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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>PREJUDICE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bias,</td><td>preconception,</td><td>presumption,</td></tr> <tr><td>partiality,</td><td>prepossession,</td><td>unfairness.</td></tr> </table> A presumption (literally, a taking beforehand) is a partial decision formed in advance of argument or evidence, usually grounded on some general principle, and always held subject to revision upon fuller information. A prejudice or prepossession is grounded often on feeling, fancy, associations, etc. A prejudice against foreigners is very common in retired communities. There is always a presumption in favor of what exists, so that the burden of proof is upon one who advocates a change. A prepossession is always favorable, a prejudice always unfavorable, unless the contrary is expressly stated. Compare INJURY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>certainty,</td><td>conviction,</td><td>evidence,</td><td>reason,</td></tr> <tr><td>conclusion,</td><td>demonstration,</td><td>proof,</td><td>reasoning.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Against; rarely, in favor of, in one's favor. <hr /> <h3>PRETENSE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>affectation,</td><td>disguise,</td><td>pretext,</td><td>simulation,</td></tr> <tr><td>air,</td><td>dissimulation,</td><td>ruse,</td><td>subterfuge,</td></tr> <tr><td>assumption,</td><td>excuse,</td><td>seeming,</td><td>trick,</td></tr> <tr><td>cloak,</td><td>mask,</td><td>semblance,</td><td>wile.</td></tr> <tr><td>color,</td><td>pretension,</td><td colspan="2">show,</td></tr> </table> A pretense, in the unfavorable, which is also the usual sense, is something advanced or displayed for the purpose of concealing the reality. A person makes a pretense of something for the credit or advantage to be gained by it; he makes what is allowed or approved a pretext for doing what would be opposed or condemned; a tricky schoolboy makes a pretense of doing an errand which he does not do, or he makes the actual doing of an errand a pretext for playing truant. A ruse is something (especially something slight or petty) employed to blind or deceive so as to mask an ulterior design, and enable a person to gain some end that he would not be allowed to approach directly. A pretension is a claim that is or may be contested; the word is now commonly used in an unfavorable sense. Compare ARTIFICE; HYPOCRISY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>actuality,</td><td>fact,</td><td>guilelessness,</td><td>ingenuousness,</td><td>reality,</td><td>sincerity,</td></tr> <tr><td>candor,</td><td>frankness,</td><td>honesty,</td><td>openness,</td><td>simplicity,</td><td>truth.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PREVENT.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>anticipate,</td><td>forestall,</td><td>obviate,</td><td>preclude.</td></tr> </table> The original sense of prevent, to come before, act in advance of, which is now practically obsolete, was still in good use when the authorized version of the Bible was made, as appears in such passages as, "When Peter was come into the house, Jesus prevented him" (i. e., addressed him first), Matt. xvii, 25; "Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness" (i. e., by sending the blessings before the desire is formulated or expressed), Ps. xxi, 3. Anticipate is now the only single word usable in this sense; to forestall is to take or act in advance in one's own behalf and to the prejudice of another or others, as in the phrase "to forestall the market." But to anticipate is very frequently used in the favorable sense; as, his thoughtful kindness anticipated my wish (i. e., met the wish before it was expressed): or we say, "I was about to accost him when he anticipated me" (by speaking first); or one anticipates a payment (by making it before the time); in neither of these cases could we use forestall or prevent. To obviate (literally, to stop the way of or remove from the way), is to prevent by interception, so that something that would naturally withstand or disturb may be kept from doing so; to preclude, (literally, to close or shut in advance) is to prevent by anticipation or by logical necessity; walls and bars precluded the possibility of escape; a supposition is precluded; a necessity or difficulty is obviated. Prevent, which at first had only the anticipatory meaning, has come to apply to the stopping of an action at any stage, the completion or conclusion only being thought of as negatived by anticipation; the enemy passed the outworks and were barely prevented from capturing the fortress. Compare HINDER; PROHIBIT. <h4>Preposition:</h4> He was prevented by illness from joining the expedition. <hr /> <h3>PREVIOUS.