 Section 5 of English Synonyms and Antonyms. This is a LibriVox recording, or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Julee van Molligiam. English Synonyms and Antonyms by James Champlin-Fernald. Alarm to Alliance Alarm, synonyms, a fright, apprehension, consternation, dismay, disquietude, dread, fear, fright, misgiving, panic, solicitude, terror, timidity. Alarm, according to its derivation, alarm to arms, is an arousing to meet and repel danger, and may be quite consistent with true courage. A fright and fright express sudden fear, which, for the time at least, overwhelms courage. The sentinel discovers with alarm the sudden approach of the enemy. The unarmed villagers fear it with a fright. Apprehension, disquietude, dread, misgiving, and solicitude, are in anticipation of danger. Meditation, dismay, and terror, are overwhelming fear, generally in the actual presence of that, which is terrible, though these words also may have an anticipative force. Timidity is equality, habit, or condition, a readiness to be affected with fear. A person of great timidity is constantly liable to needler's alarm and even terror. Compare fear. Synonyms, assurance, calmness, confidence, repose, security. Propositions Alarm was felt in the camp among the soldiers at the news. Alert, synonyms, active, brisk, hustling, lively, nimble on the watch, prepared, prompt, ready, vigilant, watchful, wide awake. Alert, ready, and wide awake refer to watchful promptness for action. Ready suggests thoughtful preparation. The wandering Indian is alert. The trained soldier is ready. Ready expresses more life and vigor than prepared. The gun is prepared. The man is ready. Alert expresses readiness for appointment or demand at the required moment. The good general is ready for emergencies. Alert to perceive opportunity or peril, prompt to cease action. The sense of brisk, nimble is a secondary and now less common signification of alert. Compare active, alive, nimble, vigilant. Problems drowsy, dull, heavy, inactive, slow, sluggish, stupid. Alien adjective Synonyms, conflicting, contradictory, contrary, contrasted, distant, foreign, hostile, impertinent, inappropriate, irrelevant, opposed, remote, strange, unconnected, unlike. Foreign refers to difference of birth, alien to difference of allegiance. In their figurative use, that is foreign, which is remote, unlike, or unconnected. That is alien, which is conflicting, hostile, or opposed. Impertinent and irrelevant matters cannot claim consideration in a certain connection. Unappropriate matters could not properly be considered. Compare alien noun, contrast, verb. Antonyms, akin, appropriate, apropos, essential, germane, pertinent, proper, relevant. Propositions Such a purpose was alien to, or from, my thought, too preferable. Alien noun, synonyms, foreigner, stranger A naturalised citizen is not an alien, though a foreigner by birth, and perhaps a stranger in the place where he resides. A person of foreign birth, not naturalised, is an alien, though he may have been resident in the country a large part of a lifetime, and ceased to be a stranger to its people or institutions. He is an alien in one country, if his allegiance is to another. The people of any country still residing in their own land are, strictly speaking, foreigners to the people of all other countries, rather than aliens, but alien and foreigner are often used synonymously. Antonyms Citizen Countryman Fellow countryman Native Native-born inhabitant Naturalised Person Propositions Aliens too, more rarely from, our nation and laws, aliens in our land, among our people. Alike Synonyms, akin, analogous, equal, equivalent, homogeneous, identical, kindred, like, resembling, same, similar, uniform. Alike is a comprehensive word, signifying as applied to two or more objects, that some or all qualities of one are the same as of those of the other or others. By modifiers, alike may be made to express more or less resemblance, as, these houses are somewhat, i.e., partially alike, or these houses are exactly, i.e., in all respects alike. Cotton and wool are alike in this, that they can both be woven into cloth. These are homogeneous, which are made up of elements of the same kind, or which are the same in structure. Two pieces of iron may be homogeneous in material, while not alike in size or shape. In geometry, two triangles are equal when they can be laid over one another, and fit line for line and angle for angle. They are equivalent when they simply contain the same amount of space. An identical proposition is one that says the same thing precisely in subject and predicate. Similar refers to close resemblance, which atleaves room for question or denial of complete likeness or identity. To say this is the identical man, is to say not merely that he is similar to the one I have in mind, but that he is a very sane person. These are analogous when they are similar in idea, plan, use or character, though perhaps quite unlike in appearance, as the girls of fishes are said to be analogous to the lungs in terrestrial animals. Antonyms, different, dissimilar, distinct, heterogeneous, unlike. The specimens are alike in kind, they are all alike to me. Alive, synonyms, active, alert, animate, animated, breathing, brisk, existent, existing, life, lively, living, quick, subsisting, vivacious. Alive applies to all degrees of life, from that which shows one to be barely existing or existent as a living thing, as when we say he is just alive, to that which implies a very utmost of vitality and power, as in the words, he is all alive, thoroughly alive. So the word quick, which began by signifying having life, is now mostly applied to energy of life, as shown in swiftness of action. Breathing is capable of life-contrast. We say of a dying man, he is still breathing, or we speak of a breathing-statue, or breathing and sounding butchers battle. Tennyson, princes, canto five, line one hundred and fifty-five, where it means having, or seeming to have, full and vigorous breath, abundant life, compare, active, alert, nimble. Antonyms, dead, deceased, defunct, dispirited, dull, inanimate, lifeless, spiritless. Prepositions, a life in every nerve, a life to every noble impulse, a life with a fervour, hope, resolve, a life through all his being, a lay, synonyms, alleviate, appease, calm, compose, mollify, pacify, quiet, soothe, still, tranquilise. A lay and alleviate are closely kindred in signification, and have been often interchanged in usage. But in strictness, to a lay is to lay to rest, quiet or soothe, that which is excited. To alleviate, on the other hand, is to lighten a burden. We allay suffering by using means to soothe and tranquilise the sufferer. We alleviate suffering by doing something toward removal of the cause, so that there is less to suffer, where the trouble is wholly or chiefly in the excitement. To allay the excitement is virtually to remove the trouble, as to allay rage or panic. We alleviate poverty, but do not allay it. Mollify directly from the Latin and appease from the Latin through the French, signify to bring to appease. To mollify is to soften. To calm, quiet or tranquilise is to make still. Compose to place together, unite, adjust to calm and settled condition. To soothe, originally to send to, humour, is to bring to pleased quietude. We allay excitement, appease a tumult, calm agitation, compose our feelings or cantonance, pacify the quarrelsome, quiet the boisterous or clamorous, soothe grief or distress. Compare alleviate. Antonyms agitate, arouse, excite, fan, kindle, provoke, arouse, stir, stirrup. Allege synonyms, aduse, advance, affirm, assert, asseverate, assign, avire, cite, claim, declare, introduce, maintain, offer, plead, produce, say, state. To allege is formally to state as true or capable of proof, but without proving. To aduse, leisurely, to lead to, is to bring the evidence up to what has been alleged. Aduse is a secondary word. Nothing can be adused in evidence till something has been stated or alleged, which the evidence is to sustain. An alleged fact stands open to question or doubt. To speak of an alleged document, an alleged will, an alleged crime, is either to question or at least very carefully to refrain from admitting that a document exists, that a will is genuine, or that a crime has been committed. Alleged is, however, respectful. To speak of the so-called will or deed, etc., would be to cast discredit upon the document, and imply that a speaker was ready to brand it as unquestionably spurious. Alleged simply concedes nothing, and leaves a question open. To produce is to bring forward, as, for instance, papers or persons. Aduse is not use of persons. Of them we say introduce or produce. When an alleged criminal is brought to trial, the counsel on either side are accustomed to advance a theory, and aduse of the strongest possible evidence in its support. They will produce documents and witnesses, cite precedents, assign reasons, introduce suggestions, offer pleas. The accused will usually assert his innocence. Compare state. Allegions, synonyms, devotion, faithfulness, fealty, homage, loyalty, obedience, subtraction. This is the obligation of fidelity and obedience that an individual owes to his government or sovereign in return for the protection he receives. The feudal uses of these words have mostly passed away with the state of society that gave them birth, but their origins still colors at their present meaning. A patriotic American feels an enthusiastic loyalty to the republic. He takes an occasion and oath of allegiance to the government, but his loyalty will lead him to do more than mere allegiance could demand. He pays homage to God alone, as he only King and Lord, unto those principles of right if that are spiritually supreme. He