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

At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorned the venerable place.

Goldsmith Deserted Village, l. 178.

Antonyms: deface, deform, disfigure, mar, spoil. Preposition:

Adorn his temples with a coronet.

AFFRONT. Synonyms: aggravate, exasperate, offend, vex, annoy, insult, provoke, wound. displease, irritate, tease,

One may be annoyed by the well-meaning awkwardness of a servant, irritated by a tight shoe or a thoughtless remark, vexed at some careless neglect or needless misfortune, wounded by the ingratitude of child or friend. To tease is to give some slight and perhaps playful annoyance. Aggravate in the sense of offend is colloquial. To provoke, literally to call out or challenge, is to begin a contest; one provokes another to violence. To affront is to offer some defiant offense or indignity, as it were, to one's face; it is somewhat less than to insult. Compare PIQUE.

Antonyms: conciliate, content, gratify, honor, please. AGENT. Synonyms: actor, factor, means, operator, promoter. doer, instrument, mover, performer,

In strict philosophical usage, the prime mover or doer of an act is the agent. Thus we speak of man as a voluntary agent, a free agent. But in common usage, especially in business, an agent is not the prime actor, but only an instrument or factor, acting under orders or instructions. Compare CAUSE.

Antonyms: chief, inventor, originator, principal. Prepositions:

An agent of the company for selling, etc.

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AGREE. Synonyms: accede, admit, coincide, concur, accept, approve, combine, consent, accord, assent, comply, harmonize. acquiesce,

Agree is the most general term of this group, signifying to have like qualities, proportions, views, or inclinations, so as to be free from jar, conflict, or contradiction in a given relation. To concur is to agree in general; to coincide is to agree in every particular. Whether in application to persons or things, concur tends to expression in action more than coincide; we may either concur or coincide in an opinion, but concur in a decision; views coincide, causes concur. One accepts another's terms, complies with his wishes, admits his statement, approves his plan, conforms to his views of doctrine or duty, accedes or consents to his proposal. Accede expresses the more formal agreement, consent the more complete. To assent is an act of the understanding; to consent, of the will. We may concur or agree with others, either in opinion or decision. One may silently acquiesce in that which does not meet his views, but which he does not care to contest. He admits the charge brought, or the statement made, by another—admit always carrying a suggestion of reluctance. Assent is sometimes used for a mild form of consent, as if agreement in the opinion assured approval of the decision.

Antonyms: contend, demur, disagree, oppose, contradict, deny, dispute, protest, decline, differ, dissent, refuse. Prepositions:

I agree in opinion with the speaker; to the terms proposed; persons agree on or upon a statement of principles, rules, etc.; we must agree among ourselves.

AGRICULTURE. Synonyms: cultivation, gardening, kitchen-gardening, culture, horticulture, market-gardening, farming, husbandry, tillage. floriculture,

Agriculture is the generic term, including at once the science, the art, and the process of supplying human wants by raising the products of the soil, and by the associated industries; farming is the practise of agriculture as a business; there may be theoretical agriculture, but not theoretical farming; we speak of the science of agriculture, the business of farming; scientific agriculture[26] may be wholly in books; scientific farming is practised upon the land; we say an agricultural college rather than a college of farming. Farming refers to the cultivation of considerable portions of land, and the raising of the coarser crops; gardening is the close cultivation of a small area for small fruits, flowers, vegetables, etc., and while it may be done upon a farm is yet a distinct industry. Gardening in general, kitchen-gardening, the cultivation of vegetables, etc., for the household, market-gardening, the raising of the same for sale, floriculture, the culture of flowers, and horticulture, the culture of fruits, flowers, or vegetables, are all departments of agriculture, but not strictly nor ordinarily of farming; farming is itself one department of agriculture. Husbandry is a general word for any form of practical agriculture, but is now chiefly poetical. Tillage refers directly to the work bestowed upon the land, as plowing, manuring, etc.; cultivation refers especially to the processes that bring forward the crop; we speak of the tillage of the soil, the cultivation of corn; we also speak of land as in a state of cultivation, under cultivation, etc. Culture is now applied to the careful development of any product to a state of perfection, especially by care through successive generations; the choice varieties of the strawberry have been produced by wise and patient culture; a good crop in any year is the result of good cultivation.

AIM. Synonyms: aspiration, endeavor, intention, tendency. design, goal, mark, determination, inclination, object, end, intent, purpose,

The aim is the direction in which one shoots, or sometimes that which is aimed at. The mark is that at which one shoots; the goal, that toward which one runs. All alike indicate the direction of endeavor. The end is the point at which one expects or hopes to close his labors; the object, that which he would grasp as the reward of his labors. Aspiration, design, endeavor, purpose, referring to the mental acts by which the aim is attained, are often used as interchangeable with aim. Aspiration applies to what are viewed as noble aims; endeavor, design, intention, purpose, indifferently to the best or worst. Aspiration has less of decision than the other terms; one may aspire to an object, and yet lack the fixedness of purpose by which alone it can be attained. Purpose is stronger than intention. Design especially denotes the[27] adaptation of means to an end; endeavor refers to the exertions by which it is to be attained. One whose aims are worthy, whose aspirations are high, whose designs are wise, and whose purposes are steadfast, may hope to reach the goal of his ambition, and will surely win some object worthy of a life's endeavor. Compare AMBITION; DESIGN.

