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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>LIKELY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>apt,</td><td>conceivable,</td><td>liable,</td><td>probable,</td></tr> <tr><td>credible,</td><td>conjectural,</td><td>presumable,</td><td>reasonable.</td></tr> </table> Apt implies a natural fitness or tendency; an impetuous person is apt to speak hastily. Liable refers to a contingency regarded as unfavorable; as, the ship was liable to founder at any moment. Likely refers to a contingent event regarded as very probable, and usually, tho not always, favorable; as, an industrious worker is likely to succeed. Credible signifies readily to be believed; as, a credible narrative; likely in such connection is used ironically to signify the reverse; as, a likely story! A thing is conceivable of which the mind can entertain the possibility; a thing is conjectural which is conjectured as possible or probable without other support than a conjecture, or tentative judgment; a thing is presumable which, from what is antecedently known, may betaken for granted in advance of proof. Reasonable in this connection signifies such as the reason can be satisfied with, independently of external grounds for belief or disbelief; as, that seems a reasonable supposition. Compare APPARENT. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>doubtful,</td><td>improbable,</td><td>questionable,</td><td>unreasonable.</td></tr> <tr><td>dubious,</td><td>incredible,</td><td colspan="2">unlikely,</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>LISTEN.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>attend,</td><td>hark,</td><td>harken,</td><td>hear,</td><td>heed,</td><td>list.</td></tr> </table> Between listen and hear is a difference like that between the words look and see. (Compare synonyms for LOOK.) To hear is simply to become conscious of sound, to listen is to make a conscious effort or endeavor to hear. We may hear without listening, as words suddenly uttered in an adjoining room; or we may listen without hearing, as to a distant speaker. In listening the ear is intent upon the sound; in attending the mind is intent upon the thought, tho listening implies some attention to the meaning or import of the sound. To heed is not only to attend, but to remember and observe. Harken is nearly obsolete. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>be deaf to,</td><td>ignore,</td><td>neglect,</td><td>scorn,</td><td>slight.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> We listen for what we expect or desire to hear; we listen to what we actually do hear; listen for a step, a signal, a train; listen to the debate. <hr /> <h3>LITERATURE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>belles-lettres,</td><td>literary productions,</td><td>publications,</td></tr> <tr><td>books,</td><td>literary works,</td><td>writings.</td></tr> </table> Literature is collective, including in the most general sense all the written or printed productions of the human mind in all lands and ages, or in a more limited sense, referring to all that has been published in some land or age, or in some department of human knowledge; as, the literature of Greece; the literature of the Augustan age; the literature of politics or of art. Literature, used absolutely, denotes what has been called "polite literature" or belles-lettres, i. e., the works collectively that embody taste, feeling, loftiness of thought, and purity and beauty of style, as poetry, history, fiction, and dramatic compositions, including also much of philosophical writing, as the "Republic" of Plato, and oratorical productions, as the orations of Demosthenes. In the broad sense, we can speak of the literature of science; in the narrower sense, we speak of literature and science as distinct departments of knowledge. Literature is also used to signify literary pursuits or occupations; as, to devote one's life to literature. Compare KNOWLEDGE; SCIENCE. <hr /> <h3>LOAD, n.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>burden,</td><td>charge,</td><td>encumbrance,</td><td>incubus,</td><td>pack,</td></tr> <tr><td>cargo,</td><td>clog,</td><td>freight,</td><td>lading,</td><td>weight.</td></tr> </table> A burden (from the Anglo-Saxon byrthen, from the verb beran, bear) is what one has to bear, and the word is used always of that which is borne by a living agent. A load (from the Anglo-Saxon lād, a way, course, carrying, or carriage) is what is laid upon a person, animal, or vehicle for conveyance, or what is customarily so imposed; as, a two-horse load. Weight measures the pressure due to gravity; the same weight that one finds a moderate load when in his full strength becomes a heavy burden in weariness or weakness. A ship's load is called distinctively a cargo, or it may be known as freight or lading. Freight denotes merchandise in or for transportation and is used largely of transportation or of merchandise transported by rail, which is, in commercial language, said to be "shipped." A load to be fastened upon a horse or mule is called a pack, and the animal is known as a pack-horse or pack-mule. <hr /> <h3>LOCK.