 Section 11 of English Synonyms and Antonyms. This is a LibreBox recording. All LibreBox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibreBox.org. Recording by Mario Pineda. English Synonyms and Antonyms by James Champlin-Fernald. Attitude to Axiom. Attitude. Synonyms. Pose. Position. Posture. Position is applied to the arrangement or situation of the human body or limbs, made to note that which is conscious or unconscious of the living or the dead. But we do not speak of the attitude posed or posture of a corpse, unless in some rare case we may say the body was found in a sitting posture, where the posture is thought of as assumed in life or as at first glance, suggested in life. A posture is assumed without any special reference to expression of feeling. As an erect posture, a reclining posture, attitude is in the position appropriate to the expression of some feeling. The attitude may be unconsciously taken through the strength of a feeling, as an attitude of defiance. Or it may be consciously assumed in the attempt to express the feeling, as he assumed an attitude of humility. A pose is a position studied for artistic effect or considered with reference to such effect. The unconscious posture of a spectator or listener may be an admirable pose from an artist's standpoint. Attribute, verb, synonyms, ascribe, assign, associate, charge, connect, impute, refer. We may attribute to a person either that which belongs to him or that which we merely supposed to be his. We attribute to God infinite power. We may attribute a wrong intent to an innocent person. We may attribute a result rightly or wrongly to a certain cause. In such case, however, attribute carries always a concession of uncertainty or possible error. Where we are quite sure we simply refer a matter to the cause or class to which it belongs or ascribe to one what is surely his, etc. Many diseases formerly attributed to witchcraft are now referred to the action of microorganisms. We may attribute a matter in silent thought. We ascribe anything openly in a speech or writing. Gainesault said of the singing women, they have ascribed unto David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed but thousands. We associate things which may have no necessary or casual relation. As we may associate this dragon of a clock with the servant of dinner, though the two are not necessarily connected. We charge a person with what we deem blame worthy. We may impute good or evil, but more commonly evil. Antonyms, deny, disconnect, dissociate, separate, suburb, sander. Propositions. It is uncharitable to attribute evil motives to, archaic, unto others. Attribute. Noun. Synonyms. Property. Quality. A quality, letting qualities such, the suchness of anything, according to the German idiom, denotes what a thing really is in some one respect. An attribute is what we conceive a thing to be in some one respect. Those while attribute may quality must express something of the real nature of that to which it is ascribed. We speak of the attributes of God, the qualities of matter. Originally, the attributes of God was preferred probably because men assume no knowledge of the actual qualities of the deity but only of those more or less fitly attributed to him. J. A. H. Murray. Holiness is an attribute of God. The attributes of many hythian diaries have been only the qualities of wicked men joined to superhuman power. A property, Latin properties, one's own, is what belongs especially to one thing as its own peculiar possession in distinction from all other things. When we speak of the qualities of the properties of matter, quality is the more general property, the more limited term. A quality is inherent, a property might be transient. Physicists now, however, prefer to term those qualities manifested by a body, such as impenetrability, extension, etc. General properties of matter, while those peculiar to certain substances or to certain states of those substances as fluidity, malability, etc., are termed specific properties. In this wider use of the word property, it becomes a strictly synonymous with quality. Compare characteristic, emblem, antonyms, being, essence, nature, substance, augur, synonyms, betoken, bold, divine, forebode, foretell, portend, predict, presage, prognosticate, prophecy. Persons or things augur, persons only forebode or presage, things only betoken or portend, grab English synonyms. We augur well for a voyage from past good fortune and a good start. We presage success from the extensioness of the ship and the skill of the captain. We forebode misfortune either from circumstances that betoken failure or from gloomy fancies for which we could not give a reason, dissipation among the officers and mutiny among the crew portend disaster. Divine has reference to the ancient Sufsayers' arts, as in Genesis 44.5.15 and refers rather to reading hearts than to reading the future. We say I could not divine his motive or his intention. Antonyms, assure, calculate, demonstrate, determine, establish, ensure, make sure, prove, settle, warrant. Propositions I augur from all circumstances a prosperous assault. I augur ill of the enterprise. Augurs ill to the rights of the people. Thomas Jefferson writings, volume 2, page 560, TNM 53. I augur well or these augurs well for your cause. Authentic synonyms, accepted, accredited, authoritative, authorized, certain, current, genuine, legitimate, original, real, received, reliable, sure, true, trustworthy, variable. That is authentic, which is true to the facts. That is genuine, which is true to its own claims as authentic history, genuine money. The genuine work is one written by the author whose name is Bers. An authentic work is one which relates truthfully the matters of which it treats. For example, the apocryphal gospel of St. Thomas is neither genuine nor authentic. It is not genuine for St. Thomas did not write it. It is not authentic for its contents are mainly fables and lies. Trench on these study awards, lecture 6, page 189, WJW. Authentic is, however, used by reputable writers as synonyms with genuine, though usually word genuineness carries a certain authority. We speak of accepted conclusions, certain evidence, current money, genuine letters, a legitimate conclusion or legitimate authority. Original manuscripts, real value, received interpretation, sure proof, a true statement, a trustworthy witness, a bearable discovery. Antonyms, apocryphal, baseless, counterfeit, disputed, exploded, fabulous, false, fictitious, spurious, unauthorized. Auxiliary, synonyms, accessory, aid, ally, assistant, co-editor, confederate, helper, mercenary, promoter, subordinate. An auxiliary is a person or thing that helps in a subordinate capacity. Allies unite as equals. Auxiliarities are at least technically inferior or subordinates, yet the auxiliary is more than a mere assistant. The word is softness found in the plural and in the military sense. Auxiliarities are troops of one nation uniting with the armies and act in order of the orders of another. Mercenaries serve only for pay. Auxiliarities often for reasons of state, policy or patriotism as well. Compare accessory, appendage, antonyms, antagonist, hinderer, opponent, opposer. Propositions, the auxiliaries of the Romans, an auxiliary in a good cause, an auxiliary to learning. Abar issues, synonyms, clothes, covetous, greedy, miserly, niggerly, parsimonious, penurious, rapacious, sordid, stingy. Abar issues and covetous refer especially to acquisition, miserly, niggerly, parsimonious, and penurious to expenditure. The abar issues man has an eager craving for money and ordinarily desires both to get and to keep. The covetous man to get something away from its possessor, though one may be made abar issues by the pressure of great expenditures. Miserly and niggerly, persons seek to gain by mean and petty savings, the miserly by stinting themselves, the niggerly by stinting others. Parsimonious and penurious may apply to one's outlay either for himself or for others. In the later use they are somewhat less harsh and reproachful terms than niggerly. The clothes man holds, like advice, all that he gets. Near and nigh are provincial words of similar import. The rapacious have the robber instinct and put it in practice in some form as far as they dare. The abar issues and rapacious are ready to reach out for gain. The parsimonious, miserly, and niggerly prefer the safer and less adventurous way of avoiding expenditure. Greedy and stingy are used not only of money, but often of other things, as food, etc. The greedy child wishes to enjoy everything himself, the stingy child to keep others from getting it. Antonyms, bountiful, free, generous, liberal, munificent, prodigal, wasteful. Proposition, the monarch was our issues of power. Avenge, synonyms, punish, retaliate, revenge, vindicate, visit. Avenge and revenge, once-closed synonyms, are now far apart in meaning. To avenge is to visit some offense with punishment in order to vindicate the righteous, or to uphold and illustrate the right by the suffering and our destruction of the wicked. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he avenge him that was suppressed and smoothed the Egyptian. Acts 7, 24. To revenge is to inflict harm or suffering upon another through personal anger and resentment at something done to ourselves. Avenge is unselfish. Revenge is selfish. Revenge, according to present usage, could not be said of God. To retaliate might be necessary for self-defense, without the idea of revenge. Compare, revenge. Propositions, avenge on or upon rarely avenge oneself of a wrong doer. Abow, synonyms, knowledge, admit, abur, avouch, confess, declare, own, proclaim, profess, protest, testify, witness. Acknowledge, admit, and declare refer either to oneself or to others. All the other words refer only to one's own knowledge or action. To abow is to declare bodily and openly, commonly as something one is ready to justify, maintain or defend. A man acknowledges another's claim or his own promise. He admits an opponent's advantage or his own error. He declares either what he has seen or experienced or why he has received from another. He abhors what he is sure of from his own knowledge or consciousness. He gives his assurance as the voucher for what he abouches. He abhors openly a belief or intention that he has silently held. Abow and abouch take a direct object. A bear is followed by a conjunction. A man abhors his fate, abhouches a deed, abhors that he was present. Abow has usually a good sense. Whether person abhours, he at least does not treat as blameworthy, criminal or shameful. If he did, he would be said to confess it. Yet, there is always a suggestion that some will be ready to challenge or censure what one abhours, as the clergyman abhours his descent from the doctrine of his church. Own applies to all things, good or bad, great or small, which one takes as his own. Compare, confess, state, antonyms. Contradict, deny, disabow, disclaim, disown, ignore, repudiate. Awful, synonyms, alarming, appalling, august, dire, direful, dread, dreadful, fearful, frightful, grand, horrible, imposing, majestic, noble, pretentious, choking, solemn, stately, terrible, terrific. Awful should not be used of things which are merely disagreeable or annoying, nor of all that are alarming or unterrible, but only of such as bringing a solemn awe upon the soul as in the presence of a superior power as the awful hush before the battle. That which is awful arouses unoppressive, that which is august and admiring reverence. We speak of the august presence of a mighty mornarch, the awful presence of death. We speak of an exalted station, a grand mountain, an imposing presence, a majestic cathedral, a noble mean, a solemn litany, a stately march, an august assembly, the awful scene of a judgment day. Antonyms, base, beggarly, commonplace, contemptible, despicable, humble, inferior, lowly, mean, paltry, undignified, vulgar. Awkward, synonyms, burish, bungling, clownish, clumsy, gulky, maledroit, rough, uncouth, ungainly, unskillful. Awkward from aug, kindred with off from the Norwegian, is offward, turned the wrong way. It was anciently used of a backhanded or left-handed blow in battle, or fest quintinized, etc. Clumsy, on the other hand, from clumps also through the Norwegian, signifies benombed, the stiffened with cold. This is the original meaning of clumsy fingers, clumsy limbs. Thus, awkward primarily reflects to action, clumsy to condition. A tool, a vehicle, or the human frame may be clumsy in shape or build, awkward in motion. The clumsy man is almost of necessity, awkward, but the awkward man may not be naturally clumsy. The finest untrained, cold, is awkward in harness. A horse that is clumsy in build can never be trained out of awkwardness. An awkward statement has an uncomfortable and perhaps recoiling force. A statement that contains ill assorted and incongruous or tyranny in ill chosen language is clumsy. We speak of an awkward predicament, an awkward scrape. An awkward excuse commonly reflects on the one who offers it. We say the admitted facts have an awkward appearance. In none of these cases could clumsy be used. Clumsy is however applied to movements that seemed as unsuitable as those of benombed and stiffened limbs. A dancing bear is both clumsy and awkward. Antonyms, a droid, clever, dexterous, handy, skillful. Propositions, the role of recruit is awkward in action, at the business. Axiom, synonym, truism. Both the axiom and the truism are instantly seen to be true and need no proof, but in our axiom there is progress of thought while the truism simply says the same thing over again or says what is too manifest to need saying. The axiom and that things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another, unfolds in the later part of the sentence the truth implied in the first part, which might have been overlooked if not stated. In the truism that a man can do all he is capable of, the former and the later part of sentence are simply identical and the mind is left just where it started. Hence the axiom is valuable and useful, while the truism is weak and flat unless the form of a statement makes it striking or racing, as all fools are out of their wits, compare, proverb, antonyms, absurdity, contradiction, demonstration, nonsense, paradox, sophism. End of section 11. Section 12 of English synonyms and antonyms. This Levervox recording is in the public domain, read by Dennis Sayers. English synonyms and antonyms by James Champlin Fernald. Babel to because. Babel. Synonyms. Blab. Blurt. Blurt out. Cackle. Chat. Chatter. Gabel. Gossip. Jabber. Mirmur. Palabre. Prate. Prattle. Cattle. Twaddle. Most of these words are onomatopedic. The cackle of a hen, the gabel of a goose, the chatter of a magpie, the babble of a running stream, as applied to human speech, indicate a rapid succession of what are to the listener meaningless sounds. Blab and Blurt, commonly Blurt out, refer to the letting out of what the lips can no longer keep in. Blab of a secret, Blurt out of passionate feeling. To chat is to talk in an easy, pleasant way, not without sense, but without special purpose. Chatting is the practice of adults, prattling that of children. To prait is to talk idly, presumptuously, or foolishly, but not necessarily incoherently. To jabber is to utter a rapid succession of unintelligible sounds, generally more noisy than chattering. To gossip is to talk of petty, personal matters, as for pastime or mischief. To twaddle is to talk feeble nonsense. To murmur is to utter suppressed, or even articulate sounds, suggesting the notes of a dove, or the sound of a running stream, and is used figuratively of the half of suppressed utterances of affection, or pity, or of complaint, resentment, etc. Compare, speak. Prepositions. Babies babble for the moon. The crowd babbles of a hero. The sick man babbles of home. Banish. Synonyms. Ban. Discharge. Dislodge. Dismiss. Drive out. Eject. Evict. Exile. Expatriate. Expel. Ostracize. Oust. Banish primarily to put under ban, to compel by authority to leave a place or country, perhaps with restriction to some other place or country. From a country a person may be banished, exiled, or expatriated. Banished from any country where he may happen to be, but expatriated or exiled only from his own. One may expatriate or exile himself. He is banished by others. Banish is a word of wide import. One may banish disturbing thoughts. Care may banish sleep. To expel is to drive out with violence or rudeness, and so often with disgrace. Prepositions. Catelyn was banished from Rome. John the Apostle was banished to Patmos. Bank. Synonyms. Beach. Border. Bound. Brim. Brink. Coast. Edge. Marge. Margin. Rim. Shore. Strand. Bank is a general term for the land along the edge of a water course. It may also denote a raised portion of the bed of a river, lake, or ocean, as the banks of Newfoundland. A beach is a strip or expanse of incoherent wave-worn sand, which is often pebbly or full of boulders. We speak of the beach of a lake or ocean. A beach is sometimes found in the bend of a river. Strand is a more poetic term for a wave-washed shore, especially as a place for landing or embarking, as the keel grates on the strand. The whole line of a country or continent that borders the sea is a coast. Shore is any land, whether cliff or sand, or marsh, bordering water. We do not speak of the coast of a river, nor the banks of the ocean, though there may be banks by or under the sea. Edge is the line where land and water meet, as the waters edge. Brink is the place from which one may fall, as the rivers brink, the brink of her precipice, the brink of ruin. Banter, synonyms, bodynage, chaff, derision, irony, jeering, mockery, railery, ridicule, sarcasm, satire. Banter is the touching upon some fault, weakness or fancied secret of another in a way half-to-peak and half-to-please. Banter is delicate, refined. Railery has more sharpness, but is usually good-humored and well-meant. Irony, the saying one thing that the reverse may be understood, may be either mild or bitter. All the other words have a hostile intent. Ridicule makes a person or thing the subject of contemptuous merriment. Derision seeks to make the object derided seem utterly despicable, to laugh it to scorn. Chaff is the coarse witticism of the streets. Perhaps merry, oftener, malicious. Jeering is loud, rude, ridicule, as of a hostile crowd or mob. Mockery is more studied and may include mimicry and personal violence, as well as scornful speech. A satire is a formal composition. A sarcasm may be an impromptu sentence. The satire shows up follies to keep people from them. The sarcasm hits them because they are foolish, without inquiring whether it will do good or harm. The satire is plainly uttered. The sarcasm is covert. Barbarous, synonyms, atrocious, barbarian, barbaric, brutal, cruel, inhuman, merciless, rude, savage, uncivilized, uncouth, untamed. Whatever is not civilized is barbarian. Barbaric indicates rude, magnificence, uncultured richness, as barbaric splendor, a barbaric melody. Barbarous refers to the worst side of barbarian life and to revolting acts, especially of cruelty, such as a civilized man would not be expected to do as a barbarous deed. We may, however, say barbarous nations, barbarous tribes, without implying anything more than want of civilization and culture. Savage is more distinctly bloodthirsty than barbarous. In this sense, we speak of a savage beast and of barbarous usage. Antonyms, civilized, courtly, cultured, delicate, elegant, graceful, humane, nice, polite, refined, tender, urbane, barrier, synonyms, bar, barricade, breastwork, bulwark, hindrance, obstacle, obstruction, parapet, prohibition, rampart, restraint, restriction. A bar is something that is or may be firmly fixed, ordinarily with intent to prevent entrance or egress, as the bars of a prison cell, the bars of a woodlot. A barrier obstructs, but is not necessarily impassable. Barrier is used of objects more extensive than those to which bar is ordinarily applied. A mountain range may be a barrier to exploration, but a mass of sand across the entrance to a harbor is called a bar. Discovered falsehood is a bar to confidence. Barricade has become practically a technical name for an improvised street fortification and, unless in some way modified, is usually so understood. A parapet