English Synonyms and Antonyms - James Champlin Fernald (christmas read aloud TXT) 📗
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He taketh the wise in their own ——ness.
The most —— reasoner may be deluded, when he practises sophistry upon himself.
ATTACHMENT (page 63). QUESTIONS.1. What is attachment? How does it differ from adherence or adhesion? from affection? from inclination? from regard?
EXAMPLES.Talk not of wasted ——, —— never was wasted.
You do not weaken your —— for your family by cultivating ——s beyond its pale, but deepen and intensify it.
ATTACK, v. & n. (pages 63, 64). QUESTIONS.1. What special element is involved in the meaning of attack? 2. How do assail and assault differ? 3. What is it to encounter? how does this word compare with attack? How does attack differ from aggression?
EXAMPLES.And death intrench'd, preparing his ——;
How few themselves in that just mirror see!
Who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open ——?
Roger Williams —— the spirit of intolerance, the doctrine of persecution, and never his persecutors.
ATTAIN (page 64). QUESTIONS.1. What kind of a word is attain, and to what does it point? 2. How does attain differ from obtain? from achieve? 3. How does obtain differ from procure?[402]
EXAMPLES.Were not —— by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
And make us lose the good we oft might ——
By fearing to attempt.
ATTITUDE (page 65). QUESTIONS.
1. How does position as regards the human body differ from attitude, posture, or pose? 2. Do the three latter words apply to the living or the dead? 3. What is the distinctive sense of attitude? Is it conscious or unconscious? 4. How does posture differ from attitude? 5. What is the distinctive sense of pose? How does it differ from, and how does it agree with attitude and posture?
EXAMPLES.The —— assumed indicated great indignation because of the insult implied.
The —— was graceful and pleasing.
ATTRIBUTE, v. (page 65). QUESTIONS.1. What suggestion is often involved in attribute? 2. How does attribute differ from refer and ascribe? 3. Is charge (in this connection) used in the favorable or unfavorable sense?
EXAMPLES.—— ye greatness unto our God.
He —— unworthy motives which proved a groundless charge.
ATTRIBUTE, n. (page 66). QUESTIONS.1. What is the derivation and the inherent meaning of quality? 2. What is an attribute? 3. Which of the above words expresses what necessarily belongs to the subject of which it is said to be an attribute or quality? 4. What is the derivation and distinctive sense of property? 5. How does property ordinarily differ from quality? 6. In what usage do property and quality become exact synonyms, and how are properties then distinguished?
EXAMPLES.The —— to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
Nothing endures but personal ——s.
AVARICIOUS (page 68). QUESTIONS.1. How do avaricious and covetous differ from miserly, niggardly, parsimonious,[403] and penurious? 2. Of what matters are greedy and stingy used? How do they differ from each other?
EXAMPLES.Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear.
It is better to be content with such things as ye have than to become —— and —— in accumulating.
AVENGE (page 69). QUESTIONS.1. What is it to avenge? 2. How does avenge differ from revenge? 3. Which word would be used of an act of God? 4. Is retaliate used in the sense of avenge or of revenge?
EXAMPLES.Crimes done, had but as loud a voice to warn
As its keen sting is mortal to ——.
And therefore to —— it, shalt thou die.
AVOW (page 69). QUESTIONS.
1. Which words of this group refer exclusively to one's own knowledge or action? 2. What is the distinctive sense of aver? of avouch? of avow? 3. How do avouch and avow differ from aver in construction? 4. Is avow used in a good or a bad sense? What does it imply of others' probable feeling or action? 5. How does avow compare with confess?
EXAMPLES.The child —— his fault and was pardoned by his parent.
AWFUL (page 70). QUESTIONS.1. To what matters should awful properly be restricted? 2. Is awful always interchangeable with alarming or terrible? with disagreeable or annoying?
EXAMPLES.The silent falling of the snow is to me one of the most —— things in nature.
AWKWARD (page 70). QUESTIONS.1. What is the derivation and original meaning of awkward? of clumsy? 2. To what, therefore, does awkward primarily refer? and to what clumsy? 3. Is[404] a draft-horse distinctively awkward or clumsy? 4. Give some metaphorical uses of awkward.
EXAMPLES.The apprentice was not only ——, but ——, and had to be taught over and over again the same methods.
The young girl stood in a —— way, looking in at the showy shop-windows.
AXIOM (page 71). QUESTIONS.1. In what do axiom and truism agree? 2. In what do they differ? 3. How do they compare in interest and utility?
