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

incurable. Compare APATHY; IDIOCY; STUPOR. Antonyms: acuteness, brilliancy, keenness, sagacity, alertness, cleverness, quickness, sense, animation, intelligence, readiness, sensibility. STUPOR. Synonyms: apathy, fainting, stupefaction, syncope, asphyxia, insensibility, swoon, torpor, coma, lethargy, swooning, unconsciousness.

Stupor is a condition of the body in which the action of the senses and faculties is suspended or greatly dulled—weakness or loss of sensibility. The apathy of disease is a mental affection, a state of morbid indifference; lethargy is a morbid tendency to heavy and continued sleep, from which the patient may perhaps be momentarily aroused. Coma is a deep, abnormal sleep, from which the patient can not be aroused, or is aroused only with difficulty, a state of profound insensibility, perhaps with full pulse and deep, stertorous breathing, and is due to brain-oppression. Syncope or swooning is a sudden loss of sensation and of power of motion, with suspension of pulse and of respiration, and is due to failure of heart-action, as from sudden nervous shock or intense mental emotion. Insensibility is a general term denoting loss of feeling from any cause, as from cold, intoxication, or injury. Stupor is especially profound and confirmed insensibility, properly comatose. Asphyxia is a special form of syncope resulting from partial or total suspension of respiration, as in strangulation, drowning, or inhalation of noxious gases.

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SUBJECTIVE. Synonym: objective.

Subjective and objective are synonyms in but one point of view, being, for the most part, strictly antonyms. Subjective signifies relating to the subject of mental states, that is, to the person who experiences them; objective signifies relating to the object of mental states, that is, to something outside the perceiving mind; in brief phrase it may be said that subjective relates to something within the mind, objective to something without. A mountain, as a mass of a certain size, contour, color, etc., is an objective fact; the impression our mind receives, the mental picture it forms of the mountain, is subjective. But this subjective impression may become itself the object of thought (called "subject-object"), as when we compare our mental picture of the mountain with our idea of a plain or river. The direct experiences of the soul, as joy, grief, hope, fear, are purely subjective; the outward causes of these experiences, as prosperity, bereavement, disappointment, are objective. That which has independent existence or authority apart from our experience or thought is said to have objective existence or authority; thus we speak of the objective authority of the moral law. Different individuals may receive different subjective impressions from the same objective fact, that which to one is a cause of hope being to another a cause of fear, etc. The style of a writer is called objective when it derives its materials mainly from or reaches out toward external objects; it is called subjective when it derives its materials mainly from or constantly tends to revert to the personal experience of the author. Compare INHERENT.

SUBSIDY. Synonyms: aid, bounty, indemnity, reward, support, allowance, gift, pension, subvention, tribute. bonus, grant, premium,

A subsidy is pecuniary aid directly granted by government to an individual or commercial enterprise, or money furnished by one nation to another to aid it in carrying on war against a common enemy. A nation grants a subsidy to an ally, pays a tribute to a conqueror. An indemnity is in the nature of things limited and temporary, while a tribute might be exacted indefinitely. A[346] nation may also grant a subsidy to its own citizens as a means of promoting the public welfare; as, a subsidy to a steamship company. The somewhat rare term subvention is especially applied to a grant of governmental aid to a literary or artistic enterprise. Governmental aid to a commercial or industrial enterprise other than a transportation company is more frequently called a bounty than a subsidy; as, the sugar bounty. The word bounty may be applied to almost any regular or stipulated allowance by a government to a citizen or citizens; as, a bounty for enlisting in the army; a bounty for killing wolves. A bounty is offered for something to be done; a pension is granted for something that has been done.

SUBVERT. Synonyms: destroy, overthrow, ruin, supplant, extinguish, overturn, supersede, suppress.

To subvert is to overthrow from or as from the very foundation; utterly destroy; bring to ruin. The word is now generally figurative, as of moral or political ruin. To supersede implies the putting of something that is wisely or unwisely preferred in the place of that which is removed; to subvert does not imply substitution. To supplant is more often personal, signifying to take the place of another, usually by underhanded means; one is superseded by authority, supplanted by a rival. Compare ABOLISH.

Antonyms: conserve, keep, perpetuate, preserve, sustain, uphold. SUCCEED. Synonyms: achieve, attain, flourish, prevail, prosper, thrive, win.

A person succeeds when he accomplishes what he attempts, or attains a desired object or result; an enterprise or undertaking succeeds that has a prosperous result. To win implies that some one loses, but one may succeed where no one fails. A solitary swimmer succeeds in reaching the shore; if we say he wins the shore we contrast him with himself as a possible loser. Many students may succeed in study; a few win the special prizes, for which all compete. Compare FOLLOW.

Antonyms: be defeated, come short, fail, fall short, lose, miss, miscarry.

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SUGGESTION. Synonyms: hint, implication, innuendo, insinuation, intimation.

