms:

ignorance, illiteracy.

Compare synonyms for IGNORANT.

Effrontery.

Synonyms:

assurance, boldness, hardihood, insolence,

audacity, brass, impudence, shamelessness.

Audacity, in the sense here considered, is a reckless defiance of law, decency, public opinion, or personal rights, claims, or views, approaching the meaning of impudence or shamelessness, but always carrying the thought of the personal risk that one disregards in such defiance; the merely impudent or shameless person may take no thought of consequences; the audacious person recognizes and recklessly braves them. Hardihood defies and disregards the rational judgment of men. Effrontery (L. effrons, barefaced, shameless) adds to audacity and hardihood the special element of defiance of considerations of propriety, duty, and respect for others, yet not to the extent implied in impudence or shamelessness. Impudence disregards what is due to superiors; shamelessness defies decency. Boldness is forward-stepping courage, spoken of with reference to the presence and observation of others; boldness, in the good sense, is courage viewed from the outside; but the word is frequently used in an unfavorable sense to indicate a lack of proper sensitiveness and modesty. Compare ASSURANCE; BRAVE.

Antonyms:

bashfulness, diffidence, sensitiveness, shyness,

coyness, modesty, shrinking, timidity.

Egotism.

Synonyms:

conceit, self-assertion, self-confidence, self-esteem,

egoism, self-conceit, self-consciousness, vanity.

Egoism is giving the "I" undue supremacy in thought; egotism is giving the "I" undue prominence in speech. Egotism is sometimes used in the sense of egoism, or supreme regard for oneself. Self-assertion is the claim by word, act, or manner of what one believes to be his due; self-conceit is an overestimate of one's own powers or deserts. Conceit is a briefer expression for self-conceit, with always an offensive implication; self-conceit is ridiculous or pitiable; conceit arouses resentment. There is a worthy self-confidence which springs from consciousness of rectitude and of power equal to demands. Self-assertion at times becomes a duty; but self-conceit is always a weakness. Self-consciousness is the keeping of one's thoughts upon oneself, with the constant anxious question of what others will think. Vanity is an overweening admiration of self, craving equal admiration from others; self-consciousness is commonly painful to its possessor, vanity always a source of satisfaction, except as it fails to receive its supposed due. Self-esteem is more solid and better founded than self-conceit; but is ordinarily a weakness, and never has the worthy sense of self-confidence. Compare ASSURANCE; PRIDE.

Antonyms:

bashfulness, diffidence, modesty, self-forgetfulness, unobtrusiveness,

deference, humility, self-distrust, shyness, unostentatiousness.

Emblem.

Synonyms:

attribute, figure, image, sign, symbol, token, type.

Emblem is the English form of emblema, a Latin word of Greek origin, signifying a figure beaten out on a metallic vessel by blows from within; also, a figure inlaid in wood, stone, or other material as a copy of some natural object. The Greek word symbolon denoted a victor's wreath, a check, or any object that might be compared with, or found to correspond with another, whether there was or was not anything in the objects compared to suggest the comparison. Thus an emblem resembles, a symbol represents. An emblem has some natural fitness to suggest that for which it stands; a symbol has been chosen or agreed upon to suggest something else, with or without natural fitness; a sign does actually suggest the thing with or without reason, and with or without intention or choice. A symbol may be also an emblem; thus the elements of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper are both appropriate emblems and his own chosen symbols of suffering and death. A statement of doctrine is often called a symbol of faith; but it is not an emblem. On the other hand, the same thing may be both a sign and a symbol; a letter of the alphabet is a sign which indicates a sound; but letters are often used as mathematical, chemical, or astronomical symbols. A token is something given or done as a pledge or expression of feeling or intent; while the sign may be unintentional, the token is voluntary; kind looks may be signs of regard; a gift is a token; a ring, which is a natural emblem of eternity, and also its accepted symbol, is frequently given as a token of friendship or love. A figure in the sense here considered is something that represents an idea to the mind somewhat as a form is represented to the eye, as in drawing, painting, or sculpture; as representing a future reality, a figure may be practically the same as a type. An image is a visible representation, especially in sculpture, having or supposed to have a close resemblance to that which it represents. A type is in religion a representation of a greater reality to come; we speak of one object as the type of the class whose characteristics it exhibits, as in the case of animal or vegetable types. An attribute in art is some accessory used to characterize a figure or scene; the attribute is often an emblem or symbol; thus the eagle is the attribute of St. John as an emblem of lofty spiritual vision. Compare SIGN.

Emigrate.

Synonyms:

immigrate, migrate.

To migrate is to change one's dwelling-place, usually with the idea of repeated change, or of periodical return; it applies to wandering tribes of men, and to many birds and animals. Emigrate and immigrate carry the idea of a permanent change of residence to some other country or some distant region; the two words are used distinctively of human beings, and apply to the same person and the same act, according to the side from which the action is viewed.

Prepositions:

A person emigrates from the land he leaves, and immigrates to the land where he takes up his abode.

Employ.

Synonyms:

call, engage, engross, hire, make use of, use, use up.

In general terms it may be said that to employ is to devote to one's purpose, to use is to render subservient to one's purpose; what is used is viewed as more absolutely an instrument than what is employed; a merchant employs a clerk; he uses pen and paper; as a rule, use is not said of persons, except in a degrading sense; as, the conspirators used him as a go-between. Hence the expression common in some religious circles "that God would use me" is not to be commended; it has also the fault of representing the human worker as absolutely a passive and helpless instrument; the phrase is altogether unscriptural; the Scripture says, "We are laborers together with (co-workers with) God." That which is used is often consumed in the using, or in familiar phrase used up; as, we used twenty tons of coal last winter; in such cases we could not substitute employ. A person may be employed in his own work or in that of another; in the latter case the service is always understood to be for pay. In this connection employ is a word of more dignity than hire; a general is employed in his country's service; a mercenary adventurer is hired to fight a tyrant's battles. It is unsuitable, according to present usage, to speak of hiring a pastor; the Scripture, indeed, says of the preacher, "The laborer is worthy of his hire;" but this sense is archaic, and hire now implies that the one hired works directly and primarily for the pay, as expressed in the noun "hireling;" a Pastor is properly said to be called, or when the business side of the transaction is referred to, engaged, or possibly employed, at a certain salary.

Prepositions:

Employ in, on, upon, or about a work, business, etc.; for a purpose; at a stipulated salary.

END, v.

Synonyms:

break off, close, conclude, expire, quit, terminate,

cease, complete, desist, finish, stop, wind up.

That ends, or is ended, of which there is no more, whether or not more was intended or needed; that is closed, completed, concluded, or finished which has come to an expected or appropriate end. A speech may be ended almost as soon as begun, because of the speaker's illness, or of tumult in the audience; in such a case, the speech is neither closed, completed, nor finished, nor, in the strict sense, concluded. An argument may be closed with nothing proved; when an argument is concluded all that is deemed necessary to prove the point has been stated. To finish is to do the last thing there is to do; as, "I have finished my course," 2 Tim. iv, 7. Finish has come to mean, not merely to complete in the essentials, but to perfect in all the minute details, as in the expression "to add the finishing touches." The enumeration is completed; the poem, the picture, the statue is finished. To terminate may be either to bring to an arbitrary or to an appropriate end; as, he terminated his remarks abruptly; the spire terminates in a cross. A thing stops that comes to rest from motion; or the motion stops or ceases when the object comes to rest; stop frequently signifies to bring or come to a sudden and decided cessation of motion, progress, or action of any kind. Compare DO; TRANSACT.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for BEGIN.

END, n.

Synonyms:

accomplishment, effect, limit,

achievement, expiration, outcome,

bound, extent, period,

boundary, extremity, point,

cessation, finale, purpose,

close, finis, result,

completion, finish, termination,

conclusion, fulfilment, terminus,

consequence, goal, tip,

consummation, intent, utmost,

design, issue, uttermost.

The end is the terminal part of a material object that has length; the extremity is distinctively the terminal point, and may thus be but part of the end in the general sense of that word; the extremity is viewed as that which is most remote from some center, or some mean or standard position; the southern end of South America includes all Patagonia, the southern extremity or point is Cape Horn. Tip has nearly the same meaning as extremity, but is said of small or slight and tapering objects; as, the tip of the finger; point in such connections is said of that which is drawn out to exceeding fineness or sharpness, as the point of a needle, a fork, or a sword; extremity is said of something considerable; we do not speak of the extremity of a needle. Terminus is chiefly used to designate the end of a line of travel or transportation: specifically, the furthermost station in any direction on a railway, or by extension the town or village where it is situated. Termination is the Latin and more formal word for the Saxon end, but is chiefly used of time, words, undertakings, or abstractions of any kind. Expiration signifies the coming to an end in the natural course of things; as, the expiration of a year, or of a lease; it is used of things of some consequence; we do not ordinarily speak of the expiration of an hour or of a day. Limit implies some check to or restraint upon further advance, right, or privilege; as, the limits of an estate (compare BOUNDARY). A goal is an end sought or striven for, as in a race. For the figurative senses of end and its associated words, compare the synonyms for the verb END; also for AIM; CONSEQUENCE; DESIGN.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for BEGINNING.

Endeavor, v.

Synonyms:

attempt, essay, strive, try, undertake.

To attempt is to take action somewhat experimentally with the hope and purpose of accomplishing a certain result; to endeavor is to attempt strenuously and with firm and enduring purpose. To attempt expresses a single act; to endeavor, a continuous exertion; we say I will endeavor (not I will attempt) while I live. To attempt is with the view of accomplishing; to essay, with a view of testing our own powers. To undertake is to accept or take upon oneself as an obligation, as some business, labor, or trust; the word often implies complete assurance of success; as, I will undertake to produce the witness. To strive suggests little of the result, much of toil, strain, and contest, in seeking it; I will strive to fulfil your wishes, i. e., I will spare no labor and exertion to do it. Try is the most comprehensive of these words. The original idea of testing or experimenting is not thought of when a man says "I will try." To attempt suggests giving up, if the thing is not accomplished at a stroke; to try implies using other means and studying out other ways if not at first successful. Endeavor is more mild and formal; the pilot in the burning pilot-house does not say "I will endeavor" or "I will attempt to hold the ship to her course," but "I'll try, sir!"

Antonyms:

abandon, give up, omit, throw away,

dismiss, let go, overlook, throw over,

drop, neglect, pass by, throw up.

Endeavor, n.

Synonyms:

attempt, effort, essay, exertion, struggle, trial.

Effort denotes the voluntary putting forth of power to attain or accomplish some specific thing; it reaches toward a definite end; exertion is a putting forth of power without special reference to an object. Every effort is an exertion, but not every exertion is an effort. Attempt is more experimental than effort, endeavor less strenuous but more continuous. An effort is a single act, an endeavor a continued series of acts; an endeavor is sustained and enduring, and may be lifelong; we do not have a society of Christian Attempt, or of Christian Effort, but of Christian Endeavor. A struggle is a violent effort or strenuous exertion. An essay is an attempt, effort, or endeavor made as a test of the powers of the one who makes it. Compare ENDEAVOR, v.

Endure.

Synonyms:

abide, bear, brook, submit to, sustain,

afford, bear up under, permit, suffer, tolerate,

allow, bear with, put up with, support, undergo.

Bear is the most general of these words; it is metaphorically to hold up or keep up a burden of care, pain, grief, annoyance, or the like, without sinking, lamenting, or repining. Allow and permit involve large concession of the will; put up with and tolerate imply decided aversion and reluctant withholding of opposition or interference; whispering is allowed by the school-teacher who does not forbid nor censure it; one puts up with the presence of a disagreeable visitor; a state tolerates a religion which it would be glad to suppress. To endure is to bear with strain and resistance, but with conscious power; endure conveys a fuller suggestion of contest and conquest than bear. One may choose to endure the pain of a surgical operation rather than take anesthetics; he permits the thing to come which he must brace himself to endure when it comes. To afford is to be equal to a pecuniary demand, i. e., to be able to bear it. To brook is quietly to put up with provocation or insult. Abide combines the senses of await and endure; as, I will abide the result. Compare ABIDE; SUPPORT.

Antonyms:

break, despair, fail, fall, give out, sink, surrender,

break down, droop, faint, falter, give up, succumb, yield.

Enemy.

Synonyms:

adversary, antagonist, competitor, foe, opponent, rival.

An enemy in private life is one who is moved by hostile feeling with active disposition to injure; but in military language all who fight on the opposite side are called enemies or collectively "the enemy," where no personal animosity may be implied; foe, which is rather a poetical and literary word, implies intensely hostile spirit and purpose. An antagonist is one who opposes and is opposed actively and with intensity of effort; an opponent, one in whom the attitude of resistance is the more prominent; a competitor, one who seeks the same object for which another is striving; antagonists in wrestling, competitors in business, opponents in debate may contend with no personal ill will; rivals in love, ambition, etc., rarely avoid inimical feeling. Adversary was formerly much used in the general sense of antagonist or opponent, but is now less common, and largely restricted to the hostile sense; an adversary is ordinarily one who not only opposes another in fact, but does so with hostile spirit, or perhaps out of pure malignity; as, the great Adversary. Compare synonyms for AMBITION.

Antonyms:

abettor, accessory, accomplice, ally, friend, helper, supporter.

Prepositions:

He was the enemy of my friend in the contest.

Enmity.

Synonyms:

acrimony, bitterness, ill will, malignity,

animosity, hatred, malevolence, rancor,

antagonism, hostility, malice, spite.

Enmity is the state of being an enemy or the feeling and disposition characterizing an enemy (compare ENEMY). Animosity denotes a feeling more active and vehement, but often less enduring and determined, than enmity. Enmity distinctly recognizes its object as an enemy, to be met or dealt with accordingly. Hostility is enmity in action; the term hostilities between nations denotes actual armed collision. Bitterness is a resentful feeling arising from a belief that one has been wronged; acrimony is a kindred feeling, but deeper and more persistent, and may arise from the crossing of one's wishes or plans by another, where no injustice or wrong is felt. Antagonism, as between two competing authors or merchants, does not necessarily imply enmity, but ordinarily suggests a shade, at least, of hostile feeling. Malice is a disposition or intent to injure others, for the gratification of some evil passion; malignity is intense and violent enmity, hatred, or malice. Compare synonyms for ACRIMONY; ANGER; HATRED.

Antonyms:

agreement, amity, friendship, kindliness, regard,

alliance, concord, harmony, kindness, sympathy.

Entertain.

Synonyms:

amuse, cheer, disport, enliven, interest, please,

beguile, delight, divert, gratify, occupy, recreate.

To entertain, in the sense here considered, is to engage and pleasantly occupy the attention; to amuse is to occupy the attention in an especially bright and cheerful way, often with that which excites merriment or laughter; as, he entertained us with an amusing story. To divert is to turn from serious thoughts or laborious pursuits to something that lightly and agreeably occupies the mind; one may be entertained or amused who has nothing serious or laborious from which to be diverted. To recreate, literally to re-create, is to engage mind or body in some pleasing activity that restores strength and energy for serious work. To beguile is, as it were, to cheat into cheer and comfort by something that insensibly draws thought or feeling away from pain or disquiet. We beguile a weary hour, cheer the despondent, divert the preoccupied, enliven a dull evening or company, gratify our friends' wishes, entertain, interest, please a listening audience, occupy idle time, disport ourselves when merry, recreate when worn with toil; we amuse ourselves or others with whatever pleasantly passes the time without special exertion, each according to his taste.

Antonyms:

annoy, bore, busy, disquiet, distract, disturb, tire, weary.

Entertainment.

Synonyms:

amusement, diversion, fun, pleasure,

cheer, enjoyment, merriment, recreation,

delight, frolic, pastime, sport.

Entertainment and recreation imply thought and mental occupation, tho in an agreeable, refreshing way; they are therefore words of a high order. Entertainment, apart from its special senses of a public performance or a social party, and predominantly even there, is used of somewhat mirthful mental delight; recreation may, and usually does, combine the mental with the physical. Amusement and pastime are nearly equivalent, the latter probably the lighter word; many slight things may be pastimes which we should hardly dignify by the name of amusements. Sports are almost wholly on the physical plane, tho involving a certain grade of mental action; fox-hunting, horse-racing, and baseball are sports. Certain sports may afford entertainment or recreation to certain persons, according to their individual tastes; but entertainment and recreation are capable of a meaning so high as never to be approached by any meaning of sport. Cheer may be very quiet, as the cheer of a bright fire to an aged traveler; merriment is with liveliness and laughter; fun and frolic are apt to be boisterous. Amusement is a form of enjoyment, but enjoyment may be too keen to be called amusement. Compare synonyms for ENTERTAIN.

Antonyms:

ennui, fatigue, labor, lassitude, toil, weariness, work.

Enthusiasm.

Synonyms:

ardor, excitement, frenzy, transport,

devotion, extravagance, inspiration, vehemence,

eagerness, fanaticism, intensity, warmth,

earnestness, fervency, passion, zeal.

ecstasy, fervor, rapture,

The old meaning of enthusiasm implies a pseudo-inspiration, an almost frantic extravagance in behalf of something supposed to be an expression of the divine will. This sense remains as the controlling one in the kindred noun enthusiast. Enthusiasm has now chiefly the meaning of an earnest and commendable devotion, an intense and eager interest. Against the hindrances of the world, nothing great and good can be carried without a certain fervor, intensity, and vehemence; these joined with faith, courage, and hopefulness make enthusiasm. Zeal is burning earnestness, always tending to vigorous action with all the devotion of enthusiasm, tho often without its hopefulness. Compare EAGER.

Antonyms:

calculation, caution, deadness, indifference, policy, timidity,

calmness, coldness, dulness, lukewarmness, prudence, wariness.

Entrance.

Synonyms:

access, approach, gate, introduction,

accession, door, gateway, opening,

adit, doorway, ingress, penetration,

admission, entrée, inlet, portal.

admittance, entry,

Entrance, the act of entering, refers merely to the fact of passing from without to within some enclosure; admission and admittance refer to entering by or with some one's consent, or at least to opportunity afforded by some one's act or neglect. We may effect or force an entrance, but not admittance or admission; those we gain, procure, obtain, secure, win. Admittance refers to place, admission refers also to position, privilege, favor, friendship, etc. An intruder may gain admittance to the hall of a society who would not be allowed admission to its membership. Approach is a movement toward another; access is coming all the way to his presence, recognition, and consideration. An unworthy favorite may prevent even those who gain admittance to a king's audience from obtaining any real access to the king. Entrance is also used figuratively for setting out upon some career, or becoming a member of some organization; as, we speak of one's entrance upon college life, or of entrance into the ministry.

Antonyms:

departure, ejection, exit, refusal, withdrawal.

egress, exclusion, expulsion, rejection,

Prepositions:

Entrance into a place; on or upon a work or course of action; into or upon office; into battle; by or through the door; within the gates; into or among the company.

Envious.

Synonyms:

jealous, suspicious.

One is envious who cherishes selfish ill will toward another because of his superior success, endowments, possessions, or the like. A person is envious of that which is another's, and to which he himself has no right or claim; he is jealous of intrusion upon that which is his own, or to which he maintains a right or claim. An envious spirit is always bad; a jealous spirit may be good or bad, according to its object and tendency. A free people must be jealous of their liberties if they would retain them. One is suspicious of another from unfavorable indications or from a knowledge of wrong in his previous conduct, or even without reason. Compare DOUBT.

Antonyms:

contented, friendly, kindly, satisfied, trustful, well-disposed.

Prepositions:

Envious of (formerly at or against) a person; envious of his wealth or power; envious of him for, because of, on account of his wealth or power.

