Chapter 2

With the help of the dictionary discriminate between the members of the following pairs. Determine whether the words are correctly used in the illustrative sentences. (Some are; some are not.)

<Fiery, inflammable>. "He delivered a fiery address." "The underbrush was dry and fiery." "Your disposition is too inflammable."

<Lean, attenuated>. "The fat man had grown attenuated." "Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look." "The hot metal was then drawn into an attenuated wire." "Only a lean line of our soldiers faced the dense masses of the enemy."

<Home-like, domestic>. "The scene was quiet and domestic." "It is home-like, inexpressibly dear." "To Waltham, heartsick from his wanderings, the room in all its arrangements was thoroughly domestic."

<Vigilant, watchful>. "We must be vigilant if we would maintain our liberty." "He was wakeful, even watchful, though not from set purpose." "He was vigilant for evidences of friendship."

<Building, edifice>. "It is a big, barn-like building." "Spare yonder sacred edifice." "This is the most imposing building I ever saw."

<Hole, aperture>. "I poked a stick into the aperture which the crawfish had made." "Through the aperture of the partly open door I gazed out on the street." "The hole of the hornet's nest was black with the emerging and angry insects."

<Farming, agriculture>. "Two hundred students graduated this year from the college of farming." "For long years he had devoted himself to the homely, grinding tasks of agriculture." "I have looked rather carefully into the theories of farming."

<Rest, repose>. "He obtained some repose even while standing." "We wished for a moment's rest from our exertions." "Worn out, he was compelled to seek repose." "Lincoln's face in repose was very melancholy."

<Help, aid>. "The man was so injured he could do nothing for himself; I had to aid him." "Help, help!" "Aid us, O God, in our sore distress." "The little fellow could not quite get the bundle to his shoulder; a passerby helped him."

<Hide, conceal>. "By refraining from comment he hid his connection with the affair." "Wild creatures hide themselves by means of their protective coloring." "The frost on the panes conceals the landscape from you." "Do not hide your misdeeds from your mother."

In the following list only the native member of each pair is given. Determine what the classic member is, and frame sentences to illustrate the correct use of the two words. (Make a conscientious effort to find the classic member by means of its parallelism with the native. If, and after, you definitely fail in any instance to find it, obtain a clue to it through study of the words in List G. Every pair in that list is clearly suggestive of one or more pairs in this list.)

nightly,-- motherly,-- breadth,-- buy,-- hot,-- fall,-- thought,-- sleeplessness,-- fatherly,-- yearly,-- outer,-- depth,-- womanly,-- speech,--

Discriminate between the members of each of the following pairs, and frame sentences to illustrate the correct use of the two words.

freedom, liberty well, cistern freedom, independence give, donate free, acquit happen, occur door, portal lessen, abate begin, commence lessen, diminish behead, decapitate forefathers, ancestors belief, credence friend, acquaintance belief, credulity lead, conduct swear, vow end, finish curse, imprecate end, complete curse, anathema end, terminate die, expire warn, admonish die, perish warn, caution die, succumb rich, affluent lively, vivacious wealthy, opulent walk, ambulate help, assistance leave, depart help, succor leave, abandon answer, reply go with, accompany find out, ascertain go before, precede take, appropriate hasten, accelerate shrewd, astute quicken, accelerate breathe, respire speed, celerity busy, industrious hatred, animadversion growing, crescent fearful, timorous grow, increase

Cover with a piece of paper the classic (right-hand) members of the following pairs, and if possible ascertain what they are by studying the native members. Frame sentences to illustrate the correct use of both words in each pair.

neighborhood, vicinity hang, impend hang, suspend rash, impetuous flood, inundation drunk, intoxicated harmful, injurious tool, instrument mind, intellect mad, insane birth, nativity sail, navigate sailor, mariner ship, vessel lying, mendacious upright, erect early, premature upright, vertical first, primary shake, vibrate raise, elevate swing, oscillate lift, elevate leaves, foliage greet, salute beg, importune choose, select beggar, mendicant choose, elect smell, odor same, identical sink, submerge name, nominate dip, immerse follow, pursue room, apartment follow, succeed see, perceive teach, instruct see, inspect teach, inculcate sight, visibility teacher, pedagogue sight, vision tiresome, tedious sight, spectacle empty, vacant glasses, spectacles farewell, valediction

Cover with a piece of paper the native (left-hand) members of the following pairs, and if possible ascertain what they are by studying the classic members. Frame sentences to illustrate the correct use of both words in each pair.

skin, cuticle thunder, fulminate skin, integument sleep-walking, somnambulism hide, epidermis bird, ornithology fleshly, carnal bird, aviary hearer, auditor bee, apiary snake, serpent bending, flexible heap, aggregation wrinkle, corrugation laugh, cachinnation slow, dilatory laughable, risible lime, calcimine fear, trepidation coal, lignite live, exist man, anthropology bridal, nuptial winter, hibernate wed, marry gap, hiatus husband/wife, spouse right, ethical shore, littoral showy, ostentatious forswear, perjure spelling, orthography steal, peculate time, chronology steal, embezzle handbook, manual lockjaw, tetanus hole, cavity mistake, error dig, excavate mistake, erratum boil, tumor wink, nictation tickle, titillate blessing, benediction dry, desiccated wet, humid warm, tepid flirt, coquet forgetfulness, oblivion fiddle, violin sky, firmament sky, empyrean flatter, compliment flee, abscond flight, fugitive forbid, prohibit hinder, impede hold, contain

For each of the following pairs frame a sentence which shall contain one of the members. Can the other member be substituted without affecting the meaning of the sentence? Read the discrimination of _Height-altitude_ in EXERCISE - Parallels. Ask yourself similar questions to bring out the distinction between the two words you are considering.

threat, menace call, summon talk, commune cleanse, purify short, terse short, concise better, ameliorate lie, recline new, novel straight, parallel lawful, legitimate law, litigation law, jurisprudence flash, coruscate late, tardy watch, chronometer foretell, prognosticate king, emperor winding, sinuous hint, insinuate burn, incinerate fire, incendiarism bind, constrict crab, crustacean fowls, poultry lean, incline flat, level flat, vapid sharpness, acerbity sharpness, acrimony shepherd, pastor word, vocable choke, suffocate stifle, suffocate clothes, raiment witness, spectator beat, pulsate mournful, melancholy beginning, incipient drink, imbibe light, illuminate hall, corridor stair, escalator anger, indignation fight, combat sleight-of-hand, prestidigitation build, construct tree, arbor ask, interrogate wench, virgin frisk, caper fill, replenish water, irrigate silly, foolish coming, advent feeling, sentiment old, antiquated forerunner, precursor sew, embroider unload, exonerate grave, sepulcher readable, legible tell, narrate kiss, osculate nose, proboscis striking, percussion green, verdant stroke, concussion grass, verdure bowman, archer drive, propel greed, avarice book, volume stingy, parsimonious warrior, belligerent bath, ablution owner, proprietor wrong, incorrect bow, obeisance top, summit kneel, genuflection food, nutrition work, occupation seize, apprehend shut, close field, agrarian

Turn back to Lists A, B, C, D, E, and F. Discriminate between the members of each pair contained in these lists. Frame sentences to illustrate the correct use of the words.

VII

SYNONYMS IN LARGER GROUPS (1)

In considering pairs we have, without using the word, been studying synonyms. For most pairs are synonyms (or in some instances antonyms) that hunt in couples. We must now deal with synonyms, and incidentally antonyms, as they associate themselves in larger groups.

A vocabulary is impoverished. Why? Nine times in ten, because of a disregard of synonyms. Listen to the talk of the average person. Whatever is pleasing is _fine_ or _nice_ or _all to the good_; whatever is displeasing is _bum_ or _awful_ or _a fright_. Life is reflected, not as noble and complex, but as mean and meager. Out of such stereotyped utterance only the general idea emerges. The precise meaning is lazily or incompetently left to the hearer to imagine. The precise meaning? There is none. A person who does not take the trouble to speak clearly has not taken the trouble to think clearly.

But the master of synonyms expresses, instead of general, hazy, commonplace conceptions, the subtlest shadings of thought and feeling. He has so trained himself that he selects, it may be unconsciously, from a throng of possible words. One word may be strong, another weak. One may be broad, another narrow. One may present an alternative in meanings, another permit no liberty of choice. One may be suggestive, another literal or colorless. One may penetrate to the core of the idea, another strike only in the environs. With these possibilities the master of synonyms reckons. He must have the right word. He chooses it, not at haphazard, but in conformity with a definite purpose.

For synonyms are not words that have the same meaning. They are words that have similar meanings. They may be compared to circles that overlap but do not coincide. Each embraces a common area, but each embraces also an area peculiar to itself. Though many words cluster about a given idea, rarely if ever are even two of these words entirely equivalent to each other. In scope, in suggestion, in emotional nuance, in special usage, or what not, is sure to lurk some denial of perfect correspondence. And of synonyms, so of antonyms. Antonyms are words opposite in meaning; but the opposition, for the same reasons as the likeness, is seldom or never absolute.

In your study of synonyms you will find most of the dictionaries previously named of great help. You may also profitably consult the following books of synonyms (heavy, scholastic works not suited for ordinary use are omitted):

Edith B. Ordway: _Synonyms and Antonyms_. A compact, practical volume, with antonyms (in italics for contrast) immediately following synonyms.

Louis A. Flemming: _Putnam's Word Book_. A book of the ordinarily used synonyms of words, with antonyms after some of them, and with lists of associated words wherever these are likely to be useful.

Samuel Fallows: _100,000 Synonyms and Antonyms_. A handy little volume, with useful lists of various kinds in appendices.

Richard Soule: _Dictionary of English Synonyms_ [revised and enlarged by George H. Howison]. A much larger and more expensive book than the others, and less practical for ordinary use, but fuller in treatment of material, with words of more than one meaning carefully divided into their various senses.

George Crabb: _English Synonyms_. A standard volume for over 100 years. Has close distinctions, but is somewhat scholarly for ordinary use. Revised edition of 1917, omitting illustrative quotations from literature, not so good as editions before that date.

James C. Fernald: _English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions_. A pleasing book to read, with much information about the use of words and their shades of meaning (with exercises), also with proper prepositions to follow words. Material taken from the _Standard Dictionary_.

Peter Mark Roget: _Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases_. Issued in many editions and revisions. Words grouped under general ideas. An excellent book for serious and laborious study, but not for quick use.

The best principle for the extension of one's mastery of synonyms is the principle already used over and over in this book--that of proceeding from the known to the unknown. It is the fundamental principle, indeed, of any kind of successful learning. We should build on what we have, fit each new piece of material into the structure already erected. But normally it is our ill fortune to learn through chance rather than through system. We perceive elucidation here, draw an inference there. These isolated fragments of knowledge may mislead rather than inform us.

The principle of proceeding from the known to the unknown may be applied to synonyms in various ways. Two of these--the two of most importance--we must consider here.

First, you should reckon with your personal, demonstrated needs. Just as you have already analyzed your working vocabulary for its general limits and shortcomings, so should you analyze it with particular reference to your poverty in synonyms. Watch your actual speech; make a list of the words--nouns, verbs, and adjectives particularly--that you employ again and again. Make each of these words the starting-point for a linguistic exploring expedition. First, write the word down. Then under it write all the synonyms that come forthwith to your mind. These constitute your present available stock; in speaking or writing you could, if you kept yourself mentally alert, summon them on the moment. But the list, as you know, is not exhaustive. Draw a line under it and subjoin such synonyms as come to you after reflection. These constitute a second stock, not instantaneously available, yet to be tagged as among your resources. Next add a list of the synonyms you find through research, through a ransacking of dictionaries and books of synonyms. This third stock, but dimly familiar if familiar at all, is in no practical sense yours. And indeed some of the words are too abstruse, learned, or technical for you to burden your memory with them. But many--most--are worth acquiring. By writing down the words of these three classes you have done something to stamp them upon your memory as associates. You must now make it your business to bring them into use. Never call upon them for volunteers, but like a wise commander summon the individual that can rightly perform a particular service. Thus will your speech, perhaps vague and indolent now, become exact, discriminating, competent, vital.

In the second place, you should obtain specific and detailed command of general ideas. Not of out-of-the-way ideas. But of the great basic ideas that are the common possession of all mankind. For through these basic ideas is the most natural and profitable approach to the study of synonyms. Each of them is represented by a generic word. So elementary are idea and word alike that a person cannot have the one in mind without having the other ready and a-quiver on his tongue. Every person is master of both. But it is unsafe to predicate the person's acquaintance with the shades and phases of the idea, or with the corresponding discriminations in language. He may not know them at all, he may know them partially, he may know them through and through. Let us suppose him ignorant of them but determined to learn. His progress, both in the thought and in the language, will be from the general to the specific. His acquaintance with the idea in the large he will gradually extend to an acquaintance with it in detail, and his command of the broad term for it he will little by little supplement with definite terms for its phases. An illustration will make this clear.

We are aware that the world is made up of various classes and conditions of men. How did we learn this? Let us go back to the time when our minds were a blank, when we were babes and sucklings, when we had not perceived that men exist, much less that mankind is infinitely complex. A baby comes slowly to understand that all objects in the universe are divisible into two classes, human and non-human, and that a member of the former may be separated from the others and regarded as an individual. It has reached the initial stage of its knowledge on the subject; it has the basic idea, that of the individual human being. As soon as it can speak, it acquires a designating term--not of course the sophisticated _human being_, but the simpler _man_. It uses this word in the generic sense, to indicate _any_ member of the human race; for as yet it knows nothing and cares nothing about differences in species. With increasing enlightenment, however, it discerns five species, and distinguishes among them by swelling this branch of its vocabulary to five words: man (in the sense of adult male), woman, boy, girl, baby. (To be sure, it may chance to have acquired a specific term, as _boy_ or _baby_, before the generic term _man_; but if so, it has attached this term to some particular individual, as the grocer's boy or itself, rather than to the individuals of a species. Its understanding of the species as a species comes after its understanding of the genus.) As time passes, it divides mankind into yet further species by sundry other methods: according to occupation, for example, as doctors, chauffeurs, gardeners; to race or color, as white men; negroes, Malays, Chinese; to disposition, as heroes, gift-givers, teasers, talkers; and so on. It perceives moreover that species are made up of sub-species. Thus instead of lumping all boys together it begins to distinguish them as big boys, little boys, middle-sized boys, boys in long trousers, boys in short trousers, barefoot boys, schoolboys, poor boys, rich boys, sick boys, well boys, friends, enemies, bullies, and what not. It even divides the sub-species. Thus it classifies schoolboys as bright boys, dullards, workers, shirkers, teachers' favorites, scapegoats, athletes, note-throwers, truant-players, and the like. And of these classes it may make yet further sub-divisions, or at least it may separate them into the individuals that compose them. In fine, with its growing powers and experience, it abandons its old conception that all persons are practically alike, and follows human nature through the countless ramifications of man's status, temperament, activities, or fate. And it augments its vocabulary to keep pace, roughly at least, with its expanding ideas. In thought and terminology alike its growth is from genus to species.

So it is with all our ideas and with all our words to cap them. We radiate from an ascertained center into new areas of knowledge; we proceed from the broad, fundamental, generic to the precise, discriminatory, specific. Upon this natural law are based the exercises in this chapter and the two to follow. The starting-point is always a word representative of an elementary idea--a word and an idea which everybody knows; the advance is into the unknown or the unused, at any rate into the particular. Now fundamental ideas are not very numerous, and these exercises include the commoner ones. Such a method of studying synonyms must therefore yield large and tangible results.

One matter, however, should be explained. Most books of synonyms start with a word and list all the terms in any way related to it. The idea of the compilers is that the more they give the student the more they help him. But oftentimes by giving more than is strictly pertinent they actually hinder and confuse him. They may do this in various ways, of which two must be mentioned. First, they follow an idea too far afield. Thus in listing the synonyms of _love_ they include such terms as _kindness_ and _lenity_, words only through stretched usage connected with _love_. Secondly, they trace, not one meaning of a word, but two or more unrelated meanings when the word chances to possess them. Thus in listing the synonyms of _cry_ they include both the idea of weeping and the idea of calling or screaming. What are the results of these methods? The student finds a clutter where he expects rationalized order; he finds he must exclude many words which lie in the borders and fringes of the meaning. Moreover he finds mere chance associations mingled with marked kinships. In both cases he finds dulled distinctions.

This book offers synonyms that are apropos and definite rather than comprehensive. Starting with a basic idea, it finds the generic term; it then disregards dim and distant relationships, confines itself rigorously to one of perhaps two or three legitimate senses, and refuses to consider the peculiar twists and devious ways of subsidiary words when they wander from the idea it is tracing. It thus deliberately blinds itself to much that is interesting. But this partial blindness enables it to concentrate attention upon the matter actually under study, to give sharper distinctions and surer guidance.

EXERCISE A

After three introductory groups (dealing with thoroughly concrete ideas and words) the synonyms in this exercise are arranged alphabetically according to the first word in each group.

This first word is generic. It is immediately followed by a list of its synonyms. These are then informally discriminated or else (in a few instances) questions are asked about them. Perhaps a few less closely related synonyms are then listed for you to discriminate in a similar way. Finally, illustrative sentences are given. Each blank in these you are to fill with the word that conveys the meaning exactly. (To prevent monotony and inattention, the number of illustrative sentences varies. You may have to use a particular word more than once, and another word not at all.)

<Walk, plod, trudge, tread, stride, stalk, strut, tramp, march, pace, toddle, waddle, shuffle, mince, stroll, saunter, ramble, meander, promenade, prowl, hobble, limp, perambulate.>

Any one may be said to _walk_ who moves along on foot with moderate speed. He _plods_ if he walks slowly and heavily, and perhaps monotonously or spiritlessly as well. He _trudges_ if he walks toilsomely and wearily, as though his feet were heavy. He _treads_ if his walk is suggestive of a certain lightness and caution--if, for instance, he seems half-uncertain whether to proceed and sets one foot down carefully before the other. He _strides_ if he takes long steps, especially in a firm, pompous, or lofty manner. He _stalks_ if there is a certain stiffness or haughtiness in his walking. He _struts_ if he walks with a proud or affectedly dignified gait, especially if he also raises his feet high. He _tramps_ if he goes for a long walk, as for pleasure or enjoyment out-of-doors. He _marches_ if he walks in a measured, ordered way, especially in company with others. He _paces_ if he engages in a measured, continuous walk, as from nervousness, impatience, or anger. He _toddles_ if his steps are short, uneven, and unsteady, like those of a child. He _waddles_ if his movement is ungainly, with a duck-like swaying from side to side. He _shuffles_ if he drags his feet with a scraping noise. He _minces_ if he takes short steps in a prim, precise, or affectedly nice manner. He _strolls_ or _saunters_ if he goes along in an easy, aimless, or idle fashion. He _rambles_ if he wanders about, with no definite aim or toward no definite goal. He _meanders_ if he proceeds slowly and perhaps listlessly in an ever-changing course, as if he were following the windings of the crooked Phrygian river, Meander. He _promenades_ if he walks in a public place, as for pleasure or display. He _prowls_ if he moves about softly and stealthily, as in search of prey or booty. He _hobbles_ if he jerks along unevenly, as from a stiff or crippled condition of body. He _limps_ if he walks lamely. He _perambulates_ when he walks through, perhaps for observation or inspection. _(Perambulates_ is of course a learned word.)

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <sneak, shamble, amble, wander, stamp, slouch, gad, gallivant, glide, hike>.

_Sentences_: They ____ down the lane in the moonlight. Rip Van Winkle loved to ____ about the mountains. "The plowman homeward ____ his weary way." The old man ____ down the street with his cane. The excavators ____ about the ruins in search of relics. He ____ about the room, almost bursting with importance. The nervous man ____ up and down the station platform. They ____ along the beach at the sea resort. The baby learned to ____ when it was eleven months old. The two of them ____ about the field all day hunting rabbits. A ghost, so they tell me, ____ about the haunted house at midnight. He carefully ____ the plank that spans the abyss. The baby ____ toward us with outstretched arms. The Chinaman ____ out of the back room of the laundry in his carpet slippers. They caught glimpses of gaunt wolves ____ about their campfire. He was terrified when the giant ____ into the room. The fat lady ____ down the aisle of the street car. The sick man will ____ a few steps each day until he is stronger. A turkey cock ____ about the barnyard. A boy with a rag tied around his toe ____ painfully down the street. They reported to the police that a man had been ____ about the place. She held her skirts daintily and ____ along as if she were walking on eggs. The lovers ____ along the banks of the stream. He ____ through the hall like a conqueror. The children wore themselves out by ____ through the snow to school. We ____ through the meadows, often stooping to pick flowers as we went. The soldiers ____ into camp at nightfall.

<Laugh, giggle, snicker, titter, chuckle, guffaw, cachinnate.>

What differences in human nature, conditions, and disposition are revealed by laughter! If a person gives audible expression to mirth, gayety, or good-humor, the simplest word to apply to what he does is _laugh_. But suppose a girl, with slight or insufficient provocation, engages in silly or foolish though perhaps involuntary laughter. We should say she _giggles_. Suppose a youngster is amused at an inappropriate moment and but partly suppresses his laughter; or suppose he wilfully permits the breaking forth of just enough laughter to indicate disrespect. He _snickers_. Suppose a person gives a little, light laugh; or more especially, suppose a crowd gives such an one as the result of slight, simultaneous amusement. Our word now is _titters_. Suppose we laugh low or gently or to ourselves. We _chuckle_. Suppose some one laughs loudly, boisterously, even coarsely, in a manner befitting a lumber camp rather than a drawing room. That person _guffaws_. Suppose a man engages in explosive and immoderate laughter. He _cachinnates_.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <chortle, roar>.

_Second assignment_: Name all the words you can that designate inaudible laughter (for example, <smile, smirk, grin>).

_Sentences_: The rough fellow ____ in the lecturer's face. "If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not ____?" He kept ____ at the thought of the surprise he would give them. "The swain mistrustless of his smutted face, While secret laughter ____ round the place." The ill-bred fellow was ____ with strident, violent, irritating sounds. "The little dog ____ to see such sport." The audience ____ when the speaker's glasses began to slip from his nose. The girl kept ____ in a way that embarrassed us both. The small boy ____ when the preacher's notes fluttered out of the Bible to the floor. The rude fellows ____ at this evidence of my discomfiture. He ____ very kindly and told me not to feel any regrets. The little maids tried to be polite, but ____ irrepressibly.

<Look, glance, gaze, stare, peer, scan, scrutinize, gloat, glare, glower, lower, peek, peep, gape, con, pore, ogle.>

A person simply directs his eyes to see. He _looks_. But eyes may speak, we are told, and since this person undergoes many changes of mood and purpose, we shall let his eyes tell us all they will about his different manners of looking. At first he but looks momentarily (as from lack of time) or casually (as from lack of interest). He _glances_. Soon he makes a business of looking, and fastens his eyes for a long time on something he admires or wonders at. He _gazes_. Presently he looks with a blank, perhaps a rude, expression and with eyes opened widely; he may be for the moment overcome with incomprehension, surprise, or fright, or perhaps he wishes to be insolent. He _stares_. Now he is looking narrowly or closely at something that he sees with difficulty. He _peers_. The next moment he looks over something with care or with an encompassing sweep of vision. He _scans_ it. His interest thoroughly enlisted, he looks at it carefully point by point to see that it is right in each detail. He _scrutinizes_ it. He then alters his mood, and looks with scornful or malignant satisfaction upon something he has conquered or has power over. He _gloats_. Anger, perhaps fierceness, takes possession of him, and he looks with piercing eyes. He _glares_. Threat mingles with anger, and in all likelihood he looks scowlingly or frowningly. He _glowers_. An added expression of sullenness or gloom comes into his look. He _lowers_. He throws off his dark spirit and looks slyly and playfully, let us say through a small opening. He _peeks_. Playfulness gives place to curiosity; he looks quickly and furtively, perhaps through some tiny aperture, and probably at something he has no business to see. He _peeps_. The while he looks his mouth falls open, as from stupidity or wonder. He _gapes_. He looks at something a long time to study it. He _cons_ or _pores_. His study is not of the thing itself; it is meditation or reverie. He _pores_. A member of the opposite sex is present; he looks at her with the effort of a flirt to attract attention to himself, or less scrupulous, he directs toward her amorous or inviting glances. He _ogles_.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <leer, view, survey, inspect, regard, watch, contemplate>.

_Sentences_: The inspecting officer ____ the men's equipment. The student ____ his lessons carefully. At this unexpected proposal Dobbett merely ____. Jimmie ____ at the fellow who had kicked the pup. The inquisitive maid ____ into all the the closets. He ____ over his fallen adversary. The bookkeeper ____ over his ledger. In the darkened hallway he ____ at the notices on the bulletin board. "The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth ____ from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven." From the way her father ____ the foolish, young man should have known it was time to go. He ____ long and lovingly upon the scenes he was leaving. The newcomer ____ insolently at his host and ____ the young ladies.

<Abandon, desert, forsake.>

_Abandon_ denotes absolute giving up, as from force of circumstances or shirking of responsibility. _Desert_ refers to leaving or quitting in violation of obligation, duty, or oath. _Forsake_, which may involve no culpability, usually implies a breaking off of intimate association or attachment.

_Sentences_: The sailor ____ his ship. Necessity compelled him to ____ his friends in a time of sore trouble. They hated to ____ their old haunts. A brave man never ____ hope. An unscrupulous man will ____ his principles when it is to his advantage. "When my father and my mother ____ me, then the Lord will take me up." We ____ our attempt to save the ship.

<Abase, debase, degrade, humble, humiliate, disgrace.>

To _abase_ is to bring down so that the victim feels himself lowered in estate or external condition. To _debase_ is to produce a marked decline in actual worth or in moral quality. To _degrade_ is to lower in rank or status. To _humble_ is to lower in dignity or self-esteem, or as used reflexively, to restrain one's own pride; the word often implies that the person has been over-proud or arrogant. To _humiliate_ is to deprive of self-esteem or to bring into ignominy. To _disgrace_ is to bring actual shame upon.

_Sentences_: They ____ the guilty officer from captain to lieutenant. A man should ____ himself before God. He had so ____ himself that I no longer expected good of him. His detection at cheating had ____ him before the students. By successive overlords they had been ____ into a condition of serfdom. The aristocratic old lady was ____ by her loss of social position. The conversion of so much bullion into money had ____ the coinage.

<Answer, reply, response, rejoinder, retort, repartee.>

An interesting thing about the _answer_ group is that the generic term has a somewhat strong rival in _reply_, itself fairly inclusive. We must therefore discriminate rather fully between _answer_ and _reply_. The former is a return in words to a question, a communication, or an argument. The latter suggests a more or less formal answer, as one carefully prepared or intelligently thought out. We might give an _answer_ offhand, but are less likely to give a _reply_ so. We may give any kind of _answer_ to a question, but if we give a _reply_, the implication is that we have answered it definitely, perhaps satisfactorily. On the other hand, in controversial matters we may, though we by no means always do, imply a more conclusive meeting of objections through _answer_ than through _reply_. A _response_ is an expected answer, one in harmony with the question or assertion, or in some way carrying the thought farther. A _rejoinder_ is a quick reply to something controversial or calling forth opposition. A _retort_ is a short, sharp reply, such as turns back censure or derision, or as springs from anger. A _repartee_ is an immediate and witty reply, perhaps to a remark of similar character which it is intended to surpass in cleverness.

_Sentences_: The detailed ____ to our letter should reach us within a week. The plays of Oscar Wilde abound in brilliant ____. The speaker's ____ to the heckler was incisive and scathing. My ____ to that third question in the examination in history was incorrect. The congregation read the ____ in unison. You have enumerated objections to my course; here is their ____. "This is no ____, thou unfeeling man, to excuse the current of thy cruelty." There was silence throughout the chamber as the old statesman rose to make his ____. To the tenderfoot's remark the guide mumbled an indifferent ____. Our appeal for the sufferers elicited but a poor ____.

<Ask, inquire, question, interrogate, interpellate, query, quiz, catechize, request, beg, solicit, entreat, beseech, crave, implore, supplicate, importune, petition.>

From the general tree of asking grow many branches, different in size, in the direction they take, in the shades of meaning they cast. What can we learn from a rapid scrutiny of each? That to _inquire_ is to ask for specific information. That to _question_ is to keep asking in order to obtain detailed or reluctantly given information. That to _interrogate_ is to question formally, systematically, or thoroughly. That to _interpellate_ is to question as of unchallenged right, as in a deliberative body. That to _query_ is to bring a thing into question because of doubt as to its correctness or truth. That to _quiz_ is to question closely and persistently, as from meddlesomeness, opposition, or curiosity. That to _catechize_ is to question in a minute, perhaps impertinent, manner in order to ascertain one's secrets or the amount of his knowledge or information. That to _request_ is to ask formally and politely. That to _beg_ is to ask for deferentially or humbly, especially on the ground of pity. That to _solicit_ is to ask with urgency. That to _entreat_ is to ask with strong desire and moving appeal. That to _beseech_ is to ask earnestly as a boon or favor. That to _crave_ is to ask humbly and abjectly, as though unworthy of receiving. That to _implore_ is to ask with fervor and intense earnestness. That to _supplicate_ is to ask with urgent or even desperate appeal. (Both _implore_ and _supplicate_ imply humility, as of a prayer to a superior being.) That to _importune_ is to ask for persistently, even wearyingly. That to _petition_ is to ask a superior, usually in writing, for some favor, grant, or right.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <plead, pray>.

