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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>FAINT.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>dim,</td><td>fatigued,</td><td>irresolute,</td><td>weak,</td></tr> <tr><td>exhausted,</td><td>feeble,</td><td>languid,</td><td>wearied,</td></tr> <tr><td>faded,</td><td>half-hearted,</td><td>listless,</td><td>worn,</td></tr> <tr><td>faint-hearted,</td><td>ill-defined,</td><td>purposeless,</td><td>worn down,</td></tr> <tr><td>faltering,</td><td>indistinct,</td><td>timid,</td><td>worn out.</td></tr> </table> Faint, with the general sense of lacking strength or effectiveness, covers a wide range of meaning, signifying overcome with physical weakness or exhaustion, or lacking in purpose, courage, or energy, as said of persons; or lacking definiteness or distinctness of color or sound, as said of written characters, voices, or musical notes. A person may be faint when physically wearied, or when overcome with fear; he may be a faint adherent because naturally feeble or purposeless, or because half-hearted in the cause; he may be a faltering supporter because naturally irresolute or because faint-hearted and timid in view of perils that threaten, a listless worker, through want of mental energy and purpose. Written characters may be faint or dim, either because originally written with poor ink, or because they have become faded by time and exposure. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bright,</td><td>clear,</td><td>daring,</td><td>fresh,</td><td>resolute,</td><td>sturdy,</td></tr> <tr><td>brilliant,</td><td>conspicuous,</td><td>energetic,</td><td>hearty,</td><td>strong,</td><td>vigorous.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Faint with hunger; faint in color. <hr /> <h3>FAITH.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>assent,</td><td>confidence,</td><td>credit,</td><td>opinion,</td></tr> <tr><td>assurance,</td><td>conviction,</td><td>creed,</td><td>reliance,</td></tr> <tr><td>belief,</td><td>credence,</td><td>doctrine,</td><td>trust.</td></tr> </table> Belief, as an intellectual process, is the acceptance of some thing as true on other grounds than personal observation and experience. We give credence to a report, assent to a proposition or to a proposal. Belief is stronger than credence; credence might be described as a prima facie belief; credence is a more formal word than belief, and seems to imply somewhat more of volition; we speak of giving credence to a report, but not of giving belief. Goods are sold on credit; we give one credit for good intentions. Conviction is a belief established by argument or evidence; assurance is belief beyond the reach of argument; as, the Christian's assurance of salvation. An opinion is a general conclusion held as probable, tho without full certainty; a persuasion is a more confident opinion, involving the heart as well as the intellect. In religion, a doctrine is a statement of belief regarding a single point; a creed is a summary statement of doctrines. Confidence is a firm dependence upon a statement as true, or upon a person as worthy. Reliance is confidence on which we act or are ready to act unquestioningly; we have a calm reliance upon the uniformity of nature. Trust is a practical and tranquil resting of the mind upon the integrity, kindness, friendship, or promises of a person; we have trust in God. Faith is a union of belief and trust. Faith is chiefly personal; belief may be quite impersonal; we speak of belief of a proposition, faith in a promise, because the promise emanates from a person. But belief in a person is often used with no appreciable difference from faith. In religion it is common to distinguish between intellectual belief of religious truth, as any other truth might be believed, and belief of the heart, or saving faith. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>denial,</td><td>dissent,</td><td>doubt,</td><td>infidelity,</td><td>rejection,</td><td>suspicion,</td></tr> <tr><td>disbelief,</td><td>distrust,</td><td>incredulity,</td><td>misgiving,</td><td>skepticism,</td><td>unbelief.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Have faith in God; the faith of the gospel. <hr /> <h3>FAITHFUL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>devoted,</td><td>incorruptible,</td><td>stanch,</td><td>true,</td><td>trusty,</td></tr> <tr><td>firm,</td><td>loyal,</td><td>sure,</td><td>trustworthy,</td><td>unwavering.</td></tr> </table> A person is faithful who will keep faith, whether with or without power to aid or serve; a person or thing is trusty that possesses such qualities as to justify the fullest confidence and dependence. We may speak of a faithful but feeble friend; we say a trusty agent, a trusty steed, a trusty sword. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>capricious,</td><td>false,</td><td>unfaithful,</td><td>untrustworthy,</td></tr> <tr><td>faithless,</td><td>fickle,</td><td>untrue,</td><td>wavering.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Faithful in service; to duty; to comrade or commander; faithful among the faithless. <hr /> <h3>FAME.