acknowledges the duty of obedience to all rightful authority, who resents at the idea of subjection. Fealty is becoming somewhat rare, except in elevated or poetic style. We prefer to speak of the faithfulness, rather than fealty of citizen, wife or friend. Antonyms, disaffection, disloyalty, rebellion, sedition, treason. Propositions. We honor the allegiance of the citizen to the government. The government has arrived to allegiance from the citizen. Allegory. Synonyms. Fable. Fiction. Illustration. Matterful. Parable. Simile. In modern usage we may say that an allegory is an extended simile, while a metaphor is an abbreviated simile contained often in a phrase, perhaps in a word. The simile carries its comparison on the surface, in the words as, like, or similar expressions. The metaphor is given directly without any note of comparison. The allegory, parable, or fable, tells its story as if true, leaving the reader or hearer to discover its fictitious character and learn its lesson. All these are, in strict definition, fictions, but the word fiction is now applied almost exclusively to novels or romances. An allegory is a moral or religious tale, of which the moral lesson is a substance, and all descriptions and incidents but accessories, as in the pilgrim's progress. A fable is generally briefer, representing animals as a speaker, as an actor, and commonly conveying some lesson of practical wisdom or shrewdness, as the fables of Isop. A parable is exclusively moral or religious, briefer and less adorned than an allegory, with its lesson more immediately discernible, given as it were at a stroke. Any comparison, analogy, instance, example, tale, anecdote, or the like, which asserts to let in, lied upon a subject, may be called an illustration. This word in its widest use including all the rest. Compare fiction, story, antonyms, chronicle, fact, history, narrative, record. To alleviate, synonyms, abate, assuage, lesson, lighten, mitigate, moderate, reduce, relieve, remove, soften. Etymologically, to alleviate is to lift the burden toward oneself, and so lighten it for the bearer. To relieve is to lift it back from the bearer, nearly or quite away. To remove is to take it away altogether. Alleviate is thus less than relief, relief ordinarily less than remove. We alleviate, relieve or remove the trouble, we relieve not alleviate the sufferer. Assuage is by derivation to sweeten, mitigate to make mild, moderate, to bring within pleasure, abate, to bead down, and so make less. We abate a fever, lessen anxiety, moderate passions or desires, lighten burdens, mitigate or alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, soften, assuage or moderate grieve. We lighten or mitigate punishment. We relieve any suffering of body or mind that admits of help, comfort or remedy. Alleviate has often been confused with allay, compare allay. Antonyms aggravate, augment, embitter, enhance, heighten, increase, intensify, magnify, make worse. Allions synonyms, coalition, compact, confederacy, confederation, federation, fusion, league, partnership, union. Alliance is, in its most common use, a connection formed by treaty between sovereign states as for mutual aid and war. Partnership is a mercantile word, alliance chiefly political or matrimonial. Coalition is often used of political parties. Fusion is now the more common word in this sense. In an alliance between nations, there is no surrender of serenity, and no union, except for a specified time and purpose. League and alliance are used with a ghastly perceptible difference of meaning. In a confederacy or confederation, there is an attempt to unite separate states in a general government, without surrender of serenity. Union implies so much concession as to make the separate states substantially one. Federation is mainly a poetic and rhetorical word, expressing something of the same thought, as in Tennyson's Federation of the World, Loxley Hall, line 128. The United States is not a confederacy, nor an alliance. The nation might be called a federation, but refers to be styled a federal union. Antagonism, discord, disunion, divorce, enmity, hostility, schism, secession, separation, war. Prepositions, alliance with a neighbouring people, against the common enemy, for offence and defence, alliance of between or among nations. End of Section 5. Section 6 of English synonyms and antonyms. This is a LibriVox recording, or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Shaleefa Malikem. English synonyms and antonyms by James Champlain-Fernard. A lot to ambition. A lot. A point. A portion. A sign. A ward. Destin. Distribute. Divide. Give. Grant. Meet out. Portion out. Select. Set apart. A lot. Originally to assign by lot, applies to the giving of a definite thing to a certain person. A portion or extent of time is a lot to it, as I expect to live out my a lot of time. A definite period is appointed, as the audience assembled at the appointed hour. A lot may also refer to space, as to a lot of plot of ground for a cemetery. But we now often use select, set apart or assign. A lot is not now use of persons. A point may be use of time, space or person, as the appointed day, the appointed place. An officer was appointed to this station. Destin may also refer to time, place or person, but it always has reference to what is considerably in the future. A man appoints to meet his friend in five minutes. He destines his son to follow his own profession. A sign is rarely used of time, but rather of places, persons or things. We assign a work to be done, and assign a man to do it, who if he fails must assign a reason for not doing it. That which is allotted, appointed or assigned, is more or less arbitrary. That which is awarded is a due requital of something the receiver has done, and he has right and claim to it, as the medal was awarded for valour. Compare a portion. Synonyms Appropriate Confiscate Deny Resume Retain Seize Withhold Repositions A lot too a company for a purpose Allow Synonyms Admit Concede Consent to Grant Let Permit Sanction Suffer Tolerate Yield We allow that which we do not attempt to hinder. We permit that to which we give some express authorisation. When this is given verbally, it is called permission. When in writing, it is commonly called a permit. There are establishments that anyone will be allowed to visit without challenge or hindrance. There are others that no one is allowed to visit without a permit from the manager. There are others to which visitors are admitted at specified times without a form of permit. We allow a child's innocent intrusion. We concede, and write, grant a request, consent to a sale of property, permit an inspection of accounts, sanction a marriage, tolerate the rudeness of a well-meaning servant, adhere to a surgical operation, yield to demand a necessity against a wish or will, or yield something under compulsion, as the sheriff yielded the keys at the muzzle of a revolver, and allowed the mob to enter. Suffer in the sense of mild concession is now becoming rare, its place being taken by allow, permit, or tolerate. Compare Permission Deny, disallow, disapprove, forbid, protest, refuse, reject, resist, withstand. See also synonyms for prohibit. Propositions To allow off, invest recent usage is simply to allow, such an action, allow one in such a course, allow for spending money. Alloy, synonyms, admixture, adulteration, debasement, deterioration. Alloy may be either some admixture of baser with precious metal, as for giving hardness to coin or the like, or it may be a compound or mixture of two or more metals. Adulteration, debasement, and deterioration are always used in the bad sands. Adulteration is neutral, and may be good or bad. Alloy is commonly good in the literal sense. In excess of Alloy, virtually amounts to adulteration, but adulteration is now mostly restricted to articles used for food, drink, medicine, and kindred uses. In the figurative sense, as applied to character, et cetera, Alloy is unfavourable, because of there, the only standard is perfection. Alloy is allued. Synonyms, adverb, hint, imply, indicate, insinuate, intimate, mention, point, refer, signify, suggest. Adverb, mention, and refer are used of language, that more or less distinctly utters a certain thought, the others of language from which it may be inferred. We allude to a matter slightly, perhaps by word or phrase, as it were in by play. We advert to it, when we turn from our path to treat it. We refer to it by any clear utterance, that distinctly turns the mind or retention to it, as marginal figures refer to a parallel passage. We mention a thing by explicit word, as by naming it. The speaker advert her to the recent disturbances, and the remissness of certain public offices, though he mentioned no name, it was easy to see to whom he alluded. One may hint at a thing in a friendly way, but what is insinuated is always unfavourable, generally both hostile and cowardly. One may indicate his wishes, intimate his plans, imply his opinion, signify his will, suggest a cause of action. Reposition. The passage evidently alludes to the Jews' Passover. Allure. Synonyms. Attract. Cajot. Captivate. Cokes. Decoy. Draw. Entice. Enveigle. Lure. Seduce. Tempt. Win. To allure is to draw, as was allure, by some charm or some prospect of pleasure or advantage. We may attract others to a certain thing without intent, as the good unconsciously attract others to virtue. We may allure either to that which is evil, or to that which is good and noble, by purpose and endeavour, as in the familiar line, allure to brighter worlds and left the way. Gardsmith, deserted village, line 170. Lure is rather more akin to the physical nature. It is a word we would use of drawing on an animal. Cokes expresses the attraction of the