Part 8
The keynote to——
Entrée to all the best
Open sesame
A plain opportunity for——
We must take opportunity by the forelock
Had I been so disposed, I——
The hour of opportunity
Now is the time of all times to——
OPPOSITION
Protestation Objection
Nothing could go more against the grain with me than——
He set his face like flint against——
There is a decided opposition to——
It is one of the counts in the indictment against him that——
He was debarred from——
With strongly divergent opinion
He should be unhorsed
A man who must be discriminated against
It is sheer nonsense to——
The thinness of that kind of argument is seen in——
Hotly contested
His one weapon of defense is——
He made of this fact a telling answer to those who——
It is common to hear deprecations of——
He would have made a more happy effect if——
All this is in direct contradiction to——
Through flinty opposition
Persistently hostile
It has only one defect——it is not true
I differ from him very widely
It is a cry that is raised in the old senseless spiteful way
It is scarcely worth raising our heads to look at
I assure you such is not the case
I think it would be quite inadvisable to do so
It is a convincing demonstration of the fatuity of the notion that——
The latest and most absurd theory is——
Issues which are poles apart in their true significance
I regret to be compelled to join issue with you
The answer will be a firm and decided negative
I have inly resented the——
I must with all respect demur
It is a wooden-headed scheme
It represents everything repugnant to my convictions
I cannot refrain from expressing my regret that——
It is a manifest absurdity
In which case I should remonstrate
I protested in vain
It is very annoying to me
I fervently hope not
A good stout protest
It is out of the question
A decided negative
It is time to protest and to protest vigorously
I won’t hear it without a protest——
It has not even the saving grace of——
He met with stout opposition
He came out squarely against——
He rubbed the cat the wrong way
They will brook no trifling
A point-blank refusal
There is just ground for objection in the fact that——
It is not exactly fitting that——
There could be no greater fallacy
It was the only rift in a perfect lute
Unless they made a fidget about it
The whole plan is repellent
The suggestion arouses in us only moral disgust
Give it the lie
Such an opinion runs counter to the facts
He delivered a frontal attack upon——
It is playing at cross-purposes
Promptly and vigorously disposed of
It is going to get a short shrift
A railing accusation
A storm of protest
Stubborn resistance
In the face of mighty passions and desires
In the teeth of clenched antagonisms
It is time to protest and to protest vigorously
Not under any circumstances
Too heavily handicapped
A disposition in some to resent
A combination of hindrances
Without flinching
An insuperable barrier
I have the greatest aversion to——
He met with a hot welcome
A defiant note
OPTIMISM
Cheer Gladness
I am very sanguine about it
In a highly gratifying way
It is refreshing to know that——
The uplift of great ideas
All clouds do not rain
No day is so long but has its evening
No news is good news
All is not lost that is delayed
One of the most heartening signs of the days is——
We are with you to the last man and the last dollar
I have a crumb of consolation in the thought that——
We can say with much assurance that——
The plan has attractive features
With unalloyed satisfaction
This is no time to intone funeral ululations
Let us strengthen each other’s hands in God
We need a ringing message to steel the purpose
We are with you from center to outer edge
The news is decidedly reassuring
I was splendidly heartened by——
A word of magnificent promise
A happy confidence
Let’s make the best of it. _Coriolanus_, V., 6
A day of great things
One of the bright sides of a dark picture is——
Our lucky star was in the ascendant
In spite of dismal forebodings
In the heyday of confidence
He meets every situation with an inspiration
On the victory side
In the mountains of God
A harbinger of success
Life’s brightest meaning
A bad beginning may make a good ending
No such inept and doleful talk has been coming from——
Cheering in a high degree
In his happiest mood
The outlook is in the highest degree encouraging
We have reason to thank God and take courage
Everything is propitious
The night is long that never finds a day
A pack of blessings
A buoyant optimism
Prospects are very bright for the success of——
