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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>BODY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>ashes,</td><td>clay,</td><td>dust,</td><td>frame,</td><td>system,</td></tr> <tr><td>carcass,</td><td>corpse,</td><td>form,</td><td>remains,</td><td>trunk.</td></tr> </table> Body denotes the entire physical structure, considered as a whole, of man or animal; form looks upon it as a thing of shape and outline, perhaps of beauty; frame regards it as supported by its bony framework; system views it as an assemblage of many related and harmonious organs. Body, form, frame, and system may be either dead or living; clay and dust are sometimes so used in religious or poetic style, tho ordinarily these words are used only of the dead. Corpse and remains are used only of the dead. Corpse is the plain technical word for a dead body still retaining its unity; remains may be used after any lapse of time; the latter is also the more refined and less ghastly term; as, friends are invited to view the remains. Carcass applies only to the body of an animal, or of a human being regarded with contempt and loathing. Compare COMPANY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>intellect,</td><td>intelligence,</td><td>mind,</td><td>soul,</td><td>spirit.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>BOTH.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>twain,</td><td>two.</td></tr> </table> Both refers to two objects previously mentioned, or had in mind, viewed or acting in connection; as, both men fired at once; "two men fired" might mean any two, out of any number, and without reference to any previous thought or mention. Twain is a nearly obsolete form of two. The two, or the twain, is practically equivalent to both; both, however, expresses a closer unity. We would say both men rushed against the enemy; the two men flew at each other. Compare EVERY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>each,</td><td>either,</td><td>every,</td><td>neither,</td><td>none,</td><td>no one,</td><td>not any.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>BOUNDARY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>barrier,</td><td>confines,</td><td>limit,</td><td>margin,</td></tr> <tr><td>border,</td><td>edge,</td><td>line,</td><td>term,</td></tr> <tr><td>bound,</td><td>enclosure,</td><td>marches,</td><td>termination,</td></tr> <tr><td>bourn,</td><td>frontier,</td><td>marge,</td><td>verge.</td></tr> <tr><td>bourne,</td><td colspan="3">landmark,</td></tr> </table> The boundary was originally the landmark, that which marked off one piece of territory from another. The bound is the limit, marked or unmarked. Now, however, the difference between the two words has come to be simply one of usage. As regards territory, we speak of the boundaries of a nation or of an estate; the bounds of a college, a ball-ground, etc. Bounds may be used for all within the limits, boundary for the limiting line only. Boundary looks to that which is without; bound only to that which is within. Hence we speak of the bounds, not the boundaries, of a subject, of the universe, etc.; we say the students were forbidden to go beyond the bounds. A barrier is something that bars ingress or egress. A barrier may be a boundary, as was the Great Wall of China. Bourn, or bourne, is a poetical expression for bound or boundary. A border is a strip of land along the boundary. Edge is a sharp terminal line, as where river or ocean meets the land. Limit is now used almost wholly in the figurative sense; as, the limit of discussion, of time, of jurisdiction. Line is a military term; as, within the lines, or through the lines, of an army. Compare BARRIER; END. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>center,</td><td>citadel,</td><td>estate,</td><td>inside,</td><td>interior,</td><td>land,</td><td>region,</td><td>territory.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> The boundaries of an estate; the boundary between neighboring territories. <hr /> <h3>BRAVE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>adventurous,</td><td>courageous,</td><td>fearless,</td><td>undaunted,</td></tr> <tr><td>bold,</td><td>daring,</td><td>gallant,</td><td>undismayed,</td></tr> <tr><td>chivalric,</td><td>dauntless,</td><td>heroic,</td><td>valiant,</td></tr> <tr><td>chivalrous,</td><td>doughty,</td><td>intrepid,</td><td>venturesome.</td></tr> </table> The adventurous man goes in quest of danger; the bold man stands out and faces danger or censure; the brave man combines confidence with resolution in presence of danger; the chivalrous man puts himself in peril for others' protection. The daring step out to defy danger; the dauntless will not flinch before anything that may come to them; the doughty will give and take limitless hard knocks. The adventurous find something romantic in dangerous enterprises; the venturesome may be simply heedless, reckless, or ignorant. All great explorers have been adventurous; children, fools, and criminals are venturesome. The fearless and intrepid possess unshaken nerves in any place of danger. Courageous is more than brave, adding a moral element: the courageous man steadily encounters perils to which he may be keenly sensitive, at the call of duty; the gallant are brave in a dashing, showy, and splendid way; the valiant not only dare great dangers, but achieve great results; the heroic are nobly daring and dauntless, truly chivalrous, sublimely courageous. Compare FORTITUDE. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>afraid,</td><td>cringing,</td><td>fearful,</td><td>pusillanimous,</td><td>timid,</td></tr> <tr><td>cowardly,</td><td>faint-hearted,</td><td>frightened,</td><td>shrinking,</td><td>timorous.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>BREAK.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bankrupt,</td><td>crack,</td><td>destroy,</td><td>rive,</td><td>shatter,</td><td>split,</td></tr> <tr><td>burst,</td><td>crush,</td><td>fracture,</td><td>rupture,</td><td>shiver,</td><td>sunder,</td></tr> <tr><td>cashier,</td><td>demolish,</td><td>rend,</td><td>sever,</td><td>smash,</td><td>transgress.</td></tr> </table> To break is to divide sharply, with severance of particles, as by a blow or strain. To burst is to break by pressure from within, as a bombshell, but it is used also for the result of violent force otherwise exerted; as, to burst in a door, where the door yields as if to an explosion. To crush is to break by pressure from without, as an egg-shell. To crack is to break without complete severance of parts; a cracked cup or mirror may still hold together. Fracture has a somewhat similar sense. In a fractured limb, the ends of the broken bone may be separated, tho both portions are still retained within the common muscular tissue. A shattered object is broken suddenly and in numerous directions; as, a vase is shattered by a blow, a building by an earthquake. A shivered glass is broken into numerous minute, needle-like fragments. To smash is to break thoroughly to pieces with a crashing sound by some sudden act of violence; a watch once smashed will scarcely be worth repair. To split is to cause wood to crack or part in the way of the grain, and is applied to any other case where a natural tendency to separation is enforced by an external cause; as, to split a convention or a party. To demolish is to beat down, as a mound, building, fortress, etc.; to destroy is to put by any process beyond restoration physically, mentally, or morally; to destroy an army is so to shatter and scatter it that it can not be rallied or reassembled as a fighting force. Compare REND. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>attach,</td><td>bind,</td><td>fasten,</td><td>join,</td><td>mend,</td><td>secure,</td><td>solder,</td><td>unite,</td><td>weld.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Break to pieces, or in pieces, into several pieces (when the object is thought of as divided rather than shattered); break with a friend; from or away from a suppliant; break into a house; out of prison; break across one's knee; break through a hedge; break in upon one's retirement; break over the rules; break on or upon the shore, against the rocks. <hr /> <h3>BRUTISH.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>animal,</td><td>brutal,</td><td>ignorant,</td><td>sensual,</td><td>swinish,</td></tr> <tr><td>base,</td><td>brute,</td><td>imbruted,</td><td>sottish,</td><td>unintellectual,</td></tr> <tr><td>beastly,</td><td>carnal,</td><td>insensible,</td><td>stolid,</td><td>unspiritual,</td></tr> <tr><td>bestial,</td><td>coarse,</td><td>lascivious,</td><td>stupid,</td><td>vile.</td></tr> </table> A brutish man simply follows his animal instincts, without special inclination to do harm; the brutal have always a spirit of malice and cruelty. Brute has no special character, except as indicating what a brute might possess; much the same is true of animal, except that animal leans more to the side of sensuality, brute to that of force, as appears in the familiar phrase "brute force." Hunger is an animal appetite; a brute impulse suddenly prompts one to strike a blow in anger. Bestial, in modern usage, implies an intensified and degrading animalism. Any supremacy of the animal or brute instincts over the intellectual and spiritual in man is base and vile. Beastly refers largely to the outward and visible consequences of excess; as, beastly drunkenness. Compare ANIMAL. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>elevated,</td><td>exalted,</td><td>great,</td><td>intellectual,</td><td>noble,</td></tr> <tr><td>enlightened,</td><td>grand,</td><td>humane,</td><td>intelligent,</td><td>refined.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>BURN.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>blaze,</td><td>char,</td><td>flame,</td><td>incinerate,</td><td>set fire to,</td></tr> <tr><td>brand,</td><td>consume,</td><td>flash,</td><td>kindle,</td><td>set on fire,</td></tr> <tr><td>cauterize,</td><td>cremate,</td><td>ignite,</td><td>scorch,</td><td>singe.</td></tr> </table> To burn is to subject to the action of fire, or of intense heat so as to effect either partial change or complete combustion; as, to burn wood in the fire; to burn one's hand on a hot stove; the sun burns the face. One brands with a hot iron, but cauterizes with some corrosive substance, as silver nitrate. Cremate is now used specifically for consuming a dead body by intense heat. To incinerate is to reduce to ashes; the sense differs little from that of cremate, but it is in less popular use. To kindle is to set on fire, as if with a candle; ignite is the more learned and scientific word for the same thing, extending even to the heating of metals to a state of incandescence without burning. To scorch and to singe are superficial, and to char usually so. Both kindle and burn have an extensive figurative use; as, to kindle strife; to burn with wrath, love, devotion, curiosity. Compare LIGHT. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>cool,</td><td>extinguish,</td><td>put out,</td><td>smother,</td><td>stifle,</td><td>subdue.