A suggestion (L. sub, under, and gero, bring) brings something before the mind less directly than by formal or explicit statement, as by a partial statement, an incidental allusion, an illustration, a question, or the like. Suggestion is often used of an unobtrusive statement of one's views or wishes to another, leaving consideration and any consequent action entirely to his judgment, and is hence, in many cases, the most respectful way in which one can convey his views to a superior or a stranger. A suggestion may be given unintentionally, and even unconsciously, as when we say an author has "a suggestive style." An intimation is a suggestion in brief utterance, or sometimes by significant act, gesture, or token, of one's meaning or wishes; in the latter case it is often the act of a superior; as, God in his providence gives us intimations of his will. A hint is still more limited in expression, and is always covert, but frequently with good intent; as, to give one a hint of danger or of opportunity. Insinuation and innuendo are used in the bad sense; an insinuation is a covert or partly veiled injurious utterance, sometimes to the very person attacked; an innuendo is commonly secret as well as sly, as if pointing one out by a significant nod (L. in, in, to, and nuo, nod).

SUPERNATURAL. Synonyms: miraculous, preternatural, superhuman.

The supernatural (super, above) is above or superior to the recognized powers of nature; the preternatural (preter, beyond) is aside from or beyond the recognized results or operations of natural law, often in the sense of inauspicious; as, a preternatural gloom. Miraculous is more emphatic and specific than supernatural, as referring to the direct personal intervention of divine power. Some hold that a miracle, as the raising of the dead, is a direct suspension and even violation of natural laws by the fiat of the Creator, and hence is, in the strictest sense, supernatural; others hold that the miracle is simply the calling forth of a power residing in the laws of nature, but not within their ordinary operation, and dependent on a distinct act of God, so that the miraculous might be termed "extranatural," rather than supernatural. All that is beyond human power is superhuman; as, prophecy[348] gives evidence of superhuman knowledge; the word is sometimes applied to remarkable manifestations of human power, surpassing all that is ordinary.

Antonyms: common, commonplace, everyday, natural, ordinary, usual. SUPPORT. Synonyms: bear, cherish, keep, maintain, sustain, carry, hold up, keep up, prop, uphold.

Support and sustain alike signify to hold up or keep up, to prevent from falling or sinking; but sustain has a special sense of continuous exertion or of great strength continuously exerted, as when we speak of sustained endeavor or a sustained note; a flower is supported by the stem or a temple-roof by arches; the foundations of a great building sustain an enormous pressure; to sustain life implies a greater exigency and need than to support life; to say one is sustained under affliction is to say more both of the severity of the trial and the completeness of the upholding than if we say he is supported. To bear is the most general word, denoting all holding up or keeping up of any object, whether in rest or motion; in the derived senses it refers to something that is a tax upon strength or endurance; as, to bear a strain; to bear pain or grief. To maintain is to keep in a state or condition, especially in an excellent and desirable condition; as, to maintain health or reputation; to maintain one's position; to maintain a cause or proposition is to hold it against opposition or difficulty. To support may be partial, to maintain is complete; maintain is a word of more dignity than support; a man supports his family; a state maintains an army or navy. To prop is always partial, signifying to add support to something that is insecure. Compare ABET; ENDURE; KEEP.

Antonyms: abandon, break down, demolish, destroy, let go, throw down, betray, cast down, desert, drop, overthrow, wreck. Prepositions:

The roof is supported by, on, or upon pillars; the family was supported on or upon a pittance, or by charity.

SUPPOSE. Synonyms: conjecture, deem, guess, imagine, surmise, think.

To suppose is temporarily to assume a thing as true, either[349] with the expectation of finding it so or for the purpose of ascertaining what would follow if it were so. To suppose is also to think a thing to be true while aware or conceding that the belief does not rest upon any sure ground, and may not accord with fact; or yet again, to suppose is to imply as true or involved as a necessary inference; as, design supposes the existence of a designer. To conjecture is to put together the nearest available materials for a provisional opinion, always with some expectation of finding the facts to be as conjectured. To imagine is to form a mental image of something as existing, tho its actual existence may be unknown, or even impossible. To think, in this application, is to hold as the result of thought what is admitted not to be matter of exact or certain knowledge; as, I do not know, but I think this to be the fact: a more conclusive statement than would be made by the use of conjecture or suppose. Compare DOUBT; HYPOTHESIS.

Antonyms: ascertain, be sure, conclude, discover, know, prove. SURRENDER. Synonyms: abandon, cede, give over, relinquish, alienate, give, give up, sacrifice, capitulate, give oneself up, let go, yield.

To surrender is to give up upon compulsion, as to an enemy in war, hence to give up to any person, passion, influence, or power. To yield is to give place or give way under pressure, and hence under compulsion. Yield implies more softness or concession than surrender; the most determined men may surrender to overwhelming force; when one yields, his spirit is at least somewhat subdued. A monarch or a state cedes territory perhaps for a consideration; surrenders an army, a navy, or a fortified place to a conqueror; a military commander abandons an untenable position or unavailable stores. We sacrifice something precious through error, friendship, or duty, yield to convincing reasons, a stronger will, winsome persuasion, or superior force. Compare ABANDON.

SYNONYMOUS. Synonyms: alike, equivalent, like, similar, correspondent, identical, same, synonymic. corresponding, interchangeable,

Synonymous (Gr. syn, together, and onyma, name) strictly signifies being interchangeable names for the same thing, or being one[350] of two or more interchangeable names for the same thing;