is a low or breast-high wall, as about the edge of a roof, terrace, etc., especially in military use, such a wall for the protection of troops. A rampart is the embankment surrounding a fort on which the parapet is raised. The word rampart is often used as including the parapet. Bowork is a general word for any defensive wall or rampart. Its only technical use at present is in nautical language, where it signifies the raised side of a ship above the upper deck, topped by the rail. Compare boundary, impediment, antonyms, admittance, entrance, opening, passage, road, thoroughfare, transit, way. The prepositions. A barrier to progress. Against invasion. A barrier between nations. Battle. Synonyms. Action. Affair. Bout. Combat. Conflict. Contest. Encounter. Engagement. Fight. Passage of arms. Skirmish. Strife. Conflict is a general word which describes opponents, whether individuals or hosts, as dashed together. One continuous conflict between entire armies is a battle. Another battle may be fought upon the same field after a considerable interval or a new battle may follow immediately the armies meeting upon a new field. An action is brief and partial. A battle may last for days. Engagement is a somewhat formal expression for battle, as it was the commander's purpose to avoid a general engagement. A protracted war, including many battles, may be a stubborn contest. Combat, originally a hostile encounter between individuals, is now used also for extensive engagements. A skirmish is between small detachments or scattered troops. An encounter may be either purposed or accidental, between individuals or armed forces. Fight is a word of less dignity than battle. We should not ordinarily speak of Waterloo as a fight, unless where the word is used in the sense of fighting, as I was in the thick of the fight. Antonyms. Armistice. Concord. Peace. Suspension of hostilities. Truce. Prepositions. A battle of giants. Battle between armies. A battle for life. Against invaders. A battle to the death. The battle of, more rarely, at marathon. Beat. Synonyms. Bastinado. Batter. Be labor. Bruise. Castigate. Chastise. Conquer. Cudgel. Defeat. Flog. Overcome. Pommel. Pound. Scourge. Smite. Spank. Strike. Surpass. Switch. Thrash. Vanquish. Whip. And worst. Strike is the word for a single blow. To beat is to strike repeatedly as a bird beats the air with its wings. Others of the above words describe the manner of beating as bastinado. To beat on the soles of the feet. Be labor. To inflict a comprehensive and exhaustive beating. Cudgel. To beat with a stick. Thrash. As wheat was beaten out with the old hand flail. To pound, akin to latin pondus, await, is to beat with a heavy and pommel with a blunt instrument. To batter and to bruise refer to the results of beating. That is battered, which is broken or defaced by repeated blows on the surface. Compare synonyms for shatter. That is bruised, which has suffered even one severe contusion. The metaphorical sense of beat, however, so far preponderates that one may be very badly bruised and battered, and yet should not be said to be beaten unless he has got the worst of the beating. To beat a combatant is to disable or dishearten him for further fighting. Hence, beat becomes the synonym for every word which implies getting the advantage of another. Compare, conquer. Antonyms. Fail. Fall. Get the worst of. Go down. Go under. Surrender. Almost all antonyms in this class are passive and can be formed indefinitely from the conquering words by the use of the auxiliary be as be beaten, be defeated, be conquered, etc. Prepositions. Beat with a stick over the head. Beat by a trick out of town. Beat to the ground. Into submission. Beautiful. Synonyms. Attractive, beautyous, bewitching, bony, charming, comely, delightful, elegant, exquisite, fair, fine, graceful, handsome, lovely, picturesque, pretty. The definition of beauty, perfection of form, is a good key to the meaning of beautiful, if we understand form in its widest sense. There must also be harmony and unity and in human beings, spiritual loveliness to constitute an object or a person really beautiful. Thus we speak of a beautiful landscape, a beautiful poem, but beautiful implies also in concrete objects softness of outline and delicacy of mold. It is opposed to all that is hard and rugged, hence we say a beautiful woman, but not a beautiful man. Beautiful has the further limit of not transcending our powers of appreciation. Pretty expresses in a far less degree that which is pleasing to a refined taste in objects comparatively small, slight and dainty, as a pretty bonnet, a pretty girl. That is handsome, which is not only superficially pleasing, but well and harmoniously proportioned with usually the added idea that it is made so by art, breeding, or training, as a handsome horse, a handsome house. Handsome is a term far inferior to beautiful. We may even say a handsome villain. Fair denotes what is bright, smooth, clear, and without blemish as a fair face. The word applies wholly to what is superficial. We can say fair yet false. In a specific sense, fair has the sense of blonde as opposed to dark or brunette. One who possesses vivacity, wit, good nature, or other pleasing qualities may be attractive without beauty. Connolly denotes an aspect that is smooth, genial, and wholesome with a certain fullness of contour and pleasing symmetry, though falling short of the beautiful as a comely matron. That is picturesque, which would make a striking picture. Antonin's awkward, clumsy, deformed, disgusting, frightful, ghastly, grim, grisly, grotesque, hideous, horrid, odious, repulsive, shocking, ugly, unattractive, uncouth, ungainly, unlovely, unpleasant, prepositions, beautiful to the eye, beautiful in appearance, in spirit, beautiful for situation, Psalm 48 verse 2, beautiful of aspect, of its kind, because, synonyms, as, for, in as much as, since, because, literally by cause, is the most direct and complete word for giving the reason of a thing. Since, originally denoting succession in time signifies a succession in a chain of reasoning, a natural inference or result. As indicates something like coordinate, parallel. Since is weaker than because, as is weaker than since. Either may introduce the reason before the main statement. Thus, since or as you are going, I will accompany you. Often the weaker word is the more courteous, implying less constraint. For example, as you request it, I will come, rather than I will come because you request it. In as much as is a formal and qualified expression, implying by just so much and no more. Thus, in as much as the debtor has no property, I abandon the claim. For is a loose connective, giving often mere suggestion or indication, rather than reason or cause, as it is mourning for, not because, the birds are singing. Antonyms, although, however, nevertheless, notwithstanding yet. Compare the synonyms for but, notwithstanding. End of section 12, read by Dennis Sayers in Modesto, California for Librebox. Section 13 of English Synonyms and Anonyms. This is a Librebox recording. All Librebox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librebox.org. Recording by Mario Pineda. English Synonyms and Anonyms by James Champlin-Fernald. Becoming to Bluff. Becoming. Synonyms. Befitting. Beseeming. Calmly. Congress. Decent. Decorous. Fit. Fearing. Graceful. Meet. Neat. Proper. Simply. Suitable. Worthy. That is becoming in dress, which suits the complexion, figure, and other qualities of the wearer, so as to produce on the whole a pleasing effect. That is decent, which does not offend modesty or propriety. That is suitable, which is adapted to the age, station, situation, and other circumstances of the wearer. Of course, heavy boots are suitable for farm work. A juvenile style of dress is not suitable for an old lady. In conduct, much the same rules apply. The dignity and gravity of a Patrick would not be becoming to a child. At a funeral, lively, cheery, sociability would not be decors, while noisy hilarity would not be decent. Some chose display would not be suitable for a poor person. Fit is a compendious term for whatever fits the person, time, place, occasion, etc. as a fit person. A fit abode. A fit place. Fitting or befitting is somewhat more elegant, implying a nicer adaptation. Meat is somewhat archived word expresses a moral fitness, as meat for heaven. Compare beautiful. Antonyms. All word ill-becoming, ill-fitting, improper, indecent, in decors, unbecoming, unfit, unseemly, unsuitable. Propositions. The dress was becoming to the wearer. Such conduct was becoming in him. Beginning. Synonyms. Arising. Commencement. Fount. Fountain. Inauguration. Inception. Initiation. Opening. Origin. Outside. Rise. Search. Spring. Start. The letting commencement is more formal than the section beginning, as the birth commence is more formal than begin. Commencement is for the most part restricted to some form of action, while beginning has no restriction, but may be applied to action, state, material, extent, enumeration, or to whatever else may be conceived of as having a first part, point, degree, etc. The letter A is at the beginning, not the commencement of every alphabet. If we were to speak of the commencement of the Pacific Railroad, we should be understood to refer to the enterprise and its initiatory act. If we were to refer to the roadway, we should say here is the beginning of the Pacific Railroad. In the great majority of cases, begin and beginning are preferable to commence and commencement as the simple, idiomatic English words always accurate and expressive. In the beginning was the word, John 1-1. An origin is the point from which something starts or sets out, often involving and always suggesting causal connection, as the origin of evil, the origin of a nation, a government, or a family. A source is that which furnishes a first and continuous supply, that which flows forth freely or may be readily required to. As the source of a river, a source of knowledge, a source of inspiration, fertile line is a source, not an origin of wealth. A rise is thought of as in an action. We say that a lake is the source of a certain river, or that the river takes its rise