The finest game in the world
I have nothing dismal to remember
A happy earnest life
Without grudge or grumbling
A hopeful attitude
An attitude of assurance
An inborn belief in the superiority of——
Always hailed with joy
Quickening and cheerful influences
Assuredly we shall win
Of splendid augury
The habit of expectancy
A hopeful prospect
A promising beginning on intelligent lines
It is bound to accomplish a world of good
A brisk cheerful sense of things present and things to come
Some cheerful hope-laden ideas
No gloomy forebodings
We will have the fun of beginning again
An abiding optimism
With high expectations
Not a lurking doubt or suspicion lingers
The most hopeful sign of the times is
I know nothing more pleasant than to
This is indeed good fortune
How pleasant it is to
I have had a great piece of luck
Let us turn to more pleasant reflections
But, after all, in this as in everything else one must be hopeful
Unquestioned confidence
Without the least misgiving
It is an assured success
Conscious of being able to cope with the situation
Genuine confidence
It is in no wise inimical to your interests
To believe him guilty of deliberate mendacity would be painful
With undiminished confidence
With radiant hopes
We are able for it
A place of peace and unfailing cheeriness
A cheery greeting
In high glee
With many a cheering smile
He manifests a cheerful willingness
Deeply and unfeignedly happy
It is a cheerful sign of progress when
He is capable of taking the highest view which the circumstances of the case may admit
He has the habit of holding an expectant attitude
To attain that will be a supreme delight
He is all the time pressing forward with keen expectancy
There are many hopeful aspects of the situation
The situation is greatly improved
May we have a part in bringing in a new and better day
A happy augury for the future
A happy prospect
Like a sunbeam on a winter’s day
With superb optimism
Let us do it with a shout
A jubilant mood
I am fully prepared for all eventualities
He is quite sure of himself
He has a new and sure grip on the facts
In the full assurance of success
It may be averred with confidence that——
I have every assurance that——
In the result alone will be confidence
I have the certitude of all this
He staked his faith on——
With the easy assurance of——
PARTIAL
Incomplete Meager
A beggarly account of——
The whole truth is not known
That is not the sole question
We have not heard the whole of the facts
He does but scant justice to——
PASSION
Fervency Zeal
Like a fire in the bones
With soul aflame for truth and justice
His one absorbing passion
His whole concern centered in——
The thought was like a raging fever
With a great strain of the eternal in his message
A spiritual passion which would break through all formal proprieties
He seemed obsessed with the desire to——
PATIENCE
Endurance Forbearance
What can’t be cured must be endured
A small stock of patience
Time brings everything to those who wait
We must placidly bear the strain of——
You have an infinite deal of patience
With the most angelic patience
Least said, soonest mended
PATRIOTIC
Democratic Loyal
Putting other ambitions aside in order to serve his country
A noble temper of patriotism
The great humane movements of events towards liberty
The accents of democracy
Against the notion that whatever is profitable is right
A passion for ideals
The unspeakable boon of freedom
The foundations of a mighty nation
Aflame with the spirit of opposition against tyrannies
A thorough-going patriot
A magnificent spirit of self-abnegation
In the ardor of self-sacrifice
Hearts afire with love for liberty
Unshakable loyalty
Emblem of everything we hold most dear and desirable
A royal pride of country
Soundly and unimpeachably a loyal citizen
The new patriotism
The golden age of the federation of the world
A world-wide democracy
A United States of the world
A world patriotism
A universal alliance
A league of peace
A glorious future for the nations of the world
International patriotism
A democracy as broad as humanity
International federation
The new prosperity
One of our chief claims to glory is——
Universal democracy
A supreme court of arbitrament
A peace federation
The end of autocracies
The end of secret diplomacy
It is subversive of every principle of our democracy
Pan-Americanism
The menace of military might——
The most far-reaching extensions of freedom and democracy the world has ever known
The unconquerable mind of freemen