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>antecedent,</td><td>foregoing,</td><td>front,</td><td>preceding,</td></tr> <tr><td>anterior,</td><td>former,</td><td>introductory,</td><td>preliminary,</td></tr> <tr><td>earlier,</td><td>forward,</td><td>precedent,</td><td>prior.</td></tr> </table> Antecedent may denote simple priority in time, implying no direct connection between that which goes before and that which follows; as, the striking of one clock may be always antecedent to the striking of another with no causal connection between them. Antecedent and previous may refer to that which goes or happens at any distance in advance, preceding is limited to that which is immediately or next before; an antecedent event may have happened at any time before; the preceding transaction is the one completed just before the one with which it is compared; a previous statement or chapter may be in any part of the book that has gone before; the preceding statement or chapter comes next before without an interval. Previous often signifies first by right; as, a previous engagement. Foregoing is used only of that which is spoken or written; as, the foregoing statements. Anterior, while it can be used of time, is coming to be employed chiefly with reference to place; as the anterior lobes of the brain. Prior bears exclusive reference to time, and commonly where that which is first in time is first also in right; as, a prior demand. Former is used of time, or of position in written or printed matter, not of space in general. We can say former times, a former chapter, etc., but not the former part of a garden; we should say the front part of the garden, the forward car of a train. Former has a close relation, or sharp contrast, with something following; the former always implies the latter, even when not fully expressed, as in Acts i, 1, and Eccles. vii, 10. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>after,</td><td>consequent,</td><td>hind,</td><td>hindmost,</td><td>latter,</td><td>subsequent,</td></tr> <tr><td>concluding,</td><td>following,</td><td>hinder,</td><td>later,</td><td>posterior,</td><td>succeeding.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Preposition:</h4> Such was the state of things previous to the revolution. [Previous to is often used adverbially, in constructions where previously to would be more strictly correct; as, these arrangements were made previous to my departure.] <hr /> <h3>PRICE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>charge,</td><td>cost,</td><td>expenditure,</td><td>expense,</td><td>outlay,</td><td>value,</td><td>worth.</td></tr> </table> The cost of a thing is all that has been expended upon it, whether in discovery, production, refinement, decoration, transportation, or otherwise, to bring it to its present condition in the hands of its present possessor; the price of a thing is what the seller asks for it. In regular business, as a rule, the seller's price on his wares must be more than their cost to him; when goods are sold, the price the buyer has paid becomes their cost to himself. In exceptional cases, when goods are sold at cost, the seller's price is made the same as the cost of the goods to him, the cost to the seller and the cost to the buyer becoming then identical. Price always implies that an article is for sale; what a man will not sell he declines to put a price on; hence the significance of the taunting proverb that "every man has his price." Value is the estimated equivalent for an article, whether the article is for sale or not; the market value is what it would bring if exposed for sale in the open market; the intrinsic value is the inherent utility of the article considered by itself alone; the market value of an old and rare volume may be very great, while its intrinsic value may be practically nothing. Value has always more reference to others' estimation (literally, what the thing will avail with others) than worth, which regards the thing in and by itself; thus, intrinsic value is a weaker expression than intrinsic worth. Charge has especial reference to services, expense to minor outlays; as, the charges of a lawyer or physician; traveling expenses; household expenses. <hr /> <h3>PRIDE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>arrogance,</td><td>ostentation,</td><td>self-exaltation,</td></tr> <tr><td>assumption,</td><td>presumption,</td><td>self-respect,</td></tr> <tr><td>conceit,</td><td>reserve,</td><td>superciliousness,</td></tr> <tr><td>disdain,</td><td>self-complacency,</td><td>vainglory,</td></tr> <tr><td>haughtiness,</td><td>self-conceit,</td><td>vanity.