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

[A] In philosophic sense.

ACTIVE. Synonyms: agile, energetic, officious, sprightly, alert, expeditious, prompt, spry, brisk, industrious, quick, supple, bustling, lively, ready, vigorous, busy, mobile, restless, wide awake. diligent, nimble,

Active refers to both quickness and constancy of action; in the former sense it is allied with agile, alert, brisk, etc.; in the latter, with busy, diligent, industrious. The active love employment, the busy are actually employed, the diligent and the industrious are habitually busy. The restless are active from inability to keep quiet; their activity may be without purpose, or out of all proportion to the purpose contemplated. The officious are undesirably active in the affairs of others. Compare ALERT; ALIVE; MEDDLESOME.

Antonyms: dull, inactive, lazy, slow, heavy, indolent, quiescent, sluggish, idle, inert, quiet, stupid. Prepositions:

Active in work, in a cause; for an object, as for justice; with persons or instrumentalities; about something, as about other people's business.

[18]

ACUMEN. Synonyms: acuteness, insight, perspicacity, sharpness, cleverness, keenness, sagacity, shrewdness. discernment, penetration,

Sharpness, acuteness, and insight, however keen, and penetration, however deep, fall short of the meaning of acumen, which implies also ability to use these qualities to advantage. There are persons of keen insight and great penetration to whom these powers are practically useless. Acumen is sharpness to some purpose, and belongs to a mind that is comprehensive as well as keen. Cleverness is a practical aptitude for study or learning. Insight and discernment are applied oftenest to the judgment of character; penetration and perspicacity to other subjects of knowledge. Sagacity is an uncultured skill in using quick perceptions for a desired end, generally in practical affairs; acumen may increase with study, and applies to the most erudite matters. Shrewdness is keenness or sagacity, often with a somewhat evil bias, as ready to take advantage of duller intellects. Perspicacity is the power to see clearly through that which is difficult or involved. We speak of the acuteness of an observer or a reasoner, the insight and discernment of a student, a clergyman, or a merchant, the sagacity of a hound, the keenness of a debater, the shrewdness of a usurer, the penetration, perspicacity, and acumen of a philosopher.

Antonyms: bluntness, dulness, obtuseness, stupidity. ADD. Synonyms: adjoin, annex, augment, extend, make up, affix, append, cast up, increase, subjoin, amplify, attach, enlarge, join on, sum up.

To add is to increase by adjoining or uniting: in distinction from multiply, which is to increase by repeating. To augment a thing is to increase it by any means, but this word is seldom used directly of material objects; we do not augment a house, a farm, a nation, etc. We may enlarge a house, a farm, or an empire, extend influence or dominion, augment riches, power or influence, attach or annex a building to one that it adjoins or papers to the document they refer to, annex a clause or a codicil, affix a seal or a signature, annex a territory, attach a condition to a promise. A speaker may amplify a discourse by a fuller treatment[19] throughout than was originally planned, or he may append or subjoin certain remarks without change of what has gone before. We cast up or sum up an account, though add up and make up are now more usual expressions.

Antonyms: abstract, diminish, lessen, remove, withdraw. deduct, dissever, reduce, subtract, Preposition:

Other items are to be added to the account.

ADDICTED. Synonyms: abandoned, devoted, given over, inclined, accustomed, disposed, given up, prone, attached, given, habituated, wedded.

One is addicted to that which he has allowed to gain a strong, habitual, and enduring hold upon action, inclination, or involuntary tendency, as to a habit or indulgence. A man may be accustomed to labor, attached to his profession, devoted to his religion, given to study or to gluttony (in the bad sense, given over, or given up, is a stronger and more hopeless expression, as is abandoned). One inclined to luxury may become habituated to poverty. One is wedded to that which has become a second nature; as, one is wedded to science or to art. Prone is used only in a bad sense, and generally of natural tendencies; as, our hearts are prone to evil. Abandoned tells of the acquired viciousness of one who has given himself up to wickedness. Addicted may be used in a good, but more frequently a bad sense; as, addicted to study; addicted to drink. Devoted is used chiefly in the good sense; as, a mother's devoted affection.

Antonyms: averse, disinclined, indisposed, unaccustomed. Preposition:

Addicted to vice.

ADDRESS, v. Synonyms: cost, approach, hail, speak to, apostrophize, court, salute, woo. appeal, greet,

To accost is to speak first, to friend or stranger, generally with a view to opening conversation; greet is not so distinctly limited, since one may return another's greeting; greet and hail may imply but a passing word; greeting may be altogether silent; to hail is to greet in a loud-voiced and commonly hearty and joyous[20] way, as appears in the expression "hail fellow, well met." To salute is to greet with special token of respect, as a soldier his commander. To apostrophize is to solemnly address some person or personified attribute apart from the audience to whom one is speaking; as, a preacher may apostrophize virtue, the saints of old, or even the Deity. To appeal is strictly to call for some form of help or support. Address is slightly more formal than accost or greet, though it may often be interchanged with them. One may address another at considerable length or in writing; he accosts orally and briefly.

Antonyms: avoid, elude, overlook, pass by, cut, ignore, pass, shun. Prepositions:

Address the memorial to the legislature; the president addressed the people in an eloquent speech; he addressed an intruder with indignation.