person, not of the thing. A man may be coaxed to that which is by no means alluring. Cajot and Decoy carry the idea of deceiving and ensnaring, as is the case with the deceiving and ensnaring. To Enveigle is to lead one blindly in. To Tempt is to endeavour to lead one wrong. To Seduce is to succeed winning one, from good to ill. When may be used in either a bad or a good sense, in which later it surpasses the highest sense of allure, because it exceeds in that which allure attempts, as he that is seen as assolves, as wise. Bro verbs 11, 30. Antonyms, chill, damp, deter, dissuade, drive away, repel, warn. Prepositions, allure to, of course, allure by hopes, allure from evil to good. Also, synonyms, as well, as well as, besides, in addition, in like manner, likewise, similarly, to, with all. While some distinctions between these words and phrases will appear to the careful student, yet in practice the choice between them is largely to secure euphony and devoid repetition. The words fall into two groups, as well as, besides, in addition, to, with all, simply add a fact or thought. Also, also, in like manner, likewise, similarly, affirm that what is added is like that to which it is added. As well follows the word of phrase to which it is joined. We can say the singers as well as the players, or the players and the singers as well. Antonyms, but, in spite of, nevertheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the other hand, yet, alternative, synonyms, choice, election, option, pick, preference, resource. A choice may be among many things, an alternative is, in the strictest sense, a choice between two things. Often it is one of two things between which a choice is to be made, and either of which is the alternative of the other, as the alternative of surrender is death, or the two things between which there is a choice may be called the alternatives. Both Mill and Gladstone are created as extending the meaning of alternative to include several particulars. Gladstone even speaking of the fourth and last of these alternatives. Option is a right of privilege of choosing. Choice may be either the right to choose, the act of choosing, or the thing chosen. A person of ability and readiness will commonly have many resources. Pick, from the Saxon, and election, from the Latin, pictured the objects before one with freedom and power to choose which he will, as, there were twelve horses among which I could take my pick. A choice, pick, election, or preference is that which suits one best. An alternative is that of which one is restricted. A resource that of which one is glad to be taken oneself. Antonyms, compulsion, necessity. A mars, synonyms, accumulate, aggregate, collect, gather, heap up, hoard, hoard up, pile up, store up. To a mars is to bring together materials that make a mars a great bulk or quantity. With some occasional exceptions, accumulate is applied to the more gradual, a mars to the more rapid gathering of money or materials. A mars referring to the general result or bulk, accumulate is the particular process or rate of gain. We say interest is accumulated, or accumulates, rather than is amassed. He accumulated a fortune in the course of years. He rapidly amassed a fortune by shrewd speculations. Goods or money for immediate distribution are said to be collected rather than amassed. They may be stored up for a longer or shorter time, but a hoard is always with a view of permanent retention, generally selfish. Aggregate is now most commonly used of numbers and amounts, as the expenses will aggregate around a million. Antonyms, disperse, dissipate, divide, parcel, portion, scatter, spend, squander, waste. Repositions, a mars for oneself, for a purpose, from a distance, with great labour, by industry. Amateur, synonyms, convoiseur, critic, dilettante, novice, tarot. Atomologically, the amateur is one who loves, the convoiseur, one who knows. In usage, the term amateur is applied to one who pursues any study or art, simply from the love of it. The word carries a natural implication of superficialness, though marked excellence is at times attained by amateurs. A convoiseur is supposed to be so thoroughly informed regarding any art or work, as to be able to criticise or select intelligently and authoritatively. There are many incompetent critics, but there cannot, in the true sense, be an incompetent convoiseur. The amateur practices to some extent that in regard to which he may not be well informed, the convoiseur is well informed in regard to that which he may not practice at all. A novice or tarot may be a professional, an amateur never is. The amateur may be skilled and experienced, as a novice or tarot never is. Dilettante, which had originally the sense of amateur, has to some extent come to denote one who is superficial, pretentious and affected, whether in theory or practice. Proposition in amateur in art Amazement, synonyms, admiration, astonishment, awe, bewilderment, confusion, perplexity, surprise, wonder Amazement and astonishment both express the momentary overwhelming of the mind by that which is beyond expectation. Astonishment especially affects the emotions, amazement at the intellect. All is a yielding of the mind to something supremely granting character or formidable empower, and ranges from apprehension or dread to reverent worship. Admiration includes delight and regard, surprise lies midway between astonishment and amazement and usually respects a matter of lighter consequence or such as our less startling in character. Amazement may be either pleasing or painful, as when induced by the grandeur of the mountains or by the fury of the storm. We can say please surprise, but scarcely please astonishment. Amazement has in it something of confusion or bewilderment, but confusion and bewilderment may occur without amazement, as when a multitude of details require instant attention. Astonishment may be without bewilderment or confusion. Wonder is often pleasing and may be continuous in view of that which surpasses our comprehension, as the magnitude, order and beauty of the heavens fill us with increasing wonder. Compare perplexity. Antonyms. Anticipation. Calmness. Composure. Corners. Expectation. Indifference. Preparation. Self-possession. Steadiness. Stosism. Preposition. I was filled with amazement at such reckless daring. Ambition. Synonyms. Aspiration. Competition. Emulation. Opposition. Rivalry. Aspiration is a desire for excellence, pure and simple. Ambition, literally a going around to solicit votes, has primary reference to the award or approval of others, and is the eager desire of power, fame or something deemed great and eminent and viewed as a worthy prize. The prizes of aspiration are virtue, nobility, skill or rather high qualities. The prizes of ambition are advancement, fame, honour and the like. There is a noble and wise or an ignoble selfish and harmful ambition. Emulation is not so much to win any excellence or success for itself as to equal or surpass other persons. There is such a thing as a noble emulation than those we would equal or surpass our noble and the means we would use worthy. But at a highest, emulation is inferior as a motive to aspiration which it seeks a high quality or character for its own sake, not with reference to another. Competition is a striving for something that is sought by another at the same time. Emulation regards it the abstract, competition the concrete. Rivalry is the same in an essential meaning with competition but differs in the nature of the objects contested for which in the case of rivalry are usually of the noble assault and less subject to direct gauging, measurement and rule. We speak of competition in business, emulation in scholarship, rivalry in love, politics etc. Emulation of excellence, success, achievement, competition for a prize, rivalry between persons or nations. Competition may be friendly, rivalry is commonly hostile. Opposition is becoming a frequent substitute for competition in business language. It implies that a competitor is an opponent and hindra. Antonyms, carelessness, contentment, humility, indifference, satisfaction. End of section 6 Section 7 of English Synonyms and Antonyms This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Morgan Scorpion English Synonyms and Antonyms by James Champlin-Fernald Amend to Answer Amend Synonyms Advance Ameliorate Better Cleanse Correct Amend Improve Make Better Meliorate Mend Mitigate Purify Rectify Reform Repair To amend is to change for the better by removing faults, errors or defects, and always refers to that which at some point falls short of a standard of excellence. Advance, better and improve may refer either to what is quite imperfect or to what has reached a high degree of excellence. We advance the kingdom of God, improve the minds of our children, better the morals of the people. But for matters below the point of ordinary approval, we seldom use these words. We do not speak of bettering a wretched alley or improving a foul sewer. There we use cleanse, purify or similar words. We correct evils, reform abuses, rectify incidental conditions of evil or error. We ameliorate poverty and misery, which we cannot wholly remove. We mend a tool, repair a building, correct proof. We amend character or conduct that is faulty, or a statement of law that is defective. A text, writing or statement is amended by the author or by some adequate authority. It is often amended by conjecture. A motion is amended by the mover or by the assembly. A constitution is amended by the people. An ancient text is amended by a critic who believes that what seems to him the better reading is what the author wrote. Compare