Equivocal.

Synonyms:

ambiguous, enigmatical, indistinct, questionable,

doubtful, indefinite, obscure, suspicious,

dubious, indeterminate, perplexing, uncertain.

enigmatic,

Equivocal (L. equus, equal, and vox, voice, word) denotes that which may equally well be understood in either of two or more ways. Ambiguous (L. ambi, around, and ago, drive, lead) signifies lacking in distinctness or certainty, obscure or doubtful through indefiniteness of expression. Ambiguous is applied only to spoken or written statements; equivocal has other applications. A statement is ambiguous when it leaves the mind of the reader or hearer to fluctuate between two meanings, which would fit the language equally well; it is equivocal when it would naturally be understood in one way, but is capable of a different interpretation; an equivocal expression is, as a rule, intentionally deceptive, while an ambiguous utterance may be simply the result of a want either of clear thought or of adequate expression. That which is enigmatical must be guessed like a riddle; a statement may be purposely made enigmatical in order to provoke thought and study. That is doubtful which is fairly open to doubt; that is dubious which has become the subject of doubts so grave as scarcely to fall short of condemnation; as, a dubious reputation. Questionable may be used nearly in the sense either of dubious or of doubtful; a questionable statement is one that must be proved before it can be accepted. To say that one's honesty is questionable is a mild way of saying that in the opinion of the speaker he is likely to prove dishonest. Equivocal is sometimes, tho more rarely, used in this sense. A suspicious character gives manifest reason to be suspected; a suspicious temper is inclined to suspect the motives and intentions of others, with or without reason. Compare CLEAR.

Antonyms:

certain, evident, lucid, perspicuous, unequivocal,

clear, indisputable, manifest, plain, unquestionable,

distinct, indubitable, obvious, unambiguous, unquestioned.

Esteem, v.

Synonyms:

appreciate, consider, estimate, prize, think,

calculate, deem, hold, regard, value.

Esteem and estimate alike imply to set a certain mental value upon, but esteem is less precise and mercantile than calculate or estimate. We esteem a jewel precious; we estimate it to be worth so much money. This sense of esteem is now chiefly found in literary or oratorical style, and in certain conventional phrases; as, I esteem it an honor, a favor. In popular usage esteem, as said of persons, denotes a union of respect and kindly feeling and, in the highest sense, of moral approbation; as, one whom I highly esteem; the word may be used in a similar sense of material things or abstractions; as, one whose friendship I esteem; a shell greatly esteemed for inlaid work. To appreciate anything is to be deeply or keenly sensible of or sensitive to its qualities or influence, to see its full import, be alive to its value, importance, or worth; as, to appreciate beauty or harmony; to appreciate one's services in a cause; the word is similarly, tho rarely, used of persons. To prize is to set a high value on for something more than merely commercial reasons. One may value some object, as a picture, beyond all price, as a family heirloom, or may prize it as the gift of an esteemed friend, without at all appreciating its artistic merit or commercial value. To regard (F. regarder, look at, observe) is to have a certain mental view favorable or unfavorable; as, I regard him as a friend; or, I regard him as a villain; regard has a distinctively favorable sense as applied to institutions, proprieties, duties, etc., but does not share the use of the noun regard as applied to persons; we regard the Sabbath; we regard a person's feelings; we have a regard for the person. Compare ESTEEM, n.

Esteem, n.

Synonyms:

estimate, estimation, favor, regard, respect.

Esteem for a person is a favorable opinion on the basis of worth, especially of moral worth, joined with a feeling of interest in and attraction toward the person. Regard for a person is the mental view or feeling that springs from a sense of his value, excellence, or superiority, with a cordial and hearty friendliness. Regard is more personal and less distant than esteem, and adds a special kindliness; respect is a more distant word than esteem. Respect may be wholly on one side, while regard is more often mutual; respect in the fullest sense is given to what is lofty, worthy, and honorable, or to a person of such qualities; we may pay an external respect to one of lofty station, regardless of personal qualities, showing respect for the office. Estimate has more of calculation; as, my estimate of the man, or of his abilities, is very high. Estimation involves the idea of calculation or appraisal with that of esteem or regard, and is especially used of the feeling entertained by numbers of people; as, he stood high in public estimation. Compare ESTEEM, v.; FRIENDSHIP; LOVE.

Antonyms:

abhorrence, aversion, dislike, loathing,

antipathy, contempt, hatred, repugnance.

Eternal.

Synonyms:

deathless, fadeless, never-failing, undying,

endless, immortal, perennial, unending,

eonian, imperishable, perpetual, unfading,

everlasting, interminable, timeless, unfailing,

ever-living, never-ending, unceasing, without end.

Eternal strictly signifies without beginning or end, in which sense it applies to God alone; everlasting applies to that which may or may not have beginning, but will never cease; eternal is also used in this more limited sense; endless, without end, in its utmost reach, is not distinguishable from everlasting; but endless is constantly used in inferior senses, especially in mechanics, as in the phrases an endless screw, an endless chain. Everlasting and endless are both used in a limited sense of protracted, indefinite, but not infinite duration; as, the everlasting hills; endless debates; so we speak of interminable quarrels. Eternal holds quite strictly to the vast and sacred meaning in which it is applied to the Divine Being and the future state. Everlasting, endless, and eternal may be applied to that which has no life; as, everlasting chains, endless night, eternal death; immortal applies to that which now has life, and is forever exempt from death. Timeless carries, perhaps, the fullest idea of eternal, as above and beyond time, and not to be measured by it.

Event.

Synonyms:

case, contingency, fortune, outcome,

chance, end, incident, possibility,

circumstance, episode, issue, result,

consequence, fact, occurrence, sequel.

Etymologically, the incident is that which falls in, the event that which comes out; event is thus greater and more signal than incident; we speak of trifling incidents, great events; incidents of daily life, events of history. Circumstance agrees with incident in denoting a matter of relatively slight importance, but implies a more direct connection with the principal matter; "circumstantial evidence" is evidence from seemingly minor matters directly connected with a case; "incidental evidence" would be some evidence that happened unexpectedly to touch it. An occurrence is, etymologically, that which we run against, without thought of its origin, connection or tendency. An episode is connected with the main course of events, like an incident or circumstance, but is of more independent interest and importance. Outcome is the Saxon, and event the Latin for expressing the same original idea. Consequence or result would express more of logical connection, and be more comprehensive. The end may be simple cessation; the event is what has been accomplished; the event of a war is victory or defeat; the end of the war is reached when a treaty of peace is signed. Since the future is contingent, event comes to have the meaning of a contingency; as, in the event of his death, the policy will at once fall due. Compare CIRCUMSTANCE; CONSEQUENCE; END.

Every.

Synonyms:

all, any, both, each, either.

All and both are collective; any, each, and every are distributive. Any makes no selection and may not reach to the full limits of all; each and every make no exception or omission, and must extend to all; all sweeps in the units as part of a total, each and every proceed through the units to the total. A promise made to all omits none; a promise made to any may not reach all; a promise made to every one is so made that no individual shall fail to be aware of it; a promise made to each is made to the individuals personally, one by one. Each is thus more individual and specific than every; every classifies, each individualizes. Each divides, both unites; if a certain sum is given to each of two persons, both (together) must receive twice the amount; both must be aware of what has been separately communicated to each; a man may fire both barrels of a gun by a single movement; if he fires each barrel, he discharges them separately. Either properly denotes one of two, indefinitely, to the exclusion of the other. The use of either in the sense of each or both, tho sustained by good authority, is objectionable because ambiguous. His friends sat on either side of the room would naturally mean on one side or the other; if the meaning is on both sides, it would be better to say so.

Evident.

Synonyms:

apparent, glaring, overt, tangible,

clear, indubitable, palpable, transparent,

conspicuous, manifest, patent, unmistakable,

discernible, obvious, perceptible, visible.

distinct, open, plain,

That is apparent which clearly appears to the senses or to the mind as soon as the attention is directed toward it; that is evident of which the mind is made sure by some inference that supplements the facts of perception; the marks of a struggle were apparent in broken shrubbery and trampled ground, and the finding of a mutilated body and a rifled purse made it evident that robbery and murder had been committed. That is manifest which we can lay the hand upon; manifest is thus stronger than evident, as touch is more absolute than sight; that the picture was a modern copy of an ancient work was evident, and on comparison with the original its inferiority was manifest. That is obvious which is directly in the way so that it can not be missed; as, the application of the remark was obvious. Visible applies to all that can be perceived by the sense of sight, whether the noonday sun, a ship on the horizon, or a microscopic object. Discernible applies to that which is dimly or faintly visible, requiring strain and effort in order to be seen; as, the ship was discernible through the mist. That is conspicuous which stands out so as necessarily or strikingly to attract the attention. Palpable and tangible express more emphatically the thought of manifest.

Antonyms:

concealed, impalpable, latent, secret, unknown,

covert, impenetrable, obscure, undiscovered, unseen,

dark, imperceptible, occult, unimagined, unthought-of.

hidden, invisible,

Example.

Synonyms:

archetype, ideal, prototype, type,

ensample, model, sample, warning.

exemplar, pattern, specimen,

exemplification, precedent, standard,

From its original sense of sample or specimen (L. exemplum) example derives the seemingly contradictory meanings, on the one hand of a pattern or model, and on the other hand of a warning—a sample or specimen of what is to be followed, or of what is to be shunned. An example, however, may be more than a sample or specimen of any class; it may be the very archetype or prototype to which the whole class must conform, as when Christ is spoken of as being an example or leaving an example for his disciples. Example comes nearer to the possible freedom of the model than to the necessary exactness of the pattern; often we can not, in a given case, exactly imitate the best example, but only adapt its teachings to altered circumstances. In its application to a person or thing, exemplar can scarcely be distinguished from example; but example is most frequently used for an act, or course of action, for which exemplar is not used; as, one sets a good (or a bad) example. An exemplification is an illustrative working out in action of a principle or law, without any reference to its being copied or repeated; an example guides, an exemplification illustrates or explains. Ensample is the same as example, but is practically obsolete outside of Scriptural or theological language. Compare MODEL; SAMPLE.

Excess.

Synonyms:

dissipation, lavishness, redundance, surplus,

exorbitance, overplus, redundancy, waste,

extravagance, prodigality, superabundance, wastefulness.

intemperance, profusion, superfluity,

Excess is more than enough of anything, and, since this in very many cases indicates a lack either of judgment or of self-control, the word is used frequently in an unfavorable sense. Careless expenditure in excess of income is extravagance; we may have also extravagance of language, professions, etc. As extravagance is excess in outlay, exorbitance is excess in demands, and especially in pecuniary demands upon others. Overplus and superabundance denote in the main a satisfactory, and superfluity an undesirable, excess; lavishness and profusion, a generous, bountiful, or amiable excess; as, a profusion of fair hair; lavishness of hospitality. Surplus is neutral, having none of the unfavorable meaning that often attaches to excess; a surplus is that which remains over after all demands are met. Redundance or redundancy refers chiefly to literary style, denoting an excess of words or matter. Excess in the moral sense is expressed by dissipation, prodigality, intemperance, etc.

Antonyms:

dearth, destitution, frugality, lack, scantiness,

defect, economy, inadequacy, need, shortcoming,

deficiency, failure, insufficiency, poverty, want.

Execute.

Synonyms:

administer, carry out, do, enforce, perform.

To execute is to follow through to the end, put into absolute and final effect in action; to administer is to conduct as one holding a trust, as a minister and not an originator; the sheriff executes a writ; the trustee administers an estate, a charity, etc.; to enforce is to put into effect by force, actual or potential. To administer the laws is the province of a court of justice; to execute the laws is the province of a sheriff, marshal, constable, or other executive officer; to administer the law is to declare or apply it; to execute the law is to put it in force; for this enforce is the more general word, execute the more specific. From signifying to superintend officially some application or infliction, administer passes by a natural transition to signify inflict, mete out, dispense, and blows, medicine, etc., are said to be administered: a usage thoroughly established and reputable in spite of pedantic objections. Enforce signifies also to present and urge home by intellectual and moral force; as, to enforce a precept or a duty. Compare DO; KILL; MAKE.

Exercise.

Synonyms:

act, application, exertion, performance,

action, drill, occupation, practise,

activity, employment, operation, use.

Exercise, in the ordinary sense, is the easy natural action of any power; exertion is the putting of any power to strain and tax. An exercise-drive for a horse is so much as will develop strength and health and not appreciably weary. But by qualifying adjectives we may bring exercise up to the full sense of exertion; as, violent exercise. Exercise is action taken at any time with a view to employing, maintaining, or increasing power, or merely for enjoyment; practise is systematic exercise with a view to the acquirement of facility and skill in some pursuit; a person takes a walk for exercise, or takes time for practise on the piano. Practise is also used of putting into action and effect what one has learned or holds as a theory; as, the practise of law or medicine; a profession of religion is good, but the practise of it is better. Drill is systematic, rigorous, and commonly enforced practise under a teacher or commander. Compare HABIT.

Antonyms:

idleness, inaction, inactivity, relaxation, rest.

Expense.

Synonyms:

cost, expenditure, outgo, outlay.

The cost of a thing is whatever one surrenders or gives up for it, intentionally or unintentionally, or even unconsciously; expense is what is laid out by calculation or intention. We say, "he won his fame at the cost of his life;" "I know it to my cost;" we speak of a joke at another's expense; at another's cost would seem to make it a more serious matter. There is a tendency to use cost of what we pay for a possession, expense of what we pay for a service; we speak of the cost of goods, the expense of making up. Outlay is used of some definite expenditure, as for the purchase of supplies; outgo of a steady drain or of incidental expenses. See PRICE.

Antonyms:

gain, proceeds, profit, receipt, return,

income, product, profits, receipts, returns.

Explicit.

Synonym:

express.

Both explicit and express are opposed to what is merely implicit or implied. That which is explicit is unfolded, so that it may not be obscure, doubtful, or ambiguous; that which is express is uttered or stated so decidedly that it may not be forgotten nor overlooked. An explicit statement is too clear to be misunderstood; an express command is too emphatic to be disregarded. Compare CLEAR.

Antonyms:

ambiguous, implicit, indefinite, uncertain,

doubtful, implied, indeterminate, vague.

Extemporaneous.

Synonyms:

extemporary, impromptu, offhand,

extempore, improvised, unpremeditated.

Extemporaneous, originally signifying of or from the time or occasion, has come to mean done or made with but little (if any) preparation, and is now chiefly applied to addresses of which the thought has been prepared, and only the language and incidental treatment left to the suggestion of the moment, so that an extemporaneous speech is understood to be any one that is not read or recited; impromptu keeps its original sense, denoting something that springs from the instant; the impromptu utterance is generally brief, direct, and vigorous; the extemporaneous speech may chance to be prosy. Offhand is still more emphatic as to the readiness and freedom of the utterance. Unpremeditated is graver and more formal, denoting absolute want of preparation, but is rather too heavy a word to be applied to such apt, ready utterance as is generally designated by impromptu.

Antonyms:

elaborated, premeditated, prepared, read, recited, studied, written.

Exterminate.

Synonyms:

annihilate, eradicate, overthrow, uproot,

banish, expel, remove, wipe out.

destroy, extirpate, root out,

Exterminate (L. ex, out, and terminus, a boundary) signified primarily to drive beyond the bounds or limits of a country; the word is applied to races of men or animals, and is now almost exclusively used for removal by death; individuals are now said to be banished or expelled. Eradicate (L. e, out, and radix, root) is primarily applied to numbers or groups of plants which it is desired to remove effectually from the soil; a single tree may be uprooted, but is not said to be eradicated; we labor to eradicate or root out noxious weeds. To extirpate (L. ex, out, and stirps, stem, stock) is not only to destroy the individuals of any race of plants or animals, but the very stock, so that the race can never be restored; we speak of eradicating a disease, of extirpating a cancer, exterminating wild beasts or hostile tribes; we seek to eradicate or extirpate all vices and evils. Compare ABOLISH.

Antonyms:

augment, breed, cherish, develop, increase, populate, replenish,

beget, build up, colonize, foster, plant, propagate, settle.

Faint.

Synonyms:

dim, fatigued, irresolute, weak,

exhausted, feeble, languid, wearied,

faded, half-hearted, listless, worn,

faint-hearted, ill-defined, purposeless, worn down,

faltering, indistinct, timid, worn out.

Faint, with the general sense of lacking strength or effectiveness, covers a wide range of meaning, signifying overcome with physical weakness or exhaustion, or lacking in purpose, courage, or energy, as said of persons; or lacking definiteness or distinctness of color or sound, as said of written characters, voices, or musical notes. A person may be faint when physically wearied, or when overcome with fear; he may be a faint adherent because naturally feeble or purposeless, or because half-hearted in the cause; he may be a faltering supporter because naturally irresolute or because faint-hearted and timid in view of perils that threaten, a listless worker, through want of mental energy and purpose. Written characters may be faint or dim, either because originally written with poor ink, or because they have become faded by time and exposure.

Antonyms:

bright, clear, daring, fresh, resolute, sturdy,

brilliant, conspicuous, energetic, hearty, strong, vigorous.

Prepositions:

Faint with hunger; faint in color.

Faith.

Synonyms:

assent, confidence, credit, opinion,

assurance, conviction, creed, reliance,

belief, credence, doctrine, trust.

Belief, as an intellectual process, is the acceptance of some thing as true on other grounds than personal observation and experience. We give credence to a report, assent to a proposition or to a proposal. Belief is stronger than credence; credence might be described as a prima facie belief; credence is a more formal word than belief, and seems to imply somewhat more of volition; we speak of giving credence to a report, but not of giving belief. Goods are sold on credit; we give one credit for good intentions. Conviction is a belief established by argument or evidence; assurance is belief beyond the reach of argument; as, the Christian's assurance of salvation. An opinion is a general conclusion held as probable, tho without full certainty; a persuasion is a more confident opinion, involving the heart as well as the intellect. In religion, a doctrine is a statement of belief regarding a single point; a creed is a summary statement of doctrines. Confidence is a firm dependence upon a statement as true, or upon a person as worthy. Reliance is confidence on which we act or are ready to act unquestioningly; we have a calm reliance upon the uniformity of nature. Trust is a practical and tranquil resting of the mind upon the integrity, kindness, friendship, or promises of a person; we have trust in God. Faith is a union of belief and trust. Faith is chiefly personal; belief may be quite impersonal; we speak of belief of a proposition, faith in a promise, because the promise emanates from a person. But belief in a person is often used with no appreciable difference from faith. In religion it is common to distinguish between intellectual belief of religious truth, as any other truth might be believed, and belief of the heart, or saving faith.

Antonyms:

denial, dissent, doubt, infidelity, rejection, suspicion,

disbelief, distrust, incredulity, misgiving, skepticism, unbelief.

Prepositions:

Have faith in God; the faith of the gospel.

Faithful.

Synonyms:

devoted, incorruptible, stanch, true, trusty,

firm, loyal, sure, trustworthy, unwavering.

A person is faithful who will keep faith, whether with or without power to aid or serve; a person or thing is trusty that possesses such qualities as to justify the fullest confidence and dependence. We may speak of a faithful but feeble friend; we say a trusty agent, a trusty steed, a trusty sword.

Antonyms:

capricious, false, unfaithful, untrustworthy,

faithless, fickle, untrue, wavering.

Prepositions:

Faithful in service; to duty; to comrade or commander; faithful among the faithless.

Fame.