from the lake. Mostly wrote of the rise of the Dutch Republic, fount, fountain, and spring, in their figurative senses, keep close to their literal meaning, compare, cause, antonyms, see synonyms for end, behavior, synonyms, action, bearing, breathing, carriage, conduct, demeanor, department, life, manner, manners. Behavior is our action in the presence of others. Conduct includes also that which is known only to ourselves and our maker. Carriage expresses simply the manner of holding the body, especially in sitting or walking, as when it is said of a lady, she has a fine carriage. Bearing refers to the bodily expression of filling or disposition, as a hotty bearing. A noble bearing, demeanor, is the bodily expression. As a hotty bearing, a noble bearing. The demeanor is the bodily expression not only of feelings, but of moral states, as a debut demeanor. Breathing, unless with some adverse limitation denotes that manner and conduct which result from good birth and training. Deporment is behavior as related to a set of rules, as the pupil's deporment was faultless. A person's manner might be that of a moment or toward a single person. His manners are his habitual style of behavior toward or before others, especially in matters of etiquette and politeness, as good manners are always pleasing. Propositions. The behavior of the pastor to or towards his people, on or upon the streets, before the multitude, or in the church, with the godly or with the worldly, was alike faultless. Bend synonyms. Bias, bow, crook, curve, deflect, debiate, diverge, incline, influence, mold, persuade, stoop, submit, turn, twine, twist, warp, gild. In some cases, a thing is spoken of as bent, where the parts make an angle, but oftener to bend is understood to be to draw to or through a curve, as to bend a bow. To submit or yield is to bend the mind humbly to another's wishes. To incline or influence is to bend another's wishes toward our own. To persuade is to draw them wide over. To warp is to bend silently through the whole fiber as a board in the sun. To crook is to bend regularly as a crooked stick. Deflect, debiate, and diverge are said of any turning away. Debate commonly of a slight and gradual movement, diverge of a more sharp undecided one. To bias is to cut across the texture or incline to one side. In figurative use always with an unfavorable import. Mold is a stronger word than bend. We may bend by a superior force that which still resists the constraint. As a bent bow, we mold something plastic entirely to some desired form. Benevolence, synonyms, almsgiving, beneficence, benignity, bounty, charity, generosity, goodwill, humanity, kind-heartedness, kindliness, kindness, liberality, munificence, philanthropy, sympathy, and selfishness. According to the etymology and original use, beneficence is to doing well, benevolence, the wishing, or willing well to others. But benevolence has come to include beneficence and to displace it. We should not now speak of benevolence, which did not help, unless where there was no power to help. Even then, we should rather say goodwill or sympathy. Charity, which originally meant the purest love for God and man, as in one Corinthians 13, is now almost universally applied to some form of almsgiving, and is much more limited in meaning than benevolence. Benignity suggests some occult power of blessing, such as was formerly ascribed to the stars. We might say a good man has an air of benignity, kindness, and tenderness are personal. Benevolence and charity are general. Kindness extends to all sentient beings, whether men or animals, in prosperity or in distress. Tenderness especially goes out toward the young, feeble, and needy, or even to the dead. Humanity is so much kindness and tenderness toward man or beast as it would be in human not to have, we say of some act of care or kindness, common humanity requires it. Generosity is self-forgetful kindness in disposition or action. It includes much besides giving, as the generosity of forgiveness. Bounty applies to ample giving, which on a larger scale is expressed by munificence. Liberality indicates broad, genial, kindly views, whether manifested in gifts or otherwise. We speak of the bounty of a generous host, the liberality or munificence of the founder of a college, or of the liberality of the theologian toward the holders of conflicting beliefs. Philanthropy applies to wide schemes for human welfare, often but not always, involving large expenditures in charity or benevolence. Compare mercy, antonyms, barbarity, brutality, childishness, greediness, harshness, illiberality, ill will, inhumanity, malevolence, malignity, negardliness, selfishness, self-seeking, stinginess, unkindness, prepositions, benevolence off or on the part of or from the wealthy to or toward the poor. Bind synonyms, compel, engage, fasten, fatter, fix, oblige, restrain, restrict, secure, shackle, tie. Binding is primarily by something flexible, as a cord or bandage thrown closely around an object or group of objects as when we bind up a wounded limp. We bind a sheaf of wheat with a cord, we tie the cord in a knot, we fasten by any means that will make things hold together, as a bore by nails or a door by a lock. The burps tie and fasten are excursely used in the figurative sense, though using the known we speak of the ties of affection. Bind has an extensive figurative use. One is bound by conscience or honor. He is obliged by some imperious necessity, engaged by his own promise, compel by physical force or its moral equivalent. Antonyms, free, loose, set, free, unbind, unfasten, unloose, untie. Prepositions, bind to a pillar, unto an altar, to a service, bind one with chains or in chains. One is bound by a contract, a splint is bound upon a limb. The arms might be bound to the sides or behind the back. Bind a rest about, around, or around the head. Tweaks are bound in or into faggots. For military purposes, they are bound at both ends and in the middle. One is bound by a contract or bound under a penalty to fulfill a contract. Bitter synonyms, a serve, a citrus, acid, acetylated, acetylose, acrid, acrimonious, biting, caustic, cutting, harsh, irate, pungent, savage, sharp, sour, stingy, tart, buying garage, beer lent. Acid, sour, and bitter, agreeing and being contrasted with sweet, but the two former are sharply distinguished from the latter. Acid or sour is the taste of vinegar or lemon juice, bitter that of coacia, quinine, or striken in. Acrid is nearly allied to bitter. Pungent suggests the effect of pepper or snuff on the organs of taste or smell, as a pungent odor. Caustic indicates the corroding effect of some strong chemical, as nitrate or sober. In a figurative sense, as applied to language or character, those words are very closely allied. We say it's sour face, sharp words, bitter complaints, caustic wit, cutting irony, bitter sarcasm, a stinging taunt, harsh judgment, a tart reply. Harsh carries the idea of intentional and superior on kindness, bitter of a severity that arises from real or supposed ill treatment. The bitter speech springs from the sore heart. Tart and sharp utterances might not proceed from an intention to wound, but merrily from a wit recklessly kin. Cutting, stinging, and biting speech indicates more or less of hostile intent, the latter being the more deeply malicious. The caustic utterance is meant to burn, perhaps wholesomely, as in this attire of juvenile or servantis. Compare more rows. Antonyms, dulcet, hunnid, lucious, necktired, saccharine, sweet. Bleach, berve, synonyms. Blanch, make white, whiten, whitewash. To whiten is to make white in general, but commonly it means to overspread with white coloring matter. Bleach and blanch both signify to whiten by depriving of color, the former permanently, as linen. The latter either permanently as to blanch celery, or temporarily as to blanch the cheek with fear. To whitewash is to whiten superficially, especially by false approval. Antonyms, blacken, color, darken, dye, soil, stain. Blemish. Synonyms, blot, blur, brand, crack, dove, defacement, defect, deformity, dent, disfigurement, disgrace, dishonor, fault, flow, imperfection, injury, reproach, smerch, soil, speck, spot, stain, stigma, taint, tarnish. Whatever marks the beauty or completeness of an object is a blemish, whether original as squinting eyes, or the result of accident or disease, etc., as the pits of a smallpox. A blemish is superficial, a flow or taint is in a structure or substance. In the moral sense, we speak of a blot or stain upon repetition, a flow or taint in character. A defect is the want or lack of something. Fault, primarily, a failing, is something that fails of an apparent intent or disappoints a natural expectation. Those a sudden dislocation or displacement of geological strata is called a fault. Figuratively, a blemish comes from one's own ill-doing. A brand or stigma is inflicted by others, as the brand of infamy. Blow, synonyms, box, buffet, calamity, concussion, cuff, cut, disaster, knock, lash, misfortune, rap, shock, stripe, stroke, thump. A blow is a sudden impact, as of a fist or a clock. A stroke is a sweeping movement, as the stroke of a sword, of an oar, of the arm and swimming. A shock is a sudden encounter with some heavy body, as colliding railroad trains meet with a shock, the shock of battle. A slap is given with the open hand, a lash with a whip, tongue or the like. We speak also of the cut of a whip. A buffet or cuff is given only with the hand, a blow either with hand or weapon. A cuff is a somewhat silent blow, generally with the open hand, as a cuff or box on the ear. A stripe is the effect or mark of a stroke. In the metaphorical sense, blow is used for sudden, stunning, staggering, calamity or sorrow. The stroke for a sweeping disaster and also for sweeping achievement and success. We say a stroke of paralysis or a stroke of genius. We speak of the buffet of adverse fortune. Shock is used of that which is at once sudden, violent and prostrating. We speak of a shock of electricity, the shock of an abutation, a shock of surprise. Compare, beat, bluff, abrupt, blunt, blustering, bold, brusque, coarse, discourages, frank, impolite, inconsiderate, open, plain