_Sentences_: The leader of the minority ____ the upholders of the measure sharply as to a secret understanding. I ____ you to keep your promise. I shall ____ that solution for the present. The colonists ____ Great Britain for a redress of grievances. She ____ the governor to grant her husband a pardon. A child is naturally inquisitive and ____ many questions. I ____ you to show mercy. On bended knees he ____ God's forgiveness. "I'm stopp'd by all the fools I meet And ____ in every street." The policeman ____ the suspect closely. The prosecuting attorney ____ the witness. We are ____ funds to aid the famine-stricken people of India. He ____ me about your health. You should ____ at the office about the lost package. She ____ your presence at the party. Every one resents being ____. I ____ you to care for the child after I am gone. A fool can ____ questions a wise man can't answer. She annoyed them by constantly ____ them for favors. The reporter ____ into the causes of the riot. "____ and it shall be given you." I ____ your pardon, though I well know I do not deserve it. The man ____ me to give him some money for food.

<Burn, scorch, singe, sear, parch, char, incinerate, cremate, cauterize.>

If you consume or injure something by bringing it in contact with fire or heat, you _burn_ it. If you do not consume it but burn it superficially so as to change the texture or color of its surface, you _scorch_ it. If you burn off ends or projections of it, you _singe_ it. If you burn its surface to dryness or hardness, you _sear_ it. If you dry or shrivel it with heat, you _parch_ it. If through heat you reduce it to a state of charcoal, or cinders, you _char_ it. If you burn it to ashes, you _incinerate_ it. (This word is learned and but little used in ordinary discourse.) If you burn a dead body to ashes, you _cremate_ it. If you burn or sear anything with a hot iron or a corrosive substance, you _cauterize_ it.

_Sentences_: The hired girl ____ the cloth in ironing it. By getting too close to the fire he ____ the nap of his flannels. The doctor at once ____ the wound. The cook had picked the chicken and now ____ its down over the coals. I used to ____ grains of field corn on the cookstove, while my mother prepared dinner. Shelley's body was ____ on a funeral pyre. The lecturer spoke of the time when the whole earth might be ____. The earth was ____ and all growing things were ____ by the intense summer heat.

<Busy, industrious, diligent, assiduous, sedulous.>

From much of the talk that we hear nowadays it might be supposed that the earnest devotion of one's self to a task is a thing that has disappeared from the earth. But a good many people are exhibiting this very devotion. Let us see in what different degrees. The man who actively applies himself to something, whether temporarily or habitually, is _busy_. The man who makes continued application to work a principle or habit of life, is _industrious_. The man who applies himself aggressively to the accomplishment of some specific undertaking or pursuit, is _diligent_. The man who quietly and determinedly sticks to a task until it is accomplished, no matter what its difficulties or length, is _assiduous_. The man who makes steady and painstaking application to whatever he is about, is _sedulous_.

_Sentences_: Early in life he acquired ____ habits. By patient and ____ study you may overcome those defects of your early education. "How doth the ____ little bee improve each shining hour." The manager gave such ____ attention to details that he made few mistakes. He is ____ at present. Oh, yes, he is always ____. "Nowher so ____ a man has he ther has, And yet he seemed ____ than he was."

<Concise, terse, succinct, compendious, compact, sententious, pithy, laconic, curt.>

Words descriptive of brief utterance are, in nearly every instance, in their origin figurative. The brevity is brought out by comparison with something that is noticeably short or small. Let us examine the words of our list for their figurative qualities. A _concise_ statement is one that is _cut down_ until a great deal is said in a few words. A _terse_ statement is _rubbed off_, rid of unessentials. A _succinct_ statement has its important thoughts _bound_ into small compass, as by a girdle. A _compendious_ statement _weighs together_ the various thoughts and aspects of a subject; it shows by means of a few effective words just what these amount to, gives a summary of them. A _compact_ statement has its units of thought _fastened together_ into firmness of structure; its brevity is well-knit. A _sententious_ statement gives _feelings_ or _opinions_ in a strikingly pointed or axiomatic way, so that they can be easily grasped and remembered; if _sententious_ is unfavorably used, the statement may be filled with paraded platitudes. A _pithy_ statement gives the very _pith_, the heart of a matter; it is sometimes slightly quaint, always effective and arresting. A _laconic_ statement is made in the manner of _the Spartans_, who hated talk and used as few words as possible. A _curt_ statement is _made short_; its abruptness is oftentimes more or less rude.

_Sentences_: "A tale should be judicious, clear, ____, the language plain, and incidents well link'd." "Charles Lamb made the most ____ criticism of Spenser when he called him the poet's poet." With a ____, disdainful answer she turned away. The sermon was filled with ____ sayings. By omitting all irrelevant details, he made his statement of the case ____. It requires great skill to give a ____ statement of what such a treatise contains. A proverb is a ____ statement of a truth.

<Death, decease, demise.>

Men are as mindful of rank and pretension in their terms for the cessation of life as in their choice of tombstones for the departed. _Death_ is the great, democratic, unspoilable word. It is not too good for a clown or too poor for an emperor. _Decease_ is a more formal word. Its employment is often legal--the death proves to be of sufficient importance for the law (and the lawyers) to take notice. _Demise_, however, is outwardly the most resplendent term of all. It implies that the victim cut a wide swath even in death. It is used of an illustrious person, as a king, who transmits his title to an heir. Ordinary people cannot afford a _demise_. If the term is applied to their shuffling off of this mortal coil, the use is euphemistic and likely to be stilted.

_Sentences_: "The crown at the moment of ____ must descend to the next heir." "____ is a fearful thing." "In their ____ they were not divided." At the ____ of his father he inherited the estate. "Each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of ____." "Many a time I have been half in love with easeful ____."

<Early, primitive, primeval, primordial, primal, pristine.>

_Early_ is the simple word for that which was in, or toward, the beginning. That is _primitive_ which has the old-fashioned or simple qualities characteristic of the beginning. That is _primeval_ which is of the first or earliest ages. That is _primordial_ which is first in origin, formation, or development. That is _primal_ which is first or original. (The word is poetic.) That is _pristine_ which has not been corrupted from its original state.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <aboriginal, prehistoric.>

_Sentences_: It was a hardy mountain folk that preserved the ____ virtues. The ____ history of mankind is shrouded in uncertainty. "This is the forest ____." "It hath the ____ eldest curse upon 't, A brother's murder." "A ____ leaf is that which is immediately developed from the cotyledon." As the explorers penetrated farther into the country, they beheld all the ____ beauties of nature. Some countries still use the ____ method of plowing with a stick.

<Face, countenance, features, visage, physiognomy.>

We hear some one say that he reads faces. How? Through long study of them and what they indicate. The human race as a whole has been reading faces through the centuries. It has felt such need to label certain recurring aspects of them that it has invented the designating terms. Of these terms the simple, inclusive one is of course _face_ itself. If, however, we are thinking of the face as its look or expression reveals thoughts, emotions, or state of mind, our term is _countenance_. If we are thinking of it as distinguished or individualized by the contour, lines, etc., we speak of the _features_. If we are thinking of its external appearance or aspect, we call it the _visage_. If, finally, we are thinking of it as indicative of mind, disposition, or fundamental character, we say _physiognomy._

_Assignment for further discrimination_: .

_Sentences_: His grotesque ____ reminded one of a gargoyle. It is said that the ____ of persons living constantly together tend to become alike. "Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling ____." The teacher told the students to wash their ____ every morning. "A ____ more in sorrow than in anger." The firm but kind ____ of the old statesman shone happily at this ovation. "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then ____ to ____." She turned an eager ____ up to me as she spoke. One's ____ is moulded by one's thoughts. Cosmetics injure the ____. His clear-cut ____ impressed his employer.

<Financial, monetary, pecuniary, fiscal.>

_Financial_ is usually applied to money matters of considerable size or moment. _Monetary_ applies to money, coin, or currency as such. _Pecuniary_ refers to practical matters in which money is involved, though not usually in large amounts. _Fiscal_ refers especially to the time when money, receipts, and accounts are balanced or reckoned.

_Sentences_: A ____ reward has been offered. We gave the unfortunate man ____ assistance. The ____ system of the country was sound. It was Hamilton who more than any one else shaped the ____ policies of the new government. Experts audit the company's accounts at the end of the ____ year. The ____ interests of the country were behind the bill.

<Flee, abscond, decamp.>

To _flee_ is to run away from what one would avoid, as danger, arrest, or the like. To _abscond_ is to steal off secretly and hide one's self, as from some disgraceful reason or to avoid arrest. To _decamp_ is to leave suddenly in great haste to get away; the word is often used humorously.

_Sentences_: They went to have their money refunded, but the swindler had ____. The bank teller ____ after having squandered most of the deposits. Yes, we were in proximity to a polecat, and without further parley we ____. "Resist the devil, and he will ____ from you." William Wallace, when pursued by the English, ____ into the Highlands.

<Foretell, predict, prophesy, forecast, presage, forebode, portend, augur, prognosticate.>

_Foretell_ is the general word for stating or perceiving beforehand that which will happen. _Predict_ implies foretelling based on well-founded or precise knowledge. _Prophesy_ often implies supernatural inspiration to foretell correctly. The word is especially so used in connection with the Scriptures; but in the Scriptures themselves it frequently expresses insight and admonition without the element of foretelling. _Forecast_ involves a marked degree of conjecture. _Presage_ usually means to give as a presentiment or warning. _Forebode_ expresses an uncertain foreknowledge of vague impending evil. _Portend_ indicates the likelihood that something will befall which is threatening or evil in its consequences. _Augur_ means foretelling from omens. _Prognosticate_ means foretelling through the study of signs or symptoms.

_Sentences_: "For we know in part, and we ____ in part." (Insert in the blank, successively, the terms just distinguished. In each instance how is the meaning affected? Do any of the terms fail to make sense at all? Which term do you think the right one? Bearing in mind the distinctions we have made, frame sentences of your own to embody the terms.)

<Get, acquire, obtain, procure, attain, gain, win, earn.>

_Get_, the general term, may be used of whatever one comes by whatsoever means to possess, experience, or realize. To _acquire_ is to get into more or less permanent possession, either by some gradual process or by one's determined efforts. To _obtain_ is to get something desired by means of deliberate effort or request. To _procure_ is to get by definitely planned effort something which, in most instances, is of a temporary nature or the possession of which is temporary. To _attain_ is to get through striving that which one has set as a goal or end of his desire or ambition. To _gain_ is to get that which is advantageous. To _win_ is to get as the result of successful competition or the overcoming of opposition. To _earn_ is to get as a deserved reward for one's efforts or exertions.

_Sentences_: With such wages as those, he can barely ____ a living. He ____ a pardon by appealing to the governor. The speaker ____ his point by forcing his opponent to admit that the figures were misleading. By buying in June I can ____ a good overcoat at half price. Did you ____ only seven thousand dollars for your house? Walpole believed in ____ one's ends in the surest and easiest way possible. It is illegal to ____ money through false pretences. A junior ____ the prize in the oratorical contest. Kirk ____ his advancement by taking a personal interest in the firm's welfare. The painter ____ a foreign accent while he was studying in Paris. He ____ their gratitude by loyally serving them. It was through sacrifices that he ____ an education.

<Give, bestow, grant, confer, present>.

We _give_ that which we transfer from our own to another's possession or ownership, usually without compensation. We _bestow_ that which we give gratuitously, or of which the recipient stands in especial need. We _grant_ that which has been requested by one dependent upon us or inferior to us, and which we give with some formality. From a position of superiority we _confer_ as a favor or honor that which we might withhold or deny. We _present_ that which is of importance or value and which we give ceremoniously.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <furnish, supply, impart>.

_Sentences_: William the Conqueror ____ English estates upon his followers. The rich man ____ his wonderful art collection to the museum. My application for a leave of absence has been ____. The ticket agent ____ us complete information. Every year he ____ alms upon the poor in that neighborhood. The school board may ____ an increase in the salaries of teachers. Many merchants ____ premiums with the articles they sell. The college ____ an honorary degree upon the distinguished visitor. The Pilgrims ____ thanks to God for their preservation. "Not what we ____, but what we share."

<Haste, celerity, speed, hurry, expedition, despatch>.

What did John Wesley mean by saying, "Though I am always in _haste_, I am never in a _hurry_"? Does Lord Chesterfield's saying "Whoever is in a _hurry_ shows that the thing he is about is too big for him" help explain the distinction? Explain the distinction (taking _speed_ in the modern sense) in the saying "The more _haste_, ever the worse _speed_." "The tidings were borne with the usual _celerity_ of evil news." Give the well-known saying in four simple words that express the same idea. Which of the two statements is the more forceful? Which is the more literary? Why did Prescott use the former in his _Ferdinand and Isabella_? "_Despatch_," says Lord Chesterfield, "is the soul of business." What does _despatch_ suggest about getting work done that _haste_ or _speed_ does not? In which way would you prefer for your employee to go about his task--with _haste_, with _speed_, or with _despatch_? "With wingéd _expedition_, Swift as the lightning glance, he executes His errand on the wicked." Why is it that this use of _expedition_ in Milton's lines is apt? Would _despatch_ have served as well? If not, why not?

<Hate, detest, abhor, loathe, abominate, despise>.

To _hate_ involves deep or passionate dislike, sometimes bred of ill-will. To _detest_ involves an intense, vehement, or deep-seated antipathy. To _abhor_ involves utter repugnance or aversion, with an impulse to recoil. To _loathe_ involves disgust because of physical or moral offensiveness. To _abominate_ involves strong moral aversion, as of that which is odious or wicked. To _despise_ is to dislike and look down upon as inferior.

_Sentences_: When he had explained his fell purpose, I could only ____ him. Who would not ____ a slimy creature like Uriah Heep? It is natural for us to ____ our enemies. She ____ greasy food. There suddenly in my pathway was the venomous reptile, darting out its tongue; oh, I ____ snakes! A wholesome nature must ____ such principles as these. A child ____ to kiss and make up. The pampered young millionaire ____ those who are simply honest and kind. These daily practices of her associates she ____.

<Healthful, wholesome, salutary, salubrious, sanitary, hygienic>. (With this group contrast the _Disease_ group below.)

The words of this group are assuredly blessed. Every one of them has to do with the giving, promotion, or preservation of health. But health is of various kinds, and therefore the words apply differently. _Healthful_ is the most inclusive of them; it means that the thing it refers to is full of health for us. _Wholesome_ also is a very broad term; what is wholesome is good for us physically, mentally, or morally. _Salutary_ is confined to that which affects for good our moral (including civic and social) welfare, especially if it counteracts evil influences or propensities. _Salubrious_ is confined to the physical; it is used almost solely of healthful air or climate. _Sanitary_ and _hygienic_ apply to physical well-being as promoted by the eradication of the causes for sickness, disease, or the like; _sanitary_, however, is used of measures and conditions affecting people in general, whereas _hygienic_ connects itself with personal habits.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: The word _healthy_ is often confused with _healthful_. You have already discriminated between these two terms, but you should renew your knowledge of the distinction between them.

_Sentences_: Colorado is noted for its ____ air. He offered the young people some ____ advice. A person should brush his teeth every day for ____ reasons. In spite of its horrors, the French Revolution has had a ____ effect upon civilization. Damp, low places do not have a ____ climate. Cities in the middle ages were not ____. His is a very ____ way of life. My doctor recommends buttermilk as ____.

<Heavy, weighty, burdensome, onerous>.

He knew that it was a ____ responsibility. (Insert the four words in the blank space in turn, and analyze the differences in meaning thus produced.)

<Liberal, generous, bountiful, munificent>.

He made a ____ donation to the endowment fund. (Insert the four words in the blank space in turn, and analyze the differences in meaning.)

<Masculine, male, manly, manlike, manful, mannish, virile>.

"A man's a man for a' that," sang the poet. So he is, but not all the adjectives allusive to his state are equally complimentary. _Masculine_ betokens the qualities and characteristics belonging to men. _Male_ designates sex and is used of animals as well as human beings. _Manly_ (used of boys as well as men) implies the possession of qualities worthy of a man, as strength, courage, sincerity, honesty, independence, or even tenderness. _Manlike_ refers to qualities, attributes, or foibles characteristically masculine. _Manful_ suggests the valor, prowess, or resolution properly belonging to men. _Mannish_ (a derogatory word) indicates superficial or affected qualities of manhood, especially when inappropriately possessed by a woman. _Virile_ applies to the sturdy and intrepid qualities of mature manhood.

_Sentences_: The Chinese especially prize ____ children. He was a ____ little fellow. She walked with a ____ stride. With ____ courage he faced the crisis. It was a ____ defense of an unpopular cause. ____ strength is the complement of female grace. The old sailor still retained the rugged and ____ strength of a man much younger. With ____ bluntness he told her what he thought. Such gentleness is not weak; it is ____. He made a ____ struggle against odds. "His ____ brow Consents to death, but conquers agony." Now isn't that assumption of omniscience ____?

<Name, appellation, designation, denomination, title, alias>.

A _name_ is the word or words by which a person or thing is called or known. If the name be descriptive or characterizing, even though in a fanciful way, it is an _appellation_. If it particularizes an individual through reference to distinctive quality or nature, perhaps without employing any word the individual is usually known by, it is a _designation_. If it specifies a class, especially a religious sect or a kind of coin, it is a _denomination_. If it is an official or honorary description of rank, office, place within a profession, or the like, it is a _title_. If it is assumed, as to conceal identity, it is an _alias_.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <cognomen, patronymic, nom de plume, pseudonym>.

_Sentences_: Yes, it is a five-dollar gold piece, though one doesn't often see a coin of that ____ nowadays. The Little Corporal is the ____ applied to Napoleon by his soldiers. The eldest son of the king of England bears the ____ of the Prince of Wales. The government issues stamps in various ____. "That loafer" was his contemptuous ____ of the man who could not find work. "Duke" is the highest ____ of nobility in England. The crook was known to the police under many ____. At the battle of Bull Run Jackson received the ____ "Stonewall." "What's in a[n] ____? that which we call a rose By any other ____ would smell as sweet." The head of the American government bears the ____ of President. The Mist of Spring was the little Indian maiden's ____. His ____ was Thornberg.

<Old, ancient, olden, antique, antiquated, archaic, obsolete, venerable, immemorial, elderly, aged, hoary, decrepit, senile, superannuated>.

We reserve the right to judge for ourselves when told that something-- especially a joke--is "the very latest." So may we likewise discriminate among degrees of age. _Old_ is applied to a person or thing that has existed for a long time or that existed in the distant past. The word may suggest a familiarity or sentiment not found in _ancient_, which is used of that which lived or happened in the remote past, or has come down from it. _Olden_ applies almost wholly to time long past. _Antique_ is the term for that which has come down from ancient times or is made in imitation of the style of ancient times, whereas _antiquated_ is the term for that which has gone out of style or fashion. _Archaic_ and _obsolete_ refer to words, customs, or the like, the former to such as savor of an earlier period though they are not yet completely out of use, the latter to such as have passed out of use altogether. _Immemorial_ implies that a thing is so old that it is beyond the time of memory or record. _Elderly_ is applied to persons who are between middle age and old age. _Aged_ is used of one who has lived for an unusually long time. _Hoary_ refers to age as revealed by white hair. _Venerable_ suggests the reverence to be paid to the dignity, goodness, or wisdom of old age. _Decrepit_ conveys a sense of the physical infirmities and weakness which attend old age; _senile_ of the lessening powers of both body and mind that result from old age. _Superannuated_ is applied to a person who on account of old age has been declared incapable of continuing his activities.

_Sentences_: He liked to read romances of the ____ days. Dana records that he once saw a man so ____ that he had to raise his eyelids with his fingers. Many writers use ____ words to give quaintness to their work. He liked to sit around in his ____ clothes. "The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, Molest her ____ solitary reign." Some of these ____ sequoia trees were old before the white man discovered this continent. They are building the church in the ____ Roman style of architecture. "Be not ... the last to lay the ____ aside." Many of Chaucer's words, being ____, cannot possibly be understood without a glossary. Most churches now have funds for ____ ministers. A man is as ____ as he feels; a woman is as ____ as she looks. The ____ old man could scarcely hobble across the room. What better proof that he is ____ do you ask than that he babbles constantly about what happened when he was young? "I am a very foolish fond ____ man, Fourscore and upward." They revered the ____ locks of the old hero. At sixty a man is considered a[n] ____ person. That the earth is flat is a[n] ____ idea. The young warriors listened respectfully to the ____ chief's advice. They unearthed a[n] ____ vase. "____ wood best to burn, ____ wine to drink, ____ friends to trust, and ____ authors to read." His favorite study was ____ history. "Grow ____ along with me." "The most ____ heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong."

<Pay, compensate, recompense, remunerate, requite, reimburse, indemnify>.

Most men are willing to receive what is due them. They might even be persuaded to receive a bit more. Why should they not be as scrupulous to receive what they are entitled to in the medium of language as of money? Sometimes they are. Offering to _pay_ some people instead of to _compensate_ them is like offering a tip to the wrong person. Why? Because there is a social implication in _compensate_ which is not contained in _pay_. To _pay_ is simply to give what is due, as in wages (or even salary), price, or the like. To _compensate_ is to make suitable return for service rendered. Does _compensate_ not sound the more soothing? But save in exceptional circumstances the downrightness of _pay_ has no hint of vulgarity. To _recompense_ is to make a return, especially if it is not monetary, for work, pains, trouble, losses, or suffering; or some quality or blessing (as affection or happiness) may be said to recompense one. To _remunerate_ is to disburse a large amount to a person, or to give it to him as a reward, or otherwise to make him a return in a matter of importance. To _requite_ is to put a just value upon one's work, deeds, or merit and to make payment strictly in accordance with his deserts. To _reimburse_ is to make good what some one has spent for you. To _indemnify_ is to secure some one against loss or to make restitution for damages he has sustained.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <disburse, reward>.

_Sentences_: Let us ____ him for his efforts in our behalf. Let us ____ their kindness with kindness, their cruelty with cruelty. To ____ them adequately for such patriotic sacrifices is of course impossible. The government demanded that it be ____ for the injury to its citizens. I shall ____ you for all sums expended. He ____ the bill by a check. The success of her children ____ a mother for her sacrifices for them. Wages are ____ to laborers; salaries are ____ to judges.

<Proud, arrogant, presumptuous, haughty, supercilious, insolent, insulting>.

Most persons feel in their hearts that their claims and merits are superior to those of other people. But they do not like for you, in describing them, to imply that their self-appraisal is too high. "Comparisons are odious," and therefore in comparing their fancied with their real selves you must choose your terms carefully. Of the words that suggest an exaggerated estimate of one's merits or privileges the broadest, as well as the least offensive, is _proud_. In fact this word need not carry the idea of exaggeration. A proud man may but hold himself in justifiable esteem, or wish to measure up to the demands of his station or to the expectations of others. On the other hand, he may overvalue his attainments, possessions, connections, etc. To say that the man is _arrogant_ means that he combines with pride a contempt for others, that he claims for himself greater attention, consideration, or respect than he is entitled to. To say that he is _presumptuous_ makes him an inferior (or at least not a superior) who claims privileges or takes liberties improperly. To say that he is _haughty_ means that he assumes a disdainful superiority to others, especially through fancied or actual advantage over them in birth or social position. To say that he is _supercilious_ means that he maintains toward others an attitude of lofty indifference or sneering contempt. To say that he is _insolent_ means that he is purposely and perhaps coarsely disrespectful toward others, especially toward his superiors. To say that he is _insulting_ means that he gives or offers personal affront, probably in scornful or disdainful speech.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <scornful, imperious, contumelious, impudent, impertinent>.

_Sentences_: He was ____ in replying to the questions. She paid no attention to his words, but kept looking at him with a[n] ____ smile. He was ____ in acting as if he were their equal. The hot-tempered fellow answered this ____ remark with a blow. She resented his presuming to speak to her, and turned away in a[n] ____ manner. The servant was ____ to her mistress. Are you not very ____ of your family connections? The old man was so ____ that he expected people to raise their hats to him and not to sit down till he gave permission.

<Punish, chastise, chasten>.

To _punish_ a person is to inflict pain or penalty upon him as a retribution for wrong-doing. There may be, usually is, no intention to improve the offender. To _chastise_ him is to inflict deserved corporal punishment upon him for corrective purposes. To _chasten_ him is to afflict him with trouble for his reformation or spiritual betterment. The word is normally employed in connection with such affliction from God.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <castigate, scourge>.

_Sentences_: "Hearing oftentimes The still, sad music of humanity, Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power To ____ and subdue." Ichabod Crane freely used his ferule in ____ his pupils. "Whom the Lord loveth he ____." A naughty child should be ____.

<Rich, wealthy, affluent, opulent>.

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Substitute _wealthy_ for _rich_. Is the meaning exactly the same? Is Goldsmith's description of the village preacher--"passing rich with forty pounds a year"--as effective if _wealthy_ is substituted? What is the difference between _riches_ and _wealth_? Which implies the greater degree of possession, which the more permanence and stability? Which word suggests the more personal relationship with money? Which word the more definitely denotes money or its immediate equivalent? Why do we say "get-rich-quick schemes" rather than "get-wealthy-quick schemes"? What besides the possession of wealth does _affluent_ suggest? Could we say that a rich miser lives in affluence? If not, why not? A poor clerk who has ten dollars to spend as he pleases may feel affluent. A rich banker may be a man of affluence in his town. What power does this suggest that he has besides the possession of a great deal of money? Explain all that Swift implies by the word _opulence_ in the quotation "There in full opulence a banker dwelt, Who all the joys and pangs of riches felt." If you substitute _affluence_, what different impression do you get?

<Rural, rustic, pastoral, bucolic>.

"The _rural_ inhabitants of a country." Are the people being spoken of favorably, unfavorably, or neutrally? How would the meaning be affected if they were called _rustic_ inhabitants? Would you ordinarily speak of the _rural_ or the _rustic_ population to distinguish it from the urban? Would you speak of _rural_ or _rustic_ activities? _rural_ or _rustic_ manners? When the two adjectives may be employed, is one of them unflattering? Is a _rustic_ bridge something to be ashamed of? a _rustic_ chair? a _rustic_ gate? What, then, is the degree of reproach that attaches to each of the two adjectives? the degree of commendation? Wherein do _pastoral_ scenes differ from _rural_? _pastoral_ amusements from _rustic_? Can you trace a connection between the _pastor_ of a church and a _pastoral_ life? Do you often hear the word _bucolic_? In what mood is it oftenest uttered? Which of the four adjectives best fits into Goldsmith's dignified lament: "And ____ mirth and manners are no more"?

<Silent, reserved, uncommunicative, reticent, taciturn>. (This group may be contrasted with the _Talkative_ group, below.)

We pass through a crowded room and notice that some of its occupants are not adding their voices to the chatter. We resolve to study these unspeaking persons. Some of them merely have nothing to say, or are timid or preoccupied; or it may be they deliberately have set themselves not to talk. These are _silent_. Some plainly desire not to talk, it may be in general or it may be upon some particular topic; they may (but need not) regard themselves as superior to their associates, or for some other reason let aloofness or coldness creep into their manner. These are _reserved_. Others withhold information that persons about them are, or would be, interested in. These are _uncommunicative_. Others maintain their own counsel; they neglect opportunities to reveal their thoughts, plans, and the like. These are _reticent_. Others are disinclined--and habitually, we perceive--to talking. These are _taciturn_.

_Sentences_: The ____ prisoner evaded all questions. He was as ____ as nature itself; he never gave his views upon any subject. He was ____ about the firm's affairs, especially toward persons who seemed inquisitive. We knew there had been a love affair in his life, but he was ____ on the subject. She sat ____ throughout the discussion. If to be ____ is golden, Lucas should have been a billionaire.

<Sing, chant, carol, warble, troll, yodel, croon, hum, chirp, chirrup>.

You hear a "concord of sweet sounds," not instrumental but vocal, and wish to tell me so. You say that some person _sings_. Then you recall that I am something of an expert in music, and you cast about for the word that shall state specifically the kind of singing that is being done. Does the person sing solemnly in a more or less uniform tone? You tell me that he _chants_. Does he sing gladly, spontaneously, high-spiritedly, as if his heart were pouring over with joy? You say that he _carols_. Does he sing with vibratory notes and little runs, as in bird-music? You say that he _warbles_. Does he sing loudly and freely? You say that he _trolls_. Does he sing with peculiar modulations from the regular into a falsetto voice? You say that he _yodels_. Does he sing a simple, perhaps tender, song in a low tone (as a lullaby to an infant)? You say that he _croons_. Does he sing with his lips closed? You say that he _hums_. Does he utter the short, perhaps sharp, notes of certain birds and insects? You say that he _chirps_ or _chirrups_.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <trill, pipe, quaver, peep, cheep, twitter>.

_Sentences_: A cricket ____ in the grass outside the door. He abstractedly gazed out of the window and ____ a few strains of an old song. Listen, they are ____ the Te Deum. "And ____ still dost soar, and soaring ever ____." A strange, uncanny blending of false and true notes it is when the Swiss mountaineers are ____. Negroes, as a race, love to ____. As she soothes the child to sleep she ____ a "rock-a-bye-baby."

<Suave, bland, unctuous, fulsome, smug>.

_Suave_ implies agreeable persuasiveness or smooth urbanity. _Bland_ suggests a soothing or coaxing kindness of manner, one that is sometimes lacking in sincerity. _Unctuous_ implies excessive smoothness, as though one's manner were oiled. The word carries a decided suggestion of hypocrisy. _Fulsome_ suggests such gross flattery as to be annoying or cloying. _Smug_ suggests an effeminate self-satisfaction, usually not justified by merit or achievement.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <complaisant, elegant, trim, dapper, spruce, genteel, urbane, well-bred, gracious, affable, benign>.