As fine soldiers as ever despised death
Shakespeare
This land of such dear souls, this dear-dear land. _King Richard II._, II., 1
Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s. _King Henry VIII._, III., 2
God, for some strong purpose, steel’d the hearts of men. _King Richard II._, V., 2
Let men say we be men of good government. _I. King Henry IV._, I., 2
Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts, that no dissension hinder government. _III. King Henry VI._, IV., 6
I do love my country’s good with a respect more tender, more holy and profound. _Coriolanus_, III., 3
I have watch’d the night, ay, night by night, in studying good for England. _II. King Henry VI._, III., 1
England never did, nor never shall, lie at the proud foot of a conqueror. _King John_, V., 7
In our country’s cause fell bravely. _Cymbeline_, V., 4
Good fortune bids us pause, and smooth the frowns of war with peaceful looks. _III. King Henry VI._, II., 6
PENALTY
Punishment Forfeit
Sent to cool his heels in——
He got what was due to him
He is face to face with the remorseless judgment of his times
He would have been put to it to have gotten into a worse quagmire than——
This will make interesting reading for——
Reaping a dragon-tooth harvest
The direct result of his own unsocial acts
The direful consequences of——
PERPLEXED
Nonplused Mystified
Utterly at sea
I am really at the end of my tether
I am mightily at a loss to know what——
This further complicates the problem
And in like quandary I find myself touching the——
It is very vague
I had it inchoately in my mind
We cannot make much of it
His thoughts do not run in the natural order of sequence
An inextricable dilemma
My wits faint. _Romeo and Juliet_, II., 4
Involved in inextricable confusion
Left in a mood of perplexity
Utterly inscrutable
The problem is surely perplexing
Full of confusion worse confounded
It would serve only to becloud the issue
A question of sufficient complexity to tax the power of the wisest
PESSIMISTIC
Cynical Gloomy
A peddler of pessimism
He has always had a plentiful stock of gloomy ideas
A heart of lead in my breast
It hangs like a dark pall over——
The unpleasant intelligence of——
The most ominous feature of it all was——
Any attempt was foredoomed to failure
No rosy delusions should be permitted to warp our judgment
There is a little of the melancholy element in——
Augured evil
Doleful recollections
Smothered under the wet blanket of——
He indulges in the gloomiest forebodings
A most discouraging frame of mind
Fallen into the Slough of Despond
I found myself under my juniper tree
It is the very mystery of perversity
He is in a woeful state of mind
A sense of desolation
There came upon my heart an intolerable burden of despondency
A dreary conclusion
The unexpected and adverse strokes of fortune
A damper of my hopes
A gloomy consolation
A discouraging moment
Friendless, homeless, hopeless, undone
Impossible of accomplishment
Grave symptoms
A forlorn hope
A nameless foreboding
One has to be optimistic to find anything hopeful in the present outlook
A somber and mournful aspect
A sign of ill omen
He has the habit of dating existence by the memory of its burdens
A sea of trouble
Under the pressure of calamity
A welter of sordid interests
A very flood of wretchedness
A sorry plight
Moments when one grows sick of mankind
Inexpressibly miserable
A very gloomy report
He is etching the black pictures deeper and deeper into his consciousness
By some strange fatality
Hearts bursting with despair
A terrible legacy
With a groan of sickening remorse
With a sense of desolation
Many vicissitudes
All true in a finished civilization
He has seen many a bitter day of sorely tried hopes
The many accessories of evil
Crushed by burdens
The misspent strivings of mankind
Errant human nature
To move in paralyzing dread
Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward
A particularity which converts every trifle into a thorn
A dark and stormy sea
PICTURESQUE
Poetic Graphic
The singing river
The place of wraithing tempests
The mood of poetry
The slow wind crooning among the pines
The dank odor of autumn leaves
The scent of damask roses
A skein of cloud
A star of orange light
A dim blue haze
A gently sloping hill
A shimmer of golden sunlight
A blossom passing fair
Delicious days
A cloud of fire
Lingering lover-wise
A billowy prairie
Nodding grasses
Rugged seas
The merriest voices of the spring
Deathless music
The jargon of the tempest
Lovely, ivy-mantled
