_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.”
_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 ____.”
_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.”
_Sentences_: He has a ____ disease. The spirit of Virgil guided Dante through the ____ shades. Cyanide of potassium is a ____ poison. He struck a ____ blow.
_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.
_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.
_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.”
_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 be 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 ____.”
_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.
_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.”
_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!”
_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.
_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.
_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 ____.
_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.
_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.
_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.
_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.
_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 ____.
_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] ____.
_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.
_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 ____.
_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.
_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.
_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.
_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.
_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.”
_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.”
_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.
_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.
_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.”
_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.
_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.
_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.
_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.”
_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.
_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 canon 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 ____.
_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 lest kingdoms meek of joy and love.”
_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 ____?
_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.
_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 ____.
_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.”
_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.”
_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.
_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.
_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.
_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 ____.
_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.
_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.
_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.”
_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.
_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.
_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.
_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.
_Sentences_: “They learn in suffering what they teach in ____.” The mother crooned a[n] ____ to her babe. The Highland girl sang a moving old ____ worshipers sang a[n] ____ of praise. Charles Wesley wrote many ____. As I approached the cathedral, I could hear the ____ of lark’s 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.”
_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’ ____ 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.”
_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.”
_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 ____.
_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.
_Sentences:_ I am of raid 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!”
_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.
_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 ____.
_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.”
_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?
_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.
_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.
_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.”
_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.)
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_.
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_, bad at length closed forever, it was to Daylesford that he retired to die.
Great _opprobrium_ has been thrown on her name.
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.
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.
_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?
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.
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.
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.
_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.
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.
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.
. 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.
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.
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.