Synonyms:

celebrity, eminence, honor, notoriety, reputation,

credit, glory, laurels, renown, repute.

distinction,

Fame is the widely disseminated report of a person's character, deeds, or abilities, and is oftenest used in the favorable sense. Reputation and repute are more limited than fame, and may be either good or bad. Notoriety is evil repute or a dishonorable counterfeit of fame. Eminence and distinction may result from rank, station, or character. Celebrity is limited in range; we speak of local celebrity, or world-wide fame. Fame in its best sense may be defined as the applause of numbers; renown, as such applause worthily won; we speak of the conqueror's fame, the patriot's renown. Glory and honor are of good import; honor may be given for qualities or acts that should not win it, but it is always given as something good and worthy; we can speak of an evil fame, but not of evil honor; glory has a more exalted and often a sacred sense.

Antonyms:

contempt, discredit, dishonor, humiliation, infamy, obscurity,

contumely, disgrace, disrepute, ignominy, oblivion, shame.

Fanaticism.

Synonyms:

bigotry, credulity, intolerance, superstition.

Fanaticism is extravagant or even frenzied zeal; bigotry is obstinate and unreasoning attachment to a cause or creed; fanaticism and bigotry usually include intolerance, which is unwillingness to tolerate beliefs or opinions contrary to one's own; superstition is ignorant and irrational religious belief. Credulity is not distinctively religious, but is a general readiness to believe without sufficient evidence, with a proneness to accept the marvellous. Bigotry is narrow, fanaticism is fierce, superstition is ignorant, credulity is weak, intolerance is severe. Bigotry has not the capacity to reason fairly, fanaticism has not the patience, superstition has not the knowledge and mental discipline, intolerance has not the disposition. Bigotry, fanaticism, and superstition are perversions of the religious sentiment; credulity and intolerance often accompany skepticism or atheism.

Antonyms:

cynicism, free-thinking, indifference, latitudinarianism.

Fanciful.

Synonyms:

chimerical, fantastic, grotesque, imaginative, visionary.

That is fanciful which is dictated or suggested by fancy independently of more serious considerations; the fantastic is the fanciful with the added elements of whimsicalness and extravagance. The fanciful swings away from the real or the ordinary lightly and pleasantly, the fantastic extravagantly, the grotesque ridiculously. A fanciful arrangement of objects is commonly pleasing, a fantastic arrangement is striking, a grotesque arrangement is laughable. A fanciful theory or suggestion may be clearly recognized as such; a visionary scheme is erroneously supposed to have a basis in fact. Compare synonyms for DREAM; IDEA; IMAGINATION.

Antonyms:

accurate, commonplace, prosaic, regular, sound,

calculable, literal, real, sensible, sure,

calculated, ordinary, reasonable, solid, true.

Fancy.

Synonyms:

belief, desire, imagination, predilection,

caprice, humor, inclination, supposition,

conceit, idea, liking, vagary,

conception, image, mood, whim.

An intellectual fancy is a mental image or picture founded upon slight or whimsical association or resemblance; a conceit has less of the picturesque and more of the theoretic than a fancy; a conceit is somewhat aside from the common laws of reasoning, as a fancy is lighter and more airy than the common mode of thought. A conceit or fancy may be wholly unfounded, while a conception always has, or is believed to have, some answering reality. (Compare REASON.) An intellectual fancy or conceit may be pleasing or amusing, but is never worth serious discussion; we speak of a mere fancy, a droll or odd conceit. An emotional or personal fancy is a capricious liking formed with slight reason and no exercise of judgment, and liable to fade as lightly as it was formed. In a broader sense, the fancy signifies the faculty by which fancies or mental images are formed, associated, or combined. Compare synonyms for DREAM; IDEA; IMAGINATION.

Antonyms:

actuality, certainty, fact, reality, truth, verity.

Prepositions:

To have a fancy for or take a fancy to a person or thing.

Farewell.

Synonyms:

adieu, good-by, parting salutation, valedictory.

congé, leave-taking, valediction,

Good-by is the homely and hearty, farewell the formal English word at parting. Adieu, from the French, is still more ceremonious than farewell; congé, also from the French, is commonly contemptuous or supercilious, and equivalent to dismissal. Valediction is a learned word never in popular use. A valedictory is a public farewell to a company or assembly.

Prepositions:

I bade farewell to my comrades, or (without preposition) I bade my comrades farewell; I took a sad farewell of my friends.

Fear.

Synonyms:

affright, dismay, horror, timidity,

apprehension, disquietude, misgiving, trembling,

awe, dread, panic, tremor,

consternation, fright, terror, trepidation.

Fear is the generic term denoting an emotion excited by threatening evil with a desire to avoid or escape it; fear may be sudden or lingering, in view of present, of imminent, or of distant and only possible danger; in the latter sense dread is oftener used. Horror (etymologically a shivering or shuddering) denotes a shuddering fear accompanied with abhorrence or such a shock to the feelings and sensibilities as may exist without fear, as when one suddenly encounters some ghastly spectacle; we say of a desperate but fettered criminal, "I looked upon him with horror." Where horror includes fear, it is fear mingled with abhorrence. (See ABHOR.) Affright, fright, and terror are always sudden, and in actual presence of that which is terrible. Fear may overwhelm, or may nerve one to desperate defense; fright and terror render one incapable of defense; fear may be controlled by force of will; fright and terror overwhelm the will; terror paralyzes, fright may cause one to fly, to scream, or to swoon. Fright is largely a matter of the nerves; fear of the intellect and the imagination; terror of all the faculties, bodily and mental. Panic is a sudden fear or fright, affecting numbers at once; vast armies or crowded audiences are liable to panic upon slight occasion. In a like sense we speak of a financial panic. Dismay is a helpless sinking of heart in view of some overwhelming peril or sorrow. Dismay is more reflective, enduring, and despairing than fright; a horse is subject to fright or terror, but not to dismay. Awe is a reverential fear. Compare ALARM.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for FORTITUDE.

Feminine.

Synonyms:

effeminate, female, womanish, womanly.

We apply female to the sex, feminine to the qualities, especially the finer physical or mental qualities that distinguish the female sex in the human family, or to the objects appropriate for or especially employed by them. A female voice is the voice of a woman; a feminine voice may belong to a man. Womanish denotes the undesirable, womanly the admirable or lovely qualities of woman. Womanly tears would suggest respect and sympathy, womanish tears a touch of contempt. The word effeminate is always used reproachfully, and only of men as possessing womanly traits such as are inconsistent with true manliness.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for MASCULINE.

Fetter.

Synonyms:

bondage, custody, gyves, irons,

bonds, durance, handcuffs, manacles,

chains, duress, imprisonment, shackles.

Bonds may be of cord, leather, or any other substance that can bind; chains are of linked metal. Manacles and handcuffs are for the hands, fetters are primarily chains or jointed iron fastenings for the feet; gyves may be for either. A shackle is a metallic ring, clasp, or bracelet-like fastening for encircling and restraining a limb: commonly one of a pair, used either for hands or feet. Bonds, fetters, and chains are used in a general way for almost any form of restraint. Gyves is now wholly poetic, and the other words are mostly restricted to the literary style; handcuffs is the specific and irons the general term in popular usage; as, the prisoner was put in irons. Bonds, chains, and shackles are frequently used in the metaphorical sense.

Feud.

Synonyms:

affray, brawl, contest, dissension, hostility,

animosity, broil, controversy, enmity, quarrel,

bitterness, contention, dispute, fray, strife.

A feud is enmity between families, clans, or parties, with acts of hostility mutually retaliated and avenged; feud is rarely used of individuals, never of nations. While all the other words of the group may refer to that which is transient, a feud is long-enduring, and often hereditary. Dissension is used of a number of persons, of a party or other organization. Bitterness is in feeling only; enmity and hostility involve will and purpose to oppose or injure. A quarrel is in word or act, or both, and is commonly slight and transient, as we speak of childish quarrels; contention and strife may be in word or deed; contest ordinarily involves some form of action. Contest is often used in a good sense, contention and strife very rarely so. Controversy is commonly in words; strife extends from verbal controversy to the contests of armies. Affray, brawl, and broil, like quarrel, are words of inferior dignity. An affray or broil may arise at a street corner; the affray always involves physical force; the brawl or broil may be confined to violent language.

Fiction.

Synonyms:

allegory, fabrication, invention, myth, romance,

apologue, falsehood, legend, novel, story.

fable, figment,

Fiction is now chiefly used of a prose work in narrative form in which the characters are partly or wholly imaginary, and which is designed to portray human life, with or without a practical lesson; a romance portrays what is picturesque or striking, as a mere fiction may not do; novel is a general name for any continuous fictitious narrative, especially a love-story; fiction and novel are used with little difference of meaning, except that novel characterizes a work in which the emotional element is especially prominent. The moral of the fable is expressed formally; the lesson of the fiction, if any, is inwrought. A fiction is studied; a myth grows up without intent. A legend may be true, but can not be historically verified; a myth has been received as true at some time, but is now known to be false. A fabrication is designed to deceive; it is a less odious word than falsehood, but is really stronger, as a falsehood may be a sudden unpremeditated statement, while a fabrication is a series of statements carefully studied and fitted together in order to deceive; the falsehood is all false; the fabrication may mingle the true with the false. A figment is something imaginary which the one who utters it may or may not believe to be true; we say, "That statement is a figment of his imagination." The story may be either true or false, and covers the various senses of all the words in the group. Apologue, a word simply transferred from Greek into English, is the same as fable. Compare ALLEGORY.

Antonyms:

certainty, fact, history, literalness, reality, truth, verity.

Fierce.

Synonyms:

ferocious, furious, raging, uncultivated, violent,

fiery, impetuous, savage, untrained, wild.

Fierce signifies having a furious and cruel nature, or being in a furious and cruel mood, more commonly the latter. It applies to that which is now intensely excited, or liable to intense and sudden excitement. Ferocious refers to a state or disposition; that which is fierce flashes or blazes; that which is ferocious steadily burns; we speak of a ferocious animal, a fierce passion. A fiery spirit with a good disposition is quickly excitable in a good cause, but may not be fierce or ferocious. Savage signifies untrained, uncultivated. Ferocious always denotes a tendency to violence; it is more distinctly bloodthirsty than the other words; a person may be deeply, intensely cruel, and not at all ferocious; a ferocious countenance expresses habitual ferocity; a fierce countenance may express habitual fierceness, or only the sudden anger of the moment. That which is wild is simply unrestrained; the word may imply no anger or harshness; as, wild delight, wild alarm.

Antonyms:

affectionate, gentle, kind, patient, submissive, tame,

docile, harmless, mild, peaceful, sweet, tender.

Financial.

Synonyms:

fiscal, monetary, pecuniary.

These words all relate to money, receipts, or expenditures. Monetary relates to actual money, coin, currency; as, the monetary system; a monetary transaction is one in which money is transferred. Pecuniary refers to that in which money is involved, but less directly; we speak of one's pecuniary affairs or interests, with no special reference to the handling of cash. Financial applies especially to governmental revenues or expenditures, or to private transactions of considerable moment; we speak of a pecuniary reward, a financial enterprise; we give a needy person pecuniary (not financial) assistance. It is common to speak of the fiscal rather than the financial year.

Fine.

Synonyms:

beautiful, excellent, polished, small,

clarified, exquisite, pure, smooth,

clear, gauzy, refined, splendid,

comminuted, handsome, sensitive, subtile,

dainty, keen, sharp, subtle,

delicate, minute, slender, tenuous,

elegant, nice, slight, thin.

Fine (L. finis, end) denotes that which has been brought to a full end, finished. From this root-sense many derived meanings branch out, causing words quite remote from each other to be alike synonyms of fine. That which is truly finished, brought to an ideal end, is excellent of its kind, and beautiful, if a thing that admits of beauty; as, a fine house, fine trees, a fine woman, a fine morning; if a thing that admits of the removal of impurities, it is not finished till these are removed, and hence fine signifies clarified, clear, pure, refined; as, fine gold. That which is finished is apt to be polished, smooth to the touch, minutely exact in outline; hence fine comes to be a synonym for all words like dainty, delicate, exquisite; as, fine manners, a fine touch, fine perceptions. As that which is delicate is apt to be small, by an easy extension of meaning fine becomes a synonym for slender, slight, minute, comminuted; as, a fine thread, fine sand; or for filmy, tenuous, thin; as, a fine lace, fine wire; and as a thin edge is keen, sharp, fine becomes also a synonym for these words; as, a fine point, a fine edge. Compare BEAUTIFUL; MINUTE.

Antonyms:

big, clumsy, great, huge, large, stout,

blunt, coarse, heavy, immense, rude, thick.

Fire.

Synonyms:

blaze, burning, combustion, conflagration, flame.

Combustion is the essential fact which is at the basis of that assemblage of visible phenomenon which we call fire; combustion being the continuous chemical combination of a substance with some element, as oxygen, evolving heat, and extending from slow processes, such as those by which the heat of the human body is maintained, to the processes producing the most intense light also, as in a blast-furnace, or on the surface of the sun. Fire is always attended with light, as well as heat; blaze, flame, etc., designate the mingled light and heat of a fire. Combustion is the scientific, fire the popular term. A conflagration is an extensive fire. Compare LIGHT.

Flock.

Synonyms:

bevy, covey, group, herd, lot, set,

brood, drove, hatch, litter, pack, swarm.

Group is the general word for any gathering of a small number of objects, whether of persons, animals, or inanimate things. The individuals in a brood or litter are related to each other; those in the other groups may not be. Brood is used chiefly of fowls and birds, litter of certain quadrupeds which bring forth many young at a birth; we speak of a brood of chickens, a litter of puppies; brood is sometimes applied to a family of young children. Bevy is used of birds, and figuratively of any bright and lively group of women or children, but rarely of men. Flock is applied to birds and to some of the smaller animals; herd is confined to the larger animals; we speak of a bevy of quail, a covey of partridges, a flock of blackbirds, or a flock of sheep, a herd of cattle, horses, buffaloes, or elephants, a pack of wolves, a pack of hounds, a swarm of bees. A collection of animals driven or gathered for driving is called a drove.

Fluctuate.

Synonyms:

hesitate, swerve, vacillate, veer,

oscillate, undulate, vary, waver.

To fluctuate (L. fluctus, a wave) is to move like a wave with alternate rise and fall. A pendulum oscillates; waves fluctuate or undulate; a light or a flame wavers; a frightened steed swerves from his course; a tool or weapon swerves from the mark or line; the temperature varies; the wind veers when it suddenly changes its direction. That which veers may steadily hold the new direction; that which oscillates, fluctuates, undulates, or wavers returns upon its way. As regards mental states, he who hesitates sticks (L. hærere) on the verge of decision; he who wavers does not stick to a decision; he who vacillates decides now one way, and now another; one vacillates between contrasted decisions or actions; he may waver between decision and indecision, or between action and inaction. Persons hesitate, vacillate, waver; feelings fluctuate or vary. Compare SHAKE.

Antonyms:

abide, adhere, hold fast, persist, stand fast, stay, stick.

Fluid.

Synonyms:

gas, liquid.

A fluid is a substance that, like air or water, yields to any force that tends to change its form; a liquid is a body in that state in which the particles move freely among themselves, but remain in one mass, keeping the same volume, but taking always the form of the containing vessel; a liquid is an inelastic fluid; a gas is an elastic fluid that tends to expand to the utmost limits of the containing space. All liquids are fluids, but not all fluids are liquids; air and all the gases are fluids, but they are not liquids under ordinary circumstances, tho capable of being reduced to a liquid form by special means, as by cold and pressure. Water at the ordinary temperature is at once a fluid and a liquid.

Follow.

Synonyms:

accompany, come after, go after, obey, pursue,

attend, copy, heed, observe, result,

chase, ensue, imitate, practise, succeed.

Anything that comes after or goes after another, either in space or in time, is said to follow it. A servant follows or attends his master; a victorious general may follow the retiring enemy merely to watch and hold him in check; he chases or pursues with intent to overtake and attack; the chase is closer and hotter than the pursuit. (Compare synonyms for HUNT.) One event may follow another either with or without special connection; if it ensues, there is some orderly connection; as, the ensuing year; if it results from another, there is some relation of effect, consequence, or inference. A clerk observes his employer's directions. A child obeys his parent's commands, follows or copies his example, imitates his speech and manners. The compositor follows copy; the incoming succeeds the outgoing official.

Food.

Synonyms:

aliment, feed, nourishment, pabulum, sustenance,

diet, fodder, nutriment, provender, viands,

fare, forage, nutrition, regimen, victuals.

Food is, in the popular sense, whatever one eats in contradistinction to what one drinks. Thus, we speak of food and drink, of wholesome, unwholesome, or indigestible food; but in a more scientific sense whatever, when taken into the digestive organs, serves to build up structure or supply waste may be termed food; the word is extended to plants to signify whatever taken in any way into the organism serves similar purposes; thus, we speak of liquid food, plant food, etc.; in this wider sense food is closely synonymous with nutriment, nourishment, and sustenance. Diet refers to the quantity and quality of food habitually taken, with reference to preservation of health. Victuals is a plain, homely word for whatever may be eaten; we speak of choice viands, cold victuals. Nourishment and sustenance apply to whatever can be introduced into the system as a means of sustaining life; we say of a convalescent, he is taking nourishment. Nutriment and nutrition have more of scientific reference to the vitalizing principles of various foods; thus, wheat is said to contain a great amount of nutriment. Regimen considers food as taken by strict rule, but applies more widely to the whole ordering of life. Fare is a general word for all table supplies, good or bad; as, sumptuous fare; wretched fare. Feed, fodder, and provender are used only of the food of the lower animals, feed denoting anything consumed, but more commonly grain, fodder denoting hay, cornstalks, or the like, sometimes called "long feed;" provender is dry feed, whether grain or hay, straw, etc. Forage denotes any kind of food suitable for horses and cattle, primarily as obtained by a military force in scouring the country, especially an enemy's country.

Formidable.

Synonyms:

dangerous, redoubted, terrible, tremendous.

That which is formidable is worthy of fear if encountered or opposed; as, a formidable array of troops, or of evidence. Formidable is a word of more dignity than dangerous, and suggests more calm and collected power than terrible; formidable is less overwhelming than tremendous. A loaded gun is dangerous; a park of artillery is formidable; a charge of cavalry is terrible; the full shock of great armies is tremendous. A dangerous man is likely to do mischief, and needs watching; a formidable man may not be dangerous if not attacked; an enraged maniac is terrible; the force of ocean waves in a storm, and the silent pressure in the ocean depths, are tremendous.

Antonyms:

contemptible, despicable, feeble, harmless, helpless, powerless, weak.

Prepositions:

Formidable by or in numbers; in strength; formidable to the enemy.

Fortification.

Synonyms:

castle, citadel, fastness, fort, fortress, stronghold.

Fortification is the general word for any artificial defensive work; a fortress is a fortification of especial size and strength; a fortress is regarded as permanent, and is ordinarily an independent work; a fort or fortification may be temporary; a fortification may be but part of a defensive system; we speak of the fortifications of a city. A citadel is a fortification within a city, or the fortified inner part of a city or fortress, within which a garrison may be placed to overawe the citizens, or to which the defenders may retire if the outer works are captured; the medieval castle was the fortified residence of a king or baron. Fort is the common military term for a detached fortified building or enclosure of moderate size occupied or designed to be occupied by troops. The fortifications of a modern city usually consist of a chain of forts. Any defensible place, whether made so by nature or by art, is a fastness or stronghold.

Fortitude.

Synonyms:

courage, endurance, heroism, resolution.