Checkered with sunlight and shadow
The distant gloom of foreboding mountains
Bewilderments of beauty
The ermine of the snows
Marble dawns
The first kindling stars of dusk
Pine-grown mountains
_En rapport_ with the earth
A bewildering field of fragrance and delight
A robe of verdure
The inviting air
Lovely clusters
Gracefully pendent
Delicately adorned
The balmy breath of spring
Fair as virgin snows
Grand with imperial purple
The silence of eternity
PLEASED
Glad Delighted
Sweeter than honey and the honey-comb
I am quite in raptures with——
To my great satisfaction, I——
I do not know a pleasure more appealing than——
You cannot imagine what pleasure it gives me to——
I went on my way with a merry heart
There is a certain undiluted bliss in——
Cheering in a high degree
Could anything be more agreeable than——
As bright as a sunbeam
I am very glad and genuinely pleased that——
I think it admirable and meets the case fully
The most gratifying features of the——
Frank delight
Out of sheer enjoyment of doing it
I dote upon it
It was most gratifying
I enjoyed it prodigiously
Not an inconsequential part
This is indeed a pleasure
I greatly rejoice in the——
We always look back with pleasure to——
It is gratifying to know that——
I was never so proud of it as I am to-day
This is the panacea for all my disabilities
This is the elixir of life
I had the good fortune to——
This is certainly ideal
Enamored of——
Perfectly in raptures over——
To my agreeable disappointment I found that——
Genuinely glad
I am quite delighted
We were delighted beyond measure
To my inexpressible delight
Much to our profit and delight
In the most delightful fashion
A day I still recall with pleasure
It exceeded my greatest expectation
A wonderful time
This is the sort of thing I enjoy
I like the idea very much
That’s simply splendid
There is an unfailing charm in it
A delightful idea truly
I like it prodigiously
Isn’t that jolly
Of first-rate merit
I was highly pleased with it
It was in the best taste
It is a beautiful piece of industrial accomplishment
I call it a delightful spectacle
A capital idea
Altogether a fine thing
A sentiment worthy of emulation
A source of constant pleasure
A very real asset
With none of the slight faults of immaturity
It is an uplifting habit
The sight filled me with admiration
Of no ordinary cleverness
It was perfectly splendid
It is a fine instance of
It called forth unqualified admiration
It was strikingly impressive
The result exceeded my most sanguine expectations
The finest flower that ever blossomed
It is an amiable habit by no means to be discouraged
Genuine gratification
Much to our profit and delight
POINT
Crux Gist
Very much to the point
That is the very core of it
There is the milk in the cocoanut
You hit the nail on the head
The crux of the whole matter is——
The paramount issue is——
More truth than fiction
That is where the shoe pinches
It went straight and close to the very heart of——
That is the sum and substance of the whole matter
To the point
Here in a nutshell is the——
The case could not be put more succinctly
An epitome of——
The very quintessence of——
To comprehend it all in a word
POLITICAL
Diplomatic Legislative
An unworthy piece of legislation
An odious piece of class legislation
A grave indictment of independent citizenship
Names of genuine weight on the roster of delegates
Signs of a genuine awakening in the nation
Deliberate malfeasance in office
A flagrant offense against public opinion
Indulging simply in pure buncombe
Logrolling schemes
A public disgrace
A blaze of popular resentment
Political fakery
Blind partisanship
An unfortunate deadlock
Public apathy
Under the old régime
In the initial days of the campaign
A shifty self-seeking politician
Astute diplomats
A corrupt public sentiment
From long association with politics
The real state of affairs in the nation
The last word of political wisdom
The pressing questions of the hour
Facts officially winked at
Recreant to a solemn trust
A sincere desire to safeguard the public
Refreshing to the people
Close to the heart of affairs
Hesitating at no extravagance
These recriminations go on endlessly
An era of good feeling
For political advantage
Scrupulously avoiding any offense against his party
One of the most prominent and potential among the leaders of his party
One cannot blame him for being resentful when the organ of his party flouts and ridicules him
He is quick to anticipate the veerings of public taste