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> To burn in the fire, burn with fire; burn to the ground, burn to ashes; burn through the skin, or the roof; burn into the soil, etc. <hr /> <h3>BUSINESS.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>affair,</td><td>commerce,</td><td>handicraft,</td><td>trading,</td></tr> <tr><td>art,</td><td>concern,</td><td>job,</td><td>traffic,</td></tr> <tr><td>avocation,</td><td>craft,</td><td>occupation,</td><td>transaction,</td></tr> <tr><td>barter,</td><td>duty,</td><td>profession,</td><td>vocation,</td></tr> <tr><td>calling,</td><td>employment,</td><td>trade,</td><td>work.</td></tr> </table> A business is what one follows regularly; an occupation is what he happens at any time to be engaged in; trout-fishing may be one's occupation for a time, as a relief from business; business is ordinarily for profit, while the occupation may be a matter of learning, philanthropy, or religion. A profession implies scholarship; as, the learned professions. Pursuit is an occupation which one follows with ardor. An avocation is what calls one away from other work; a vocation or calling, that to which one is called by some special fitness or sense of duty; thus, we speak of the gospel ministry as a vocation or calling, rather than a business. Trade or trading is, in general, the exchanging of one thing for another; in the special sense, a trade is an occupation involving manual training and skilled labor; as, the ancient Jews held that every boy should learn a trade. A transaction is a single action, whether in business, diplomacy, or otherwise; affair has a similar, but lighter meaning; as, this little affair; an important transaction. The plural affairs has a distinctive meaning, including all activities where men deal with one another on any considerable scale; as, a man of affairs. A job is a piece of work viewed as a single undertaking, and ordinarily paid for as such. Trade and commerce may be used as equivalents, but trade is capable of a more limited application; we speak of the trade of a village, the commerce of a nation. Barter is the direct exchange of commodities; business, trade, and commerce are chiefly transacted by means of money, bills of exchange, etc. Business, occupation, etc., may be what one does independently; employment may be in the service of another. Work is any application of energy to secure a result, or the result thus secured; thus, we speak of the work of God. Art in the industrial sense is a system of rules and accepted methods for the accomplishment of some practical result; as, the art of printing; collectively, the arts. A craft is some occupation requiring technical skill or manual dexterity, or the persons, collectively, engaged in its exercise; as, the weaver's craft. <h4>Prepositions:</h4> The business of a druggist; in business with his father; doing business for his father; have you business with me? business in New York; business about, concerning, or in regard to certain property. <hr /> <h3>BUT.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>and,</td><td>however,</td><td>notwithstanding,</td><td>that,</td></tr> <tr><td>barely,</td><td>just,</td><td>only,</td><td>tho,</td></tr> <tr><td>besides,</td><td>merely,</td><td>provided,</td><td>unless,</td></tr> <tr><td>except,</td><td>moreover,</td><td>save,</td><td>yet.</td></tr> <tr><td>further,</td><td>nevertheless,</td><td colspan="2">still,</td></tr> </table> But ranges from the faintest contrast to absolute negation; as, I am willing to go, but (on the other hand) content to stay; he is not an honest man, but (on the contrary) a villain. The contrast may be with a silent thought; as, but let us go (it being understood that we might stay longer). In restrictive use, except and excepting are slightly more emphatic than but; we say, no injury but a scratch; or, no injury except some painful bruises. Such expressions as "words are but breath" (nothing but) may be referred to the restrictive use by ellipsis. So may the use of but in the sense of unless; as, "it never rains but it pours." To the same head must be referred the conditional use; as, "you may go, but with your father's consent" (i. e., "provided you have," "except that you must have," etc.). "Doubt but" is now less used than the more logical "doubt that." But never becomes a full synonym for and; and adds something like, but adds something different; "brave and tender" implies that tenderness is natural to the brave; "brave but tender" implies that bravery and tenderness are rarely combined. For the concessive use, compare NOTWITHSTANDING. <hr /> <h3>BY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>by dint of,</td><td>by means of,</td><td>through,</td><td>with.</td></tr> </table> By refers to the agent; through, to the means, cause, or condition; with, to the instrument. By commonly refers to persons; with, to things; through may refer to either. The road having become impassable through long disuse, a way was opened by pioneers with axes. By may, however, be applied to any object which is viewed as partaking of action and agency; as, the metal was corroded by the acid; skill is gained by practise. We speak of communicating with a person by letter. Through implies a more distant connection than by or with, and more intervening elements. Material objects are perceived by the mind through the senses. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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