spoken, rough, rude, uncivil, unmanually. Bluff is a word of good meaning, as are frank and open. The bluff man talks and laughs loudly and freely, says and does whatever he places with furthest good nature and with no thought of annoying or giving pain to others. The blunt man says things which he is perfectly aware are disagreeable either from a defining difference to others feelings or from the pleasure of tormenting. Antonyms, bland, courteous, genial, polished, polite, refined, reserved or vain. End of section 13. Section 14 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 Estelle Jobson. English synonyms and antonyms by James Champlin-Fernald. From body to by. Body synonyms, ashes, carcass, clay, corpse, dust, form, frame, remains, system, trunk. Body denotes the entire physical structure, considered as a whole of man or animal. Form looks upon it as a thing of shape and outline, perhaps of beauty. Frame regards it as supported by its bony framework. System views it as an assemblage of many related and harmonious organs. Body, form, frame and system may either be dead or living. Clay and dust are sometimes so used in religious or poetic style, though ordinarily these words are used only of the dead. Corpse and remains are used only of the dead. Corpse is the plain technical word for a dead body still retaining its unity. Remains may be used after any lapse of time. The latter is also the more refined and less ghastly term, as friends are invited to view the remains. Carcass applies only to the body of an animal or of a human being regarded with contempt and loathing. Compare, company. Antonyms, intellect, intelligence, mind, soul, spirit. Both synonyms, twain, too. Both refers to two objects previously mentioned or had in mind, viewed or acting in connection as both men fired at once. Two men fired might mean any two out of any number and without reference to any previous thought or mention. Twain is a nearly obsolete form of two. The two or the twain is practically equivalent to both. Both, however, expresses a closer unity. We would say both men rushed against the enemy. The two men flew at each other. Compare, every. Antonyms, each, either, every, neither, none, no one, not any. Boundary. Synonyms, barrier, border, bound, born. Born with an E on the end. Confines, edge, enclosure, frontier, landmark, limit, line, marches, march, margin, term, termination, verge. The boundary was originally the landmark, that which marked off one piece of territory from another. The bound is the limit marked or unmarked. Now, however, the difference between the two words has come to be simply one of usage. As regards territory, we speak of the boundaries of a nation or of an estate, the bounds of a college, a ball ground, etc. Bounds may be used for all within the limits. Boundary for the limiting line only. Boundary looks to that which is without. Bound only to that which is within. Hence, we speak of the bounds, not the boundaries of a subject, of the universe, etc. We say the students were forbidden to go beyond the bounds. A barrier is something that bars ingress or egress. Barrier may be a boundary, as was the Great Wall of China. Born or born with an E on the end is a poetical expression for bound or boundary. A border is a strip of land along the boundary. Edge is a sharp terminal line, as where river or ocean meets the land. Limit is now used almost wholly in the figurative sense, as the limit of discussion of time of jurisdiction. Line is a military term, as within the lines or through the lines of an army. Compare barrier end. Antonyms, center, citadel, estate, inside, interior, land, region, territory. Prepositions, the boundaries of an estate, the boundary between neighboring territories. Brave. Synonyms, adventurous, bold, chivalric, chivalrous, courageous, daring, dauntless, doubty, fearless, gallant, heroic, intrepid, undaunted, undismayed, valiant, venturesome. The adventurous man goes in quest of danger. The bold man stands out and faces danger or censure. The brave man combines confidence with resolution in presence of danger. The chivalrous man puts himself in peril for others' protection. The daring step out to defy danger. The dauntless will not flinch before anything that may come to them. The daunty will give and take limitless hard knocks. The adventurous find something romantic in dangerous enterprises. The venturesome may be simply heedless, reckless or ignorant. All great explorers have been adventurous. Children, fools and criminals are venturesome. The fearless and intrepid possess unshaken nerves in any place of danger. Courageous is more than brave, adding a moral element. The courageous man steadily encounters perils to which he may be keenly sensitive at the call of duty. The gallant are brave in a dashing, showy and splendid way. The valiant not only dare great dangers but achieve great results. The heroic are nobly daring and dauntless, truly chivalrous, sublimely courageous. Compare fortitude. Antonyms, afraid, cowardly, cringing, faint-hearted, fearful, frightened. Fusillanimous, shrinking, timid, timorous. Break. Synonyms, bankrupt, burst, cashier, crack, crush, demolish. Destroy, fracture, rend. Rive, rupture, sever, shatter, shiver, smash, split. Sunder, transgress. To break is to divide sharply with severance of particles, as by a blow or strain. To burst is to break by pressure from within, as a bombshell. But it is used also for the result of violent force otherwise exerted, as to burst in a door where the door yields as if to an explosion. To crush is to break by pressure from without, as an eggshell. To crack is to break without complete severance of parts. A cracked cup or mirror may still hold together. Fracture has a somewhat similar sense. In a fractured limb the ends of the broken bone may be separated, though both portions are still retained within the common muscular tissue. A shattered object is broken suddenly and in numerous directions, as a vase is shattered by a blow, a building by an earthquake. A shivered glass is broken into numerous minute needle-like fragments. To smash is to break thoroughly to pieces with a crashing sound by some sudden act of violence. A watch once smashed will scarcely be worth repair. To split is to cause wood to crack or part in the way of the grain and is applied to any other case where a natural tendency to separation is enforced by an external cause, as to split a convention or a party. To demolish is to beat down as a mound, building fortress etc. to destroy is to put by any process beyond restoration physically, mentally or morally. To destroy an army is so to shatter and scatter it that it cannot be rallied or reassembled as a fighting force. Compare rend, antonyms, attach, bind, fasten, join, mend, secure, solder, unite, weld. Prepositions break to pieces or in pieces into several pieces when the object is thought of as divided rather than shattered. Break with a friend from or away from a suppliant. Break into a house out of prison, break across one's knee, break through a hedge, break in upon one's retirement, break over the rules, break on or upon the shore against the rocks. Brutish, synonyms, animal, base, beastly, beastial, brutal, brute, carnal, coarse, ignorant, embruted, insensible, lascivious, sensual, saltish, stolid, stupid, swinish, unintellectual, unspiritual, vile. A brutish man simply follows his animal instincts without special inclination to do harm. The brutal have always a spirit of malice and cruelty. Brut has no special character except as indicating what a brute might possess. Much the same is true of animal except that animal leans more to the side of sensuality. Brut, to that of force, as appears in the familiar phrase brute force. Hunger is an animal appetite. A brute impulse suddenly prompts one to strike a blow in anger. Beastial in modern usage implies an intensified and degrading animalism. Any supremacy of the animal or brute instincts over the intellectual and spiritual in man is base and vile. Beastly refers largely to the outward and visible consequences of excess as beastly drunkenness. Compare animal. Antonyms, elevated, enlightened, exalted, grand, great, humane, intellectual, intelligent, noble, refined. Burn. Synonyms, blaze, brand, cauterize, char, consume, cremate, flame, flash, ignite, incinerate, kindle, scorch, set fire to, set on fire, singe. To burn is to subject to the action of fire or of intense heat so as to effect either partial change or complete combustion. As to burn wood in the fire, to burn one's hand on a hot stove, the sun burns the face. One brands with a hot iron but cauterizes with some corrosive substance a silver nitrate. Cremate is now used specifically for consuming a dead body by intense heat. To incinerate is to reduce to ashes. The sense differs little from that of cremate, but it is in less popular use. To kindle is to set on fire as if with candle. Ignite is the more learned and scientific word for the same thing, extending even to the heating of metals to a state of incandescence without burning. To scorch and to singe are superficial and to char usually so. Both kindle and burn have an extensive figurative use as to kindle strife, to burn with wrath, love, devotion, curiosity. Compare light. Antonyms, cool, extinguish, put out, smother, stifle, subdue. Prepositions, to burn in the fire, burn with fire, burn to the ground, burn to ashes, burn through the skin or the roof, burn into the soil, etc. Business. Synonyms. Affair, art, avocation, barter, calling, commerce, concern, craft, duty, employment, handicraft, job, occupation, profession, trade, trading, traffic, transaction, vocation, work. A business is what one follows regularly, and occupation is what he happens at any time to be engaged in. Trout fishing may be one's occupation for a time as a relief from business. Business is ordinarily for profit, while the occupation may be a matter of learning philanthropy or religion. A profession implies scholarship as the learned professions. Pursuit is an occupation which one follows with ardour. An avocation is what calls one away from other work, a vocation or calling, that to which one is called by