James Champlin Fernald
The English language is peculiarly rich in synonyms, as, with such a history, it could not fail to be. From the time of Julius Cæsar, Britons, Romans, Northmen, Saxons, Danes, and Normans fighting, fortifying, and settling upon the soil of England, with Scotch and Irish contending for mastery or existence across the mountain border and the Channel, and all fenced in together by the sea, could not but influence each other's speech. English merchants, sailors, soldiers, and travelers, trading, warring, and exploring in every clime, of necessity brought back new terms of sea and shore, of shop and camp and battlefield. English scholars have studied Greek and Latin for a thousand years, and the languages of the Continent and of the Orient in more recent times. English churchmen have introduced words from Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, through Bible and prayer-book, sermon and tract. From all this it results that there is scarcely a language ever spoken among men that has not some representative in English speech. The spirit of the Anglo-Saxon race, masterful in language as in war and commerce, has subjugated all these various elements to one idiom, making not a patchwork, but a composite language. Anglo-Saxon thrift, finding often several words that originally expressed the same idea, has detailed them to different parts of the common territory or to different service, so that we have an almost unexampled variety of words, kindred in meaning but distinct in usage, for expressing almost every shade of human thought.
Scarcely any two of such words, commonly known as synonyms, are identical at once in signification and in use. They have certain common ground within which they are interchangeable; but outside of that each has its own special province, within which any other word comes as an intruder. From these two qualities arises the great value of synonyms as contributing to beauty and effectiveness of expression. As interchangeable, they make possible that freedom and variety by which the diction of an accomplished writer or speaker differs from the wooden uniformity of a legal document. As distinct and specific, they enable a master of style to choose in every instance the one term that is the most[viii] perfect mirror of his thought. To write or speak to the best purpose, one should know in the first place all the words from which he may choose, and then the exact reason why in any case any particular word should be chosen. To give such knowledge in these two directions is the office of a book of synonyms.
Of Milton's diction Macaulay writes:
"His poetry acts like an incantation. Its merit lies less in its obvious meaning than in its occult power. There would seem, at first sight, to be no more in his words than in other words. But they are words of enchantment. No sooner are they pronounced, than the past is present and the distant near. New forms of beauty start at once into existence, and all the burial places of the memory give up their dead. Change the structure of the sentence; substitute one synonym for another, and the whole effect is destroyed. The spell loses its power; and he who should then hope to conjure with it would find himself as much mistaken as Cassim in the Arabian tale, when he stood crying, 'Open Wheat,' 'Open Barley,' to the door which obeyed no sound but 'Open Sesame.' The miserable failure of Dryden in his attempt to translate into his own diction some parts of the 'Paradise Lost' is a remarkable instance of this."
Macaulay's own writings abound in examples of that exquisite precision in the choice of words, which never seems to be precise, but has all the aspect of absolute freedom. Through his language his thought bursts upon the mind as a landscape is seen instantly, perfectly, and beautifully from a mountain height. A little vagueness of thought, a slight infelicity in the choice of words would be like a cloud upon the mountain, obscuring the scene with a damp and chilling mist. Let anyone try the experiment with a poem like Gray's "Elegy," or Goldsmith's "Traveller" or "Deserted Village," of substituting other words for those the poet has chosen, and he will readily perceive how much of the charm of the lines depends upon their fine exactitude of expression.