Fortitude (L. fortis, strong) is the strength or firmness of mind or soul to endure pain or adversity patiently and determinedly. Fortitude has been defined as "passive courage," which is a good definition, but not complete. Fortitude might be termed "still courage," or "enduring courage;" it is that quality which is able not merely to endure pain or trial, but steadily to confront dangers that can not be actively opposed, or against which one has no adequate defense; it takes courage to charge a battery, fortitude to stand still under an enemy's fire. Resolution is of the mind; endurance is partly physical; it requires resolution to resist temptation, endurance to resist hunger and cold. Compare BRAVE; PATIENCE.

Fortunate.

Synonyms:

favored, lucky, prospered, prosperous, successful.

happy,

A man is successful in any case if he achieves or gains what he seeks; he is known as a successful man if he has achieved or gained worthy objects of endeavor; he is fortunate or lucky if advantages have come to him without or beyond his direct planning or achieving. Lucky is the more common and colloquial, fortunate the more elegant word; fortunate is more naturally applied to the graver matters, as we speak of the fortunate, rather than the lucky, issue of a great battle; lucky more strongly emphasizes the element of chance, as when we speak of a lucky hit, a lucky guess, or of one as "born under a lucky star." Favored is used in a religious sense, implying that one is the object of divine favor. Happy, in this connection, signifies possessed of the means of happiness. One is said to be happy or prosperous whether his prosperity be the result of fortune or of achievement; prospered rather denotes the action of a superintending Providence.

Antonyms:

broken, fallen, miserable, unhappy, woful,

crushed, ill-starred, unfortunate, unlucky, wretched.

Fraud.

Synonyms:

artifice, deceit, duplicity, swindle, treason,

cheat, deception, imposition, swindling, trick.

cheating, dishonesty, imposture, treachery,

A fraud is an act of deliberate deception with the design of securing something by taking unfair advantage of another. A deceit or deception may be designed merely to gain some end of one's own, with no intent of harming another; an imposition, to take some small advantage of another, or simply to make another ridiculous. An imposture is designed to obtain money, credit, or position to which one is not entitled, and may be practised by a street beggar or by the pretender to a throne. All action that is not honest is dishonesty, but the term dishonesty is generally applied in business, politics, etc., to deceitful practises which are not directly criminal. Fraud includes deceit, but deceit may not reach the gravity of fraud; a cheat is of the nature of fraud, but of a petty sort; a swindle is more serious than a cheat, involving larger values and more flagrant dishonesty. Fraud is commonly actionable at law; cheating and swindling are for the most part out of the reach of legal proceedings. Treachery is chiefly used of dishonesty in matters of friendship, social relations, government, or war; treachery may be more harmful than fraud, but is not so gross, and is not ordinarily open to legal redress. Treason is a specific form of treachery of a subject to the government to which he owes allegiance, and is definable and punishable at law. Compare ARTIFICE; DECEPTION.

Antonyms:

fairness, good faith, honesty, integrity, truth, uprightness.

Friendly.

Synonyms:

accessible, companionable, genial, neighborly,

affable, complaisant, hearty, sociable,

affectionate, cordial, kind, social,

amicable, favorable, kindly, tender,

brotherly, fond, loving, well-disposed.

Friendly, as said of persons, signifies having the disposition of a friend; as said of acts, it signifies befitting or worthy of a friend. The adjective friendly does not reach the full significance of the nouns "friend" and "friendship;" one may be friendly to those who are not his friends, and to be in friendly relations often signifies little more than not to be hostile. In its application to persons, accessible is used of public and eminent persons, who might, if disposed, hold themselves at a distance from others. Companionable and sociable refer to manner and behavior, cordial and genial express genuine kindliness of heart. We speak of a cordial greeting, a favorable reception, a neighborly call, a sociable visitor, an amicable settlement, a kind interest, a friendly regard, a hearty welcome. The Saxon friendly is stronger than the Latin amicable; the amicable may be merely formal; the friendly is from the heart. Fond is commonly applied to an affection that becomes, or at least appears, excessive. Affectionate, devoted, and tender are almost always used in a high and good sense; as, an affectionate son; a devoted friend; "the tender mercy of our God," Luke i, 78. Compare FRIENDSHIP.

Antonyms:

adverse, bellicose, contentious, estranged, ill-disposed, unfriendly,

alienated, belligerent, disaffected, frigid, indifferent, unkind,

antagonistic, cold, distant, hostile, inimical, warlike.

Friendship.

Synonyms:

affection, comity, esteem, good will,

amity, consideration, favor, love,

attachment, devotion, friendliness, regard.

Friendship is a deep, quiet, enduring affection, founded upon mutual respect and esteem. Friendship is always mutual; there may be unreciprocated affection or attachment, unrequited love, or even unrecognized and unappreciated devotion, but never unreciprocated or unrequited friendship; one may have friendly feelings toward an enemy, but while there is hostility or coldness on one side there can not be friendship between the two. Friendliness is a quality of friendly feeling, without the deep and settled attachment implied in the state of friendship. Comity is mutual kindly courtesy, with care of each other's right, and amity a friendly feeling and relation, not necessarily implying special friendliness; as, the comity of nations, or amity between neighboring countries. Affection may be purely natural; friendship is a growth. Friendship is more intellectual and less emotional than love; it is easier to give reasons for friendship than for love; friendship is more calm and quiet, love more fervent; love often rises to intensest passion; we can not speak of the passion of friendship. Friendship implies some degree of equality, while love does not; we can speak of man's love toward God, not of his friendship for God. (There is more latitude in the use of the concrete noun friend; Abraham was called "the friend of God;" Christ was called "the friend of sinners.") Compare ACQUAINTANCE; LOVE.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for BATTLE; ENMITY; FEUD; HATRED.

Prepositions:

The friendship of one person for or toward another, or the friendship between them.

Frighten.

Synonyms:

affright, appal, cow, dismay, scare,

alarm, browbeat, daunt, intimidate, terrify.

One is frightened by a cause of fear addressed directly and suddenly to the senses; he is intimidated by an apprehension of contingent consequences dependent on some act of his own to be done or forborne; the means of intimidation may act through the senses, or may appeal only to the intellect or the sensibilities. The sudden rush of an armed madman may frighten; the quiet leveling of a highwayman's pistol intimidates. A savage beast is intimidated by the keeper's whip. Employers may intimidate their employees from voting contrary to their will by threat of discharge; a mother may be intimidated through fear for her child. To browbeat or cow is to bring into a state of submissive fear; to daunt is to give pause or check to a violent, threatening, or even a brave spirit. To scare is to cause sudden, unnerving fear; to terrify is to awaken fear that is overwhelming. Compare ALARM.

Frugality.

Synonyms:

economy, parsimony, saving, sparing,

miserliness, providence, scrimping, thrift.

parsimoniousness, prudence,

Economy is a wise and careful administration of the means at one's disposal; frugality is a withholding of expenditure, or sparing of supplies or provision, to a noticeable and often to a painful degree; parsimony is excessive and unreasonable saving for the sake of saving. Frugality exalted into a virtue to be practised for its own sake, instead of as a means to an end, becomes the vice of parsimony. Miserliness is the denying oneself and others the ordinary comforts or even necessaries of life, for the mere sake of hoarding money. Prudence and providence look far ahead, and sacrifice the present to the future, saving as much as may be necessary for that end. (See PRUDENCE.) Thrift seeks not merely to save, but to earn. Economy manages, frugality saves, providence plans, thrift at once earns and saves, with a view to wholesome and profitable expenditure at a fitting time. See ABSTINENCE.

Antonyms:

abundance, bounty, liberality, opulence, waste,

affluence, extravagance, luxury, riches, wealth.

Garrulous.

Synonyms:

chattering, loquacious, talkative, verbose.

Garrulous signifies given to constant trivial talking. Chattering signifies uttering rapid, noisy, and unintelligible, or scarcely intelligible, sounds, whether articulate words or such as resemble them; chattering is often used of vocal sounds that may be intelligible by themselves but are ill understood owing to confusion of many voices or other cause. The talkative person has a strong disposition to talk, with or without an abundance of words, or many ideas; the loquacious person has an abundant flow of language and much to say on any subject suggested; either may be lively and for a time entertaining; the garrulous person is tedious, repetitious, petty, and self-absorbed. Verbose is applied to utterances more formal than conversation, as to writings or public addresses. We speak of a chattering monkey or a chattering idiot, a talkative child, a talkative or loquacious woman, a garrulous old man, a verbose writer. Compare CIRCUMLOCUTION.

Antonyms:

laconic, reserved, reticent, silent, speechless, taciturn.

Gender.

Synonym:

sex.

Sex is a distinction among living beings; it is also the characteristic by which most living beings are distinguished from inanimate things, which are of no sex; gender is a distinction in language partially corresponding to this distinction in nature; while there are but two sexes, there are in some languages, as in English and German, three genders. The French language has but two genders and makes the names of all inanimate objects either masculine or feminine; some languages are without the distinction of gender, and those that maintain it are often quite arbitrary in its application. We speak of the masculine or feminine gender, the male or female sex.

General.

Synonyms:

common, familiar, ordinary, universal,

commonplace, frequent, popular, usual.

customary, habitual, prevalent,

everyday, normal, public,

Common signifies frequently occurring, not out of the regular course, not exceptional; hence, not above the average, not excellent or distinguished, inferior, or even low; common also signifies pertaining to or participated in by two or more persons or things; as, sorrow is common to the race. General may signify pertaining equally to all of a class, race, etc., but very commonly signifies pertaining to the greater number, but not necessarily to all. Universal applies to all without exception; general applies to all with possible or comparatively slight exceptions; common applies to very many without deciding whether they are even a majority. A common remark is one we often hear; a general experience is one that comes to the majority of people; a universal experience is one from which no human being is exempt. It is dangerous for a debater to affirm a universal proposition, since that can be negatived by a single exception, while a general statement is not invalidated even by adducing many exceptions. We say a common opinion, common experience, a general rule, general truth, a universal law. Compare synonyms for NORMAL; USUAL.

Antonyms:

exceptional, infrequent, rare, singular, uncommon, unknown, unusual.

Generous.

Synonyms:

bountiful, free, liberal, noble,

chivalrous, free-handed, magnanimous, open-handed,

disinterested, free-hearted, munificent, open-hearted.

Generous (L. genus, a race) primarily signifies having the qualities worthy of noble or honorable birth; hence, free and abundant in giving, giving freely, heartily, and self-sacrificingly. As regards giving, generous refers rather to the self-sacrificing heartiness of the giver, liberal to the amount of the gift; a child may show himself generous in the gift of an apple, a millionaire makes a liberal donation; a generous gift, however, is commonly thought of as both ample and hearty. A munificent gift is vast in amount, whatever the motive of its bestowal. One may be free with another's money; he can be generous only with his own. Disinterested suggests rather the thought of one's own self-denial; generous, of one's hearty interest in another's welfare or happiness. One is magnanimous by a greatness of soul (L. magnus, great, and animus, soul) that rises above all that is poor, mean, or weak, especially above every petty or ignoble motive or feeling pertaining to one's self, and thus above resentment of injury or insult; one is generous by a kindness of heart that would rejoice in the welfare rather than in the punishment of the offender.

Antonyms:

avaricious, covetous, ignoble, mean, niggardly, penurious, rapacious,

close, greedy, illiberal, miserly, parsimonious, petty, stingy.

Genius.

Synonyms:

talent, talents.

Genius is exalted intellectual power capable of operating independently of tuition and training, and marked by an extraordinary faculty for original creation, invention, discovery, expression, etc. Talent is marked mental ability, and in a special sense, a particular and uncommon aptitude for some special mental work or attainment. Genius is higher than talent, more spontaneous, less dependent upon instruction, less amenable to training; talent is largely the capacity to learn, acquire, appropriate, adapt oneself to demand. Yet the genius that has won the largest and most enduring success has been joined with tireless industry and painstaking. Compare synonyms for MIND; POWER.

Antonyms:

dulness, folly, imbecility, obtuseness, senselessness, stupidity.

GET.

Synonyms:

achieve, attain, gain, procure, secure,

acquire, earn, obtain, receive, win.

Get is a most comprehensive word. A person gets whatever he comes to possess or experience, whether with or without endeavor, expectation, or desire; he gets a bargain, a blow, a fall, a fever; he gains what he comes to by effort or striving; the swimmer gains the shore; a man acquires by continuous and ordinarily by slow process; as, one acquires a foreign language. A person is sometimes said to gain and often to acquire what has not been an object of direct endeavor; in the pursuits of trade, he incidentally gains some knowledge of foreign countries; he acquires by association with others a correct or incorrect accent; he acquires a bronzed complexion by exposure to a tropical sun; in such use, what he gains is viewed as desirable, what he acquires as slowly and gradually resulting. A person earns what he gives an equivalent of labor for, tho he may not get it. On the other hand, he may get what he has not earned; the temptation to all dishonesty is the desire to get a living or a fortune without earning it. When one gets the object of his desire, he is said to obtain it, whether he has gained or earned it or not. Win denotes contest, with a suggestion of chance or hazard; in popular language, a person is often said to win a lawsuit, or to win in a suit at law, but in legal phrase he is said to gain his suit, case, or cause. In receiving, one is strictly passive; he may get an estate by his own exertions or by inheritance; in the latter case he is said to receive it. One obtains a thing commonly by some direct effort of his own; he procures it commonly by the intervention of some one else; he procures a dinner or an interview; he secures what has seemed uncertain or elusive, when he gets it firmly into his possession or under his control. Compare synonyms for ATTAIN; MAKE; REACH.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for ABANDON.

Gift.

Synonyms:

benefaction, boon, bribe, grant, largess,

bequest, bounty, donation, gratuity, present.

A gift is in the popular, and also in the legal sense that which is voluntarily bestowed without expectation of return or compensation. Gift is now almost always used in the good sense, bribe always in the evil sense to signify payment for a dishonorable service under the semblance of a gift. In Scriptural language gift is often used for bribe. "The king by judgment establisheth the land; but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it." Prov. xxix, 4. A benefaction is a charitable gift, generally of large amount, and viewed as of enduring value, as an endowment for a college. A donation is something, perhaps of great, never of trivial value, given usually on some public ground, as to a cause or to a person representing a cause, but not necessarily of value beyond the immediate present; as, a donation to a pastor. A gratuity is usually something of moderate value and is always given as to an inferior, and as of favor, not of right; as, a gratuity to a waiter. Largess is archaic for a bountiful gratuity, usually to be distributed among many, as among the heralds at ancient tournaments. A present is a gift of friendship, or conciliation, and given as to an equal or a superior; no one's pride is hurt by accepting what is viewed as strictly a present. A boon is a gift that has been desired or craved or perhaps asked, or something freely given that meets some great desire. A grant is commonly considerable in amount and given by public authority; as, a grant of public lands for a college.

Antonyms:

compensation, earnings, guerdon, penalty, remuneration, wages.

Give.

Synonyms:

bestow, communicate, deliver, grant, supply.

cede, confer, furnish, impart,

To give is primarily to transfer to another's possession or ownership without compensation; in its secondary sense in popular use, it is to put into another's possession by any means and on any terms whatever; a buyer may say "Give me the goods, and I will give you the money;" we speak of giving answers, information, etc., and often of giving what is not agreeable to the recipient, as blows, medicine, reproof; but when there is nothing in the context to indicate the contrary, give is always understood in its primary sense; as, this book was given me. Give thus becomes, like get, a term of such general import as to be a synonym for a wide variety of words. To grant is to put into one's possession in some formal way, or by authoritative act; as, Congress grants lands to a railroad corporation. To speak of granting a favor carries a claim or concession of superiority on the part of the one by whom the grant may be made; to confer has a similar sense; as, to confer a degree or an honor; we grant a request or petition, but do not confer it. To impart is to give of that which one still, to a greater or less degree, retains; the teacher imparts instruction. To bestow is to give that of which the receiver stands in especial need; we bestow alms.

Prepositions:

We give money to a person for a thing, for a purpose, etc. (or without proposition, give a person a sum of money); we give a thing to or into one's care or keeping; the weary fugitive gave himself up to his pursuers.

Govern.

Synonyms:

command, curb, influence, mold, reign over, rule,

control, direct, manage, reign, restrain, sway.

Govern carries the idea of authoritative administration or some exercise of authority that is at once effective and continuous; control is effective, but may be momentary or occasional. One controls what he holds or can hold at will absolutely in check; as, a skilful horseman controls a spirited horse; a person controls his temper; we say to one who is excited, "control yourself." A person commands another when he has, or claims, the right to make that other do his will, with power of inflicting penalty if not obeyed; he controls another whom he can effectually prevent from doing anything contrary to his will; he governs one whom he actually does cause, regularly or constantly, to obey his will; a parent may command a child whom he can not govern or control. The best teachers are not greatly prone to command, but govern or control their pupils largely by other means. Command is, however, often used in the sense of securing, as well as requiring, submission or obedience, as when we speak of a commanding influence; a man commands the situation when he can shape events as he pleases; a fortress commands the region when no enemy can pass against its resistance. Govern implies the exercise of knowledge and judgment as well as power. To rule is more absolute and autocratic than to govern; to sway is to move by quiet but effectual influence; to mold is not only to influence feeling and action, but to shape character; to manage is to secure by skilful contrivance the doing of one's will by those whom one can not directly control; a wise mother, by gentle means, sways the feelings and molds the lives of her children; to be able to manage servants is an important element of good housekeeping. The word reign, once so absolute, now simply denotes that one holds the official station of sovereign in a monarchy, with or without effective power; the Queen of England reigns; the Czar of Russia both reigns and rules.

Antonyms:

be in subjection, be subject, comply, obey, submit, yield.

Graceful.

Synonym:

beautiful.

That which is graceful is marked by elegance and harmony, with ease of action, attitude, or posture, or delicacy of form. Graceful commonly suggests motion or the possibility of motion; beautiful may apply to absolute fixity; a landscape or a blue sky is beautiful, but neither is graceful. Graceful commonly applies to beauty as addressed to the eye, tho we often speak of a graceful poem or a graceful compliment. Graceful applies to the perfection of motion, especially of the lighter motions, which convey no suggestion of stress or strain, and are in harmonious curves. Apart from the thought of motion, graceful denotes a pleasing harmony of outline, proportion, etc., with a certain degree of delicacy; a Hercules is massive, an Apollo is graceful. We speak of a graceful attitude, graceful drapery. Compare BEAUTIFUL; BECOMING.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for AWKWARD.

Grief.

Synonyms:

affliction, melancholy, regret, sorrow, trouble,

distress, mourning, sadness, tribulation, wo.

Grief is acute mental pain resulting from loss, misfortune, or deep disappointment. Grief is more acute and less enduring than sorrow. Sorrow and grief are for definite cause; sadness and melancholy may arise from a vague sense of want or loss, from a low state of health, or other ill-defined cause; sadness may be momentary; melancholy is more enduring, and may become chronic. Affliction expresses a deep heart-sorrow and is applied also to the misfortune producing such sorrow; mourning most frequently denotes sorrow publicly expressed, or the public expression of such sorrow as may reasonably be expected; as, it is common to observe thirty days of mourning on the death of an officer of state.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for HAPPINESS.

Prepositions:

Grief at a loss; for a friend.

Habit.

Synonyms:

custom, habitude, routine, system, use,

fashion, practise, rule, usage, wont.