some special fitness or sense of duty. Thus we speak of the Gospel ministry as a vocation or calling rather than a business. Trade or trading is in general the exchanging of one thing for another. In the special sense, a trade is an occupation involving manual training and skilled labour, as the ancient Jews held that every boy should learn a trade. A transaction is a single action, whether in business, diplomacy or otherwise. Affair has a similar but lighter meaning, as this little affair. An important transaction. The plural affairs has a distinctive meaning, including all activities where men deal with one another on any considerable scale, as a man of affairs. A job is a piece of work viewed as a single undertaking and ordinarily paid for as such. Trade and commerce may be used as equivalents, but trade is capable of a more limited application. We speak of the trade of a village, the commerce of a nation. Barter is the direct exchange of commodities. Business, trade and commerce are chiefly transacted by means of money, bills of exchange, etc. Business occupation, etc. may be what one does independently. Employment may be in the service of another. Work is any application of energy to secure a result, or the result thus secured. Thus we speak of the work of God. Art in the industrial sense is a system of rules and accepted methods for the accomplishment of some practical result as the art of printing collectively the arts. A craft is some occupation requiring technical skill or manual dexterity, or the persons collectively engaged in its exercise as the weavers' craft. Prepositions, the business of a drugist, in business with his father, doing business for his father, have you business with me, business in New York, business about, concerning or in regard to certain property, but synonyms. And barely besides, except further, however, just, merely, moreover, nevertheless, notwithstanding, only provided, save, still, that though, unless, yet. But ranges from the faintest contrast to absolute negation, as I am willing to go, but, on the other hand, content to stay. He is not an honest man, but, on the contrary, a villain. The contrast may be with a silent thought as, but let us go, it being understood that we might stay longer. In restrictive use, except and accepting are slightly more emphatic than but. We say no injury but a scratch, or no injury except some painful bruises. Such expressions as words of but breath, nothing but, may be referred to the restrictive use by ellipsis. So may the use of but in the sense of unless, as it never rains but it pours. To the same head must be referred to conditional use as you may go, but with your father's consent, i.e. provided you have, except that you must have, etc. Doubt, but, is now less used than the more logical doubt that. But never becomes a full synonym for and, and adds something like, but adds something different. Brave and tender implies that tenderness is natural to the brave. Brave but tender implies that bravery and tenderness are rarely combined. For the concessive use, compare notwithstanding. By synonyms, by dint of, by means of, through, with. By refers to the agent, through to the means, cause or condition, with to the instrument. By commonly refers to persons, with to things. Through may refer to either. The road having become impassable through long disuse, a way was opened by pioneers with axes. By may, however, be applied to any object which is viewed as partaking of action and agency. As the metal was corroded by the asset, skill is gained by practice. We speak of communicating with a person by letter. Through implies a more distant connection than by or with, and more intervening elements. Material objects are perceived by the mind through the senses. End of section 14, recording by Estelle Jobson, Rome, Italy. Section 15 of English synonyms and antonyms. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Dennis Sayers. English synonyms and antonyms. By James Champlin-Fernoldt. Cabal to caricature. Cabal. Synonyms. Combination, conclave, confederacy, conspiracy, crew, faction, gang, junto. A conspiracy is a combination of persons for an evil purpose, or the act of so combining. Conspiracy is a distinct crime under common, and generally under statutory law. A faction is more extensive than a conspiracy, less formal in organization, less definite in plan. Faction and its adjective, factious, have always an unfavorable sense. Cabal commonly denotes a conspiracy of leaders. A gang is a company of workmen all doing the same work under one leader. The word is used figuratively only of combinations which it is meant to stigmatize as rude and mercenary. Crew is used in a closely similar sense. A conclave is secret but of larger numbers, ordinarily than a cabal, and may have honorable use as the conclave of cardinals. Calculate. Synonyms. Account. Cast. Compute. Consider. Count. Deem. Enumerate. Estimate. Number. Rate. Reckon. Sum up. Number is the generic term. To count is to number one by one. To calculate is to use more complicated processes as multiplication, division, etc., more rapid, but not less exact. Compute allows more of the element of probability, which is still more strongly expressed by estimate. We compute the slaying in a great war from the number known to have fallen in certain great battles. Compute refers to the present or the past. Estimate more frequently to the future, as to estimate the cost of a proposed building. To enumerate is to mention item by item, as to enumerate one's grievances. To rate is to estimate by comparison, as if the object were one of a series. We count upon a desired future. We do not count upon the undesired. As applied to the present, we reckon or count a thing precious or worthless. Compare is steam. Propositions. It is vain to calculate on or upon an uncertain result. Call. Verb. Synonyms. Ball. Bellow. Clamor. Cry out. Ejaculate. Exclaim. Roar. Scream. Shout. Shriek. Vosiferate. Yell. To call is to send out the voice in order to attract another's attention either by word or by inarticulate utterance. Animals call their mates or their young. A man calls his dog, his horse, etc. The sense is extended to include summons by bell or any signal. To shout is to call or exclaim with the fullest volume of sustained voice. To scream is to utter a shriller cry. To shriek or to yell refers to that which is louder and wilder still. We shout words in screaming, shrieking, or yelling. There is often no attempt at articulation. To bawl is to utter senseless, noisy cries as of a child in pain or anger. Bellow and roar are applied to the utterances of animals and only contemptuously to those of persons. To clamor is to utter with noisy iteration. It applies also to the confused cries of a multitude. To vociferate is commonly applied to loud and excited speech where there is little besides the exertion of voice. In exclaiming, the utterance may not be strikingly, though somewhat, above the ordinary tone and pitch. We may exclaim by mere interjections or by connected words, but always by some articulate utterance. To ejaculate is to throw out brief, disconnected, but coherent utterances of joy, regret, and especially of appeal, petition, prayer. The use of such devotional utterances has received the special name of ejaculatory prayer. To cry out is to give forth a louder and more excited utterance than in exclaiming or calling. One often exclaims with sudden joy as well as sorrow. If he cries out, it is often or in grief or agony. In the most common colloquial usage, to cry is to express grief or pain by weeping or sobbing. One may exclaim, cry out, or ejaculate with no thought of others' presence. When he calls, it is to attract another's attention. Antonyms. Be silent. Be still. Hark. Harken. Hush. List. Listen. Calm. Synonyms. Collected. Composed. Cool. Dispassionate. Impreturbable. Peaceful. Placid. Quiet. Sedate. Self-possessed. Serene. Smooth. Still. Tranquil. Undisturbed. Unruffled. That is calm, which is free from disturbance or agitation. In the physical sense, free from violent motion or action. In the mental or spiritual realm, free from excited or disturbing emotion or passion. We speak of a calm sea, a placid lake, a serene sky, a still night, a quiet day, a quiet home. We speak also of still waters, smooth sailing, which are different modes of expressing freedom from manifest agitation. Of mental conditions, one is calm who triumphs over a tendency to excitement. Cool, if he scarcely feels the tendency. One may be calm by the very reaction from excitement or by the oppression of overpowering emotion as we speak of the calmness of despair. One is composed who has subdued excited feeling. He is collected when he has every thought, feeling, or perception awake and at command. Tranquil refers to a present state, placid, to a prevailing tendency. We speak of a tranquil mind, a placid disposition. The serene spirit dwells as if in the clear upper air, above all storm and shadow. The star of the unconquered will, he rises in my breast, serene and resolute and still and calm and self-possessed. Longfellow, light of stars, stanza seven, antonyms, agitated, boisterous, disturbed, excited, fierce, frantic, frenzied, furious, heated, passionate, raging, roused, ruffled, stormy, turbulent, violent, wild, wrathful, cancel, synonyms, abolish, abrogate, annul, blot out, cross off or out, discharge, efface, erase, expunge, make void, nullify, obliterate, quash, remove, repeal, resend, revoke, rub off or out, scratch out, vacate, cancel, efface, erase, expunge and obliterate have as their first meaning the removal of written characters or other forms of record. To cancel is literally to make a lattice by cross lines, exactly our English cross out. To efface is to rub off, smooth away the efface as of an inscription. To erase is to scratch out, commonly for the purpose of writing something else in the same place. To expunge is to punch out with some sharp instrument so as to show that the words are no longer part of the writing. To obliterate is to cover over or remove as a letter as was done by the Roman stylus. And rubbing out with the rounded end what had been written with the