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bar,</td><td>catch,</td><td>fastening,</td><td>hook,</td></tr> <tr><td>bolt,</td><td>clasp,</td><td>hasp,</td><td>latch.</td></tr> </table> A bar is a piece of wood or metal, usually of considerable size, by which an opening is obstructed, a door held fast, etc. A bar may be movable or permanent; a bolt is a movable rod or pin of metal, sliding in a socket and adapted for securing a door or window. A lock is an arrangement by which an enclosed bolt is shot forward or backward by a key, or other device; the bolt is the essential part of the lock. A latch or catch is an accessible fastening designed to be easily movable, and simply to secure against accidental opening of the door, cover, etc. A hasp is a metallic strap that fits over a staple, calculated to be secured by a padlock; a simple hook that fits into a staple is also called a hasp. A clasp is a fastening that can be sprung into place, to draw and hold the parts of some enclosing object firmly together, as the clasp of a book. <hr /> <h3>LOOK.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>behold,</td><td>discern,</td><td>inspect,</td><td>see,</td><td>view,</td></tr> <tr><td>contemplate,</td><td>gaze,</td><td>regard,</td><td>stare,</td><td rowspan="2">watch.</td></tr> <tr><td>descry,</td><td>glance,</td><td>scan,</td><td>survey,</td></tr> </table> To see is simply to become conscious of an object of vision; to look is to make a conscious and direct endeavor to see. To behold is to fix the sight and the mind with distinctness and consideration upon something that has come to be clearly before the eyes. We may look without seeing, as in pitch-darkness, and we may see without looking, as in case of a flash of lightning. To gaze is to look intently, long, and steadily upon an object. To glance is to look casually or momentarily. To stare is to look with a fixed intensity such as is the effect of surprise, alarm, or rudeness. To scan is to look at minutely, to note every visible feature. To inspect is to go below the surface, uncover, study item by item. View and survey are comprehensive, survey expressing the greater exactness of measurement or estimate. Watch brings in the element of time and often of wariness; we watch for a movement or change, a signal, the approach of an enemy, etc. Compare APPEAR. <hr /> <h3>LOVE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>affection,</td><td>charity,</td><td>friendship,</td><td>regard,</td></tr> <tr><td>attachment,</td><td>devotion,</td><td>liking,</td><td>tenderness.</td></tr> <tr><td>attraction,</td><td colspan="3">fondness,</td></tr> </table> Affection is kindly feeling, deep, tender, and constant, going out to some person or object, being less fervent and ardent than love, whether applied to persons or things. Love is an intense and absorbing emotion, drawing one toward a person or object and causing one to appreciate, delight in, and crave the presence or possession of the person or object loved, and to desire to please and benefit the person, or to advance the cause, truth, or other object of affection; it is the yearning or outgoing of soul toward something that is regarded as excellent, beautiful, or desirable; love may be briefly defined as strong and absorbing affection for and attraction toward a person or object. Love may denote the sublimest and holiest spiritual affection as when we are taught that "God is love." Charity has so far swung aside from this original meaning that probably it never can be recalled (compare BENEVOLENCE). The Revised Version uses love in place of charity in 1 Cor. xiii, and elsewhere. Love is more intense, absorbing, and tender than friendship, more intense, impulsive, and perhaps passionate than affection; we speak of fervent love, but of deep or tender affection, or of close, firm, strong friendship. Love is used specifically for personal affection between the sexes in the highest sense, the love that normally leads to marriage, and subsists throughout all happy wedded life. Love can never properly denote mere animal passion, which is expressed by such words as appetite, desire, lust. One may properly be said to have love for animals, for inanimate objects, or for abstract qualities that enlist the affections, as we speak of love for a horse or a dog, for mountains, woods, ocean, or of love of nature, and love of virtue. Love of articles of food is better expressed by liking, as love, in its full sense, expresses something spiritual and reciprocal, such as can have no place in connection with objects that minister merely to the senses. Compare ATTACHMENT; FRIENDSHIP. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for ANTIPATHY; ENMITY; HATRED. <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Love of country; for humanity; love to God and man. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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