In our own day, when so many are eager to write, and confident that they can write, and when the press is sending forth by the ton that which is called literature, but which somehow lacks the imprint of immortality, it is of the first importance to revive the study of synonyms as a distinct branch of rhetorical culture. Prevalent errors need at times to be noted and corrected, but the teaching of pure English speech is the best defense against all that is inferior, unsuitable, or repulsive. The most effective condemnation of an objectionable word or phrase is that it is not found in scholarly works, and a student who has once learned the rich stores of vigorous, beautiful, exact, and expressive words that make up our noble language, is by that very fact put beyond the reach of all temptation to linguistic corruption.[ix]
Special instruction in the use of synonyms is necessary, for the reason that few students possess the analytical power and habit of mind required to hold a succession of separate definitions in thought at once, compare them with each other, and determine just where and how they part company; and the persons least able to do this are the very ones most in need of the information. The distinctions between words similar in meaning are often so fine and elusive as to tax the ingenuity of the accomplished scholar; yet when clearly apprehended they are as important for the purposes of language as the minute differences between similar substances are for the purposes of chemistry. Often definition itself is best secured by the comparison of kindred terms and the pointing out where each differs from the other. We perceive more clearly and remember better what each word is, by perceiving where each divides from another of kindred meaning; just as we see and remember better the situation and contour of adjacent countries, by considering them as boundaries of each other, rather than by an exact statement of the latitude and longitude of each as a separate portion of the earth's surface.
The great mass of untrained speakers and writers need to be reminded, in the first place, that there are synonyms—a suggestion which they would not gain from any precision of separate definitions in a dictionary. The deplorable repetition with which many slightly educated persons use such words as "elegant," "splendid," "clever," "awful," "horrid," etc., to indicate (for they can not be said to express) almost any shade of certain approved or objectionable qualities, shows a limited vocabulary, a poverty of language, which it is of the first importance to correct. Many who are not given to such gross misuse would yet be surprised to learn how often they employ a very limited number of words in the attempt to give utterance to thoughts and feelings so unlike, that what is the right word on one occasion must of necessity be the wrong word at many other times. Such persons are simply unconscious of the fact that there are other words of kindred meaning from which they might choose; as the United States surveyors of Alaska found "the shuddering tenant of the frigid zone" wrapping himself in furs and cowering over a fire of sticks with untouched coal-mines beneath his feet.
Such poverty of language is always accompanied with poverty of thought. One who is content to use the same word for widely different ideas has either never observed or soon comes to forget that there is any difference between the ideas; or perhaps he retains[x] a vague notion of a difference which he never attempts to define to himself, and dimly hints to others by adding to his inadequate word some such phrase as "you see" or "you know," in the helpless attempt to inject into another mind by suggestion what adequate words would enable him simply and distinctly to say. Such a mind resembles the old maps of Africa in which the interior was filled with cloudy spaces, where modern discovery has revealed great lakes, fertile plains, and mighty rivers. One main office of a book of synonyms is to reveal to such persons the unsuspected riches of their own language; and when a series of words is given them, from which they may choose, then, with intelligent choice of words there comes of necessity a clearer perception of the difference of the ideas that are to be expressed by those different words. Thus, copiousness and clearness of language tend directly to affluence and precision of thought.
Hence there is an important use for mere lists of classified synonyms, like Roget's Thesaurus and the works of Soule and Fallows. Not one in a thousand of average students would ever discover, by independent study of the dictionary, that there are fifteen synonyms for beautiful, twenty-one for beginning, fifteen for benevolence, twenty for friendly, and thirty-seven for pure. The mere mention of such numbers opens vistas of possible fulness, freedom, and variety of utterance, which will have for many persons the effect of a revelation.
But it is equally important to teach that synonyms are not identical and to explain why and how they differ. A person of extensive reading and study, with a fine natural sense of language, will often find all that he wants in the mere list, which recalls to his memory the appropriate word. But for the vast majority there is needed some work that compares or contrasts synonymous words, explains their differences of meaning or usage, and shows in what connections one or the other may be most fitly used. This is the purpose of the present work, to be a guide to selection from the varied treasures of English speech.
This work treats within 375 pages more than 7500 synonyms. It has been the study of the author to give every definition or distinction in the fewest possible words consistent with clearness of statement, and this not merely for economy of space, but because such condensed statements are most easily apprehended and remembered.