Antonyms: aimlessness, heedlessness, negligence, purposelessness, avoidance, neglect, oversight, thoughtlessness. carelessness, AIR. Synonyms: appearance, demeanor, manner, sort, bearing, expression, mien, style, behavior, fashion, port, way. carriage, look,

Air is that combination of qualities which makes the entire impression we receive in a person's presence; as, we say he has the air of a scholar, or the air of a villain. Appearance refers more to the dress and other externals. We might say of a travel-soiled pedestrian, he has the appearance of a tramp, but the air of a gentleman. Expression and look especially refer to the face. Expression is oftenest applied to that which is habitual; as, he has a pleasant expression of countenance; look may be momentary; as, a look of dismay passed over his face. We may, however, speak of the look or looks as indicating all that we look at; as, he had the look of an adventurer; I did not like his looks. Bearing is rather a lofty word; as, he has a noble bearing; port is practically identical in meaning with bearing, but is more exclusively a literary word. Carriage, too, is generally used in a good sense; as, that lady has a good carriage. Mien is closely synonymous with air, but less often used in a bad sense. We say a rakish air rather than a rakish mien. Mien may be used to express some prevailing feeling; as, "an indignant mien." Demeanor goes beyond appearance, including conduct, behavior; as, a modest demeanor. Manner and style are, in large part at least, acquired. Compare BEHAVIOR.

AIRY. Synonyms: aerial, ethereal, frolicsome, joyous, lively, animated, fairylike, gay, light, sprightly.

Aerial and airy both signify of or belonging to the air, but airy also describes that which seems as if made of air; we speak[28] of airy shapes, airy nothings, where we could not well say aerial; ethereal describes its object as belonging to the upper air, the pure ether, and so, often, heavenly. Sprightly, spiritlike, refers to light, free, cheerful activity of mind and body. That which is lively or animated may be agreeable or the reverse; as, an animated discussion; a lively company.

Antonyms: clumsy, heavy, ponderous, sluggish, wooden. dull, inert, slow, stony, ALARM. Synonyms: affright, disquietude, fright, solicitude, apprehension, dread, misgiving, terror, consternation, fear, panic, timidity. dismay,

Alarm, according to its derivation all'arme, "to arms," is an arousing to meet and repel danger, and may be quite consistent with true courage. Affright and fright express sudden fear which, for the time at least, overwhelms courage. The sentinel discovers with alarm the sudden approach of the enemy; the unarmed villagers view it with affright. Apprehension, disquietude, dread, misgiving, and solicitude are in anticipation of danger; consternation, dismay, and terror are overwhelming fear, generally in the actual presence of that which is terrible, though these words also may have an anticipative force. Timidity is a quality, habit, or condition, a readiness to be affected with fear. A person of great timidity is constantly liable to needless alarm and even terror. Compare FEAR.

Antonyms: assurance, calmness, confidence, repose, security. Prepositions:

Alarm was felt in the camp, among the soldiers, at the news.

ALERT. Synonyms: active, lively, prepared, vigilant, brisk, nimble, prompt, watchful, hustling, on the watch, ready, wide-awake.

Alert, ready, and wide-awake refer to a watchful promptness for action. Ready suggests thoughtful preparation; the wandering Indian is alert, the trained soldier is ready. Ready expresses more life and vigor than prepared. The gun is prepared; the man is ready. Prompt expresses readiness for appointment or[29] demand at the required moment. The good general is ready for emergencies, alert to perceive opportunity or peril, prompt to seize occasion. The sense of brisk, nimble is the secondary and now less common signification of alert. Compare ACTIVE; ALIVE; NIMBLE; VIGILANT.

Antonyms: drowsy, dull, heavy, inactive, slow, sluggish, stupid. ALIEN, a. Synonyms: conflicting, distant, inappropriate, strange, contradictory, foreign, irrelevant, unconnected, contrary, hostile, opposed, unlike. contrasted, impertinent, remote,

Foreign refers to difference of birth, alien to difference of allegiance. In their figurative use, that is foreign which is remote, unlike, or unconnected; that is alien which is conflicting, hostile, or opposed. Impertinent and irrelevant matters can not claim consideration in a certain connection; inappropriate matters could not properly be considered. Compare ALIEN, n.; CONTRAST, v.

Antonyms: akin, apropos, germane, proper, appropriate, essential, pertinent, relevant. Prepositions:

Such a purpose was alien to (or from) my thought: to preferable.

ALIEN, n. Synonyms: foreigner, stranger.

A naturalized citizen is not an alien, though a foreigner by birth, and perhaps a stranger in the place where he resides. A person of foreign birth not naturalized is an alien, though