_Sentences_: He thought his answer exceedingly brilliant and settled back into his chair with ____ complacency. "____ the smile that like a wrinkling wind On glassy water drove his cheek in lines." They were irritated by his ____ praise. Although he disliked them, he greeted them with ____ cordiality. "A bankrupt, a prodigal, ... that used to come so ____ upon the mart; let him look to his bond." ____ as a diplomat.

<Talkative, loquacious, garrulous, fluent, voluble, glib>. (This group may be contrasted with the _Silent_ group, above.)

A little while ago you were in a crowded room and made a study of the persons disposed to silence. But your study was carried on under difficulties, for many of those about you showed a tendency to copious or excessive speech. One woman entered readily into conversation with you and convinced you that her natural disposition was to converse a great deal. She was _talkative_. From her you escaped to a man who soon proved that he talked too much and could run on with an incessant flow of words, perhaps employing many of them where a few would have sufficed. He was _loquacious_. The two of you were joined by an old gentleman who forthwith began to talk wordily, tediously, continuously, with needless repetitions and in tiresome detail; you suspected that he had suffered a mental decline from age, and that he might be excessively fond, in season and out of season, of talking about himself and his opinions. He was _garrulous_. You broke away from these two and fell into the hands of a much more agreeable interlocutor. He talked with a ready, easy command of words, so that his discourse _flowed_ smoothly. He was _fluent_. He introduced you to a lady whose speech possessed smoothness and ease in too great degree; it fairly _rolled_ along, as a hoop does downhill. The lady was _voluble_. Into your triangular group broke a newcomer whose speech had in it a flippant, or at least a superficially clever, fluency. He was _glib_. Leaving these three to fight (or talk) it out as best they might, you grabbed your hat and hurried outside for a fresh whiff of air.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <chattering, long-winded, prolix, wordy, verbose>.

_Sentences_: The insurance agent was so ____ a talker that I was soothed into sleepiness by his voice. The ____ old man could talk forever about the happenings of his boyhood. Through ____ descriptions of life in the city the dapper summer boarder entranced the simple country girl. I met a ____ fellow on the train, and we had a long conversation. She was so ____ that I spent half the afternoon with her and learned nothing.

<Weak, debilitated, feeble, infirm, decrepit, impotent>.

_Weak_ is the general word for that which is deficient in strength. _Debilitated_ is used of physical weakness, in most instances brought on by excesses and abuses. _Feeble_ denotes decided or extreme weakness, which may excite pity or contempt. _Infirm_ is applied to a person whose weakness or feebleness is due to age. _Decrepit_ is used in reference to a person broken down or worn out by infirmities, age, or sickness. _Impotent_ implies such loss or lack of strength or vitality as to render ineffective or helpless.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <enervated, languid, frail>.

_Sentences_: "Here I stand, your slave, A poor, ____, weak, and despis'd old man." A[n] ____ old man shuffled along with the aid of a cane. Though still in his youth, he was ____ from intemperance and fast living. A fellow who does that has a[n] ____ mind. He staggered about trying to strike his opponent, but rage and his wound rendered him for the time ____. The grasp of the old man was so ____ that the cup trembled in his hand. "Like rich hangings in a homely house, So was his will in his old ____ body." After his long illness he was as ____ as a child. He made but a[n] ____ attempt to defend himself.

<Wise, learned, erudite, sagacious, sapient, sage, judicious, prudent, provident, discreet>. (Compare the distinction between _knowledge_ and _wisdom_ under Words Often Confused above.)

_Wise_ implies sound and discriminating judgment, resulting from either learning or experience. _Learned_ denotes the past acquisition of much information through study. _Erudite_ means characterized by extensive or profound knowledge. _Sagacious_ implies far-sighted judgment and intuitive discernment, especially in practical matters. _Sapient_ is now of infrequent use except as applied ironically or playfully to one having or professing wisdom. _Sage_ implies deep wisdom that comes from age or experience. _Judicious_ denotes sound judgment or careful discretion in weighing a matter with reference to its merits or its consequences. _Prudent_ conveys a sense of cautious foresight in judging the future and planning for it upon the basis of the circumstances at hand. _Provident_ suggests practical foresight and careful economy in preparing for future needs. _Discreet_ denotes care or painstakingness in doing or saying the right thing at the right time, and the avoidance thereby of errors or unpleasant results.

_Sentences_: Against the time when his children would be going to college he had been ____. "Most ____ judge!" The ____ old warrior could not be deceived by any such ruse. "Be ye therefore as ____ as serpents, and harmless as doves." The ____ advice of his elders was wasted on him. The course was ____, not rash. He was ____ in avoiding all reference to the subject. "Type of the ____, who soar but never roam, True to the kindred points of heaven and home." Even by those scholars, those specialists, he was deemed ____. How ____ the young man is! "Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be ____." Is it ____ to spend money thus lavishly? He considered the matter well and gave a most ____ answer. To spend every cent of one's income is surely not to be ____.

<Work, labor, toil, drudgery>.

All of us, at times anyhow, get out of as much work as we can. We even use the word _work_ and its synonyms loosely and indolently. Perhaps this is a literary aspect of the labor problem. If, however, we can shake off our sluggishness and exert ourselves in discriminating our terms, we shall use _work_ as a general word for effort, physical or mental, to some purposive end; _labor_ for hard, physical work; _toil_ for wearying or exhaustive work; and _drudgery_ for tedious, monotonous, or distasteful work, especially of a low or menial kind.

_Sentences_: It required the ____ of thousands of men to complete the tunnel. To be condemned to the galleys meant a life of unending ____. The man who enjoys his ____ will succeed. Twenty years of incessant ____ had extinguished in him every spark of ambition. He was weary after the ____ of the day. All ____ and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Through the heart-breaking ____ of thousands the pyramids were built to commemorate a few. He was sentenced to hard ____.

VIII

SYNONYMS IN LARGER GROUPS (2)

You have now seen enough of the method of discriminating synonyms to take more of the responsibility for such work upon yourself. In this chapter, therefore, the plan followed in Exercise A is abandoned and no discriminations are supplied you.

EXERCISE B

For some of the generic words in Exercise A you will find antonyms in Exercise C. Here is a list:

In Exercise A: walk, laugh, busy, hate, masculine, old

In Exercise C: run, cry, idle, love, feminine, young.

Now each of the generic terms in C is followed by a list of its synonyms. But for the six generic terms just given let us see how many synonyms you can find for yourself. Simply study each word in turn, think of all the synonyms for it you can summon, strike out those you consider far-fetched. Then compare your list with the list under the antonym in Exercise A; if possible, improve your list by means of this comparison. Finally, compare your revised list with the list in Exercise C.

In Exercise C are two generic terms that carry the same idea (but not in the same part of speech) as generic terms in Exercise A. They are as follows:

In Exercise A: sing, death

In Exercise C: song, die.

Take _song_ and _die_. First, find all the satisfactory synonyms you can for yourself. Then if possible improve your list by studying the list under the corresponding word in Exercise A. Finally, compare your revised list with the one in Exercise C.

EXERCISE C

After three introductory groups (dealing with thoroughly concrete ideas and words) the synonyms in this exercise are arranged alphabetically according to the first word in each group.

Discriminate the words in each group, and fill each blank in the illustrative sentences with the word that conveys the meaning exactly.

<See, perceive, descry, distinguish, espy, discern, note, notice, watch, observe, witness, behold, view>.

_Sentences_: The intruder he ____ in the early dawn-light might have been man or beast; he could not have ____ one from the other. After a long search I ____ on the map the name of the town. The teacher ____ the throwing of the paper wad, but thought best not to ____ it. "He that hath eyes to ____, let him ____." I ____ the encounter. "I hope to ____ my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar." "When my eyes turn to ____ for the last time the sun in heaven." I sat by the flower and ____ the bee plunder it. The scrawl on the paper was meaningless, but at length by close attention he ____ secret writing. "Your young men shall ____ visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." He had ____ human nature manifesting itself under various conditions.

<Kill, slay, slaughter, massacre, butcher, murder, assassinate, execute, hang, electrocute, guillotine, lynch, despatch, decimate, crucify>.

_Sentences_: With the jawbone of an ass Samson ____ a thousand of his enemies. It was his duty as sheriff to ____ the criminal, and the method decreed by the state was that he should ____ him. Previously the method of carrying out a sentence of death had been to ____ the criminal. On our left wing we lost one man in ten: thus our lines were literally ____ On our right wing, where we advanced to the attack in the open, our men were simply ____. After the garrison had laid down its arms the Indians ____ men, women, and children. "I would not ____ thy soul." During the French Revolution many of the nobility were ____. In the country late fall is the time to ____ hogs. Thinking that his accomplice was no longer of use, he quietly ____ him. The anarchist who had ____ the governor was taken by a mob and ____.

<Sleep, slumber, repose, nap, doze, drowze, lethargy, dormancy, coma, trance, siesta>.

_Sentences_: Since he had not exerted himself beforehand, his state was one of ____ rather than one of ____. The sultry heat of the day put him into a ____. "Not poppy, nor mandragora, Nor all the ____ syrops of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet ____ Which thou ow[n]edst yesterday." Light and pleasant be thy ____. "And still she slept an azure-lidded ____." From the ____ induced by his injury the physicians were unable to arouse him. "Oh ____! it is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole!" "The poppied warmth of ____ oppress'd Her soothéd limbs, and soul fatigued away." In Spanish-speaking South American countries every one expects to take his ____. He lay down under the tree for a short ____ and had just fallen into a preliminary ____ when the picnic party arrived. "Macbeth does murder ____, the innocent ____, ____ that knits up the ravel'd sleave of care."

<Abolish, repeal, rescind, revoke, abrogate, annul, nullify, cancel, reverse>.

_Sentences_: A declaration of war would of course ____ the treaty. The legislature has the right to ____ old laws as well as to enact new ones. Because they left his grounds littered with paper, he ____ their privilege of holding picnics there. The king ____ the decree that the conspirators should be exiled. Slavery was ____ by the Emancipation Proclamation. The emperor ____ many of the ancient rights of the people. They ____ the mortgage when he paid the money. The violation of these provisions has ____ the contract. It was an ill day for France when the Edict of Nantes was ____ by Louis XIV. The Supreme Court ____ the decision of the lower tribunal. The Mormons have officially ____ polygamy. The codicil ____ some of the earlier provisions in his will.

<Acquit, exculpate, exonerate, absolve>.

_Sentences_: He ____ himself from all blame. The king ____ them from their allegiance. The teacher ____ the student who had been suspected of theft. The father confessor ____ the penitent. The jury ____ the man on the first ballot.

<Afraid, fearful, frightened, alarmed, scared, aghast, terrified, timid, timorous.> (This group may be compared with the _Fear group_, below.)

_Sentences_: One child was too ____ to speak to the strangers; the other too ____ to do anything but squall. "If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper 'Lo, Caesar is ____'?" Any one might have been ____ by this noise in a room said to be haunted; and for my part, I stood ____.

<Allay, alleviate, mitigate, assuage, mollify, relieve.>

_Sentences_: The judge ____ the severity of the punishment. They collected funds to ____ the sufferings of the poor. He could not ____ the wrath of the angry man. Shall we try to ____ their fears by telling them the accident may have been less calamitous than they have heard? A mustard plaster ____ the pain. The grief of the mother was ____ by the presence of her child. This experience had by no means ____ his temper.

<Allow, permit, suffer, tolerate.>

_Sentences_: Visitors are not ____ to see the king. The over-running of my yard by the neighbors' chickens is a nuisance I shall not ____. "____ little children to come unto me." The use of bicycles and velocipedes on the pavement, though not ____ by the city, is good-naturedly ____ by most of the citizens. She ____ her children to play in the street.

<Ascribe, attribute, impute.>

_Sentences_: I ____ my failure to poor judgment. He ____ sinister motives for their actions. So many ideal characteristics have been ____ to Washington that it is difficult to think of him as a man.

<Awkward, clumsy, ungainly, gawky, lanky.>

_Sentences_: An elephant is ____ in its movements. Some ____ countrymen hung around the circus entrance. He was tall and ____; he seemed to be a mere prop on which clothes were hung. Isn't that man ____ in his carriage? The fingers of the ball-players might as well have been thumbs, so ____ were they from the cold. Girls throw a ball in a[n] ____ manner.

<Bite, nibble, gnaw, chew, masticate, champ>.

_Sentences_: Fletcher taught people to ____ their food well. The mouse ____ the cheese, but the trap did not spring. A horse ____ his bits. When I ____ into the apple, I found that it was sour. The rat ____ a hole through the board.

<Break, crack, fracture, sever, rend, burst, smash, shatter, shiver, splinter, sunder, rive, crush, batter, demolish, rupture>. (After discriminating these terms for yourself, see the treatment of _break, fracture_ under <Break, fracture> above under Parallels.)

_Sentences_: "____ my timbers!" the old salt exclaimed. The anaconda is an immense serpent that wraps itself about its victim and ____ it. The child blew the soap bubble wider and wider till it ____. "You may ____, you may ____ the vase if you will." Looking closely at the eggs, she perceived that one of them was ____. With a board the thoughtless child ____ the anthill. During a violent fit of coughing he ____ a blood vessel. The thick cloud was ____ and the sunshine streamed through.

<Careful, cautious, wary, circumspect, canny>.

_Sentences_: A mouse must be ____ lest it be caught in a trap. He had learned to be ____ in advancing his radical opinions. The man was a Scot and therefore ____. With a ____ movement I opened the door to investigate the strange noise. He was ____ in checking up the accounts. Be extremely ____ in your behavior, for they are watching to criticize you.

<Condescend, deign, vouchsafe>.

_Sentences_: The king ____ them safe conduct through the country. He would not ____ to touch the money that had been gained dishonestly. His ____ manner irritated them. The master ____ to hear the complaints of the servants.

<Confirm, corroborate, substantiate, verify_.

_Sentences_: He ____ the charge with positive proof. The finding of Desdemona's handkerchief ____ Othello's belief that she was guilty. The other witnesses ____ his testimony. The doctor ____ the appointment his assistant had made for him. He ____ his results by repeating the experiment a number of times.

<Courage, bravery, resolution, dauntlessness, gallantry, boldness, intrepidity, daring, valor, prowess, fortitude, heroism>. (With this group contrast the _Fear_ group, below.)

_Sentences_: It seemed they must be driven from their works but they held to them with the utmost ____. He had the ____ to fight an aggressive battle, but not the ____ to stand for long days upon the defensive; less still did he have the ____ to disregard unjust criticism. The silent ____ of the women who bide at home surpasses the ____ the warriors who engage in battle. He had the dashing ____ of a cavalry officer.

<Cruel, brutal, ferocious, fierce, savage, barbarous, truculent, merciless, unmerciful, pitiless, ruthless, fell>. (With this group contrast the _Kind_ group, below.)

_Sentences_: "But with the whiff and wind of his ____ sword The unnerved father falls." "Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this ____ storm." The ____ fellow could cause suffering to a child without the least tinge of remorse. Such conduct is unheard of in civilized communities; it is ____, it is ____. "I must be ____ only to be kind."

<Cry, weep, sob, snivel, whimper, blubber, bawl, squall, howl, wail>.

_Sentences_: "____ no more, woeful shepherds; ____ no more." The woman covered her face with her hands and ____, while the children ____. He ____ a forced regret at the death of his uncle, and asked that the will be read, "Rachel ____ for her children." "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and ____ with them that ____." "I could lie down like a tired child And ____ away this life of care Which I have borne and yet must bear." "An infant ____ in the night." "What's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba That he should ____ for her?" I was disgusted at the sight of that overgrown boy standing in the corner ____. "You think I'll ____; No, I'll not ____: I have full cause of ____, but this heart Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws Or ere I'll ____."

<Cut, cleave, hack, haggle, notch, slash, gash, split, chop, hew, lop, prune, reap, mow, clip, shear, trim, dock, crop, shave, whittle, slice, slit, score, lance, carve, bisect, dissect, amputate, detruncate, syncopate.>

_Sentences_: "I'll ____ around your heart with my razor, And shoot you with my shotgun too." "O Hamlet! thou hast ____ my heart in twain." By the pressure of his hands he could ____ an apple. With his new hatchet George began ____ at the cherry tree. He carelessly ____ off a branch or two. The horses were ____ the rank grass. An old form of punishment was to ____ the nose of the offender. The nobleman ordered the groom to ____ the tails of the carriage horses. You should ____ your meadows in the summer and ____ your grapevines in the late fall or early winter. "Do you," asked the barber, "wish your hair ____ or ____?" ____ to the line. It is painful to see Dodwell trying to ____ a turkey. In geometry we learned to ____ angles, in biology to ____ cats. The bad man in the West ____ his gunstock each time he shot a tenderfoot. Betty, will you ____ this cucumber? "'Mark's way,' said Mark, and ____ him thro' the brain."

<Deadly, mortal, fatal, lethal>.

_Sentences_: He has a ____ disease. The spirit of Virgil guided Dante through the ____ shades. Cyanide of potassium is a ____ poison. He struck a ____ blow.

<Defeat, subdue, conquer, overcome, vanquish, subjugate, suppress>.

_Sentences_: Napoleon ____ his enemies in many battles, but he was not able to ____ them. The new governor general ____ the uprising. He was ____ in the election. Caesar ____ many countries and made them swear allegiance to Rome. "Who ____ by force Hath ____ but half his foe." The militia ____ the rioters.

<Deny, contravene, controvert, refute, confute>.

_Sentences_: He produced evidence to ____ the charge. They could not ____ the facts we presented. It is difficult to ____ those who are spreading these rumors, yet all right-minded people think the rumors false. "I put thee now to thy book-oath; ____ it if thou canst." Either admit or ____ the truth of this allegation. Such a law ____ the first principles of justice.

<Destroy, demolish, raze, annihilate, exterminate, eradicate, extirpate, obliterate.>

_Sentences_: All the ferocious wild animals are gradually being ____. As weeds from a field, so is it difficult to ____ all the faults from man's nature. But how shall we ____ the cause of this disease? Fire ____ the bank. The wrecking crew ____ the building. She tried to ____ the terrible scene from her memory. "____ all that's made To a green thought in a green shade." The cyclone ____ the church. The Spanish Inquisition tried to ____ heresy. "____ out the written troubles of the brain." The army was not only defeated; it was ____. "A bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once ____, can never be supplied."

<Die, expire, perish, decease, succumb.>

_Sentences_: All men are mortal and must ____. "As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked ____ at the presence of God." "I still had hopes, my long vexations past, Here to return, and ____ at home at last." The late ____ Mr. Brown left all his property to his family. "Cowards ____ many times before their deaths." "The poor beetle, that we tread upon, In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great As when a giant giant ____." "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not ____ from the earth." "Thus on Maeander's flowery margin lies Th' ____ swan, and as he sings he dies." Over a thousand people ____ in the fire at the theater. "To ____, to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream." He ____ to a lingering disease. "Aye, but to ____, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction and to rot." "Wind my thread of life up higher, Up, through angels' hands of fire! I aspire while I ____."

<Dip, douse, duck, plunge, immerge, immerse, submerge, sink, dive.>

_Sentences_: He ____ his head under the hydrant. The Baptists ____ at baptism. She ____ the cloth into the dye. The sophomores ____ the freshmen into the icy water of the lake. Paul Jones could not ____ the enemy's ship; he therefore resolved to board it. The wreck lay ____ in forty fathoms of water. Uncle Tom ____ overboard to rescue the child. When the gun is discharged, the loon does not rise from the water; it ____. Lewis became badly strangled when the other boys ____ him.

<Disease, sickness, illness, indisposition, ailment, affection, complaint, disorder, distemper, infirmity, malady.> (With this group contrast the _healthful_ group.)

_Sentences_: He was suffering the ____ of age. Cancer is still in many instances an incurable ____ The ____ of the lady ended as soon as the maid told her the callers had gone away. It was an old ____ of the tonsils, but this time the child's ____ was slight. "To help me through this long ____, my life."

<Disloyal, false, unfaithful, faithless, traitorous, treasonable, treacherous, perfidious.>

_Sentences_: The king discovered many ____ schemes among those who pretended to be his loyal supporters. England's enemies have long called her "____ Albion." They were afraid the Indian guide would betray them by some ____ action. "O you beast! O ____ coward! O dishonest wretch!" He was ____ to his adopted country. "Bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, ____, lecherous, kindless villain! O! vengeance!"

<Do, perform, execute, accomplish, achieve, effect.>

_Sentences_: An officer ____ the orders with despatch. He ____ a mighty name for himself. "If it were ____ when 'tis ____ then 'twere well It were ____ quickly." Constant efforts will ____ miracles. The student ____ the problems quickly. The doctor hopes his new treatment will ____ a cure. "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to ____." He persevered till he ____ his purpose. He always ____ more than was expected of him.

<Dress, clothes, clothing, garments, apparel, raiment, habiliments, vestments, attire, garb, habit, costume, uniform.>

_Sentences_: The spy concealed his identity by wearing the ____ of a monk. The soldiers wore blue ____. She was an excellent horsewoman, and rode in a fashionable ____. "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old ____." Millions of men left farms and factories and shops to don the ____ of war. The invitation specified that the men should wear evening ____. The store specialized in women's wearing ____. A person should wear warm ____ in winter. The king appeared in his royal ____. He always wore expensive ____. The bishop entered in his clerical ____. "The ____ oft proclaims the man." The theatrical ____ was full of spangles. One's ____ should never be conspicuous.

<Drink, imbibe, sip, sup, swallow, quaff, tipple, tope, guzzle, swig.>

_Sentences_: "She who, as they voyaged, ____ With Tristram that spiced magic draught." Plants ____ moisture through their roots. "A little learning is a dang'rous thing; ____ deep, or taste not the Pierian spring." He ____ down the liquor in a couple of huge draughts. On the fan was a picture of Japanese maidens daintily ____ tea. "____ to me only with thine eyes." His red nose betrayed the fact that he constantly ____.

<Elicit, extract, exact, extort.>

_Sentences_: They ____ payment to the last cent. The police ____ a confession from the prisoner by intimidating him. This terrible suffering ____ our sympathy. His resolve to begin again after his failure ____ their admiration. "But lend it rather to thine enemy; Who if he break, thou mayst with better face ____ the penalty." They ____ all the information they could by questioning the child.

<Embarrass, disconcert, discompose, discomfit, confuse, confound, agitate, abash, mortify, chagrin, humiliate.>

_Sentences_: The annoying little raids ____ the enemy. Such conclusive proof of his lies completely ____ him. His sudden proposal ____ her. He stood ____ in the presence of the king. The traveler was ____ by the many turns in the road. She was ____ by the delay in having dinner ready. She was ____ by her husband's ill manners. The possibility that her daughter might have been in the accident ____ her. I was ____ at being so cleverly outwitted.

<Excuse, pardon, forgive, condone.>

_Sentences_: We should ____ even those who do us wrong. "Father, ____ them; for they know not what they do." I trust you will ____ my being late. Ignorance ____ no one before the law. The governor ____ the convict. He thought it better to ____ the offense than to try to punish it.

<Explain, expound, interpret, elucidate.>

_Sentences_: The minister ____ the doctrine of predestination. The tribesman ____ his chief's words for us. He ____ his meaning by giving clear examples. Joseph was called upon to ____ Pharaoh's dream. Can you ____ the reason for your absence? Various scholars have ____ the passage differently.

<Fat, fleshy, stout, plump, buxom, corpulent, obese, portly, pursy, burly, pudgy, chubby.>

_Sentences_: "There live not three good men unhanged in England, and one of them is ____ and grows old." A[n] ____ rosy-faced child walking beside a girl just pleasantly ____ came past the garden. The ____ lady was talking with a[n] ____, ill-conditioned man. "So ____, blithe, and debonair." "He's ____ and scant of breath." The ruffian was a[n] ____ fellow. They were ____ in varying degrees: one was ____, one ____, and one downright ____.

<Fear, dread, fright, apprehension, affright, alarm, dismay, timidity, consternation, panic, terror, horror, misgiving, anxiety, scare, tremor, trepidation.> (With this group compare the _Afraid_ group, above, and contrast the _Courage_ group, also above.)

_Sentences_: "Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in ____ and ____." "His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the ____ and ____ of kings." ____ changed to ____ when we perceived the corpse. Washington felt some ____ as to the loyalty of Charles Lee, but was amazed to find his force retreating in ____, indeed almost in a[n] ____.

<Feminine, female, womanly, womanlike, womanish, effeminate, ladylike.>

_Sentences_: She possessed every ____ charm. He gave a[n] ____ start of curiosity. The pistil is considered the ____ organ of a flower. It was once not thought ____ for a woman to ride astride a horse. He inherited the throne through the ____ line. Patience is one of the greatest of ____ virtues. The hired girl in her finery minced along with a[n] ____ step. Some people consider it ____ to wear a wrist watch. Her ____ heart was touched at the sight. It is ____ to jump at the sight of a mouse.

<Fight, combat, struggle, scuffle, fray, affray, attack, engagement, assault, onslaught, brawl, melee, tournament, battle, conflict, strife, clash, collision, contest, skirmish, encounter, brush, bout, set-to.>

_Sentences_: "A darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of ____ and flight." The ____ upon Fort Sumter was the direct cause of the Civil War. The ____ between our forces and theirs was brief and trivial; it was only a cavalry ____. There is an excellent account of a knightly ____ in _Ivanhoe_. We repelled their general ____; then ourselves advanced; the ____ of our lines with theirs soon resulted in an inextricable ____. A chance ____ of small forces at Gettysburg brought on a terrible ____. There had long been ____ between the two factions within the party. Angered by what had begun as a playful ____, one of the men challenged the other to ____.

<Fleeting, transient, transitory, ephemeral, evanescent.>

_Sentences_: It is the lot of every one to endure many sorrows in this ____ life. They saw for a short while a[n] ____ comet. The ____ glories of dawn had merged into the sordid realities of daytime. The remark made but a[n] ____ impression upon him. The ____ moments sped away. "Art is long, and time is ____." Joy is ____. Much of the popular literature of the day is ____ in character.

<Frank, candid, open, artless, guileless, ingenuous, unsophisticated, naive.>

_Sentences_: It was a[n] ____ excuse. It was a pleasure to meet a person so simple and ____. He was ____ to say that he did not like the arrangement. "Who, mindful of the unhonored dead, Dost in these lines their ____ tale relate." "The Moor is of a free and ____ nature." He gave them his ____ opinion.

<Frustrate, foil, thwart, counteract, circumvent, balk, baffle, outwit.>

_Sentences_: The schemers were themselves ____. He was ____ by the many contradictory clues. Circumstances ____ all his plans to get rich. The parents ____ the attempt of the couple to elope. The guard ____ the prisoner's attempt to escape. He was ____ at every turn. They put forth a statement to ____ the influence of their opponents' propaganda. By slipping away during the night, Washington ____ the enemy. The politician by his shrewdness ____ the attempt to discredit him.

<Glad, happy, cheerful, mirthful, joyful, joyous, blithe, gay, frolicsome, merry, jolly, sportive, jovial, jocular, jocose, jocund.>

_Sentences_: "The milkmaid singeth ____." "And all went ____ as a marriage bell." "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring ____ tidings of good things." A ____ Lothario. "So buxom, ____, and debonair." As ____ as a fawn. He kept smiling, for he was in ____ mood. "You are sad Because you are not ____; and 'twere as easy For you to laugh and leap, and say you are ____, Because you are not sad." He longed for the ____ life of a ____ English squire.

<Habit, custom, usage, practice, wont.>

_Sentences_: ____ makes perfect. The immigrants kept up many of the ____ of their native land. "God fulfils himself in many ways, Lest one good ____ should corrupt the world." It was his ____ to walk among the ruins. An old ____ permits a man to kiss a girl who is standing under mistletoe. ____ establishes many peculiar idioms in a language. He acquired the ____ of smoking. "It is a ____ more honor'd in the breach than the observance." De Quincey was a victim of the opium ____. "Age cannot wither her, nor ____ stale Her infinite variety." "'Tis not his ____ to be the hindmost man."

<Harass, annoy, irritate, vex, fret, worry, plague, torment, molest, tease, tantalize.>

_Sentences_: The merchant ____ about his financial losses. "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and ____ his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more." The children never lost an opportunity to ____ the teacher. The other pupils ____ him because he was the teacher's favorite. The newcomer was ____ by their frequent questions. Don't ____ the child by holding the grapes beyond its reach. "He was met even now As mad as the ____ sea." Ah, but I am ____ by doubts and fears. "The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such as, wand'ring near her secret bower, ____ her ancient, solitary reign." The child ____ because the rain kept it indoors. When the joke was discovered, they almost ____ the life out of him. I was ____ at their discovering my predicament. "You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops, and to make no noise When they are ____ with the gusts of heaven."

<Hinder, restrain, obstruct, impede, hamper, retard, check, curb, clog, encumber, forestall, suppress, repress, prevent.>

_Sentences_: Baggage ____ the progress of an army. It is the purpose of modern medicine to ____ disease. The accumulations of dust and grease ____ the machine. "My tears must stop, for every drop ____ needle and thread." By acknowledging his fault he hoped to ____ criticism. Though before she had been unable to ____ her tears, she could now scarcely ____ a yawn. A fallen tree ____ his further progress. The horse was ____ with a heavy burden, and the unsure footing of the trail further ____ the ascent. His jealous colleagues ____ his plans in every way they could.

