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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>FOOD.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>aliment,</td><td>feed,</td><td>nourishment,</td><td>pabulum,</td><td>sustenance,</td></tr> <tr><td>diet,</td><td>fodder,</td><td>nutriment,</td><td>provender,</td><td>viands,</td></tr> <tr><td>fare,</td><td>forage,</td><td>nutrition,</td><td>regimen,</td><td>victuals.</td></tr> </table> Food is, in the popular sense, whatever one eats in contradistinction to what one drinks. Thus, we speak of food and drink, of wholesome, unwholesome, or indigestible food; but in a more scientific sense whatever, when taken into the digestive organs, serves to build up structure or supply waste may be termed food; the word is extended to plants to signify whatever taken in any way into the organism serves similar purposes; thus, we speak of liquid food, plant food, etc.; in this wider sense food is closely synonymous with nutriment, nourishment, and sustenance. Diet refers to the quantity and quality of food habitually taken, with reference to preservation of health. Victuals is a plain, homely word for whatever may be eaten; we speak of choice viands, cold victuals. Nourishment and sustenance apply to whatever can be introduced into the system as a means of sustaining life; we say of a convalescent, he is taking nourishment. Nutriment and nutrition have more of scientific reference to the vitalizing principles of various foods; thus, wheat is said to contain a great amount of nutriment. Regimen considers food as taken by strict rule, but applies more widely to the whole ordering of life. Fare is a general word for all table supplies, good or bad; as, sumptuous fare; wretched fare. Feed, fodder, and provender are used only of the food of the lower animals, feed denoting anything consumed, but more commonly grain, fodder denoting hay, cornstalks, or the like, sometimes called "long feed;" provender is dry feed, whether grain or hay, straw, etc. Forage denotes any kind of food suitable for horses and cattle, primarily as obtained by a military force in scouring the country, especially an enemy's country. <hr /> <h3>FORMIDABLE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>dangerous,</td><td>redoubted,</td><td>terrible,</td><td>tremendous.</td></tr> </table> That which is formidable is worthy of fear if encountered or opposed; as, a formidable array of troops, or of evidence. Formidable is a word of more dignity than dangerous, and suggests more calm and collected power than terrible; formidable is less overwhelming than tremendous. A loaded gun is dangerous; a park of artillery is formidable; a charge of cavalry is terrible; the full shock of great armies is tremendous. A dangerous man is likely to do mischief, and needs watching; a formidable man may not be dangerous if not attacked; an enraged maniac is terrible; the force of ocean waves in a storm, and the silent pressure in the ocean depths, are tremendous. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>contemptible,</td><td>despicable,</td><td>feeble,</td><td>harmless,</td><td>helpless,</td><td>powerless,</td><td>weak.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Formidable by or in numbers; in strength; formidable to the enemy. <hr /> <h3>FORTIFICATION.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>castle,</td><td>citadel,</td><td>fastness,</td><td>fort,</td><td>fortress,</td><td>stronghold.</td></tr> </table> Fortification is the general word for any artificial defensive work; a fortress is a fortification of especial size and strength; a fortress is regarded as permanent, and is ordinarily an independent work; a fort or fortification may be temporary; a fortification may be but part of a defensive system; we speak of the fortifications of a city. A citadel is a fortification within a city, or the fortified inner part of a city or fortress, within which a garrison may be placed to overawe the citizens, or to which the defenders may retire if the outer works are captured; the medieval castle was the fortified residence of a king or baron. Fort is the common military term for a detached fortified building or enclosure of moderate size occupied or designed to be occupied by troops. The fortifications of a modern city usually consist of a chain of forts. Any defensible place, whether made so by nature or by art, is a fastness or stronghold. <hr /> <h3>FORTITUDE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>courage,</td><td>endurance,</td><td>heroism,</td><td>resolution.</td></tr> </table> Fortitude (L. fortis, strong) is the strength or firmness of mind or soul to endure pain or adversity patiently and determinedly. Fortitude has been defined as "passive courage," which is a good definition, but not complete. Fortitude might be termed "still courage," or "enduring courage;" it is that quality which is able not merely to endure pain or trial, but steadily to confront dangers that can not be actively opposed, or against which one has no adequate defense; it takes courage to charge a battery, fortitude to stand still under an enemy's fire. Resolution is of the mind; endurance is partly physical; it requires resolution to resist temptation, endurance to resist hunger and cold. Compare BRAVE; PATIENCE. <hr /> <h3>FORTUNATE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>favored,</td><td>lucky,</td><td>prospered,</td><td>prosperous,</td><td>successful.