Habit is a tendency or inclination toward an action or condition, which by repetition has become easy, spontaneous, or even unconscious, or an action or regular series of actions, or a condition so induced. Custom is the uniform doing of the same act in the same circumstance for a definite reason; routine is the doing of customary acts in a regular and uniform sequence and is more mechanical than custom. It is the custom of tradesmen to open at a uniform hour, and to follow a regular routine of business until closing-time. Habit always includes an involuntary tendency, natural or acquired, greatly strengthened by frequent repetition of the act, and may be uncontrollable, or even unconscious. Habitude is habitual relation or association. Custom is chiefly used of the action of many; habit of the action of one; we speak of the customs of society, the habits of an individual. Fashion is the generally recognized custom in the smaller matters, especially in dress. A rule is prescribed either by some external authority or by one's own will; as, it is the rule of the house; or, I make it my invariable rule. System is the coordination of many acts or things into a unity, and is more and better than routine. Use and usage denote the manner of using something; we speak of one person's use of language, but of the usage of many; a use or usage is almost always a habit. Practise is the active doing of something in a systematic way; we do not speak of the practise, but of the habit of going to sleep; we speak of a tradesman's custom, a lawyer's or a physician's practise. Educationally, practise is the voluntary and persistent attempt to make skill a habit; as, practise in penmanship. Wont is blind and instinctive habit like that which attaches an animal to a locality: the word is now almost wholly poetic. Compare DRESS.

Happen.

Synonyms:

bechance, chance, fall out, supervene,

befall, come to pass, occur, take place.

betide, fall,

A thing is said to happen when no design is manifest, or none especially thought of; it is said to chance when it appears to be the result of accident (compare synonyms for ACCIDENT). An incident happens or occurs; something external or actual happens to one; a thought or fancy occurs to him. Befall and betide are transitive; happen is intransitive; something befalls or betides a person or happens to him. Betide is especially used for anticipated evil, thought of as waiting and coming at its appointed time; as, wo betide him! One event supervenes upon another event, one disease upon another, etc. ["Transpire," in the sense of happen, is not authorized by good usage: a thing that has happened is properly said to transpire when it becomes known.]

Prepositions:

An event happens to a person; a person happens on or upon a fact, discovery, etc.

Happiness.

Synonyms:

blessedness, delight, gladness, pleasure,

bliss, ecstasy, gratification, rapture,

cheer, enjoyment, joy, rejoicing,

comfort, felicity, merriment, satisfaction,

contentment, gaiety, mirth, triumph.

Gratification is the giving any mental or physical desire something that it craves; satisfaction is the giving such a desire all that it craves. Happiness is the positively agreeable experience that springs from the possession of good, the gratification or satisfaction of the desires or the relief from pain and evil. Comfort may be almost wholly negative, being found in security or relief from that which pains or annoys; there is comfort by a warm fireside on a wintry night; the sympathy of a true friend affords comfort in sorrow. Enjoyment is more positive, always implying something to be definitely and consciously delighted in; a sick person finds comfort in relief from pain, while he may be far from a state of enjoyment. Pleasure is still more vivid, being an arousing of the faculties to an intensely agreeable activity; satisfaction is more tranquil than pleasure, being the agreeable consciousness of having all that our faculties demand or crave; when a worthy pleasure is past, a worthy satisfaction remains. As referring to a mental state, gratification is used to denote a mild form of happiness resulting from some incident not of very great importance; satisfaction should properly express a happiness deeper, more complete, and more abiding; but as intellect or sensibilities of a low order may find satisfaction in that which is very poor or unworthy, the word has come to be feeble and tame in ordinary use. Happiness is more positive than comfort, enjoyment, or satisfaction, more serene and rational than pleasure; pleasure is of necessity transient; happiness is abiding, and may be eternal; thus, we speak of pleasures, but the plural of happiness is scarcely used. Happiness, in the full sense, is mental or spiritual or both, and is viewed as resulting from some worthy gratification or satisfaction; we may speak of a brute as experiencing comfort or pleasure, but scarcely as in possession of happiness; we speak of vicious pleasure, delight, or joy, but not of vicious happiness. Felicity is a philosophical term, colder and more formal than happiness. Gladness is happiness that overflows, expressing itself in countenance, voice, manner, and action. Joy is more intense than happiness, deeper than gladness, to which it is akin, nobler and more enduring than pleasure. Gaiety is more superficial than joy, more demonstrative than gladness. Rejoicing is happiness or joy that finds utterance in word, song, festivity, etc. Delight is vivid, overflowing happiness of a somewhat transient kind; ecstasy is a state of extreme or extravagant delight so that the one affected by it seems almost beside himself with joy; rapture is closely allied to ecstasy, but is more serene, exalted, and enduring. Triumph is such joy as results from victory, success, achievement. Blessedness is at once the state and the sense of being divinely blessed; as, the blessedness of the righteous. Bliss is ecstatic, perfected happiness; as, the bliss of heaven. Compare COMFORT.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for GRIEF.

Happy.

Synonyms:

blessed, cheering, gay, lucky, rejoiced,

blissful, cheery, glad, merry, rejoicing,

blithe, delighted, jocund, mirthful, smiling,

blithesome, delightful, jolly, pleased, sprightly,

bright, dexterous, joyful, prosperous, successful,

buoyant, felicitous, joyous, rapturous, sunny.

cheerful, fortunate,

Happy primarily refers to something that comes "by good hap," a chance that brings prosperity, benefit, or success.

And grasps the skirts of happy chance.

Tennyson In Memoriam lxiii, st. 2.

In this sense happy is closely allied to fortunate and lucky. (See FORTUNATE.) Happy has, however, so far diverged from this original sense as to apply to advantages where chance is not recognized, or is even excluded by direct reference to the divine will, when it becomes almost equivalent to blessed.

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth.

Job v, 17.

Happy is also applied to the ready dexterity or skill by which favorable results (usually in minor matters) are secured, when it becomes a synonym for dexterous, felicitous, and the associated words; as, he has a happy wit; happy at retort (compare CLEVER). In its most frequent present use, happy is applied to the state of one enjoying happiness, or to that by which happiness is expressed; as, a happy heart; a happy face; happy laughter; happy tears (compare synonyms for HAPPINESS). Cheerful applies to the possession or expression of a moderate and tranquil happiness. A cheery word spontaneously gives cheer to others; a cheering word is more distinctly planned to cheer and encourage. Gay applies to an effusive and superficial happiness (often not really worthy of that name) perhaps resulting largely from abundant animal spirits: we speak of gay revelers or a gay horse. A buoyant spirit is, as it were, borne up by joy and hope. A sunny disposition has a constant tranquil brightness that irradiates all who come within its influence.

Antonyms:

Compare synonyms for GRIEF.

Prepositions:

A happy event for him; happy at a reply; happy in his home, with his friends, among his children; happy at the discovery, over his success.

Harmony.

Synonyms:

accord, concurrence, consistency, uniformity,

accordance, conformity, consonance, union,

agreement, congruity, symmetry, unison,

amity, consent, unanimity, unity.

concord,

When tones, thoughts, or feelings, individually different, combine to form a consistent and pleasing whole, there is harmony. Harmony is deeper and more essential than agreement; we may have a superficial, forced, or patched-up agreement, but never a superficial, forced, or patched-up harmony. Concord is less full and spiritual than harmony. Concord implies more volition than accord; as, their views were found to be in perfect accord; or, by conference concord was secured; we do not secure accord, but discover it. We may speak of being in accord with a person on one point, but harmony is wider in range. Conformity is correspondence in form, manner, or use; the word often signifies submission to authority or necessity, and may be as far as possible from harmony; as, the attempt to secure conformity to an established religion. Congruity involves the element of suitableness; consistency implies the absence of conflict or contradiction in views, statements, or acts which are brought into comparison, as in the different statements of the same person or the different periods of one man's life; unanimity is the complete hearty agreement of many; consent and concurrence refer to decision or action, but consent is more passive than concurrence; one speaks by general consent when no one in the assembly cares to make formal objection; a decision of the Supreme Court depends upon the concurrence of a majority of the judges. Compare AGREE; FRIENDSHIP; MELODY.

Antonyms:

antagonism, contest, discord, hostility, schism,

battle, controversy, disproportion, incongruity, separation,

conflict, difference, dissension, inconsistency, variance,

contention, disagreement, disunion, opposition, warfare.

Harvest.

Synonyms:

crop, harvest-home, ingathering, result,

fruit, harvesting, proceeds, return,

growth, harvest-tide, produce, yield.

harvest-feast, harvest-time, product,

harvest-festival, increase, reaping,

Harvest, from the Anglo-Saxon, signified originally "autumn," and as that is the usual season of gathering ripened crops in Northern lands, the word came to its present meaning of the season of gathering ripened grain or fruits, whether summer or autumn, and hence a crop gathered or ready for gathering; also, the act or process of gathering a crop or crops. "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few," Luke x, 2. "Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest," John iv, 35. Harvest is the elegant and literary word; crop is the common and commercial expression; we say a man sells his crop, but we should not speak of his selling his harvest; we speak of an ample or abundant harvest, a good crop. Harvest is applied almost wholly to grain; crop applies to almost anything that is gathered in; we speak of the potato-crop, not the potato-harvest; we may say either the wheat-crop or the wheat-harvest. Produce is a collective word for all that is produced in farming or gardening, and is, in modern usage, almost wholly restricted to this sense; we speak of produce collectively, but of a product or various products; vegetables, fruits, eggs, butter, etc., may be termed farm-produce, or the products of the farm. Product is a word of wider application than produce; we speak of the products of manufacturing, the products of thought, or the product obtained by multiplying one number by another. The word proceeds is chiefly used of the return from an investment: we speak of the produce of a farm, but of the proceeds of the money invested in farming. The yield is what the land gives up to the farmer's demand; we speak of the return from an expenditure of money or labor, but of the yield of corn or oats. Harvest has also a figurative use, such as crop more rarely permits; we term a religious revival a harvest of souls; the result of lax enforcement of law is a harvest of crime. As regards time, harvest, harvest-tide, and harvest-time alike denote the period or season when the crops are or should be gathered (tide being simply the old Saxon word for time). Harvest-home ordinarily denotes the festival of harvest, and when used to denote simply the season always gives a suggestion of festivity and rejoicing, such as harvest and harvest-time by themselves do not express.

Hatred.

Synonyms:

abhorrence, detestation, hostility, rancor,

anger, dislike, ill will, repugnance,

animosity, enmity, malevolence, resentment,

antipathy, grudge, malice, revenge,

aversion, hate, malignity, spite.

Repugnance applies to that which one feels himself summoned or impelled to do or to endure, and from which he instinctively draws back. Aversion is the turning away of the mind or feelings from some person or thing, or from some course of action, etc. Hate, or hatred, as applied to persons, is intense and continued aversion, usually with disposition to injure; anger is sudden and brief, hatred is lingering and enduring; "Her wrath became a hate," Tennyson Pelleas and Ettarre st. 16. As applied to things, hatred is intense aversion, with desire to destroy or remove; hatred of evil is a righteous passion, akin to abhorrence, but more vehement. Malice involves the active intent to injure; in the legal sense, malice is the intent to injure, even tho with no personal ill will; as, a highwayman would be said to entertain malice toward the unknown traveler whom he attacks. Malice is direct, pressing toward a result; malignity is deep, lingering, and venomous, tho often impotent to act; rancor (akin to rancid) is cherished malignity that has soured and festered and is virulent and implacable. Spite is petty malice that delights to inflict stinging pain; grudge is deeper than spite; it is sinister and bitter; grudge, resentment, and revenge are all retaliatory, grudge being the disposition, revenge the determination to repay real or supposed offense with injury; revenge may denote also the retaliatory act; resentment, the best word of the three, always holds itself to be justifiable, but looks less certainly to action than grudge or revenge. Simple goodness may arouse the hatred of the wicked; they will be moved to revenge only by what they deem an injury or affront. Compare ABOMINATION; ANGER; ANTIPATHY; ENMITY.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for FRIENDSHIP; LOVE.

Have.

Synonyms:

be in possession of, hold, occupy, own, possess.

be possessed of,

Have is the most general word, and is applied to whatever belongs to or is connected with one; a man has a head or a head-ache, a fortune or an opinion, a friend or an enemy; he has time, or has need; he may be said to have what is his own, what he has borrowed, what has been entrusted to him, or what he has stolen. To possess a thing is to have the ownership with control and enjoyment of it. To hold is to have in one's hand, or securely in one's control; a man holds his friend's coat for a moment, or he holds a struggling horse; he holds a promissory note, or holds an office. To own is to have the right of property in; to possess is to have that right in actual exercise; to occupy is to have possession and use, with some degree of permanency, with or without ownership. A man occupies his own house or a room in a hotel; a man may own a farm of which he is not in possession because a tenant occupies it and is determined to hold it; the proprietor owns the property, but the tenant is in possession. To be in possession differs from possess in that to possess denotes both right and fact, while to be in possession denotes simply the fact with no affirmation as to the right. To have reason is to be endowed with the faculty; to be in possession of one's reason denotes that the faculty is in actual present exercise.

Hazard.

Synonyms:

accident, chance, danger, jeopardy, risk,

casualty, contingency, fortuity, peril, venture.

Hazard is the incurring the possibility of loss or harm for the possibility of benefit; danger may have no compensating alternative. In hazard the possibilities of gain or loss are nearly balanced; in risk the possibility of loss is the chief thought; the foolhardy take great risks in mere wantonness; in chance and venture the hope of good predominates; we speak of a merchant's venture, but of an insurance company's risk; one may be driven by circumstances to run a risk; he freely seeks a venture; we speak of the chance of winning, the hazard or risk of losing. Accidents are incalculable; casualties may be to a certain extent anticipated; death and wounds are casualties of battle, certain to happen to some, but uncertain as to whom or how many. A contingency is simply an indeterminable future event, which may or may not be attended with danger or risk. See ACCIDENT; DANGER.

Antonyms:

assurance, necessity, protection, safety, surety.

certainty, plan, safeguard, security,

Healthy.

Synonyms:

hale, hygienic, sanitary, vigorous,

healthful, salubrious, sound, well,

hearty, salutary, strong, wholesome.

Healthy is most correctly used to signify possessing or enjoying health or its results; as, a healthy person; a healthy condition. Healthful signifies promotive of health, tending or adapted to confer, preserve, or promote health; as, a healthful climate. Wholesome food in a healthful climate makes a healthy man. With healthful are ranged the words hygienic, salubrious, salutary, sanitary, and wholesome, while the other words are associated with healthy. Salubrious is always used in the physical sense, and is chiefly applied to air or climate. Salutary is now chiefly used in the moral sense; as, a salutary lesson.

Antonyms:

delicate, failing, ill, unsound, worn,

diseased, fainting, sick, wasted, worn down,

emaciated, fragile, unhealthy, weak, worn out.

exhausted, frail,

Help.

Synonyms:

abet, befriend, foster, succor, uphold.

aid, cooperate, second, support,

assist, encourage, stand by, sustain,

Help expresses greater dependence and deeper need than aid. In extremity we say "God help me!" rather than "God aid me!" In time of danger we cry "help! help!" rather than "aid! aid!" To aid is to second another's own exertions. We can speak of helping the helpless, but not of aiding them. Help includes aid, but aid may fall short of the meaning of help. In law to aid or abet makes one a principal. (Compare synonyms for ACCESSORY.) To cooperate is to aid as an equal; to assist implies a subordinate and secondary relation. One assists a fallen friend to rise; he cooperates with him in helping others. Encourage refers to mental aid, as uphold now usually does; succor and support, oftenest to material assistance. We encourage the timid or despondent, succor the endangered, support the weak, uphold those who else might be shaken or cast down. Compare ABET; PROMOTE.

Antonyms:

counteract, discourage, oppose, resist, thwart, withstand.

Prepositions:

Help in an enterprise with money; help to success; against the enemy.

Heretic.

Synonyms:

dissenter, heresiarch, non-conformist, schismatic.

Etymologically, a heretic is one who takes or chooses his own belief, instead of the belief of his church; hence, a heretic is one who denies commonly accepted views, or who holds opinions contrary to the recognized standard or tenets of any established religious, philosophical, or other system, school, or party; the religious sense of the word is the predominant one; a schismatic is primarily one who produces a split or rent in the church. A heretic differs in doctrine from the religious body with which he is connected; a schismatic differs in doctrine or practise, or in both. A heretic may be reticent, or even silent; a schismatic introduces divisions. A heresiarch is the author of a heresy or the leader of a heretical party, and is thus at once a heretic and a schismatic. With advancing ideas of religious liberty, the odious sense once attached to these words is largely modified, and heretic is often used playfully. Dissenter and non-conformist are terms specifically applied to English subjects who hold themselves aloof from the Church of England; the former term is extended to non-adherents of the established church in some other countries, as Russia.

Heterogeneous.

Synonyms:

confused, mingled, unhomogeneous,

conglomerate, miscellaneous, unlike,

discordant, mixed, variant,

dissimilar, non-homogeneous, various.

Substances quite unlike are heterogeneous as regards each other. A heterogeneous mixture is one whose constituents are not only unlike in kind, but unevenly distributed; cement is composed of substances such as lime, sand, and clay, which are heterogeneous as regards each other, but the cement is said to be homogeneous if the different constituents are evenly mixed throughout, so that any one portion of the mixture is exactly like any other. A substance may fail of being homogeneous and yet not be heterogeneous, in which case it is said to be non-homogeneous or unhomogeneous; a bar of iron that contains flaws, air-bubbles, etc., or for any other reason is not of uniform structure and density throughout, tho no foreign substance be mixed with the iron, is said to be non-homogeneous. A miscellaneous mixture may or may not be heterogeneous; if the objects are alike in kind, but different in size, form, quality, use, etc., and without special order or relation, the collection is miscellaneous; if the objects differ in kind, such a mixture is also, and more strictly, heterogeneous; a pile of unassorted lumber is miscellaneous; the contents of a school-boy's pocket are commonly miscellaneous and might usually be termed heterogeneous as well. See COMPLEX.

Antonyms:

alike, homogeneous, identical, like, pure, same, similar, uniform.

Hide.

Synonyms:

bury, cover, entomb, overwhelm, suppress,

cloak, disguise, inter, screen, veil.

conceal, dissemble, mask, secrete.

Hide is the general term, including all the rest, signifying to put out of sight or beyond ready observation or approach; a thing may be hidden by intention, by accident, or by the imperfection of the faculties of the one from whom it is hidden; in their games, children hide the slipper, or hide themselves from each other; a man unconsciously hides a picture from another by standing before it, or hides a thing from himself by laying something else over it. Even an unconscious object may hide another; as, a cloud hides the sun, or a building hides some part of the prospect by intervening between it and the observer's position. As an act of persons, to conceal is always intentional; one may hide his face in anger, grief, or abstraction; he conceals his face when he fears recognition. A house is hidden by foliage; the bird's nest is artfully concealed. Secrete is a stronger word than conceal, and is used chiefly of such material objects as may be separated from the person, or from their ordinary surroundings, and put in unlooked-for places; a man conceals a scar on his face, but does not secrete it; a thief secretes stolen goods; an officer may also be said to secrete himself to watch the thief. A thing is covered by putting something over or around it, whether by accident or design; it is screened by putting something before it, always with some purpose of protection from observation, inconvenience, attack, censure, etc. In the figurative use, a person may hide honorable feelings; he conceals an evil or hostile intent. Anything which is effectually covered and hidden under any mass or accumulation is buried. Money is buried in the ground; a body is buried in the sea; a paper is buried under other documents. Whatever is buried is hidden or concealed; but there are many ways of hiding or concealing a thing without burying it. So a person may be covered with wraps, and not buried under them. Bury may be used of any object, entomb and inter only of a dead body. Figuratively, one may be said to be buried in business, in study, etc. Compare IMMERSE; PALLIATE.

Antonyms:

admit, disclose, exhume, manifest, show,

advertise, discover, expose, promulgate, tell,

avow, disinter, lay bare, publish, uncover,

betray, divulge, lay open, raise, unmask,

confess, exhibit, make known, reveal, unveil.