<Hole, cavity, excavation, pit, cache, cave, cavern, hollow, depression, perforation, puncture, rent, slit, crack, chink, crevice, cranny, breach, cleft, chasm, fissure, gap, opening, interstice, burrow, crater, eyelet, pore, bore, aperture, orifice, vent, concavity, dent, indentation. >

_Sentences_: The explorers, having eaten all the provisions they had carried with them, hurried back to their ____. The battering-ram at last made a[n] ____ in the walls. The ____ in the log had been caused by the intense heat. He tore off the check along the line of the ____. The ____ in the earth gradually deepened and narrowed into a[n] ____. Pyramus and Thisbe made love to each other through a[n] ____ in a wall. "Once more unto the ____, dear friends, once more." The ____ in the mountain ranges of Virginia influenced strategy during the Civil War. Several ____ in the toe of one of his shoes apprised me that he had a sore foot. The supposed ____ in the rock turned out to be a[n] ____ that led into a dark but spacious ____. He suffered a[n] ____ of one of his tires near the place where the laborers were making the ____. It was a gun of very large ____. The ____ in the percolator was made by a flatiron aimed at Mr. Wiggins' head.

<Idle, inert, lazy, indolent, sluggish, slothful.>

_Sentences_: "He also that is ____ in his work is brother to him that is a great waster." "The ____ singer of an empty day." Mighty, ____ forces lie locked up in nature, waiting for man to release them. He was a[n] ____, good-for-nothing fellow whose whole business in life was to keep out of work. "For Satan finds some mischief still For ____ hands to do." He was too ____ to do his work well. "The ____ yawning drone." His steps were so ____ one would almost think he was not moving. "As ____ as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean." "I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an ____ brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy."

<Ignorant, illiterate, uninformed, uneducated, untutored, unlettered, unenlightened.>

_Sentences_: Without public schools most children would be ____; without missionaries many barbarous tribes would remain ____. Andrew Jackson was ____ that peace had been declared when he fought the battle of New Orleans. Even the wisest men are ____ upon some subjects. "Lo, the poor Indian, whose ____ mind Sees God in clouds or hears Him in the wind!" The mountain whites, though often totally ____, are nevertheless a shrewd folk. "Their name, their years, spelt by th' ____ muse, The place of fame and elegy supply." The percentage of ____ persons is constantly decreasing in America.

<Incline, tip, lean, cant, slant, slope, tilt, list, careen, dip.>

_Sentences_: He ____ the bucket of water over. The vessel ____ to the stern and began to sink. The ship ____ to larboard. He ____ the top of the picture away from the wall. The sprinter ____ forward and touched the tips of his fingers against the ground. The gable ____ sharply. The hill ____ gently. The cowboy had ____ his hat fetchingly.

<Journey, voyage, tour, pilgrimage, trip, jaunt, excursion, junket, outing, expedition.>

_Sentences_: The people protested the expenditure of money for a Congressional ____ to investigate the Philippine Islands. Each Sunday there is a[n] ____ at half fare between the two cities. He conducted a party on a summer ____ through Europe. Last summer I took a[n] ____ to the Yellowstone National Park. It was a long ____ from Philadelphia to Boston by stage coach. They hurriedly arranged for a[n] ____ to the woods. Magellan was the first man to make a[n] ____ around the globe. The scientific body organized a[n] ____ to explore the polar regions. Thousands of Mohammedans make an annual ____ to Mecca.

<Kind, compassionate, merciful, lenient, benignant, benign, clement, benevolent, charitable, gracious, humane, sympathetic.> (With this group compare the _Cruel_ group, above.)

_Sentences_: The weather was ____. She was as ____ as a queen. "Thou dost wear The Godhead's most ____ grace." Cowper was too ____ to tread upon a worm needlessly. A judge in sentencing a convicted man may be as ____ as circumstances and the law allow. ____ neutrality. "Blessed are the ____." "She was so ____ and so pitous She wolde wepe if that she sawe a mous Caught in a trappe." "____ hearts are more than coronets."

<Love, affection, attachment, fondness, infatuation, devotion, predilection, liking.>

_Sentences_: Between the two young people had grown a[n] ____ which now ripened into ____. "The course of true ____ never did run smooth." The mad ____ of Mark Antony for Cleopatra was the cause of his downfall. She had only a[n] ____ for him, but he an unqualified ____ for her. "Man's ____ is of his life a thing apart; 'Tis woman's whole existence." He shows a marked ____ for the companionship of women. My ____ for the tart was enhanced by my ____ for the girl who baked it. That boy shows a[n] ____ for horses, and a positive ____ for dogs.

<Margin, edge, limit, border, boundary, bound, bourn, brim, rim, brink, verge, skirt, confine.>

_Sentences_: He had reached the ____ of endurance. In writing, leave a wide ____ on the left side of the page. "Borrowing dulls the ____ of husbandry." "The extravagant and erring spirit hies To his ____." Within the ____ of reason. He stood on the ____ of ruin. The rock at the ____ of the cañon is called the ____ rock. I was on the ____ of doing a very indiscreet thing. "The undiscover'd country from whose ____ No traveler returns." Fill your glasses to the ____.

<Matrimonial, conjugal, connubial, nuptial, marital.>

_Sentences_: "However old a ____ union, it still garners some sweetness." A court of ____ relations. "Contented toil, and hospitable care, And kind ____ tenderness are there." "To the ____ bower I led her, blushing like the morn." She finally decided that he had no ____ intentions. "And hears the unexpressive ____ song In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love."

<Occupation, employment, calling, pursuit, vocation, avocation, profession, business, trade, craft.>

_Sentences_: He gave his life to literary ____. My brother found ____ as a tutor in a rich family. Colleges are trying to direct their students into the ____ they are best fitted for. Andrew Johnson was a tailor by ____. Medicine is a very ancient ____. The shoemaker was very skilled at his ____. After losing his hand he could no longer engage in his ____ as telegrapher. The grocer carries on only a wholesale ____. He considered his ____ to the ministry a sacred duty. "Sir, 'tis my ____ to be plain." Do you find collecting coins a pleasant ____?

<Pacify, appease, placate, propitiate, conciliate, mollify>.

_Sentences_: We ____ our hunger when we reached the inn. In olden times men tried to ____ the offended gods by offering human sacrifices. They ____ the angry man by promising to hear his grievances immediately. The premier thought he could ____ this particular faction by offering its leader a seat in the cabinet. "Chiron ____ his cruel mind With art, and taught his warlike hands to wind The silver strings of his melodious lyre." A friendly word will usually ____ one's enemies.

<Part, piece, portion, section, subdivision, fraction, instalment element, component, constituent, ingredient, share, lot, allotment>.

_Sentences_: One ____ in his success was his courage. She was studying the ____ of the pie; he the chances of getting another ____. Is it ____ and ____ alike? "I live not in myself, but I become ____ of that around me." "Act well your ____; there all the honor lies." He owned a[n] ____ of land near the city limits; a speculator bought a[n] ____ of this and divided it into city lots. "I am a[n] ____ of all that I have met." The purchaser, having only a[n] ____ of this sum in ready money, offered to pay in ____.

<Pay, hire, salary, wages, fee, stipend, honorarium>.

_Sentences_: Give the manager his ____, the workmen their ____. "The laborer is worthy of his ____." He received his weekly ____ from the parsimonious old man. The ____ for enrolment is ten dollars. "This is ____ and ____, not revenge."

<Polite, civil, obliging, courteous, courtly, urbane, affable, complaisant, gracious>.

_Sentences_: He was ____ enough, but not definitely ____. "So ____ that he ne'er ____." Though he had never lived in a city, much less in the circle of royalty, his manners were ____, even ____. Your desire to please is shown in your ____ greeting. "Damn with faint praise, assent with ____ leer, And without sneering teach the rest to sneer."

<Quarrel, altercation, disagreement, contention, controversy, breach, rupture, dispute, dissension, bickering, wrangle, broil, squabble, row, rumpus, ruction, spat, tiff, fuss, jar, feud.>

_Sentences_: It was only a little ____ between lovers. The ____ between the partners was over the right of the senior to make contracts for the firm; it grew into an angry ____. It was a long-drawn political ____. At the meeting of our committee the chairman and one of the members had a sharp ____ over a point of order. A[n] ____ in some minor matters led to a[n] ____ in their friendship. "Thrice is he armed that hath his ____ just." Those chattering, choleric fellows are always engaged in ____; last night they on meeting had a[n] ____ which brought on a long-drawn ____, and when their friends joined in, there was a noisy ____. I have seen all sorts of ____, from a trivial childish ____ to a grim ____ of mountaineers.

<Raise, lift, heave, hoist, erect, rear, elevate, exalt, enhance.>

_Sentences_: Let the Lord be ____. "As some tall cliff that ____ its awful form." Because of this success his reputation was ____. The horse ____ when the machine began to ____ the huge block of stone by means of a crane. "I will ____ up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." The load was too heavy for him to carry; in fact he just managed to ____ it into the wagon.

<Relinquish, waive, renounce, surrender, forego, resign, abdicate.>

_Sentences_: The defense ____ objection to the first of these points. The refugee was willing to ____ his right to resist extradition. The teacher ____ her position at the end of the year. The king ____ when the people rose in revolt. He ____ his command of the army. Do you ____ your claim in this mine? The bankrupt ____ his property to the receiver to help pay his debts.

<Renounce, abjure, forswear, recant, retract, repudiate>.

_Sentences_: He ____ the statement. Thereupon Henry Esmond ____ his allegiance to the House of Stuart. It is a serious matter for a government to ____ its debts. Did the heretic ____? Do you ____ the devil and all his works? "The wounded gladiator ____ all fighting, but soon forgetting his former wounds resumes his arms." He had broken his solemn oath; he was ____.

<Reprove, rebuke, reprimand, admonish, chide, upbraid, reproach, scold, rate, berate>.

_Sentences_: "He ____ their wanderings but relieved their pain." "Many a time and oft In the Rialto you have ____ me About my moneys and my usances." They ____ the man who had taken the savings of the poor, and ____ him against such schemes thereafter. The general ____ his subordinate.

<Robber, bandit, brigand, ladrone, desperado, buccaneer, freebooter, pirate, corsair, raider, burglar, footpad, highwayman, depredator, spoiler, despoiler, forager, pillager, plunderer, marauder, myrmidon>. (With this group compare the _Steal_ group, below.)

_Sentences_: Every boy has his period of wanting to be a ____. _Treasure Island_ is one of the best ____ stories ever written. The ____ lurks in dark passageways and steals upon his victim. The fierce followers of Achilles were called ____. The men sent out by the army as ____ seemed to the people of the countryside more like ____. The fearless ____ had soon gathered about him a band of ____. Robin Hood was no ____ of poor folk. The outcast became a ____ among the mountaineers of northern Italy. Every, boy likes to read of the bold ____ who sailed the Spanish Main. Union plans were often upset by daring Confederate ____, such as Stuart, Morgan, and Forrest.

<Run, scamper, scurry, scuttle, scud, scour, pace, gallop, trot, lope, sprint, sweep>.

_Sentences_: Swift horsemen ____ the country in search of the fugitive. Wherever they came, the inhabitants ____ for shelter. "The dish ____ away with the spoon." For his horse to ____ made difficult riding, to ____ made comfortable riding, to ____ made exhilarating riding. "He may ____ that readeth it." The old sailing-boat ____ before the wind. "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May ____ to my revenge." The rats ____ across the floor. "He who fights and ____ away May live to fight another day."

<Say, utter, pronounce, announce, state, declare, affirm, aver, asseverate, allege, assert, avouch, avow, maintain, claim, depose, predicate, swear, suggest, insinuate, testify>. (With this group compare the _Speak_ and _Talk_ groups, below.)

_Sentences_: It was something I merely ____ in passing; I would not ____ to it. I could not ____ in court, and therefore had to ____ before a notary. The scientist ____ that a seismograph will infallibly record earthquakes. He solemnly ____ that he would not ____ exemption from the draft.

<Shine, beam, gleam, glisten, glister, glitter, glare, flare, flash, sparkle, twinkle, dazzle, glimmer, glow, radiate, scintillate, coruscate>.

_Sentences_: The gorgeous parade ____ the boy. "____, ____, little star." He was witty that night; he fairly ____. At this compliment the old lady ____. "Now fades the ____ landscape on the sight." A rocket ____ in the darkness. She ____ her elderly wooer a look of defiance; then her eyes softened and ____ with amusement. "All that ____ is not gold." "How far that little candle throws his beams! So ____ a good deed in a naughty world." The old man ____ into sudden anger.

<Slander, defame, asperse, calumniate, traduce, vilify, malign, libel, backbite>.

_Sentences_: A newspaper must be careful not to ____ any one. Too many supposedly religious people ____ their fellow believers. I do not ____ your motives. He ____ the character of everybody who chances to possess one.

<Smell, odor, savor, scent, fragrance, aroma, perfume, redolence, tang, stench>.

_Sentences_: The ____ of the flowers in the vase mingled with the ____ of boiling cabbage in the kitchen. The ____ of spring is on the meadows. So keen was the hound's sense of ____ that he quickly picked up the ____ again. Any smoker likes the ____ of a good cigar. The ____ of the handkerchief was delicate. Though it was a disagreeable ____, I should hardly call it a[n] ____. The ____ of spices told him that his mother was baking his favorite cake, and he also detected the ____ of coffee. The ____ of the ocean was in the air. He sniffed the ____ of frying bacon.

<Song, ballad, ditty, lullaby, hymn, anthem, dirge, chant, paean, lay, carol, lilt>.

_Sentences_: "They learn in suffering what they teach in ____." The mother crooned a[n] ____ to her babe. The Highland girl sang a moving old ____. The worshipers sang a[n] ____ of praise. Charles Wesley wrote many ____. As I approached the cathedral, I could hear the ____ of larks outside and the ____ of the choir within. "Our sweetest ____ are those that tell of saddest thought." "A[n] ____ for her the doubly dead in that she died so young."

<Speak, discourse, expatiate, descant, comment, argue, persuade, plead, lecture, preach, harangue, rant, roar, spout, thunder, declaim, harp>. (With this group compare the _Say_ group, above, and the _Talk_ group, below.)

_Sentences_: "His virtues Will ____ like angels trumpet-tongu'd against The deep damnation of his taking-off." "Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, ... Come I to ____ in Caesar's funeral." "Ay me! what act, That ____ so loud and ____ in the index?" "Hadst thou thy wits and didst ____ revenge, It could not move thus." "Thou canst not ____ of that thou dost not feel." "Nay, if thou'lt mouth, I'll ____ as well as thou." While the politician ____ in the senate chamber upon theoretical ills, the agitator outside ____ the mob about actual ones. "For murder, though it have no tongue, will ____ With most miraculous organ."

<Spend, expend, disburse, squander, waste, lavish>.

_Sentences_: Large sums were ____ in rebuilding the devastated regions of France. ____ your money, but do not ____ it. One should not ____ more than one earns. The king ____ great sums upon his favorites. The political boss ____ the money among his henchmen. "The younger son ... ____ his substance with riotous living."

<Spot, blotch, speckle, fleck, dapple, smear, smutch, brand, defacement, blemish, stain, discoloration, speck, mark, smudge, flaw, defect, blot>.

_Sentences_: A ____ in the crystal. The ____ of Cain. A life free from ____. "Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul; And there I see such black and grained ____ As will not leave their tinct." From the standpoint of theatrical effectiveness _A ____ in the 'Scutcheon_ is one of the best of Browning's plays. An eruption of the skin made a yellow ____ on his right hand. Dragging my sleeve across the fresh ink had made a ____ upon the page. The ____ of foam by the roadside proved that his horse had been going fast. The ____ at the end of his fingers told me he was a cigarette-smoker. On the left foreleg of the horse was a slight ____.

<Stay, tarry, linger, stop, sojourn, remain, abide, live, reside, dwell, lodge.>

_Sentences_: The Israelites ____ in Egypt. He ____ to chat with us, but could not ____ overnight. I ____ in a wretched tavern. "I can ____, I can ____ but a night." "I did love the Moor to ____ with him." "He that shall come will come, and will not ____." "I will ____ in the house of the Lord forever." "If ye ____ in me, and my words ____ in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to ____ in the tents of wickedness." The guests ____ in the cheerful drawing-room.

<Steal, abstract, pilfer, filch, purloin, peculate, swindle, plagiarize, poach>. (With this group, which excludes the idea of violence, compare the _Robber_ group, above.)

_Sentences_: I am afraid that our son ____ the purse from the gentleman. No one knows how long the cashier has been ____ the funds of the bank. To take our money on such unsound security is to ____ us. He slyly ____ a handkerchief or two. This paragraph is clearly ____. "Thou shalt not ____." Many government employees seem to think that to ____ is their privilege and prerogative. The crown jewels have been ____. She ____ a number of petty articles. A well-known detective story by Poe is called _The ____ Letter._ "Who ____ my purse ____ trash.... But he that ____ from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed." "A cut-purse of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem ____, And put it in his pocket!"

<Strike, hit, smite, thump, beat, cuff, buffet, knock, whack, belabor, pommel, pound, cudgel, slap, rap, tap, box.>

_Sentences_: ____ him into the middle of next week. He ____ and ____ the poor beast unmercifully. "As of some one gently ____, ____ at my chamber door." "Unto him that ____ thee on the one cheek offer also the other." "Bid them come forth and hear me, Or at their chamber door I'll ____ the drum Till it cry sleep to death." "One whom I will ____ into clamorous whining." "____ for your altars and your fires!" By means of heavy stones the squaws ____ the corn into meal.

<Sullen, surly, sulky, crabbed, cross, gruff, grum, glum, morose, dour, crusty, cynical, misanthropic, saturnine, splenetic.>

_Sentences_: "Between us and our hame [home], Where sits our ____, ____ dame, Gathering her brows like gathering storm, Nursing her wrath to keep it warm." A ____ old bachelor. A ____ Scotchman. He hated all men; he was truly ____. He sat ____ and silent all day; by nightfall he was truly ____.

<Talk, chat, chatter, prate, prattle, babble, gabble, jabber, tattle, twaddle, blab, gossip, palaver, parley, converse, mumble, mutter, stammer, stutter.> (With this group compare the _Say_ and _Speak_ groups, above.)

_Sentences_: It was a queer assembly, and from it arose a queer medley of sounds: the baby was ____, the old crone ____, the gossip ____, the embarrassed young man ____, the child ____ the tale-bearer ____, the hostess ____ with the most distinguished guest, and the trickster ____ with his intended victim. "Blest with each talent and each art to please, And born to write, ____, and live with ease." "I wonder that you will still be ____, Signor Benedick; nobody marks you."

<Tear, rend, rip, lacerate, mangle.>

_Sentences_: The explosion of the shell ____ his flesh. The tailor ____ the garment along the seam. I'll ____ this paper into bits. Those savages would ____ you limb from limb. She ____ her dress on a nail. The cogs caught his hand and ____ it. How could such reproaches fail to ____ my feelings?

<Throw, pitch, hurl, dash, fling, cast, toss, flip, chuck, sling, heave, launch, dart, propel, project.>

_Sentences_: Suddenly he ____ the glittering coins away. Goliath learned to his cost that David could ____ a stone. The explosion of the gunpowder ____ the bullet from the gun. "____ down your cups of Samian wine!" The children amused themselves by ____ the ball back and forth. He ____ himself dejectedly into a seat. The thief ____ a glance beside him. The mischievous boy ____ a stone through the window. They ____ some of the cargo overboard to lighten the boat. The eager fisherman ____ the fly for the trout. The untidy fellow ____ the towel in a corner.

<Whip, chastise, castigate, flagellate, scourge, lash, trounce, thrash, flog, maul, drub, switch, spank, bastinado.> (This group limits the field of the _Punish_ group in Exercise A, and extends the list of synonyms.)

_Sentences_: The drunken driver ____ the excited horses. The zealot was accustomed to ____ himself. The ruler bade that the Christians be ____. The teacher ____ the small children gently, but he unsparingly ____ the big ones. "My father hath ____ you with whips, but I will ____ you with scorpions." The bully was always ____ men smaller than himself till one of them turned on him and ____ him thoroughly.

<Wicked, sinful, felonious, illegal, immoral, heinous, flagitious, iniquitous, criminal, vicious, vile.>

_Sentences_: "I am fled From this ____ world, with ____ worms to dwell." A[n] ____ assault. "The ____ prize itself Buys out the law." It was, though not a[n] ____ act, a most ____ one. "There the ____ cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest."

<Young, youthful, boyish, girlish, juvenile, puerile, immature, callow, adolescent.>

_Sentences_: The plan had all the faults of ____ judgment. Many great authors have written books of ____ fiction. The bird, which was still ____, was of course unable to fly. "Such sights as ____ poets dream On summer eves by haunted stream." He was in that ____ stage of development when one is neither a boy nor a man. "I was so ____, I loved him so, I had No mother, God forgot me, and I fell." He made a[n] ____ attempt to impress them with his importance. "Bacchus ever fair, and ever ____." A red necktie gave him a more ____ appearance. The self-satisfied air of a[n] ____ youth is often trying to his elders.

EXERCISE D

In this exercise each group of synonyms is followed by quotations from authoritative writers in which the words are discriminatingly employed. Find the meaning of each italicized word in these quotations, and differentiate the word accurately from the others in that group. Substitute for it other words from the group, and observe precisely how the meaning is affected.

(So many of the quotations are from poetry that these will be printed as verse rather than, as in the preceding exercises, in continuous lines like prose.)

<Affront, insult, indignity.>

A moral, sensible, and well-bred man Will not _affront_ me,--and no other can. An old _affront_ will stir the heart Through years of rankling pain.

The way to procure _insults_ is to submit to them. A man meets with no more respect than he exacts.

It is often better not to see an _insult_ than to avenge it.

Even a hare, the weakest of animals, may _insult_ a dead lion.

To a native of rank, arrest was not merely a restraint, but a foul personal _indignity_.

<Dishonor, disgrace, ignominy, infamy, obloquy, opprobrium>.

His honor rooted in _dishonor_ stood, And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.

It is hard to say which of the two we ought most to lament,--the unhappy man who sinks under the sense of his _dishonor_, or him who survives it.

Could he with reason murmur at his case Himself sole author of his own _disgrace_?

Whatever _disgrace_ we may have deserved, it is almost always in our power to re-establish our character.

When in _disgrace_ with fortune and men's eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state.

Their generals have been received with honor after their defeat; yours with _ignominy_ after conquest.

Wilful perpetuations of unworthy actions brand with most indelible characters of _infamy_ the name and memory to posterity.

And when his long public life, so singularly chequered with good and evil, with glory and _obloquy_, had at length closed forever, it was to Daylesford that he retired to die.

Great _opprobrium_ has been thrown on her name.

<Fame, honor, renown, glory, distinction, reputation, repute, celebrity, eminence, notoriety>.

Let _fame_, that all hunt after in their lives, Live register'd upon our brazen tombs.

Men have a solicitude about _fame_; and the greater share they have of it, the more afraid they are of losing it.

_Fame_ is no plant that grows on mortal soil, . . . . . . . . But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes And perfect witness of all-judging Jove; As he pronounces lastly on each deed, Of so much _fame_ in heaven expect thy meed.

When faith is lost, when _honor_ dies, The man is dead.

Act well your part; there all the _honor_ lies.

The Athenians erected a large statue of Aesop, and placed him, though a slave, on a lasting pedestal, to show that the way to _honor_ lies open indifferently to all.

I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not _honor_ more.

That nation is worthless which does not joyfully stake everything on her _honor_.

By heaven methinks it were an easy leap To pluck bright _honor_ from the pale-fac'd moon.

That merit which gives greatness and _renown_ diffuses its influence to a wide compass, but acts weakly on every single breast.

Speak no more of his _renown_, Lay your earthly fancies down, And in the vast cathedral leave him, God accept him, Christ receive him.

The young warrior did not fly; but met death as he went forward in his strength. Happy are they who dies in youth, when their _renown_ is heard!

The paths of _glory_ lead but to the grave.

_Glory_ long has made the sages smile; 'tis something, nothing, words, illusion, wind.

Not once or twice in our rough island-story The path of duty was the way to _glory_.

He was a charming fellow, clever, urbane, free-handed, with all that fortunate quality in his appearance which is known as _distinction._

Never get a _reputation_ for a small perfection if you are trying for _fame_ in a loftier area.

One may be better than his _reputation_ or his conduct, but never better than his principles.

I see my _reputation_ is at stake My _fame_ is shrewdly gor'd.

CASSIO. _Reputation, reputation, reputation!_ O! I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation! IAGO. As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound.

You have a good _repute_ for gentleness and wisdom. _Celebrity_ sells dearly what we think she gives.

Kings climb to _eminence_ Over men's graves.

_Notoriety_ is short-lived; _fame_ is lasting.

<Hatred, hate, animosity, ill-will, enmity, hostility, bitterness, malice, malevolence, malignity, rancor, resentment, dudgeon, grudge, spite>.

The _hatred_ we bear our enemies injures their happiness less than our own.

_Hate_ is like fire; it makes even light rubbish deadly.

He generously forgot all feeling of _animosity_, and determined to go in person to his succor.

That thereby he may gather The ground of your _ill-will_, and so remove it.

No place is so propitious to the formation either of close friendships or of deadly _enmities_ as an Indiaman.

There need be no _hostility_ between evolutionist and theologian.

Shall we be thus afflicted in his wreaks, His fits, his frenzy, and his _bitterness?_

Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in _malice_.

Every obstacle which partisan _malevolence_ could create he has had to encounter.

His flight is occasioned rather by the _malignity_ of his countrymen than by the enmity of the Egyptians.

Where the soul sours, and gradual _rancor_ grows, Imbitter'd more from peevish day to day.

Peace in their mouthes, and all _rancor_ and vengeance in their hartes [hearts].

For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd; Put _rancors_ in the vessel of my peace Only for them.

Her _resentment_ against the king seems not to have abated.

Mrs. W. was in high _dudgeon_; her heels clattered on the red-tiled floor, and she whisked about the house like a parched pea upon a drum-head.

If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient _grudge_ I bear him.

Men of this character pursue a _grudge_ unceasingly, and never forget or forgive.

And since you ne'er provoked their _spite_, Depend upon't their judgment's right.

<Marriage, matrimony, wedlock>. (With this group compare the _matrimonial_ group in Exercise C, above.)

_Marriages_ are made in heaven.

Hasty _marriage_ seldom proveth well.

A man finds himself seven years older the day after his _marriage_.

Let me not to the _marriage_ of true minds Admit impediments.

_Marriage_ is the best state for man in general; and every man is a worse man in proportion as he is unfit for the married state.

_Matrimony_--the high sea for which no compass has yet been invented.

_Wedlock's_ a lane where there is no turning.

What is _wedlock_ forced, but a hell, An age of discord and continual strife?

<Mercy, clemency, lenity, leniency, lenience, forbearance>.

Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide the fault I see; That _mercy_ I to others show, That _mercy_ show to me.

The quality of _mercy_ is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes; * * * * * And earthly power doth then show likest God's When _mercy_ seasons justice.

_Clemency_ is the surest proof of a true monarch.

_Lenity_ will operate with greater force, in some instances, than vigor.

All the fellows tried to persuade the Master to greater _leniency_, but in vain.

It will be necessary that this acceptance should be followed up by measures of the utmost _lenience_.

There is however a limit at which _forbearance_ ceases to be a virtue.

<Pity, sympathy, compassion, commiseration, condolence>.

Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His _pity_ gave ere charity began.

For _pity_ melts the mind to love.

For _pitee_ renneth [runneth] soon in gentle herte [heart].

Our _sympathy_ is cold to the relation of distant misery.

Man may dismiss _compassion_ from his heart, but God will never.

It is unworthy a religious man to view an irreligious one either with alarm or aversion; or with any other feeling than regret, and hope, and brotherly _commiseration_.

Their congratulations and their _condolences_ are equally words of course.

<Poverty, want, need, destitution, indigence, penury>.

Is there for honest _poverty_ That hings [hangs] his head, and a' that?

Not to be able to bear _poverty_ is a shameful thing, but not to know how to chase it away by work is a more shameful thing yet.

Stitch! stitch! stitch! In _poverty_, hunger, and dirt, And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, Would that its tone could reach the Rich, She sang this "Song of the Shirt!"

_Poverty_ is dishonorable, not in itself, but when it is a proof of laziness, intemperance, luxury, and carelessness; whereas in a person that is temperate, industrious, just and valiant, and who uses all his virtues for the public good, it shows a great and lofty mind.

_Want_ is a bitter and hateful good, Because its virtues are not understood; Yet many things, impossible to thought, Have been by _need_ to full perfection brought.

Hundreds would never have known _want_ if they had not first known waste.

O! reason not the _need_; our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life is cheap as beast's.

The Christian inhabitants of Thessaly would be reduced to _destitution_.

It is the care of a very great part of mankind to conceal their _indigence_ from the rest.

Chill _penury_ repress'd their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.

Chill _penury_ weighs down the heart itself; and though it sometimes be endured with calmness, it is but the calmness of despair.

Where _penury_ is felt the thought is chain'd, And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few.

<Regret, compunction, remorse, contrition, penitence, repentance>.

_Regrets_ over the past should chasten the future.

He acknowledged his disloyalty to the king with expressions of great _compunction_.

Through no disturbance of my soul, Or strong _compunction_ in me wrought, I supplicate for thy control.

God speaks to our hearts through the voice of _remorse_.

To err is human; but _contrition_ felt for the crime distinguishes the virtuous from the wicked.

Christian _penitence_ is something more than a thought or an emotion or a tear; it is action.

_Repentance_ must be something more than mere _remorse_ for sins; it comprehends a change of nature befitting heaven.

<Stubborn, obstinate, pertinacious, intractable, refractory, contumacious>.

For fools are _stubborn_ in their way, As coins are harden'd by th' allay; And _obstinacy's_ ne'er so stiff As when 'tis in a wrong belief.

They may also laugh at their _pertinacious_ and incurable obstinacy.