alleviate. Antonyms. Aggravate. Blemish. Corrupt. Debase. Depress. Deteriorate. Harm. Fair. Injure. Mar. Spoil. Tarnish. Vitiate. Amiable. Synonyms. Agreeable. Attractive. Benign. Charming. Engaging. Gentle. Good-natured. Kind. Lovable. Lovely. Loving. Pleasant. Pleasing. Sweet. Winning. Winsome. Amiable combines the senses of lovable or lovely and loving. The amiable character has ready affection and kindness for others with the qualities that are adapted to win their love. Amiable is a higher and stronger word than good-natured or agreeable. Lovely is often applied to externals as a lovely face. Amiable denotes a disposition desirous to cheer, please and make happy. A selfish man of the world may have the art to be agreeable. A handsome, brilliant and witty person may be charming or even attractive, while by no means amiable. The engaging, winning and winsome add to amubility something of beauty, accomplishments and grace. The benignant are calmly kind, as from a height and a distance. Kind, good-natured people may be coarse and rude, and so fail to be agreeable or pleasing. The really amiable are likely to avoid such faults by their earnest desire to please. The good-natured have an easy disposition to get along comfortably with everyone in all circumstances. A sweet disposition is very sure to be amiable, the loving heart bringing out all that is lovable and lovely in character. Amiable-conditioned, ill-humoured, ill-natured, ill-tempered, morose, sore, solemn, surly, unamable, unlovely. A mid, synonyms, amidst, among, amongst, between, betwixt, in the mid-stop, mingled with, surrounded by. Amidst or amidst, denotes surrounded by, among or amongst, denotes mingled with, between, archaic or poetic betwixt, is said of two persons or objects, or of two groups of persons or objects. Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdman and thy herdman. Genesis 13.9. The reference being to two bodies of herdman. Amid denotes mere position, among some relative relation, as of companionship, hostility, etc. Lowells, among my books, regards the books as companions, amid my books would suggest packing, storing or some other incidental circumstance. We say among friends or among enemies, amidst the woods, amidst the shadows. In the mid-stop may have merely the local meaning, as, I found myself in the mid-stop a crowd, or it may express even closer association than among, as, I found myself in the mid-stop friends, suggests their pressing up on every side, oneself the central object, so, where two or three are met together in my name, there am I in the mid-stop them. Matthew 18.20, in which case it would be feebler to say among them, impossible to say amid them, not so well to say amidst them. Antonyms, a far from, away from, beyond, far from, outside, without. Amplify, synonyms, augment, develop, dilate, enlarge, expand, expatiate, extend, increase, unfold, widen. Amplify is now rarely used in the sense of increase, to add material substance, bulk, volume, or the like. It is now almost wholly applied to discourse or writing, signifying to make fuller in statement, whether with or without adding matter of importance, as by stating fully what was before only implied, or by adding illustrations to make the meaning more readily apprehended, etc. The chief difficulty of very young writers is to amplify, to get beyond the bear-curt statement by developing, expanding, unfolding the thought. The chief difficulty of those who have more material and experience is to condense sufficiently, so in the early days of our literature, Amplify was used in the favourable sense. But at present this word and most kindred words are coming to share the derogatory meaning that has long attached to expatiate. We may develop a thought, expand an illustration, extend a discussion, expatiate on a hobby, dilate on something joyous or sad, enlarge a volume, unfold a scheme, widen the range of treatment, antonyms, abbreviate, abridge, amputate, boil down, condense, curtail, cut down, epitomise, reduce, retrench, summarise, sum up. Prepositions to amplify on or upon the subject is needless. Amplify this matter by illustrations. Analogy, synonyms, affinity, coincidence, comparison, likeness, parity, proportion, relation, resemblance, semblance, similarity, simile, similitude. Analogy is specifically a resemblance of relations, a resemblance that may be reasoned from, so that from the likeness in certain respects we may infer that other and perhaps deeper relations exist. Affinity is a mutual attraction with or without seeming likeness, as the affinity of iron for oxygen. Coincidence is complete agreement in some one or more respects. There may be a coincidence in time of most dissimilar events. Parity of reasoning is said of an argument equally conclusive on subjects not strictly analogous. Similitude is a rhetorical comparison of one thing to another, with which it has some points in common. Resemblance and similarity are external or superficial, and may involve no deeper relation, as the resemblance of a cloud to a distant mountain. Compare allegory, antonyms, disagreement, disproportion, dissimilarity, incongruity, unlikeness. Prepositions, the analogy between or of nature and revelation, the analogy of sound to light. A family has some analogy with or to a state. Anger, synonyms, animosity, collar, displeasure, exasperation, fretfulness, fury, impatience, indignation, ire, irritation, offence, passion, peevishness, pettishness, petulance, rage, resentment, temper, vexation, wrath. Displeasure is the mildest and most general word. Collar and ire, now rare except in poetic or highly rhetorical language, denote a still and the latter a persistent anger. Temper used alone in the sense of anger is colloquial, though we may correctly say a hot temper, a fiery temper, etc. Passion, though a word of far wider application, may in the singular be employed to denote anger. Did put me in a towering passion, Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2. Anger is violent and vindictive emotion, which is sharp, sudden, and like all violent passions, necessarily brief. Resentment, a feeling back or feeling over again, is persistent, the bit of rooting over injuries. Exasperation, a roughening, is a hot superficial intensity of anger, demanding instant expression. Rage drives one beyond the bounds of prudence or discretion. Fury is stronger yet, and sweeps one away into uncontrollable violence. Anger is personal and usually selfish, aroused by real or supposed wrong to oneself, and directed specifically and intensely against the person who is viewed as blameworthy. Indignation is impersonal and unselfish displeasure at unworthy acts, Latin, indigna, i.e. at wrong as wrong. Pure indignation is not followed by regret and needs no repentance. It is also more self-controlled than anger. Anger is commonly a sin. Indignation is often a duty. Wrath is deep and perhaps vengeful displeasure, as when the people of Nazareth were filled with wrath at the plain words of Jesus. Luke 4.28 It may, however, simply express the culmination of righteous indignation without malice in a pure being, as the wrath of God. Impatience, threatfulness, irritation, peevishness, pettishness, petulance and vexation express the slighter forms of anger. Irritation, petulance and vexation are temporary and for immediate cause. Threatfulness, pettishness and peevishness are chronic states finding in any petty matter an occasion for their exercise. Compare Acrimony, enmity, hatred. Antonyms, immubility, charity, forbearance, gentleness, leniency, lenity, long-suffering, love, mildness, patience, peace, peaceableness, peacefulness, self-control, self-restraint. Prepositions, anger at the insult prompted the reply. Anger toward the offender exaggerates the offence. Animal, synonyms, beast, brute, fauna, living creature, living organism, sentient being. An animal is a sentient being, distinct from inanimate matter and from vegetable life on the one side and from mental and spiritual existence on the other. Thus man is properly classified as an animal. But because the animal life is the lowest and rudest part of his being and that which he shares with inferior creatures, to call any individual man an animal is to imply that the animal nature has undue supremacy, and so is deep condemnation or utter insult. The brute is the animal viewed as dull to all finer feeling. The beast is looked upon as a being of appetites. To call a man a brute is to imply that he is unfeeling and cruel. To call him a beast is to indicate that he is wildly sensual. We speak of the cruel father as a brute to his children, of the drunkard as making a beast of himself. So firmly are these figurative senses established that we now incline to avoid applying brute or beast to any creature as a horse or dog for which we have an affection. We prefer in such cases the word animal. Creature is a word of wide signification including all the things that God has created, whether inanimate objects, plants, animals, angels or men. The animals of a region are collectively called its fauna, antonyms, angel, inanimate object, man, material, matter, mind, mineral, soul, spirit, substance, vegetable. Announce synonyms. Advertise, circulate, communicate, declare, annunciate. Give notice of, give out, herald, make known, notify. Proclaim, promulgate, propound, publish, report. Reveal, say, spread abroad, state, tell. To announce is to give intelligence of in some formal or public way. We may announce that which has occurred or that which is to occur, though the word is chiefly used in the anticipative sense. We announce a book when it is in press, a guest when he arrives. We advertise our business, communicate our intentions, annunciate our views. We notify an individual, give notice to the public. Declare has often an authoritative force. To declare war is to cause war to be, where before