It is regarded as a mere eczema on the body politic
The engrossing questions of the day
We must set ourselves to hunt out helpful policies
A stroke of diplomacy
Guilty of gross political impropriety
In the throes of an acute political crisis
A diplomatic victory
A new world order
Special interests
Political vicissitudes
Desirable reforms
Certain inalienable rights
Astute leadership
Political prestige
Leaving the individual decision to each man’s enlightened judgment
Upon the firm foundation of liberty, justice, and equality
Conspicuous in public affairs
POSSIBLE
Contingent Probable
In the event that——
If conditions are favorable
If the Fates smile
It is possible and not by any means improbable that——
The argument is thoroughly convincing if——
The antecedent probability is——
Entirely within the realm of probability
It is highly probable that——
It is by no means unthinkable that——
There is a bare possibility that——
In any event——
If this is an acceptable explanation then——
Were it not for “If” and “But” we should all be rich forever
That is humanly conceivable
Perfectly possible
It might be a very happy means of——
PREJUDICED
Biased Narrow
A prejudice sevenfold in thickness
Wresting it to suit a preconceived theory
Blind prejudices
It is another case of not being able to see the woods for the trees
The wish the father to the thought
He is crotchety and full of conceits
He is wedded to his opinions
He has no adequate idea of the task
It is a piece of embittered old fogeyism
It is based purely on personal considerations
Arrogantly ignorant
He approaches every problem from a preconceived point of view
He gives his energies to fanning the flame of——
For an unprejudiced mind it is not difficult to admit the reasonableness of the claim of——
Subject to spasmodic deafness
If he doesn’t understand a thing he damns it
PRIVILEGE
Latitude Freedom
The grant of a blank check
A free hand
It leaves a charming latitude of guessing
_Carte blanche_
Free from all allegiance to——
He exercises a freeman’s right
Tenfold the justification for——
PROGRESS
Advance Development
The growing magnitude of——
It passed from a dream to a reality
It is fated to grow into greatness
It is a step forward in the right direction
It will mean that we have taken a big step toward——
It forged a new link in the chain of progress
A thorough-going reform
In no small degree the progress is due to——
Now we have passed away beyond that
Unhampered development
A genuine step toward——
The desire is growing by geometrical progression
A constructive program
An aggressive movement
The chariot of progress
In the experimental stage
PROPHESY
Conjecture Guess
The suggestion is not wholly fanciful that——
Judging the future by the past there will be——
My forecast was correct
Whether or not he accurately divined all the——
It is altogether likely that——
We may probably conjecture some of the steps
A sure precursor of——
Only a bold prophet would predict when the——
Extravagant conjecture
I lay no claim to the predictive function of a prophet
’Tis likely by all conjectures. _King Henry VIII._, II., 1
One may hazard the conjecture that——
A purely supposititious case
The hypothesis is based upon the supposed fact that——
Purely guesswork
PURPOSE
Aim Ambition
It has been a settled policy of my life to——
It is singleness of aim that gives him driving power
A man careless of all save the pursuit of his ideal
A great solidarity of purpose
To fulfil our purpose it is necessary to see clear and think straight
The problem has now to be envisaged from a wider angle
He is under the domination of great ideals
The purpose is unimpeachable
He is working toward the accomplishment of some high purpose
With rare purity of motive
We trust the scheme has been planned upon adequate lines
Not swerving from the path of duty
Simply and solely for the purpose of——
The avowed aim of——
A high degree of unity of purpose
Serious purpose
Filled with lofty aspirations
That’s the golden mark I seek to hit. _II. King Henry VI._, I., 1
Spirits are not finely touch’d but to fine issues. _Measure for Measure_, I., 1
Dominant aims
QUESTIONING
Interrogation Inquiry
In what essential respect does it differ from——
Of what avail is it if——
Let us raise the inquiry how——
I would like to venture a question
Have you come upon any traces of——
You probably mean by that——
Is not that sufficient explanation
Can I depend on you
May I ask why——
On what grounds do you base your decision that——
May I inquire what your version is of——