The method followed has been to select from every group of synonyms one word, or two contrasted words, the meaning of which[xi] may be settled by clear definitive statement, thus securing some fixed point or points to which all the other words of the group may be referred. The great source of vagueness, error, and perplexity in many discussions of synonyms is, that the writer merely associates stray ideas loosely connected with the different words, sliding from synonym to synonym with no definite point of departure or return, so that a smooth and at first sight pleasing statement really gives the mind no definite resting-place and no sure conclusion. A true discussion of synonyms is definition by comparison, and for this there must be something definite with which to compare. When the standard is settled, approximation or differentiation can be determined with clearness and certainty. It is not enough to tell something about each word. The thing to tell is how each word is related to others of that particular group. When a word has more than one prominent meaning, the synonyms for one signification are treated in one group and a reference is made to some other group in which the synonyms for another signification are treated, as may be seen by noting the synonyms given under Apparent, and following the reference to Evident.
It has been impossible within the limits of this volume to treat in full all the words of each group of synonyms. Sometimes it has been necessary to restrict the statement to a mere suggestion of the correct use; in some cases only the chief words of a group could be considered, giving the key to the discussion, and leaving the student to follow out the principle in the case of other words by reference to the definitive statements of the dictionary. It is to be hoped that at some time a dictionary of synonyms may be prepared, giving as full a list as that of Roget or of Soule, with discriminating remarks upon every word. Such a work would be of the greatest value, but obviously beyond the scope of a text-book for the class-room.
The author has here incorporated, by permission of the publishers of the Standard Dictionary, much of the synonym matter prepared by him for that work. All has been thoroughly revised or reconstructed, and much wholly new matter has been added.
The book contains also more than 3700 antonyms. These are valuable as supplying definition by contrast or by negation, one of the most effective methods of defining being in many cases to tell what a thing is not. To speakers and writers antonyms are useful as furnishing oftentimes effective antitheses.
Young writers will find much help from the indication of the correct use of prepositions, the misuse of which is one of the most[xii] common of errors, and one of the most difficult to avoid, while their right use gives to style cohesion, firmness, and compactness, and is an important aid to perspicuity. To the text of the synonyms is appended a set of Questions and Examples to adapt the work for use as a text-book. Aside from the purposes of the class-room, this portion will be found of value to the individual student. Excepting those who have made a thorough study of language most persons will discover with surprise how difficult it is to answer any set of the Questions or to fill the blanks in the Examples without referring to the synonym treatment in Part I., or to a dictionary, and how rarely they can give any intelligent reason for preference even among familiar words. There are few who can study such a work without finding occasion to correct some errors into which they have unconsciously fallen, and without coming to a new delight in the use of language from a fuller knowledge of its resources and a clearer sense of its various capabilities.
West New Brighton, N. Y., Sept. 4, 1896.
BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
Crabb's "English Synonymes Explained." [H.]
Soule's "Dictionary of English Synonyms." [L.]
Smith's "Synonyms Discriminated." [Bell.]
Graham's "English Synonyms." [A.]
Whateley's "English Synonyms Discriminated." [L. & S.]
Campbell's "Handbook of Synonyms." [L. & S.]
Fallows' "Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms." [F. H. R.]
Roget's "Thesaurus of English Words." [F. & W. Co.]
Trench's "Study of English Words." [W. J. W.]
Richard Grant White, "Words and their Uses," and "Every Day English." [H. M. & Co.]
Geo. P. Marsh, "Lectures on the English Language," and "Origin and History of the English Language." [S.]
Fitzedward Hall, "False Philology." [S.]
Maetzner's "English Grammar," tr. by Grece. [J. M.]
The Synonyms of the Century and International Dictionaries have also been consulted and compared.
The Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary has been used as the authority throughout.