there may have been only hostilities. We say declare war, proclaim peace. We propound a question or an argument, promulgate the views of a sect or party, or the decision of a court, etc. We report an interview, reveal a secret, herald the coming of some distinguished person or great event. Publish in popular usage is becoming closely restricted to the sense of issuing through the press. We announce a book that is to be published. Antonyms. Burry, conceal, cover up, hide, hush, keep back, keep secret, secrete, suppress, withhold. Prepositions. The event was announced to the family by telegraph. Answer. Synonyms. Rejoinder, repartee, reply, response, retort. A verbal answer is a return of words to something that seems to call for them and is made to a charge as well as to a question. An answer may even be made to an unspoken implication or manifestation, C. Luke 522. In a wider sense, anything said or done in return for some word, action or suggestion of another may be called an answer. The blow of an enraged man, the whinny of a horse, the howling of the wind, the movement of a bolt in a lock, an echo, etc., may each be an answer to some word or movement. A reply is an unfolding and ordinarily implies thought and intelligence. A rejoinder is strictly an answer to a reply, though often used in the general sense of answer, but always with the implication of something more or less controversial or opposed, though lacking the conclusiveness applied in answer. An answer in the full sense, to a charge, an argument or an objection, is adequate, and finally refutes and disposes of it. A reply or a rejoinder may be quite inadequate, so that one may say, this reply is not an answer. I am ready with an answer means far more than I am ready with a reply. A response is accordant or harmonious, designed or adapted to carry on the thought of the words that called it forth, as the response is in a liturgical service, or to meet the wish of him who seeks it, as the appeal for aid met a prompt and hearty response. Repartee is a prompt, witty, and commonly good-natured answer to some argument or attack. A retort may also be witty, but is severe, and may be even savage in its intensity. Prepositions. An answer in writing or by word of mouth to the question. Anticipate to appear. Anticipate. Synonyms. Apprehend, expect, forecast, foretaste, hope, look forward to. To anticipate may be either to take before in fact or to take before in thought, in the former sense it is allied with prevent, in the latter with the synonyms above given. This is coming to be the prevalent and favourite use. We expect that which we have good reason to believe will happen, as a boy expects to grow to manhood. We hope for that which we much desire and somewhat expect. We apprehend what we both expect and fear. Anticipate is commonly used now, like foretaste, of that which we expect both with confidence and pleasure. In this use it is a stronger word than hope, where often the wish is farther to the thought. I hope for a visit from my friend, though I have no word from him. I expect it when he writes that he is coming, and as the time draws near I anticipate it with pleasure. Compare, abide, prevent. Antonyms. Despair of, distrust, doubt, dread, fear, recall, recollect, remember. Anticipation. Synonyms. Antipast, apprehension, expectancy, expectation, foreboding, forecast, foresight, foretaste, forethought, hope, presentment, provision. Expectation may be either of good or evil, presentment almost always, apprehension and foreboding always of evil, anticipation and antipast, commonly of good. Thus we speak of the pleasures of anticipation. A foretaste may be of good or evil, and is more than imaginary, it is a part actually received in advance. Foresight and forethought prevent future evil and secure future good by timely looking forward and acting upon what is foreseen. Compare, anticipate. Antonyms. Astonishment, consummation, despair, doubt, dread, enjoyment, fear, realisation, surprise, wonder. Antipathy. Synonyms. Abhorrence, antagonism, aversion, detestation, disgust, dislike, distaste. Hatred, hostility, opposition. Repugnance, repulsion, uncongeniality. Antipathy, repugnance and uncongeniality are instinctive. Other forms of dislike may be acquired or cherished for cause. Uncongeniality is negative, a want of touch or sympathy. An antipathy to a person or thing is an instinctive recoil from connection or association with that person or thing, and may be physical or mental or both. Antagonism may result from the necessity of circumstances. Opposition may spring from conflicting views or interests. Abhorrence and detestation may be the result of religious and moral training. Distaste and disgust may be acquired. Aversion is a deep and permanent dislike. A natural antipathy may give rise to opposition which may result in hatred and hostility. Compare, aquamony, anger, enmity, hatred. Antonyms. Affinity, agreement, attraction, congeniality, fellow-feeling, harmony, kindness, regard, sympathy. Prepositions. Antipathy to, less frequently for or against, a person or thing. Antipathy between or betwixt two persons or things. Antique. Synonyms. Ancient, antiquated, old-fashioned, quaint, superannuated. Antique refers to an ancient, antiquated to a discarded style. Antique is that which is either ancient in fact or ancient in style. The reference is to the style rather than to the age. We can speak of the antique architecture of a church just built. The difference between antiquated and antique is not in the age, for a Puritan style may be scorned as antiquated, while a Roman or Renaissance style may be prized as antique. The antiquated is not so much out of date as out of rogue. Old-fashioned may be used approvingly or contemptuously. In the latter case it becomes a synonym for antiquated. In the good sense it approaches the meaning of antique, but indicates less duration. We call a wide New England fireplace old-fashioned, a coin of the Caesars antique. Quaint combines the idea of age with a pleasing oddity as a quaint, gamble-roofed house. Antiquated is sometimes used of persons in a sense akin to superannuated. The antiquated person is out of style and out of sympathy with the present generation by reason of age. The superannuated person is incapacitated for present activities by reason of age. Compare old. Antonyms, fashionable, French, modern, modish, new, recent, stylish. Anxiety, synonyms, anguish, apprehension, care, concern, disquiet, disturbance, dread, fear, foreboding, fretfulness, fretting, misgiving, perplexity, solitude, trouble, worry. Anxiety is, according to its derivation, a choking disquiet, akin to anguish. Anxiety is mental. Anguish may be mental or physical. Anguish is in regard to the known. Anxiety in regard to the unknown. Anguish is because of what has happened. Anxiety because of what may happen. Anxiety refers to some future event, always suggesting hopeful possibility, and thus differing from apprehension, fear, dread, foreboding, terror, all of which may be quite despairing. In matters within our reach, anxiety always stirs the question whether something cannot be done and is thus a valuable spur to doing. In this respect it is allied to care. Foreboding, dread, etc., commonly incapacitate for all helpful thought or endeavour. Worry is a more petty, restless, and manifest anxiety. Anxiety may be quiet and silent. Worry is communicated to all around. Solitude is a milder anxiety. Threating or fretfulness is a weak complaining without thought of accomplishing or changing anything, but merely as a relief to one's own disquiet. Perplexity often involves anxiety, but may be quite free from it. A student may be perplexed regarding the translation, yet, if he has time enough, not at all anxious regarding it. Antonyms Apathy, assurance, calmness, carelessness, confidence, ease, light-heartedness, nonchalance, satisfaction, tranquility, prepositions, anxiety for a friend's return, anxiety about, in regard to, or concerning, the future. Apathy, synonyms, calmness, composure, immobility, impossibility, indifference, insensibility, lethargy, phlegm, quietness, quietude, sluggishness, stillness, stoicism, tranquility, unconcern, unfeelingness. Apathy, according to its Greek derivation, is a simple absence of feeling or emotion. There are persons to whom a certain degree of apathy is natural, and innate sluggishness of the emotional nature. In the apathy of despair a person gives up without resistance or sensibility to what he has fiercely struggled to avoid. While apathy is want of feeling, calmness is feeling without agitation. Calmness is the result of strength, courage, or trust. Apathy is the result of dullness or weakness. Composure is freedom from agitation or disturbance, resulting ordinarily from force of will, or from perfect confidence in one's own resources. Impassibility is a philosophical term applied to the deity, as infinitely exalted above all stir of passion or emotion. Unfeelingness, the Saxon word that should be the exact equivalent of apathy, really means more, a lack of the feeling one ought to have, a sensible hardness of heart. Indifference and insensibility designate the absence of feeling towards certain persons or things, apathy, entire absence of feeling. Indifference is a want of interest, insensibility is a want of feeling, unconcern has reference to consequences. We speak of insensibility of heart, immobility of countenance. Stoicism is an intentional suppression of feeling and deadening of sensibilities, while apathy is involuntary. Compare calm, rest, stupor. Antonyms, agitation, alarm, anxiety, care, distress, disturbance, eagerness, emotion, excitement, feeling, frenzy, fury, passion, sensibility, sensitiveness, storm, susceptibility, sympathy, turbulence, vehemence, violence, prepositions, the