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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>PAIN.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>ache,</td><td>distress,</td><td>suffering,</td><td>torture,</td></tr> <tr><td>agony,</td><td>pang,</td><td>throe,</td><td>twinge,</td></tr> <tr><td>anguish,</td><td>paroxysm,</td><td>torment,</td><td>wo(e).</td></tr> </table> Pain is the most general term of this group, including all the others; pain is a disturbing sensation from which nature revolts, resulting from some injurious external interference (as from a wound, a bruise, a harsh word, etc.), or from some lack of what one needs, craves, or cherishes (as, the pain of hunger or bereavement), or from some abnormal action of bodily or mental functions (as, the pains of disease, envy, or discontent). Suffering is one of the severer forms of pain. The prick of a needle causes pain, but we should scarcely speak of it as suffering. Distress is too strong a word for little hurts, too feeble for the intensest suffering, but commonly applied to some continuous or prolonged trouble or need; as, the distress of a shipwrecked crew, or of a destitute family. Ache is lingering pain, more or less severe; pang, a pain short, sharp, intense, and perhaps repeated. We speak of the pangs of hunger or of remorse. Throe is a violent and thrilling pain. Paroxysm applies to an alternately recurring and receding pain, which comes as it were in waves; the paroxysm is the rising of the wave. Torment and torture are intense and terrible sufferings. Agony and anguish express the utmost pain or suffering of body or mind. Agony of body is that with which the system struggles; anguish that by which it is crushed. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>comfort,</td><td>delight,</td><td>ease,</td><td>enjoyment,</td><td>peace,</td><td>rapture,</td><td>relief,</td><td>solace.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PALLIATE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>apologize for,</td><td>conceal,</td><td>extenuate,</td><td>hide,</td><td>screen,</td></tr> <tr><td>cloak,</td><td>cover,</td><td>gloss over,</td><td>mitigate,</td><td>veil.</td></tr> </table> Cloak, from the French, and palliate, from the Latin, are the same in original signification, but have diverged in meaning; a cloak may be used to hide completely the person or some object carried about the person, or it may but partly veil the figure, making the outlines less distinct; cloak is used in the former, palliate, in the latter sense; to cloak a sin is to attempt to hide it from discovery; to palliate it is to attempt to hide some part of its blameworthiness. "When we palliate our own or others' faults we do not seek to cloke them altogether, but only to extenuate the guilt of them in part." Trench Study of Words lect. vi, p. 266. Either to palliate or to extenuate is to admit the fault; but to extenuate is rather to apologize for the offender, while to palliate is to disguise the fault; hence, we speak of extenuating but not of palliating circumstances, since circumstances can not change the inherent wrong of an act, tho they may lessen the blameworthiness of him who does it; palliating a bad thing by giving it a mild name does not make it less evil. In reference to diseases, to palliate is really to diminish their violence, or partly to relieve the sufferer. Compare ALLEVIATE; HIDE. <hr /> <h3>PARDON, v.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>absolve,</td><td>condone,</td><td>forgive,</td><td>pass by,</td><td rowspan="2">remit.</td></tr> <tr><td>acquit,</td><td>excuse,</td><td>overlook,</td><td>pass over,</td></tr> </table> To pardon is to let pass, as a fault or sin, without resentment, blame, or punishment. Forgive has reference to feelings, pardon to consequences; hence, the executive may pardon, but has nothing to do officially with forgiving. Personal injury may be forgiven by the person wronged; thus, God at once forgives and pardons; the pardoned sinner is exempt from punishment; the forgiven sinner is restored to the divine favor. To pardon is the act of a superior, implying the right to punish; to forgive is the privilege of the humblest person who has been wronged or offended. In law, to remit the whole penalty is equivalent to pardoning the offender; but a part of a penalty may be remitted and the remainder inflicted, as where the penalty includes both fine and imprisonment. To condone is to put aside a recognized offense by some act which restores the offender to forfeited right or privilege, and is the act of a private individual, without legal formalities. To excuse is to overlook some slight offense, error, or breach of etiquette; pardon is often used by courtesy in nearly the same sense. A person may speak of excusing or forgiving himself, but not of pardoning himself. Compare ABSOLVE; PARDON, n. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>castigate,</td><td>chastise,</td><td>convict,</td><td>doom,</td><td>recompense,</td><td>sentence,</td></tr> <tr><td>chasten,</td><td>condemn,</td><td>correct,</td><td>punish,</td><td>scourge,</td><td>visit.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PARDON, n.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>absolution,</td><td>amnesty,</td><td>forgiveness,</td><td>oblivion,</td></tr> <tr><td>acquittal,</td><td>forbearance,</td><td>mercy,</td><td>remission.</td></tr> </table> Acquittal is a release from a charge, after trial, as not guilty. Pardon is a removal of penalty from one who has been adjudged guilty. Acquittal is by the decision of a court, commonly of a jury; pardon is the act of the executive. An innocent man may demand acquittal, and need not plead for pardon. Pardon supposes an offense; yet, as our laws stand, to grant a pardon is sometimes the only way to release one who has been wrongly convicted. Oblivion, from the Latin, signifies overlooking and virtually forgetting an offense, so that the offender stands before the law in all respects as if it had never been committed. Amnesty brings the same idea through the Greek. Pardon affects individuals; amnesty and oblivion are said of great numbers. Pardon is oftenest applied to the ordinary administration of law; amnesty, to national and military affairs. An amnesty is issued after war, insurrection, or rebellion; it is often granted by "an act of oblivion," and includes a full pardon of all offenders who come within its provisions. Absolution is a religious word (compare synonyms for ABSOLVE). Remission is a discharge from penalty; as, the remission of a fine. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>penalty,</td><td>punishment,</td><td>retaliation,</td><td>retribution,</td><td>vengeance.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> A pardon to or for the offenders; for all offenses; the pardon of offenders or offenses. <hr /> <h3>PART, v.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> Compare synonyms for PART, n. <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Part into shares; part in the middle; part one from another; part among the claimants; part between contestants (archaic); in general, to part from is to relinquish companionship; to part with is to relinquish possession; we part from a person or from something thought of with some sense of companionship; a traveler parts from his friends; he maybe said also to part from his native shore; a man parts with an estate, a horse, a copyright; part with may be applied to a person thought of in any sense as a possession; an employer parts with a clerk or servant; but part with is sometimes used by good writers as meaning simply to separate from. <hr /> <h3>PART, n.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>atom,</td><td>fraction,</td><td>member,</td><td>section,</td></tr> <tr><td>component,</td><td>fragment,</td><td>particle,</td><td>segment,</td></tr> <tr><td>constituent,</td><td>ingredient,</td><td>piece,</td><td>share,</td></tr> <tr><td>division,</td><td>instalment,</td><td>portion,</td><td>subdivision.</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="4">element,</td></tr> </table> Part, a substance, quantity, or amount that is the result of the division of something greater, is the general word, including all the others of this group. A fragment is the result of breaking, rending, or disruption of some kind, while a piece may be smoothly or evenly separated and have a certain completeness in itself. A piece is often taken for a sample; a fragment scarcely would be. Division and fraction are always regarded as in connection with the total; divisions may be equal or unequal; a fraction is one of several equal parts into which the whole is supposed to be divided. A portion is a part viewed with reference to some one who is to receive it or some special purpose to which it is to be applied; in a restaurant one portion (i. e., the amount designed for one person) is sometimes, by special order, served to two; a share is a part to which one has or may acquire a right in connection with others; an instalment is one of a series of proportionate payments that are to be continued till the entire claim is discharged; a particle is an exceedingly small part. A component, constituent, ingredient, or element is a part of some compound or mixture; an element is necessary to the existence, as a component or constituent is necessary to the completeness of that which it helps to compose; an ingredient may be foreign or accidental. A subdivision is a division of a division. We speak of a segment of a circle. Compare PARTICLE; PORTION. <hr /> <h3>PARTICLE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>atom,</td><td>grain,</td><td>mite,</td><td>scrap,</td><td rowspan="3">whit.