ABBREVIATIONS USED.
|
abdicate, |
desert, |
leave, |
resign, |
|
abjure, |
discontinue, |
quit, |
retire from, |
|
cast off, |
forego, |
recant, |
retract, |
|
cease, |
forsake, |
relinquish, |
surrender, |
|
cede, |
forswear, |
renounce, |
vacate, |
|
depart from, |
give up, |
repudiate, |
withdraw from. |
Abandon is a word of wide signification, applying to persons or things of any kind; abdicate and resign apply to office, authority, or power; cede to territorial possessions; surrender especially to military force, and more generally to any demand, claim, passion, etc. Quit carries an idea of suddenness or abruptness not necessarily implied in abandon, and may not have the same suggestion of finality. The king abdicates his throne, cedes his territory, deserts his followers, renounces his religion, relinquishes his titles, abandons his designs. A cowardly officer deserts his ship; the helpless passengers abandon it. We quit business, give up property, resign office, abandon a habit or a trust. Relinquish commonly implies reluctance; the fainting hand relinquishes its grasp; the creditor relinquishes his claim. Abandon implies previous association with responsibility for or control of; forsake implies previous association with inclination or attachment, real or assumed; a man may abandon or forsake house or friends; he abandons an enterprise; forsakes God. Abandon is applied to both good and evil action; a thief abandons his designs, a man his principles. Forsake, like abandon, may be used either in the favorable or unfavorable sense; desert is always unfavorable,[2] involving a breach of duty, except when used of mere localities; as, "the Deserted Village." While a monarch abdicates, a president or other elected or appointed officer resigns. It was held that James II. abdicated his throne by deserting it.
|
adopt, |
defend, |
occupy, |
seek, |
|
advocate, |
favor, |
prosecute, |
support, |
|
assert, |
haunt, |
protect, |
undertake, |
|
cherish, |
hold, |
pursue, |
uphold, |
|
claim, |
keep, |
retain, |
vindicate. |
|
court, |
maintain, |
||
|
bring low, |
depress, |
dishonor, |
lower, |
|
cast down, |
discredit, |
humble, |
reduce, |
|
debase, |
disgrace, |
humiliate, |
sink. |
|
degrade, |
|||
Abase refers only to outward conditions. "Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high." Ezek. xxi, 26. Debase applies to quality or character. The coinage is debased by excess of alloy, the man by vice. Humble in present use refers chiefly to feeling of heart; humiliate to outward conditions; even when one is said to humble himself, he either has or affects to have humility of heart. To disgrace may be to bring or inflict odium upon others, but the word is chiefly and increasingly applied to such moral odium as one by his own acts brings upon himself; the noun disgrace retains more of the passive sense than the verb; he disgraced himself by his conduct; he brought disgrace upon his family. To dishonor a person is to deprive him of honor that should or might be given. To discredit one is to injure his reputation, as for veracity or solvency. A sense of unworthiness humbles; a shameful insult humiliates; imprisonment for crime disgraces. Degrade may refer to either station or character. An officer is degraded by being reduced to the ranks, disgraced by cowardice; vile practises degrade; drunkenness is a degrading vice. Misfortune or injustice may abase the good; nothing but their own ill-doing can debase or disgrace them.
|
advance, |
elevate, |
honor, |
raise, |
|
aggrandize, |
exalt, |
promote, |
uplift. |
|
dignify, |
|||
[3]
|
bewilder, |
daunt, |
embarrass, |
mortify, |
|
chagrin, |
discompose, |
humble, |
overawe, |
|
confound, |
disconcert, |
humiliate, |
shame. |
|
confuse, |
dishearten, |
||
Any sense of inferiority abashes, with or without the sense of wrong. The poor are abashed at the splendor of wealth, the ignorant at the learning of the wise. "I might have been abashed by their authority." Gladstone Homeric Synchron., p. 72. [H. '76.] To confuse is to bring into a state of mental bewilderment; to confound is to overwhelm the mental faculties; to daunt is to subject to a certain degree of fear. Embarrass is a strong word, signifying primarily hamper, hinder, impede. A solitary thinker may be confused by some difficulty in a subject, or some mental defect; one is embarrassed in the presence of others, and because of their presence. Confusion is of the intellect, embarrassment of the feelings. A witness may be embarrassed by annoying personalities, so as to become confused in statements. To mortify a person is to bring upon him a painful sense of humiliation, whether because of his own or another's fault or failure. A pupil is confused by a perplexing question, a general confounded by overwhelming defeat. A hostess is discomposed by the tardiness of guests, a speaker disconcerted by a failure of memory. The criminal who is not abashed at detection may be daunted by the officer's weapon. Sudden joy may bewilder, but will not abash. The true worshiper is humbled rather than abashed before God. The parent is mortified by the child's rudeness, the child abashed at the parent's reproof. The embarrassed speaker finds it difficult to proceed. The mob is overawed by the military, the hypocrite shamed by exposure. "A man whom no denial, no scorn could abash." Fielding Amelia bk. iii, ch. 9, p. 300. [B. & S. '71.]