apathy of monastic life, apathy toward good. Apiece, synonyms, distributively, each, individually, separately, separately. There is no discernible difference in sense between so much apiece and so much each. The former is the more common and popular, the latter the more elegant expression. Distributively is generally used of numbers and abstract relations. Individually emphasizes the independence of the individuals. Separately and severally, still more emphatically hold them apart. The signers of a note may become jointly and severally responsible, that is, each liable for the entire amount, as if he had signed it alone. Witnesses are often brought separately into court in order that no one may be influenced by the testimony of another. If a company of labourers demand a dollar apiece, that is a demand that each shall receive that sum. If they individually demand a dollar, each individual makes the demand. Antonyms, accumulatively, collectively, confusedly, or mass, indiscriminately, synthetically, together, unitedly. Apology, synonyms, acknowledgement, confession, defence, exculpation, excuse, justification, plea, vindication. All these words express one's answer to a charge of wrong or error that is or might be made. Apology has undergone a remarkable change from its old sense of a valiant defence, as in Justin Martyr's Apologies for the Christian Faith, to its present meaning of humble confession and concession. He who offers an apology admits himself, at least technically and seemingly, in the wrong. An apology is for what one has done or left undone. An excuse may be for what one proposes to do or leave undone as well, as one sends beforehand his excuse for not accepting an invitation. If he should fail either to be present or to excuse himself, an apology would be in order. An excuse for a fault is an attempt at partial justification, as one alleges haste as an excuse for carelessness. Confession is a full acknowledgement of wrong, generally of a grave wrong, with or without apology or excuse. Plea ranges in sense from a prayer for favour or pardon to an attempt at full vindication. Defence, exculpation, justification and vindication are more properly antonyms than synonyms of apology in its modern sense, and should be so given, but for their connection with its historic usage. Compare, confess, defence, antonyms, accusation, censure, charge, complaint, condemnation, imputation, injury, insult, offence, wrong, prepositions, an apology to the guest for the oversight would be fitting. Apparent, synonyms, likely, presumable, probable, seeming. The apparent is that which appears. The word has two contrasted senses, either of that which is manifest, visible, certain, or of that which merely seems to be, and may be very different from what is, as the apparent motion of the sun around the earth. Apparent kindness cast a doubt on the reality of the kindness. Apparent neglect implies that more care and pains may have been bestowed than we are aware of. Presumable implies that a thing may be reasonably supposed beforehand without any full knowledge of the facts. Probable implies that we know facts enough to make us moderately confident of it. Seeming expresses great doubt of the reality. Seeming innocence comes very near in meaning to probable guilt. Apparent indicates less assurance than probable, and more than seeming. A man's probable intent we believe will prove to be his real intent. His seeming intent we believe to be a sham. His apparent intent may be the true one, though we have not yet evidence on which to pronounce with certainty or even with confidence. Likely is a word with a wide range of usage, but always implying the belief that the thing is or will be true. It is often used with the infinitive, as the other words of this list cannot be, as it is likely to happen, compare evident, antonyms, doubtful, dubious, improbable, unimaginable, unlikely. Prepositions, when apparent is used in the sense of evident. His guilt is apparent in every act to all observers. Appear, synonyms, have the appearance or semblance, look, seem. Appear and look refer to what manifests itself to the senses, to a semblance or probability presented directly to the mind. Seem applies to what is manifest to the mind on reflection. It suddenly appears to me there is smoke in the distance. As I watch it looks like a fire. From my knowledge of the locality and observation of particulars it seems to me a farmhouse must be burning. Antonyms, be, be certain, real or true, be the fact, exist. Prepositions, appear at the front, among the first, on or upon the surface, to the eye in evidence, in print, from reports, near the harbour, before the public, in appropriate dress, with the insignia of his rank, above the clouds, below the surface, under the lee, over the sea. Through the mist, appear for, in behalf of, or against one in court. Appendage to artist. Appendage, synonyms, accessory, accompaniment, addendum, addition, adjunct, appendix, appurtenance, attachment, auxiliary, concomitant, extension, supplement. An adjunct, something joined to, constitutes no real part of the thing or system to which it is joined, though perhaps a valuable addition, an appendage is commonly a real, though not an essential or necessary part of that with which it is connected. An appurtenance belongs subordinately to something by which it is employed, especially as an instrument to accomplish some purpose. A horse's tail is at once an ornamental appendage and a useful appurtenance. We could not call it an adjunct, though we might use that word of his iron shoes. An attachment in machinery is some mechanism that can be brought into optional connection with the principal movement. A hema is a valuable attachment of a sewing machine. An extension, as of a railroad or of a franchise, carries out further something already existing. We add an appendix to a book to contain names, dates, lists, etc., which would encumber the text. We add a supplement to supply omissions, as, for instance, to bring it up to date. An appendix may be called an addendum, but addendum may be used of a brief note, which would not be dignified by the name of appendix. Such notes are often grouped as addenda. An addition might be matter interwoven in the body of the work, an index, plates, editorial notes, etc., which might be valuable additions, but not within the meaning of appendix or supplement. Compare accessory or auxiliary. Antonyms. Main body, original, total, whole. Prepositions. That which is thought of as added we call an appendix too. That which is looked upon as an integral part is called an appendix of. Appetite. Synonyms. Appetency. Craving. Desire. Disposition. Impulse. Inclination. Liking. Longing. Lust. Passion. Proclivity. Prone-ness. Propensity. Relish. First. Zest. Appetite is used only of the demands of the physical system unless otherwise expressly stated, as when we say an appetite for knowledge. Passion includes all excitable impulses of our nature as anger, fear, love, hatred, etc. Appetite is thus more animal than passion, and when we speak of passions and appetites as conjoint or contrasted, we think of the appetites as wholly physical and of the passions as, in part at least, mental or spiritual. We say an appetite for food, a passion for fame. Compare desire. Antonyms. Antipathy. Aversion. Detestation. Disgust. Dislike. Disrelish. Distaste. Hatred. Indifference. Loathing. Repugnance. Repulsion. Compare antipathy. Preposition. He had an insatiable appetite for the marvellous. A portion. Synonyms. A lot. A point. Appropriate. A sign. Deal. Dispense. Distribute. Divide. Grant. Share. To a lot or a sign may be to make an arbitrary to vision. The same is true of distribute or divide. That which is apportioned is given by some fixed rule, which is meant to be uniform and fair, as representatives are apportioned among the states according to population. To dispense is to give out freely, as the sun dispenses light and heat. A thing is appropriated to or for a specific purpose, to which it thus becomes proper in the original sense of being its own. Money appropriated by Congress for one purpose cannot be expended for any other. One may apportion what he only holds in trust. He shares what is his own. Compare a lot. Antonyms. Cling to. Collect. Consolidate. Divide arbitrarily. Gather together. Keep together. Receive. Retain. Prepositions. Apportion to each a fair amount. Apportion the property among the heirs, between two claimants. Apportion according to numbers, etc. Approximation. Synonyms. Approach. Security. Likeness. Nearness. Neighborhood. Propinquity. Resemblance. Similarity. In mathematics, approximation is not guesswork, not looseness, and not error. The process of approximation is as exact and correct as every point, as that by which an absolute result is secured. The result only fails of exactness because of some inherent difficulty in the problem. The attempt to square the circle gives only an approximate result because of the impossibility of expressing the circumference in terms of the radius. But the limits of error on either side are known and the approximation has practical value. Outside of mathematics, the correct use of approximation, and the kindred words approximate and approximate lee, is to express as near an approach to accuracy and certainty as the conditions of human thought or action in any given case make possible. Resemblance and similarity may be but superficial and apparent. Approximation is real. Approach is a relative term, indicating that one has come nearer than before, though the distance may yet be considerable. An approximation brings one really near. Nearness, neighbourhood, and propinquity are commonly used of place. Approximation