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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>PROFIT.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>advantage,</td><td>expediency,</td><td>proceeds,</td><td>service,</td></tr> <tr><td>avail,</td><td>gain,</td><td>receipts,</td><td>usefulness,</td></tr> <tr><td>benefit,</td><td>good,</td><td>return,</td><td>utility,</td></tr> <tr><td>emolument,</td><td>improvement,</td><td>returns,</td><td>value.</td></tr> </table> The returns or receipts include all that is received from an outlay or investment; the profit is the excess (if any) of the receipts over the outlay; hence, in government, morals, etc., the profit is what is really good, helpful, useful, valuable. Utility is chiefly used in the sense of some immediate or personal and generally some material good. Advantage is that which gives one a vantage-ground, either for coping with competitors or with difficulties, needs, or demands; as to have the advantage of a good education; it is frequently used of what one has beyond another or secures at the expense of another; as, to have the advantage of another in an argument, or to take advantage of another in a bargain. Gain is what one secures beyond what he previously possessed. Benefit is anything that does one good. Emolument is profit, return, or value accruing through official position. Expediency has respect to profit or advantage, real or supposed, considered apart from or perhaps in opposition to right, in actions having a moral character. Compare UTILITY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>damage,</td><td>detriment,</td><td>harm,</td><td>injury,</td><td>ruin,</td></tr> <tr><td>destruction,</td><td>disadvantage,</td><td>hurt,</td><td>loss,</td><td>waste.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> The profit of labor; on capital; in business. <hr /> <h3>PROGRESS.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>advance,</td><td>development,</td><td>improvement,</td><td>proficiency,</td></tr> <tr><td>advancement,</td><td>growth,</td><td>increase,</td><td>progression.</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="4">attainment,</td></tr> </table> Progress (L. pro, forward, gradior, go) is a moving onward or forward, whether in space or in the mental or moral realm, and may be either mechanical, individual, or social. Attainment, development, and proficiency are more absolute than the other words of the group, denoting some point of advantage or of comparative perfection reached by forward or onward movement; we speak of attainments in virtue or scholarship, proficiency in music or languages, the development of new powers or organs; proficiency includes the idea of skill. Advance may denote either a forward movement or the point gained by forward movement, but always relatively with reference to the point from which the movement started; as, this is a great advance. Advance admits the possibility of retreat; progress (L. progredi, to walk forward) is steady and constant forward movement, admitting of pause, but not of retreat; advance suggests more clearly a point to be reached, while progress lays the emphasis upon the forward movement; we may speak of slow or rapid progress, but more naturally of swift advance. Progress is more frequently used of abstractions; as, the progress of ideas; progression fixes the attention chiefly upon the act of moving forward. In a thing good in itself all advance or progress is improvement; there is a growing tendency to restrict the words to this favorable sense, using increase indifferently of good or evil; one may say without limitation, "I am an advocate of progress." <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>check,</td><td>delay,</td><td>falling off,</td><td>retrogression,</td><td>stop,</td></tr> <tr><td>decline,</td><td>falling back,</td><td>relapse,</td><td>stay,</td><td>stoppage.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> The progress of truth; progress in virtue; toward perfection; from a lower to a higher state. <hr /> <h3>PROHIBIT.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>debar,</td><td>forbid,</td><td>inhibit,</td><td>preclude,</td></tr> <tr><td>disallow,</td><td>hinder,</td><td>interdict,</td><td>prevent.</td></tr> </table> To prohibit is to give some formal command against, and especially to make some authoritative legal enactment against. Debar is said of persons, disallow of acts; one is debarred from anything when shut off, as by some irresistible authority or necessity; one is prohibited from an act in express terms; he may be debarred by silent necessity. An act is disallowed by the authority that might have allowed it; the word is especially applied to acts which are done before they are pronounced upon; thus, a government may disallow the act of its commander in the field or its admiral on the high seas. Inhibit and interdict are chiefly known by their ecclesiastical use. As between forbid and prohibit, forbid is less formal and more personal, prohibit more official and judicial, with the implication of readiness to use such force as may be needed to give effect to the enactment; a parent forbids a child to take part in some game or to associate with certain companions; the slave-trade is now prohibited by the leading nations of the world. Many things are prohibited by law which can not be wholly prevented, as gambling and prostitution; on the other hand, things may be prevented which are not prohibited, as the services of religion, the payment of debts, or military conquest. That which is precluded need not be prohibited. Compare ABOLISH; HINDER; PREVENT. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>allow,</td><td>empower,</td><td>let,</td><td>require,</td></tr> <tr><td>authorize,</td><td>enjoin,</td><td>license,</td><td>sanction,</td></tr> <tr><td>command,</td><td>give consent,</td><td>order,</td><td>suffer,</td></tr> <tr><td>consent to,</td><td>give leave,</td><td>permit,</td><td>tolerate,</td></tr> <tr><td>direct,</td><td>give permission,</td><td>put up with,</td><td>warrant.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> An act is prohibited by law; a person is prohibited by law from doing a certain act. Prohibit was formerly construed, as forbid still is, with the infinitive, but the construction with from and the verbal noun has now entirely superseded the older usage. <hr /> <h3>PROMOTE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>advance,</td><td>encourage,</td><td>forward,</td><td>prefer,</td><td>raise,</td></tr> <tr><td>aid,</td><td>exalt,</td><td>foster,</td><td>push,</td><td>urge forward,</td></tr> <tr><td>assist,</td><td>excite,</td><td>further,</td><td>push on,</td><td>urge on.</td></tr> <tr><td>elevate,</td><td>foment,</td><td colspan="3">help,</td></tr> </table> To promote (L. pro, forward, and moveo, move) is to cause to move forward toward some desired end or to raise to some higher position, rank, or dignity. We promote a person by advancing, elevating, or exalting him to a higher position or dignity. A person promotes a scheme or an enterprise which others have projected or begun, and which he encourages, forwards, furthers, pushes, or urges on, especially when he acts as the agent of the prime movers and supporters of the enterprise. One who excites a quarrel originates it; to promote a quarrel is strictly to foment and urge it on, the one who promotes keeping himself in the background. Compare ABET; QUICKEN. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for ABASE; ALLAY. <hr /> <h3>PROPITIATION.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>atonement,</td><td>expiation,</td><td>reconciliation,</td><td>satisfaction.</td></tr> </table> Atonement (at-one-ment), originally denoting reconciliation, or the bringing into agreement of those who have been estranged, is now chiefly used, as in theology, in the sense of some offering, sacrifice, or suffering sufficient to win forgiveness or make up for an offense; especially and distinctively of the sacrificial work of Christ in his humiliation, suffering and death. Expiation is the enduring of the full penalty of a wrong or crime. Propitiation is an offering, action, or sacrifice that makes the governing power propitious toward the offender. Satisfaction in this connection denotes the rendering a full legal equivalent for the wrong done. Propitiation appeases the lawgiver; satisfaction meets the requirements of the law. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>alienation,</td><td>curse,</td><td>penalty,</td><td>reprobation,</td><td>vengeance,</td></tr> <tr><td>chastisement,</td><td>estrangement,</td><td>punishment,</td><td>retribution,</td><td>wrath.</td></tr> <tr><td>condemnation,</td><td colspan="4">offense,</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PROPITIOUS.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>auspicious,</td><td>benignant,</td><td>favorable,</td><td>gracious,</td><td>kindly,</td></tr> <tr><td>benign,</td><td>clement,</td><td>friendly,</td><td>kind,</td><td>merciful.</td></tr> </table> That which is auspicious is of favorable omen; that which is propitious is of favoring influence or tendency; as, an auspicious morning; a propitious breeze. Propitious applies to persons, implying kind disposition and favorable inclinations, especially toward the suppliant; auspicious is not used of persons. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>adverse,</td><td>forbidding,</td><td>ill-disposed,</td><td>repellent,</td><td>unfriendly,</td></tr> <tr><td>antagonistic,</td><td>hostile,</td><td>inauspicious,</td><td>unfavorable,</td><td>unpropitious.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Preposition:</h4> May heaven be propitious to the enterprise. <hr /> <h3>PROPOSAL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bid,</td><td>offer,</td><td>overture,</td><td>proposition.