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

In the moral[83] sense, we speak of a blot or stain upon reputation; a flaw 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; thus 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, concussion, disaster, misfortune, stripe, buffet, cuff, knock, rap, stroke, calamity, cut, lash, shock, thump.

A blow is a sudden impact, as of a fist or a club; a stroke is a sweeping movement; as, the stroke of a sword, of an oar, of the arm in swimming. A shock is the sudden encounter with some heavy body; as, colliding railway-trains meet with a shock; the shock of battle. A slap is given with the open hand, a lash with a whip, thong, 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 sidelong 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; stroke for sweeping disaster, and also for sweeping achievement and success. We say a stroke of paralysis, or a stroke of genius. We speak of the buffets 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 amputation, a shock of surprise. Compare BEAT.

BLUFF. Synonyms: abrupt, brusk, impolite, rough, blunt, coarse, inconsiderate, rude, blustering, discourteous, open, uncivil, bold, frank, plain-spoken, unmannerly.

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 pleases with fearless 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 defiant indifference to others' feelings, or from the pleasure of tormenting.

Antonyms: bland, courteous, genial, polished, polite, refined, reserved, urbane.

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BODY. Synonyms: ashes, clay, dust, frame, system, carcass, corpse, form, remains, 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 be either dead or living; clay and dust are sometimes so used in religious or poetic style, tho 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, two.

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, confines, limit, margin, border, edge, line, term, bound, enclosure, marches, termination, bourn, frontier, marge, verge. bourne, landmark,

The boundary was originally the landmark, that which marked off one piece of territory from another. The bound is the[85] 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. A barrier may be a boundary, as was the Great Wall of China. Bourn, or bourne, 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, courageous, fearless, undaunted, bold, daring, gallant, undismayed, chivalric, dauntless, heroic, valiant, chivalrous, doughty, intrepid, 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 doughty 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[86] 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, cringing, fearful, pusillanimous, timid, cowardly, faint-hearted, frightened, shrinking, timorous. BREAK. Synonyms: bankrupt, crack, destroy, rive, shatter, split, burst, crush, fracture, rupture, shiver, sunder, cashier, demolish, rend, sever, smash, 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 egg-shell. 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, tho 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 can not 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.

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BRUTISH. Synonyms: animal, brutal, ignorant, sensual, swinish, base, brute, imbruted, sottish, unintellectual, beastly, carnal, insensible, stolid, unspiritual, bestial, coarse, lascivious, stupid, 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. Brute 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, brute 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. Bestial, 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, exalted, great, intellectual, noble, enlightened, grand, humane, intelligent, refined. BURN. Synonyms: blaze, char, flame, incinerate, set fire to, brand, consume, flash, kindle, set on fire, cauterize, cremate, ignite, scorch, 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, as 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 a 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.

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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, commerce, handicraft, trading, art, concern, job, traffic, avocation, craft, occupation, transaction, barter, duty, profession, vocation, calling, employment, trade, work.

A business is what one follows regularly; an 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 ardor. 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 labor; 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