</td></tr> <tr><td>insolence,</td><td colspan="2">self-esteem,</td></tr> </table> Haughtiness thinks highly of itself and poorly of others. Arrogance claims much for itself and concedes little to others. Pride is an absorbing sense of one's own greatness; haughtiness feels one's own superiority to others; disdain sees contemptuously the inferiority of others to oneself. Presumption claims place or privilege above one's right; pride deems nothing too high. Insolence is open and rude expression of contempt and hostility, generally from an inferior to a superior, as from a servant to a master or mistress. In the presence of superiors overweening pride manifests itself in presumption or insolence; in the presence of inferiors, or those supposed to be inferior, pride manifests itself by arrogance, disdain, haughtiness, superciliousness, or in either case often by cold reserve. (See RESERVE under MODESTY.) Pride is too self-satisfied to care for praise; vanity intensely craves admiration and applause. Superciliousness, as if by the uplifted eyebrow, as its etymology suggests (L. supercilium, eyebrow, from super, over and cilium, eyelid), silently manifests mingled haughtiness and disdain. Assumption quietly takes for granted superiority and privilege which others would be slow to concede. Conceit and vanity are associated with weakness, pride with strength. Conceit may be founded upon nothing; pride is founded upon something that one is, or has, or has done; vanity, too, is commonly founded on something real, tho far slighter than would afford foundation for pride. Vanity is eager for admiration and praise, is elated if they are rendered, and pained if they are withheld, and seeks them; pride could never solicit admiration or praise. Conceit is somewhat stronger than self-conceit. Self-conceit is ridiculous; conceit is offensive. Self-respect is a thoroughly worthy feeling; self-esteem is a more generous estimate of one's own character and abilities than the rest of the world are ready to allow. Vainglory is more pompous and boastful than vanity. Compare EGOTISM; OSTENTATION. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>humility,</td><td>lowliness,</td><td>meekness,</td><td>modesty,</td><td>self-abasement,</td><td>self-distrust.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PRIMEVAL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>aboriginal,</td><td>indigenous,</td><td>patriarchal,</td><td>primitive,</td></tr> <tr><td>ancient,</td><td>native,</td><td>primal,</td><td>primordial,</td></tr> <tr><td>autochthonic,</td><td>old,</td><td>primary,</td><td>pristine,</td></tr> <tr><td>immemorial,</td><td>original,</td><td>prime,</td><td>uncreated.</td></tr> </table> Aboriginal (L. ab, from, origo, origin) signifies pertaining to the aborigines or earliest known inhabitants of a country in the widest sense, including not merely human beings but inferior animals and plants as well. Autochthonic (Gr. autos, self, and chthōn, earth) signifies sprung from the earth, especially from the soil of one's native land. Primeval (L. primum, first, and ævum, age), signifies strictly belonging to the first ages, earliest in time, but often only the earliest of which man knows or conceives, immemorial. Aboriginal, autochthonic, and primeval combine the meanings of ancient and original; aboriginal inhabitants, autochthonic races, primeval forests. Prime and primary may signify either first in time, or more frequently first in importance; primary has also the sense of elementary or preparatory; we speak of a prime minister, a primary school. Primal is chiefly poetic, in the sense of prime; as, the primal curse. Primordial is first in an order of succession or development; as, a primordial leaf. Primitive frequently signifies having the original characteristics of that which it represents, as well as standing first in time; as, the primitive church. Primitive also very frequently signifies having the original or early characteristics without remoteness in time. Primeval simplicity is the simplicity of the earliest ages; primitive simplicity may be found in retired villages now. Pristine is an elegant word, used almost exclusively in a good sense of that which is original and perhaps ancient; as, pristine purity, innocence, vigor. That which is both an original and natural product of a soil or country is said to be indigenous; that which is actually produced there is said to be native, though it may be of foreign extraction; humming-birds are indigenous to America; canaries may be native, but are not indigenous. Immemorial refers solely to time, independently of quality, denoting, in legal phrase, "that whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary;" as, an immemorial custom; an immemorial abuse. Compare OLD. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>adventitious,</td><td>foreign,</td><td>late,</td><td>new,</td><td rowspan="2">recent.</td></tr> <tr><td>exotic,</td><td>fresh,</td><td>modern,</td><td>novel,</td></tr> </table> Compare synonyms for NEW. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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