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

hire;" but this sense is archaic, and hire now implies that the one hired works directly and primarily for the pay, as expressed in the noun "hireling;" a Pastor is properly said to be called, or when the business side[148] of the transaction is referred to, engaged, or possibly employed, at a certain salary. Prepositions:

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

END, v. Synonyms: break off, close, conclude, expire, quit, terminate, cease, complete, desist, finish, stop, wind up.

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

Antonyms:

See synonyms for BEGIN.

END, n. Synonyms: accomplishment, effect, limit, achievement, expiration, outcome, bound, extent, period, boundary, extremity, point, cessation, finale, purpose, close, finis, result, completion, finish, termination, conclusion, fulfilment, terminus, consequence, goal, tip, consummation, intent, utmost, design, issue, uttermost.

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

Antonyms:

See synonyms for BEGINNING.

ENDEAVOR, v. Synonyms: attempt, essay, strive, try, undertake.

To attempt is to take action somewhat experimentally with the hope and purpose of accomplishing a certain result; to endeavor is to attempt strenuously and with firm and enduring purpose. To attempt expresses a single act; to endeavor, a continuous exertion; we say I will endeavor (not I will attempt) while I live. To attempt is with the view of accomplishing; to essay, with a view of testing our own powers. To undertake is to accept or take upon oneself as an obligation, as some business, labor, or trust; the word often implies complete assurance of success; as,[150] I will undertake to produce the witness. To strive suggests little of the result, much of toil, strain, and contest, in seeking it; I will strive to fulfil your wishes, i. e., I will spare no labor and exertion to do it. Try is the most comprehensive of these words. The original idea of testing or experimenting is not thought of when a man says "I will try." To attempt suggests giving up, if the thing is not accomplished at a stroke; to try implies using other means and studying out other ways if not at first successful. Endeavor is more mild and formal; the pilot in the burning pilot-house does not say "I will endeavor" or "I will attempt to hold the ship to her course," but "I'll try, sir!"

Antonyms: abandon, give up, omit, throw away, dismiss, let go, overlook, throw over, drop, neglect, pass by, throw up. ENDEAVOR, n. Synonyms: attempt, effort, essay, exertion, struggle, trial.

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

ENDURE. Synonyms: abide, bear, brook, submit to, sustain, afford, bear up under, permit, suffer, tolerate, allow, bear with, put up with, support, undergo.

Bear is the most general of these words; it is metaphorically to hold up or keep up a burden of care, pain, grief, annoyance, or the like, without sinking, lamenting, or repining. Allow and permit involve large concession of the will; put up with and tolerate imply decided aversion and reluctant withholding of opposition or[151] interference; whispering is allowed by the school-teacher who does not forbid nor censure it; one puts up with the presence of a disagreeable visitor; a state tolerates a religion which it would be glad to suppress. To endure is to bear with strain and resistance, but with conscious power; endure conveys a fuller suggestion of contest and conquest than bear. One may choose to endure the pain of a surgical operation rather than take anesthetics; he permits the thing to come which he must brace himself to endure when it comes. To afford is to be equal to a pecuniary demand, i. e., to be able to bear it. To brook is quietly to put up with provocation or insult. Abide combines the senses of await and endure; as, I will abide the result. Compare ABIDE; SUPPORT.

Antonyms: break, despair, fail, fall, give out, sink, surrender, break down, droop, faint, falter, give up, succumb, yield. ENEMY. Synonyms: adversary, antagonist, competitor, foe, opponent, rival.

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

Antonyms: abettor, accessory, accomplice, ally, friend, helper, supporter. Prepositions:

He was the enemy of my friend in the contest.

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ENMITY. Synonyms: acrimony, bitterness, ill will, malignity, animosity, hatred, malevolence, rancor, antagonism, hostility, malice, spite.

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

Antonyms: agreement, amity, friendship, kindliness, regard, alliance, concord, harmony, kindness, sympathy. ENTERTAIN. Synonyms: amuse, cheer, disport, enliven, interest, please, beguile, delight, divert, gratify, occupy, recreate.

To entertain, in the sense here considered, is to engage and pleasantly occupy the attention; to amuse is to occupy the attention in an especially bright and cheerful way, often with that which excites merriment or laughter; as, he entertained us with an amusing story. To divert is to turn from serious thoughts or laborious pursuits to something that lightly and agreeably occupies the mind; one may be entertained or amused who has nothing serious or laborious from which to be diverted. To recreate, literally to re-create, is to engage mind or body in some pleasing activity that restores strength and energy for serious work. To beguile is, as it were, to cheat into cheer and comfort by something that insensibly draws thought or feeling away from pain or disquiet. We beguile a weary hour, cheer the despondent, divert the preoccupied, enliven a dull evening or company, gratify our[153] friends' wishes, entertain, interest, please a listening audience, occupy idle time, disport ourselves when merry, recreate when worn with toil; we amuse ourselves or others with whatever pleasantly passes the time without special exertion, each according to his taste.

Antonyms: annoy, bore, busy, disquiet, distract, disturb, tire, weary. ENTERTAINMENT. Synonyms: amusement, diversion, fun, pleasure, cheer, enjoyment, merriment, recreation, delight, frolic, pastime, sport.

Entertainment and recreation imply thought and mental occupation, tho in an agreeable, refreshing way; they are therefore words of a high order. Entertainment, apart from its special senses of a public performance or a social party, and predominantly even there, is used of somewhat mirthful mental delight; recreation may, and usually does, combine the mental with the physical. Amusement and pastime are nearly equivalent, the latter probably the lighter word; many slight things may be pastimes which we should hardly dignify by the name of amusements. Sports are almost wholly on the physical plane, tho