</td></tr> <tr><td>corpuscle,</td><td>iota,</td><td>molecule,</td><td>shred,</td></tr> <tr><td>element,</td><td>jot,</td><td>scintilla,</td><td>tittle,</td></tr> </table> A particle is a very small part of any material substance; as, a particle of sand or of dust; it is a general term, not accurately determinate in meaning. Atom (Gr. a- privative, not, and temno, cut) etymologically signifies that which can not be cut or divided, and is the smallest conceivable particle of matter, regarded as absolutely homogeneous and as having but one set of properties; atoms are the ultimate particles of matter. A molecule is made up of atoms, and is regarded as separable into its constituent parts; as used by physicists, a molecule is the smallest conceivable part which retains all the characteristics of the substance; thus, a molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. Element in chemistry denotes, without reference to quantity, a substance regarded as simple, i. e., one incapable of being resolved by any known process into simpler substances; the element gold may be represented by an ingot or by a particle of gold-dust. In popular language, an element is any essential constituent; the ancients believed that the universe was made up of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water; a storm is spoken of as a manifestation of the fury of the elements. We speak of corpuscles of blood. Compare PART. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>aggregate,</td><td>entirety,</td><td>mass,</td><td>quantity,</td><td>sum,</td><td>sum total,</td><td>total,</td><td>whole.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PATIENCE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>calmness,</td><td>forbearance,</td><td>long-suffering,</td><td rowspan="3">sufferance.</td></tr> <tr><td>composure,</td><td>fortitude,</td><td>resignation,</td></tr> <tr><td>endurance,</td><td>leniency,</td><td>submission,</td></tr> </table> Patience is the quality or habit of mind shown in bearing passively and uncomplainingly any pain, evil, or hardship that may fall to one's lot. Endurance hardens itself against suffering, and may be merely stubborn; fortitude is endurance animated by courage; endurance may by modifiers be made to have a passive force, as when we speak of "passive endurance;" patience is not so hard as endurance nor so self-effacing as submission. Submission is ordinarily and resignation always applied to matters of great moment, while patience may apply to slight worries and annoyances. As regards our relations to our fellow men, forbearance is abstaining from retaliation or revenge; patience is keeping kindliness of heart under vexatious conduct; long-suffering is continued patience. Patience may also have an active force denoting uncomplaining steadiness in doing, as in tilling the soil. Compare INDUSTRY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for ANGER. <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Patience in or amid sufferings; patience with (rarely toward) opposers or offenders; patience under afflictions; (rarely) patience of heat or cold, etc. <hr /> <h3>PAY, n.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>allowance,</td><td>hire,</td><td>recompense,</td><td>salary,</td></tr> <tr><td>compensation,</td><td>honorarium,</td><td>remuneration,</td><td>stipend,</td></tr> <tr><td>earnings,</td><td>payment,</td><td>requital,</td><td>wages.</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="4">fee,</td></tr> </table> An allowance is a stipulated amount furnished at regular intervals as a matter of discretion or gratuity, as of food to besieged soldiers, or of money to a child or ward. Compensation is a comprehensive word signifying a return for a service done. Remuneration is applied to matters of great amount or importance. Recompense is a still wider and loftier word, with less suggestion of calculation and market value; there are services for which affection and gratitude are the sole and sufficient recompense; earnings, fees, hire, pay, salary, and wages are forms of compensation and may be included in compensation, remuneration, or recompense. Pay is commercial and strictly signifies an exact pecuniary equivalent for a thing or service, except when the contrary is expressly stated, as when we speak of "high pay" or "poor pay." Wages denotes what a worker receives. Earnings is often used as exactly equivalent to wages, but may be used with reference to the real value of work done or service rendered, and even applied to inanimate things; as, the earnings of capital. Hire is distinctly mercenary or menial, but as a noun has gone out of popular use, tho the verb to hire is common. Salary is for literary or professional work, wages for handicraft or other comparatively inferior service; a salary is regarded as more permanent than wages; an editor receives a salary, a compositor receives wages. Stipend has become exclusively a literary word. A fee is given for a single service or privilege, and is sometimes in the nature of a gratuity. Compare REQUITE. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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