of mathematical calculations and abstract reasoning. We speak of approach to the shore, nearness to the town, approximation to the truth. Antonyms. Difference, distance, error, remoteness, unlikeness, variation. Prepositions. The approximation of the vegetable to the animal type. Arms. Synonyms. Acutiments, armour, harness, mail, weapons. Arms are implements of attack. Armour is a defensive covering. The knight put on his armour, he grasped his arms. With the disuse of defensive armour the world has practically gone out of military use, but it is still employed in the navy where the distinction is clearly preserved. Any vessel provided with cannon is an armed vessel. An armoured ship is an iron clad. Anything that can be wielded in fight may become a weapon, as a pitchfork or a paving stone. Arms are especially made and designed for conflict. Army. Synonyms. Armourment. Array. Force. Forces. Host. Legions. Military. Multitude. Phalanx. Soldiers. Soldiery. Troops. An army is an organised body of men armed for war, ordinarily considerable in numbers, always independent in organisation so far as not to be a constituent part of any other command. Organisation, unity and independence rather than numbers are the essentials of an army. We speak of the invading army of Cortes or Pizarro, though either body was contemptible in numbers from a modern military standpoint. We may have a little army, a large army or a vast army. Host is used for any vast and orderly assemblage as the stars are called the heavenly host. Multitude expresses number without order or organisation. A multitude of armed men is not an army but a mob. Legion from the Latin and Phalanx from the Greek are applied by a kind of poetic licence to modern forces. The plural legions is preferred to the singular. Military is a general word for land forces. The military may include all the armed soldiery of a nation. All the term may be applied to any small detached company as at a fort in distinction from civilians. Any organised body of men by whom the law or will of a people is executed is a force. The word is a usual term for the police of any locality. A reign. Synonyms, accuse, censure, charge, cite, impeach, indict, prosecute, summon. A reign is an official word. A person accused of crime is a reigned when he is formally called into court. The indictment read to him and the demand made of him to plead guilty or not guilty. In moral extended use, to a reign is to call in question for fault in any formal, public or official way. One may charge another with any fault, great or trifling, privately or publicly, formally or informally. Accuses is stronger than charge, suggesting more of the formal and criminal. A person may charge a friend with unkindness or neglect. He may accuse a tramp of stealing. Censure carries the idea of fault but not of crime. It may be private and individual or public and official. A judge, a president or other officer of high rank may be impeached before the appropriate tribunal for high crimes. The veracity of a witness may be impeached by damaging evidence. A person of the highest character may be summoned as defendant in a civil suit and he may be cited to answer as administrator, etc. Indite and arraign apply strictly to criminal proceedings and only an alleged criminal is indicted or arraigned. One is indicted by the grand jury and arraigned before the appropriate court. Antonyms, acquit, condone, discharge, excuse, exonerate, forgive, overlook, pardon, release, set free. Prepositions, arraign at the bar before the tribunal of or for a crime, on or upon an indictment. Array, synonyms, army, arrangement, battle array, collection, disposition, exhibition, line of battle, order, order of battle, parade, show, sight. The phrase battle array or array of battle is archaic and poetic. We now say in line or order of battle. The parade is for exhibition and oversight and partial rehearsal of military manual and manoeuvres. Array refers to a continuous arrangement of men so that all may be seen or reviewed at once. This is practically impossible with the vast armies of our day. We say rather the disposition of troops, which expresses their location so as to sustain and support, though unable to see or readily communicate with each other. Compare dress, arrest, synonyms, apprehend, capture, catch, detain, hold, make prisoner, restrain, secure, seize, stop, take into custody, take prisoner. The legal term arrest carries always the implication of a legal offence. This is true even of arresting for debt, but one may be detained by process of law when no offence is alleged against him, as in the case of a witness who is held in a house of detention till a case comes to trial. One may be restrained of his liberty without arrest, as in an insane asylum, and individual or corporation may be restrained by injunction from selling certain property. In case of an arrest, an officer may secure his prisoner by fetters, by a locked door or other means effectively to prevent escape. Capture is commonly used of seizure by armed force, as to capture a ship, a fort, etc. Compare hinder, obstruct, antonyms, discharge, dismiss, free, liberate, release, set free. Prepositions. Arrested for crime on suspicion by the sheriff, on, upon, or by virtue of a warrant, on final process in execution. Artifice. Synonyms. Art, blind, cheat, contrivance, craft, cunning, device, dodge, finesse, fraud, guile, imposter, invention, machination, manoeuvre, lose, stratagem, subterfuge, trick, while. A contrivance or device may be either good or bad. A cheat is a mean advantage in a bargain. A fraud, any form of covert robbery or injury. Imposture is a deceitful contrivance for securing charity, credit, or consideration. A stratagem or manoeuvre may be of the good against the bad, as it were a skillful movement of war. A while is usually but not necessarily evil. Ian Children followed with endearing while. Goldsmith, deserted village. Line 184. A trick is often low, injurious, and malicious. We say a mean trick. The word is sometimes used playfully with less than its full meaning. A ruse or a blind may be quite innocent and harmless. An artifice is a carefully and delicately prepared contrivance for doing indirectly what one could not well do directly. A device is something studied out for promoting an end, as in a mechanism. The word is used of indirect action, often but not necessarily directed to an evil, selfish, or injurious end. Finesse is a specially subtle contrivance, delicate artifice, whether for good or evil. Compare fraud. Antonyms, artlessness, candle, fairness, frankness, girllessness, honesty, ingenuousness, innocence, openness, simplicity, sincerity, truth. Artist, synonyms, artificer, artisan, mechanic, operative, workman. Artist, artificer, and artisan are all from the root of art, but artist holds to the aesthetic sense, while artificer and artisan follow the mechanical or industrial sense of the word. See art under science. Artist thus comes only into accidental association with the other words of this group, not being a synonym of any one of them, and having practically no synonym of its own. The work of the artist is creative, that of the artisan mechanical. The man who paints a beautiful picture is an artist. The man who makes pinheads all day is an artisan. The artificer is between the two, putting more thought, intelligence, and taste into his work than the artisan, but less of the idealizing, creative power than the artist. The sculptor, shaping his model in clay, is an artificer, as well as an artist. Patient artisans working simply by rule and scale, chisel and polish the stone. The man who constructs anything by mere routine and rule is a mechanic. The man whose work involves thought, skill, and constructive power is an artificer. The horde carrier is a laborer. The bricklayer is a mechanic. The master mason is an artificer. Those who operate machinery nearly self-acting are operatives. End of section 9 Demand, entreat, implore, petition, pray, request, require, solicit, supplicate. One asks what he feels that he may fairly claim and reasonably expect. If a social ask bread of any of you that is a father, look 11, 11, he begs for that to which he advances no claim but pity. Demand is a determined and often an arrogant word. One may rightfully demand what is his own or his due when it is withheld or denied. Or he may wrongfully demand that at which he has no claim but power. Require is less arrogant and untrucified than demand, but is accidentally strenuous, as the court requires the attendance of witnesses. Entreat implies especially earnestness of asking, and besiege is still added and more humble intensity. Besiege was formerly often used as a polite intensity for beg or pray, as I besiege you to tell me. To implore is to ask with whipping and lamentation. To supplicate is to ask as it were on bended knees. Crave and requests are somewhat formal terms. Crave has almost disappeared from conversation. Request would seem distant between parent and child. Pray is now used shively to address to the supreme being. Petition is used as of written request to persons in authority, as to petition the legislature to pass an act or the governor to pardon an offender. Antonyms. Claim, command, deny, enforce, exact, extort, insist, refuse, reject. Propositions. Ask a person for a thing. Ask a thing of or from a person. Ask after or about one's health, welfare, friends, etc. Associates. Synonyms. Accomplice, ally, chum, coajutor, colleague, companion, comrade, confederate, consort, fellow, friend, helpmate, mate, partner, peer. An associate as used officially implies a chief, leader, or principal to whom the associate is not fully equal in rank. Associate is popularly used of mere friendly relations but