He who is _intractable_, he whom nothing can persuade, may boast himself invincible.

There is a law in each well-order'd nation To curb those raging appetites that are Most disobedient and _refractory_.

He then dissolved Parliament, and sent its most _refractory_ members to the Tower.

If he were _contumacious_, he might be excommunicated, or, in other words, be deprived of all civil rights and imprisoned for life.

EXERCISE E

The following list of synonyms is given for the convenience of those who wish additional material with which to work. This is a selected list and makes no pretense to completeness. It is suggested that you discriminate the words within each of the following groups, and use each word accurately in a sentence of your own making.

Abettor, accessory, accomplice, confederate, conspirator. Acknowledge, admit, confess, own, avow. Active, agile, nimble, brisk, sprightly, spry, bustling. Advise, counsel, admonish, caution, warn. Affecting, moving, touching, pathetic. Agnostic, skeptic, infidel, unbeliever, disbeliever. Amuse, entertain, divert. Announce, proclaim, promulgate, report, advertise, publish, bruit, blazon, trumpet, herald. Antipathy, aversion, repugnance, disgust, loathing. Artifice, ruse, trick, dodge, manoeuver, wile, stratagem, subterfuge, finesse. Ascend, mount, climb, scale. Associate, colleague, partner, helper, collaborator, coadjutor, companion, helpmate, mate, team-mate, comrade, chum, crony, consort, accomplice, confederate. Attach, affix, annex, append, subjoin. Attack, assail, assault, invade, beset, besiege, bombard, cannonade, storm.

Begin, commence, inaugurate, initiate, institute, originate, start, found. Belief, faith, persuasion, conviction, tenet, creed. Belittle, decry, depreciate, disparage. Bind, secure, fetter, shackle, gyve. Bit, jot, mite, particle, grain, atom, speck, mote, whit, iota, tittle, scintilla. Bluff, blunt, outspoken, downright, brusk, curt, crusty. Boast, brag, vaunt, vapor, gasconade. Body, corpse, remains, relics, carcass, cadaver, corpus. Bombastic, sophomoric, turgid, tumid, grandiose, grandiloquent, magniloquent. Boorish, churlish, loutish, clownish, rustic, ill-bred. Booty, plunder, loot, spoil. Brittle, frangible, friable, fragile, crisp. Building, edifice, structure, house.

Call, clamor, roar, scream, shout, shriek, vociferate, yell, halloo, whoop. Calm, still, motionless, tranquil, serene, placid. Care, concern, solicitude, anxiety. Celebrate, commemorate, observe. Charm, amulet, talisman. Charm, enchant, fascinate, captivate, enrapture, bewitch, infatuate, enamor. Cheat, defraud, swindle, dupe. Choke, strangle, suffocate, stifle, throttle. Choose, pick, select, cull, elect. Coax, wheedle, cajole, tweedle, persuade, inveigle. Color, hue, shade, tint, tinge, tincture. Combine, unite, consolidate, merge, amalgamate, weld, incorporate, confederate. Comfort, console, solace. Complain, grumble, growl, murmur, repine, whine, croak. Confirmed, habitual, inveterate, chronic. Connect, join, link, couple, attach, unite. Continual, continuous, unceasing, incessant, endless, uninterrupted, unremitting, constant, perpetual, perennial. Contract, agreement, bargain, compact, covenant, stipulation. Copy, duplicate, counterpart, likeness, reproduction, replica, facsimile. Corrupt, depraved, perverted, vitiated. Costly, expensive, dear. Coterie, clique, cabal, circle, set, faction, party. Critical, judicial, impartial, carping, caviling, captious, censorious. Crooked, awry, askew. Cross, fretful, peevish, petulant, pettish, irritable, irascible, angry. Crowd, throng, horde, host, mass, multitude, press, jam, concourse. Curious, inquisitive, prying, meddlesome.

Dainty, delicate, exquisite, choice, rare. Danger, peril, jeopardy, hazard, risk. Darken, obscure, bedim, obfuscate. Dead, lifeless, inanimate, deceased, defunct, extinct. Decay, decompose, putrefy, rot, spoil. Deceit, deception, double-dealing, duplicity, chicanery, guile, treachery. Deceptive, deceitful, misleading, fallacious, fraudulent. Decorate, adorn, ornament, embellish, deck, bedeck, garnish, bedizen, beautify. Decorous, demure, sedate, sober, staid, prim, proper. Deface, disfigure, mar, mutilate. Defect, fault, imperfection, disfigurement, blemish, flaw. Delay, defer, postpone, procrastinate. Demoralize, deprave, debase, corrupt, vitiate. Deportment, demeanor, bearing, port, mien. Deprive, divest, dispossess, strip, despoil. Despise, contemn, scorn, disdain. Despondency, despair, desperation. Detach, separate, sunder, sever, disconnect, disjoin, disunite. Determined, persistent, dogged. Devout, religious, pious, godly, saintly. Difficulty, hindrance, obstacle, impediment, encumbrance, handicap. Difficulty, predicament, perplexity, plight, quandary, dilemma, strait. Dirty, filthy, foul, nasty, squalid. Discernment, perception, penetration, insight, acumen. Disgraceful, dishonorable, shameful, disreputable, ignominious, opprobrious, scandalous, infamous. Disgusting, sickening, repulsive, revolting, loathsome, repugnant, abhorrent, noisome, fulsome. Dispel, disperse, dissipate, scatter. Dissatisfied, discontented, displeased, malcontent, disgruntled. Divide, distribute, apportion, allot, allocate, partition. Doctrine, dogma, tenet, precept. Dream, reverie, vision, fantasy. Drip, dribble, trickle. Drunk, drunken, intoxicated, inebriated. Dry, arid, parched, desiccated.

Eat, bolt, gulp, gorge, devour. Encroach, infringe, intrench, trench, intrude, invade, trespass. End, conclude, terminate, finish, discontinue, close. Enemy, foe, adversary, opponent, antagonist, rival. Enough, adequate, sufficient. Entice, inveigle, allure, lure, decoy, seduce. Erase, expunge, cancel, efface, obliterate. Error, mistake, blunder, slip. Estimate, value, appreciate. Eternal, everlasting, endless, deathless, imperishable, immortal. Examination, inquiry, inquisition, investigation, inspection, scrutiny, research, review, audit, inquest, autopsy. Example, sample, specimen, instance. Exceed, excel, surpass, transcend, outdo. Expand, dilate, distend, inflate. Expel, banish, exile, proscribe, ostracize. Experiment, trial, test. Explicit, exact, precise, definite.

Faculty, gift, endowment, aptitude, attribute, talent, predilection, bent. Failing, shortcoming, defect, fault, foible, infirmity. Famous, renowned, celebrated, noted, distinguished, eminent, illustrious. Fashion, mode, style, vogue, rage, fad. Fast, rapid, swift, quick, fleet, speedy, hasty, celeritous, expeditious, instantaneous. Fasten, tie, hitch, moor, tether. Fate, destiny, lot, doom. Fawn, truckle, cringe, crouch. Feign, pretend, dissemble, simulate, counterfeit, affect, assume. Fiendish, devilish, diabolical, demoniacal, demonic, satanic. Fertile, fecund, fruitful, prolific. Fit, suitable, appropriate, proper. Flame, blaze, flare, glare, glow. Flat, level, even, plane, smooth, horizontal. Flatter, blandish, beguile, compliment, praise. Flexible, pliable, pliant, supple, limber, lithe, lissom. Flit, flutter, flicker, hover. Flock, herd, bevy, covey, drove, pack, brood, litter, school. Flow, pour, stream, gush, spout. Follow, pursue, chase. Follower, adherent, disciple, partisan, henchman. Fond, loving, doting, devoted, amorous, enamored. Force, strength, power, energy, vigor, might, potency, cogency, efficacy. Force, compulsion, coercion, constraint, restraint. Free, liberate, emancipate, manumit, release, disengage, disentangle, disembarrass, disencumber, extricate. Freshen, refresh, revive, renovate, renew. Friendly, amicable, companionable, hearty, cordial, neighborly, sociable, genial, complaisant, affable. Frighten, affright, alarm, terrify, terrorize, dismay, appal, daunt, scare. Frown, scowl, glower, lower. Frugal, sparing, saving, economical, chary, thrifty, provident, prudent.

Game, play, amusement, pastime, diversion, fun, sport, entertainment. Gather, accumulate, amass, collect, levy, muster, hoard. Ghost, spirit, specter, phantom, apparition, shade, phantasm. Gift, present, donation, grant, gratuity, bequest, boon, bounty, largess, fee, bribe. Grand, magnificent, gorgeous, splendid, superb, sublime. Greet, hail, salute, address, accost. Grief, sorrow, distress, affliction, trouble, tribulation, woe. Grieve, lament, mourn, bemoan, bewail, deplore, rue. Guard, defend, protect, shield, shelter, screen, preserve.

Habitation, abode, dwelling, residence, domicile, home. Harmful, injurious, detrimental, pernicious, deleterious, baneful, noxious. Have, possess, own, hold. Headstrong, wayward, wilful, perverse, froward. Help (noun), aid, assistance, succor. Help (verb), assist, aid, succor, abet, second, support, befriend. Hesitate, falter, vacillate, waver. Hide, conceal, secrete. High, tall, lofty, elevated, towering. Hint, intimate, insinuate. Hopeful, expectant, sanguine, optimistic, confident. Hopeless, despairing, disconsolate, desperate. Holy, sacred, hallowed, sanctified, consecrated, godly, pious, saintly, blessed.

Impolite, discourteous, inurbane, uncivil, rude, disrespectful, pert, saucy, impertinent, impudent, insolent. Importance, consequence, moment. Impostor, pretender, charlatan, masquerader, mountebank, deceiver, humbug, cheat, quack, shyster, empiric. Imprison, incarcerate, immure. Improper, indecent, indecorous, unseemly, unbecoming, indelicate. Impure, tainted, contaminated, polluted, defiled, vitiated. Inborn, innate, inbred, congenital. Incite, instigate, stimulate, impel, arouse, goad, spur, promote. Inclose, surround, encircle, circumscribe, encompass. Increase, grow, enlarge, magnify, amplify, swell, augment. Indecent, indelicate, immodest, shameless, ribald, lewd, lustful, lascivious, libidinous, obscene. Insane, demented, deranged, crazy, mad. Insanity, dementia, derangement, craziness, madness, lunacy, mania, frenzy, hallucination. Insipid, tasteless, flat, vapid. Intention, intent, purpose, plan, design, aim, object, end. Interpose, intervene, intercede, interfere, mediate. Irreligious, ungodly, impious, godless, sacrilegious, blasphemous, profane. Irritate, exasperate, nettle, incense.

Join, connect, unite, couple, combine, link, annex, append.

Kindle, ignite, inflame, rouse.

Lack, want, need, deficiency, dearth, paucity, scarcity, deficit. Lame, crippled, halt, deformed, maimed, disabled. Large, great, big, huge, immense, colossal, gigantic, extensive, vast, massive, unwieldy, bulky. Laughable, comical, comic, farcical, ludicrous, ridiculous, funny, droll. Lead, guide, conduct, escort, convoy. Lengthen, prolong, protract, extend. Lessen, decrease, diminish, reduce, abate, curtail, moderate, mitigate, palliate. Lie (noun), untruth, falsehood, falsity, fiction, fabrication, mendacity, canard, fib, story. Lie (verb), prevaricate, falsify, equivocate, quibble, shuffle, dodge, fence, fib. Likeness, resemblance, similitude, similarity, semblance, analogy. Limp, flaccid, flabby, flimsy. List, roll, catalogue, register, roster, schedule, inventory. Loud, resonant, clarion, stentorian, sonorous. Low, base, abject, servile, slavish, menial. Loyal, faithful, true, constant, staunch, unwavering, steadfast. Lurk, skulk, slink, sneak, prowl.

Make, create, frame, fashion, mold, shape, form, forge, fabricate, invent, construct, manufacture, concoct. Manifest, plain, obvious, clear, apparent, patent, evident, perceptible, noticeable, open, overt, palpable, tangible, indubitable, unmistakable. Many, various, numerous, divers, manifold, multitudinous, myriad, countless, innumerable. Meaning, significance, signification, import, purport. Meet, encounter, collide, confront, converge. Meeting, assembly, assemblage, congregation, convention, conference, concourse, gathering, mustering. Melt, thaw, fuse, dissolve, liquefy. Memory, remembrance, recollection, reminiscence, retrospection. Misrepresent, misinterpret, falsify, distort, warp. Mix, compound, amalgamate, weld, combine, blend, concoct. Model, pattern, prototype, criterion, standard, exemplar, paragon, archetype, ideal. Motive, incentive, inducement, desire, purpose. Move, actuate, impel, prompt, incite.

Near, nigh, close, neighboring, adjacent, contiguous. Neat, tidy, orderly, spruce, trim, prim. Needful, necessary, requisite, essential, indispensable. Negligence, neglect, inattention, inattentiveness, inadvertence, remissness, oversight. New, novel, fresh, recent, modern, late, innovative, unprecedented. Nice, fastidious, dainty, finical, squeamish. Noisy, clamorous, boisterous, hilarious, turbulent, riotous, obstreperous, uproarious, vociferous, blatant, brawling. Noticeable, prominent, conspicuous, salient, signal.

Order (noun), command, mandate, behest, injunction, decree. Order (verb), command, enjoin, direct, instruct. Oversight, supervision, direction, superintendence, surveillance.

Pale, pallid, wan, colorless, blanched, ghastly, ashen, cadaverous. Patience, forbearance, resignation, longsuffering. Penetrate, pierce, perforate. Place, office, post, position, situation, appointment. Plan, design, project, scheme, plot. Playful, mischievous, roguish, prankish, sportive, arch. Plentiful, plenteous, abundant, bounteous, copious, profuse, exuberant, luxuriant. Plunder, rifle, loot, sack, pillage, devastate, despoil. Pretty, beautiful, comely, handsome, fair. Profitable, remunerative, lucrative, gainful. Prompt, punctual, ready, expeditious. Pull, draw, drag, haul, tug, tow. Push, shove, thrust. Puzzle, perplex, mystify, bewilder.

Queer, odd, curious, quaint, ridiculous, singular, unique, bizarre, fantastic, grotesque.

Rash, incautious, reckless, foolhardy, adventurous, venturous, venturesome. Rebellion, insurrection, revolt, mutiny, riot, revolution, sedition. Recover, regain, retrieve, recoup, rally, recuperate. Reflect, deliberate, ponder, muse, meditate, ruminate. Relate, recount, recite, narrate, tell. Replace, supersede, supplant, succeed. Repulsive, unsightly, loathsome, hideous, grewsome. Requital, retaliation, reprisal, revenge, vengeance, retribution. Responsible, answerable, accountable, amenable, liable. Reveal, disclose, divulge, manifest, show, betray. Reverence, veneration, awe, adoration, worship. Ridicule, deride, mock, taunt, flout, twit, tease. Ripe, mature, mellow. Rise, arise, mount, ascend. Rogue, knave, rascal, miscreant, scamp, sharper, villain. Round, circular, rotund, spherical, globular, orbicular. Rub, polish, burnish, furbish, scour.

Sad, grave, sober, moody, doleful, downcast, dreary, woeful, somber, unhappy, woebegone, mournful, depressed, despondent, gloomy, melancholy, heavy-spirited, sorrowful, dismal, dejected, disconsolate, miserable, lugubrious. Satiate, sate, surfeit, cloy, glut, gorge. Scoff, jeer, gibe, fleer, sneer, mock, taunt. Secret, covert, surreptitious, furtive, clandestine, underhand, stealthy. Seep, ooze, infiltrate, percolate, transude, exude. Sell, barter, vend, trade. Shape, form, figure, outline, conformation, configuration, contour, profile. Share, partake, participate, divide. Sharp, keen, acute, cutting, trenchant, incisive. Shore, coast, littoral, beach, strand, bank. Shorten, abridge, abbreviate, curtail, truncate, syncopate. Show (noun), display, ostentation, parade, pomp, splurge. Show, exhibit, display, expose, manifest, evince. Shrink, flinch, wince, blench, quail. Shun, avoid, eschew. Shy, bashful, diffident, modest, coy, timid, shrinking. Sign, omen, auspice, portent, prognostic, augury, foretoken, adumbration, presage, indication. Simple, innocent, artless, unsophisticated, naive. Skilful, skilled, expert, adept, apt, proficient, adroit, dexterous, deft, clever, ingenious. Skin, hide, pelt, fell. Sleepy, drowsy, slumberous, somnolent, sluggish, torpid, dull, lethargic. Slovenly, slatternly, dowdy, frowsy, blowzy. Sly, crafty, cunning, subtle, wily, artful, politic, designing. Smile, smirk, grin. Solitary, lonely, lone, lonesome, desolate, deserted, uninhabited. Sour, acid, tart, acrid, acidulous, acetose, acerbitous, astringent. Speech, discourse, oration, address, sermon, declamation, dissertation, exhortation, disquisition, harangue, diatribe, tirade, screed, philippic, invective, rhapsody, plea. Spruce, natty, dapper, smart, chic. Stale, musty, frowzy, mildewed, fetid, rancid, rank. Steep, precipitous, abrupt. Stingy, close, miserly, niggardly, parsimonious, penurious, sordid, Storm, tempest, whirlwind, hurricane, tornado, cyclone, typhoon Straight, perpendicular, vertical, plumb, erect, upright. Strange, singular, peculiar, odd, queer, quaint, outlandish. Strong, stout, robust, sturdy, stalwart, powerful. Stupid, dull, obtuse, stolid, doltish, sluggish, brainless, bovine. Succeed, prosper, thrive, flourish, triumph. Succession, sequence, series. Supernatural, preternatural, superhuman, miraculous. Suppose, surmise, conjecture, presume, imagine, fancy, guess, think, believe. Surprise, astonish, amaze, astound. Swearing, cursing, profanity, blasphemy, execration, imprecation.

Teach, instruct, educate, train, discipline, drill, inculcate, instil, indoctrinate. Thoughtful, contemplative, meditative, reflective, pensive, wistful. Tire, weary, fatigue, exhaust, jade, fag. Tool, implement, instrument, utensil. Trifle, dally, dawdle, potter. Try, endeavor, essay, attempt. Trust, confidence, reliance, assurance, faith. Turn, revolve, rotate, spin, whirl, gyrate.

Ugly, homely, uncomely, hideous. Unwilling, reluctant, disinclined, loath, averse.

Watchful, vigilant, alert. Wave (noun), billow, breaker, swell, ripple, undulation. Wave (verb), brandish, flourish, flaunt, wigwag. Weariness, languor, lassitude, enervation, exhaustion. Wearisome, tiresome, irksome, tedious, humdrum. Wet (adjective), humid, moist, damp, dank, sodden, soggy. Wet (verb), moisten, dampen, soak, imbrue, saturate, drench Whim, caprice, vagary, fancy, freak, whimsey, crotchet. Wind, breeze, gust, blast, flaw, gale, squall, flurry. Wind, coil, twist, twine, wreathe. Winding, tortuous, serpentine, sinuous, meandering. Wonderful, marvelous, phenomenal, miraculous. Workman, laborer, artisan, artificer, mechanic, craftsman. Write, inscribe, scribble, scrawl, scratch.

Yearn, long, hanker, pine, crave.

EXERCISE F

Write three synonyms for each of the following words. Discriminate the three, and embody each of them in a sentence.

Accomplish Conduct (noun) Humble Scream Agree Conspicuous Indifferent Shrewd Anger Cringe Misfortune Shudder Attempt Difficult Obey Skill Big Disconnect Object (noun) Soft Brute Erratic Object (verb) Splash Business Flash Obligation Success Careless Fragrant Occupied Sweet Climb Gain Oppose Trick Collect Generous Persist Wash Commanding Grim Revise Worship Compel Groan Room

EXERCISE G

Supply eight or ten intervening words between each of the following pairs. Arrange the intervening words in an ascending scale.

Dark, bright Wet, dry Savage, civilized Beautiful, ugly Friend, enemy Hope, despair Wise, foolish Love, hate Enormous, minute Admirable, abominable Curse, bless Pride, humility

IX

MANY-SIDED WORDS

In Chapter VII you made a study of printed distinctions between synonyms. In Chapter VIII you were given lists of synonyms and made the distinctions yourself. Near the close of Chapter VIII you were given words and discovered for yourself what their synonyms are. This third stage might seem to reveal to you the full joys and benefits of your researches in this subject. Certainly to find a new word for an old one is an exhilarating sort of mental travel. And to find a new word which expresses exactly what an old one expressed but approximately is a real acquisition in living. But you are not yet a perfectly trained hunter of synonyms. Some miscellaneous tasks remain; they will involve hard work and call your utmost powers into play.

Of these tasks the most important is connected with the hint already given that many words, especially if they be generic words, have two or more entirely different meanings. Let us first establish this fact, and afterwards see what bearing it has on our study of synonyms.

My friend says, "I hope you will have a good day." Does he mean an enjoyable one in general? a profitable or lucrative one, in case I have business in hand? a successful one, if I am selling stocks or buying a house? Possibly he means a sunshiny day if I intend to play golf, a snowy day if I plan to go hunting, a rainy day if my crops are drying up. The ideas here are varied, even contradictory, enough; yet _good_ may be used of every one of them. _Good_ is in truth so general a term that we must know the attendant circumstances if we are to attach to it a signification even approximately accurate. This does not at all imply that _good_ is a term we may brand as useless. It implies merely that when our meaning is specific we must set _good_ aside (unless circumstances make its sense unmistakable) in favor of a specific word.

_Things_ is another very general term. In "Let us wash up the things" it likely means dishes or clothes. In "Hang your things in the closet" it likely means clothes. In "Put the things in the tool-box" it likely means tools. In "Put the things in the sewing-basket" it likely means thread, needles, and scissors. In "The trenches are swarming with these things" it likely means cooties. A more accurate word is usually desirable. Yet we may see the value of the generality in the saying "A place for everything, and everything in its place."

_Good_ and _things_ are not alone in having multitudinous meanings. There are in the language numerous many-sided words. These words should be studied carefully. True, they are not always employed in ambiguous ways. For example, _right_ in the sense of correct is seldom likely to be mistaken for _right_ in the sense of not-left, but a reader or hearer may frequently mistake it for _right_ in the sense of just or of honorable. In the use of such words, therefore, we cannot become too discriminating.

EXERCISE H

This exercise concerns itself with common words that have more than one meaning. Make your procedure as follows. First, look up the word itself. Under it you will find a number of defining words. Then look up each of these in turn, until you have the requisite number and kind of synonyms. (The word is sure to have more synonyms than are called for.) You will have to use your dictionary tirelessly.

<Bare.> Find three synonyms for _bare_ as applied to the body; three for it as applied to a room.

<Bear.> Give three other words that might be used instead of _bear_ in the sentence "The pillar bears a heavy weight"; three in the sentence "He bore a heavy load on his back"; three in the sentence "He bore the punishment that was unjustly meted out to him"; three in the sentence "He bore a grudge against his neighbor"; two in the sentence "The field did not bear a crop last year."

<Bold.> Give ten synonyms for _bold_ as applied to a warrior; ten as applied to a young girl. Observe that the synonyms in the first list are favorable in import and suggest the idea of bravery, whereas those in the second list are unfavorable and suggest the idea of brazenness. How do you account for this fact? Can you think of circumstances in which a young girl might be so placed that the favorable synonyms might be applied to her?

<Bright.> Give as many words as you can, at least twelve, that can be used instead of _bright_ as applied to a light, a diamond, a wet pavement, or a live coal. Give three words for _bright_ as applied to a child of unusual intelligence; two as applied to an occasion that promises to turn out well; two as applied to a career that has been signally successful.

<Clear.> Give five synonyms for clear as applied to water; ten as applied to a fact or a statement; three as applied to the sky or atmosphere; three as applied to the voice; two as applied to a passageway or a view; three as applied to one's judgment or thinking.

<Close.> Give three words that could be substituted for _close_ as applied to the atmosphere in a room; four as applied to a person who is uninclined to talk about a matter; three as applied to something not far off; four as applied to a friend; five as applied to a person who is reluctant to spend money; five as applied to a translation; five as applied to attention or endeavor.

<Discharge.> Substitute in turn four words for _discharge_ in the sentence "The judge discharged the prisoner"; two in the sentence "The foreman discharged the workman"; two in the sentence "The hunter discharged the gun"; three in the sentence "The sore discharged pus"; two in the sentence "My neighbor discharged the debt"; two in the sentence "He discharged his duty."

. Name three words besides _dull_ that could be applied to a blade or a point; five to a person with slow intellect; three to indifference toward others; two to a color; three to a day that is not cheerful; five to talk or discourse that is not interesting.

. Substitute five words for _fair_ in the sentence "He gave a fair judgment in the case"; three in the sentence "The son made a fair showing in his studies"; four in the sentence "She had a fair face"; two in the sentence "Her complexion was fair"; three in the sentence "Let no shame ever fall upon your fair name."

. Find two words that you can substitute for _false_ as applied to a signature, to a report or a piece of news, to jewels or money, to a friend.

. Name two words I might substitute for _fast_ in the sentence "Drive the stake until it is fast in the ground"; three in the sentence "He made a fast trip for the doctor"; six in the sentence "By leading a fast life he soon squandered his inheritance."

. Substitute four words for _firm_ in the sentence "I made the board firm by nailing it to the wall"; three in the sentence "The water froze into a firm mass"; five in the sentence "He was firm in his determination to proceed."

. Instead of _flat_ use in turn four other words in the sentence "This is a flat piece of ground"; five in the sentence "It was as flat a story as ever wearied company"; three in the sentence "The cook having forgotten the salt, the soup was flat"; four in the sentence "I am surprised by your flat refusal."

. _Free_ may be applied to a person not subject to a tax or a disease, to a person who has been released from confinement or restraint, to a person who is not reserved or formal in his relations to others, to a person who is willing to give. Out of your own resources substitute as many words as you can for _free_ in each of these sentences. Now look up _free_ in a dictionary or book of synonyms. What proportion of its synonyms were you able to think up unaided?

. Give three synonyms for _great_ as applied to size, to number, to a man widely known for notable achievement, to an error or crime, to price.

. Give six synonyms for _hard_ as applied to a rock; six as applied to a task or burden; six as applied to a problem or situation; ten as applied to one's treatment of others.

. Give three words that can be applied instead of _harsh_ to a sound; three that can be applied instead of _harsh_ to the voice; five that can be applied to one's treatment of others; five that can be applied to one's disposition or nature.

. Substitute five words for _just_ in the sentence "You are just in your dealings with others"; three in the sentence "A just punishment was meted out to him"; three in the sentence "They made a just division of the property"; two in the sentence "He had a just claim to the title."

. Give six words that can be substituted for _plain_, as applied to a fact or statement; four as applied to the decorations of a room; two as applied to the countenance; four as applied to a surface; three as applied to a statement or reply.

. Give five words that can be used instead of _poor_ as applied to a person who is without money or resources; ten as applied to a person lacking in flesh; three as applied to clothing that is worn out; five as applied to land that will bear only small crops or no crops at all; two as applied to an occasion that does not promise to turn out well.

. Give six words that could be used instead of _quick_ as applied to a train or a horse in travel; six as applied to the movements of a person about a room or to his actions in the performance of his work; four to a disposition or temper that is easily irritated.

. Give five synonyms for _serious_ as applied to one's countenance or expression; three as applied to a problem or undertaking; two as applied to a disease or to sickness.

. Give two synonyms for _sharp_ as applied to a blade or a point; six as applied to a pain or to grief; four as applied to a remark or reply; ten as applied to one's mind or intellect; three as applied to temper or disposition; three as applied to an embankment; three as applied to the seasoning of food; three as applied to a cry or scream.

. Give six synonyms for _stiff_ as applied to an iron rod; three as applied to an adversary; six as applied to one's manner or bearing; two as applied to one's style of writing or speaking.

. Give three synonyms for _strong_ as applied to a person in regard to his health; ten as applied to him in regard to his muscularity of physique; four as applied to a fortress; three as applied to a plea or assertion; three as applied to an argument or reason; three as applied to determination; two as applied to liquor; three as applied to a light; two as applied to corrective measures; two as applied to an odor.

. Give five synonyms for vain as applied to a man who overvalues himself or his accomplishments; six as applied to an attempt that comes to nothing; three as applied to hopes that have little chance of fulfilment.

. Substitute five synonyms for _weak_ in the sentence "I was very weak after my illness"; four in the sentence "The fortress was especially weak on the side toward the plain"; three in the sentence "He made a weak attempt to defend his actions"; three in the sentence "Many of these arguments are weak"; three in the sentence "Hamlet is usually interpreted as being weak of will"; three in the sentence "The liquor was so weak it had no taste"; three in the sentence "The lace was weak and soon tore."

. Give two words instead of _wild_ as applied to animals; two as applied to land; three as applied to people who have not been civilized; three as applied to a storm, an uncontrolled temper, or a mob; three as applied to a scheme that has no basis in reason or practicality.

EXERCISE I

In Exercise H you started with ideas and objects, and had to find words of a given meaning that could be applied to them. In this exercise you start with the words, and must find the ideas and objects.

. To what is _base_ applied when inferior, cheap, worthless could be used as its synonyms? To what is it applied when debased, impure, spurious, alloyed, counterfeit could be used? When mean, despicable, contemptible, shameful, disgraceful, dishonorable, discreditable, scandalous, infamous, villainous, low-minded could be used? When ignoble, servile, slavish, groveling, menial could be used? When plebeian, obscure, untitled, vulgar, lowly, nameless, humble, unknown could be used?

