Back Aa

English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>FEUD.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>affray,</td><td>brawl,</td><td>contest,</td><td>dissension,</td><td>hostility,</td></tr> <tr><td>animosity,</td><td>broil,</td><td>controversy,</td><td>enmity,</td><td>quarrel,</td></tr> <tr><td>bitterness,</td><td>contention,</td><td>dispute,</td><td>fray,</td><td>strife.</td></tr> </table> A feud is enmity between families, clans, or parties, with acts of hostility mutually retaliated and avenged; feud is rarely used of individuals, never of nations. While all the other words of the group may refer to that which is transient, a feud is long-enduring, and often hereditary. Dissension is used of a number of persons, of a party or other organization. Bitterness is in feeling only; enmity and hostility involve will and purpose to oppose or injure. A quarrel is in word or act, or both, and is commonly slight and transient, as we speak of childish quarrels; contention and strife may be in word or deed; contest ordinarily involves some form of action. Contest is often used in a good sense, contention and strife very rarely so. Controversy is commonly in words; strife extends from verbal controversy to the contests of armies. Affray, brawl, and broil, like quarrel, are words of inferior dignity. An affray or broil may arise at a street corner; the affray always involves physical force; the brawl or broil may be confined to violent language. <hr /> <h3>FICTION.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>allegory,</td><td>fabrication,</td><td>invention,</td><td>myth,</td><td>romance,</td></tr> <tr><td>apologue,</td><td>falsehood,</td><td>legend,</td><td>novel,</td><td>story.</td></tr> <tr><td>fable,</td><td colspan="4">figment,</td></tr> </table> Fiction is now chiefly used of a prose work in narrative form in which the characters are partly or wholly imaginary, and which is designed to portray human life, with or without a practical lesson; a romance portrays what is picturesque or striking, as a mere fiction may not do; novel is a general name for any continuous fictitious narrative, especially a love-story; fiction and novel are used with little difference of meaning, except that novel characterizes a work in which the emotional element is especially prominent. The moral of the fable is expressed formally; the lesson of the fiction, if any, is inwrought. A fiction is studied; a myth grows up without intent. A legend may be true, but can not be historically verified; a myth has been received as true at some time, but is now known to be false. A fabrication is designed to deceive; it is a less odious word than falsehood, but is really stronger, as a falsehood may be a sudden unpremeditated statement, while a fabrication is a series of statements carefully studied and fitted together in order to deceive; the falsehood is all false; the fabrication may mingle the true with the false. A figment is something imaginary which the one who utters it may or may not believe to be true; we say, "That statement is a figment of his imagination." The story may be either true or false, and covers the various senses of all the words in the group. Apologue, a word simply transferred from Greek into English, is the same as fable. Compare ALLEGORY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>certainty,</td><td>fact,</td><td>history,</td><td>literalness,</td><td>reality,</td><td>truth,</td><td>verity.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FIERCE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>ferocious,</td><td>furious,</td><td>raging,</td><td>uncultivated,</td><td>violent,</td></tr> <tr><td>fiery,</td><td>impetuous,</td><td>savage,</td><td>untrained,</td><td>wild.</td></tr> </table> Fierce signifies having a furious and cruel nature, or being in a furious and cruel mood, more commonly the latter. It applies to that which is now intensely excited, or liable to intense and sudden excitement. Ferocious refers to a state or disposition; that which is fierce flashes or blazes; that which is ferocious steadily burns; we speak of a ferocious animal, a fierce passion. A fiery spirit with a good disposition is quickly excitable in a good cause, but may not be fierce or ferocious. Savage signifies untrained, uncultivated. Ferocious always denotes a tendency to violence; it is more distinctly bloodthirsty than the other words; a person may be deeply, intensely cruel, and not at all ferocious; a ferocious countenance expresses habitual ferocity; a fierce countenance may express habitual fierceness, or only the sudden anger of the moment. That which is wild is simply unrestrained; the word may imply no anger or harshness; as, wild delight, wild alarm. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>affectionate,</td><td>gentle,</td><td>kind,</td><td>patient,</td><td>submissive,</td><td>tame,</td></tr> <tr><td>docile,</td><td>harmless,</td><td>mild,</td><td>peaceful,</td><td>sweet,</td><td>tender.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FINANCIAL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>fiscal,</td><td>monetary,</td><td>pecuniary.</td></tr> </table> These words all relate to money, receipts, or expenditures. Monetary relates to actual money, coin, currency; as, the monetary system; a monetary transaction is one in which money is transferred. Pecuniary refers to that in which money is involved, but less directly; we speak of one's pecuniary affairs or interests, with no special reference to the handling of cash. Financial applies especially to governmental revenues or expenditures, or to private transactions of considerable moment; we speak of a pecuniary reward, a financial enterprise; we give a needy person pecuniary (not financial) assistance. It is common to speak of the fiscal rather than the financial year. <hr /> <h3>FINE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>beautiful,</td><td>excellent,</td><td>polished,</td><td>small,</td></tr> <tr><td>clarified,</td><td>exquisite,</td><td>pure,</td><td>smooth,</td></tr> <tr><td>clear,</td><td>gauzy,</td><td>refined,</td><td>splendid,</td></tr> <tr><td>comminuted,</td><td>handsome,</td><td>sensitive,</td><td>subtile,</td></tr> <tr><td>dainty,</td><td>keen,</td><td>sharp,</td><td>subtle,</td></tr> <tr><td>delicate,</td><td>minute,</td><td>slender,</td><td>tenuous,</td></tr> <tr><td>elegant,</td><td>nice,</td><td>slight,</td><td>thin.