point on the waxen tablet. What has been cancelled, erased, expunged, may perhaps still be traced. What is obliterated is gone forever, as if it had never been. In many establishments, when a debt is discharged by payment, the record is cancelled. The figurative use of the words keeps close to the primary sense. Compare, abolish. Antonyms, approve, confirm, enact, enforce, establish, maintain, perpetuate, record, re-enact, sustain, uphold, write, candid, synonyms, above board, artless, fair, frank, guileless, honest, impartial, ingenuous, innocent, naive, open, simple, sincere, straightforward, transparent, truthful, unbiased, unprejudiced, unreserved, unsophisticated. A candid statement is meant to be true to the real facts and just to all parties. A fair statement is really so. Fair is applied to the conduct. Candid is not. As fair treatment, quote, a fair field, and no favor, close quote. One who is frank has a fearless and unconstrained truthfulness, honest, and ingenuous, unite in expressing contempt for deceit. On the other hand, artless, guileless, naive, simple, and unsophisticated express the goodness which comes from the want of the knowledge or thought of evil. As truth is not always agreeable, or timely, candid, and frank have often an objectionable sense. Quote, to be candid with you, close quote, quote, to be perfectly frank, close quote, are regarded as sure preludes to something disagreeable. Open and unreserved may imply unstudied truthfulness, or defiant recklessness, as open admiration, open robbery. There may be transparent integrity, or transparent fraud. Sincere applies to the feelings, as being all that one's words would imply. Antonyms, a droid, artful, crafty, cunning, deceitful, designing, diplomatic, foxy, insincere, intriguing, knowing, maneuvering, sharp, shrewd, sly, subtle, tricky, wily, prepositions, candid in debate, candid to or toward opponents, candid with friend or foe, to be candid about or in regard to the matter. Caparison, synonyms, accouterment, harness, housings, trappings. Harness was formerly used of the armor of a knight as well as of a horse. It is now used almost exclusively of the straps and appurtenances worn by a horse when attached to a vehicle. The animal is said to be, quote, kind in harness, close quote. The other words apply to the ornamental outfit of a horse, especially under saddle. We speak also of the accoutrements of a soldier. Caparison is used rarely and somewhat slightingly, and trappings quite contemptuously for showy, human apparel. Compare arms, dress, capital. Synonyms, chief city, metropolis, seat of government. The metropolis is the chief city in the commercial, the capital in the political sense. The capital of an American state is rarely its metropolis. Care. Synonyms. Anxiety, attention, caution, charge, circumspection, concern, direction, forethought, heed, management, oversight, perplexity, precaution, prudence, solicitude, trouble, vigilance, awareness, watchfulness, worry. Care concerns what we possess, anxiety, often what we do not. Riches bring many cares. Poverty brings many anxieties. Care also signifies watchful attention in view of possible harm as, quote, this side up with care, close quote, quote, take care of yourself, close quote, or as a sharp warning, quote, take care, close quote. Caution has a sense of possible harm and risk only to the escaped, if at all, by careful deliberation and observation. Care inclines to the positive, caution to the negative. Care is shown in doing, caution largely in not doing. Precaution is allied with care, prudence with caution. A man rides a dangerous horse with care. Caution will keep him from mounting the horse. Precaution looks to the saddle girths, bit and bridle, and all that may make the rider secure. Circumspection is watchful observation and calculation, but without the timidity implied in caution. Concern denotes a serious interest, milder than anxiety, as concern for the safety of a ship at sea. Heed implies attention without disquiet. It is now largely displaced by attention and care. Solicitude involves especially the element of desire, not expressed in anxiety, and of hopefulness not implied in care. A parent feels constant solicitude for his children's welfare. Anxiety has two dangers that threaten it, with care to guard against them. Watchfulness recognizes the possibility of danger. Waryness, the probability. A man who is not influenced by caution to keep out of danger may display great wariness in the midst of it. Care has also the sense of responsibility with possible control, as expressed in charge and management, oversight. As these children are under my care, send the money to me in care of the firm. Compare alarm, anxiety, prudence. Antonyms, carelessness, disregard, heedlessness, inattention, indifference, neglect, negligence, omission, oversight, recklessness, remissness, slight. Prepositions take care of the house for the future, about the matter, career, synonyms, charge, course, flight, line of achievement, passage, public life, race, rush. A career was originally the ground for a race, or especially for a night's charge in tournament or battle, whence career was early applied to the charge itself. If you will use the lance, take ground for your career. The four horsemen met in full career. Scott, Quinton, Derward, Chapter 14, Page 194, D.F. and Company. In its figurative use, career signifies some continuous and conspicuous work, usually a life work, and most frequently one of honorable achievement. Compare business, caress, synonyms, coddle, court, embrace, flatter, fondle, kiss, pamper, pet. To caress is less than to embrace, more dignified and less familiar than to fondle. A visitor caresses a friend's child, a mother fondles her babe. Fondling is always by touch. Caressing may be also by words, or other tender and pleasing attentions. Antonyms, C. synonyms for affront. Prepositions, caressed by or with the hand, caressed by admirers, at court. Caricature. Synonyms, burlesque, exaggeration, extravaganza, imitation, mimicry, parody, takeoff, travesty. A caricature is a grotesque exaggeration of striking features or peculiarities, generally of a person. A burlesque treats any subject in an absurd or incongruous manner. A burlesque is written or acted. A caricature is more commonly in sketch or picture. A parody changes the subject, but keeps the style. A travesty keeps the subject, but changes the style. A burlesque does not hold itself to either subject or style, but is content with a general resemblance to what it may imitate. A caricature, parody, or travesty must have an original. A burlesque may be an independent composition. An account of a schoolboy's quarrel, after the general manner of Homer's Iliad, would be a burlesque. The real story of the Iliad told in newspaper style would be a travesty. An extravaganza is a fantastic composition, musical, dramatic, or narrative. Imitation is serious. Mimicry is either intentional or unintentionally comical. End of section 15, Cabal to Caricature, read by Dennis Sayers in Modesto, California for LibriVox. Section 16 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 Mario Pineda. English Synonyms and Antonyms. By James Champlin-Fernald. Carry to Change. Carry. Synonyms. Bear. Bring. Compay. Lift. Move. Remove. Sustain. Take. Transmit. Transport. A person might bear a load either when in motion or at rest. He carries it only when in motion. The stupid adolescent bears the world on his shoulders. Swiftly moving in time carries the hourglass and scythe. A person may be said either to bear or to carry a scar, since it is upon him whether in motion or at rest. If an object is to be moved from the place we occupy, we say carry. If to the place we occupy, we say bring. A messenger carries a letter to a correspondent and brings an answer. Take is often used in this sense in place of carry, as take that letter to the office. Carry often signifies to transfer by personal strength without reference to the direction, as that is more than he can carry. Yet, even so, it would not be admissible to say carry it to me or carry it here. In such case, we must say bring. To lift is simply to raise from the ground, though both for an instant with no reference to holding or moving. One may be able to lift what he could not carry. The figurative use of carry are very numerous, as to carry an election, carry the country, carry in the sense of capture, effort, carry an audience, carry a stock of goods, etc. Compare, convey, keep, support. Antonyms. Drop, fall, under, give up, let go, shake off, throw down, throw off. Propositions. To carry calls to Newcastle, carry nothing from or out of this house, he carried these qualities into all he did. Carry across the street, over the bridge, through the woods, around or around the corner, beyond the river, the cable was carried under the sea. Catastrophe. Synonyms. Calamity. Cataclysm. Denouement. Disaster. Mischance. Misfortune. Mishap. Sequel. A cataclysm or catastrophe is some great convulsion or momentous event that may or may not be a cause of misery to man. In calamity or disaster, the thought of human suffering is always present. It has been held by many geologists that numerous catastrophes or cataclysms anti-dated the existence of man. In literature, the final event of a drama is a catastrophe or denouement. Misfortune ordinarily suggests less of a suddenness and violence than calamity or disaster, and is especially applied to that which is lingering or enduring in its effects. In history, the end of every great war or the fall of a nation is a catastrophe, though it might not be a calamity. Yet such an event, if not a calamity to the race, will always involve much individual disaster and misfortune. Pastelence is a calamity. At the film battle, a shipwreck or a failure in business is a disaster. Sickness or loss of property is a misfortune. Failure to meet a friend is a misschance. The breaking of a tick-up is a mishap. Antonyms. Benefit, blessing, boon, comfort, favor, help, pleasure, privilege, prosperity, success. Proposition. The catastrophe of a play, of a siege, rarely to a person, etc. Catch. Synonyms. Apprehend. Capture. Clasp. Clutch. Comprehend. Discover. And