High.

Synonyms:

elevated, exalted, noble, steep, towering,

eminent, lofty, proud, tall, uplifted.

Deep, while an antonym of high in usage, may apply to the very same distance simply measured in an opposite direction, high applying to vertical distance measured from below upward, and deep to vertical distance measured from above downward; as, a deep valley nestling between high mountains. High is a relative term signifying greatly raised above any object, base, or surface, in comparison with what is usual, or with some standard; a table is high if it exceeds thirty inches; a hill is not high at a hundred feet. That is tall whose height is greatly in excess of its breadth or diameter, and whose actual height is great for an object of its kind; as, a tall tree; a tall man; tall grass. That is lofty which is imposing or majestic in height; we term a spire tall with reference to its altitude, or lofty with reference to its majestic appearance. That is elevated which is raised somewhat above its surroundings; that is eminent which is far above them; as, an elevated platform; an eminent promontory. In the figurative sense, elevated is less than eminent, and this less than exalted; we speak of high, lofty, or elevated thoughts, aims, etc., in the good sense, but sometimes of high feelings, looks, words, etc., in the invidious sense of haughty or arrogant. A high ambition may be merely selfish; a lofty ambition is worthy and noble. Towering, in the literal sense compares with lofty and majestic; but in the figurative sense, its use is almost always invidious; as, a towering passion; a towering ambition disregards and crushes all opposing considerations, however rational, lovely, or holy. Compare STEEP.

Antonyms:

base, deep, degraded, depressed, dwarfed, inferior, low, mean, short, stunted.

Hinder.

Synonyms:

baffle, clog, foil, obstruct, retard,

balk, counteract, frustrate, oppose, stay,

bar, delay, hamper, prevent, stop,

block, embarrass, impede, resist, thwart.

check, encumber, interrupt,

To hinder is to keep from action, progress, motion, or growth, or to make such action, progress, motion, or growth later in beginning or completion than it would otherwise have been. An action is prevented by anything that comes in before it to make it impossible; it is hindered by anything that keeps it from either beginning or ending so soon as it otherwise would, or as expected or intended. It is more common, however, to say that the start is delayed, the progress hindered. An action that is hindered does not take place at the appointed or appropriate time; that which is prevented does not take place at all; to hinder a thing long enough may amount to preventing it. A railroad-train may be hindered by a snow-storm from arriving on time; it may by special order be prevented from starting. To retard is simply to make slow by any means whatever. To obstruct is to hinder, or possibly to prevent advance or passage by putting something in the way; to oppose or resist is to hinder, or possibly to prevent by directly contrary or hostile action, resist being the stronger term and having more suggestion of physical force; obstructed roads hinder the march of an enemy, tho there may be no force strong enough to oppose it; one opposes a measure, a motion, an amendment, or the like; it is a criminal offense to resist an officer in the discharge of his duty; the physical system may resist the attack of disease or the action of a remedy. Compare CONQUER; IMPEDIMENT; OBSTRUCT.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for QUICKEN.

Prepositions:

Hinder one in his progress; from acting promptly; by opposition.

History.

Synonyms:

account, biography, muniment, record,

annals, chronicle, narration, register,

archives, memoir, narrative, story.

autobiography, memorial, recital,

History is a systematic record of past events. Annals and chronicles relate events with little regard to their relative importance, and with complete subserviency to their succession in time. Annals are yearly records; chronicles follow the order of time. Both necessarily lack emphasis, selection, and perspective. Archives are public records, which may be annals, or chronicles, or deeds of property, etc. Memoirs generally record the lives of individuals or facts pertaining to individual lives. A biography is distinctively a written account of one person's life and actions; an autobiography is a biography written by the person whose life it records. Annals, archives, chronicles, biographies, and memoirs and other records furnish the materials of history. History recounts events with careful attention to their importance, their mutual relations, their causes and consequences, selecting and grouping events on the ground of interest or importance. History is usually applied to such an account of events affecting communities and nations, tho sometimes we speak of the history of a single eminent life. Compare RECORD.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for FICTION.

Holy.

Synonyms:

blessed, devoted, hallowed, saintly,

consecrated, divine, sacred, set apart.

Sacred is applied to that which is to be regarded as inviolable on any account, and so is not restricted to divine things; therefore in its lower applications it is less than holy. That which is sacred may be made so by institution, decree, or association; that which is holy is so by its own nature, possessing intrinsic moral purity, and, in the highest sense, absolute moral perfection. God is holy; his commands are sacred. Holy may be applied also to that which is hallowed; as, "the place whereon thou standest is holy ground," Ex. iii, 5. In such use holy is more than sacred, as if the very qualities of a spiritual or divine presence were imparted to the place or object. Divine has been used with great looseness, as applying to anything eminent or admirable, in the line either of goodness or of mere power, as to eloquence, music, etc., but there is a commendable tendency to restrict the word to its higher sense, as designating that which belongs to or is worthy of the Divine Being. Compare PERFECT; PURE.

Antonyms:

abominable, cursed, polluted, unconsecrated, unholy, wicked,

common, impure, secular, unhallowed, unsanctified, worldly.

Home.

Synonyms:

abode, dwelling, habitation, hearthstone, ingleside,

domicil, fireside, hearth, house, residence.

Abode, dwelling, and habitation are used with little difference of meaning to denote the place where one habitually lives; abode and habitation belong to the poetic or elevated style. Even dwelling is not used in familiar speech; a person says "my house," "my home," or more formally "my residence." Home, from the Anglo-Saxon, denoting originally a dwelling, came to mean an endeared dwelling as the scene of domestic love and happy and cherished family life, a sense to which there is an increasing tendency to restrict the word—desirably so, since we have other words to denote the mere dwelling-place; we say "The wretched tenement could not be called home," or "The humble cabin was dear to him as the home of his childhood."

Home's not merely four square walls,
Tho with pictures hung and gilded;
Home is where affection calls—
Where its shrine the heart has builded.

Thus the word comes to signify any place of rest and peace, and especially heaven, as the soul's peaceful and eternal dwelling-place.

Honest.

Synonyms:

candid, frank, ingenuous, true,

equitable, genuine, just, trustworthy,

fair, good, sincere, trusty,

faithful, honorable, straightforward, upright.

One who is honest in the ordinary sense acts or is always disposed to act with careful regard for the rights of others, especially in matters of business or property; one who is honorable scrupulously observes the dictates of a personal honor that is higher than any demands of mercantile law or public opinion, and will do nothing unworthy of his own inherent nobility of soul. The honest man does not steal, cheat, or defraud; the honorable man will not take an unfair advantage that would be allowed him, or will make a sacrifice which no one could require of him, when his own sense of right demands it. One who is honest in the highest and fullest sense is scrupulously careful to adhere to all known truth and right even in thought. In this sense honest differs from honorable as having regard rather to absolute truth and right than to even the highest personal honor. Compare CANDID; JUSTICE.

Antonyms:

deceitful, faithless, hypocritical, perfidious, unfaithful,

dishonest, false, lying, traitorous, unscrupulous,

disingenuous, fraudulent, mendacious, treacherous, untrue.

Horizontal.

Synonyms:

even, flat, level, plain, plane.

Horizontal signifies in the direction of or parallel to the horizon. For practical purposes level and horizontal are identical, tho level, as the more popular word, is more loosely used of that which has no especially noticeable elevations or inequalities; as, a level road. Flat, according to its derivation from the Anglo-Saxon flet, a floor, applies to a surface only, and, in the first and most usual sense, to a surface that is horizontal or level in all directions; a line may be level, a floor is flat; flat is also applied in a derived sense to any plane surface without irregularities or elevations, as a picture may be painted on the flat surface of a perpendicular wall. Plane applies only to a surface, and is used with more mathematical exactness than flat. The adjective plain, originally the same word as plane, is now rarely used except in the figurative senses, but the original sense appears in the noun, as we speak of "a wide plain." We speak of a horizontal line, a flat morass, a level road, a plain country, a plane surface (especially in the scientific sense). That which is level may not be even, and that which is even may not be level; a level road may be very rough; a slope may be even.

Antonyms:

broken, inclined, rolling, rugged, sloping,

hilly, irregular, rough, slanting, uneven.

Humane.

Synonyms:

benevolent, compassionate, human, pitying,

benignant, forgiving, kind, sympathetic,

charitable, gentle, kind-hearted, tender,

clement, gracious, merciful, tender-hearted.

Human denotes what pertains to mankind, with no suggestion as to its being good or evil; as, the human race; human qualities; we speak of human achievements, virtues, or excellences, human follies, vices, or crimes. Humane denotes what may rightly be expected of mankind at its best in the treatment of sentient beings; a humane enterprise or endeavor is one that is intended to prevent or relieve suffering. The humane man will not needlessly inflict pain upon the meanest thing that lives; a merciful man is disposed to withhold or mitigate the suffering even of the guilty. The compassionate man sympathizes with and desires to relieve actual suffering, while one who is humane would forestall and prevent the suffering which he sees to be possible. Compare MERCY; PITIFUL; PITY.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for BARBAROUS.

Hunt.

Synonyms:

chase, hunting, inquisition, pursuit, search.

A hunt may be either the act of pursuing or the act of seeking, or a combination of the two. A chase or pursuit is after that which is fleeing or departing; a search is for that which is hidden; a hunt may be for that which is either hidden or fleeing; a search is a minute and careful seeking, and is especially applied to a locality; we make a search of or through a house, for an object, in which connection it would be colloquial to say a hunt. Hunt never quite loses its association with field-sports, where it includes both search and chase; the search till the game is hunted out, and the chase till it is hunted down. Figuratively, we speak of literary pursuits, or of the pursuit of knowledge; a search for reasons; the chase of fame or honor; hunt, in figurative use, inclines to the unfavorable sense of inquisition, but with more of dash and aggressiveness; as, a hunt for heresy.

Hypocrisy.

Synonyms:

affectation, formalism, pretense, sanctimony,

cant, pharisaism, sanctimoniousness, sham.

dissimulation, pietism,

Pretense (L. prætendo) primarily signifies the holding something forward as having certain rights or claims, whether truly or falsely; in the good sense, it is now rarely used except with a negative; as, there can be no pretense that this is due; a false pretense implies the possibility of a true pretense; but, alone and unlimited, pretense commonly signifies the offering of something for what it is not. Hypocrisy is the false pretense of moral excellence, either as a cover for actual wrong, or for the sake of the credit and advantage attaching to virtue. Cant (L. cantus, a song), primarily the singsong iteration of the language of any party, school, or sect, denotes the mechanical and pretentious use of religious phraseology, without corresponding feeling or character; sanctimoniousness is the assumption of a saintly manner without a saintly character. As cant is hypocrisy in utterance, so sanctimoniousness is hypocrisy in appearance, as in looks, tones, etc. Pietism, originally a word of good import, is now chiefly used for an unregulated emotionalism; formalism is an exaggerated devotion to forms, rites, and ceremonies, without corresponding earnestness of heart; sham (identical in origin with shame) is a trick or device that puts one to shame, or that shamefully disappoints expectation or falsifies appearance. Affectation is in matters of intellect, taste, etc., much what hypocrisy is in morals and religion; affectation might be termed petty hypocrisy. Compare DECEPTION.

Antonyms:

candor, genuineness, ingenuousness, sincerity, truth,

frankness, honesty, openness, transparency, truthfulness.

Hypocrite.

Synonyms:

cheat, deceiver, dissembler, impostor, pretender.

A hypocrite (Gr. hypokrites, one who answers on the stage, an actor, especially a mimic actor) is one who acts a false part, or assumes a character other than the real. Deceiver is the most comprehensive term, including all the other words of the group. The deceiver seeks to give false impressions of any matter where he has an end to gain; the dissembler or hypocrite seeks to give false impressions in regard to himself. The dissembler is content if he can keep some base conduct or evil purpose from being discovered; the hypocrite seeks not merely to cover his vices, but to gain credit for virtue. The cheat and impostor endeavor to make something out of those they may deceive. The cheat is the inferior and more mercenary, as the thimble-rig gambler; the impostor may aspire to a fortune or a throne. Compare HYPOCRISY.

Antonyms:

The antonyms of hypocrite are to be found only in phrases embodying the adjectives candid, honest, ingenuous, sincere, true, etc.

Hypothesis.

Synonyms:

conjecture, scheme, supposition, system,

guess, speculation, surmise, theory.

A hypothesis is a statement of what is deemed possibly true, assumed and reasoned upon as if certainly true, with a view of reaching truth not yet surely known; especially, in the sciences, a hypothesis is a comprehensive tentative explanation of certain phenomena, which is meant to include all other facts of the same class, and which is assumed as true till there has been opportunity to bring all related facts into comparison; if the hypothesis explains all the facts, it is regarded as verified; till then it is regarded as a working hypothesis, that is, one that may answer for present practical purposes. A hypothesis may be termed a comprehensive guess. A guess is a swift conclusion from data directly at hand, and held as probable or tentative, while one confessedly lacks material for absolute certainty. A conjecture is more methodical than a guess, while a supposition is still slower and more settled; a conjecture, like a guess, is preliminary and tentative; a supposition is more nearly final; a surmise is more floating and visionary, and often sinister; as, a surmise that a stranger may be a pickpocket. Theory is used of the mental coordination of facts and principles, that may or may not prove correct; a machine may be perfect in theory, but useless in fact. Scheme may be used as nearly equivalent to theory, but is more frequently applied to proposed action, and in the sense of a somewhat visionary plan. A speculation may be wholly of the brain, resting upon no facts worthy of consideration; system is the highest of these terms, having most of assurance and fixity; a system unites many facts, phenomena, or doctrines into an orderly and consistent whole; we speak of a system of theology, of the Copernican system of the universe. Compare SYSTEM.

Antonyms:

certainty, demonstration, discovery, evidence, fact, proof.

Idea.

Synonyms:

apprehension, design, impression, plan,

archetype, fancy, judgment, purpose,

belief, fantasy, model, sentiment,

conceit, ideal, notion, supposition,

concept, image, opinion, theory,

conception, imagination, pattern, thought.

Idea is in Greek a form or an image. The word signified in early philosophical use the archetype or primal image which the Platonic philosophy supposed to be the model or pattern that existing objects imperfectly embody. This high sense has nearly disappeared from the word idea, and has been largely appropriated by ideal, tho something of the original meaning still appears when in theological or philosophical language we speak of the ideas of God. The present popular use of idea makes it to signify any product of mental apprehension or activity, considered as an object of knowledge or thought; this coincides with the primitive sense at but a single point—that an idea is mental as opposed to anything substantial or physical; thus, almost any mental product, as a belief, conception, design, opinion, etc., may now be called an idea. Compare FANCY; IDEAL.

Antonyms:

actuality, fact, reality, substance.

Ideal.

Synonyms:

archetype, model, pattern, prototype, standard.

idea, original,

An ideal is that which is conceived or taken as the highest type of excellence or ultimate object of attainment. The archetype is the primal form, actual or imaginary, according to which any existing thing is constructed; the prototype has or has had actual existence; in the derived sense, as in metrology, a prototype may not be the original form, but one having equal authority with that as a standard. An ideal may be primal, or may be slowly developed even from failures and by negations; an ideal is meant to be perfect, not merely the thing that has been attained or is to be attained, but the best conceivable thing that could by possibility be attained. The artist's ideal is his own mental image, of which his finished work is but an imperfect expression. The original is the first specimen, good or bad; the original of a master is superior to all copies. The standard may be below the ideal. The ideal is imaginary, and ordinarily unattainable; the standard is concrete, and ordinarily attainable, being a measure to which all else of its kind must conform; as, the standard of weights and measures, of corn, or of cotton. The idea of virtue is the mental concept or image of virtue in general; the ideal of virtue is the mental concept or image of virtue in its highest conceivable perfection. Compare EXAMPLE; IDEA.

Antonyms:

accomplishment, action, doing, fact, practise,

achievement, attainment, embodiment, incarnation, reality,

act, development, execution, performance, realization.

Idiocy.

Synonyms:

fatuity, foolishness, incapacity, stupidity.

folly, imbecility, senselessness,

Idiocy is a state of mental unsoundness amounting almost or quite to total absence of understanding. Imbecility is a condition of mental weakness, which may or may not be as complete as that of idiocy, but is at least such as to incapacitate for the serious duties of life. Incapacity, or lack of legal qualification for certain acts, necessarily results from imbecility, but may also result from other causes, as from insanity or from age, sex, etc.; as, the incapacity of a minor to make a contract. Idiocy or imbecility is weakness of mind, while insanity is disorder or abnormal action of mind. Folly and foolishness denote a want of mental and often of moral balance. Fatuity is sometimes used as equivalent to idiocy, but more frequently signifies conceited and excessive foolishness or folly. Stupidity is dulness and slowness of mental action which may range all the way from lack of normal readiness to absolute imbecility. Compare INSANITY.

Antonyms:

acuteness, brilliancy, common sense, sagacity, soundness,

astuteness, capacity, intelligence, sense, wisdom.

Idle.

Synonyms:

inactive, inert, slothful, trifling, unoccupied,

indolent, lazy, sluggish, unemployed, vacant.

Idle in all uses rests upon its root meaning, as derived from the Anglo-Saxon idel, which signifies vain, empty, useless. Idle thus denotes not primarily the absence of action, but vain action—the absence of useful, effective action; the idle schoolboy may be very actively whittling his desk or tormenting his neighbors. Doing nothing whatever is the secondary meaning of idle. One may be temporarily idle of necessity; if he is habitually idle, it is his own fault. Lazy signifies indisposed to exertion, averse to labor; idleness is in fact; laziness is in disposition or inclination. A lazy person may chance to be employed in useful work, but he acts without energy or impetus. We speak figuratively of a lazy stream. The inert person seems like dead matter (characterized by inertia), powerless to move; the sluggish moves heavily and toilsomely; the most active person may sometimes find the bodily or mental powers sluggish. Slothful belongs in the moral realm, denoting a self-indulgent aversion to exertion. "The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth," Prov. xxvi, 15. Indolent is a milder term for the same quality; the slothful man hates action; the indolent man loves inaction. Compare VAIN.

Antonyms:

active, busy, diligent, employed, industrious, occupied, working.

Ignorant.

Synonyms:

ill-informed, unenlightened, unlearned, untaught,

illiterate, uninformed, unlettered, untutored.

uneducated, uninstructed, unskilled,

Ignorant signifies destitute of education or knowledge, or lacking knowledge or information; it is thus a relative term. The most learned man is still ignorant of many things; persons are spoken of as ignorant who have not the knowledge that has become generally diffused in the world; the ignorant savage may be well instructed in matters of the field and the chase, and is thus more properly untutored than ignorant. Illiterate is without letters and the knowledge that comes through reading. Unlettered is similar in meaning to illiterate, but less absolute; the unlettered man may have acquired the art of reading and writing and some elementary knowledge; the uneducated man has never taken any systematic course of mental training. Ignorance is relative; illiteracy is absolute; we have statistics of illiteracy; no statistics of ignorance are possible.

Antonyms:

educated, instructed, learned, sage, skilled, trained, well-informed, wise.

Imagination.

Synonyms:

fancy, fantasy, phantasy.