</td></tr> </table> Fine (L. finis, end) denotes that which has been brought to a full end, finished. From this root-sense many derived meanings branch out, causing words quite remote from each other to be alike synonyms of fine. That which is truly finished, brought to an ideal end, is excellent of its kind, and beautiful, if a thing that admits of beauty; as, a fine house, fine trees, a fine woman, a fine morning; if a thing that admits of the removal of impurities, it is not finished till these are removed, and hence fine signifies clarified, clear, pure, refined; as, fine gold. That which is finished is apt to be polished, smooth to the touch, minutely exact in outline; hence fine comes to be a synonym for all words like dainty, delicate, exquisite; as, fine manners, a fine touch, fine perceptions. As that which is delicate is apt to be small, by an easy extension of meaning fine becomes a synonym for slender, slight, minute, comminuted; as, a fine thread, fine sand; or for filmy, tenuous, thin; as, a fine lace, fine wire; and as a thin edge is keen, sharp, fine becomes also a synonym for these words; as, a fine point, a fine edge. Compare BEAUTIFUL; MINUTE. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>big,</td><td>clumsy,</td><td>great,</td><td>huge,</td><td>large,</td><td>stout,</td></tr> <tr><td>blunt,</td><td>coarse,</td><td>heavy,</td><td>immense,</td><td>rude,</td><td>thick.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FIRE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>blaze,</td><td>burning,</td><td>combustion,</td><td>conflagration,</td><td>flame.</td></tr> </table> Combustion is the essential fact which is at the basis of that assemblage of visible phenomenon which we call fire; combustion being the continuous chemical combination of a substance with some element, as oxygen, evolving heat, and extending from slow processes, such as those by which the heat of the human body is maintained, to the processes producing the most intense light also, as in a blast-furnace, or on the surface of the sun. Fire is always attended with light, as well as heat; blaze, flame, etc., designate the mingled light and heat of a fire. Combustion is the scientific, fire the popular term. A conflagration is an extensive fire. Compare LIGHT. <hr /> <h3>FLOCK.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bevy,</td><td>covey,</td><td>group,</td><td>herd,</td><td>lot,</td><td>set,</td></tr> <tr><td>brood,</td><td>drove,</td><td>hatch,</td><td>litter,</td><td>pack,</td><td>swarm.</td></tr> </table> Group is the general word for any gathering of a small number of objects, whether of persons, animals, or inanimate things. The individuals in a brood or litter are related to each other; those in the other groups may not be. Brood is used chiefly of fowls and birds, litter of certain quadrupeds which bring forth many young at a birth; we speak of a brood of chickens, a litter of puppies; brood is sometimes applied to a family of young children. Bevy is used of birds, and figuratively of any bright and lively group of women or children, but rarely of men. Flock is applied to birds and to some of the smaller animals; herd is confined to the larger animals; we speak of a bevy of quail, a covey of partridges, a flock of blackbirds, or a flock of sheep, a herd of cattle, horses, buffaloes, or elephants, a pack of wolves, a pack of hounds, a swarm of bees. A collection of animals driven or gathered for driving is called a drove. <hr /> <h3>FLUCTUATE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>hesitate,</td><td>swerve,</td><td>vacillate,</td><td>veer,</td></tr> <tr><td>oscillate,</td><td>undulate,</td><td>vary,</td><td>waver.</td></tr> </table> To fluctuate (L. fluctus, a wave) is to move like a wave with alternate rise and fall. A pendulum oscillates; waves fluctuate or undulate; a light or a flame wavers; a frightened steed swerves from his course; a tool or weapon swerves from the mark or line; the temperature varies; the wind veers when it suddenly changes its direction. That which veers may steadily hold the new direction; that which oscillates, fluctuates, undulates, or wavers returns upon its way. As regards mental states, he who hesitates sticks (L. hærere) on the verge of decision; he who wavers does not stick to a decision; he who vacillates decides now one way, and now another; one vacillates between contrasted decisions or actions; he may waver between decision and indecision, or between action and inaction. Persons hesitate, vacillate, waver; feelings fluctuate or vary. Compare SHAKE. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>abide,</td><td>adhere,</td><td>hold fast,</td><td>persist,</td><td>stand fast,</td><td>stay,</td><td>stick.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FLUID.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>gas,</td><td>liquid.</td></tr> </table> A fluid is a substance that, like air or water, yields to any force that tends to change its form; a liquid is a body in that state in which the particles move freely among themselves, but remain in one mass, keeping the same volume, but taking always the form of the containing vessel; a liquid is an inelastic fluid; a gas is an elastic fluid that tends to expand to the utmost limits of the containing space. All liquids are fluids, but not all fluids are liquids; air and all the gases are fluids, but they are not liquids under ordinary circumstances, tho capable of being reduced to a liquid form by special means, as by cold and pressure. Water at the ordinary temperature is at once a fluid and a liquid. <hr /> <h3>FOLLOW.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>accompany,</td><td>come after,</td><td>go after,</td><td>obey,</td><td>pursue,</td></tr> <tr><td>attend,</td><td>copy,</td><td>heed,</td><td>observe,</td><td>result,</td></tr> <tr><td>chase,</td><td>ensue,</td><td>imitate,</td><td>practise,</td><td>succeed.</td></tr> </table> Anything that comes after or goes after another, either in space or in time, is said to follow it. A servant follows or attends his master; a victorious general may follow the retiring enemy merely to watch and hold him in check; he chases or pursues with intent to overtake and attack; the chase is closer and hotter than the pursuit. (Compare synonyms for HUNT.) One event may follow another either with or without special connection; if it ensues, there is some orderly connection; as, the ensuing year; if it results from another, there is some relation of effect, consequence, or inference. A clerk observes his employer's directions. A child obeys his parent's commands, follows or copies his example, imitates his speech and manners. The compositor follows copy; the incoming succeeds the outgoing official. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.