EXAMPLES.It is almost an —— that those who do most for the heathen abroad are most liberal for the heathen at home.
Trifling ——s clothed in great, swelling words of vanity.
BABBLE (page 71). QUESTIONS.1. To what class do most of the words in this group belong? Why are they so called? 2. What is the special significance of blab and blurt? How do they differ from each other in use? 3. What is chat? 4. How does prattling differ from chatting? 5. In what sense is jabber used? How does it compare with chatter?
EXAMPLES.The dove may —— of the dove."
Two women sat contentedly ——ing, one of them amusing a ——ing babe.
BANISH (page 72). QUESTIONS.1. From what land may one be banished? From what expatriated or exiled? 2. By whom may one be said to be banished? by whom expatriated or exiled? 3. Which of these words is of widest import? Give examples of its metaphorical use.
BANK (page 72). QUESTIONS.1. What is a beach? a coast? 2. How does each of the above words differ from bank? 3. What is the distinctive sense of strand? In what style of writing is it most commonly used? 4. What are the distinctive senses of edge and brink?
[405]
BANTER (page 73). QUESTIONS.1. What is banter? 2. How is badinage distinguished from banter? raillery from both? 3. What is the distinctive sense of irony? 4. Is irony kindly or the reverse? badinage? banter? 5. What words of this group are distinctly hostile? 6. Is ridicule or derision the stronger word? What is the distinction between the two? between satire and sarcasm? between chaff, jeering, and mockery?
BARBAROUS (page 73). QUESTIONS.1. What is the meaning of barbarian? 2. What is the added significance of barbaric? 3. How does barbarous in general use differ from both the above words? 4. What special element is commonly implied in savage? 5. In what less opprobrious sense may barbarous and savage be used? Give instances.
EXAMPLES.Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her —— sons
Came like a deluge on the south.
Showers on her kings —— pearl and gold.
It is most true, that a natural and secret hatred and aversation toward society, in any man, hath somewhat of the —— beast.
Thou art bought and sold among those of any wit like a —— slave.
BARRIER (page 74). QUESTIONS.1. What is a bar? and what is its purpose? 2. What is a barrier? 3. Which word is ordinarily applied to objects of great extent? 4. Would a mountain range be termed a bar or a barrier? 5. What distinctive name is given to a mass of sand across the mouth of a river or harbor?
BATTLE (page 74). QUESTIONS.1. What is the general meaning of conflict? 2. What is a battle? 3. How long may a battle last? 4. On how many fields may one battle be fought? 5. How does engagement differ from battle? How does combat differ? action? skirmish? fight?
BEAUTIFUL (page 76). QUESTIONS.1. What is necessary to constitute an object or a person beautiful? 2. Can beautiful be said of that which is harsh and ragged, however grand? 3. How is[406] beautiful related to our powers of appreciation? 4. How does pretty compare with beautiful? handsome? 5. What does fair denote? comely? picturesque?
EXAMPLES.I pray thee, O God, that I may be —— within.
A happy youth, and their old age is —— and free.
And in their death had not divided been.
How lovely and joyful the course that he run.
Though he rose in a mist when his race he began
And there followed some droppings of rain!
BECOMING (page 77). QUESTIONS.
1. What is the meaning of becoming? of decent? of suitable? 2. Can that which is worthy or beautiful in itself ever be otherwise than becoming or suitable? Give instances. 3. What is the meaning of fit? How does it differ from fitting or befitting?
EXAMPLES.Within the limit of —— mirth,
I never spent an hour's talk withal.
Urania, and —— audience find, tho few.
Untouch'd, slightly handled, in discourse.
That every nice offense should bear his comment.
How could money be better spent than in erecting a —— building for the greatest library in the country?
BEGINNING (page 78). QUESTIONS.1. From what language is beginning derived? commencement? How do the two words differ in application and use? Give instances. 2. What is an origin? a source? a rise? 3. How are fount, fountain, and spring used in the figurative sense?
EXAMPLES.Out from which all glory springs.
Truth is the —— of every good to gods and men.
By which those great in war are great in love;
The —— of all brave acts is seated here.
It can not be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor, nor he his to her: it was a violent ——, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration.
In the —— God created the heaven and the earth.
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BEHAVIOR (page 79). QUESTIONS.1. How do behavior and conduct differ? 2. What is the special sense of carriage? of bearing? demeanor? 3. What is manner?
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