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

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">ABOMINATION; ANGER; ANTIPATHY; ENMITY. Antonyms:

See synonyms for FRIENDSHIP; LOVE.

HAVE. Synonyms: be in possession of, hold, occupy, own, possess. be possessed of,

Have is the most general word, and is applied to whatever belongs to or is connected with one; a man has a head or a head-ache, a fortune or an opinion, a friend or an enemy; he has time, or has need; he may be said to have what is his own, what he has borrowed, what has been entrusted to him, or what he has stolen. To possess a thing is to have the ownership with control and enjoyment of it. To hold is to have in one's hand, or securely in one's control; a man holds his friend's coat for a moment, or he holds a struggling horse; he holds a promissory note, or holds an office. To own is to have the right of property in; to possess is to have that right in actual exercise; to occupy is to have possession and use, with some degree of permanency, with or without ownership. A man occupies his own house or a room in a hotel; a man may own a farm of which he is not in possession because a tenant occupies it and is determined to hold it; the proprietor owns the property, but the tenant is in possession. To be in possession differs from possess in that to possess denotes both right and fact, while to be in possession denotes simply the fact with no affirmation as to the right. To have reason is to be endowed with the faculty; to be in possession of one's reason denotes that the faculty is in actual present exercise.

HAZARD. Synonyms: accident, chance, danger, jeopardy, risk, casualty, contingency, fortuity, peril, venture.

Hazard is the incurring the possibility of loss or harm for the possibility of benefit; danger may have no compensating alternative. In hazard the possibilities of gain or loss are nearly balanced; in risk the possibility of loss is the chief thought; the foolhardy take great risks in mere wantonness; in chance and venture[195] the hope of good predominates; we speak of a merchant's venture, but of an insurance company's risk; one may be driven by circumstances to run a risk; he freely seeks a venture; we speak of the chance of winning, the hazard or risk of losing. Accidents are incalculable; casualties may be to a certain extent anticipated; death and wounds are casualties of battle, certain to happen to some, but uncertain as to whom or how many. A contingency is simply an indeterminable future event, which may or may not be attended with danger or risk. See ACCIDENT; DANGER.

Antonyms: assurance, necessity, protection, safety, surety. certainty, plan, safeguard, security, HEALTHY. Synonyms: hale, hygienic, sanitary, vigorous, healthful, salubrious, sound, well, hearty, salutary, strong, wholesome.

Healthy is most correctly used to signify possessing or enjoying health or its results; as, a healthy person; a healthy condition. Healthful signifies promotive of health, tending or adapted to confer, preserve, or promote health; as, a healthful climate. Wholesome food in a healthful climate makes a healthy man. With healthful are ranged the words hygienic, salubrious, salutary, sanitary, and wholesome, while the other words are associated with healthy. Salubrious is always used in the physical sense, and is chiefly applied to air or climate. Salutary is now chiefly used in the moral sense; as, a salutary lesson.

Antonyms: delicate, failing, ill, unsound, worn, diseased, fainting, sick, wasted, worn down, emaciated, fragile, unhealthy, weak, worn out. exhausted, frail, HELP. Synonyms: abet, befriend, foster, succor, uphold. aid, cooperate, second, support, assist, encourage, stand by, sustain,

Help expresses greater dependence and deeper need than aid. In extremity we say "God help me!" rather than "God aid me!" In time of danger we cry "help! help!" rather than "aid! aid!" To aid is to second another's own exertions. We can speak of helping the helpless, but not of aiding them. Help includes aid, but aid may fall short of the meaning of help. In law to aid or abet makes one a principal. (Compare synonyms for ACCESSORY.)[196] To cooperate is to aid as an equal; to assist implies a subordinate and secondary relation. One assists a fallen friend to rise; he cooperates with him in helping others. Encourage refers to mental aid, as uphold now usually does; succor and support, oftenest to material assistance. We encourage the timid or despondent, succor the endangered, support the weak, uphold those who else might be shaken or cast down. Compare ABET; PROMOTE.

Antonyms: counteract, discourage, oppose, resist, thwart, withstand. Prepositions:

Help in an enterprise with money; help to success; against the enemy.

HERETIC. Synonyms: dissenter, heresiarch, non-conformist, schismatic.

Etymologically, a heretic is one who takes or chooses his own belief, instead of the belief of his church; hence, a heretic is one who denies commonly accepted views, or who holds opinions contrary to the recognized standard or tenets of any established religious, philosophical, or other system, school, or party; the religious sense of the word is the predominant one; a schismatic is primarily one who produces a split or rent in the church. A heretic differs in doctrine from the religious body with which he is connected; a schismatic differs in doctrine or practise, or in both. A heretic may be reticent, or even silent; a schismatic introduces divisions. A heresiarch is the author of a heresy or the leader of a heretical party, and is thus at once a heretic and a schismatic. With advancing ideas of religious liberty, the odious sense once attached to these words is largely modified, and heretic is often used playfully. Dissenter and non-conformist are terms specifically applied to English subjects who hold themselves aloof from the Church of England; the former term is extended to non-adherents of the established church in some other countries, as Russia.

HETEROGENEOUS. Synonyms: confused, mingled, unhomogeneous, conglomerate, miscellaneous, unlike, discordant, mixed, variant, dissimilar, non-homogeneous, various.

