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English Synonyms and Antonyms

<h3>MAKE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>become,</td><td>constrain,</td><td>fabricate,</td><td>manufacture,</td></tr> <tr><td>bring about,</td><td>construct,</td><td>fashion,</td><td>occasion,</td></tr> <tr><td>bring into being,</td><td>create,</td><td>force,</td><td>perform,</td></tr> <tr><td>bring to pass,</td><td>do,</td><td>frame,</td><td>reach,</td></tr> <tr><td>cause,</td><td>effect,</td><td>get,</td><td>render,</td></tr> <tr><td>compel,</td><td>establish,</td><td>make out,</td><td>require,</td></tr> <tr><td>compose,</td><td>execute,</td><td>make up,</td><td>shape.</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="4">constitute,</td></tr> </table> Make is essentially causative; to the idea of cause all its various senses may be traced (compare synonyms for CAUSE). To make is to cause to exist, or to cause to exist in a certain form or in certain relations; the word thus includes the idea of create, as in Gen. i, 31, "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Make includes also the idea of compose, constitute; as, the parts make up the whole. Similarly, to cause a voluntary agent to do a certain act is to make him do it, or compel him to do it, compel fixing the attention more on the process, make on the accomplished fact. Compare COMPEL; DO; INFLUENCE; (make better) AMEND; (make haste) QUICKEN; (make known) ANNOUNCE; AVOW; CONFESS; (make prisoner) ARREST; (make up) ADD; (make void) CANCEL. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for ABOLISH; BREAK; DEMOLISH. <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Make of, out of, or from certain materials, into a certain form, for a certain purpose or person; made with hands, by hand; made by a prisoner, with a jack-knife. <hr /> <h3>MARRIAGE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>conjugal union,</td><td>espousals,</td><td>nuptials,</td><td>spousals,</td><td>wedding,</td></tr> <tr><td>espousal,</td><td>matrimony,</td><td>spousal,</td><td>union,</td><td>wedlock.</td></tr> </table> Matrimony denotes the state of those who are united in the relation of husband and wife; marriage denotes primarily the act of so uniting, but is extensively used for the state as well. Wedlock, a word of specific legal use, is the Saxon term for the state or relation denoted by matrimony. Wedding denotes the ceremony, with any attendant festivities, by which two persons are united as husband and wife, nuptials being the more formal and stately term to express the same idea. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>bachelorhood,</td><td>celibacy,</td><td>divorce,</td><td>maidenhood,</td><td>virginity,</td><td>widowhood.</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> Marriage of or between two persons; of one person to or with another; among the Greeks. <hr /> <h3>MASCULINE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>male,</td><td>manful,</td><td>manlike,</td><td>manly,</td><td>mannish,</td><td>virile.</td></tr> </table> We apply male to the sex, masculine to the qualities, especially to the stronger, hardier, and more imperious qualities that distinguish the male sex; as applied to women, masculine has often the depreciatory sense of unwomanly, rude, or harsh; as, a masculine face or voice, or the like; tho one may say in a commendatory way, she acted with masculine courage or decision. Manlike may mean only having the outward appearance or semblance of a man, or may be closely equivalent to manly. Manly refers to all the qualities and traits worthy of a man; manful, especially to the valor and prowess that become a man; we speak of a manful struggle, manly decision; we say manly gentleness or tenderness; we could not say manful tenderness. Mannish is a depreciatory word referring to the mimicry or parade of some superficial qualities of manhood; as, a mannish boy or woman. Masculine may apply to the distinctive qualities of the male sex at any age; virile applies to the distinctive qualities of mature manhood only, as opposed not only to feminine or womanly but to childish, and is thus an emphatic word for sturdy, intrepid, etc. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> See synonyms for FEMININE. <hr /> <h3>MASSACRE.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>butchery,</td><td>carnage,</td><td>havoc,</td><td>slaughter.</td></tr> </table> A massacre is the indiscriminate killing in numbers of the unresisting or defenseless; butchery is the killing of men rudely and ruthlessly as cattle are killed in the shambles. Havoc may not be so complete as massacre, nor so coldly brutal as butchery, but is more widely spread and furious; it is destruction let loose, and may be applied to organizations, interests, etc., as well as to human life; "as for Saul, he made havoc of the church," Acts viii, 3. Carnage (Latin caro, carnis, flesh) refers to widely scattered or heaped up corpses of the slain; slaughter is similar in meaning, but refers more to the process, as carnage does to the result; these two words only of the group may be used of great destruction of life in open and honorable battle, as when we say the enemy was repulsed with great slaughter, or the carnage was terrible. <hr /> <h3>MEDDLESOME.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>impertinent,</td><td>intrusive,</td><td>meddling,</td><td>obtrusive,</td><td>officious.</td></tr> </table> The meddlesome person interferes unasked in the affairs of others; the intrusive person thrusts himself uninvited into their company or conversation; the obtrusive person thrusts himself or his opinions conceitedly and undesirably upon their notice; the officious person thrusts his services, unasked and undesired, upon others. Obtrusive is oftener applied to words, qualities, actions, etc., than to persons; intrusive is used chiefly of persons, as is officious, tho we speak of officious attentions, intrusive remarks; meddlesome is used indifferently of persons, or of words, qualities, actions, etc. Compare INQUISITIVE; INTERPOSE. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>modest,</td><td>reserved,</td><td>retiring,</td><td>shy,</td><td>unassuming,</td><td>unobtrusive.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>MELODY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>harmony,</td><td>music,</td><td>symphony,</td><td>unison.</td></tr> </table> Harmony is simultaneous; melody is successive; harmony is the pleasing correspondence of two or more notes sounded at once, melody the pleasing succession of a number of notes continuously following one another. A melody may be wholly in one part; harmony must be of two or more parts. Accordant notes of different pitch sounded simultaneously produce harmony; unison is the simultaneous sounding of two or more notes of the same pitch. When the pitch is the same, there may be unison between sounds of very different volume and quality, as a voice and a bell may sound in unison. Tones sounded at the interval of an octave are also said to be in unison, altho this is not literally exact; this usage arises from the fact that bass and tenor voices in attempting to sound the same note as the soprano and alto will in fact sound a note an octave below. Music may denote the simplest melody or the most complex and perfect harmony. A symphony (apart from its technical orchestral sense) is any pleasing consonance of musical sounds, vocal or instrumental, as of many accordant voices or instruments. <hr /> <h3>MEMORY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>recollection,</td><td rowspan="2">reminiscence,</td><td rowspan="2">retrospect,</td><td rowspan="2">retrospection.</td></tr> <tr><td>remembrance,</td></tr> </table> Memory is the faculty by which knowledge is retained or recalled; in a more general sense, memory is a retention of knowledge within the grasp of the mind, while remembrance is the having what is known consciously before the mind. Remembrance may be voluntary or involuntary; a thing is brought to remembrance or we call it to remembrance; the same is true of memory. Recollection involves volition, the mind making a distinct effort to recall something, or fixing the attention actively upon it when recalled. Reminiscence is a half-dreamy memory of scenes or events long past; retrospection is a distinct turning of the mind back upon the past, bringing long periods under survey. Retrospection is to reminiscence much what recollection is to remembrance. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>forgetfulness,</td><td>oblivion,</td><td>obliviousness,</td><td>oversight,</td><td>unconsciousness.</td></tr> </table> <hr /> <h3>MERCY.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>benevolence,</td><td>favor,</td><td>kindness,</td><td>mildness,</td></tr> <tr><td>benignity,</td><td>forbearance,</td><td>lenience,</td><td>pardon,</td></tr> <tr><td>blessing,</td><td>forgiveness,</td><td>leniency,</td><td>pity,</td></tr> <tr><td>clemency,</td><td>gentleness,</td><td>lenity,</td><td>tenderness.</td></tr> <tr><td>compassion,</td><td colspan="3">grace,</td></tr> </table> Mercy is the exercise of less severity than one deserves, or in a more extended sense, the granting of kindness or favor beyond what one may rightly claim. Grace is favor, kindness, or blessing shown to the undeserving; forgiveness, mercy, and pardon are exercised toward the ill-deserving. Pardon remits the outward penalty which the offender deserves; forgiveness dismisses resentment or displeasure from the heart of the one offended; mercy seeks the highest possible good of the offender. There may be mercy without pardon, as in the mitigation of sentence, or in all possible alleviation of necessary severity; there may be cases where pardon would not be mercy, since it would encourage to repetition of the offense, from which timely punishment might have saved. Mercy is also used in the wider sense of refraining from harshness or cruelty toward those who are in one's power without fault of their own; as, they besought the robber to have mercy. Clemency is a colder word than mercy, and without its religious associations, signifying mildness and moderation in the use of power where severity would have legal or military, rather than moral sanction; it often denotes a habitual mildness of disposition on the part of the powerful, and is matter rather of good nature or policy than of principle. Leniency or lenity denotes an easy-going avoidance of severity; these words are more general and less magisterial than clemency; we should speak of the leniency of a parent, the clemency of a conqueror. Compare PITY. <h4>Antonyms:</h4> <table class="tba" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>cruelty,</td><td>implacability,</td><td>punishment,</td><td>rigor,</td><td>sternness,</td></tr> <tr><td>hardness,</td><td>justice,</td><td>revenge,</td><td>severity,</td><td>vengeance.</td></tr> <tr><td>harshness,</td><td colspan="4">penalty,</td></tr> </table> <h4>Prepositions:</h4> The mercy of God to or toward sinners; have mercy on or upon one. <hr /> <h3>METER.</h3> <h4>Synonyms:</h4> <table class="tbs" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr><td>euphony,</td><td>measure,</td><td>rhythm,</td><td>verse.</td></tr> </table> Euphony is agreeable linguistic sound, however produced; meter, measure, and rhythm denote agreeable succession of sounds in the utterance of connected words; euphony may apply to a single word or even a single syllable; the other words apply to lines, sentences, paragraphs, etc.; rhythm and meter may be produced by accent only, as in English, or by accent and quantity combined, as in Greek or Italian; rhythm or measure may apply either to prose or to poetry, or to music, dancing, etc.; meter is more precise than rhythm, applies only to poetry, and denotes a measured rhythm with regular divisions into verses, stanzas, strophes, etc. A verse is strictly a metrical line, but the word is often used as synonymous with stanza. Verse, in the general sense, denotes metrical writing without reference to the thought involved; as, prose and verse. Compare MELODY; POETRY. <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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