The old psychology treated of the Reproductive Imagination, which simply reproduces the images that the mind has in any way acquired, and the Productive Imagination which modifies and combines mental images so as to produce what is virtually new. To this Reproductive Imagination President Noah Porter and others have given the name of phantasy or fantasy (many psychologists preferring the former spelling). Phantasy or fantasy, so understood, presents numerous and varied images, often combining them into new forms with exceeding vividness, yet without any true constructive power, but with the mind adrift, blindly and passively following the laws of association, and with reason and will in torpor; the mental images being perhaps as varied and as vivid, but also as purposeless and unsystematized as the visual images in a kaleidoscope; such fantasy (often loosely called imagination) appears in dreaming, reverie, somnambulism, and intoxication. Fantasy in ordinary usage simply denotes capricious or erratic fancy, as appears in the adjective fantastic. Imagination and fancy differ from fantasy in bringing the images and their combinations under the control of the will; imagination is the broader and higher term, including fancy; imagination is the act or power of imaging or of reimaging objects of perception or thought, of combining the products of knowledge in modified, new, or ideal forms—the creative or constructive power of the mind; while fancy is the act or power of forming pleasing, graceful, whimsical, or odd mental images, or of combining them with little regard to rational processes of construction; imagination in its lower form. Both fancy and imagination recombine and modify mental images; either may work with the other's materials; imagination may glorify the tiniest flower; fancy may play around a mountain or a star; the one great distinction between them is that fancy is superficial, while imagination is deep, essential, spiritual. Wordsworth, who was the first clearly to draw the distinction between the fancy and the imagination, states it as follows:

To aggregate and to associate, to evoke and to combine, belong as well to the imagination as to the fancy; but either the materials evoked and combined are different; or they are brought together under a different law, and for a different purpose. Fancy does not require that the materials which she makes use of should be susceptible of changes in their constitution from her touch; and where they admit of modification, it is enough for her purpose if it be slight, limited, and evanescent. Directly the reverse of these are the desires and demands of the imagination. She recoils from everything but the plastic, the pliant, and the indefinite. She leaves it to fancy to describe Queen Mab as coming:

'In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman.'

Having to speak of stature, she does not tell you that her gigantic angel was as tall as Pompey's Pillar; much less that he was twelve cubits or twelve hundred cubits high; or that his dimensions equalled those of Teneriffe or Atlas; because these, and if they were a million times as high, it would be the same, are bounded. The expression is, 'His stature reached the sky!' the illimitable firmament!—When the imagination frames a comparison, ... a sense of the truth of the likeness from the moment that it is perceived grows—and continues to grow—upon the mind; the resemblance depending less upon outline of form and feature than upon expression and effect, less upon casual and outstanding than upon inherent and internal properties.

Poetical Works, Pref. to Ed. of 1815, p. 646, app. [T. & H. '51.]

So far as actual images are concerned, both fancy and imagination are limited to the materials furnished by the external world; it is remarkable that among all the representations of gods or demigods, fiends and demons, griffins and chimæras, the human mind has never invented one organ or attribute that is not presented in human or animal life; the lion may have a human head and an eagle's wings and claws, but in the various features, individually, there is absolutely nothing new. But imagination can transcend the work of fancy, and compare an image drawn from the external world with some spiritual truth born in the mind itself, or infuse a series of images with such a spiritual truth, molding them as needed for its more vivid expression.

The imagination modifies images, and gives unity to variety; it sees all things in one.... There is the epic imagination, the perfection of which is in Milton; and the dramatic, of which Shakspeare is the absolute master.

Coleridge Table Talk June 23, '34.

Fancy keeps the material image prominent and clear, and works not only with it, but for it; imagination always uses the material object as the minister of something greater than itself, and often almost loses the object in the spiritual idea with which she has associated it, and for which alone she values it. Fancy flits about the surface, and is airy and playful, sometimes petty and sometimes false; imagination goes to the heart of things, and is deep, earnest, serious, and seeks always and everywhere for essential truth. Fancy sets off, variegates, and decorates; imagination transforms and exalts. Fancy delights and entertains; imagination moves and thrills. Imagination is not only poetic or literary, but scientific, philosophical, and practical. By imagination the architect sees the unity of a building not yet begun, and the inventor sees the unity and varied interactions of a machine never yet constructed, even a unity that no human eye ever can see, since when the machine is in actual motion, one part may hide the connecting parts, and yet all keep the unity of the inventor's thought. By imagination a Newton sweeps sun, planets, and stars into unity with the earth and the apple that is drawn irresistibly to its surface, and sees them all within the circle of one grand law. Science, philosophy, and mechanical invention have little use for fancy, but the creative, penetrative power of imagination is to them the breath of life, and the condition of all advance and success. See also FANCY; IDEA.

Immediately.

Synonyms:

at once, instanter, presently, straightway,

directly, instantly, right away, this instant,

forthwith, now, right off, without delay.

The strong and general human tendency to procrastination is shown in the progressive weakening of the various words in this group. Immediately primarily signifies without the intervention of anything as a medium, hence without the intervention of any, even the briefest, interval or lapse of time. By and by, which was once a synonym, has become an antonym of immediately, meaning at some (perhaps remote) future time. Directly, which once meant with no intervening time, now means after some little while; presently no longer means in this very present, but before very long. Even immediately is sliding from its instantaneousness, so that we are fain to substitute at once, instantly, etc., when we would make promptness emphatic. Right away and right off are vigorous conversational expressions in the United States.

Antonyms:

after a while, by and by, hereafter, in the future, some time.

Immerse.

Synonyms:

bury, dip, douse, duck, immerge, plunge, sink, submerge.

Dip is Saxon, while immerse is Latin for the same initial act; dip is accordingly the more popular and commonplace, immerse the more elegant and dignified expression in many cases. To speak of baptism by immersion as dipping now seems rude; tho entirely proper and usual in early English. Baptists now universally use the word immerse. To dip and to immerse alike signify to bury or submerge some object in a liquid; but dip implies that the object dipped is at once removed from the liquid, while immerse is wholly silent as to the removal. Immerse also suggests more absolute completeness of the action; one may dip his sleeve or dip a sponge in a liquid, if he but touches the edge; if he immerses it, he completely sinks it under, and covers it with the liquid. Submerge implies that the object can not readily be removed, if at all; as, a submerged wreck. To plunge is to immerse suddenly and violently, for which douse and duck are colloquial terms. Dip is used, also, unlike the other words, to denote the putting of a hollow vessel into a liquid in order to remove a portion of it; in this sense we say dip up, dip out. Compare synonyms for BURY.

Preposition:

The object is immersed in water.

Imminent.

Synonyms:

impending, threatening.

Imminent, from the Latin, with the sense of projecting over, signifies liable to happen at once, as some calamity, dangerous and close at hand. Impending, also from the Latin, with the sense of hanging over, is closely akin to imminent, but somewhat less emphatic. Imminent is more immediate, impending more remote, threatening more contingent. An impending evil is almost sure to happen at some uncertain time, perhaps very near; an imminent peril is one liable to befall very speedily; a threatening peril may be near or remote, but always with hope that it may be averted.

Antonyms:

chimerical, contingent, doubtful, improbable, problematical, unexpected, unlikely.

Impediment.

Synonyms:

bar, clog, encumbrance, obstacle,

barrier, difficulty, hindrance, obstruction.

Difficulty makes an undertaking otherwise than easy. That which rests upon one as a burden is an encumbrance. An impediment is primarily something that checks the foot or in any way makes advance slow or difficult; an obstacle is something that stands across the way, an obstruction something that is built or placed across the way. An obstruction is always an obstacle, but an obstacle may not always be properly termed an obstruction; boxes and bales placed on the sidewalk are obstructions to travel; an ice-floe is an obstacle to navigation, and may become an obstruction if it closes an inlet or channel. A hindrance (kindred with hind, behind) is anything that makes one come behind or short of his purpose. An impediment may be either what one finds in his way or what he carries with him; impedimenta was the Latin name for the baggage of a soldier or of an army. The tendency is to view an impediment as something constant or, at least for a time, continuous; as, an impediment in one's speech. A difficulty or a hindrance may be either within one or without; a speaker may find difficulty in expressing himself, or difficulty in holding the attention of restless children. An encumbrance is always what one carries with him; an obstacle or an obstruction is always without. To a marching soldier the steepness of a mountain path is a difficulty, loose stones are impediments, a fence is an obstruction, a cliff or a boulder across the way is an obstacle; a knapsack is an encumbrance.

Antonyms:

advantage, aid, assistance, benefit, help, relief, succor.

Impudence.

Synonyms:

assurance, impertinence, intrusiveness, presumption,

boldness, incivility, officiousness, rudeness,

effrontery, insolence, pertness, sauciness.

forwardness,

Impertinence primarily denotes what does not pertain or belong to the occasion or the person, and hence comes to signify interference by word or act not consistent with the age, position, or relation of the person interfered with or of the one who interferes; especially, forward, presumptuous, or meddlesome speech. Impudence is shameless impertinence. What would be arrogance in a superior becomes impertinence or impudence in an inferior. Impertinence has less of intent and determination than impudence. We speak of thoughtless impertinence, shameless impudence. Insolence is literally that which is against custom, i. e., the violation of customary respect and courtesy. Officiousness is thrusting upon others unasked and undesired service, and is often as well-meant as it is annoying. Rudeness is the behavior that might be expected from a thoroughly uncultured person, and may be either deliberate and insulting or unintentional and even unconscious. Compare ARROGANCE; ASSURANCE; EFFRONTERY; PERTNESS.

Antonyms:

bashfulness, diffidence, lowliness, modesty,

coyness, humility, meekness, submissiveness.

Prepositions:

The impudence of, or impudence from, a subordinate to a superior.

Incongruous.

Synonyms:

absurd, ill-matched, inharmonious,

conflicting, inapposite, irreconcilable,

contradictory, inappropriate, mismatched,

contrary, incommensurable, mismated,

discordant, incompatible, repugnant,

discrepant, inconsistent, unsuitable.

Two or more things that do not fit well together, or are not adapted to each other, are said to be incongruous; a thing is said to be incongruous that is not adapted to the time, place, or occasion; the term is also applied to a thing made up of ill-assorted parts or inharmonious elements. Discordant is applied to all things that jar in association like musical notes that are not in accord; inharmonious has the same original sense, but is a milder term. Incompatible primarily signifies unable to sympathize or feel alike; inconsistent means unable to stand together. Things are incompatible which can not exist together in harmonious relations, and whose action when associated tends to ultimate extinction of one by the other. Inconsistent applies to things that can not be made to agree in thought with each other, or with some standard of truth or right; slavery and freedom are inconsistent with each other in theory, and incompatible in fact. Incongruous applies to relations, unsuitable to purpose or use; two colors are incongruous which can not be agreeably associated; either may be unsuitable for a person, a room, or an occasion. Incommensurable is a mathematical term, applying to two or more quantities that have no common measure or aliquot part.

Antonyms:

accordant, agreeing, compatible, consistent, harmonious, suitable.

Preposition:

The illustrations were incongruous with the theme.

Induction.

Synonyms:

deduction, inference.

Deduction is reasoning from the general to the particular; induction is reasoning from the particular to the general. Deduction proceeds from a general principle through an admitted instance to a conclusion. Induction, on the other hand, proceeds from a number of collated instances, through some attribute common to them all, to a general principle. The proof of an induction is by using its conclusion as the premise of a new deduction. Thus what is ordinarily known as scientific induction is a constant interchange of induction and deduction. In deduction, if the general rule is true, and the special case falls under the rule, the conclusion is certain; induction can ordinarily give no more than a probable conclusion, because we can never be sure that we have collated all instances. An induction is of the nature of an inference, but while an inference may be partial and hasty, an induction is careful, and aims to be complete. Compare DEMONSTRATION; HYPOTHESIS.

Industrious.

Synonyms:

active, busy, employed, occupied,

assiduous, diligent, engaged, sedulous.

Industrious signifies zealously or habitually applying oneself to any work or business. Busy applies to an activity which may be temporary, industrious to a habit of life. We say a man is busy just now; that is, occupied at the moment with something that takes his full attention. It would be ridiculous or satirical to say, he is industrious just now. But busy can be used in the sense of industrious, as when we say he is a busy man. Diligent indicates also a disposition, which is ordinarily habitual, and suggests more of heartiness and volition than industrious. We say one is a diligent, rather than an industrious, reader of the Bible. In the use of the nouns, we speak of plodding industry, but not of plodding diligence. Compare ACTIVE; INDUSTRY.

Antonyms:

See synonyms for IDLE.

Industry.

Synonyms:

application, diligence, labor, persistence,

assiduity, effort, pains, sedulousness.

attention, exertion, patience,

constancy, intentness, perseverance,

Industry is the quality, action, or habit of earnest, steady, and continued attention or devotion to any useful or productive work or task, manual or mental. Assiduity (L. ad, to, and sedeo, sit), as the etymology suggests, sits down to a task until it is done. Diligence (L. diligo, love, choose) invests more effort and exertion, with love of the work or deep interest in its accomplishment; application (L. ad, to, and plico, fold) bends to its work and concentrates all one's powers upon it with utmost intensity; hence, application can hardly be as unremitting as assiduity. Constancy is a steady devotion of heart and principle. Patience works on in spite of annoyances; perseverance overcomes hindrances and difficulties; persistence strives relentlessly against opposition; persistence has very frequently an unfavorable meaning, implying that one persists in spite of considerations that should induce him to desist. Industry is diligence applied to some avocation, business, or profession. Labor and pains refer to the exertions of the worker and the tax upon him, while assiduity, perseverance, etc., refer to his continuance in the work.

Antonyms:

changeableness, idleness, inconstancy, neglect, remissness,

fickleness, inattention, indolence, negligence, sloth.

Infinite.

Synonyms:

absolute, illimitable, limitless, unconditioned,

boundless, immeasurable, measureless, unfathomable,

countless, innumerable, numberless, unlimited,

eternal, interminable, unbounded, unmeasured.

Infinite (L. in, not, and finis, limit) signifies without bounds or limits in any way, and may be applied to space, time, quantity, or number. Countless, innumerable, and numberless, which should be the same as infinite, are in common usage vaguely employed to denote what it is difficult or practically impossible to count or number, tho perhaps falling far short of infinite; as, countless leaves, the countless sands on the seashore, numberless battles, innumerable delays. So, too, boundless, illimitable, limitless, measureless, and unlimited are loosely used in reference to what has no apparent or readily determinable limits in space or time; as, we speak of the boundless ocean. Infinite space is without bounds, not only in fact, but in thought; infinite time is truly eternal. Compare synonyms for ETERNAL.

Antonyms:

bounded, finite, measurable, restricted, small,

brief, limited, moderate, shallow, transient,

circumscribed, little, narrow, short, transitory.

evanescent,

Influence.

Synonyms:

actuate, draw, impel, induce, move, stir,

compel, drive, incite, instigate, persuade, sway,

dispose, excite, incline, lead, prompt, urge.

To influence (L. in, in or into, and fluo, flow) is to affect, modify, or act upon by physical, mental, or moral power, especially in some gentle, subtle, and gradual way; as, vegetation is influenced by light; every one is influenced to some extent by public opinion; influence is chiefly used of power acting from without, tho it may be used of motives regarded as forces acting upon the will. Actuate refers solely to mental or moral power impelling one from within. One may influence, but can not directly actuate another; but one may be actuated to cruelty by hatred which another's misrepresentation has aroused. Prompt and stir are words of mere suggestion toward some course of action; dispose, draw, incline, influence, and lead refer to the use of mild means to awaken in another a purpose or disposition to act. To excite is to arouse one from lethargy or indifference to action. Incite and instigate, to spur or goad one to action, differ in the fact that incite may be to good, while instigate is always to evil (compare ABET). To urge and impel signify to produce strong excitation toward some act. We are urged from without, impelled from within. Drive and compel imply irresistible influence accomplishing its object. One may be driven either by his own passions or by external force or urgency; one is compelled only by some external power; as, the owner was compelled by his misfortunes to sell his estate. Compare COMPEL; DRIVE.

Antonyms:

deter, dissuade, impede, prevent, restrain, retard.

discourage, hinder, inhibit,

Prepositions:

Actuated to crime by revenge.

Inherent.

Synonyms:

congenital, indispensable, innate, native,

essential, indwelling, inseparable, natural,

immanent, infixed, internal, subjective.

inborn, ingrained, intrinsic,

inbred, inhering, inwrought,

Inherent signifies permanently united as an element or original quality, naturally existent or incorporated in something so as to have become an integral part. Immanent is a philosophic word, to denote that which dwells in or pervades any substance or spirit without necessarily being a part of it, and without reference to any working out (compare SUBJECTIVE). That which is inherent is an inseparable part of that in which it inheres, and is usually thought of with reference to some outworking or effect; as, an inherent difficulty. God is said to be immanent (not inherent) in the universe. Frequently intrinsic and inherent can be interchanged, but inherent applies to qualities, while intrinsic applies to essence, so that to speak of intrinsic excellence conveys higher praise than if we say inherent excellence. Inherent and intrinsic may be said of persons or things; congenital, inborn, inbred, innate, apply to living beings. Congenital is frequent in medical and legal use with special application to defects; as, congenital idiocy. Innate and inborn are almost identical, but innate is preferred in philosophic use, as when we speak of innate ideas; that which is inborn, congenital, or innate may be original with the individual, but that which is inbred is inherited. Ingrained signifies dyed in the grain, and denotes that which is deeply wrought into substance or character.

Antonyms:

accidental, extrinsic, outward, superficial, supplemental,

casual, fortuitous, subsidiary, superfluous, transient,

external, incidental, superadded, superimposed, unconnected.

Injury.

Synonyms:

blemish, disadvantage, hurt, loss, prejudice,

damage, evil, impairment, mischief, wrong.

detriment, harm, injustice, outrage,

Injury (L. in, not, and jus, juris, right, law) signifies primarily something done contrary to law or right; hence, something contrary to some standard of right or good; whatever reduces the value, utility, beauty, or desirableness of anything is an injury to that thing; of persons, whatever is so done as to operate adversely to one in his person, rights, property, or reputation is an injury; the word is especially used of whatever mars the integrity of the body or causes pain; as, when rescued from the wreck his injuries were found to be very slight. Injury is the general term including all the rest. Damage (L. damnum, loss) is that which occasions loss to the possessor; hence, any impairment of value, often with the suggestion of fault on the part of the one causing it; damage reduces value, utility, or beauty; detriment (L. deterere, to rub or wear away) is similar in meaning, but far milder. Detriment may affect value only; damage always affects real worth or utility; as a rule, the slightest use of an article by a purchaser operates to its detriment if again offered for sale, tho the article may have received not the slightest damage. Damage is partial; loss is properly absolute as far as it is predicated at all; the loss of a ship implies that it is gone beyond recovery; the loss of the rudder is a damage to the ship; but since the loss of a part still leaves a part, we may speak of a partial or a total loss. Evil commonly suggests suffering or sin, or both; as, the evils of poverty, the social evil. Harm is closely synonymous with injury; it may apply to body, mind, or estate, but always affects real worth, while injury may concern only estimated value. A hurt is an injury that causes pain, physical or mental; a slight hurt may be no real harm. Mischief is disarrangement, trouble, or harm usually caused by some voluntary agent, with or without injurious intent; a child's thoughtless sport may do great mischief; wrong is harm done with evil intent. An outrage combines insult and injury. Compare synonyms for BLEMISH; CRIMINAL; INJUSTICE.

Antonyms:

advantage, benefit, boon, improvement, service,

amelioration, blessing, help, remedy, utility.

Prepositions:

The injury of the cause; an injury to the structure; injury by fire; by or from collision, interference, etc.

Injustice.