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>celebrity,</td><td>eminence,</td><td>honor,</td><td>notoriety,</td><td>reputation,</td></tr> <tr><td>credit,</td><td>glory,</td><td>laurels,</td><td>renown,</td><td>repute.</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="5">distinction,</td></tr> </table> Fame is the widely disseminated report of a person's character, deeds, or abilities, and is oftenest used in the favorable sense. Reputation and repute are more limited than fame, and may be either good or bad. Notoriety is evil repute or a dishonorable counterfeit of fame. Eminence and distinction may result from rank, station, or character. Celebrity is limited in range; we speak of local celebrity, or world-wide fame. Fame in its best sense may be defined as the applause of numbers; renown, as such applause worthily won; we speak of the conqueror's fame, the patriot's renown. Glory and honor are of good import; honor may be given for qualities or acts that should not win it, but it is always given as something good and worthy; we can speak of an evil fame, but not of evil honor; glory has a more exalted and often a sacred sense. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>contempt,</td><td>discredit,</td><td>dishonor,</td><td>humiliation,</td><td>infamy,</td><td>obscurity,</td></tr> <tr><td>contumely,</td><td>disgrace,</td><td>disrepute,</td><td>ignominy,</td><td>oblivion,</td><td>shame.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FANATICISM.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bigotry,</td><td>credulity,</td><td>intolerance,</td><td>superstition.</td></tr> </table> Fanaticism is extravagant or even frenzied zeal; bigotry is obstinate and unreasoning attachment to a cause or creed; fanaticism and bigotry usually include intolerance, which is unwillingness to tolerate beliefs or opinions contrary to one's own; superstition is ignorant and irrational religious belief. Credulity is not distinctively religious, but is a general readiness to believe without sufficient evidence, with a proneness to accept the marvellous. Bigotry is narrow, fanaticism is fierce, superstition is ignorant, credulity is weak, intolerance is severe. Bigotry has not the capacity to reason fairly, fanaticism has not the patience, superstition has not the knowledge and mental discipline, intolerance has not the disposition. Bigotry, fanaticism, and superstition are perversions of the religious sentiment; credulity and intolerance often accompany skepticism or atheism. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>cynicism,</td><td>free-thinking,</td><td>indifference,</td><td>latitudinarianism.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FANCIFUL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>chimerical,</td><td>fantastic,</td><td>grotesque,</td><td>imaginative,</td><td>visionary.</td></tr> </table> That is fanciful which is dictated or suggested by fancy independently of more serious considerations; the fantastic is the fanciful with the added elements of whimsicalness and extravagance. The fanciful swings away from the real or the ordinary lightly and pleasantly, the fantastic extravagantly, the grotesque ridiculously. A fanciful arrangement of objects is commonly pleasing, a fantastic arrangement is striking, a grotesque arrangement is laughable. A fanciful theory or suggestion may be clearly recognized as such; a visionary scheme is erroneously supposed to have a basis in fact. Compare synonyms for DREAM; IDEA; IMAGINATION. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>accurate,</td><td>commonplace,</td><td>prosaic,</td><td>regular,</td><td>sound,</td></tr> <tr><td>calculable,</td><td>literal,</td><td>real,</td><td>sensible,</td><td>sure,</td></tr> <tr><td>calculated,</td><td>ordinary,</td><td>reasonable,</td><td>solid,</td><td>true.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FANCY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>belief,</td><td>desire,</td><td>imagination,</td><td>predilection,</td></tr> <tr><td>caprice,</td><td>humor,</td><td>inclination,</td><td>supposition,</td></tr> <tr><td>conceit,</td><td>idea,</td><td>liking,</td><td>vagary,</td></tr> <tr><td>conception,</td><td>image,</td><td>mood,</td><td>whim.</td></tr> </table> An intellectual fancy is a mental image or picture founded upon slight or whimsical association or resemblance; a conceit has less of the picturesque and more of the theoretic than a fancy; a conceit is somewhat aside from the common laws of reasoning, as a fancy is lighter and more airy than the common mode of thought. A conceit or fancy may be wholly unfounded, while a conception always has, or is believed to have, some answering reality. (Compare REASON.) An intellectual fancy or conceit may be pleasing or amusing, but is never worth serious discussion; we speak of a mere fancy, a droll or odd conceit. An emotional or personal fancy is a capricious liking formed with slight reason and no exercise of judgment, and liable to fade as lightly as it was formed. In a broader sense, the fancy signifies the faculty by which fancies or mental images are formed, associated, or combined. Compare synonyms for DREAM; IDEA; IMAGINATION. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>actuality,</td><td>certainty,</td><td>fact,</td><td>reality,</td><td>truth,</td><td>verity.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> To have a fancy for or take a fancy to a person or thing. <hr /> <h3>FAREWELL.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>adieu,</td><td>good-by,</td><td>parting salutation,</td><td>valedictory.</td></tr> <tr><td>congé,</td><td>leave-taking,</td><td colspan="2">valediction,</td></tr> </table> Good-by is the homely and hearty, farewell the formal English word at parting. Adieu, from the French, is still more ceremonious than farewell; congé, also from the French, is commonly contemptuous or supercilious, and equivalent to dismissal. Valediction is a learned word never in popular use. A valedictory is a public farewell to a company or assembly. <h4>Prepositions:</h4> I bade farewell to my comrades, or (without preposition) I bade my comrades farewell; I took a sad farewell of my friends. <hr /> <h3>FEAR.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>affright,</td><td>dismay,</td><td>horror,</td><td>timidity,</td></tr> <tr><td>apprehension,</td><td>disquietude,</td><td>misgiving,</td><td>trembling,</td></tr> <tr><td>awe,</td><td>dread,</td><td>panic,</td><td>tremor,</td></tr> <tr><td>consternation,</td><td>fright,</td><td>terror,</td><td>trepidation.</td></tr> </table> Fear is the generic term denoting an emotion excited by threatening evil with a desire to avoid or escape it; fear may be sudden or lingering, in view of present, of imminent, or of distant and only possible danger; in the latter sense dread is oftener used. Horror (etymologically a shivering or shuddering) denotes a shuddering fear accompanied with abhorrence or such a shock to the feelings and sensibilities as may exist without fear, as when one suddenly encounters some ghastly spectacle; we say of a desperate but fettered criminal, "I looked upon him with horror." Where horror includes fear, it is fear mingled with abhorrence. (See ABHOR.) Affright, fright, and terror are always sudden, and in actual presence of that which is terrible. Fear may overwhelm, or may nerve one to desperate defense; fright and terror render one incapable of defense; fear may be controlled by force of will; fright and terror overwhelm the will; terror paralyzes, fright may cause one to fly, to scream, or to swoon. Fright is largely a matter of the nerves; fear of the intellect and the imagination; terror of all the faculties, bodily and mental. Panic is a sudden fear or fright, affecting numbers at once; vast armies or crowded audiences are liable to panic upon slight occasion. In a like sense we speak of a financial panic. Dismay is a helpless sinking of heart in view of some overwhelming peril or sorrow. Dismay is more reflective, enduring, and despairing than fright; a horse is subject to fright or terror, but not to dismay. Awe is a reverential fear. Compare ALARM. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for FORTITUDE. <hr /> <h3>FEMININE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>effeminate,</td><td>female,</td><td>womanish,</td><td>womanly.</td></tr> </table> We apply female to the sex, feminine to the qualities, especially the finer physical or mental qualities that distinguish the female sex in the human family, or to the objects appropriate for or especially employed by them. A female voice is the voice of a woman; a feminine voice may belong to a man. Womanish denotes the undesirable, womanly the admirable or lovely qualities of woman. Womanly tears would suggest respect and sympathy, womanish tears a touch of contempt. The word effeminate is always used reproachfully, and only of men as possessing womanly traits such as are inconsistent with true manliness. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for MASCULINE. <hr /> <h3>FETTER.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bondage,</td><td>custody,</td><td>gyves,</td><td>irons,</td></tr> <tr><td>bonds,</td><td>durance,</td><td>handcuffs,</td><td>manacles,</td></tr> <tr><td>chains,</td><td>duress,</td><td>imprisonment,</td><td>shackles.</td></tr> </table> Bonds may be of cord, leather, or any other substance that can bind; chains are of linked metal. Manacles and handcuffs are for the hands, fetters are primarily chains or jointed iron fastenings for the feet; gyves may be for either. A shackle is a metallic ring, clasp, or bracelet-like fastening for encircling and restraining a limb: commonly one of a pair, used either for hands or feet. Bonds, fetters, and chains are used in a general way for almost any form of restraint. Gyves is now wholly poetic, and the other words are mostly restricted to the literary style; handcuffs is the specific and irons the general term in popular usage; as, the prisoner was put in irons. Bonds, chains, and shackles are frequently used in the metaphorical sense. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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