Substances quite unlike are heterogeneous as regards each other. A heterogeneous mixture is one whose constituents are not only[197] unlike in kind, but unevenly distributed; cement is composed of substances such as lime, sand, and clay, which are heterogeneous as regards each other, but the cement is said to be homogeneous if the different constituents are evenly mixed throughout, so that any one portion of the mixture is exactly like any other. A substance may fail of being homogeneous and yet not be heterogeneous, in which case it is said to be non-homogeneous or unhomogeneous; a bar of iron that contains flaws, air-bubbles, etc., or for any other reason is not of uniform structure and density throughout, tho no foreign substance be mixed with the iron, is said to be non-homogeneous. A miscellaneous mixture may or may not be heterogeneous; if the objects are alike in kind, but different in size, form, quality, use, etc., and without special order or relation, the collection is miscellaneous; if the objects differ in kind, such a mixture is also, and more strictly, heterogeneous; a pile of unassorted lumber is miscellaneous; the contents of a school-boy's pocket are commonly miscellaneous and might usually be termed heterogeneous as well. See COMPLEX.

Antonyms: alike, homogeneous, identical, like, pure, same, similar, uniform. HIDE. Synonyms: bury, cover, entomb, overwhelm, suppress, cloak, disguise, inter, screen, veil. conceal, dissemble, mask, secrete.

Hide is the general term, including all the rest, signifying to put out of sight or beyond ready observation or approach; a thing may be hidden by intention, by accident, or by the imperfection of the faculties of the one from whom it is hidden; in their games, children hide the slipper, or hide themselves from each other; a man unconsciously hides a picture from another by standing before it, or hides a thing from himself by laying something else over it. Even an unconscious object may hide another; as, a cloud hides the sun, or a building hides some part of the prospect by intervening between it and the observer's position. As an act of persons, to conceal is always intentional; one may hide his face in anger, grief, or abstraction; he conceals his face when he fears recognition. A house is hidden by foliage; the bird's nest is artfully concealed. Secrete is a stronger word than conceal, and is used chiefly of such material objects as may be separated from the person, or from their ordinary surroundings,[198] and put in unlooked-for places; a man conceals a scar on his face, but does not secrete it; a thief secretes stolen goods; an officer may also be said to secrete himself to watch the thief. A thing is covered by putting something over or around it, whether by accident or design; it is screened by putting something before it, always with some purpose of protection from observation, inconvenience, attack, censure, etc. In the figurative use, a person may hide honorable feelings; he conceals an evil or hostile intent. Anything which is effectually covered and hidden under any mass or accumulation is buried. Money is buried in the ground; a body is buried in the sea; a paper is buried under other documents. Whatever is buried is hidden or concealed; but there are many ways of hiding or concealing a thing without burying it. So a person may be covered with wraps, and not buried under them. Bury may be used of any object, entomb and inter only of a dead body. Figuratively, one may be said to be buried in business, in study, etc. Compare IMMERSE; PALLIATE.

Antonyms: admit, disclose, exhume, manifest, show, advertise, discover, expose, promulgate, tell, avow, disinter, lay bare, publish, uncover, betray, divulge, lay open, raise, unmask, confess, exhibit, make known, reveal, unveil. HIGH. Synonyms: elevated, exalted, noble, steep, towering, eminent, lofty, proud, tall, uplifted.

Deep, while an antonym of high in usage, may apply to the very same distance simply measured in an opposite direction, high applying to vertical distance measured from below upward, and deep to vertical distance measured from above downward; as, a deep valley nestling between high mountains. High is a relative term signifying greatly raised above any object, base, or surface, in comparison with what is usual, or with some standard; a table is high if it exceeds thirty inches; a hill is not high at a hundred feet. That is tall whose height is greatly in excess of its breadth or diameter, and whose actual height is great for an object of its kind; as, a tall tree; a tall man; tall grass. That is lofty which is imposing or majestic in height; we term a spire tall with reference to its altitude, or lofty with reference to its majestic appearance. That is elevated which is raised somewhat above its surroundings; that is eminent which is far above them; as, an elevated[199] platform; an eminent promontory. In the figurative sense, elevated is less than eminent, and this less than exalted; we speak of high, lofty, or elevated thoughts, aims, etc., in the good sense, but sometimes of high feelings, looks, words, etc., in the invidious sense of haughty or arrogant. A high ambition may be merely selfish; a lofty ambition is worthy and noble. Towering, in the literal sense compares with lofty and majestic; but in the figurative sense, its use is almost always invidious; as, a towering passion; a towering ambition disregards and crushes all opposing considerations, however rational, lovely, or holy. Compare STEEP.

Antonyms: base, deep, degraded, depressed, dwarfed, inferior, low, mean, short, stunted. HINDER. Synonyms: baffle, clog, foil, obstruct, retard, balk, counteract, frustrate, oppose, stay, bar, delay, hamper, prevent, stop, block, embarrass, impede, resist, thwart. check, encumber, interrupt,

To hinder is to keep from action, progress, motion, or growth, or to make such action, progress, motion, or growth later in beginning or completion than it would otherwise have been. An action is prevented by anything that comes in before it to make it impossible; it is hindered by anything that keeps it from either beginning or ending so soon as it otherwise would, or as expected or intended. It is more common, however, to say that the start is delayed, the progress hindered. An action that is hindered does not take