. Can you properly contrast mortal with immortal existence? mortal with porcine existence? Is porcine existence also mortal? Is mortal existence also porcine? What adjective pertaining to mankind forms a true contrast to _porcine_? What is a synonym for _mortal_ in its broad sense? in its narrow sense?

. To what is _severe_ applied when harsh, stern, rigorous, drastic, austere, hard could be substituted for it? When plain, unembellished, unadorned, chaste could be substituted? When acute, violent, extreme, intense, sharp, distressing, afflictive could be substituted? When keen, cutting, biting, stinging, caustic, critical, trenchant could be substituted?

EXERCISE J

Reread the discussion of _good_ and _things_ in Many-sided Words. Then for each of the words listed below collect or compose twenty or more sentences in which the word is used. As largely as possible, take them from actual experience. In doing this you must listen to the use of the word in everyday talk. After you have made your list of sentences as varied and extensive as you can, try to substitute synonyms that will express the idea more accurately. Note whether a knowledge of the attendant circumstances is necessary to an understanding of the original word, to an understanding of the word substituted for it.

Bad Fine Matter Affair Nice Common Case Boost

EXERCISE K

Analyze each of the words given below into its various uses or applications. Then for it in each of these applications assemble as many synonyms as you can unaided. Finally, have recourse to a dictionary or book of synonyms for the further extension of your lists.

(By way of illustration, let us take the word _quiet_. Through meditation and analysis we discover that it may be applied (a) to water or any liquid not in motion, (b) to a place that is without sound, (c) to a place shut off from activity or bustle, (d) to a person who is not demonstrative or forward in manner. We then think of all the words we can that can be substituted for it in each of these uses. No matter how incompletely or unsatisfactorily we feel we are performing this task, we must not give it over until we have found every word we can summon. Then we turn to a dictionary or book of synonyms. Thus for _quiet_ we shall assemble such synonyms as (a) calm, still, motionless, placid, tranquil, serene, smooth, unruffled, undisturbed, pacific, stagnant; (b) silent, still, noiseless, mute, hushed, voiceless; (c) secluded, sequestered, solitary, isolated, unfrequented, unvisited, peaceful, untrodden, retired; (d) demure, sedate, staid, reserved, meek, gentle, retiring, unobtrusive, modest, unassuming, timid, shrinking, shy.)

Barren Keep Pure Solid Certain Liberal Rare Sorry Cold Light (adjective) Rich Spread Cool Light (noun) Right Straight Deep Long Rude Still Dry Low Short Sure Easy Mean Simple Thick Foul Narrow Slow Thin Full New Small Tender Gentle Obscure Smooth True Grand Odd Sober Warm Heavy Particular Soft Yield Keen

One of the most interesting things to watch in the study of words is their development from a literal to a figurative application. The first man who broke away from the confines of the literal meaning of a word and applied the word to something that only in a figurative sense had qualities analogous to the original meaning, was creating poetry. He was making an imaginative flight comparable in daring to the Wright brothers' first aeronautic flight. But as the word was used over and over in this figurative way the imaginative flight became more and more commonplace. At last it ceased to be imaginative at all; through frequent repetition it had settled into the matter of course. A glance back at the _Concise_ group above will show you that with time the comparison which was once the basis and the life of the figurative use of words is dulled, obscured, even lost.

As a further enforcement of this fact, let us analyze the word _rough_. In its literal application, it may designate any surface that has ridges, projections, or inequalities and is therefore uneven, jagged, rugged, scraggy, or scabrous. Now frequently a man's face or head is rough because unshaved or uncombed; also the fur of an animal is rough. Hence the term could be used for unkempt, disheveled, shaggy, hairy, coarse, bristly. "The child ran its hand over its father's rough cheek" and "The bear had a rough coat" are sentences that even the most unimaginative mind can understand. We speak of rough timber because its surface has not been planed or made smooth. We speak of a rough diamond because it is unpolished, uncut. Note that all these uses are literal, that in each instance some unevenness of surface is referred to.

But man, urged on by the desire to say what he means with more novelty, strikingness, or force, applied the word to ideas that have no surfaces to be uneven. He imagined what these ideas would be like if they had surfaces. Of course in putting these conceptions into language he was creating figures of speech, some of them startlingly apt, some of them merely far-fetched. He said a man had a _rough_ voice, as though the voice were like a cactus in its prickly irregularities. By _rough_ he meant what his fellows meant when they spoke of the voice as harsh, grating, jarring, discordant, inharmonious, strident, raucous, or unmusical. Going farther, that early poet said the weather was _rough_. He thought of clement weather as being smooth and even, but of inclement, severe, stormy, tempestuous, or violent weather as being full of projections to rend and harass one. Thus an everyday use of the term today was once wrenched and immoderate speech. Possibly the first man who heard of rough weather was puzzled for a moment, then amused or delighted as he caught the figure. It did not require great originality to think of a crowd as _rough_ in its movements. But our poet applied the idea to an individual. To him a rude, uncivil, impolite, ungracious, uncourteous, unpolished, uncouth, boorish, blunt, bluff, gruff, brusk, or burly person was as the unplaned lumber or the unpolished gem; and we imitative moderns still call such a man _rough_. But we do not think of the man as covered with projections that need to be taken off, unless forsooth we receive _rough_ treatment at his hands. And note how far we have journeyed from the original idea of the word when we say "I gave the report a _rough_ glance," meaning cursory, hasty, superficial, or incomplete consideration.

Many very simple words, including several of those already treated in this chapter, are two-sided in that they are both literal and figurative.

EXERCISE L

Trace each of the following words from its literal to its figurative applications, giving synonyms for each of its uses.

Open Bright Stiff Hard Low Cool Sharp Flat Keen Strong Dull Raw Small Odd Warm Deep Eccentric

Thus far in this chapter we have been considering many-sided words. We must now turn to a certain class of facts and ideas that deserve better understanding and closer analysis than we usually accord them.

These facts and ideas are supposed to be matters of common knowledge. And in their broad scope and purport they are. Because acquaintance with them is taken for granted it behooves us to know them. Yet they are in reality complicated, and when we attempt to deal with them in detail, our assurance forsakes us. All of us have our "blind sides" intellectually-- quake to have certain areas of discussion entered, because we foresee that we must sit idly by without power to make sensible comment. Unto as many as possible of these blind sides of ourselves we should pronounce the blessed words, "Let there be light." We have therefore to consider certain matters and topics which are supposed to belong to the common currency of social information, but with which our familiarity is less thoroughgoing than it should be.

What are these facts and topics? Take for illustration the subject of aeronautics. Suppose we have but the vaguest conception of the part played or likely to be played by aircraft in war, commerce, and pleasure. Suppose we are not aware that some craft are made to float and others to be driven by propellers. Suppose such terms as Zeppelin, blimp, monoplane, biplane, hydroplane, dirigible have no definite import for us. Does not our knowledge fall short of that expected of well-informed men in this present age?

Or take military terms. Everybody uses them--clergymen, pacifists, clubmen, social reformers, novelists, tramps, brick-layers, Big-Stickers. We cannot escape them if we would. We ourselves use them. But do we use them with precise and masterly understanding? You call one civilian colonel and another major; which have you paid the higher compliment? You are uncertain whether a given officer is a colonel or a major, and you wish to address him in such fashion as will least offend his sensitiveness as to rank and nomenclature; which title--colonel or major--is the less perilous? You are told that a major has command of a battalion; does that tell you anything about him? You are told that he has command of a squadron, of a brigade, of a platoon; do these changes in circumstances have any import for you? If not, you have too faltering a grasp upon military facts and terminology.

The best remedy for such shortcomings is to be insatiably curious on all subjects. This of course is the ideal; nobody ever fully attains it. Nevertheless Exercise M will set you to groping into certain broad matters relevant to ordinary needs. Thereafter, if your purpose be strong enough, you will carry the same methods there acquired into other fields of knowledge.

You may object that all this is as much mental as linguistic--that what is proposed will result in as large accessions of general information as of vocabulary. Let this be admitted. Deficiencies of language are often, perhaps almost invariably, linked with deficiencies of knowledge. To repair the one we must at the same time repair the other. This may seem a hard saying to those who seek, or would impart, mere glibness of phrase without regard for the substance--who worship "words, words, words" without thought of "the matter." There is such a thing as froth of utterance, but who has respect therefor or is deceived thereby? Speech that is not informed is like a house without a foundation. You should not desire to possess it. Abroad in this world of ours already are too many people who darken counsel by words without knowledge.

EXERCISE M

A second lieutenant is the commissioned officer of lowest grade in the United States army. Name all the grades from second lieutenant to the grade that is highest.

An admiral is the officer of highest grade in the United States navy. Name all the grades down to that which is lowest.

Name as many as possible of the different ranks of the clergy in the Roman Catholic Church, in the Church of England.

Give ascendingly the five titles in the British nobility.

Name the different kinds of vehicles.

Name the different kinds of schools.

Name all the different kinds of boats and ships (both ancient and modern) you can think of.

Give the nautical term for the right side of a ship, for the left side of a ship, for the front, for the rear, for the forward portion, for the rear portion.

Name the various kinds of bodies of water (oceans, rivers, lagoons, etc.)

Give all the terms of relationship of persons, both by blood and by marriage. What relation to you is your grandfather's brother? your cousin's daughter?

Name all the bones of the human head.

Give the names of the different parts of a typical flower.

Name as many elements as you can. What is the number usually given? What was the last element discovered, and by whom?

Name the elements of which water is composed. Name the principal elements in the composition of the air.

Make as long a list as possible (up to thirty) of words that appeal to the sense of sight (especially color words and motion words), to the sense of hearing, of smell, of taste, of touch.

Find words descriptive of various expressions in the human face.

Name all the terms you can associated with law, with medicine, with geology.

Name the planets, the signs of the zodiac, as many constellations as you can.

Name the seven colors of the spectrum, and for each name give all the synonyms you can. What are the primary colors? the secondary colors?

Give the various races into which mankind has been divided, and the color of each.

Name every kind of tree you can think of, every kind of flower, every kind of animal, every kind of bird.

X

SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF WORDS

You have already mastered many words, but a glance at any page of the dictionary will convince you that you have not mastered all. Nor will you, ever. Their number is too great, and too many of them are abstrusely technical.

Nevertheless there remain many words that you should bring into your vocabulary. Most of them are not extremely usual; on the other hand they are not so unusual that you would encounter them but once in a lifetime. The majority of them are familiar to you, perhaps; that is, you will have a general feeling that you have seen them before. But this is not enough. Do you know exactly what they mean? Can you, when the occasion comes, use them?-use them promptly and well? This is the test.

Many of the words are absolutely new so far as this book is concerned. They have not been discussed or attached to any list. Many are not entirely new. They have appeared, but not received such emphasis that they are sure to stand fast in your memory. Or some cognate form of them may have been mastered, yet they themselves may remain unknown. Thus you may know _commendation_ but not _commendatory_, _credulous_ but not _incredulity_, _invalid_ but not _invalidate_ or _invalidity_. One of the best of all ways to extend your vocabulary is to make each word of your acquaintance introduce you to its immediate kinsmen, those grouped with it on the same page of the dictionary.

This chapter puts you on your mettle. Hitherto you have been given instructions as to the way to proceed, Now you must shift for yourself. The words, to be sure, are corraled for you. But you must tame them and break them, in order that on them you may ride the ranges of human intercourse. If you have not yet learned how to subdue them to your will and use, it would be futile to tell you how. You have been put in the way of mastering words. The task that henceforth confronts you is your own. You must have at it unaided.

It is true that, in the exercise that follows, specific help is given you on a limited number of the words. But this help is only toward discovering the words for yourself before you have seen them in a list. And for most of the words not even this meager assistance is given.

EXERCISE - Supplementary

Each of the following groups of words is preceded by sentences in which blanks should be filled by words from that group. But do your best to fill these blanks properly before you consult the group at all. You must learn to think of, or think up, the right word instead of having it pointed out to you.

These benefits were not inherent in the course he had taken; they were purely ____. Anything which existed before Noah's flood is called ____. His left hand, which had ceased to grow during his childhood, was now withered from its long ____. Certain books once belonging to the Bible have been discarded by the Protestants as ____. When Shakespeare makes Hector quote Aristotle, who lived long after the siege of Troy, he is guilty of an ____. Whatever causes the lips to pucker, as alum or a green persimmon, is spoken of as ____.

Abash, abbreviate, abduct, aberrant, aberration, abeyance, abhorrent, abject, abjure, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abrasion, abrogate, absolution, abstemious, abstention, abstruse, accelerate, accentuate, acceptation, accessary, accession, accessory, acclamation, acclivity, accolade, accomplice, accost, acerbity, acetic, achromatic, acidulous, acme, acolyte, acoustics, acquiescence, acquisitive, acrimonious, acumen, adage, adamantine, addict, adduce, adhesive, adipose, adjudicate, adolescence, adulation, adulterate, advent, adventitious, aerial, affability, affidavit, affiliate, affinity, agglomerate, agglutinate, aggrandizement, agnostic, alignment, aliment, allegorical, alleviate, altercation, altruistic, amalgamate, amatory, ambiguity, ambrosial, ameliorate, amenable, amenity, amity, amnesty, amulet, anachronism, analytical, anathema, anatomy, animadversion, annotate, anomalous, anonymous, antediluvian, anterior, anthology, anthropology, antinomy, antiquarianism, antiseptic, aphorism, apocryphal, aplomb, apostasy, apparatus, apparition, appellate, appertain, appetency, apposite, approbation, appurtenance, aquatic, aqueous, aquiline, arbitrary, archaic, arduous, aromatic, arrear, articulate, ascetic, asperity, asphyxiate, asseverate, assiduity, assimilate, astringent, astute, atrophy, attenuate, auditory, augury, auscultation, austerity, authenticate, authenticity, auxiliary, avidity.

The man wished to fight; he was in ____ mood. There is only a handful of these things; yes, a mere ____. Slight mishaps like these lead to quips and mutual ____. His conduct is odd, grotesque, ____.

Baccalaureate, badinage, bagatelle, baleful, ballast, banality, baneful, beatitude, bellicose, belligerent, benefaction, beneficent, benison, betide, bibulous, bigotry, bizarre, bombastic, burlesque.

This effect was not obtained all at once; it was ____. These subjects belong to the same general field of knowledge as those; the two sets are ____. He is a skilled judge of art, a ____. The Southern states were unwilling to remain in the Union; they could be kept only by ____. Monks take upon themselves the vow of ____. No, this animal does not live on vegetation; it is a ____ animal.

Cacophonous, cadaverous, cadence, callow, calumny, capillary, captious, cardinal, carnal, carnivorous, castigate, cataclysm, catastrophe, category, causality, cavernous, celebrity, celibacy, censorious, ceramics, cerebration, certitude, cessation, charlatan, chimerical, chronology, circuitous, circumlocution, citation, clandestine, clarify, clemency, coadjutor, coagulate, coalesce, coercion, cogency, cognizant, cohesion, coincidence, collusion, colossal, comatose, combustible, commendatory, commensurate, commiserate, communal, compatibility, compendium, complaisant, comport, composite, compulsive, compulsory, computation, concatenate, concentric, concessive, concomitant, condign, condiment, condolence, confiscatory, confute, congeal, congenital, conglomerate, congruity, connivance, connoisseur, connubial, consensus, consistence, consort, constriction, construe, contentious, context, contiguity, contiguous, contingent, contortion, contravene, contumacious, contumacy, contumelious, convergent, conversant, convivial, correlate, corrigible, corroborate, corrosive, cosmic, covenant, crass, credence, crescent, criterion, critique, crucial, crucible, cryptic, crystalline, culmination, culpable, cumulative, cupidity, cursive, cursory, cutaneous, cynosure.

His course was not prescribed for him by superiors; his powers were ____. The suppression of these anarchistic tendencies has required ____ measures. She was just entering society, and was proving herself a popular ____. Yes, this tree loses its leaves every year; it is a ____ tree. He pretends that his ____ are sound, because he can read the stars.

Debilitate, debonair, debutante, decadence, decapitate, deciduous, declivity, decompose, decorous, dedicatory, deduction, deferential, deficiency, deglutition, dehiscence, delectable, delete, deleterious, delineate, deliquescent, demarcation, demimonde, demoniac, denizen, denouement, deprecate, depreciate, derelict, derogatory, despicable, desuetude, desultory, deteriorate, diacritical, diagnosis, diaphanous, diatribe, didactic, diffusive, dilatory, dilettante, dipsomania, dirigible, discommode, discretionary, discursive, disintegrate, disparity, dispensable, disseminate, dissimulation, dissonant, distain, divagation, divination, divulge, dolor, dorsal, drastic, dubiety, duress, dynamic.

These facts do not circulate except among a limited group of people; they are therefore ____. The departure of the children of Israel from Egypt was a general ____. His philosophy, instead of conforming to a single system, was ____. Lamb wrote admirable letters; he has a delightful ____ style. The period at which our days and nights are of equal length is the ____ period.

Ebullient, ecclesiastical, echelon, eclectic, ecstatic, edict, eerie, effervescent, efficacious, effrontery, effulgence, effusion, egregious, eleemosynary, elicit, elite, elucidate, embellish, embryonic, emendation, emissary, emission, emollient, empiric, empyreal, emulous, encomium, endue, enervate, enfilade, enigmatic, ennui, enunciate, environ, epicure, epigram, episode, epistolary, epitome, equestrian, equilibrium, equinoctial, equity, equivocate, eradicate, erosion, erotic, erudition, eruptive, eschew, esoteric, espousal, estrange, ethereal, eulogistic, euphonious, evanescent, evangelical, evict, exacerbate, excerpt, excommunicate, excoriate, excruciate, execrable, exegesis, exemplary, exhalation, exhilarate, exigency, exodus, exonerate, exorbitant, exotic, expectorate, expeditious, explicable, explicit, expunge, extant, extemporaneous, extrinsic.

He deceives himself by this argument, for the argument is utterly ____. No complicated action can be planned in absolute detail; much must depend on ____ circumstance.

Fabricate, fabulous, facetious, factitious, fallacious, fallible, fastidious, fatuous, feasible, feculence, fecundity, felicitous, felonious, fetid, feudal, fiducial, filament, filtrate, finesse, flaccid, flagitious, floriculture, florid, fluctuate, foible, forfeiture, fortuitous, fractious, franchise, frangible, frontal, froward, furtive.

The advice was both unasked and unwelcome; it was purely ____. Throughout the World War the ____ of Germany over the other Central European powers was unquestioned. Buffaloes naturally go together in herds; they are ____.

Galaxy, galleon, garrulity, gesticulate, gormand, granivorous, grandiloquent, gravamen, gratuitous, gregarious, habitue, hallucination, harbinger, hardihood, heckle, hectic, hedonist, hegemony, heinous, herbivorous, heretic, hermaphrodite, heterodox, heterogeneous, hibernate. histrionic, hoidenism, homiletics, homogeneous, hydraulic, hypothesis.

We cannot understand God's ways; they are ____. Nor need we expect to change them; they are ____. If an animal has no backbone, it is ____. A boy so confirmed in his faults that we cannot correct them is ____.

Idiosyncrasy, illicit, immaculate, immanent, imminent, immobile, immure, immutable, impalpable, impeccable, impecunious, imperturbable, impervious, implacable, implicit, impolitic, imponderable, importunate, imprecation, impromptu, improvise, imputation, inadvertent, inamorata, inanity, incarcerate, inchoate, incidence, incision, incongruent, inconsequential, incontinent, incorporeal, incorrigible, incredulity, incumbent, indecorous, indigenous, indigent, indite, indomitable, ineluctable, inexorable, inexplicable, inferential, infinitesimal, infinitude, infraction, infusion, inhibit, innocuous, innuendo, inopportune, insatiable, inscrutable, insidious, inspissated, insulate, intangible, integral, integument, interdict, internecine, intractable, intransigent, intrinsic, inure, invalidate, inveigh, inveigle, invertebrate, invidious, irrefragable, irrefutable, irrelevant, irreparable, irrevocable, iterate.

He overpraised people; he was always engaged in extravagant ____ of somebody or other. The small man who has written a book becomes pretentious at once and regards himself as one of the ____. Thatcher is always engaged in lawsuits; he is the most ____ man I ever saw.

Jocose, jocund, jurisprudence, juxtaposition, kaleidoscopic, labyrinth, lacerate, lackadaisical, lacrimal, laity, lambent, lampoon, largess, lascivious, laudable, laudation, lavation, legionary, lethargic, licentious, lineal, lingual, literati, litigious, loquacity, lubricity, lucent, lucre, lucubration, lugubrious.

Those soldiers are fighting, not for principle, but for pay; they are ____. Iron that is not heated cannot be hammered into shape; it is not ____.

Machination, macrocosm, magisterial, magniloquent, maladroit, malfeasance, malignity, malleable, mandate, matutinal, medieval, mephitic, mercenary, mercurial, meretricious, metamorphose, meticulous, microcosm, misanthropic, misogyny, misprision, mitigate, monitor, mortuary, mundane, mutable.

It is a government by the few; therefore an ____. All the men of influence in the state give offices to their kinsmen; the system is one of ____. Yes, grandfather is eighty years old today; he has become an ____.

Nebulous, nefarious, negation, neophyte, nepotism, neurotic, noisome, nomenclature, nonchalant, non sequitur, nucleus, nugatory, obdurate, objurgation, obligatory, obloquy, obsequious, obsession, obsolete, obstreperous, obtrusive, obtuse, obverse, obviate, occult, octogenarian, officious, olfactory, oleaginous, oligarchy, ominous, onomatopceia, opacity, opaque, opprobrious, oracular, orthodox, oscillate, osculate, ostensible, ostentation, ostracize, outré, ovation, overture.

In England the eldest son inherits the title and the estate, but Americans do not take to a system of ____. You are always putting off until tomorrow what you could do today; do you think it pays to ____ thus? An ambassador whose powers are unlimited is called an ambassador ____. Beasts or men that are given to plundering are ____.

Pabulum, pageantry, paginate, palatial, palliate, palpable, panacea, panegyric, panorama, paradoxical, paramount, parasite, parochial, paroxysm, parsimonious, parturition, patois, patriarchal, patrician, patrimony, peccadillo, pecuniary, pedantic, pellucid, pendulous, penultimate, penurious, peregrination, perfunctory, peripatetic, periphery, persiflage, perspicacious, perspicuity, pertinacious, pharmaceutic, phenomenal, phlegmatic, phraseology, pictorial, piquant, pique, plagiarize, platitudinous, platonic, plebeian, plenipotentiary, plethora, pneumatic, poignant, polity, poltroon, polyglot, pontifical, portentous, posterior, posthumous, potent, potential, pragmatic, preamble, precarious, precocious, precursor, predatory, predestination, predicament, preemptory, prelate, preliminary, preposterous, prerequisite, prerogative, presentiment, primogeniture, probation, probity, proclivity, procrastinate, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profligate, progenitor, proletarian, prolific, prolix, promiscuous, promissory, propaganda, propensity, prophylactic, propinquity, propitiatory, propitious, proprietary, prorogue, proselyte, prototype, protuberant, provender, proximity, prurient, psychical, psychological, puerile, pugnacious, puissant, punctilious, pungent, punitive, pusillanimous, putrescent, pyrotechnics.

The coil of wire, being ____, instantly resumed its original shape. Some one must arrange these papers for publication; will you be their ____? Poe's mind had a bent toward ____: it could reason out a whole chain of circumstances from one or two known facts. He showed a disposition not to comply with these instructions; yes, he was ____.

Rabbinical, rancorous, rapacious, ratiocination, rational, raucous, recalcitrant, recant, recapitulate, recession, reciprocal, reciprocate, recluse, recondite, recreant, recrudescence, rectilinear, rectitude, recumbent, redactor, redress, redound, refractory, refulgent, rejuvenate, relevant, rendezvous, rendition, reparation, repercussion, repertory, replenish, replete, replevin, reprehend, reprobate, repulsive, requisite, rescind, residue, residuum, resilient, resplendent, resurgence, resuscitate, reticulate, retribution, retrograde, retrospect, rigorous, risible, rodomontade, rudimentary, ruminate.

His position carries no responsibility; it is a ____. The moon revolves about the earth, and is therefore the earth's ____. His work keeps him at his desk all day; it is ____ work. Your words incite men to disorder and rebellion; they are ____.

Saccharine, sacerdotal, sacrament, sacrilege, salient, salubrious, sardonic, satellite, saturnine, schism, scurrilous, sectarian, secular, sedative, sedentary, seditious, sedulous, segregate, seismograph, senescent, sententious, septuagenarian, sequester, sibilant, similitude, sinecure, sinuous, solicitous, solstice, somnolent, sophisticated, sophistry, sorcery, spasmodic, specious, spirituelle, splenetic, spontaneity, sporadic, spurious, stipend, stipulate, stoical, stricture, stringency, stultify, stupendous, sublimity, suborn, subpoena, subsidiary, subsidy, substratum, subtend, subterfuge, subterranean, subvention, subvert, sudorific, supercilious, supernal, supervene, supine, supposititious, surreptitious, surrogate, surveillance, susceptible, sustenance, sycophantic, syllogism, sylvan, symmetrical, symposium, synchronize, synonymous, synopsis, synthesis.

The small stream flows into the larger one and is its ____. The thick glass roof lets through sufficient light for us to see by; it is ____. You will not find him hard to manage; he has spirit enough, yet is ____.

Tactile, tangible, tantamount, temerity, tenable, tenacious, tentative, tenuous, termagant, terrestrial, testimentary, thaumaturgic, therapeutic, titular, torso, tortuous, tractable, traduce, transcendent, transfiguration, transient, transitory, translucent, transverse, travesty, tribulation, tributary, truculent, truncate, turbid, turpitude, tyro.

He is so extravagantly fond of his wife that I should call him ____. Christ died for others; it was a ____ death. The most notable quality in Defoe's narrative is its likeness to actual facts, or in a word, its ____.

Ubiquity, ulterior, ululation, umbrage, unanimous, undulate, urbanity, usurious, uxorious, vacillate, vacuous, vandalism, variegate, velocity, venal, venereal, venial, venous, veracious, verdant, verisimilitude, vernacular, versatile, vestal, vibratory, vicarious, vicissitude, virulence, viscid, viscous, vitiate, vitreous, vituperate, vivacious, volatile, volition, voluminous, voluptuary, voluptuous, voracious, votive, vulnerable, whimsical, zealot.

XI

RETROSPECT

DO you never, while occupying a dental chair and deploring the necessity that drives you to that uncomfortable seat, admire the skill of the dentist in the use of his instruments? A great many of these instruments lie at his hand. To you they appear bewildering, so slightly different are they from each other. Yet with unerring readiness the dentist lays hold of the one he needs. Now this facility of his is not a blessing with which a gracious heaven endowed him. It is the consequence and reward of hard study, and above all of work, hard work.

You have been ambitious of like skill in the manipulation of words. Had you not been, you would never have undertaken this study. You have perceived that when you speak or write, words are your instruments. You have wished to learn how to use them. Now for every idea you shall ever have occasion to express await throngs of vocables, each presenting its claims as a fit medium. These you must pass in instantaneous review, these you must expertly appraise, out of these you must choose the words that will best serve your purpose. With practice, you will make your selections unconsciously. You will never, of course, quite attain the infallibility of the dentist; for linguistic instruments are more numerous than dental, and far more complex. But you will more and more nearly approximate the ideal, will more and more nearly find that right expression has become second nature with you.

All this is conditioned upon labor faithful and steadfast. Without labor you will never be adept. At the outset of our study together we warned you that, though we should gather the material and point the way, you yourself must do the work. This book is not one to glance through. It is one to dwell with, to toil with. It exacts much of you--makes you, for each page you turn, pay with the sweat of your brain.

But, assuming that you have done your part, what have you gained? Without answering this question at all fully, we may at this juncture engage in a brief retrospect.

First of all, you have rid yourself of the notion that words are dead things, unrealities worthy of no more than wooden and mechanical employment. As much as anything else in the world, words are alive and responsive, are fraught with unmeasured possibilities of good or ill. You have taken due cognizance of the fact that words must be considered in the aggregate as well as individually, and have reckoned with the pitfalls and dangers as well as with the advantages of their use in combination. But the basis of everything is a keener knowledge of words severally. You have therefore come to study words with the zest and insight you exhibit (or should exhibit) in studying men. Incidentally, you have acquired the habit of looking up dictionary definitions, not merely to satisfy a present need, but also to add permanently to your linguistic resources.

You have carried the study of individuals farther. You have come to know words inside and out. Such knowledge not only assists you in your dealings with your contemporaries; it illuminates for you great literature of the past that otherwise would remain obscure. How much keener, for example, is your understanding of Shakespeare's passage on the Seven Ages of Man because of your thorough acquaintance with the single word _pantaloon_! How quickly does the awe for big words slip from you when you perceive that _precocious_ is in origin the equivalent of _half-baked_! What intimacy of insight into words you feel when you find that a _companion_ is a _sharer of one's bread_! What a linking of language with life you discover when you learn the original signification of _presently_, of _idiot_, of _rival_, of _sandwich_, of _pocket handkerchief_! And what revelations as into a mystic fraternalism with words do you obtain when you confront such a phrase as "the bank _teller_" or "cut to the _quick_"!

Not only have words become more like living beings to you; you have learned to think of them in relations analogous to the human. You can detect the blood kinship, for example, between _prescribe_ and _manuscript_, and know that the strain of _fact_ or _fie_ or _fy_ in a word is pretty sure to betoken making or doing. You know that there are elaborate intermarriages among words. You recognize _phonograph_, for example, as a married couple; you even have confidential word as to the dowry brought by each of the contracting parties to the new verbal household.