|
animate, |
cheer, |
encourage, |
rally, |
|
buoy, |
embolden, |
inspirit, |
uphold. |
|
decline, |
ebb, |
mitigate, |
reduce, |
|
decrease, |
lessen, |
moderate, |
subside. |
|
diminish, |
lower, |
||
The storm, the fever, the pain abates. Interest declines. Misfortunes may be mitigated, desires moderated, intense anger[4] abated, population decreased, taxes reduced. We abate a nuisance, terminate a controversy, suppress a rebellion.
|
aggravate, |
enhance, |
foment, |
rage, |
|
amplify, |
enlarge, |
increase, |
raise, |
|
continue, |
extend, |
magnify, |
revive. |
|
develop, |
|||
Abate in fury; abated by law.
|
abridgment, |
contraction. |
An abbreviation is a shortening by any method; a contraction is a reduction of size by the drawing together of the parts. A contraction of a word is made by omitting certain letters or syllables and bringing together the first and last letters or elements; an abbreviation may be made either by omitting certain portions from the interior or by cutting off a part; a contraction is an abbreviation, but an abbreviation is not necessarily a contraction; rec't for receipt, mdse. for merchandise, and Dr. for debtor are contractions; they are also abbreviations; Am. for American is an abbreviation, but not a contraction. Abbreviation and contraction are used of words and phrases, abridgment of books, paragraphs, sentences, etc.
|
advocate, |
countenance, |
incite, |
sanction, |
|
aid, |
embolden, |
instigate, |
support, |
|
assist, |
encourage, |
promote, |
uphold. |
Abet and instigate are now used almost without exception in a bad sense; one may incite either to good or evil. One incites or instigates to the doing of something not yet done, or to increased activity or further advance in the doing of it; one abets by giving sympathy, countenance, or substantial aid to the doing of that which is already projected or in process of commission. Abet and instigate apply either to persons or actions, incite to persons only; one incites a person to an action. A clergyman will advocate the claims of justice, aid the poor, encourage the[5] despondent, support the weak, uphold the constituted authorities; but he will not incite to a quarrel, instigate a riot, or abet a crime. The originator of a crime often instigates or incites others to abet him in it, or one may instigate or incite others to a crime in the commission of which he himself takes no active part.
|
baffle, |
deter, |
dissuade, |
hinder, |
|
confound, |
disapprove, |
expose, |
impede, |
|
counteract, |
disconcert, |
frustrate, |
obstruct. |
|
denounce, |
discourage, |
||
|
abominate, |
dislike, |
loathe, |
scorn, |
|
despise, |
hate, |
nauseate, |
shun. |
|
detest, |
|||
Abhor is stronger than despise, implying a shuddering recoil, especially a moral recoil. "How many shun evil as inconvenient who do not abhor it as hateful." Trench Serm. in Westm. Abbey xxvi, 297. [M.] Detest expresses indignation, with something of contempt. Loathe implies disgust, physical or moral. We abhor a traitor, despise a coward, detest a liar. We dislike an uncivil person. We abhor cruelty, hate tyranny. We loathe a reptile or a flatterer. We abhor Milton's heroic Satan, but we can not despise him.