</td></tr> </table> An offer or proposal puts something before one for acceptance or rejection, proposal being the more formal word; a proposition sets forth truth (or what is claimed to be truth) in formal statement. The proposition is for consideration, the proposal for action; as, a proposition in geometry, a proposal of marriage; but proposition is often used nearly in the sense of proposal when it concerns a matter for deliberation; as, a proposition for the surrender of a fort. A bid is commercial and often verbal; as, a bid at an auction; proposal is used in nearly the same sense, but is more formal. An overture opens negotiation or conference, and the word is especially used of some movement toward reconciliation; as, overtures of peace. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>acceptance,</td><td>denial,</td><td>disapproval,</td><td>refusal,</td><td>rejection,</td><td>repulse.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>PROPOSE.</h3> <h4>Synonym:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>purpose.</td></tr> </table> In its most frequent use, propose differs from purpose in that what we purpose lies in our own mind, as a decisive act of will, a determination; what we propose is offered or stated to others. In this use of the word, what we propose is open to deliberation, as what we purpose is not. In another use of the word, one proposes something to or by himself which may or may not be stated to others. In this latter sense propose is nearly identical with purpose, and the two words have often been used interchangeably. But in the majority of cases what we purpose is more general, what we propose more formal and definite; I purpose to do right; I propose to do this specific thing because it is right. In the historic sentence, "I propose to move immediately on your works," purpose would not have the same sharp directness. <hr /> <h3>PROTRACT.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>continue,</td><td>delay,</td><td>elongate,</td><td>lengthen,</td><td>procrastinate,</td></tr> <tr><td>defer,</td><td>draw out,</td><td>extend,</td><td>postpone,</td><td>prolong.</td></tr> </table> To protract is to cause to occupy a longer time than is usual, expected, or desirable. We defer a negotiation which we are slow to enter upon; we protract a negotiation which we are slow to conclude; delay may be used of any stage in the proceedings; we may delay a person as well as an action, but defer and protract are not used of persons. Elongate is not used of actions or abstractions, but only of material objects or extension in space; protract is very rarely used of concrete objects or extension in space; we elongate a line, protract a discussion. Protract has usually an unfavorable sense, implying that the matter referred to is already unduly long, or would be so if longer continued; continue is neutral, applying equally to the desirable or the undesirable. Postpone implies a definite intention to resume, as defer also does, though less decidedly; both are often used with some definite limitation of time; as, to postpone till, until, or to a certain day or hour. One may defer, delay, or postpone a matter intelligently and for good reason; he procrastinates through indolence and irresolution. Compare HINDER. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>abbreviate,</td><td>conclude,</td><td>curtail,</td><td>hurry,</td><td>reduce,</td></tr> <tr><td>abridge,</td><td>contract,</td><td>hasten,</td><td>limit,</td><td>shorten.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> To protract a speech by verbosity, through an unreasonable time, to, till, or until a late hour. <hr /> <h3>PROVERB.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>adage,</td><td>axiom,</td><td>maxim,</td><td>saw,</td></tr> <tr><td>aphorism,</td><td>byword,</td><td>motto,</td><td>saying,</td></tr> <tr><td>apothegm,</td><td>dictum,</td><td>precept,</td><td>truism.</td></tr> </table> The proverb or adage gives homely truth in condensed, practical form, the adage often pictorial. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick" is a proverb; "The cat loves fish, but dares not wet her feet," is an adage. Both the proverb and the adage, but especially the latter, are thought of as ancient and widely known. An aphorism partakes of the character of a definition; it is a summary statement of what the author sees and believes to be true. An apothegm is a terse statement of what is plain or easily proved. The aphorism is philosophical, the apothegm practical. A dictum is a statement of some person or school, on whom it depends for authority; as, a dictum of Aristotle. A saying is impersonal, current among the common people, deriving its authority from its manifest truth or good sense; as, it is an old saying, "the more haste, the worse speed." A saw is a saying that is old, but somewhat worn and tiresome. Precept is a command to duty; motto or maxim is a brief statement of cherished truth, the maxim being more uniformly and directly practical; "God is love" may be a motto, "Fear God and fear naught," a maxim. The precepts of the Sermon on the Mount will furnish the Christian with invaluable maxims or mottoes. A byword is a phrase or saying used reproachfully or contemptuously. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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