You have discovered, further, that the language actually swarms with "pairs"--words joined with each other not in blood or by marriage but through meaning. You have so familiarized yourself with hundreds of these pairs that to think of one word is to call the other to mind.

Finally, and in many respects most important of all, you have acquired a vast stock of synonyms. You have had it brought to your attention that the number of basic ideas in the world is surprisingly small; that for each of these ideas there is in our language one generic word; that most people use this one word constantly instead of seeking the subsidiary term that expresses a particular phase of the idea; and that you as a builder of your vocabulary must, while holding fast to the basic idea with one hand, reach out with the other for the fit, sure material of specific words. Nor have you rested in the mere perception of theory. You have had abundant practice, have yourself covered the ground foot by foot. You can therefore proceed with reasonable freedom from the commoner ideas of the human mind to that expression of definite aspects of them which is anything but common.

You have not, of course, achieved perfection. There still is much for you to do. There always will be. Nevertheless in the ways just reviewed, and in various other ways not mentioned in this chapter, you have made yourself verbally rich. You are one of the millionaires of language. When you speak, it is not with stammering incompetence, but with confident readiness. When you write, it is with energy and assurance in the very flow of the ink. Where you had long been a slave, you have become a freeman and can look your fellows in the eye. You have the best badge of culture a human being can possess. You have power at your tongue's end. You have the proud satisfaction of having wrought well, and the inspiration of knowing that whatever verbal need may arise, you are trained and equipped to grapple with it triumphantly.

APPENDICES

_Appendix I_

THE DRIFT OF OUR RURAL POPULATION CITYWARD (An editorial)

To an individual who from whatever motives of personal advantage or mere curiosity has made himself an observer of current tendencies, the drift of our rural population cityward gives food for serious reflection. This drift is one of the most pronounced of the social and economic phenomena of the day. Its consequences upon the life, welfare, and future of the great nation to which we are proud to acknowledge our whole-hearted allegiance are matters of such paramount importance to all concerned that we should turn aside more often than we do from the distracting exactions of our ordinary activities to give them prolonged and earnest consideration.

A generation or so ago human beings were content to spend the full term of their earthly existence amid rural surroundings, or if in their declining days they longed for more of the comforts and associations which are among the cravings of mortality, it was an easy proposition to move to the nearest village or, if they were too high and mighty for this simple measure to satisfy them, they could indulge in the more grandiose performance of residing in the county seat. But nowadays our people want more. Rich or poor, tall or dumpy, tottering grandmothers or babies in swaddling-clothes, they long for ampler pastures. Their brawny arms or hoary heads must bedeck nothing less than the metropolis itself, and perchance put shoulders to the wheel in the incessant grind of the urban treadmill. Can you beat it? Unquestioned profit does not attend the migration. It stands to reason that some of the very advantages sought have been sacrificed on the altar of the drift cityward. Let us say you have your individual domicile or the cramped and sunless apartment you dub your habitation within corporate limits. Does that mean that the privileges of the city are at your disposal, so that you have merely to reach forth your hand and pluck them? Well, hardly! You certainly do not reside in the downtown section, or if you do, you wish to heaven you didn't. And you can reach this section only with delay and inconvenience, whether in the hours of business or in the subsequent period devoted to the glitter of nocturnal revelry and amusement.

But whatever the disadvantages of the city, the people who endure them are convinced that to go back to the vines and figtrees of their native heath would be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Why? Well, for one thing, there is no such thing as leisure in the areas that lie beyond those vast aggregations of humanity which constitute our cities. Not only are there innumerable and seemingly interminable chores that must follow the regular occupations of the day, but a thousand emergencies due to chance, weather, or the natural cussedness of things must be disposed of as they arise, regardless of what plans the rustic swain cherishes for the use of his spare time. Urban laborers have contrived by one means or another to bring about a limitation of the number of hours per diem they are forced to toil. To the farmers such an alleviation of their hardships is not within the realm of practicability. They kick about it of course. They say it's a blooming nuisance. But neither their heartburnings nor their struggles can efface it as a fact.

Again, the means of entertainment are more limited, and that by a big lot, with the farmer than with those who dwell in the cities. It is all very well to talk about the blessings of the rural telephone, rural free delivery, and the automobile. These things do make communication easier than it used to be, but after all they're only a drop in the bucket and do little to stop the drift cityward. We may remark just here that if you live a thousand miles from nowhere and are willing to drive your Tin Lizzie into town for "the advantages," you aren't likely to get much even along the line of the movies, and you'll get less still if what you're after is an A-1 school for your progeny.

Finally, the widespread impression that the farmer is a bloated and unscrupulous profiteer has done much to disgust him with his station and employment in life. We don't say he's the one and only when it comes to the virtues. Maybe he hasn't sprouted any wings yet. What if he hasn't? The cities, with their brothels, their big business, and their municipal governments--you wouldn't have the face to say that there's anything wrong with them, now would you? Oh, no! Of course not! The farmer pays high for his machinery and goes clear to the bottom of his pocketbook when he has to buy shoes or a sack of flour, but let him have a steer's hide or a wagon load of wheat to sell, and it's somebody else's ox that's gored. Consumers pay big prices for farm products, goodness knows, but they don't pay them to the farmer. Not on your tintype. The middleman gets his, you needn't question that. We beg pardon a thousand times. We mean the middle_men_. There's no end to those human parasites.

And so farmer after farmer breaks up the old homestead and contributes his mite to the drift cityward. What will be the result that comes out of it all? The effect upon the farmer deserves an editorial all to itself. Here we must limit ourselves to the effects on the future of our beloved American nation. And even these we can now do no more than mention; we lack space to elaborate them. One effect, if the tendency continues, will be such a reduction in home-produced foodstuffs that we shall have to import from other countries lying abroad a good portion of the means of our physical sustenance, and shall face such an increase in the cost of the same that thousands and thousands of our people will find it increasingly harder as the years pass by to maintain their relative economic position. Another effect will be that our civilization, which to this point has sprawled over broad acres, will become an urban civilization, penned in amid conditions, restraints, privations, and perhaps also opportunities unprecedented in our past history and unknown to the experience we have had hitherto. A final effect will be that our most conservative class, the rural populace, will no longer present resistance that is formidable to the innovations which those who hold extreme views are forever exhorting us to embrace; and the result may well be that the disintegration of this staying and stabilizing element in our citizenship--one that retards and mollifies if it does not inhibit change--will produce consequences in its train which may be as dire as they are difficult to foretell.

_Appendix_ 2

CAUSES FOR THE AMERICAN SPIRIT OF LIBERTY (From the _Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies_) By EDMUND BURKE

In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is the predominating feature which marks and distinguishes the whole; and as an ardent is always a jealous affection, your Colonies become suspicious, restive, and untractable whenever they see the least attempt to wrest from them by force, or shuffle from them by chicane, what they think the only advantage worth living for. This fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English Colonies probably than in any other people of the earth, and this from a great variety of powerful causes; which, to understand the true temper of their minds and the direction which this spirit takes, it will not be amiss to lay open somewhat more largely.

First, the people of the Colonies are descendants of Englishmen. England, Sir, is a nation which still, I hope, respects, and formerly adored, her freedom. The Colonists emigrated from you when this part of your character was most predominant; and they took this bias and direction the moment they parted from your hands. They are therefore not only devoted to liherty, but to liberty according to English ideas, and on English principles. Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found. Liberty inheres in some sensible object; and every nation has formed to itself some favorite point, which by way of eminence becomes the criterion of their happiness. It happened, you know, Sir, that the great contests for freedom in this country were from the earliest times chiefly upon the question of taxing. Most of the contests in the ancient commonwealths turned primarily on the right of election of magistrates; or on the balance among the several orders of the state. The question of money was not with them so immediate. But in England it was otherwise. On this point of taxes the ablest pens, and most eloquent tongues, have been exercised; the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In order to give the fullest satisfaction concerning the importance of this point, it was not only necessary for those who in argument defended the excellence of the English Constitution to insist on this privilege of granting money as a dry point of fact, and to prove that the right had been acknowledged in ancient parchments and blind usages to reside in a certain body called a House of Commons. They went much farther; they attempted to prove, and they succeeded, that in theory it ought to be so, from the particular nature of a House of Commons as an immediate representative of the people, whether the old records had delivered this oracle or not. They took infinite pains to inculcate, as a fundamental principle, that in all monarchies the people must in effect themselves, mediately or immediately, possess the power of granting their own money, or no shadow of liberty can subsist. The Colonies draw from you, as with their life-blood, these ideas and principles. Their love of liberty, as with you, fixed and attached on this specific point of taxing. Liberty might be safe, or might be endangered, in twenty other particulars, without their being much pleased or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse; and as they found that beat, they thought themselves sick or sound. I do not say whether they were right or wrong in applying your general arguments to their own case. It is not easy, indeed, to make a monopoly of theorems and corollaries. The fact is, that they did thus apply those general arguments; and your mode of governing them, whether through lenity or indolence, through wisdom or mistake, confirmed them in the imagination that they, as well as you, had an interest in these common principles.

They were further confirmed in this pleasing error by the form of their provincial legislative assemblies. Their governments are popular in an high degree; some are merely popular; in all, the popular representative is the most weighty; and this share of the people in their ordinary government never fails to inspire them with lofty sentiments, and with a strong aversion from whatever tends to deprive them of their chief importance.

If anything were wanting to this necessary operation of the form of government, religion would have given it a complete effect. Religion, always a principle of energy, in this new people is no way worn out or impaired; and their mode of professing it is also one main cause of this free spirit. The people are Protestants; and of that kind which is the most adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion. This is a persuasion not only favorable to liberty, but built upon it. I do not think, Sir, that the reason of this averseness in the dissenting churches from all that looks like absolute government is so much to be sought in their religious tenets, as in their history. Every one knows that the Roman Catholic religion is at least coeval with most of the governments where it prevails; that it has generally gone hand in hand with them, and received great favor and every kind of support from authority. The Church of England too was formed from her cradle under the nursing care of regular government. But the dissenting interests have sprung up in direct opposition to all the ordinary powers of the world, and could justify that opposition only on a strong claim to natural liberty. Their very existence depended on the powerful and unremitted assertion of that claim. All Protestantism, even the most cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But the religion most prevalent in our Northern Colonies is a refinement on the principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the protestantism of the Protestant religion. This religion, under a variety of denominations agreeing in nothing but in the communion of the spirit of liberty, is predominant in most of the Northern Provinces, where the Church of England, notwithstanding its legal rights, is in reality no more than a sort of private sect, not composing most probably the tenth of the people. The Colonists left England when this spirit was high, and in the emigrants was the highest of all; and even that stream of foreigners which has been constantly flowing into these Colonies has, for the greatest part, been composed of dissenters from the establishments of their several countries, who have brought with them a temper and character far from alien to that of the people with whom they mixed.

Sir, I can perceive by their manner that some gentlemen object to the latitude of this description, because in the Southern Colonies the Church of England forms a large body, and has a regular establishment. It is certainly true. There is, however, a circumstance attending these Colonies which, in my opinion, fully counterbalances this difference, and makes the spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in those to the northward. It is that in Virginia and the Carolinas they have a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is the case in any part of the world, those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of their freedom. Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a kind of rank and privilege. Not seeing there, that freedom, as in countries where it is a common blessing and as broad and general as the air, may be united with much abject toil, with great misery, with all the exterior of servitude; liberty looks, amongst them, like something that is more noble and liberal. I do not mean, Sir, to commend the superior morality of this sentiment, which has at least as much pride as virtue in it; but I cannot alter the nature of man. The fact is so; and these people of the Southern Colonies are much more strongly, and with an higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than those to the northward. Such were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our Gothic ancestors; such in our days were the Poles; and such will be all masters of slaves, who are not slaves themselves. In such a people the haughtiness of domination combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders it invincible.

Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in our Colonies which contributes no mean part towards the growth and effect of this untractable spirit. I mean their education. In no country perhaps in the world is the law so general a study. The profession itself is numerous and powerful; and in most provinces it takes the lead. The greater number of the deputies sent to the Congress were lawyers. But all who read, and most do read, endeavor to obtain some smattering in that science. I have been told by an eminent bookseller, that in no branch of his business, after tracts of popular devotion, were so many books as those on the law exported to the Plantations. The Colonists have now fallen into the way of printing them for their own use. I hear that they have sold nearly as many of Blackstone's Commentaries in America as in England. General Gage marks out this disposition very particularly in a letter on your table. He states that all the people in his government are lawyers, or smatterers in law; and that in Boston they have been enabled, by successful chicane, wholly to evade many parts of one of your capital penal constitutions. The smartness of debate will say that this knowledge ought to teach them more clearly the rights of legislature, their obligations to obedience, and the penalties of rebellion. All this is mighty well. But my honorable and learned friend on the floor, who condescends to mark what I say for animadversion, will disdain that ground. He has heard, as well as I, that when great honors and great emoluments do not win over this knowledge to the service of the state, it is a formidable adversary to government. If the spirit be not tamed and broken by these happy methods, it is stubborn and litigious. _Abeunt studia in mores_. This study renders men acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full of resources. In other countries, the people, more simple, and of a less mercurial cast, judge of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance; here they anticipate the evil, and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle. They augur misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.

The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the Colonies is hardly less powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral, but laid deep in the natural constitution of things. Three thousand miles of ocean lie between you and them. No contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in weakening government. Seas roll, and months pass, between the order and the execution; and the want of a speedy explanation of a single point is enough to defeat a whole system. You have, indeed, winged ministers of vengeance, who carry your bolts in their pounces to the remotest verge of the sea. But there a power steps in that limits the arrogance of raging passions and furious elements, and says, _So far shalt thou go, and no farther_. Who are you, that you should fret and rage, and bite the chains of nature? Nothing worse happens to you than does to all nations who have extensive empire; and it happens in all the forms into which empire can be thrown. In large bodies the circulation of power must be less vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk cannot govern Egypt and Arabia and Kurdistan as he governs Thrace; nor has he the same dominion in Crimea and Algiers which he has at Brusa and Smyrna. Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster. The Sultan gets such obedience as he can. He governs with a loose rein, that he may govern at all; and the whole of the force and vigor of his authority in his center is derived from a prudent relaxation in all his borders. Spain, in her provinces, is, perhaps, not so well obeyed as you are in yours. She complies, too; she submits; she watches times. This is the immutable condition, the eternal law of extensive and detached empire.

Then, Sir, from these six capital sources--of descent, of form of government, of religion in the Northern Provinces, of manners in the Southern, of education, of the remoteness of situation from the first mover of government-from all these causes a fierce spirit of liberty has grown up. It has grown with the growth of the people in your Colonies, and increased with the increase of their wealth; a spirit that unhappily meeting with an exercise of power in England which, however lawful, is not reconcilable to any ideas of liberty, much less with theirs, has kindled this flame that is ready to consume us.

_Appendix 3_

PARABLE OF THE SOWER (Matthew 13:3,8 and 18-23)

And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it.

Yet he hath not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

_Appendix 4_

THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN _(As You Like It, II, vii, 139-166)_ By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel, And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lin'd, With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose well say'd, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

_Appendix 5_

THE CASTAWAY (From _Robinson Crusoe_) By Daniel Defoe

And now our case was very dismal indeed; for we all saw plainly that the sea went so high that the boat could not escape, and that we should be inevitably drowned. As to making sail, we had none, nor, if we had, could we have done anything with it; so we worked at the oar towards the land, though with heavy hearts, like men going to execution; for we all knew that when the boat came near the shore, she would be dashed in a thousand pieces by the beach of the sea. However, we committed our souls to God in the most earnest manner; and the wind driving us towards the shore, we hastened our destruction with our own hands, pulling as well as we could towards land.

What the shore was, whether rock or sand, whether steep or shoal, we knew not; the only hope that could rationally give us the least shadow of expectation, was if we might happen into some bay or gulf, or the mouth of some river, where by great chance we might have run our boat in, or got under the lee of the land, and perhaps made smooth water. But there was nothing of this appeared; but as we made nearer and nearer the shore, the land looked more frightful than the sea.

After we had rowed, or rather driven, about a league and a half, as we reckoned it, a raging wave, mountain-like, came rolling astern of us, and plainly bade us expect the _coup de grâce_. In a word, it took us with such a fury that it overset the boat at once; and separating us as well from the boat as from one another, gave us not time hardly to say, "O God!" for we were all swallowed up in a moment.

Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt, when I sank into the water; for though I swam very well, yet I could not deliver myself from the waves so as to draw breath, till that wave having driven me, or rather carried me, a vast way on towards the shore, and having spent itself, went back, and left me upon the land almost dry, but half dead with the water I took in. I had so much presence of mind, as well as breath left, that seeing myself nearer the mainland than I expected, I got upon my feet, and endeavored to make on towards the land as fast as I could, before another wave should return and take me up again; but I soon found it was impossible to avoid it; for I saw the sea come after me as high as a great hill, and as furious as an enemy, which I had no means or strength to contend with: my business was to hold my breath, and raise myself upon the water, if I could; and so by swimming to preserve my breathing, and pilot myself towards the shore if possible; my greatest concern now being that the wave, as it would carry me a great way toward the shore when it came on, might not carry me back again with it when it gave back towards the sea.

The wave that came upon me again buried me at once twenty or thirty feet deep in its own body, and I could feel myself I carried with a mighty force and swiftness towards the shore a very great way; but I held my breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might. I was ready to burst with holding my breath, when as I felt myself rising up, so, to my immediate relief, I found my head and hands shoot out above the surface of the water; and though it was not two seconds of time that I could keep myself so, yet it relieved me greatly, gave me breath and new courage. I was covered again with water a good while, but not so long but I held it out; and finding the water had spent itself, and began to return, I struck forward against the return of the waves, and felt ground again with my feet. I stood still a few moments to recover breath, and till the waters went from me, and then took to my heels, and ran with what strength I had, farther towards the shore. But neither would this deliver me from the fury of the sea, which came pouring in after me again; and twice more I was lifted up by the waves and carried forwards as before, the shore being very flat.

The last time of these two had well-nigh been fatal to me; for the sea having hurried me along, as before, landed me, or rather dashed me, against a piece of a rock, and that with such force as it left me senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own deliverance; for the blow, taking my side and breast, beat the breath as it were quite out of my body; and had it returned again immediately, I must have been strangled in the water; but I recovered a little before the return of the waves, and seeing I should be covered again with the water, I resolved to hold fast by a piece of the rock, and so to hold my breath, if possible, till the wave went back. Now, as the waves were not so high as at first, being nearer land, I held my hold till the wave abated, and then fetched another run, which brought me so near the shore that the next wave, though it went over me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away; and the next run I took I got to the mainland; where, to my great comfort, I clambered up the cliffs of the shore, and sat me down upon the grass, free from danger and quite out of the reach of the water. I was now landed, and safe on shore, and began to look up and thank God that my life was saved, in a case wherein there was some minutes before scarce any room to hope. I believe it is impossible to express, to the life, what the ecstasies and transports of the soul are when it is so saved, as I may say, out of the very grave: and I do not wonder now at that custom, when a malefactor, who has the halter about his neck, is tied up, and just going to be turned off, and has a reprieve brought to him--I say, I do not wonder that they bring a surgeon with it, to let him blood that very moment they tell him of it, that the surprise may not drive the animal spirits from the heart, and overwhelm him.

"For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first."

I walked about on the shore, lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I may say, wrapt up in a contemplation of my deliverance; making a thousand gestures and motions, which I cannot describe; reflecting upon all my comrades that were drowned, and that there should not be one soul saved but myself; for, as for them, I never saw them afterwards, or any sign of them, except three of their hats, one cap, and two shoes that were not fellows.

I cast my eyes to the stranded vessel, when, the breach and froth of the sea being so big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far off; and considered, Lord! how was it possible I could get on shore?

After I had solaced my mind with the comfortable part of my condition, I began to look round me, to see what kind of place I was in, and what was next to be done: and I soon found my comforts abate, and that, in a word, I had a dreadful deliverance: for I was wet, had no clothes to shift me, nor anything either to eat or drink, to comfort me; neither did I see any prospect before me but that of perishing with hunger, or being devoured by wild beasts: and that which was particularly afflicting to me was, that I had no weapon, either to hunt and kill any creature for my sustenance, or to defend myself against any other creature that might desire to kill me for theirs. In a word, I had nothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in a box. This was all my provision; and this threw me into terrible agonies of mind, that for awhile I ran about like a madman. Night coming upon me, I began with a heavy heart, to consider what would be my lot if there were any ravenous beasts in that country, seeing at night they always come abroad for their prey.

All the remedy that offered to my thoughts, at that time, was to get up into a thick busby tree, like a fir, but thorny, which grew near me, and where I resolved to sit all night, and consider the next day what death I should die, for as yet I saw no prospect of life. I walked about a furlong from the shore, to see if I could find any fresh water to drink, which I did to my great joy; and having drunk, and put a little tobacco in my mouth to prevent hunger, I went to the tree, and getting up into it, endeavored to place myself so that if I should sleep I might not fall. And having cut me a short stick, like a truncheon, for my defense, I took up my lodging; and being excessively fatigued, I fell fast asleep, and slept as comfortably as, I believe, few could have done in my condition, and found myself more refreshed with it than I think I ever was on such an occasion.

When I waked it was broad day, the weather clear, and the storm abated, so that the sea did not rage and swell as before; but that which surprised me most was, that the ship was lifted off in the night from the sand where she lay, by the swelling of the tide, and was driven up almost as far as the rock which I at first mentioned, where I had been so bruised by the wave dashing me against it. This being within about a mile from the shore where I was, and the ship seeming to stand upright still, I wished myself on board, that at least I might save some necessary things for my use.

When I came down from my apartment in the tree, I looked about me again, and the first thing I found was the boat, which lay, as the wind and sea had tossed her up, upon the land, about two miles on my right hand. I walked as far as I could upon the shore to have got to her; but found a neck, or inlet, of water between me and the boat, which was about half a mile broad; so I came back for the present, being more intent upon getting at the ship, where I hoped to find something for my present subsistence.

A little after noon I found the sea very calm and the tide ebbed so far out, that I could come within a quarter of a mile of the ship. And here I found a fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw evidently that if we had kept on board, we had been all safe: that is to say, we had all got safe on shore, and I had not been so miserable as to be left entirely destitute of all comfort and company, as I now was. This forced tears to my eyes again; but as there was little relief in that, I resolved, if possible, to get to the ship-, so I pulled off my clothes, for the weather was hot to extremity, and took the water. But when I came to the ship, my difficulty was still greater to know how to get on board; for, as she lay aground, and high out of the water, there was nothing within my reach to lay hold of. I swam round her twice, and the second time I espied a small piece of rope, which I wondered I did not see at first, hanging down by the fore-chains so low that, with great difficulty, I got hold of it, and by the help of that rope got up into the forecastle of the ship. Here I found that the ship was bulged, and had a great deal of water in her hold; but that she lay so on the side of a bank of hard sand, or rather earth, that her stern lay lifted up upon the bank, and her head low, almost to the water. By this means all her quarter was free, and all that was in that part was dry; for you may be sure my first work was to search, and to see what was spoiled and what was free. And, first, I found that all the ship's provisions were dry and untouched by the water, and being very well disposed to eat, I went to the bread-room, and filled my pockets with biscuit, and ate it as I went about other things, for I had no time to lose. I also found some rum in the great cabin, of which I took a large dram, and which I had, indeed, need enough of to spirit me for what was before me. Now I wanted nothing but a boat, to furnish myself with many things which I foresaw would be very necessary to me.

It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had; and this extremity roused my application. We had several spare yards, and two or three large spars of wood, and a spare topmast or two in the ship: I resolved to fall tp work with these, and I flung as many of them overboard as I could manage for their weight, tying every one with a rope, that they might not drive away. When this was done I went down the ship's side, and pulling them to me I tied four of them together at both ends, as well as I could, in the form of a raft, and laying two or three short pieces of plank upon them, crossways, I found I could walk upon it very well, but that it was not able to bear any great weight, the pieces being too light. So I went to work, and with the carpenter's saw I cut a spare topmast into three lengths, and added them to my raft, with a great deal of labor and pains. But the hope of furnishing myself with necessaries encouraged me to go beyond what I should have been able to have done upon another occasion.

My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight. My next care was what to load it with, and how to preserve what I laid upon it from the surf of the sea: but I was not long considering this. I first laid all the planks or boards upon it that I could get, and having considered well what I most wanted, I first got three of the seamen's chests, which I had broken open and emptied, and lowered them down upon my raft; the first of these I filled with provisions--viz., bread, rice, three Dutch cheeses, five pieces of dried goat's flesh (which we lived much upon), and a little remainder of European corn, which had been laid by for some fowls which we brought to sea with us, but the fowls were killed. There had been some barley and wheat together; but, to my great disappointment, I found afterwards that the rats had eaten or spoiled it all. As for liquors, I found several cases of bottles belonging to our skipper, in which were some cordial waters; and, in all, about five or six gallons of arrack. These I stowed by themselves, there being no need to put them into the chest, nor any room for them. While I was doing this, I found the tide began to flow, though very calm; and I had the mortification to see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I had left on shore upon the sand, swim away. As for my breeches, which were only linen, and open-kneed, I swam on board in them and my stockings. However, this put me upon rummaging for clothes, of which I found enough, but took no more than I wanted for present use, for I had other things which my eye was more upon; as, first, tools to work with on shore: and it was after long searching that I found out the carpenter's chest, which was indeed a very useful prize to me, and much more valuable than a ship-lading of gold would have been at that time. I got it down to my raft, whole as it was, without losing time to look into it, for I knew in general what it contained.

My next care was for some ammunition and arms. There were two very good fowling-pieces in the great cabin, and two pistols. These I secured first, with some powder-horns, a small bag of shot, and two old rusty swords. I knew there were three barrels of powder in the ship, but knew not where our gunner had stowed them; but with much search I found them, two of them dry and good, the third had taken water. Those two I got to my raft, with the arms. And now I thought myself pretty well freighted, and began to think how I should get to shore with them, having neither sail, oar, nor rudder; and the least capful of wind would have overset all my navigation.

I had three encouragements: first, a smooth, calm sea; secondly, the tide rising, and setting in to the shore; thirdly, what little wind there was blew me towards the land. And thus, having found two or three broken oars, belonging to the boat, and besides the tools which were in the chest, two saws, an axe, and a hammer, with this cargo I put to sea. For a mile, or thereabouts, my raft went very well, only that I found it drive a little distant from the place where I had landed before: by which I perceived that there was some indraught of the water, and consequently, I hoped to find some creek or river there, which I might malze use of as a port to get to land with my cargo.

As I imagined, so it was. There appeared before me a little opening of the land. I found a strong current of the tide set into it; so I guided my raft as well as I could, to keep in the middle of the stream.

But here I had like to have suffered a second shipwreck, which, if I had, I think verily would have broken my heart; for, knowing nothing of the coast, my raft ran aground at one end of it upon a shoal, and not being aground at the other end, it wanted but a little that all my cargo had slipped off towards the end that was afloat, and so fallen into the water. I did my utmost, by setting my back against the chests, to keep them in their places, but could not thrust off the raft with all my strength; neither durst I stir from the posture I was in; but holding up the chests with all my might, I stood in that manner near half an hour, in which time the rising of the water brought me a little more upon a level; and a little after, the water still rising, my raft floated again, and I thrust her off with the oar I had into the channel, and then driving up higher, I at length found myself in the mouth of a little river, with land on both sides, and a strong current or tide running up. I looked on both sides for a proper place to get to shore, for I was not willing to be driven too high up the river; hoping in time to see some ship at sea, and therefore resolved to place myself as near the coast as I could.

At length I spied a little cove on the right shore of the creek, to which, with great pain and difficulty, I guided my raft, and at last got so near, that reaching ground with my oar, I could thrust her directly in. But here I had like to have dipped all my cargo into the sea again; for that shore lying pretty steep-that is to say, sloping--there was no place to land but where one end of my float, if it ran on shore, would lie so high, and the other sink lower, as before, that it would endanger my cargo again. All that I could do was to wait till the tide was at the highest, keeping the raft with my oar like an anchor, to hold the side of it fast to the shore, near a flat piece of ground, which I expected the water would flow over; and so it did. As soon as I found water enough, for my raft drew about a foot of water, I thrust her upon that flat piece of ground, and there fastened or moored her, by sticking my two broken oars into the ground-one on one side, near one end, and one on the other side, near the other end; and thus I lay till the water ebbed away, and left my raft and all my cargo safe on shore.

_Appendix 6_

READING LISTS

One of the best ways to _know_ words is through seeing them used by the masters. For this reason, as well as for many others, you should read extensively in good literature. The following lists of prose works may prove useful for your guidance. They are not intended to be exclusive, not intended to designate "the hundred best books." Rather do they name some good books of fairly varied types. These are not all of equal merit, even in their use of words. Some use words with nice discrimination, some with splendid vividness and force. For each author only one or two books are named, but in many instances you will wish to read further in the author, perhaps indeed his entire works.