oftener implies some work, enterprise, or pursuit in which the associated persons unite. We rarely speak of associates in crime or wrong, using confederates or accomplices instead. Companion gives itself with equal readiness to the good or the evil sense, as also those comrade. One may be a companion in trouble who would not readily become an associate at home. A lady advertises for a companion. She would not advertise for an associate. Peer implies equality rather than companionship, as a duty of his peers. Comrade expresses more fellowship and good feeling than companion. Fellow has almost gone out of use in this connection, accepting an inferior or patronizing sense. Consort is a world of equality and dignity as applied especially to the marriage relation. Compare accessory, acquaintance, friendship, antonyms, antagonist, enemy, foe, hinderer, opponent, opposer, rival, stranger. Propositions, these were the associates of the leader in the enterprise. Association, synonyms, alliance, club, community, companionship, company, confederacy, confederation, conjunction, connection, corporation, familiarity, federation, fellowship, fraternity, friendship, lodge, participation, partnership, society, union. We speak of an alliance of nations, a club of pleasure seekers, a community of shakers, a company of soldiers or of friends, a confederacy, confederation, federation or union of separate states under one general government, a partnership or company of businessmen, a conjunction of planets. The whole body of Freemason's constitutive fraternity. One of their local organizations is called the Lodge, a corporation or company is formed for purposes of business. An association or society, though also incorporated, is for learning, literature, benevolence, religion, etc. Compare associate, acquaintance, friendship, antonyms, disintegration, independence, isolation, separation, solitude. Propositions, an association of scholars for the advancement of knowledge. Association with the good is ennobling. Assume, synonyms, accept, affect, appropriate, erogate, claim, find, postulate, presume, pretend, put on, take, usurp. The distinctive idea of assume is to take by one's own independent volition, whether well or ill, rightfully or wrongfully. One may accept an obligation or assume an authority that properly belongs to him, or he may assume an obligation or indebtedness that could not be required of him. He may assume authority or office that is his right. If he assumes what does not belong to him, he is said to erogate or usurp it. A man may usurp the substance of power in the most unpretended way, what he erogates to himself he assumes with a lofty and overbearing manner. One assumes the robes or insignia of office by putting them on, with or without right. If he takes to himself the credit and appearance of qualities he does not possess, he is said to affect or fain or to pretend to the character he does assumes. What a divider postulates he openly states and takes for granted without proof, what he assumes he may take for granted without mention. A favorite trick of this office is quietly to assume as true what would at once be challenged if expressly stated. When a man claims he asserts his right to take, what he assumes he takes. Assurance Synonyms Errogance Assertion Assumption Persumption Self-assertion Self-confidence Self-reliance Trust Assurance might have the good sense of a high sustained confidence and trust, as the saints assurance of heaven. Confidence is founded upon reasons, assurance is largely a matter of feeling. In the bad sense, assurance is a vicious courage, with belief of one's ability to outwit or defy orders. The hardened criminal is remarkable for habitual assurance. For the calm conviction of one's own rectitude and ability, self-confidence is a better word than assurance. Self-reliance expresses confidence in one's own resources, independently of others' aid. In the bad sense, assurance is less gross than impudence, which is, according to etymology, a shambles boldness. Assurance is an act or manner, impudence might be in a speech. A frontery is impudence defiantly displayed. Compare Faith Pride Antonyms Bashfulness Confusion Dismay Distrust Doubt Hesitancy Misgiving Shiness Timidity Astute Synonyms Acute Clear-sighted Crafty Conning Discerning Discriminating Kinn Knowing Penetrating Penetrative Perspicacious Sagacious Sharp Shrewd Subtile Subtle Acute from the Latin suggests the sharpness of the needle's point. Kinn, from the Saxon, the sharpness of the cutting edge. Astute from the Latin, with the original sense of cunning, has come to have a meaning that combines the sense of acute or kin with that of sagacious. The astute mind adds to acuteness and kindness, an element of cunning or finesse. The astute debater leads his opponents into his snare by getting them to make admission or orish arguments of which he sees a result that they do not perceive. The acute, keen intellect might take no special advantage of these qualities. The astute mind has always a point to make for itself, and seldom fails to make it. A knowing look, air, etc. in general, indicates practical knowledge with a touch of shortness and perhaps of cunning. In regard to some special matter, it indicates the possession of reserved knowledge which the person could impart if he chose. Knowing has often a slightly ambiguous sense. We speak of a knowing rascal, meaning cunning or shrewd within an hour range, but of a knowing horse or dog in a sense of sagacious, implying that he knows more than could be expected of such an animal. A knowing child has more knowledge that would be looked for at his years, perhaps more than is quite desirable, while to speak of a child as intelligent is altogether complementary. Antonyms Blind dull idiotic imbecile shallow short-sighted stolid stupid undeserving unintelligent Attachment Synonyms adherence adhesion affection devotion esteem estimation friendship inclination love regard tenderness union And attachment is a feeling that binds a person by ties of heart to another person or think. We speak of a man's adherence to his purpose, his adhesion to his party, or to anything to which he claims tenaciously, though with no espion tenderness. Of his attachment to his church, to the old homestead, or to any persons or objects that he might hold dear. Affection expresses more warmth or feeling. We should not speak of a mother's attachment to her babe, but of her affection or of her devotion. Inclination expresses simply a tendency, which may be good or bad, gilded to or overcome, as an inclination to a study, an inclination to a drink. Regard is more distant than affection or attachment, but closer and warmer than esteem. We speak of high esteem, kind regard. Compare acquaintance appendage friendship love union antonyms alienation animosity antipathy aversion coolness dislike innocence divorce enmity estrangement indifference opposition repugnance separation severance prepositions attachment of a true man to his friends attachment to a leader for his nobility of character the attachments between two persons or things attachment by muscular fibers or by a rope, etc. attack berb synonyms assail assault beleaguered besiege charge combat encounter fall upon invade set upon a storm. To attack is to begin hostilities of any kind. A general invades a country by marching in troops. He attacks a city by drawing up an army against it. He assaults it by harling his troops directly upon its defenses. Assail and assault, though of the same original etymology, have diverge in meaning, so that assault alone retains the meaning of direct personal violence. Assail and other would reproaches. He assaults him with a blow, a brandage weapon, etc. Army-sourced squadrons charge. Combat and encounter may be set of individual contests. To beset is to set around, or so to speak, to stop one's path with menaces, attacks, or persuasions. To besiege and beleaguered are the acts of armies. To encounter is to meet face to face and may beset either of the attacking or of the resisting force of person or of both. Antonyms should be friend, cover, defend, protect, resist, shelter, shield, support, sustain, uphold, withstand. Propositions We were attacked by the enemy with cannon and musketry. Attack Noun Synonyms Aggression Assault Encroachment Incursion Infranchement Intrusion Invasion Unset Unslot Threspass Assault may be by word and aggression is always by deed. An assault may be upon the person and aggression is upon rights, possessions, etc. An invasion of a nation's territories is an act of aggression and intrusion upon a neighbouring state is a trespass. Unslot signifies intensely violent assault as by an army or a desperado though it is sometimes used for violent speech. Antonyms Defense Repulsion Resistance Retreat Submission Surrender The enemy made an attack upon or on our works. Attain Synonyms Accomplish Achieve Acquire Arrive at Compass Earn Gain Get Grasp Master Obtain Procure Reach Secure Win A person may obtain a situation by the intercession of friends. He procures a dinner by paying for it. Attain is a lofty word pointing to some high or desirable result. A man attains the mountain summit. He attains honour or learning as the result of a strenuous and earnest labour. Even that usage of attain which has been thought to refer to mere progress of times carries the thought of a result desired as to attain to old age. The man desires to live to a good old age. We should not speak of his attaining his dotage. One may attain an object that will prove not worth his labour but what he achieves is in itself great and splendid as the Greeks at Marathon achieved a glorious victory. Compare Do Get Reach Antonyms Abandon Fail Forfeit Give up Let go Lose Mease End of section 10