Synonyms:

grievance, injury, unfairness, unrighteousness, wrong.

iniquity,

Injustice is a violation or denial of justice, an act or omission that is contrary to equity or justice; as, the injustice of unequal taxes. In legal usage a wrong involves injury to person, property, or reputation, as the result of evil intent; injustice applies to civil damage or loss, not necessarily involving injury to person or property, as by misrepresentation of goods which does not amount to a legal warranty. In popular usage, injustice may involve no direct injury to person, property, interest, or character, and no harmful intent, while wrong always involves both; one who attributes another's truly generous act to a selfish motive does him an injustice. Iniquity, in the original sense, is a want of or a deviation from equity; but it is now applied in the widest sense to any form of ill-doing. Compare synonyms for CRIMINAL; SIN.

Antonyms:

equity, faithfulness, impartiality, lawfulness, righteousness,

fairness, honesty, integrity, rectitude, uprightness.

fair play, honor, justice, right,

Innocent.

Synonyms:

blameless, guiltless, inoffensive, spotless,

clean, harmless, pure, stainless,

clear, immaculate, right, upright,

faultless, innocuous, righteous, virtuous.

guileless, innoxious, sinless,

Innocent, in the full sense, signifies not tainted with sin; not having done wrong or violated legal or moral precept or duty; as, an innocent babe. Innocent is a negative word, expressing less than righteous, upright, or virtuous, which imply knowledge of good and evil, with free choice of the good. A little child or a lamb is innocent; a tried and faithful man is righteous, upright, virtuous. Immaculate, pure, and sinless may be used either of one who has never known the possibility of evil or of one who has perfectly and triumphantly resisted it. Innocent is used of inanimate substances in the sense of harmless; as, an innocent remedy, that is, one not dangerous, even if not helpful. Innocent, in a specific case, signifies free from the guilt of a particular act, even tho the total character may be very evil; as, the thief was found to be innocent of the murder. See CANDID; PURE.

Antonyms:

Compare synonyms for CRIMINAL.

Inquisitive.

Synonyms:

curious, meddlesome, peeping, scrutinizing,

inquiring, meddling, prying, searching.

intrusive,

An inquisitive person is one who is bent on finding out all that can be found out by inquiry, especially of little and personal matters, and hence is generally meddlesome and prying. Inquisitive may be used in a good sense, tho in such connection inquiring is to be preferred; as, an inquiring mind. As applied to a state of mind, curious denotes a keen and rather pleasurable desire to know fully something to which one's attention has been called, but without the active tendency that inquisitive implies; a well-bred person may be curious to know, but will not be inquisitive in trying to ascertain, what is of interest in the affairs of another.

Antonyms:

apathetic, heedless, indifferent, unconcerned, uninterested.

careless, inattentive,

Prepositions:

Inquisitive about, concerning, in regard to, regarding trifles.

Insanity.

Synonyms:

aberration, delirium, frenzy, madness,

alienation, dementia, hallucination, mania,

craziness, derangement, lunacy, monomania.

Of these terms insanity is the most exact and comprehensive, including in its widest sense all morbid conditions of mind due to diseased action of the brain or nervous system, but in its more frequent restricted use applied to those forms in which the mental disorder is persistent, as distinguished from those in which it is temporary or transient. Craziness is a vague popular term for any sort of disordered mental action, or for conduct suggesting it. Lunacy originally denoted intermittent insanity, supposed to be dependent on the changes of the moon (L. luna): the term is now applied in general and legal use to any form of mental unsoundness except idiocy. Madness is the old popular term, now less common, for insanity in its widest sense, but with suggestion of excitement, akin to mania. In the derived sense, lunacy denotes what is insanely foolish, madness what is insanely desperate. Derangement is a common euphemism for insanity. Delirium is always temporary, and is specifically the insanity of disease, as in acute fevers. Dementia is a general weakening of the mental powers: the word is specifically applied to senile insanity, dotage. Aberration is eccentricity of mental action due to an abnormal state of the perceptive faculties, and is manifested by error in perceptions and rambling thought. Hallucination is the apparent perception of that which does not exist or is not present to the senses, as the seeing of specters or of reptiles in delirium tremens. Monomania is mental derangement as to one subject or object. Frenzy and mania are forms of raving and furious insanity. Compare synonyms for DELUSION; IDIOCY.

Antonyms:

clearness, good sense, lucidity, rationality, sanity.

Interpose.

Synonyms:

arbitrate, intercept, intermeddle, meddle,

intercede, interfere, interrupt, mediate.

To interpose is to place or come between other things or persons, usually as a means of obstruction or prevention of some effect or result that would otherwise occur, or be expected to take place. Intercede and interpose are used in a good sense; intermeddle always in a bad sense, and interfere frequently so. To intercede is to come between persons who are at variance, and plead with the stronger in behalf of the weaker. One may interpose with authority; he intercedes by petition. To intermeddle is to thrust oneself into the concerns of others with a petty officiousness; meddling commonly arises from idle curiosity; "every fool will be meddling," Prov. xx, 3; to interfere is to intrude into others' affairs with more serious purpose, with or without acknowledged right or propriety. Intercept is applied to an object that may be seized or stopped while in transit; as, to intercept a letter or a messenger; interrupt is applied to an action which might or should be continuous, but is broken in upon (L. rumpere, to break) by some disturbing power; as, the conversation was interrupted. One who arbitrates or mediates must do so by the request or at least with the consent of the contending parties; the other words of the group imply that he steps in of his own accord.

Antonyms:

avoid, keep aloof, keep out, retire, stand back,

hold aloof, keep away, let alone, stand aside, stand off,

hold off, keep clear, let be, stand away, withdraw.

Prepositions:

Interpose between the combatants; in the matter.

Involve.

Synonyms:

complicate, embroil, implicate, include,

embarrass, entangle, imply, overwhelm.

To involve (L. in, in, and volvo, roll) is to roll or wind up with or in so as to combine inextricably or inseparably, or nearly so; as, the nation is involved in war; the bookkeeper's accounts, or the writer's sentences are involved. Involve is a stronger word than implicate, denoting more complete entanglement. As applied to persons, implicate is always used in an unfavorable sense, and involve ordinarily so; but implicate applies only to that which is wrong, while involve is more commonly used of that which is unfortunate; one is implicated in a crime, involved in embarrassments, misfortunes, or perplexities. As regards logical connection that which is included is usually expressly stated; that which is implied is not stated, but is naturally to be inferred; that which is involved is necessarily to be inferred; as, a slate roof is included in the contract; that the roof shall be water-tight is implied; the contrary supposition involves an absurdity. See COMPLEX.

Antonyms:

disconnect, disentangle, distinguish, explicate, extricate, remove, separate.

Journey.

Synonyms:

excursion, pilgrimage, transit, trip,

expedition, tour, travel, voyage.

A journey (F. journée, from L. diurnus, daily) was primarily a day's work; hence, a movement from place to place within one day, which we now describe as "a day's journey;" in its extended modern use a journey is a direct going from a starting-point to a destination, ordinarily over a considerable distance; we speak of a day's journey, or the journey of life. Travel is a passing from place to place, not necessarily in a direct line or with fixed destination; a journey through Europe would be a passage to some destination beyond or at the farther boundary; travel in Europe may be in no direct course, but may include many journeys in different directions. A voyage, which was formerly a journey of any kind, is now a going to a considerable distance by water, especially by sea; as, a voyage to India. A trip is a short and direct journey. A tour is a journey that returns to the starting-point, generally over a considerable distance; as, a bridal tour, or business tour. An excursion is a brief tour or journey, taken for pleasure, often by many persons at once; as, an excursion to Chautauqua. Passage is a general word for a journey by any conveyance, especially by water; as, a rough passage across the Atlantic; transit, literally the act of passing over or through, is used specifically of the conveyance of passengers or merchandise; rapid transit is demanded for suburban residents or perishable goods. Pilgrimage, once always of a sacred character, retains in derived uses something of that sense; as, a pilgrimage to Stratford-on-Avon.

Prepositions:

A journey from Naples to Rome; through Mexico; across the continent; over the sea; a journey into Asia; among savages; by land, by rail, for health, on foot, on the cars, etc.

Judge.

Synonyms:

arbiter, arbitrator, justice, referee, umpire.

A judge, in the legal sense, is a judicial officer appointed or elected to preside in courts of law, and to decide legal questions duly brought before him; the name is sometimes given to other legally constituted officers; as, the judges of election; in other relations, any person duly appointed to pass upon the merits of contestants or of competing articles may be called a judge; as, the judges at an agricultural fair, or at a race-track; in the widest sense, any person who has good capacity for judging is called a judge; as, a person is said to be a judge of pictures, or a good judge of a horse, etc. In most games the judge is called an umpire; as, the umpire of a game of ball or cricket. A referee is appointed by a court to decide disputed matters between litigants; an arbitrator is chosen by the contending parties to decide matters in dispute without action by a court. In certain cases an umpire is appointed by a court to decide where arbitrators disagree. Arbiter, with its suggestion of final and absolute decision, has come to be used only in a high or sacred sense; as, war must now be the arbiter; the Supreme Arbiter of our destinies. The judges of certain courts, as the United States Supreme Court, are technically known as justices.

Justice.

Synonyms:

equity, impartiality, legality, rightfulness,

fairness, integrity, rectitude, truth,

fair play, justness, right, uprightness,

faithfulness, law, righteousness, virtue.

honor, lawfulness,

In its governmental relations, human or divine, justice is the giving to every person exactly what he deserves, not necessarily involving any consideration of what any other may deserve; equity (the quality of being equal) is giving every one as much advantage, privilege, or consideration as is given to any other; it is that which is equally right or just to all concerned; equity is equal justice and is thus a close synonym for fairness and impartiality, but it has a philosophical and legal precision that those words have not. In legal proceedings cases arise for which the law has not adequately provided, or in which general provisions, just in the main, would work individual hardship. The system of equity, devised to supply the insufficiencies of law, deals with cases "to which the law by reason of its universality can not apply." "Equity, then, ... is the soul and spirit of all law; positive law is construed and rational law is made by it." Blackstone bk. iii, ch. 27, p. 429. In personal and social relations justice is the rendering to every one what is due or merited, whether in act, word, or thought; in matters of reasoning, or literary work of any kind, justice is close, faithful, unprejudiced, and unbiased adherence to essential truth or fact; we speak of the justice of a statement, or of doing justice to a subject. Integrity, rectitude, right, righteousness and virtue denote conformity of personal conduct to the moral law, and thus necessarily include justice, which is giving others that which is their due. Lawfulness is an ambiguous word, meaning in its narrower sense mere legality, which may be very far from justice, but in its higher sense signifying accordance with the supreme law of right, and thus including perfect justice. Justness refers rather to logical relations than to practical matters; as, we speak of the justness of a statement or of a criticism. See JUDGE, n.

Antonyms:

dishonesty, inequity, partiality, unlawfulness, untruth,

favoritism, injustice, unfairness, unreasonableness, wrong.

Prepositions:

The justice of the king; to or for the oppressed.

Keep.

Synonyms:

carry, defend, hold, preserve, retain,

carry on, detain, maintain, protect, support,

celebrate, fulfil, obey, refrain, sustain,

conduct, guard, observe, restrain, withhold.

Keep, signifying generally to have and retain in possession, is the terse, strong Saxon term for many acts which are more exactly discriminated by other words. We keep, observe, or celebrate a festival; we keep or hold a prisoner in custody; we keep or preserve silence, keep the peace, preserve order—preserve being the more formal word; we keep or maintain a horse, a servant, etc.; a man supports his family; we keep or obey a commandment; keep or fulfil a promise. In the expressions to keep a secret, keep one's own counsel, keep faith, or keep the faith, such words as preserve or maintain could not be substituted without loss. A person keeps a shop or store, conducts or carries on a business; he keeps or carries a certain line of goods; we may keep or restrain one from folly, crime, or violence; we keep from or refrain from evil, ourselves. Keep in the sense of guard or defend implies that the defense is effectual. Compare CELEBRATE; RESTRAIN.

Prepositions:

Keep in hand, in mind, in or within the house; from evil; out of mischief; keep to the subject; keep for a person, an occasion, etc.

Kill.

Synonyms:

assassinate, despatch, massacre, put to death, slay.

butcher, execute, murder, slaughter,

To kill is simply to deprive of life, human, animal, or vegetable, with no suggestion of how or why. Assassinate, execute, murder, apply only to the taking of human life; to murder is to kill with premeditation and malicious intent; to execute is to kill in fulfilment of a legal sentence; to assassinate is to kill by assault; this word is chiefly applied to the killing of public or eminent persons through alleged political motives, whether secretly or openly. To slay is to kill by a blow, or by a weapon. Butcher and slaughter apply primarily to the killing of cattle; massacre is applied primarily and almost exclusively to human beings, signifying to kill them indiscriminately in large numbers; to massacre is said when there is no chance of successful resistance; to butcher when the killing is especially brutal; soldiers mown down in a hopeless charge are said to be slaughtered when no brutality on the enemy's part is implied. To despatch is to kill swiftly and in general quietly, always with intention, with or without right.

Prepositions:

To kill with or by sword, famine, pestilence, care, grief, etc.; killed for his money, by a robber, with a dagger.

KIN.

Synonyms:

affinity, blood, descent, kind, race,

alliance, consanguinity, family, kindred, relationship.

birth,

Kind is broader than kin, denoting the most general relationship, as of the whole human species in mankind, humankind, etc.; kin and kindred denote direct relationship that can be traced through either blood or marriage, preferably the former; either of these words may signify collectively all persons of the same blood or members of the same family, relatives or relations. Affinity is relationship by marriage, consanguinity is relationship by blood. There are no true antonyms of kin or kindred, except those made by negatives, since strangers, aliens, foreigners, and foes may still be kin or kindred.

Knowledge.

Synonyms:

acquaintance, erudition, learning, recognition,

apprehension, experience, light, scholarship,

cognition, information, lore, science,

cognizance, intelligence, perception, wisdom.

comprehension, intuition,

Knowledge is all that the mind knows, from whatever source derived or obtained, or by whatever process; the aggregate of facts, truths, or principles acquired or retained by the mind, including alike the intuitions native to the mind and all that has been learned respecting phenomena, causes, laws, principles, literature, etc. There is a tendency to regard knowledge as accurate and systematic, and to a certain degree complete. Information is knowledge of fact, real or supposed, derived from persons, books, or observation, and is regarded as casual and haphazard. We say of a studious man that he has a great store of knowledge, or of an intelligent man of the world, that he has a fund of varied information. Lore is used only in poetic or elevated style, for accumulated knowledge, as of a people or age, or in a more limited sense for learning or erudition. We speak of perception of external objects, apprehension of intellectual truth. Simple perception gives a limited knowledge of external objects, merely as such; the cognition of the same objects is a knowledge of them in some relation; cognizance is the formal or official recognition of something as an object of knowledge; we take cognizance of it. Intuition is primary knowledge antecedent to all teaching or reasoning, experience is knowledge that has entered directly into one's own life; as, a child's experience that fire will burn. Learning is much higher than information, being preeminently wide and systematic knowledge, the result of long, assiduous study; erudition is recondite learning secured only by extraordinary industry, opportunity, and ability. Compare ACQUAINTANCE; EDUCATION; SCIENCE; WISDOM.

Antonyms:

ignorance, inexperience, misconception, rudeness,

illiteracy, misapprehension, misunderstanding, unfamiliarity.

Language.

Synonyms:

barbarism, expression, patois, vernacular,

dialect, idiom, speech, vocabulary.

diction, mother tongue, tongue,

Language (F. langage < L. lingua, the tongue) signified originally expression of thought by spoken words, but now in its widest sense it signifies expression of thought by any means; as, the language of the eyes, the language of flowers. As regards the use of words, language in its broadest sense denotes all the uttered sounds and their combinations into words and sentences that human beings employ for the communication of thought, and, in a more limited sense, the words or combinations forming a means of communication among the members of a single nation, people, or race. Speech involves always the power of articulate utterance; we can speak of the language of animals, but not of their speech. A tongue is the speech or language of some one people, country, or race. A dialect is a special mode of speaking a language peculiar to some locality or class, not recognized as in accordance with the best usage; a barbarism is a perversion of a language by ignorant foreigners, or some usage akin to that. Idiom refers to the construction of phrases and sentences, and the way of forming or using words; it is the peculiar mold in which each language casts its thought. The great difficulty of translation is to give the thought expressed in one language in the idiom of another. A dialect may be used by the highest as well as the lowest within its range; a patois is distinctly illiterate, belonging to the lower classes; those who speak a patois understand the cultured form of their own language, but speak only the degraded form, as in the case of the Italian lazzaroni or the former negro slaves in the United States. Vernacular, from the Latin, has the same general sense as the Saxon mother tongue, of one's native language, or that of a people; as, the Scriptures were translated into the vernacular. Compare DICTION.

Large.

Synonyms:

abundant, coarse, gigantic, long,

ample, colossal, grand, massive,

big, commodious, great, spacious,

broad, considerable, huge, vast,

bulky, enormous, immense, wide.

capacious, extensive,

Large denotes extension in more than one direction, and beyond the average of the class to which the object belongs; we speak of a large surface or a large solid, but of a long line; a large field, a large room, a large apple, etc. A large man is a man of more than ordinary size; a great man is a man of remarkable mental power. Big is a more emphatic word than large, but of less dignity. We do not say that George Washington was a big man.

Antonyms:

brief, infinitesimal, little, minute, petty, slender, tiny,

diminutive, insignificant, mean, narrow, scanty, slight, trifling,

inconsiderable, limited, microscopic, paltry, short, small, trivial.

LAW.

Synonyms:

canon, economy, legislation, principle,

code, edict, mandate, regulation,

command, enactment, order, rule,

commandment, formula, ordinance, statute.

decree, jurisprudence, polity,

Law, in its ideal, is the statement of a principle of right in mandatory form, by competent authority, with adequate penalty for disobedience; in common use, the term is applied to any legislative act, however imperfect or unjust. Command and commandment are personal and particular; as, the commands of a parent; the ten commandments. An edict is the act of an absolute sovereign or other authority; we speak of the edict of an emperor, the decree of a court. A mandate is specific, for an occasion or a purpose; a superior court issues its mandate to an inferior court to send up its records. Statute is the recognized legal term for a specific law; enactment is the more vague and general expression. We speak of algebraic or chemical formulas, municipal ordinances, military orders, army regulations, ecclesiastical canons, the rules of a business house. Law is often used, also, for a recognized principle, whose violation is attended with injury or loss that acts like a penalty; as, the laws of business; the laws of nature. In more strictly scientific use, a natural law is simply a recognized system of sequences or relations; as, Kepler's laws of planetary distances. A code is a system of laws; jurisprudence is the science of law, or a system of laws scientifically considered, classed, and interpreted; legislation, primarily the act of legislating, denotes also the body of statutes enacted by a legislative body. An economy (Gr. oikonomia, primarily the management of a house) is any comprehensive system of administration; as, domestic economy; but the word is extended to the administration or government of a state or people, signifying a body of laws and regulations, with the entire system, political or religious, especially the latter, of which they form a part; as, the code of Draco, Roman jurisprudence, British legislation, the Mosaic economy. Law is also used as a collective noun for a system of laws or recognized rules or regulations, including not only all special laws, but the principles on which they are based. The Mosaic economy is known also as the Mosaic law, and we speak of the English common law, or the law of nations. Polity (Gr. politeia, from polis, a city) signifies the form, constitution, or method of government of a nation, state, church, or other institution; in usage it differs from economy as applying rather to the system, while economy applies especially to method, or to the system as administered; an economy might be termed a polity considered with especial reference to its practical administration, hence commonly with special reference to details or particulars, while polity has more reference to broad principles.

Liberty.

Synonyms:

emancipation, freedom, independence, license.