Boswell, James: _Life of Samuel Johnson_ Bradford, Gamaliel: _Lee the American; American Portraits, 1875-1900_ Franklin, Benjamin: _Autobiography_ Grant, U. S.: _Personal Memoirs_ Irving, Washington: _Life of Goldsmith_ Paine, A. B.: _Life of Mark Twain_ Walton, Izaak: _Lives_

<Essays, Adventure, etc.>

Addison, Joseph: _Spectator Papers_ Bryce, Sir James: _The American Commonwealth_ Burke, Edmund: _Speech on Conciliation_ Burroughs, John: _Wake Robin_ Chesterton, G. K.: _Heretics_ Crothers, S. M.: _The Gentle Reader_ Dana, R. H., Jr.: Two _Years Before the Mast_ Darwin, Charles: _Origin of Species_ Emerson, R. W.: _Essays_ Irving, Washington: _Sketch Book_ Lincoln, Abraham: _Speeches and Addresses_ Lucas, E. V.: _Old Lamps for New_ Macaulay, T. B.: _Essays_ Muir, John: _The Mountains of California_ Thoreau, H. D.: _Walden_ Twain, Mark: _Life on the Mississippi_

Allen, James Lane: _The Choir Invisible_ Austen, Jane: _Pride and Prejudice_ Barrie, Sir James M.: _Sentimental Tommie_ Bennett, Arnold: _The Old Wives' Tale_ Blackmore, R. D.: _Lorna Doone_ Bunyan, John: _Pilgrim's Progress_ Cable, G. W.: _Old Creole Days_ Conrad, Joseph: _The Nigger of the Narcissus_ Defoe, Daniel: _Robinson Crusoe_ Dickens, Charles: _David Copperfield_ Eliot, George: _Adam Bede_ Galsworthy, John: _The Patrician_ Goldsmith, Oliver: _The Vicar of Wakefield_ Hardy, Thomas: _The Return of the Native_ Harte, Bret: _The Luck of Roaring Camp_ (short story) Hawthorne, Nathaniel: _The Scarlet Letter_ Hergesheimer, Joseph: _Java Head_ Hudson, W. H.: _Green Mansions_ Kingsley, Charles: _Westward Ho_! Kipling, Rudyard: _Plain Tales from the Hills_ (short stories) London, Jack: _The Call of the Wild_ Merrick, Leonard: _The Man Who Understood Women (volume of short stories); _The Actor Manager_ Mitchell, S. Weir: _Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker_ Norris, Frank: _The Octopus_ Poe, Edgar Allan: _The Fall of the House of Usher_ (short story) Poole, Ernest: _The Harbor_ Scott, Sir Walter: _Ivanhoe_ Smith, F. Hopkinson: _Colonel Carter of Cartersville_ Stevenson, R. L.: _Treasure Island_ Tarkington, Booth: _Monsieur Beaucaire_ Thackeray, W. M.: _Vanity Fair_ Twain, Mark: _Huckleberry Finn_ Wells, H. G.: _Tono Bungay_ Wharton, Edith: _Ethan Frome_ Wister, Owen: _The Virginian_

INDEX.

The index comprises, besides miscellaneous items, four large classes of matter: (1) topics, including many minor ones not given separate textual captions; (2) all individual words and members of pairs explained or commented on in the text; (3) the key syllables, but not the separate words, of family groups; (4) the first or generic term, but not the other terms, in all assemblies of synonyms; hence, this book can be used as a handbook of ordinarily used synonyms.

_Abandon_, Synonyms of, _Abase_, Synonyms of, _Abettor_, Synonyms of, _Abolish_, Synonyms of, _Abridge_ Abstract vs. concrete terms. Also see _Words_ _Absurd_ _Accumulate_ _Acknowledge_, Synonyms of, _Acquit_, Synonyms of, _Act_ family _Active_, Synonyms of, _Advise_, Synonyms of, Aeronautics, Familiar terms in, _Affair_ _Affect_ _Affecting_, Synonyms of, _Affront_, Synonyms of, _Afraid_, Synonyms of, _Ag_ family _Agnostic_, Synonyms of, _Allay_, Synonyms of, _Allopath_ _Allow_, Synonyms of, _Altitude_ _Amicable_ _Amuse_, Synonyms of, Analysis. See _Vocabulary_ and _Synonyms_ Analysis, Rhetorical, Anglo-Saxon words in modern English. See _Native words_ _Anim_ family _Anni, annu_ family _Announce_, Synonyms of, _Answer_, Synonyms of, _Antipathy_, Synonyms of, Antonyms _Appreciate_ _Apprehend_ _Apricot_ _Ardor_ _Argument_ _Artful_ _Artifice_, Synonyms of, _Ascend_ _Ascend_, Synonyms of, _Ascribe_ _Ascribe_, Synonyms of, _Ask_, Synonyms of, _Assail_ _Associate_, Synonyms of, _Attach_, Synonyms of, _Attack_; Synonyms of, _Attention_ _Audi, auri_ family Audience, Adapting discourse to, _Auto_ family _Avert_ _Awkward_, Synonyms of,

_Backhanded_ _Bald heads_ _Bare_ _Base_ _Bear_ _Bedlam_ _Beef_ _Begin_, Synonyms of, _Belief_, Synonyms of, _Belittle_, Synonyms of, _Bind_, Synonyms of, _Bit_, Synonyms of, _Bite_, Synonyms of, Blood relationships between words. Small groups of words so related. Also see _Words_ _Bluff_, Synonyms of, _Boast_, Synonyms of, _Body_, Synonyms of, _Bold_ _Bombastic_, Synonyms of, Books of synonyms, List of, _Boor_ _Boorish_, Synonyms of, _Booty_, Synonyms of, Boys, Kinds of, _Brand, brun_ family _Break_ _Break_, Synonyms of, _Breakfast_ _Bridegroom_ _Bright_ _Brittle_, Synonyms of, _Brotherly_ _Building_, Synonyms of, Burke, Edmund. See _Causes for the American Spirit of Liberty_ _Burn_ family _Burn_, Synonyms of, _Burn with indignation_ _Busy_, Synonyms of, _By and by_

_Cad_ family _Calf_ _Call_, Synonyms of, _Calm_, Synonyms of, _Cant_ family _Cap(t)_ family _Capricious_ _Care_, Synonyms of, _Careful_, Synonyms of, _Cart before the horse_, _Cas_ family "Castaway, The" (Defoe). Comments and assignments on, "Causes for the American Spirit of Liberty" (Burke). Comments and assignments on, _Cede, ceed, cess_ family _Ceive, ceit, cept_ family _Celebrate_, Synonyms of, Celibates, Verbal, _Censure_ _Cent_ family _Cent_ family _Charm_ (noun), Synonyms of, _Charm_ (verb), Synonyms of, _Chant_ family _Cheat_, Synonyms of, Child. See _How a child becomes acquainted_, etc. _Choke_, Synonyms of, _Choose_, Synonyms of, _Chron_ family _Church_ _Churl_ _Cid_ family _Cide_ family _Cigar_ _Cip_ family _Circumstances_ _Cis(e)_ family Classes of words, in general, (also see _Words_); in your own vocabulary, Classic words, distinguished from native; in modern English, _Clear_ _Clodhopper_ _Close_ _Close the door to_, _Coax_, Synonyms of, _Cold_ Coleridge, S. T., Quotation from, _Color_, Synonyms of, _Combine_, Synonyms of, _Comfort_, Synonyms of, _Common_ _Companion_ _Complain_, Synonyms of, _Conchology_ _Concise_, Synonyms of, _Condescend_, Synonyms of, _Condition_ _Confirm_, Synonyms of, _Confirmed_, Synonyms of, _Confound_ _Congregate_ _Connect_, Synonyms of, Connotation _Constable_ _Contagious_ _Continual_, Synonyms of, _Continuous, continual_ _Contract_, Synonyms of, _Conversation_ _Copy_, Synonyms of, _Cordiality_ _Corp(s)_ family _Corrode_ _Corrupt_, Synonyms of, _Costly_, Synonyms of, _Coterie_, Synonyms of, _Counterfeit_ _Courage_, Synonyms of, _Course_ family _Coxcomb_ _Crafty_ _Crease, cresce, cret, crue_ family _Cred, creed_ family _Crestfallen_ _Crisscross_ _Critical_, Synonyms of, _Criticism_ _Crooked_, Synonyms of, _Cross_ _Cross_, Synonyms of, _Crowd_, Synonyms of, _Crowsfeet_ _Crude_ _Cruel_, Synonyms of, _Cry_ _Cry_, Synonyms of, _Cunning_ _Cur_ family _Cure_ family _Curious_, Synonyms of, _Cut_, Synonyms of,

_Daily_ _Dainty_, Synonyms of, _Daisy_ _Dandelion_ _Danger_, Synonyms of, _Darken_, Synonyms of, _Dead_, Synonyms of, _Deadly_, Synonyms of, _Death_, Synonyms of, _Decay_, Synonyms of, _Deceit_, Synonyms of, _Deceptive_, Synonyms of, _Decorate_, Synonyms of, _Decorous_, Synonyms of, _Deface_, Synonyms of, _Defeat_, Synonyms of, _Defect_, Synonyms of, Definitions, of words; Dictionary vs. informal; How to look up in a dictionary, Defoe, Daniel. See _The Castaway_ _Degrade_ _Delay_, Synonyms of, _Demean_ _Democrat_ _Demon_ _Demoralize_, Synonyms of, _Deny_, Synonyms of, _Deportment_, Synonyms of, _Deprive_, Synonyms of, Description _Despise_, Synonyms of, _Despondency_, Synonyms of, _Destroy_, Synonyms of, _Detach_, Synonyms of, _Determined_, Synonyms of, _Deviate_ _Devilish_ _Devout_, Synonyms of, _Dexterity_ _Dic, dict_ family Dictionaries, List of; How to use, _Die_, Synonyms of, _Differ_ _Difficulty_, Synonyms of, _Dign_ family _Dilapidated_ _Dip_, Synonyms of, _Dirty_, Synonyms of, _Disaster_ _Discernment_, Synonyms of, _Discharge_ Discords, Verbal Discourse, at first hand; adapted to audience, _Disease_, Synonyms of, _Disgraceful_, Synonyms of, _Disgusting_, Synonyms of, _Dishonor_, Synonyms of, _Disloyal_, Synonyms of, _Dispel_, Synonyms of, _Dissatisfied_, Synonyms of, _Diurnal_ _Divide_, Synonyms of, _Do_, Synonyms of, _Doctrine_, Synonyms of, _Doom, Doomsday_ _Dream_, Synonyms of, _Dress_, Synonyms of, "Drift of Our Rural Population Cityward, The" (Editorial), Comments and assignments, _Drink_, Synonyms of, _Drip_, Synonyms of, _Drunk_, Synonyms of, _Dry_, Synonyms of, _Duc, duct_ family _Dull_ _Dur(e)_ family

_Early_, Synonyms of, _Eat_, Synonyms of, Editorial. See _The Drift of Our Rural Population Cityward_ _Effect_ _Egregious_ _Ejaculate_ _Elicit_, Synonyms of, _Embarrass_, Synonyms of, _Embrace_ _Encroach_, Synonyms of, _End_, Synonyms of, _Enemy_ _Enemy_, Synonyms of, _Engine_ _Enni_ family _Enormity, enormousness_ _Enough_, Synonyms of, _Entice_, Synonyms of, _Erase_, Synonyms of, _Error_ family _Error_, Synonyms of, _Estimate_, Synonyms of, _Eternal_, Synonyms of, _Eu_ family _Eugenics_ _Ex_ family _Examination_ _Example_, Synonyms of, _Exceed_, Synonyms of, _Exclude_ _Excuse_, Synonyms of, _Expand_, Synonyms of, _Expel_, Synonyms of, _Experiment_, Synonyms of, _Explain_, Synonyms of, Explanation (Exposition) _Explicit_, Synonyms of, _Expression_

_Face_, Synonyms of, _Fact_ family _Faculty_, Synonyms of, _Failing_, Synonyms of, _Fair_ _False_ _Fame_, Synonyms of, Families, Verbal, _Famous_, Synonyms of, _Fashion_, Synonyms of, _Fast_ _Fast_, Synonyms of, _Fasten_ Synonyms of, _Fat_, Synonyms of, _Fate_, Synonyms of, _Fatherly_ _Fawn_, Synonyms of, _Fear_, Synonyms of, _Feat, fect, feit_ family _Feign_, Synonyms of, _Fellow_ _Feminine_, Synonyms of, _Fer_ family _Fertile_, Synonyms of, _Fic(e)_ family _Fiddle_ _Fiendish_, Synonyms of, _Fight_, Synonyms of, _Financial_, Synonyms of, _Fin(e)_ family _Firm_ _Fit_, Synonyms of, _Flag, The_ _Flame_, Synonyms of, _Flat_ _Flat_, Synonyms of, _Flatter_, Synonyms of, _Flect, flex_ family _Flee_, Synonyms of, _Fleeting_, Synonyms of, _Flexible_, Synonyms of, _Flit_, Synonyms of, _Flock_, Synonyms of, _Flock together_ _Flow_, Synonyms of, _Flu, fluence, flux_ family _Foe_ _Follow_, Synonyms of, _Follower_, Synonyms of, _Fond_ _Fond_, Synonyms of, _Force_, Synonyms of, _Foretell_, Synonyms of, _Fort_ family Fossils in modern English, List of, _Found_ family _Fract, frag_ family _Fracture_ _Frank_, Synonyms of, Franklin, Benjamin, and _Spectator Papers_, _Fraternal_ _Free_ _Free_, Synonyms of French and Norman-French words occurring in modern English _Freshen_, Synonyms of, _Fret_ _Friendly_ _Friendly_, Synonyms of, _Frighten_, Synonyms of, _Frigid_ _Frown_, Synonyms of, _Frugal_, Synonyms of, _Frustrate_, Synonyms of, _Fug(e)_ family _Fuse_ family _Fy_ family

_Game_, Synonyms of, _Gather_, Synonyms of, _Gen_ family General facts and ideas with which acquaintance assumed, General ideas, as best basis for study of synonyms, General vs. specific terms. Also see _Words_ Genus and species _Ger, gest_ family Germanic words in modern English _Get_, Synonyms of, _Get on to_ "Gettysburg Address" (Lincoln); Comments on, _Ghost_ _Ghost_, Synonyms of, _Gift_, Synonyms of, _Give_, Synonyms of, _Glad_, Synonyms of, _Go out of one's way_ _Good_ _Good_ family _Goodby_ _Grade_ family _Gram_ family _Grand_, Synonyms of, _Graph_ family _Gray hair_ _Great_ _Greedy_ Greek prefixes List of, Greek stems, List of, Greek words in modern English _Greet_, Synonyms of, _Gress_ family _Grief_, Synonyms of, _Grieve_, Synonyms of, _Groom_ _Grudgingly_ _Guard_, Synonyms of, _Guileless_

_Hab_ family _Habit_, Synonyms of, _Habitation_, Synonyms of, _Hale_ family _Half-baked_ _Harass_, Synonyms of, _Hard_ _Harmful_, Synonyms of, _Harsh_ _Haste_, Synonyms of, _Hate_, Synonyms of, _Hatred_, Synonyms of, _Have_, Synonyms of, _Hayseed_ _Head foremost_ _Headstrong_, Synonyms of, _Heal_ family _Healthful_, Synonyms of, _Heathen_ _Heavy_, Synonyms of, _Height_ _Help_ (noun), Synonyms of, _Help_ (verb), Synonyms of, _Hesitate_, Synonyms of, _Hib_ family _Hide_, Synonyms of, _High_, Synonyms of, _Highstrung_ _Hinder_ Synonyms of, _Hint_, Synonyms of, _Hot_ family _Hole_, Synonyms of, _Holy_, Synonyms of, _Home_ _Homeopath_ _Homesickness_ _Hopeful,_ Synonyms of, _Hopeless_, Synonyms of, _Hose_ _House_ How a child becomes acquainted with the complexity of life and language _Hug_, _Humor_ _Hussy_ _Idiot_ _Idle_ _Ig_ family _Ignorant_, Synonyms of, _Imp_ Imperfectly understood facts and ideas _Impolite_, Synonyms of, _Importance_, Synonyms of, _Imposter_, Synonyms of, _Imprison_, Synonyms of, _Improper_, Synonyms of, _Impure_, Synonyms of, _In a minute_ _Inborn_, Synonyms of, _Incense_ _Incite_, Synonyms of, _Incline_, Synonyms of, _Inclose_, Synonyms of, _Increase_, Synonyms of, _Indecent_, Synonyms of, _Infantry_ _Infectious_ _Ingenious_ _Inner_ _Innocent_ _Innuendo_ _Insane_, Synonyms of, _Insanity_, Synonyms of, _Insinuate_ _Insipid_, Synonyms of, _Instances_ _Instigate_ _Insult_ _Intention_, Synonyms of, _Internal_ _Interpose_, Synonyms of, _Investigate_ _Irreligious_, Synonyms of, _Irritate_, Synonyms of, _It_ family "Ivanhoe" (Scott), Quotation from, _Ject_ family _Join_, Synonyms of, _Journey_, Synonyms of, _Jud_ family _Jump on_ _Junct_ family _Jur, jus_ family _Jure_ family _Just_

Key-syllables, Variations in form of; Misleading resemblance between; Lists of, _Kick_ _Kill_, Synonyms of, _Kind_, Synonyms of, _Kindle_, Synonyms of, Kinships between words. See _Blood relationships between words; Marriages between words; Words_ _Knave_ _Knowledge_

_Lack_, Synonyms of, _Lame_, Synonyms of, _Large_, Synonyms of, _Late_ family Latin prefixes, List of, Latin stems, List of, Latin words in modern English. See _Classic words_ _Laugh_, Synonyms of, _Laughable_, Synonyms of, _Lead_, Synonyms of, _Lect, leg_ family _Lengthen_, Synonyms of, _Lessen,_ Synonyms of, _Lewd_ _Liberal_, Synonyms of, _Lie_ (noun), Synonyms of, _Lie_ (verb), Synonyms of, _Lig_ family _Likeness_, Synonyms of, _Limp_, Synonyms of, _List_, Synonyms of, Literal vs. figurative terms and applications. Also see _Words_ _Loc, loco, local, locate_ family _Locu_ family _Log_ family _Look_, Synonyms of, Loose use of words _Loquy_ family _Lord_ _Lose steam_ _Loud_, Synonyms of, _Love_ _Love_, Synonyms of, _Low,_ Synonyms of, _Loyal_, Synonyms of, _Luc, lum, lus_ family _Lude, lus_ family _Lunatic_ _Lurk_, Synonyms of, _Lust_

_Make_, Synonyms of, _Make one's pile_ _Man_, as a generic term, _Man, manu_ family _Mand_ family _Manifest_, Synonyms of, _Manly_ _Many_, Synonyms of, Many-sided words _Margin_, Synonyms of, _Marriage_, Synonyms of, Marriages between words. Also see _Words_ _Marshal_ _Masculine_, Synonyms of, _Matinée_ _Matrimonial_, Synonyms of, _Meaning_, Synonyms of, _Meet_, Synonyms of, _Meeting_, Synonyms of, _Melt_, Synonyms of, _Memory_, Synonyms of, _Mercy_, Synonyms of, _Mere, merely_ _Meter, metri_ family Military terms, Familiar _Mis(e), mit_ family _Misrepresent_, Synonyms of, _Mix_, Synonyms of, _Mob_ family _Model_, Synonyms of, _Modern_ _Mono_ family _Mort_ family _Mortal_ _Mortify_ _Mot(e)_ family _Mother_ _Motive_, Synonyms of, _Move_ family _Move_, Synonyms of, _Mot(e)_ family

_Name_, Synonyms of, Narration _Nasturtium_ _Nat(e)_ family Native words, distinguished from classic; in modern English, _Near_, Synonyms of, _Neat_, Synonyms of, _Needful_, Synonyms of, _Negligence_, Synonyms of, _New_, Synonyms of, _Nice_, Synonyms of, _Nickname_ _Noble_ family _Noise_ _Noisy_, Synonyms of, _Nostalgia_ _Nostril_ _Nostrum_ _Not(e), nor(e)_ family _Noticeable_, Synonyms of,

_Objective_ _Occupation_, Synonyms of, _Offspring_ _Old_, Synonyms of, _Ology_ family _Omen, ominous_ Opposites _Order_ (noun), Synonyms of, _Order_ (verb), Synonyms of, _Oversight_, Synonyms of, _Ox_

_Pacify_, Synonyms of, _Pagan_ Pairs, Three types of; Lists of or assignments in; as Synonyms, _Pale_, Synonyms of, _Pan_ family _Pantaloon_ "Parable of the Sower"; Comments and assignments on, "Parable of the Prodigal Son"; Comments on, Parallels Paraphrasing _Pard_ _Parlor_ _Parson_ _Part_, Synonyms of, Parts of Speech, Wrong, _Pass, path_ family _Pastor_ _Paternal_ _Patience_, Synonyms of, _Patter_ _Pay_ (noun), Synonyms of, _Pay_ (verb), Synonyms of, _Ped_ family _Pen_ _Pend, pense_ family _Penetrate_, Synonyms of, _Perspiration_ _Pet_ family _Petit, petty_ family _Petr, peter_ family _Phil(e)_ family _Phone_ family _Pin-money_ _Pity_, Synonyms of, _Place_, Synonyms of, _Plain_ _Plan_, Synonyms of, _Playful_, Synonyms of, _Plentiful_, Synonyms of, _Plic(ate), ply_ family _Plunder_, Synonyms of, _Pocket handkerchief_ _Pod_ family _Poli_ family _Polite_ _Polite_, Synonyms of, _Pond_ family _Ponder_ _Pone, pose_ family _Poor_ _Porcine_ _Pork_ _Port_ family _Portent, portentous_ _Poten(t)_ family _Poverty_, Synonyms of, _Precocious_ _Prehend_ family _Preposterous_ _Presbyterian_ _Presently_ _Pretty_, Synonyms of, _Prise_ family _Prob_ family _Prod up_ _Profitable_, Synonyms of, _Progeny_ _Prompt_, Synonyms of, _Proud_, Synonyms of, _Pull_, Synonyms of, _Pulse_ family _Punish_, Synonyms of, _Push_, Synonyms of, _Put(e)_ family _Puzzle_, Synonyms of,

_Qualm_ _Quarrel_, Synonyms of, _Quean_ _Queer_, Synonyms of, _Quick_ Quickly, Dame _Quiet_ Quotations from literature, embodying old senses of words

_Raise_, Synonyms of, _Rash_, Synonyms of, Reading Lists _Rebellion_, Synonyms of, _Recant_ _Recover_, Synonyms of, _Recrudescence_ _Reflect_, Synonyms of, _Refuse_ _Regret_, Synonyms of, _Relate_, Synonyms of, _Relinquish_, Synonyms of, _Renounce_, Synonyms of, _Replace_, Synonyms of, _Reprove_, Synonyms of, _Republican_ _Repulsive_, Synonyms of, _Requital_, Synonyms of, _Residence_ _Responsible_, Synonyms of, _Reveal_, Synonyms of, _Reverence_, Synonyms of, _Rich_, Synonyms of, _Ridicule_, Synonyms of, _Right_ _Ripe_, Synonyms of, _Rise_ _Rise_, Synonyms of, _Rival_ _Robber_, Synonyms of, _Rog, rogate_ family _Rogue_, Synonyms of, _Rough_ _Round_, Synonyms of, _Routine_ _Rub_, Synonyms of, _Ruminate_ _Run_, Synonyms of, _Rapt_ family _Rural_, Synonyms of,

_Sabotage_ _Sad_, Synonyms of, _Sal, sail_ family _Salary_ _Sandwich_ _Sans_ _Sarcasm_ _Satiate_, Synonyms of, _Saws_ _Say_, Synonyms of, Scandinavian words in modern English _Science, scit(e)_ family _Scoff_, Synonyms of, Scott, Sir Walter, Quotation from, _Scribe, script_ family _Secret_, Synonyms of, _Sect_ family _Secu, sequ_ family _Sed_ family _See_, Synonyms of, _Seep_, Synonyms of, _Sell_ _Sell_, Synonyms of, _Sens(e), sent_ family _Serious_ "Seven Ages of Man, The" (Shakespeare); Comments and assignments on, _Severe_ Shakespeare, William. See _The Seven Ages of Man_ _Shamefaced_ _Shape_, Synonyms of, _Share_, Synonyms of, _Sharp_ _Sharp_, Synonyms of, _Shear_ family _Shine_, Synonyms of, _Shore_ family _Shore_, Synonyms of, _Shorten_ _Shorten_, Synonyms of, _Show_ (noun), Synonyms of, _Show_ (verb), Synonyms of, _Shrink_, Synonyms of, _Shun_, Synonyms of, _Shy_, Synonyms of, _Side_ _Sid(e)_ family _Sidetrack_ _Sign_ family _Sign_, Synonyms of, _Silent_, Synonyms of, _Silly_ _Simple_, Synonyms of, _Sing_, Synonyms of, _Sing another tune_ _Sinister_ _Sist_ family _Skilful_, Synonyms of, _Skin_, Synonyms of, _Slander_, Synonyms of, Slang _Sleep_, Synonyms of, _Sleepy_, Synonyms of, Slovenliness _Slovenly_, Synonyms of, _Sly_, Synonyms of, _Smell_, Synonyms of, _Smile_, Synonyms of, _Smoke in one's pipe_ _Solitary_, Synonyms of, _Solve, solu_ family _Song_, Synonyms of, _Soon_ Sources for modern English, Variety of, _Sour_, Synonyms of, _Sow_ _Speak_, Synonyms of, _Spect, spic(e)_ family "Spectator Papers, The" (Addison) _Speech_, Synonyms of, _Spend_, Synonyms of, _Spire, spirit_ family _Spirit_ _Spond, spons(e)_ family _Spot_, Synonyms of, _Spruce_, Synonyms of, _Sta, sti_ family _Stale_, Synonyms of, _Stay_, Synonyms of, _Stead_ family _Steal_, Synonyms of, _Steep_, Synonyms of, _Stiff_ _Stingy_, Synonyms of, _Stirrup_ _Storm_, Synonyms of, _Straight_, Synonyms of, _Strain, string, strict_ family _Strange_, Synonyms of, _Strike_, Synonyms of, _Strong_ _Strong_, Synonyms of, _Struct, stru(e)_ family _Stubborn_, Synonyms of, _Stupid_, Synonyms of, _Suave_, Synonyms of, _Subjective_ _Succeed_, Synonyms of, _Succession_, Synonyms of, _Sue_ family _Sullen_, Synonyms of, _Sult_ family; Superfluous details, _Supernatural_, Synonyms of, _Suppose_, Synonyms of, _Surprise_, Synonyms of, _Swearing_, Synonyms of, _Sweat_ _Swine_ Synonyms, Necessity for; Similar not identical in meaning; List of books of; How to acquire; Analysis of your use of; Progress from the general to the specific; Pertinent rather than comprehensive; Lists of, or assignments in, (also see _Pairs_)

_Tact_ family _Tail_ family _Tain_ family _Take down a notch_ _Take hold of_ _Take the hide off_ _Take umbrage_ _Talk_ (noun) _Talk_ (verb), Synonyms of, _Talkative_, Synonyms of; Tameness, _Tang_ family _Teach_, Synonyms of, _Tear_, Synonyms of, Telegrams and night letters _Ten, tent_ family _Tend, tens, tent, ten_ family _Tender_ Tennyson, Alfred, Quotation from, _Tension_ _Term, termin_ family _Ter(re), terra_ family _Thank your lucky stars_ _Thesis, theme_ family Thing(s) _Thoughtful_, Synonyms of, _Throw_, Synonyms of, _Throw in the shade_ _Throw out a remark_ _Tin_ family _Tire_, Synonyms of, _Tool_, Synonyms of, _Tone_ Tone, Unity of. See _Discords, Verbal_ _Tort_ family _Track_ _Tract, tra(i)_ family Translation _Trifle_, Synonyms of, Triteness _Trivial_ _Trust_, Synonyms of, _Truth_ _Try_, Synonyms of, _Tum_ family _Turb_ family _Turn_, Synonyms of,

_Ugly_, Synonyms of, _Umpire_ _Understood_ _Unsophisticated_ _Unwilling_, Synonyms of,

_Vade, vasion_ family _Vail, vol(e)_ family _Vain_ _Vapid_ _Veal, veau_ _Vend_ _Vene, vent_ family _Veracity_ _Vers(e), vert_ family _Vid_ family _Villain_ _Vince, vict_ family _Vinegar_ _Violin_ _Vir_ family _Virile_ _Virtue_ _Vis_ family _Viv(e)_ family _Voc, voke_ family Vocabulary, Ready, wide, or accurate; Speaking or writing; Analysis of your own _Volve, volute_ family _Voluntary_ _Voracious_ Vulgar

_Walk_. Synonyms of, _Watchful_, Synonyms of, Wave (noun), Synonyms of, Wave (verb), Synonyms of, _Weak_ _Weak_, Synonyms of, _Weariness_, Synonyms of, _Wearisome_, Synonyms of, _Classes of words, Abstract vs. _Wench_ _Wet_ (adjective), Synonyms of, _Wet_ (verb), Synonyms of, _Wheedle_ Whim,_ Synonyms of, Whip, Synonyms of, Whole_ family _Wicked_, Synonyms of, _Wild_ _Willing_ _Wind_, Synonyms of, _Wind_ (verb), Synonyms of, _Winding_, Synonyms of, _Wis, wit_ family Wisdom _Wise_, Synonyms of, _Wizard_ _Wonderful_, Synonyms of, Wordiness Words, as realities; as instruments; to be learned in various ways; like people; in combination; Individual; to learn first; The past of; Buried meanings of; Poetry of; Dignified and unassuming; Literal, concrete, and specifc; General; Exaggerative; Debased; as celibates; related in blood or by marriage; examined for relationships; related in meaning; often confused; Native and classic; Many-sided; Supplementary list of. Also see _concrete terms, Literal vs. figurative terms, General vs. specific terms, Slang, Vocabulary, Synonyms, Fossils, Loose use of words _Work_, synonyms of, _Workman_, Synonyms of, _Worm in_ _Write_, Synonyms of, Writing as an aid to memory _Wrong_

_Yearn_, Synonyms of, Young, Synonyms of,

THE END