ADDRESS, n. Synonyms: adroitness, discretion, manners, readiness, courtesy, ingenuity, politeness, tact. dexterity,

Address is that indefinable something which enables a man to gain his object without seeming exertion or contest, and generally with the favor and approval of those with whom he deals. It is a general power to direct to the matter in hand whatever qualities are most needed for it at the moment. It includes adroitness and discretion to know what to do or say and what to avoid; ingenuity to devise; readiness to speak or act; the dexterity that comes of practise; and tact, which is the power of fine touch as applied to human character and feeling. Courtesy and politeness are indispensable elements of good address. Compare SPEECH.

Antonyms: awkwardness, clumsiness, ill-breeding, stupidity, boorishness, fatuity, ill manners, unmannerliness, clownishness, folly, rudeness, unwisdom. Prepositions:

Address in dealing with opponents; the address of an accomplished intriguer; an address to the audience.

[21]

ADEQUATE. Synonyms: able, competent, fitted, satisfactory, adapted, equal, fitting, sufficient, capable, fit, qualified, suitable. commensurate,

Adequate, commensurate, and sufficient signify equal to some given occasion or work; as, a sum sufficient to meet expenses; an adequate remedy for the disease. Commensurate is the more precise and learned word, signifying that which exactly measures the matter in question. Adapted, fit, suitable, and qualified refer to the qualities which match or suit the occasion. A clergyman may have strength adequate to the work of a porter; but that would not be a fit or suitable occupation for him. Work is satisfactory if it satisfies those for whom it is done, though it may be very poor work judged by some higher standard. Qualified refers to acquired abilities; competent to both natural and acquired; a qualified teacher may be no longer competent, by reason of ill health. Able and capable suggest general ability and reserved power, able being the higher word of the two. An able man will do something well in any position. A capable man will come up to any ordinary demand. We say an able orator, a capable accountant.

Antonyms: disqualified, inferior, unequal, unsatisfactory, useless, inadequate, insufficient, unfit, unsuitable, worthless. incompetent, poor, unqualified, Prepositions:

Adequate to the demand; for the purpose.

ADHERENT. Synonyms: aid, ally, disciple, partisan, supporter. aider, backer, follower,

An adherent is one who is devoted or attached to a person, party, principle, cause, creed, or the like. One may be an aider and supporter of a party or church, while not an adherent to all its doctrines or claims. An ally is more independent still, as he may differ on every point except the specific ground of union. The Allies who overthrew Napoleon were united only against him. Allies are regarded as equals; adherents and disciples are followers. The adherent depends more on his individual judgment, the disciple is more subject to command and instruction; thus we say the disciples rather than the adherents of Christ. Partisan has[22] the narrow and odious sense of adhesion to a party, right or wrong. One may be an adherent or supporter of a party and not a partisan. Backer is a sporting and theatrical word, personal in its application, and not in the best usage. Compare ACCESSORY.

Antonyms: adversary, betrayer, enemy, opponent, traitor. antagonist, deserter, hater, renegade, Prepositions:

Adherents to principle; adherents of Luther.

ADHESIVE. Synonyms: cohesive, gummy, sticky, viscous. glutinous, sticking, viscid,

Adhesive is the scientific, sticking or sticky the popular word. That which is adhesive tends to join itself to the surface of any other body with which it is placed in contact; cohesive expresses the tendency of particles of the same substance to hold together. Polished plate glass is not adhesive, but such plates packed together are intensely cohesive. An adhesive plaster is in popular language a sticking-plaster. Sticky expresses a more limited, and generally annoying, degree of the same quality. Glutinous, gummy, viscid, and viscous are applied to fluid or semi-fluid substances, as pitch or tar.

Antonyms: free, inadhesive, loose, separable. Preposition:

The stiff, wet clay, adhesive to the foot, impeded progress.

ADJACENT. Synonyms: abutting, bordering, contiguous, neighboring, adjoining, close, coterminous, next, attached, conterminous, near, nigh. beside,

Adjacent farms may not be connected; if adjoining, they meet at the boundary-line. Conterminous would imply that their dimensions were exactly equal on the side where they adjoin. Contiguous may be used for either adjacent or adjoining. Abutting refers rather to the end of one building or estate than to the neighborhood of another. Buildings may be adjacent or adjoining that are not attached. Near is a relative word, places being called near upon the railroad which would elsewhere be deemed remote. Neighboring always implies such proximity that the inhabitants[23] may be neighbors. Next views some object as the nearest of several or many; next neighbor implies a neighborhood.

Antonyms: detached, disconnected, disjoined, distant, remote, separate. Preposition:

The farm was adjacent to the village.

ADMIRE. Synonyms: adore, delight in, extol, respect, venerate, applaud, enjoy, honor, revere, wonder. approve, esteem, love,

In the old sense of wonder, admire is practically obsolete; the word now expresses a delight and approval, in which the element of wonder unconsciously mingles. We admire beauty in nature and art, delight in the innocent happiness of children, enjoy books or society, a walk or a dinner. We approve what is excellent, applaud heroic deeds, esteem the good, love our friends. We honor and respect noble character wherever found; we revere and venerate it in the aged. We extol the goodness and adore the majesty and power of God.

Antonyms: abhor, contemn, detest, execrate, ridicule, abominate, despise, dislike, hate, scorn. Preposition:

Admire at