snare. And trap. Grasp. Grip. Grip. Lay hold of. On or upon. Overtake. Secure. Cease. Snatch. Take. Take hold of. To catch is to come up with or take position of something departing, fugitive or elusive. We catch a runaway horse, a flying ball, a mouse in a trap. We clutch with a swift, tenacious movement of the fingers. We grasp with a firm but moderate closure of the whole hand. We grip or grab with the strongest muscular closure of the whole hand possible to exert. We clasp in the arms. We snatch with a quick sudden and unusually a surprising motion. In the figurative sense, catch is the use of any act that brings a person or thing into our power or possession as to catch a criminal in the act, to catch an idea in the sense of apprehend or comprehend. Compare. Arrest. Antonyms. Fail off. Fall short of. Give up. Let go. Lose. Miss. Release. Restore. Throw aside. Throb away. Propositions. To catch at a straw. To catch a fugitive by the collar. To catch a ball with the left hand. He caught the disease from the patient. The thief was caught in the act. The bird in the snare. Cause. Synonyms. Actor. Agent. Antesident. Offer. Causality. Causation. Condition. Creator. Designer. Former. Fountain. Motive. Occasion. Origin. Originator. Power. President. Risen. Surge. Spring. The efficient cause that which makes anything to be or be done is a common meaning of the word as in the saying there's no effect without a cause. Every man instinctively recognizes himself acting through will as the cause of his own actions. The creator is a great first cause of all things. A condition is something that necessarily precedes a result but does not produce it. An antecedent simply precedes a result with or without any agency in producing it as Monday is the imbarable antecedent of Tuesday but not the cause of it. The direct antonym of cause is effect while that of antecedent is consequent. An occasion is some event which brings a cause into action at a particular moment. Gravitations and heat are the causes of an avalanche. The stepping line of the mountainside is a necessary condition and the shadow of the traveler may be the occasion of its fall. Causality is the doctrine or principle of causes. Causation the action or working of causes. Compare. Design. Reason. Antonyms. Consequence. Creation. Development. Effect. End. Event. Fruit. Issue. Outcome. Outgrowth. Product. Result. Propositions. The cause of the disaster. Cause for interference. Seize. Synonyms. Abstain. Bring to an end. Come to an end. Conclude. Desist. Discontinue. End. Finish. Give over. Intermit. Live off. Pause. Quit. Refrain. Stop. Terminate. Strange of music might gradually or suddenly cease. A man quits work on the instant. He may discontinue a practice gradually. He quits suddenly and completely. He stops shorting what he may or may not resume. He pauses in what he will probably resume. What intermits or is intermitted returns again as a fever that intermits. Compare. Abandon. Die. End. Rest. Antonyms. Begin. Commence. Enter upon. Inaugurate. Initiate. Institute. Originate. Set about. Set going. Set in operation. Set on foot. Start. Preposition. Cease. From anger. Celebrate. Synonyms. Commemorate. Keep. Observe. Solemnize. To celebrate any event or occasion is to make some demonstration of respect or rejoicing because of or in memory of it or to perform such public rights or ceremonies as it properly demands. We celebrate the birth, commemorate the death of one beloved or honored. We celebrate the national anniversary with music and song with firing of guns and ringing of bells. We commemorate by any solemn and thoughtful service or by a monument or honor and during memorial. We keep this Sabbath solemn nice and marriage. Observe an anniversary. We celebrate or observe the Lord's Supper in which believers commemorate the suffering and death of Christ. Antonyms. Contempt. Despise. Dishonor. Disregard. Forget. Ignore. Neglect. Overlook. Profane. Violate. Propositions. We celebrate the day with appropriate ceremonies. The victory was celebrated by the people with rejoicing. Center. Synonyms. Middle. Mist. We speak of the center of a circle, the middle of a room, the middle of the street, the midst of a forest. The center is equally distant from every point of its circumference of a circle or from the opposite boundaries on each axis of a parallelogram, etc. The middle is more general and less definite. The center is a point. The middle might be a line or a space. We say at the center, in the middle. Mids commonly implies a group or multitude of surrounding objects. Compare synonyms for amid. Antonyms. Bound. Boundary. Circumference. Parameter. Rim. Chagrin. Synonyms. Confusion. Disappointment. Discomposure. Dismay. Humiliation. Mortification. Shame. Bexession. Chagrin unites disappointment with some degree of humiliation. A rainy day might bring disappointment. Needless failure in some enterprise brings chagrin. Shame involves the consciousness of fault, guilt or impropriety. Chagrin of failure or judgment or harm to reputation. A consciousness that one has displayed his own ignorance will cause him mortification, however worthy his intent. If there was a design to deceive, the exposure will cover him with shame. Antonyms. Delight. Exaltation. Glory. Rejoicing. Triumph. Propositions. He felt deep chagrin at because of an account of failure. Change. Verb. Synonyms. Alter. Commute. Convert. Diversify. Exchange. Metamorphose. Modify. Qualify. Shift. Substitute. Transfigure. Transform. Transmute. Turn. Berry. Beer. To change is distinctively to make a thing older than it has been, in some respect at least. To exchange to put or take something else in its place. To alter is ordinarily to change partially to make different in one or more particulars. To exchange is often to transfer ownership as to exchange city for country property. Change is often used in the sense of exchange as to change horses. To transmute is to change the qualities while the substance remains the same as to transmute the base or metals into gold. To transform is to change form or appearance with or without deeper and more essential change. It is less absolute than transmute though sometimes used for that word and is often used in a spiritual sense as transmute could not be. BG transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12-2. Transfigure is, as in its scriptural use, to change in an exalted and glorious spiritual way. Jesus was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light. Matthew 17-1-2. To metamorphose is to make some remarkable change ordinarily in external qualities but often in structure, use or chemical constitution as of a caterpillar into a butterfly of the statements of a plant into petals. Or of the crystalline structure of rocks, hence called metamorphic rocks as when limestone is metamorphosed into a marble. To body is to change from time to time, often capriciously. To commute is to put something easier, lighter, milder or in some way more favorable in place of that which is commuted as to commute capital punishment to imprisonment for life. To commute daily fares on a railway to a monthly payment. To convert Latin con with and burto turn is to primarily turn about and signifies to change in form, character, use etc. through a wide range of relations. Iron is converted into steel, joy into grief, a sinner into a saint. To turn is a popular word for change in any sense short of the meaning of exchange, being often equivalent to alter, convert, transform, transmute etc. We modify or qualify a statement which might seem too strong. We modify it by some limitation, qualify it by some addition. Antonyms abide, bide, continue, endure, hold, keep, persist, remain, retain, stay. Prepositions. To change a home toilet for a street dress. To change from a caterpillar to or into a butterfly. To change clothes with a beggar. Change, noun, synonyms, alteration, conversion, diversity, innovation, mutation, novelty, regeneration, renewal, renewing, revolution, transformation, transition, transmutation, variation, variety, business attitude. A change is a passing from one state or form to another, any act or process by which a thing becomes unlike what it was before or the unlikeness or so produced. We say a change was taking place or the change that had taken place was manifest. Mutation is a more formal word for change, often suggested repeated or continual change as the mutation of fortune. Nobility is a change to what is new or the newness of that of which a change is made, as it was perpetually desires of novelty. Revolution is specifically and most commonly a change of government. Variation is a partial change in form, qualities, etc., but especially in position or action, as the variation of the magnetic needle or of the pulse. Variety is a succession of changes or an intermixture of different things and is always thought of as agreeable. Business attitude is sharp, sudden or violent change, always thought of as surprising and often as disturbing or distressing, as the business attitudes of politics. Transition is changed by passing from one place or a state to another, especially in a natural, regular or orderly way, as the transition from spring to summer or from youth to mind-hood. An innovation is a change that breaks in upon and establish order or custom, as an innovation in religion or politics. For the distinctions between the other words, compare these inner names for change, verb. In the religious sense, regeneration is the vital renewing of the soul by the power of the divine spirit. Conversion is the conscious and manifest change from evil to good, or from a lower to a higher spiritual state, as in Luke 22 32. When do art converted, strengthen thy brethren. In popular use, conversion is the most common word to express the idea of regeneration. Antonyms Constancy Continuance Fromness Fixedness Fixity Identity Embarability Permanence Persistence Stateness Unchangeableness Uniformity Propositions We have made a change for the better, the change from winter to spring, the change of a liquid or into a gas, a change in quality, a change by absorption or oxidation. End of section 16