|
admire, |
crave, |
esteem, |
love, |
|
approve, |
desire, |
like, |
relish. |
|
covet, |
enjoy, |
||
|
anticipate, |
dwell, |
remain, |
stop, |
|
await, |
endure, |
reside, |
tarry, |
|
bear, |
expect, |
rest, |
tolerate, |
|
bide, |
inhabit, |
sojourn, |
wait, |
|
confront, |
live, |
stay, |
watch. |
|
continue, |
lodge, |
||
To abide is to remain continuously without limit of time unless expressed by the context: "to-day I must abide at thy house," Luke xix, 5; "a settled place for thee to abide in forever," 1 Kings viii, 13; "Abide with me! fast falls the eventide," Lyte Hymn. Lodge, sojourn, stay, tarry, and wait always imply a limited time; lodge, to pass the night; sojourn, to remain[6] temporarily; live, dwell, reside, to have a permanent home. Stop, in the sense of stay or sojourn, is colloquial, and not in approved use. Compare ENDURE; REST.
|
abandon, |
forfeit, |
migrate, |
reject, |
|
avoid, |
forfend, |
move, |
resist, |
|
depart, |
journey, |
proceed, |
shun. |
Abide in a place, for a time, with a person, by a statement.
|
abate, |
eradicate, |
prohibit, |
stamp out, |
|
abrogate, |
exterminate, |
remove, |
subvert, |
|
annihilate, |
extirpate, |
repeal, |
supplant, |
|
annul, |
nullify, |
reverse, |
suppress, |
|
destroy, |
obliterate, |
revoke, |
terminate. |
|
end, |
overthrow, |
set aside, |
|
Abolish, to do away with, bring absolutely to an end, especially as something hostile, hindering, or harmful, was formerly used of persons and material objects, a usage now obsolete except in poetry or highly figurative speech. Abolish is now used of institutions, customs, and conditions, especially those wide-spread and long existing; as, to abolish slavery, ignorance, intemperance, poverty. A building that is burned to the ground is said to be destroyed by fire. Annihilate, as a philosophical term, signifies to put absolutely out of existence. As far as our knowledge goes, matter is never annihilated, but only changes its form. Some believe that the wicked will be annihilated. Abolish is not said of laws. There we use repeal, abrogate, nullify, etc.: repeal by the enacting body, nullify by revolutionary proceedings; a later statute abrogates, without formally repealing, any earlier law with which it conflicts. An appellate court may reverse or set aside the decision of an inferior court. Overthrow may be used in either a good or a bad sense; suppress is commonly in a good, subvert always in a bad sense; as, to subvert our liberties; to suppress a rebellion. The law prohibits what may never have existed; it abolishes an existing evil. We abate a nuisance, terminate a controversy. Compare CANCEL; DEMOLISH; EXTERMINATE.
|
authorize, |
establish, |
reinstate, |
revive, |
|
cherish, |
institute, |
renew, |
set up, |
|
confirm, |
introduce, |
repair, |
support, |
|
continue, |
legalize, |
restore, |
sustain. |
|
enact, |
promote, |
||
[7]
|
abhorrence, |
curse, |
hatred, |
plague, |
|
abuse, |
detestation, |
horror, |
shame, |
|
annoyance, |
disgust, |
iniquity, |
villainy, |
|
aversion, |
evil, |
nuisance, |
wickedness. |
|
crime, |
execration, |
offense, |
|
Abomination (from the L. ab omen, a thing of ill omen) was originally applied to anything held in religious or ceremonial aversion or abhorrence; as, "The things which are highly esteemed among men are abomination in the sight of God." Luke xvi, 15. The word is oftener applied to the object of such aversion or abhorrenceabominationaversiondisgustabominationdisgustabominationabominationoffenseabomination