English Synonyms and Antonyms - James Champlin Fernald (christmas read aloud TXT) 📗

work than the artisan, but less of the idealizing, creative power than the artist. The sculptor, shaping his model in clay, is artificer, as well as 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 hod-carrier is a laborer; the bricklayer is a mechanic; the master mason is an artificer. Those who operate machinery nearly self-acting are operatives. ASK. Synonyms: beg, crave, entreat, petition, request, solicit, beseech, demand, implore, pray, require, supplicate.

One asks what he feels that he may fairly claim and reasonably expect; "if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father," Luke xi, 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 to which he has no claim but power. Require is less arrogant and obtrusive than demand, but is exceedingly strenuous; as, the court requires the attendance of witnesses. Entreat implies a special earnestness of asking, and beseech, a still added and more humble intensity; beseech was formerly often used as a polite intensive for beg or pray; as, I beseech you to tell me. To implore is to ask with weeping and lamentation; to supplicate is to ask, as it were, on bended knees. Crave and request are somewhat formal terms; crave has almost disappeared from conversation; request would seem distant between parent and child. Pray is now used chiefly of address to the Supreme Being; petition is used 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.

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Prepositions:

Ask a person for a thing; ask a thing of or from a person; ask after or about one's health, welfare, friends, etc.

ASSOCIATE. Synonyms: accomplice, coadjutor, comrade, fellow, mate, ally, colleague, confederate, friend, partner, chum, companion, consort, helpmate, 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 evil sense, as also does comrade. One may be a companion in travel 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 jury of his peers. Comrade expresses more fellowship and good feeling than companion. Fellow has almost gone out of use in this connection, except in an inferior or patronizing sense. Consort is a word of equality and dignity, as applied especially to the marriage relation. Compare ACCESSORY; ACQUAINTANCE; FRIENDSHIP.

Antonyms: antagonist, enemy, foe, hinderer, opponent, opposer, rival, stranger. Prepositions:

These were the associates of the leader in the enterprise.

ASSOCIATION. Synonyms: alliance, confederacy, familiarity, lodge, club, confederation, federation, participation, community, conjunction, fellowship, partnership, companionship, connection, fraternity, society, company, corporation, friendship, 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 business men, a conjunction of planets. The whole body of Freemasons constitute a fraternity; one of their local organizations is called a lodge. A corporation or company is formed for[61] purposes of business; an association or society (tho also incorporated) is for learning, literature, benevolence, religion, etc. Compare ASSOCIATE; ACQUAINTANCE; FRIENDSHIP.

Antonyms: disintegration, independence, isolation, separation, solitude. Prepositions:

An association of scholars for the advancement of knowledge; association with the good is ennobling.

ASSUME. Synonyms: accept, arrogate, postulate, put on, affect, claim, presume, take, appropriate, feign, pretend, 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 arrogate or usurp it. A man may usurp the substance of power in the most unpretending way; what he arrogates to himself he assumes with a haughty 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 feign, or to pretend to, the character he thus assumes. What a debater postulates he openly states and takes for granted without proof; what he assumes he may take for granted without mention. A favorite trick of the sophist is quietly to assume as true what would at once be challenged if expressly stated. What a man claims he asserts his right to take; what he assumes he takes.

ASSURANCE. Synonyms: arrogance, boldness, impudence, self-confidence, assertion, confidence, presumption, self-reliance, assumption, effrontery, self-assertion, trust.

Assurance may have the good sense of a high, sustained confidence and trust; as, the saint's 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 others; the hardened criminal is[62] 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 its etymology) a shameless boldness. Assurance is in act or manner; impudence may be in speech. Effrontery is impudence defiantly displayed. Compare FAITH; PRIDE.

Antonyms: bashfulness, consternation, distrust, hesitancy, shyness, confusion, dismay, doubt, misgiving, timidity. ASTUTE. Synonyms: acute, discerning, penetrating, sharp, clear-sighted, discriminating, penetrative, shrewd, crafty, keen, perspicacious, subtile, cunning, knowing, sagacious, subtle.

Acute, from the Latin, suggests the sharpness of the needle's point; keen, 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 keen with that of sagacious. The astute mind adds to acuteness and keenness an element of cunning or finesse. The astute debater leads his opponents into a snare by getting them to make admissions, or urge arguments, of which he sees a result that they do not perceive. The acute, keen intellect may 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 shrewdness, 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 invidious sense. We speak of a knowing rascal, meaning cunning or shrewd within a narrow range, but of a knowing horse or dog, in the sense of sagacious, implying that he knows more than could be expected of such an animal. A knowing child has more knowledge than would be looked for at his years, perhaps more than is quite desirable, while to speak of a child as intelligent is altogether complimentary.

Antonyms: blind, idiotic, shallow, stolid, undiscerning, dull, imbecile, short-sighted, stupid, unintelligent.

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ATTACHMENT. Synonyms: adherence, devotion, friendship, regard, adhesion, esteem, inclination, tenderness, affection, estimation, love, union.

An attachment is a feeling that binds a person by ties of heart to another person or thing; we speak of a man's adherence to his purpose, his adhesion to his party, or to anything to which he clings tenaciously, tho with no special tenderness; of his attachment to his church, to the old homestead, or to any persons or objects that he may hold dear. Affection expresses more warmth of 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, yielded to or overcome; as, an inclination to study; an inclination to 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, aversion, distance, estrangement, repugnance, animosity, coolness, divorce, indifference, separation, antipathy, dislike, enmity, opposition, 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, v. Synonyms: assail, beset, combat, invade, assault, besiege, encounter, set upon, beleaguer, charge, fall upon, 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 hurling his troops directly upon its defenses. Assail and assault, tho of the same original etymology, have diverged in meaning, so that assault alone retains the meaning of direct personal violence. One may assail another with reproaches; he assaults him with a blow, a brandished weapon, etc. Armies or squadrons charge; combat and encounter may be said of individual contests. To beset is to set around, or, so to speak, to stud one's path, with menaces, attacks, or persuasions. To besiege and beleaguer are[64] the acts of armies. To encounter is to meet face to face, and may be said either of the attacking or of the resisting force or person, or of both.

Antonyms: aid, cover, protect, shelter, support, uphold, befriend, defend, resist, shield, sustain, withstand. Prepositions:

We were attacked by the enemy with cannon and musketry.

ATTACK, n. Synonyms: aggression, incursion, invasion, onslaught, assault, infringement, onset, trespass. encroachment, intrusion,

An attack may be by word; an aggression is always by deed. An assault may be upon the person, an aggression is upon rights, possessions, etc. An invasion of a nation's territories is an act of aggression; an intrusion upon a neighboring estate is a trespass. Onslaught signifies intensely violent assault, as by an army or a desperado, tho it is sometimes used of violent speech.

Antonyms: defense, repulsion, resistance, retreat, submission, surrender. Prepositions:

The enemy made an attack upon (or on) our works.

ATTAIN. Synonyms: accomplish, arrive at, gain, master, reach, achieve, compass, get, obtain, secure, acquire, earn, grasp, procure, 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 honor or learning as the result of strenuous and earnest labor. Even that usage of attain which has been thought to refer to mere progress of time 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 labor, 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, miss.

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ATTITUDE. Synonyms: pose, position, posture.

Position as applied to the arrangement or situation of the human body or limbs may denote that which is conscious or unconscious, of the living or the dead; but we do not speak of the attitude, pose, or posture of a corpse; unless, in some rare case, we might say the body was found in a sitting posture, where the posture is thought of as assumed in life, or as, at