</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="5">happy,</td></tr> </table> A man is successful in any case if he achieves or gains what he seeks; he is known as a successful man if he has achieved or gained worthy objects of endeavor; he is fortunate or lucky if advantages have come to him without or beyond his direct planning or achieving. Lucky is the more common and colloquial, fortunate the more elegant word; fortunate is more naturally applied to the graver matters, as we speak of the fortunate, rather than the lucky, issue of a great battle; lucky more strongly emphasizes the element of chance, as when we speak of a lucky hit, a lucky guess, or of one as "born under a lucky star." Favored is used in a religious sense, implying that one is the object of divine favor. Happy, in this connection, signifies possessed of the means of happiness. One is said to be happy or prosperous whether his prosperity be the result of fortune or of achievement; prospered rather denotes the action of a superintending Providence. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>broken,</td><td>fallen,</td><td>miserable,</td><td>unhappy,</td><td>woful,</td></tr> <tr><td>crushed,</td><td>ill-starred,</td><td>unfortunate,</td><td>unlucky,</td><td>wretched.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FRAUD.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>artifice,</td><td>deceit,</td><td>duplicity,</td><td>swindle,</td><td>treason,</td></tr> <tr><td>cheat,</td><td>deception,</td><td>imposition,</td><td>swindling,</td><td rowspan="2">trick.</td></tr> <tr><td>cheating,</td><td>dishonesty,</td><td>imposture,</td><td>treachery,</td></tr> </table> A fraud is an act of deliberate deception with the design of securing something by taking unfair advantage of another. A deceit or deception may be designed merely to gain some end of one's own, with no intent of harming another; an imposition, to take some small advantage of another, or simply to make another ridiculous. An imposture is designed to obtain money, credit, or position to which one is not entitled, and may be practised by a street beggar or by the pretender to a throne. All action that is not honest is dishonesty, but the term dishonesty is generally applied in business, politics, etc., to deceitful practises which are not directly criminal. Fraud includes deceit, but deceit may not reach the gravity of fraud; a cheat is of the nature of fraud, but of a petty sort; a swindle is more serious than a cheat, involving larger values and more flagrant dishonesty. Fraud is commonly actionable at law; cheating and swindling are for the most part out of the reach of legal proceedings. Treachery is chiefly used of dishonesty in matters of friendship, social relations, government, or war; treachery may be more harmful than fraud, but is not so gross, and is not ordinarily open to legal redress. Treason is a specific form of treachery of a subject to the government to which he owes allegiance, and is definable and punishable at law. Compare ARTIFICE; DECEPTION. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>fairness,</td><td>good faith,</td><td>honesty,</td><td>integrity,</td><td>truth,</td><td>uprightness.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FRIENDLY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>accessible,</td><td>companionable,</td><td>genial,</td><td>neighborly,</td></tr> <tr><td>affable,</td><td>complaisant,</td><td>hearty,</td><td>sociable,</td></tr> <tr><td>affectionate,</td><td>cordial,</td><td>kind,</td><td>social,</td></tr> <tr><td>amicable,</td><td>favorable,</td><td>kindly,</td><td>tender,</td></tr> <tr><td>brotherly,</td><td>fond,</td><td>loving,</td><td>well-disposed.</td></tr> </table> Friendly, as said of persons, signifies having the disposition of a friend; as said of acts, it signifies befitting or worthy of a friend. The adjective friendly does not reach the full significance of the nouns "friend" and "friendship;" one may be friendly to those who are not his friends, and to be in friendly relations often signifies little more than not to be hostile. In its application to persons, accessible is used of public and eminent persons, who might, if disposed, hold themselves at a distance from others. Companionable and sociable refer to manner and behavior, cordial and genial express genuine kindliness of heart. We speak of a cordial greeting, a favorable reception, a neighborly call, a sociable visitor, an amicable settlement, a kind interest, a friendly regard, a hearty welcome. The Saxon friendly is stronger than the Latin amicable; the amicable may be merely formal; the friendly is from the heart. Fond is commonly applied to an affection that becomes, or at least appears, excessive. Affectionate, devoted, and tender are almost always used in a high and good sense; as, an affectionate son; a devoted friend; "the tender mercy of our God," Luke i, 78. Compare FRIENDSHIP. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>adverse,</td><td>bellicose,</td><td>contentious,</td><td>estranged,</td><td>ill-disposed,</td><td>unfriendly,</td></tr> <tr><td>alienated,</td><td>belligerent,</td><td>disaffected,</td><td>frigid,</td><td>indifferent,</td><td>unkind,</td></tr> <tr><td>antagonistic,</td><td>cold,</td><td>distant,</td><td>hostile,</td><td>inimical,</td><td>warlike.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>FRIENDSHIP.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>affection,</td><td>comity,</td><td>esteem,</td><td>good will,</td></tr> <tr><td>amity,</td><td>consideration,</td><td>favor,</td><td>love,</td></tr> <tr><td>attachment,</td><td>devotion,</td><td>friendliness,</td><td>regard.</td></tr> </table> Friendship is a deep, quiet, enduring affection, founded upon mutual respect and esteem. Friendship is always mutual; there may be unreciprocated affection or attachment, unrequited love, or even unrecognized and unappreciated devotion, but never unreciprocated or unrequited friendship; one may have friendly feelings toward an enemy, but while there is hostility or coldness on one side there can not be friendship between the two. Friendliness is a quality of friendly feeling, without the deep and settled attachment implied in the state of friendship. Comity is mutual kindly courtesy, with care of each other's right, and amity a friendly feeling and relation, not necessarily implying special friendliness; as, the comity of nations, or amity between neighboring countries. Affection may be purely natural; friendship is a growth. Friendship is more intellectual and less emotional than love; it is easier to give reasons for friendship than for love; friendship is more calm and quiet, love more fervent; love often rises to intensest passion; we can not speak of the passion of friendship. Friendship implies some degree of equality, while love does not; we can speak of man's love toward God, not of his friendship for God. (There is more latitude in the use of the concrete noun friend; Abraham was called "the friend of God;" Christ was called "the friend of sinners.") Compare ACQUAINTANCE; LOVE. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for BATTLE; ENMITY; FEUD; HATRED. <h4>Prepositions:</h4> The friendship of one person for or toward another, or the friendship between them. <hr /> <h3>FRIGHTEN.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>affright,</td><td>appal,</td><td>cow,</td><td>dismay,</td><td>scare,</td></tr> <tr><td>alarm,</td><td>browbeat,</td><td>daunt,</td><td>intimidate,</td><td>terrify.</td></tr> </table> One is frightened by a cause of fear addressed directly and suddenly to the senses; he is intimidated by an apprehension of contingent consequences dependent on some act of his own to be done or forborne; the means of intimidation may act through the senses, or may appeal only to the intellect or the sensibilities. The sudden rush of an armed madman may frighten; the quiet leveling of a highwayman's pistol intimidates. A savage beast is intimidated by the keeper's whip. Employers may intimidate their employees from voting contrary to their will by threat of discharge; a mother may be intimidated through fear for her child. To browbeat or cow is to bring into a state of submissive fear; to daunt is to give pause or check to a violent, threatening, or even a brave spirit. To scare is to cause sudden, unnerving fear; to terrify is to awaken fear that is overwhelming. Compare ALARM. <hr /> <h3>FRUGALITY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>economy,</td><td>parsimony,</td><td>saving,</td><td>sparing,</td></tr> <tr><td>miserliness,</td><td>providence,</td><td>scrimping,</td><td>thrift.</td></tr> <tr><td>parsimoniousness,</td><td colspan="3">prudence,</td></tr> </table> Economy is a wise and careful administration of the means at one's disposal; frugality is a withholding of expenditure, or sparing of supplies or provision, to a noticeable and often to a painful degree; parsimony is excessive and unreasonable saving for the sake of saving. Frugality exalted into a virtue to be practised for its own sake, instead of as a means to an end, becomes the vice of parsimony. Miserliness is the denying oneself and others the ordinary comforts or even necessaries of life, for the mere sake of hoarding money. Prudence and providence look far ahead, and sacrifice the present to the future, saving as much as may be necessary for that end. (See PRUDENCE.) Thrift seeks not merely to save, but to earn. Economy manages, frugality saves, providence plans, thrift at once earns and saves, with a view to wholesome and profitable expenditure at a fitting time. See ABSTINENCE. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>abundance,</td><td>bounty,</td><td>liberality,</td><td>opulence,</td><td>waste,</td></tr> <tr><td>affluence,</td><td>extravagance,</td><td>luxury,</td><td>riches,</td><td>wealth.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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